'I KNOW THE MAN'
'Another evening of mystery, Elsie?' said Athelstan.
'Yes. Another, and perhaps another. But we are getting to an end. I
shall be able to tell you all to-day or to-morrow. The thing is becoming
too great for me alone.'
'You shall tell us when you please. Meantime, nothing new has been found
out, I believe. Checkley still glares, George tells me. But the opinion
of the clerks seems on the whole more favourable, he believes, than it
was. Of that, however, he is not perhaps a good judge.'
'They shall all be turned out,' cried Elsie. 'How dare they so much as
to discuss----'
'My sister, it is a very remarkable thing, and a thing little
understood, but it is a true thing. People, people--clerks and _le
Service_ generally--are distinctly a branch of the great human tribe.
They are anthropoid. Therefore, they are curious and prying and
suspicious. They have our own faults, my dear.'
All day Elsie felt drawn as with ropes to Mr. Dering's office. Was it
possible that after that long evening among the lessons of Poverty Lane
he should remember nothing? How was she to get at him--how was she to
make him understand or believe what he had done? Could she make the sane
man remember the actions and words of the insane man? Could she make the
insane man do something which would absolutely identify him with the
sane man? She could always array her witnesses: but she wanted more: she
wanted to bring Mr. Dering himself to understand that he was Mr. Edmund
Gray.
She made an excuse for calling upon him. It was in the afternoon, about
four, that she called. She found him looking aged, his face lined, his
cheek pale, his eyes anxious.
'This business worries me,' he said. 'Day and night it is with me. I am
persecuted and haunted with this Edmund Gray. His tracts are put into my
pockets; his papers into my safe: he laughs at me: he defies me to find
him. And they do nothing. They only accuse each other. They find
nothing.'
'Patience,' said Elsie softly. 'Only a few days--a day or
two--then--with your help--we will unravel all this trouble. You shall
lose nothing.'
'Shall I escape this mocking devil--this Edmund Gray?'
'I cannot promise. Perhaps.--Now, my dear guardian, I am to be married
next Wednesday. I want you to be present at my wedding.'
'Why not?'
'Because things have been said about George: and because your presence
will effectually prove that you do not believe them.'
'Oh! Believe them? I believe nothing. It is, however, my experience that
there is no act, however base, that any man may not be tempted to do.'
'Happily, it is my experience,' said the girl of twenty-one, 'that there
is no act of baseness, however small, that certain men could possibly
commit. You will come to my wedding, then. Athelstan will give me away.'
'Athelstan? Yes; I remember. We found those notes, didn't we? I wonder
who put them into the safe? Athelstan! Yes. He has been living in low
company, I heard--Camberwell.--Rags and tatters.'
'Oh!' Elsie stamped impatiently. 'You will believe anything--anything,
and you a lawyer! Athelstan is in the service of a great American
journal.--Rags and tatters!'
'American? Oh! yes.' Mr. Dering sat up and looked interested. 'Why, of
course. How could I forget it? Had it been yesterday evening, I should
have forgot. But it is four years ago. He wrote to me from somewhere in
America. Where was it? I've got the letter. It is in the safe. Bring me
the bottom right-hand drawer. It is there, I know.' He took the drawer
which Elsie brought him, and turned over the papers. 'Here it is among
the papers of that forgery. Here is the letter.' He gave it to Elsie.
'Read it. He writes from America, you see. He was in the States four
years ago--and--and----What is it?'
'Oh!' cried Elsie, suddenly springing from her chair--'Oh! Do you know
what you have given me? Oh! do you know what you have told me? It is the
secret--the secret--of my fortune. Oh! Athelstan gave it to
me--Athelstan--my brother!'
Mr. Dering took the letter from her and glanced at the contents. 'I
ought not to have shown you the letter,' he said. 'I have violated
confidence. I forgot. I was thinking of the trouble--I forgot. I forget
everything now--the things of yesterday as well as the things of to-day.
Yes; it is true, child: your little fortune came to you from your
brother. But it was a secret that he alone had the right to reveal.'
'And now I know it-- I know it. Oh! what shall I say to him?' The tears
came in her eyes. 'He gave me all he had--all he had--because--oh! for
such a simple thing--because I would not believe him to be a villain.
Oh! my brother--my poor brother! He went back into poverty again. He
gave me all because--oh! for such a little thing!--Mr. Dering!' She
turned almost fiercely upon him. 'After such a letter, _could_ you
believe that man to be a villain? Could you? Tell me! After such a deed
and such a letter!'
'I believe nothing. My experience, however, tells me that any man,
whoever he is, may be led to commit----'
'NO! I won't have it said again.--Now, listen, Mr. Dering. These
suspicions must cease. There must be an end. Athelstan returned six
weeks ago--or thereabouts. That can be proved. Before that time, he was
working in San Francisco on the journal. That can be proved. While these
forgeries, with which he is now so freely charged, were carried on here,
he was abroad. I don't ask you to believe or to disbelieve or to bring
up your experience--oh! such experience--one would think you had been a
police magistrate all your life.'
'No, Elsie.' Mr. Dering smiled grimly. 'There was no need to sit upon
the bench; the police magistrate does not hear so much as the family
solicitor. My dear, prove your brother's innocence by finding out who
did the thing. That is, after all, the only thing. It matters nothing
what I believe--he is not proved innocent--all the world may be
suspected of it--until the criminal is found. Remove the suspicions
which have gathered about your lover by finding the criminal. There is
no other way.'
'Very well, then. I will find the criminal, since no one else can.'
Mr. Dering went on without heeding her words.
'They want to get out a warrant against Edmund Gray. I think, for my own
part, that the man Edmund Gray has nothing to do with the business. He
is said to be an elderly man and a respectable man--a gentleman--who has
held his Chambers for ten years.'
'They need not worry about a warrant,' Elsie replied. 'Tell your
brother, Mr. Dering, that it will be perfectly useless. Meantime--I
doubt if it is any good asking you--but--if we want your help, will you
give me all the help you can?'
'Assuredly. All the help I can. Why not? I am the principal person
concerned.'
'You are, indeed,' said Elsie gravely--'the principal person concerned.
Very well, Mr. Dering--now I will tell you more. I know the--the
criminal. I can put my hand upon him at any moment. It is one man who
has done the whole, beginning with the cheque for which Athelstan was
suspected--one man alone.'
'Why, child, what can you know about it? What can you do?'
'You were never in love, Mr. Dering--else you would understand that a
girl will do a great deal--oh! a great deal more than you would
think--for her lover. It is not much to think for him and to watch for
him--and for her brother--the brother who has stripped himself of
everything to give his sister!' She was fain to pause, for the tears
which rose again and choked her voice.
'But, Elsie--what does this mean? How can you know what no one else has
been able to find out?'
'That is my affair, Mr. Dering. Perhaps I dreamed it.'
'Do you mean that you will get back all the papers--all the
transfers--the dividends that have been diverted--everything?'
'Everything is safe. Everything shall be restored.--My dear guardian,
it is a long and a sad story. I cannot tell you now. Presently,
perhaps. Or to-morrow. I do not know how I shall be able to tell
you. But for your property, rest easy. Everything will come back to
you--everything--except that which cannot be stored in the vaults of the
Bank.'
The last words he heard not, or understood not.
'I shall get back everything!' The eyes of the Individualist lit up and
his pale cheek glowed--old age has still some pleasures. 'It is not
until one loses Property that one finds out how precious it has become.
Elsie, you remember what I told you, a day or two ago. Ah! I don't
forget quite everything--a man is not the shivering naked soul only, but
the complete figure, equipped and clothed, armed and decorated, bearing
with him his skill, his wit, his ingenuity, his learning, his past, and
his present, his memories and his rejoicings, his sorrows and his
trials, his successes and his failures, and his Property--yes--his
Property. Take away from him any of these things, and he is mutilated:
he is not the perfect soul. Why, you tell me that my Property is coming
back-- I awake again. I feel stronger already; the shadows are flying
before me: even the terror of that strange forgetfulness recedes: and
the haunting of Edmund Gray. I can bear all, if I get my Property back
again. As for this forger--this miscreant--this criminal--you will hale
him before the judge------'
'Yes--yes. We will see about the miscreant afterwards. The first thing
is to find the man and recover your Property, and to dispel the
suspicions resting on innocent persons. If I do the former, you must aid
me in the latter.'
'Assuredly. I shall not shrink from that duty.'
'Very well.--Now tell me about yourself. Sometimes it does good to talk
about our own troubles. Tell me more about these forgetful fits. Do they
trouble you still?' Her eyes and her voice were soft and winning. One
must be of granite to resist such a voice and such eyes.
'My dear'--Mr. Dering softened. 'You are good to interest yourself in an
old man's ailments. It is Anno Domini that is the matter with me. The
forgetful fits are only symptoms--and the disease is incurable. Ask the
oak why the leaves are yellow.--It is the hand of winter. That is my
complaint. First the hand of winter, then the hand of Death. Meantime,
the voice of the grasshopper sings loud and shrill.' In presence of the
simple things of age and death, even a hard old lawyer grows poetic.
'Tell me the symptoms, then. Do you still forget things?'
'Constantly. More and more. I forget everything.'
'Where were you yesterday evening, for instance?'
'I don't know. I cannot remember. I have left off even trying to
remember. At one time I racked my brain for hours, to find out, and
failed. Now I remember nothing. I never know when this forgetfulness may
fall upon me. At any hour.--For instance--you ask me about yesterday
evening. I ordered dinner at home. My housekeeper this morning reminded
me that I did not get home last night till eleven. Where was I? Where
did I spend the evening?'
'At the Club?'
'No-- I took a cab this morning and drove there under pretence of asking
for letters. I asked if I was there last night. The hall porter stared.
But I was not there. I thought that I might have fallen asleep there. I
have done so before. Checkley tells me that I went away before him.
Where was I?-- Child!'--he leaned forward and whispered, with white
cheeks--'I have read of men going about with disordered brains doing
what they afterwards forget. Am I one of these unfortunates? Do I go
about with my wits wandering? Oh! horrible! I picture to myself an old
man--such as myself--of unblemished reputation and blameless
life--wandering about the streets demented--without conscience--without
dignity--without self-respect--committing follies--things
disgraceful--even things which bring men before the law----' He
shuddered. He turned pale.
'No--no,' murmured Elsie. 'You could not. You could never----'
'Such things are on record. They have happened. They may happen again. I
have read of such cases. There was a man once--he was like myself--a
Solicitor--who would go out and do things, not knowing what he did. They
found him out at last doing something so incredibly foolish that there
was but one explanation. In another man and a younger man it would have
been worse than foolish, it would have been criminal. Then they gave him
a companion, and he discovered what he had done. The shame and the shock
of it killed him. I have thought of that man of late. Good Heavens!
Think, if you can, of any worse disaster. Let me die--let me die, I say,
rather than suffer such a fate--such an affliction. I see myself brought
before the magistrate--me--myself--at my age, charged with this and with
that. What defence? None, save that I did not remember.'
'That could never be,' said Elsie confidently, because she knew the
facts. 'If such a thing were to befall, your character would never be
changed. You might talk and think differently, but you could never be
otherwise than a good man. You to haunt low company? Oh! you could not
even in a waking dream. People who dream, I am sure, always remain
themselves, however strangely they may act. How could you--you--after
such a life as yours, become a haunter of low company? One might perhaps
suppose that Athelstan had been living among profligates because he is
young and untried--but you?--you? Oh! no. If you had these waking
dreams--perhaps you have them--you would become--you would become--I
really think you would become'--she watched his face--'such--such a man
as--as--Mr. Edmund Gray, who is so like yourself, and yet so different.'
He started. 'Edmund Gray again? Good Heavens! It is always Edmund Gray!'
'He is now a friend of mine. I have only known him for a week or two. He
does not think quite as you do. But he is a good man. Since, in dreams,
we do strange things, you might act and speak and think as Edmund Gray.'
'I speak and think as---- But--am I dreaming? Am I forgetting again? Am
I awake? Edmund Gray is the man whom we want to find.'
'I have found him,' said Elsie quietly.
'The forger--if he is the forger----'
'No--no. Do not make more mistakes. You shall have the truth in a day or
two. Would you like to see Edmund Gray? Will you come with me to his
Chambers? Whenever you call, you--you, I say--will find him at home.'
'No--no. I know his doctrines--futile doctrines--mischievous doctrines.
I do not wish to meet him. What do you mean by mistakes? There are the
letters--there are the forgeries. Are there two Edmund Grays?'
'No--only one. He is the man they cannot find. I will show you, if you
like, what manner of man he is.'
'No. I do not want to see a Socialist. I should insult him.--You are
mysterious, Elsie. You know this man, this mischievous doctrinaire--this
leveller--this spoliator. You tell me that he is a good man--you want me
to see him. What, I ask, do these things mean?'
'They mean many things, my dear guardian. Chiefly they mean that you
shall get back your Property, and that suspicion shall be removed from
innocent persons--and all this, I hope, before next Wednesday, when I am
to be married. We must all be happy on my wedding day.'
'Will--will Mr. Edmund Gray be there as well?'
'He has promised.--And now, my dear guardian, if you will come round to
Gray's Inn with me, I will show you the Chambers of Mr. Edmund Gray.'
'No--no. Thank you, Elsie-- I do not wish to make the personal
acquaintance of a Socialist.'
'He has Chambers on the second floor. The principal room is large and
well furnished. It is a wainscoted room with two windows looking on the
Square. It is not a very pretty Square, because they have not made a
garden or laid down grass in the middle--and the houses are rather
dingy. He sits there in the evening. He writes and meditates. Sometimes
he teaches me, but that is a new thing. In the morning he is sometimes
there between nine o'clock and twelve. He has an old laundress, who
pretends to keep his rooms clean.'
She murmured these words softly, thinking to turn his memory back and
make him understand what had happened.
'They are pleasant rooms, are they not?' He made no reply--his eyes
betrayed trouble. She thought it was the trouble of struggling
memory.--'He sits here alone and works. He thinks he is working for the
advancement of the world. There is no one so good, I think, as Edmund
Gray.'
He suddenly pushed back the chair and sprang to his feet.
'My Scholar! You speak of me?'
It was so sudden that Elsie cried out and fell backwards in her chair.
She had brought on the thing by her own words, by conjuring up a vision
of the Chambers. But--the trouble was not the struggle of the memory
getting hold of evasive facts.
'Why, child,' he remonstrated, 'you look pale. Is it the heat? Come, it
is cooler outside. Let us go to the Chambers in Gray's Inn. This old
fellow--this Dering--here he sits all day long. It is Tom Tiddler's
ground. It is paved with gold, which he picks up. The place--let us
whisper--because he must be in the outer office--it reeks of
Property--reeks of Property.'
He took his hat and gloves. 'My Scholar, let us go.' By force of habit,
he shut and locked the safe and dropped the bunch of keys in his
pocket.