BETWEEN TWO FIRES
Sir George Haredale pulled himself together.
"You will excuse me," he said, "but I don't follow you. I have had much
trouble and worry lately and I am not myself this morning. Did you say
that the Blenheim colt belonged to you? If this is a joke I cannot say I
admire it."
"I assure you I was never more serious in my life, Sir George," Fielden
protested. "I know what I say sounds extraordinary. The Blenheim colt
belongs to me; it was never yours at all; in fact, it is not even
entered in this year's Derby in your name. I have been making inquiries,
and this is a literal fact. I have derived my information from
headquarters. The conditions, monetary and otherwise, have been complied
with----"
"I don't doubt it for a moment," Sir George exclaimed. "But what has all
this to do with me? When you went abroad I bought every animal you
possessed."
"I don't think so, Sir George. One or two were kept back; Raffle did so
on his own responsibility. My solicitors have the papers and receipts,
so that it is possible to earmark your exact purchases. I may tell you,
however, that until I came here, I had no notion of this singular
business. It appears that I forgot to advise my bankers before I left
England and that, even up to the present moment, they are meeting my
racing obligations out of the surplus moneys paid into my account. Now
according to what Raffle says, _your_ colt, I mean your entry for this
year's Derby, was disposed of long ago. My colt Raffle kept for
sentimental reasons and, for the last two years, he has been trained
with your horses. Raffle has always declared that some day he would do
something great with one of the Blenheim blood. When he found out how
good a thing he had he was almost frightened. He was on the point of
confessing to you several times, but when he heard that I was dead he
decided to let matters slide. Raffle has a vein of sentiment in his
nature and, I suppose, the romance of the thing appealed to him.
Besides, he knew that you were a friend of mine and that May was more
than a friend. He is very fond of your daughter, in which he shows his
good taste. So the foolish old man resolved to keep the secret to
himself. He had transferred his allegiance to you and yours and had set
his heart upon restoring your family fortunes; in reality he was giving
May a comfortable and settled future. He didn't want the money for
himself. He was satisfied to feel that he was repaying the kindness he
had had at your hands. From a lofty moral point of view the thing may be
open to censure, but what I am able to prove I say through my lawyers,
through my bankers, through Raffle himself, and through other witnesses
whom we can produce. Of course I am in your debt for training expenses,
but that, at the moment, is beside the point. The point is that the
Blenheim colt which, bar accidents, is certain to win this year's Derby,
as you are perfectly well aware----"
"I am not so sure of that," Sir George interrupted. "If I am to believe
what Raffle says----"
"We will come to that," Fielden went on. "I think otherwise. The horse
has been knocked about in the betting a good deal lately and I am told
that he has gone to an outside price again. I have managed to scrape
together about two thousand pounds, every penny of which I have put upon
the colt. I had made up my mind never to make another bet, but this
opportunity is too good to be lost. If this horse wins the Derby, then I
shall be a rich man again. If that good fortune is in store for me, it
will be the last bet I shall ever make. And now, you understand why,
apart from the morality of the thing, I object to the horse being
scratched. In fact, you are not in a position to do so."
Sir George rubbed his head bewilderingly.
"Please say it all over again," he asked. "I know you mean everything
you say, I know you are not joking with me, but I can't understand it."
Fielden went over his points once more slowly and carefully, and then,
at last, Sir George began to see. He did not fail to grasp his own
position, either. He knew the peril in which he stood, unless he could
persuade Fielden to fall in with his plans. But Fielden had told him he
had backed the colt for all he was worth, and he was not likely to ruin
himself merely to save an old man from the result of his folly. Besides,
this would entail a shameful confession, for Sir George was not aware
that Fielden had an intelligent view of the situation.
"This is very awkward," he remarked.
"I don't see why it should be," Fielden said coolly. "You can make a
fortune, too. You have backed the horse heavily, and nothing in the race
has any chance of beating him. I must consider myself. I have learnt the
folly of sacrificing myself to my friends. In this affair I have some
one to think about besides myself. May----"
"May! What has she to do with it?"
Fielden hesitated. He hated to give anybody pain, but the time had come
to speak plainly.
"She has a great deal to do with it," he said. "Whatever disgrace falls
upon you cannot affect her good name. But, at the same time, I strongly
object to any one being able to say that my future wife's father had
been warned off the turf for malpractices."
"Malpractices!" Sir George cried. "My dear Fielden, you are forgetting
yourself. Explain, please."
"I had much rather not," Fielden said. "But since you force me to speak,
I must go on. I happen to know a good deal about Mr. Raymond Copley. I
know you are deeply in his debt. I know that he helped you, because he
hoped thereby to compel you to coerce May into a marriage with him. I am
given to understand that you have done your best. I beg of you, Sir
George, not to interrupt me. You have challenged me and I have a right
to state my case. Copley is a scoundrel. I knew something about him in
South Africa, though we never met. But he was in constant contact with a
sort of partner of mine named Aaron Phillips. Phillips and I contrived
to get an option on a diamond mine and, but for unforeseen
circumstances, we should have made a fortune out of it. But the locality
was kept a secret. The only man who knew where it was died and we had
nothing but some plans to go on. Copley and Foster heard of this and
resolved to get hold of those plans. The plans have vanished and
probably will never be seen again. Then these two ruffians tried to
murder Phillips. Indirectly they nearly murdered me. Phillips came back
to England and sought me out. If he thought it worth while he could put
the police on the track of Copley and Foster and they would be certain
of penal servitude. But Phillips has other views. He has been following
up these two men like a sleuth-hound and you may take my word for it
that within a few days both Copley and Foster will be arrested in
connection with one of the biggest turf frauds of recent years. Oh, I
know what I am talking about."
"Bless me!" Sir George cried, "is this true?"
"Absolutely. I know about the whole thing. I know how the scheme has
been worked and could put my hand upon the confederates at the present
moment. But you will see for yourself before the week is out. You must
not say a word of this to a living soul, and if you meet Copley during
the next day or two I will ask you to behave towards him as if he were
still a friend. Now you see the kind of man who has you in his toils.
Simply because Copley has a powerful hold on you, you have promised to
draw the pen through the name of the Blenheim colt. I won't unduly blame
you, Sir George; no man knows how weak he is till he is face to face
with a great trouble and a great temptation. Was not that the situation?
Copley is in a position to turn you out of Haredale Park. He offers to
cancel the debt if you will scratch the colt. At that moment the colt
falls providentially lame. You can oblige him without a soul being any
the wiser, and even gain popular applause over it, and make a fortune
out of it by working it the right way."
"Not a penny," Sir George said emphatically.
"Well, I am glad to hear you say that. At the same time, I can't forget
what you were willing to do. At any rate, I am preventing you from
something in the nature of a crime. You can't interfere with my
property, but you can refuse to carry out what Copley desires and defy
him to do his worst. You are safe from him, and in future your daughter
will have no occasion to be ashamed of you."