WILLIAM CRAWFORD'S LUCK.
When William Crawford found himself safe aboard the moving steamboat,
he uttered an exclamation of intense relief and satisfaction. He
looked quickly behind him, and noticed with a laugh that pursuit was
out of the question. He was safe! His life had been twice imperilled
that day, and he had escaped with nothing worse than a wetting. He had
been in imminent danger of death from drowning, had been saved by a
woman whom he had ruined, and then escaped from her deadly demoniacal,
maniac wrath. After all this, who could say that there was not luck in
the world? and who could deny that luck had befriended him in a
phenomenal manner?
Yes, he was lucky; he had been lucky all his life up to this, except
at cards, and he should be lucky to the end. If Fate had meant ever to
do him an ill turn, surely it would not have let slip two such
remarkable opportunities. No, he was born to good fortune; and the
saying was true that it was better to be born lucky than rich. And,
thinking of riches, this day's mishaps had not even cost him the fifty
pounds, for he still held the notes in his hand. What a fool that
woman was not to take them! But then she had always been a fool.
And with this generous thought of the woman who had sacrificed
everything for him, he dismissed her from his mind.
He was hatless, and his clothes were all rumpled and creased; and the
water dripped from the ends of his trousers, making a wet patch on the
deck wherever he stepped.
The people on the steamboat had noticed the hasty manner of his coming
aboard, his rush out of the pier-master's room, and his leap from the
hulk. They also observed that his clothes were wet, and that he was
without any covering for his head. They were observing him with
interest and curiosity. Becoming conscious of this, and feeling a
slight shiver pass through him, he turned to one of the crew and said:
"In coming from the shore to the pier I fell into the water. Is there
any brandy aboard?"
"Plenty, sir, in the fore-cabin."
To the fore-cabin he went forthwith, and drove off the chill with
brandy, and escaped the curious eyes of the passengers.
He remained below until the boat arrived at Blackfriars Bridge. Here
he went ashore, and, hailing the first hansom, drove to a tailor and
outfitter's, where he got everything he wanted except boots, and these
the obliging shopkeeper procured for him.
It was now four o'clock. He had had two great shocks that day, each of
which was more severe than any other he had endured in his life. He
felt that something in the way of compensation was due to him. Play
went on all day long and all night long at the Counter Club. What
better could he do with himself than have a few quiet games before
going back to his dull Richmond home? He did not like appearing at the
club in a suit of ready-made clothes, but, then, all kinds of men, in
all kinds of costumes, went to the Counter; and he had never been a
great dandy.
Accordingly to the Counter he drove, with four of the damp ten-pound
notes in his pocket and some broken money. It was not as much as he
should have liked, but then, he had no intention of making a night of
it. He would get back to Richmond about dusk.
He left the club just in time to catch the last train for home. He
found an empty compartment, and, as he threw himself into a corner,
cried softly to himself:
"Luck! Why, of course, there never was such luck as mine! I used to be
unlucky at cards. Unlucky at cards, lucky in love, they say. Well, I
have been more lucky than most men in love, and here now are cards
turning in my favour. I have now won twice running. I have a hundred
and twenty pounds more in my pocket than when I came to town this
morning. There seems to be absolutely no end to my luck. If that fool
Kate had taken the fifty, of course I could not have played, and, of
course, if I had not played I could not have won. My good fortune is
almost miraculous. If any other person but Kate had rescued me, he
or she would have taken the money, and there would have been no play;
and if I had not fallen into the water it is very likely I should not
have thought of treating myself to a game. Upon my word, it _is_
miraculous--nothing short of miraculous."
His eyes winked rapidly, and he stroked his smoothly-shaven chin with
intense satisfaction.
"But," he went on, "the whole thing is due to that delightful Hetty,
for if I had not wanted to see that charming girl again I should not
have gone to Welford to-day, and, of course, should not have played
this afternoon. Like all other gamblers, I am a bit superstitious, and
I do believe that she has brought me luck. Now twice out of three
times that I have played since I saw her I have won, and that never
happened in all my life before. Yes, she has undoubtedly brought me
luck. Suppose this luck continued, I should be a rich man in a short
time. I should be quite independent of Welford and Singleton Terrace,
Richmond, and although I am good at private theatricals, I am getting
a bit sick of Singleton Terrace, Richmond. A man gets tired of a
goody-goody part sooner than of any other kind. I do believe, after
all, that if I had that three thousand pounds for capital and Hetty
for luck, I should be better off without Singleton Terrace, Richmond.
That is an aspect of the future well worth thinking over."
When he got home he found to his surprise and disgust that his wife
had not yet gone to bed. He put his arm round her and kissed her
tenderly, and chid her gently for sitting up. She said she was anxious
about him, as he had said he should be back early.
"The fact of the matter is, Nellie, I had a great deal more trouble
about those gates than I anticipated. You have no notion of how stupid
workmen can be. They always want to do something or other you have
said distinctly you do not want to have done. I told the creature I
went to as plainly as I am telling you that I did not wish to have
ice-house doors, but simply gates sufficiently strong and well secured
to prevent anyone falling into the water. I told him to go see the
place, and that I should come back in an hour to hear what he had to
say about price; and would you believe it? the animal had made out an
estimate for double doors! I could hardly get him to adopt my views.
He said an ice-house ought to have ice-house doors, and that to put up
any others would not be workmanlike, and would expose him to contempt
and ridicule in the neighbourhood! Did you ever hear anything so
monstrously absurd in all your life?"
"It was very provoking, William, and I am sorry that my foolish fears
caused you so much trouble," she said in a tone of self-reproach,
softly stroking his hand held in both hers.
"Not at all, dear! Not at all! I am very glad I went. But of course
the work about the gates did not keep me till now. I have had a little
adventure."
She looked up at him in alarm, and glanced in fear at the unfamiliar
clothes he wore. "A little adventure?" she cried faintly.
"Yes," he said, with one of his short quick laughs, "but you need not
be uneasy; I am not the worse of it, and there was no fair lady in it
to make you jealous."
"Jealous!" she cried, with a rapturous smile of utter faith. "Not all
the fair ladies in the world could make me jealous, William. I know
you too well."
"Thank you, Nellie," he said in a grateful, serious tone, raising one
of her hands and kissing it. "No. The fact is, as I was waiting on the
pier for the steamer, a little boy, about the age of the one I saw in
my dream, about the age of young Layard, fell into the river, and as
he was beyond the reach of the poles and too young to catch a line or
lifebuoy, and was in great danger of drowning, I jumped in and got him
out."
With a sigh of horror she lay back in her chair unable to speak.
"It was a strange fulfilment of my dream. As you know, I am not in the
least superstitious, but it seems to me that the nightmare I had last
night was sent to me that I might be on the spot to save that poor
little chap from a watery grave. Don't look so terrified, Nellie.
There was great danger for the little fellow, but not the slightest
for me. I am as much at home in the water as a duck, and you see,
being stout, I am buoyant and swim very high."
"O, but 'tis dreadful to think of you, William, in the water!" she
whispered in a voice breathless with a combined feeling of dread of
the peril he had been in and thankfulness for his present security.
"Well, it's all over now, and you needn't be afraid of my doing
anything of the kind again. When I got out of the water I went and
bought a dry suit of ready-made clothes, and I think you must admit I
am quite a swell in them."
She forced a smile. He went on:
"Well, even all this wouldn't account for my being so late. You must
know there is nothing I hate so much as notoriety, and I had
absolutely got to Waterloo on my way home when it suddenly occurred to
me that as two or three hundred people saw the rescue some one might
go to the newspapers with an account of it. Nothing could make me more
shamefaced than to see my name in print in connection with this
affair. I had experience of something of the kind at the time of the
fire--you remember, dearest?"
She pressed his hand and said, "My own, my own, my own!"
"So I took a cab and drove round to all the newspaper-offices to bar a
report going in. That was what kept me till this hour."
They sat talking for a little while longer, and then she rang for the
maid and he went to the dressing-room.
The anxiety caused by his unexpected delay in town, or by the tale he
had told her, may have had an injurious effect on the invalid, or it
may be that, without any exciting cause, the aggravation would have
taken place; but at all events, that night, or, rather, early in the
morning, Mrs. Crawford rang her bell, and upon her husband coming to
her he found her so much worse that he set off at once for the doctor.
As he closed the front-door after him he whispered to himself, "I
wonder is this more of my luck?"