FOR THE HIGHEST BIDDER.
Shepherdstown, the spot where Mr. Benham said that his was a respected
name--and he said quite truly, for he had managed to pay his debts as
they fell due, and nothing was known against his character--lay in
Puttock's constituency, and Benham thought it well to call upon his
representative. The only secret part of his enterprise had been
transacted with the Premier in Digby Square: for the rest, a plausible
overtness of action was plainly desirable. He obtained an interview with
Puttock, and laid before him his hopes and his qualifications. Mr.
Puttock was graciousness itself; he remembered, with gratitude and
surprising alacrity, his visitor's local services to the party; had he
been still in office, it would have been his delight no less than his
duty to press Benham's incontestable claims; he would have felt that he
was merely paying a small part of the debt he owed Shepherdstown and one
of its leading men, and would, at the same time, have enjoyed the
conviction that he was enlisting in the public service a man of tried
integrity and ability.
"Unhappily, however," said Mr. Puttock, spreading out his plump hands in
pathetic fashion, "as you might conjecture, Mr.--" he glanced at the
visitor's card--"Benham, my influence at the present juncture is less
than _nil_. I am powerless. I can only look on at what I conceive to be
a course of conduct fraught with peril to the true interests of New
Lindsey, and entirely inconsistent with the best traditions of our
party."
"Your views are heartily shared at home," responded Benham. "Speaking in
confidence, I can assure you of that, sir. Our confidence in the
Ministry ended when you retired."
"As long as my constituents approve of my action, I am content. But I am
grieved not to be able to help you."
"But, in spite of present differences, surely your good word would carry
weight. My name is, I believe, already before the Premier, and if it was
backed by your support----"
"Let me recommend you," said Puttock sourly, "to try to obtain Mr.
Norburn's good word. That is, between ourselves, all-powerful."
Benham frowned.
"Norburn! Much Norburn would do for me."
"Why, does he know you?" asked Puttock. "Have you any quarrel with him?"
"There's no love lost between us. He organised my shearers when they
struck two years ago."
"What are you?"
"Sheep, sir. The fellow came down and fought me, and--well, sir, he said
things about me that you'd hardly credit."
"Oh, I hope," said Puttock earnestly, "that that would not influence his
judgment. But, to be frank--well, it's common knowledge that Mr. Norburn
and I found we could not work together."
"But surely, sir, the Premier will take his own line?"
"I don't know. As likely as not, Norburn will have some Labour man to
press."
"Ah, if we could see you at the head of the Government!"
"I don't deny that I am deeply disappointed with the Premier's course of
action--so deeply that I can give him no support."
Mr. Benham remained silent for a minute, meditating. He perceived that,
in case Medland proved unreasonable, a second string lay ready to his
hand. He wondered how much Puttock already knew--and what he would pay
for more knowledge. The worst of it was that Puttock had the reputation
of being an uncommonly good hand at a bargain.
"Yet Mr. Medland's a very clever man," he observed.
"Oh, clever, yes; but I fear unstable, Mr. Benham."
"I suppose so. After all a man's private life is some guide, isn't it?"
"Some guide!" exclaimed Puttock. "Surely you understate the case. If a
man's private life is discreditable----"
"But would you go so far as that about the Premier?" inquired Benham,
with a pained air.
"There's no smoke without fire, I'm afraid. It's a painful subject, and
of course only a matter of rumour, but----"
"You see, I've been living in the country, and I'm not up in all that's
said here."
"I wouldn't mention it to everybody, but to you I may venture. According
to the report among those in a position to know, there was the gravest
doubt as to the regularity of--his domestic relations."
"Dear, dear!"
"Nothing, as I say, is known or could, probably, be proved. It would
damage him most seriously, of course, if that sort of thing were
proved."
"I should think so indeed. He could hardly remain where he is."
"I don't know. Well, perhaps not. A little while ago I should have
deeply regretted anything calculated to lessen his influence, but
now--well, well, we shall see."
"Your secession has so weakened him that he couldn't stand up against
it," said Benham, with conviction. "And then--why, we might have a real
leader."
Mr. Benham's admiring gaze left no doubt as to the heaven-sent leader
who was in his mind, and he had the satisfaction of detecting a gleam of
eagerness in Mr. Puttock's eye.
"He may be of use to me, if Medland kicks," reflected Benham as he
walked away. But he hoped that the Premier would not prove recalcitrant.
He had counted on the sufficiency of threats, and it would be an
annoyance if he were forced to resort to action; for he could not deny
that his respected name would suffer some stain in the process of
inflicting punishment, if the victim chose to declare the terms on which
the chastisement might have been averted.
Now this aspect of the case had presented itself to Medland also,
reinforcing the considerations which weighed against giving Benham the
appointment he sought. The Premier hated yielding, and he hated jobs:
Benham asked him to acknowledge himself beaten, and, as ransom, to
perpetrate a peculiarly dirty job. At most times of his life he would
not even have looked at such a proposal, but his new-won position, with
its possibilities and its risks, made him timid: he was fearful as a
child of anything that would jeopardise what he had so hardly and
narrowly achieved; and this unwonted mood increased his dread of
Benham's disclosures to an almost superstitious terror. Under the
influence of this feeling, he was so far false to his standard of
conduct as tentatively to mention Benham's name to Norburn as that of a
possible candidate for the vacant post. He expected to hear in reply
nothing more than a surprised inquiry as to the man's claims, but
Norburn, despite his faithfulness to every wish of his leader's,
besought him earnestly to make no such choice.
"You don't know about him," he said; "but in his own neighbourhood he's
known far and wide as a hard employer and a determined enemy of the
Unions. Such an appointment would do us immense harm."
"I didn't know that. You're sure?"
"I believe it might cost us a dozen votes. I couldn't defend the choice
myself. I fought him once, and I know all about him. Who recommended him
to you?"
"No one. He came himself."
Norburn laughed.
"It needs some assurance," he remarked, "for a man with his record to
come to you. He must have known that I could tell you all about him."
The Premier smiled: to tell him all about Benham was exactly what his
zealous young colleague could not do.
"Then it's quite out of the question?" he asked.
"If you take my opinion, quite."
The Premier gave a sigh of relief. He was glad to have the matter
settled for him, and to be saved from the temptation that had been
besetting him these ten days past.
"The fellow must be mad to expect such a thing," continued Norburn. "Why
doesn't he go to the other side?"
"Perhaps he will now," answered Medland. It seemed not at all unlikely.
When his mind was finally made up, Medland found at first a reckless
pleasure in, as he expressed it to himself, "chancing it." He had always
been fond of a fight against odds. The odds were against him here, and
the stakes perilously high. His spirits rose; his mouth was set firm,
and his eyes gleamed as they had gleamed when the crowd led him in
triumph to his house three weeks ago. The battle was to begin to-morrow;
the House met then, and all his foes, public and private, would close
round him and his band of friends. And, when the fresh attack had been
delivered, how many would his friends be? Rousing himself, he got up.
"You stay with Daisy," he said to Norburn. "I must go out for an hour."
It was nine o'clock, and he made his way swiftly to the address which
Benham had given him. He found that gentleman in a quiet and respectable
lodging, and was received with civility.
"You are just to your time," said Benham.
"I'm not behind it. I had till to-morrow."
"And you have brought the appointment?"
"No."
"The promise of it, then?"
"No; I can't do it."
"Why not?"
"Well, I don't know why I should tell you, but for two good
reasons--it's difficult and it's dirty. Difficult because you're not
popular with my friends--dirty, because--but you know that."
"You really mean to refuse?"
"Yes."
"Then what are you going to do for me?"
"I can't do anything for you."
"That's final?" asked Benham, facing him squarely. "You utterly refuse
to do me a small favour, though you were ready enough to ruin my life?"
Medland was doubtful if he had ruined the man's life, but he only
answered--
"I can't job you into anything. That's what you want, and it's what I
can't do for you."
"Very well. I've got a thing of value, haven't I? Well, I shall sell it
to the highest bidder. Ay, and I tell you what, James Medland, I'll be
level with you before I die, God help me I will! You shall be sorry for
this, before I've done with you."
"I take the chance of that. If you're in want, I'll supply you with
money, as far as my means allow."
"Your means? What are they? You won't have your salary long, if I can
help it. I think I can find a better market, thank you."
Medland turned on his heel. He had come with a vague idea of trying in
some way to smooth over matters between them. It was plainly impossible;
he had no wish to bribe, and, if he had, clearly he could not bribe high
enough. He was still in his confident mood, and Benham's rude threats
roused him to defiance.
"Have it your own way," he said; "but people who attack me in Kirton run
some risks," and he went out with a smile on his face.
As he strolled home again, his exultant temper left him. The springiness
of his step relaxed into a slouching gait, and his head fell forward. He
stopped and turned half round, as though to go back; then, with a sigh,
he held on his way. Far off, he could see the twinkling lights of ships,
and, in the still of evening, catch the roll of the sea as it broke on
the beach, and an odd fancy came over him of sailing far away with his
daughter over the sea--or, perhaps better still, of walking quietly into
the water until it closed over his head. Now and then he grew tired of
fighting, and to him life was all fighting now.
"Meditating new resolutions, Medland?" asked a cheery voice at his side.
Turning with a start, he saw the Chief Justice, who continued,
"You'll be in the thick of it to-morrow, I suppose?"
"I have left off thinking where I shall be to-morrow," he answered.
"To-day is enough for a Minister."
"And to-morrow may be too much? Young Heseltine offered just now to lay
me six to five you'd be out in a month."
"Confound him! Who is he?"
"One of the Governor's young fellows."
"Oh, yes, I remember."
"Talking of that, I had some very kind inquiries about you at Government
House to-day."
"Ah!"
"From Miss Derosne. She's a warm admirer of yours, and really a most
charming girl. Well, good-night. I shall try and get down to hear your
statement to-morrow."
Sir John bustled off, leaving the Premier with a new bent of thought. In
his mind he rehearsed his interview with Alicia Derosne, wondering, as
men wonder after they have been carried away by emotion into
unrestrained disclosures of their hearts, whether she had really been
impressed; whether, after all, he had not been, or seemed, insincere,
theatrical, or absurd; wondering again in what light she would look on
him, when she knew what it looked likely all Kirton would know soon;
wondering last whether, if he had not met the woman who had been his
partner in life for so long, and had, in youth, met such a girl as
Alicia Derosne, his fate would have been different, and he need not now
have trembled at his story being told. Immersed in thought he wandered
on, out of the town and down to the shores of the bay, and checked
himself, with a sudden laugh, only on the very brink of the sea. The
absurdity struck him; he laughed again, as he lit a cigar and rebuked
himself aloud.
"Here I am, a Premier and forty-one! and I'm going on for all the world
like a cross between a love-sick boy and a runaway criminal!"
He paused and added--
"And the worst of it, I am rather like a criminal and----"
He paused abruptly. A thought struck him and made him frown angrily at
his folly. It was stupid to think of himself as love-sick, even in jest.
He had not come to that. And to think of himself as a lover was not a
thought that carried pleasant memories to Mr. Medland.