"Judge for yourself!" And I handed him the lawyer's letter which
informed me of my suddenly acquired fortune.
He glanced it through rapidly,--then folded and returned it to me with a
courteous bow.
"I suppose I should congratulate you,"--he said--"And I do. Though of
course this wealth which seems to content you, to me appears a mere
trifle. It can be quite conveniently run through and exhausted in about
eight years or less, therefore it does not provide absolute immunity
from care. To be rich, really rich, in my sense of the word, one should
have about a million a year. Then one might reasonably hope to escape
the workhouse!"
He laughed,--and I stared at him stupidly, not knowing how to take his
words, whether as truth or idle boasting. Five millions of money a mere
trifle! He went on without apparently noticing my amazement--
"The inexhaustible greed of a man, my dear sir, can never be satisfied.
If he is not consumed by desire for one thing, he is for another, and
his tastes are generally expensive. A few pretty and unscrupulous women
for example, would soon relieve you of your five millions in the
purchase of jewels alone. Horse-racing would do it still more quickly.
No, no,--you are not rich,--you are still poor,--only your needs are no
longer so pressing as they were. And in this I confess myself somewhat
disappointed,--for I came to you hoping to do a good turn to some one
for once in my life, and to play the foster-father to a rising
genius--and here I am--forestalled,--as usual! It is a singular thing,
do you know, but nevertheless a fact, that whenever I have had any
particular intentions towards a man I am always forestalled! It is
really rather hard upon me!" He broke off and raised his head in a
listening attitude.
"What is that?" he asked.
It was the violinist next door playing a well-known "Ave Maria." I told
him so.
"Dismal,--very dismal!" he said with a contemptuous shrug. "I hate all
that kind of mawkish devotional stuff. Well!--millionaire as you are,
and acknowledged lion of society as you shortly will be, there is no
objection I hope, to the proposed supper? And perhaps a music-hall
afterwards if you feel inclined,--what do you say?"
He clapped me on the shoulder cordially and looked straight into my
face,--those wonderful eyes of his, suggestive of both tears and fire,
fixed me with a clear masterful gaze that completely dominated me. I
made no attempt to resist the singular attraction which now possessed me
for this man whom I had but just met,--the sensation was too strong and
too pleasant to be combated. Only for one moment more I hesitated,
looking down at my shabby attire.
"I am not fit to accompany you, prince," I said--"I look more like a
tramp than a millionaire."
He glanced at me and smiled.
"Upon my life, so you do!" he averred.--"But be satisfied!--you are in
this respect very like many another Croesus. It is only the poor and
proud who take the trouble to dress well,--they and the dear 'naughty'
ladies, generally monopolize tasteful and becoming attire. An
ill-fitting coat often adorns the back of a Prime Minister,--and if you
see a woman clad in clothes vilely cut and coloured, you may be sure she
is eminently virtuous, renowned for good works, and probably a duchess!"
He rose, drawing his sables about him.
"What matter the coat if the purse be full!" he continued gaily.--"Let
it once be properly paragraphed in the papers that you are a
millionaire, and doubtless some enterprising tailor will invent a
'Tempest' ulster coloured softly like your present garb, an artistic
mildewy green! And now come along,--your solicitor's communication
should have given you a good appetite, or it is not so valuable as it
seems,--and I want you to do justice to my supper. I have my own _chef_
with me, and he is not without skill. I hope, by the way, you will at
least do me this much service,--that pending legal discussion and
settlement of your affairs, you will let me be your banker?"
This offer was made with such an air of courteous delicacy and
friendship, that I could do no more than accept it gratefully, as it
relieved me from all temporary embarrassment. I hastily wrote a few
lines to my landlady, telling her she would receive the money owing to
her by post next day,--then, thrusting my rejected manuscript, my only
worldly possession, into my coat-pocket, I extinguished the lamp, and
with the new friend I had so suddenly gained, I left my dismal lodgings
and all its miserable associations for ever. I little thought the time
would come when I should look back to the time spent in that small mean
room as the best period of my life,--when I should regard the bitter
poverty I then endured, as the stern but holy angel meant to guide me to
the highest and noblest attainment,--when I should pray desperately with
wild tears to be as I was then, rather than as I am now! Is it well or
ill for us I wonder, that the future is hidden from our knowledge?
Should we steer our ways clearer from evil if we knew its result? It is
a doubtful question,--at anyrate my ignorance for the moment was indeed
bliss. I went joyfully out of the dreary house where I had lived so long
among disappointments and difficulties, turning my back upon it with
such a sense of relief as could never be expressed in words,--and the
last thing I heard as I passed into the street with my companion, was a
plaintive long-drawn wail of minor melody, which seemed to be sent after
me like a parting cry, by the unknown and invisible player of the
violin.