Kitabı oku: «At the Sign of the Silver Flagon», sayfa 6
CHAPTER XIII
"WHAT IF THERE ARE VILLAINS AND SCOUNDRELS IN THE WORLD?" HE CRIED, "WE WILL NEVER LOSE OUR FAITH IN GOD AND MAN-NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!"
Philip watched until Margaret was out of sight, and then walked slowly to Mr. Hart's room, and knocked at the door, but received no answer. He strolled into the bar of the hotel, but could not see Mr. Hart.
"He must be in his room," quoth Philip to himself. "There was a light there."
He knocked at the door again, and still receiving no answer, turned the handle, and found the door unfastened. He entered the room, and saw Mr. Hart sitting before his little table with his head buried in his hands.
"Ah! you're there," said Philip, closing the door behind him, and drawing a chair to the table. "I want to say something particular to you."
Mr. Hart, with a wave of his hand, motioned the young man to proceed.
Philip was flushed and excited, and somewhat nervous as to how his mission would be received; and being in this condition he did not observe any change in Mr. Hart's face or manner.
"This is how it is," he continued. "You made me an offer for a share in my claim once, and I refused it. Well, I was wrong in refusing, and I want to accept it now. Don't think there's any favour in it, or that the claim is any better or any worse than it was. The stone is looking splendid, and now that the rain is falling the dam will be filled, and we shall commence to crush directly it clears up. I want you to give me two hundred and fifty pounds for a quarter of my half-share. That is an eighth part of the claim, and it sets the claim at a good price-two thousand pounds; and I'll make you a bet of three hundred pounds, and stake the money, that in less than six weeks your share of the profits will amount to three times as much as I ask you for it. There, that is how it is. Now say 'Done!' like a good fellow, and place me under an obligation to you for life. I know you have the money."
He blurted out these words, not coherently and smoothly as they are written here, but in as bungling a manner as can well be imagined. He stammered, he hesitated, he repeated his words, but at length he had explained himself. Mr. Hart had listened quietly, the only motion he made being one which would hide his face more effectually from Philip. When Philip had finished his lame speech and was waiting for an answer, he noticed that Mr. Hart's trunk was open, and that all its contents were scattered about the floor; indeed the whole room was in a state of confusion. Mr. Hart spoke in a low tone.
"You offer me a fourth of your share for two hundred and fifty pounds."
"Yes, and I have the agreement in duplicate in my pocket, with my name to it. I had it drawn out to-day by a lawyer. It only wants your signature, and the thing is settled."
"And you will bet me three hundred pounds, staking the money, that in less than six weeks I shall receive back for my share of the profits three times as much as I give you for it."
"That's it."
"With whom will you stake the money?"
"With you."
"So that I shall really have in hand fifty pounds more than you ask for the share."
"That's it; but why so many words? Say, 'Done and done!'"
Philip was on thorns while the matter was unsettled.
"I must clearly understand," said Mr. Hart, in the same low tone, which, indeed, he preserved throughout this part of the conversation "before I can say anything to the offer. I want to be certain that you mean honestly by me. The world is full of thieves. There is plenty of roguery about."
"That's true," replied Philip complacently; "I'm a bit of a rogue myself."
"And," proceeded Mr. Hart, with a strange hesitation in his voice, "supposing the claim to be utterly worthless, at the end of six weeks I shall be sure to be fifty pounds in pocket?"
"You will be more than that in pocket. The claim's a good one; there's no telling how much gold is in it."
Mr. Hart paused, to steady himself. "I'm not much of an arithmetician; I was always a bad hand at figures; but I can see that I must be a gainer if I accept your offer."
"I hope you will be."
"Your claim is a rich one. All the diggers say so."
"We shall make a fortune out of it in three months," replied Philip, with a bright smile-"you, and all of us."
"On the first day I saw you-"
"When you pulled the centipede out of my hair," interrupted Philip. "A lucky day for me, that was. Good luck to you, old fellow! Yes: on the first day you saw me-go on."
"I offered you, if you remember, a hundred and twenty pounds for a small share in the claim."
"I remember."
"And you refused, saying you would want twenty times as much."
"I spoke like a fool; I didn't know you then." Again Mr. Hart paused.
"Philip," he said presently, in a tremulous tone, "why do you make me this offer?"
Philip hung his head upon his breast, and with a slight trembling of his lower lip, replied softly:
"Because I love you."
A sudden rush of tears came into Mr. Hart's eyes, and he laid his head upon his arm.
"For God's sake don't do that!" cried Philip, rising hurriedly, and looking about him in distress. "If I've said anything to hurt you, forgive me. I'm a great hulking brute; Margaret will never look at me again. There, there, old fellow!"
And Philip, whose heart was as tender as a woman's and whose first intention had been to fly from the room, and dash through the storm, knelt by the side of Mr. Hart, and used words as gentle, and actions as fond as though he were kneeling by the side of a child. And all the time he did this his great limbs were trembling, and the tears were running down his strong beard. Mr. Hart raised his head, which was now on a level with Philip's, and with no more shame or awkwardness than a child would exhibit, put his arms across Philip's shoulders and kissed him.
I draw a veil over the next few moments; neither of them spoke during that time, but their hearts were throbbing with eloquent and tender emotion.
Then said Mr. Hart, when he was calmer:
"Philip, my son, you have taught me a lesson; you have made my heart green again. It was turning bitter against all men, and you have softened it, and restored my faith. Ah, how proud your father must be of such a son!"
Philip groaned. "I ran away from him; I was a scapegrace at home, and I caused the dear old fellow many a heartache. Never mind. I will repay him; I know better now."
"You did nothing wrong, my dear boy, I am sure."
"I almost broke his heart, I think. I tried his patience sorely. He sent me to Cambridge to do honour to his name, and I did my best to disgrace it. I went home with a long tail of debts behind me; he paid them, and said, 'Never mind, my lad; promise me that you will not do so again; see here, I will double your allowance.' I promised him, and took the double allowance, and got into debt again. It hurt him-I saw that. That I should break a promise to him, who had never broken one to me, who had never said a harsh word to me, made him wince. Again he paid my debts; again I promised; again I broke my word. More than that: I involved the son of a friend of his, who gave his name for me to the money-lenders. Well, I couldn't face him the third time. I sent him a list of my debts, and I ran away. The best thing I could do-and the worst, I think, for he loved me, the dear old dad!"
"You will live to repay him."
"I will do my best. I will go home to him, with my dear Margaret on my arm, and say-and say, 'Dear old dad-'"
But he broke down here, and it was Mr. Hart's turn to console him. He was not long in this mood. He jumped to his feet, and with a great shake of his shoulders cried:
"Enough about me! You are in trouble. What is it?"
"I cannot buy the share you offer me, Philip."
"Why? You have money enough, and you shall buy it. You shall! I'll drag the money out of your box. O, I know where you keep it, and I'm strong enough to do what I say."
"You'll find no money there, Philip," said Mr. Hart, sadly.
"You don't mean to say you've been speculating and lost it!" said Philip, pulling a long face.
"No, I have not lost it by speculation, but it is gone all the same. See here, Philip, my son. I had saved nearly four hundred pounds, and I had almost made up my mind to go home and see my daughter at the end of this three months' engagement. It would have been madness to do so when, by staying here for three months longer, I might have doubled my savings, which are all for her; but I am yearning to hold her in my arms, and press my darling to my heart. Ah, Philip! you don't know what a father's love is-you may, one day, my boy, and then you will understand my feelings. Prudence said, 'Stay a little while longer;' but my heart's yearning beat prudence out of the field. It said to me, 'You are an old man; young as you feel, you may break down. Let your daughter see you when you are strong, and able, old as you are, to protect and advise her. Don't wait till you are decrepit and feeble, when she cannot have faith and confidence in you. You have saved money enough three times during the last seven years, and each time you have stayed a little longer, and lost it. Go now, and don't tempt bad fortune again.' About my having saved money enough three times, Philip, it is true, and true that I have lost it, lost it by trusting friends, who deceived me, and played me false. Well, I began to get frightened by these reflections, and to-day, you know, the letters by the Overland Mail camp up to Silver Creek. Among them was a letter for me by my daughter, a letter filled with such expressions of love and affection that I should have been less than a man not to have hungered for a sight of her. I resolved; I would go home when the engagement here terminated. I reckoned that I could land in England with six hundred pounds. After the theatre was closed, I came into my room, and opened my box, to count my money as a miser does. How often have I done it, and with what different feelings from those which must animate a miser! Imagine my despair, my boy, when I found that I had been robbed. Philip, I haven't a shilling in the world! Once more I am left a beggar. It was while I was contemplating the dreary prospect before me that you came in. In my heart I was cursing all mankind, and a terrible feeling of doubt of higher things was creeping into my mind. But your noble offer has restored my faith again. What if there are villains and scoundrels in the world!" he cried, standing up before the admiring Philip. "Let them creep, and crawl, and plunder, and grow rich; and then die their death of shame! We will never lose our faith in God and man-never, never, never! Ay, though our dear heart's wishes may never be gratified, we will bow our heads reverently, and believe in goodness, and hope to the last!"
He held out his hand, and Philip took it. The grasp was to the younger man as though he were pledging himself to a life of honour and integrity.
"In my young days," continued Mr. Hart, with a soft light in his eyes, "I had a friend; in my young days I loved a woman as truly as you love Margaret. I have not seen my friend for thirty years. I have not received line or message from him, nor he from me, and he is still my friend, and I am his. The woman I loved did not love me, and I went from her sight. But though in after years I loved another woman who became my wife, and who gave me my daughter, the memory of the first has never left me, and I think of her with tenderness still. These and other remembrances have in a measure sustained my faith, and, I humbly hope, purified my life. Shall I turn a misanthrope now in my old age, and snarl at mankind because I have been deceived for the dozenth time? No, Philip, no! It would be robbing life of all its sweetness."
But in spite of this generous outburst, his grief was too powerful to be thus suddenly conquered, and his lips quivered again with emotion as he thought of his loss.
"Leave me now, Philip," he said. "I cannot accept your offer, but while my heart beats, you have a place in it."
He had barely uttered these words when the storm without grew more furious. The rain came down like a flood. The wind rattled about the wooden walls of the hotel to such an extent that it seemed as though the building could not possibly hold together. A flash of lightning, so vivid that it almost blinded them, pierced the ground, and at its heels followed a peal of thunder so terrible that it shook the very foundation of the earth. They stood spell-bound. When sight and hearing were restored to them, they heard what sounded like a great crash outside, mingled with human cries; but their attention was diverted from these by the appearance of Margaret, white and trembling, at the door.
CHAPTER XIV
"THIS IS LIKE THE DAWN OF LIFE, MY SWEET."
"I am frightened," she murmured, and ran into her lover's arms, and hid her face in his breast, and tremblingly asked if the world was coming to an end.
Philip, who was really startled by the fury of the storm, recovered his self-possession the moment he saw Margaret. Lovers are not only proverbially, but actually selfish. As Philip embraced Margaret, and pressed her to his breast, I do not believe he cared a pin for the storm-nor Margaret either. She felt quite safe in his arms, but, womanlike, she still expressed her fears.
"O, Philip!"
Clinging closer to him.
"There is nothing to be frightened at, darling," said he.
"It is coming to an end, I know," she murmured (meaning the world), "but it is a comfort to die in your arms!"
"It will be a greater comfort to live in them," replied Philip, half gaily.
She reproved him, asking, "How could he, at such a time?" and murmured that it was wicked to think of such things (never mentioning what things) in the midst of such terrible goings-on. I doubt if any other two persons in the hotel, speaking so softly; could have heard one another, but these two were lovers, and their lips almost, perhaps quite touched. The storm was raging so furiously, and there was such a din and confusion all around them, wind blowing, thunder thundering, and people shouting, that Mr. Hart had to raise his voice very high when he spoke, so that Philip might hear it.
"Something has occurred," he said; "did you hear the crash?"
Philip nodded that he had heard it.
"It was not all thunder. Mischief has been done; I shall go out and see."
"I will go too," said Philip.
"And leave me?" cried Margaret.
He would have found it difficult to do so, she clung to him so closely.
"No," he answered; "come along with us."
Philip caught up a blanket, and wrapped his Margaret in it from head to foot. All was dark outside, except when the lightning lit up the scene.
"Keep close, Margaret," said Philip.
As if she needed telling!
"A black night, indeed," said Mr. Hart, holding his hand before his eyes; "a black night, in every sense of the word. One wants sailors' eyes at such a time. Why, where's the theatre?"
A flash of lightning had revealed to him the space where the theatre had stood, but the roof was no longer visible. Their forms had been recognised in the flash.
"Is that you, Hart?" cried a hearty voice.
It was William Smith who spoke, and his voice was as cheery and as ringing as the blast of a silver trumpet.
"Yes."
"Who is that with you?"
"Philip."
"Ah, Philip! if the dam has stood, our fortune's made, Philip."
"The dam's all right!" shouted Philip.
(Please to remember that there could be no doubt about the safety of the dam, Margaret's lips having insured it.)
"I hope so," shouted William Smith. "It'll be a bit of good luck to make up for a bit of bad. Mr. Hart, the theatre's down!"
Mr. Hart groaned.
"It needed but that," he murmured.
"You could play a piece now with real thunder and lightning," continued William Smith, at the top of his voice. "Why don't you speak? I suppose you're down in the mouth because your theatre's all to pieces! Never say die, man!"
Mr. Hart said nothing. This stroke of bad fortune coming so close upon the loss of his savings almost crushed him.
"We'll have it up again in less than a week," cried the plucky speculator. "William Smith's hard to beat!"
He really seemed to enjoy it. If those who had known him in London could have seen and heard him now, they would scarcely have believed. In the old country he was a mouse; in the new country he was a man. The wind was enough to blow them away, and it was impossible for them to remain longer in the open. They were already wet through, so they turned into Mr. Hart's room; and presently William Smith joined them, smiling, and fresh as a flower, with the rain glistening on his face and in his hair. He did not stop with them long, for he had his business to look after; his bars were thronged with gold-diggers, drinking the lightning and thunder down. Margaret ran up-stairs to her room, to change her dripping clothes, and when she presented herself again, she was dressed in a loose gown, and her long brown hair was hanging down her back.
"By Jove!" said Philip, under his breath, gazing at her in silent admiration.
There was nothing sham about his Margaret, he thought; she was genuine to the very roots of her hair. What had he done to deserve such a prize? Had any other man in the world ever been so blessed?
Margaret smiled coyly; she knew what was passing through her lover's mind, and was not sorry for the opportunity to show herself. So these small bits of sentimental comedy were played, while the tragedy of the storm was being enacted without.
"We'll make a night of it," said Philip.
All this while he had forgotten Mr. Hart's loss, but it flashed upon him suddenly in the sad look that dwelt in the old man's eyes.
"Margaret," said Philip, "go and sit in that corner, and shut your eyes. Mr. Hart and I have a little bit of private business to transact; it won't take five minutes."
Obedient Margaret moved a few paces away, and closed her eyes, and raised the picture of her lover, handsome, and brave, and noble, to feast upon mentally. Philip stole to her, kissed her fresh lips, and whispered a word in her ear. Then he looked about him for pen and ink, and brought them to the table.
"Now," he said, in a low tone to Mr. Hart, "please to sign these papers."
He took from his pocket the duplicate agreements, by which he sold, and Mr. Hart bought, a fourth of his share in the claim on the Margaret Reef. Mr. Hart gently shook his head. But Philip would not be denied. He pressed and argued, and argued and pressed, and even threatened, until all that Mr. Hart could do was to sit still and listen. But still he would not sign.
"Margaret," said Philip, "come and help me."
Up jumped Margaret, and ran to the table.
"This is how it is," said Philip, appealing to her, but Mr. Hart interrupted him.
"No, no; let me explain."
"Stop his mouth, Margaret!"
Margaret placed her small hand on Mr. Hart's mouth, having to encircle his neck with her soft arm to do so. He could not quarrel with the necklace, and he kissed her hand.
"O, you may kiss it!" said she. "Philip will not be angry, nor will I."
"I angry!" exclaimed Philip, "with him or you. Keep your hand there, and let him kiss it as often as he likes."
She gave Philip her other hand as a reward, and he warmed it in his.
"This is how it is, Margaret-" and Philip explained the matter to her.
She was grave and silent when his story was finished, out of sympathy for Mr. Hart's loss, and also out of gratitude for her lover's goodness. There was nothing sordid in either of their souls.
"It amounts to this," said Margaret, in unconscious imitation of Philip's style, "that Mr. Hart wants to part us."
"My dear child!" he remonstrated.
"You do! You know you do! for if you don't sign, and become a shareholder in the Margaret Reef, Margaret and Philip will never be married. No, Philip; I'm resolved! I'll never marry you unless I have my own way in this."
"Do you hear what she says?" shouted Philip, triumphantly. "And do you intend to part us for ever?"
The upshot of it all was that Mr. Hart was compelled to yield; but he declared, in broken words, and with tears in his eyes, that he yielded only under compulsion. It might have been, for at the last moment, before signing, he was about to dash the pen away, when Margaret stayed his hand, and with her fingers upon his guided them to sign his name. It would not make a bad picture this; and one almost as good followed, for Philip seized Margaret round the waist, and they waltzed round the old man, singing and laughing, while the storm howled without, and the tears were running down Mr. Hart's face.
"God bless you, my dears!" said Mr. Hart, and would have continued his expressions of gratitude, had not Margaret drowned his voice with her tra-la-la. It was arranged that the share should be paid for with the first two hundred and fifty pounds that would come to Mr. Hart out of the division of profits.
"So after all," said Philip, "it's only lending you the money for a week or two."
"It is giving me the gold," observed Mr. Hart.
"You gave me Margaret," replied Philip softly; "and do you think she's not worth more than all the gold in the world! I am your debtor still, and shall be all my life."
Delicious words, both to utter and hear.
They sat together until sunrise, and Margaret fell asleep in her lover's arms. Lives there the man who has not enjoyed some such heavenly minutes as these? Philip tasted then the most perfect happiness in his life.
When the sun rose, the storm cleared away. Margaret awoke, and sighed and blushed, and looked tenderly at Philip, and Mr. Hart found something so interesting at his window that he was compelled to keep his back to them. They forgave the rudeness; and presently came also to the window, and looked out upon a glorious sight. The skies were glowing with grand colour. Broad masses of golden light fringed with purple, which changed gradually to crimson, rose from the dip of the horizon. Brightly shone the sun in its bed; the sky was dotted with feather-clouds of rosy red in the east, and fairy islands of the loveliest shades of blue, flecked with white, moved towards them from the west. Raindrops seemed to hang, like glistening eyes, between cloud and land; the heavens laughed; all was sweet, and fresh, and beautiful.
So, in another land, which lay beneath them, and on another morning, when summer was waning, the old man shall stand, after a strange and eventful night, gazing on the sunrise with grateful eyes and grateful heart, embracing her who is dearer to him than his heart's blood.
"This is like the dawn of life, my sweet!" whispered Philip to Margaret.
"Of our life, Philip," she whispered.
Mr. Hart heard them.
"A happy dawn," he prayed. "May it bring a happy day!"
But prayers could not avert what was soon to come.
