i

julian maldon faced louis in the parlour. louis had conducted him there without the assistance of mrs. tams, who had been not merely advised, but commanded, to go to bed. julian had entered the house like an exasperated enemy—glum, suspicious, and ferocious. his mien seemed to say: "you wanted me to come, and i've come. but mind you don't drive me to extremities." impossible to guess from his grim face that he had asked permission to come! nevertheless he had shaken louis' hand with a ferocious sincerity which louis felt keenly the next morning. he was the same julian except that he had grown a brown beard. he had exactly the same short, thick-set figure, and the same defiant stare. south africa had not changed him. no experience could change him. he would have returned from ten years at the north pole or at the equator, with savages or with uncompromising intellectuals, just the same julian. he was one of those beings who are violently themselves all the time. by some characteristic social clumsiness he had omitted to remove his overcoat in the lobby. and now, in the parlour, he could not get it off. as a man seated, engaged in conversation by a woman standing, forgets to rise at once and then cannot rise, finding himself glued to the chair, so was julian with his overcoat; to take it off he would have had to flay himself alive.

"won't you take off your overcoat?" louis suggested.

"no."

with his instinctive politeness louis turned to improve the fire. and as he poked among the coals he said, in the way of amiable conversation—

"how's south africa?"

"all right," replied julian, who hated to impart his sensations. if julian had witnessed napoleon's retreat from moscow he would have come to the five towns and, if questioned—not otherwise—would have said that it was all right.

louis, however, suspected that his brevity was due to julian's resentment of any inquisitiveness concerning his doings in south africa; and he therefore at once abandoned south africa as a subject of talk, though he was rather curious to know what, indeed, julian had been about in south africa for six mortal months. nobody in the five towns knew for certain what julian had been about in south africa. it was understood that he had gone there as a commercial traveller for his own wares, when his business was in a highly unsatisfactory condition, and that he had meant to stay for only a month. the excursion had been deemed somewhat mad, but not more mad than sundry other deeds of julian. then julian's manager, foulger, had (it appeared) received authority to assume responsible charge of the manufactory until further notice. from that moment the business had prospered: a result at which nobody was surprised, because foulger was notoriously a "good man" who had hitherto been baulked in his ideas by an obstinate young employer.

in a community of stiff-necked employers, julian already held a high place for the quality of being stiff-necked. jim horrocleave, for example, had a queer, murderous manner with customers and with "hands," but horrocleave was friendly towards scientific ideas in the earthenware industry, and had even given half a guinea to the fund for encouraging technical education in the district. whereas julian maldon not only terrorized customers and work-people (the latter nevertheless had a sort of liking for him), but was bitingly scornful of "cranky chemists," or "germans," as he called the scientific educated experts. he was the pure essence of the british manufacturer. he refused to make what the market wanted, unless the market happened to want what he wanted to make. he hated to understand the reasons underlying the processes of manufacture, or to do anything which had not been regularly done for at least fifty years. and he accepted orders like insults. the wonder was, not that he did so little business, but that he did so much. still, people did respect him. his aunt maldon, with her skilled habit of finding good points in mankind, had thought that he must be remarkably intelligent because he was so rude.

beyond a vague rumour that julian had established a general pottery agency in cape town with favourable prospects, no further news of him had reached england. but of course it was admitted that his inheritance had definitely saved the business, and also much improved his situation in the eyes of the community ... and now he had achieved a reappearance which in mysteriousness excelled even his absence.

"so you see we're installed here," said louis, when he had finished with the fire.

"aye!" muttered julian dryly, and shut his lips.

louis tried no more conversational openings. he was afraid. he waited for julian's initiative as for an earthquake; for he knew now at the roots of his soul that the phrasing of the note was misleading, and that julian had come to charge him with having misappropriated the sum of nine hundred and sixty-five pounds. he had, in reality, surmised as much on first reading the note, but somehow he had managed to put away the surmise as absurd and incredible.

after a formidable silence julian said savagely—

"look here. i've got something to tell you. i've written it all down, and i thought to send it ye by post. but after i'd written it i said to myself i'd tell it ye face to face or i'd die for it. and so here i am."

"oh!" louis murmured. he would have liked to be genially facetious, but his mouth was dried up. he could not ask any questions. he waited.

"where's missis?" julian demanded.

louis started, not instantly comprehending.

"rachel? she's—she's in bed. she'd gone to bed before you sent round."

"well, i'll thank ye to get her up, then!" julian pronounced. "she's got to hear this at first hand, not at second." his gaze expressed a frank distrust of louis.

"but—"

at this moment rachel came into the parlour, apparently fully dressed. her eyes were red, but her self-control was complete.

julian glared at louis as at a trapped liar.

"i thought ye said she was in bed."

"she was," said louis. he could find nothing to say to his wife.

rachel nonchalantly held out her hand.

"so you've come," she said.

"aye!" said julian gruffly, and served rachel's hand as he had served louis'.

she winced without concealment.

"was it you we saw going down moorthorne road to-night?" she asked.

"it was," said julian, looking at the carpet.

"well, why didn't you come in then?"

"i couldn't make up my mind, if you must know."

"aren't you going to sit down?"

julian sat down.

louis reflected that women were astonishing and incalculable, and the discovery seemed to him original, even profound. imagine her tackling julian in this fashion, with no preliminaries! she might have seen julian last only on the previous day! the odalisque had vanished in this chill and matter-of-fact housewife.

"and why were you at the 'three tuns'?" she went on.

julian replied with extraordinary bitterness—

"i was at the 'three tuns' because i was at the 'three tuns.'"

"i see you've grown a beard," said rachel.

"happen i have," said julian. "but what i say is, i've got something to tell you two. i've written it all down and i thought to post it to ye. but after i'd written it i says to myself, 'i'll tell 'em face to face or i'll die for it.'"

"is it about that money?" rachel inquired.

"aye!"

"then mr. batchgrew did write and tell you about it. won't you take that great, thick overcoat off?"

julian jumped up as if in fury, pulled off the overcoat with violent gestures, and threw in on the chesterfield. then he sat down again, and, sticking out his chin, stared inimically at louis.

louis' throat was now so tight that he was nervously obliged to make the motion of swallowing. he could look neither at rachel nor at julian. he was nonplussed. he knew not what to expect nor what he feared. he could not even be sure that what he feared was an accusation. "i am safe. i am safe," he tried to repeat to himself, deeply convinced, nevertheless, against his reason, that he was not safe. the whole scene, every aspect of it, baffled and inexpressibly dismayed him.

julian still stared, with mouth open, threatening. then he slapped his knee.

"nay!" said he. "i shall read it to ye." and he drew some sheets of foolscap from his pocket. he opened the sheets, and frowned at them, and coughed. "nay!" said he. "there's nothing else for it. i must smoke."

and he produced a charred pipe which might or might not have been the gift of mrs. maldon, filled it, struck a match on his boot, and turbulently puffed outrageous quantities of smoke. louis, with singular courage, lit a cigarette, which gave him a little ease of demeanour, if not confidence.

ii

and then at length julian began to read—

"'before i went to south africa last autumn i found myself in considerable business difficulties. the causes of said difficulties were bad trade, unfair competition, and price-cutting at home and abroad, especially in germany, and the modern spirit of unrest among the working-classes making it impossible for an employer to be master on his own works. i was not insolvent, but i needed capital, the life-blood of industry. in justice to myself i ought to explain that my visit to south africa was very carefully planned and thought out. i had a good reason to believe that a lot of business in door-furniture could be done there, and that i could obtain some capital from a customer in durban. i point this out merely because trade rivals have tried to throw ridicule upon me for going out to south africa when i did. i must ask you to read carefully'—you see, this was a letter to you," he interjected—"read carefully all that i say. i will now proceed."

"'when i came to aunt maldon's the night before i left for south africa i wanted a wash, and i went into the back room—i mean the room behind the parlour—and took off my coat preparatory to going into the scullery to perform my ablutions. while in the back room i noticed that the picture nearest the cupboard opposite the door was hung very crooked. when i came back to put my coat on again after washing, my eye again caught the picture. there was a chair almost beneath it. i got on the chair and put the picture into an horizontal position. while i was standing on the chair i could see on the top of the cupboard, where something white struck my attention. it was behind the cornice of the cupboard, but i could see it. i took it off the top of the cupboard and carefully scrutinized it by the gas, which, as you know, is at the corner of the fireplace, close to the cupboard. it was a roll consisting of bank of england notes, to the value of four hundred and fifty pounds. i counted them at once, while i was standing on the chair. i then put them in the pocket of my coat which i had already put on. i wish to point out that if the chair had not been under the picture i should in all human probability not have attempted to straighten the picture. also—'"

"but surely, julian," louis interrupted him, in a constrained voice, "you could have reached the picture without standing on the chair?" he interrupted solely from a tremendous desire for speech. it would have been impossible for him to remain silent. he had to speak or perish.

"i couldn't," julian denied vehemently. "the picture's practically as high as the top of the cupboard—or was."

"and could you see on to the top of the cupboard from a chair?" louis, with a peculiar gaze, was apparently estimating julian's total height from the ground when raised on a chair.

julian dashed down the papers.

"here! come and look for yourself!" he exclaimed with furious pugnacity. "come and look." he jumped up and moved towards the door.

rachel and louis followed him obediently. in the back room it was he who struck a match and lighted the gas.

"you've shifted the picture!" he cried, as soon as the room was illuminated.

"yes, we have," louis admitted.

"but there's where it was!" julian almost shouted, pointing. "you can't deny it! there's the marks. are they as high as the top of the cupboard, or aren't they?" then he dragged along a chair to the cupboard and stood on it, puffing at his pipe. "can i see on to the top of the cupboard or can't i?" he demanded. obviously he could see on to the top of the cupboard.

"i didn't think the top was so low," said louis.

"well, you shouldn't contradict," julian chastised him.

"it's just as your great-aunt said," put in rachel, in a meditative tone. "i remember she told us she pushed a chair forward with her knee. i dare say in getting on to the chair she knocked her elbow or something against the picture, and no doubt she left the chair more or less where she'd pushed it. that would be it."

"did she say that to you?" louis questioned rachel.

"it doesn't matter much what she said," julian growled. "that's how it was, anyway. i'm telling you. i'm not here to listen to theories."

"well," said louis amiably, "you put the notes into your pocket. what then?"

julian removed his pipe from his mouth.

"what then? i walked off with 'em."

"but you don't mean to tell us you meant—to appropriate them, julian? you don't mean that!" louis spoke reassuringly, good-naturedly, and with a slight superiority.

"no, i don't. i don't mean i appropriated 'em." julian's voice rose defiantly. "i mean i stole them.... i stole them, and what's more, i meant to steal them. and so there ye are! but come back to the parlour. i must finish my reading."

he strode away into the parlour, and the other two had no alternative but to follow him. they followed him like guilty things; for the manner of his confession was such as apparently to put his hearers, more than himself, in the wrong. he confessed as one who accuses.

"sit down," said he, in the parlour.

"but surely," louis protested, "if you're serious—"

"if i'm serious, man! do you take me for a bally mountebank? do you suppose i'm doing this for fun?"

"well," said louis, "if you are serious, you needn't tell us any more. we know, and that's enough, isn't it?"

julian replied curtly, "you've got to hear me out."

and picking up his document from the floor, he resumed the perusal.

"'also, if the gas hadn't been where it is, i should not have noticed anything on the top of the cupboard. i took the notes because i was badly in need of money, and also because i was angry at money being left like that on the tops of cupboards. i had no idea aunt maldon was such a foolish woman.'"

louis interjected soothingly: "but you only meant to teach the old lady a lesson and give the notes back."

"i didn't," said julian, again extremely irritated. "can't ye understand plain english? i say i stole the money, and i meant to steal it. don't let me have to tell ye that any more. i'll go on: 'the sight of the notes was too sore a temptation for me, and i yielded to it. and all the more shame to me, for i had considered myself an honest man up to that very hour. i never thought about the consequences to my aunt maldon, nor how i was going to get rid of the notes. i wanted money bad, and i took it. as soon as i'd left the house i was stricken with remorse. i could not decide what to do. the fact is i had no time to reflect until i was on the steamer, and it was then too late. upon arriving at cape town i found the cable stating that aunt maldon was dead. i draw a veil over my state of mind, which, however, does not concern you. i ought to have returned to england at once, but i could not. i might have sent to batchgrew and told him to take half of four hundred and fifty pounds off my share of aunt maldon's estate and put it into yours. but that would not have helped my conscience. i had it on my conscience, as it might have been on my stomach. i tried religion, but it was no good to me. it was between a prayer-meeting and an experience-meeting at durban that i used part of the ill-gotten money. i had not touched it till then. but two days later i got back the very note that i'd spent. a prey to remorse, i wandered from town to town, trying to do business.'"

iii

rachel stood up.

"julian!"

it was the first time in her life that she had called him by his christian name.

"what?"

"give me that." as he hesitated, she added, "i want it."

he handed her the written confession.

"i simply can't bear to hear you reading it," said rachel passionately. "all about a prey to remorse and so on and so on! why do you want to confess? why couldn't you have paid back the money and have done with it, instead of all this fuss?"

"i must finish it now i've begun," julian insisted sullenly.

"you'll do no such thing—not in my house."

and, repeating pleasurably the phrase "not in my house," rachel stuck the confession into the fire, and feverishly forced it into the red coals with lunges of the poker. when she turned away from the fire she was flushing scarlet. julian stood close by her on the hearth-rug.

"you don't understand," he said, with half-fearful resentment. "i had to punish myself. i doubt i'm not a religious man, but i had to punish myself. there's nobody in the world as i should hate confessing to as much as louis here, and so i said to myself, i said, 'i'll confess to louis.' i've been wandering about all the evening trying to bring myself to do it.... well, i've done it."

his voice trembled, and though the vibration in it was almost imperceptible, it was sufficient to nullify the ridiculousness of julian's demeanour as a wearer of sackcloth, and to bring a sudden lump into rachel's throat. the comical absurdity of his bellicose pride because he had accomplished something which he had sworn to accomplish was extinguished by the absolutely painful sincerity of his final words, which seemed somehow to damage the reputation of louis. rachel could feel her emotion increasing, but she could not have defined what her emotion was. she knew not what to do. she was in the midst of a new and intense experience, which left her helpless. all she was clearly conscious of was an unrepentant voice in her heart repeating the phrase: "i don't care! i'm glad i stuck it in the fire! i don't care! i'm glad i stuck it in the fire." she waited for the next development. they were all waiting, aware that individual forces had been loosed, but unable to divine their resultant, and afraid of that resultant. rachel glanced furtively at louis. his face had an uneasy, stiff smile.

with an aggrieved air julian knocked the ashes out of his pipe.

"anyhow," said louis at length, "this accounts for four hundred and fifty out of nine sixty-five. what we have to find out now, all of us, is what happened to the balance."

"i don't care a fig about the balance," said julian impetuously. "i've said what i had to say and that's enough for me."

and he did not, in fact, care a fig about the balance. and if the balance had been five thousand odd instead of five hundred odd, he still probably would not have cared. further, he privately considered that nobody else ought to care about the balance, either, having regard to the supreme moral importance to himself of the four hundred and fifty.

"have you said anything to mr. batchgrew?" louis asked, trying to adopt a casual tone, and to keep out of his voice the relief and joy which were gradually taking possession of his soul. the upshot of julian's visit was so amazingly different from the apprehension of it that he could have danced in his glee.

"not i!" julian answered ferociously. "the old robber has been writing me, wanting me to put money into some cinema swindle or other. i gave him a bit of my mind."

"he was trying the same here," said rachel. the words popped by themselves out of her mouth, and she instantly regretted them. however, louis seemed to be unconscious of the implied reproach on a subject presumably still highly delicate.

"but you can tell him, if you've a mind," julian went on challengingly.

"we shan't do any such thing," said rachel, words again popping by themselves out of her mouth. but this time she put herself right by adding, "shall we, louis?"

"of course not," louis agreed very amiably.

rachel began to feel sympathetic towards the thief. she thought: "how strange to have some one close to me, and talking quite naturally, who has stolen such a lot of money and might be in prison for it—a convict!" nevertheless, the thief seemed to be remarkably like ordinary people.

"oh!" julian ejaculated. "well, here's the notes." he drew a lot of notes from a pocket-book and banged them down on the table. "four hundred and fifty. the identical notes. count 'em." he glared afresh, and with even increased virulence.

"that's all right," said louis. "that's all right. besides, we only want half of them."

sundry sheets of the confession, which had not previously caught fire, suddenly blazed up with a roar in the grate, and all looked momentarily at the flare.

"you've got to have it all!" said julian, flushing.

"my dear fellow," louis repeated, "we shall only take half. the other half's yours."

"as god sees me," julian urged, "i'll never take a penny of that money! here—"

he snatched up all the notes and dashed wrathfully out of the parlour. rachel followed quickly. he went to the back room, where the gas had been left burning high, sprang on to a chair in front of the cupboard, and deposited the notes on the top of the cupboard, in the very place from which he had originally taken them.

"there!" he exclaimed, jumping down from the chair. the symbolism of the action appeared to tranquillize him.

iv

for a moment rachel, as a newly constituted housewife to whom every square foot of furniture surface had its own peculiar importance, was enraged to see julian's heavy and dirty boots again on the seat of her unprotected chair. but the sense of hurt passed like a spasm as her eyes caught julian's. they were alone together in the back room and not far from each other. and in the man's eyes she no longer saw the savage julian, but an intensely suffering creature, a creature martyrized by destiny. she saw the real julian glancing out in torment at the world through those eyes. the effect of the vibration in julian's voice a few minutes earlier was redoubled. her emotion nearly overcame her. she desired very much to succour julian, and was aware of a more distinct feeling of impatience against louis.

she thought julian had been magnificently heroic, and all his faults of demeanour were counted to him for excellences. he had been a thief; but the significance of the word "thief" was indeed completely altered for her. she had hitherto envisaged thieves as rascals in handcuffs bandied along the streets by policemen at the head of a procession of urchins—dreadful rascals! but now a thief was just a young man like other young men—only he had happened to see some bank-notes lying about and had put them in his pocket and then had felt very sorry for what he had done. there was no crime in what he had done ... was there? she pictured julian's pilgrimage through south africa, all alone. she pictured his existence at knype, all alone; and his very ferocity rendered him the more wistful and pathetic in her sight. she was sure that his mother and sisters had never understood him; and she did not think it quite proper on their part to have gone permanently to america, leaving him solitary in england, as they had done. she perceived that she herself was the one person in the world capable of understanding julian, the one person who could look after him, influence him, keep him straight, civilize him, and impart some charm to his life. and she was glad that she had the status of a married woman, because without that she would have been helpless.

julian sat down, or sank, on to the chair.

"i'm very sorry i spoke like that to you in the other room—i mean about what you'd written," she said. "i suppose i ought not to have burnt it."

she spoke in this manner because to apologize to him gave her a curious pleasure.

"that's nothing," he answered, with the quietness of fatigue. "i dare say you were right enough. anyhow, ye'll never see me again."

she exclaimed, kindly protesting—

"why not, i should like to know?"

"you won't want me here as a visitor, after all this." he faintly sneered.

"i shall," she insisted.

"louis won't."

she replied: "you must come and see me. i shall expect you to. i must tell you," she added confidentially, in a lower tone, "i think you've been splendid to-night. i'm sure i respect you much more than i did before—and you can take it how you like!"

"nay! nay!" he murmured deprecatingly. all the harshness had melted out of his voice.

then he stood up.

"i'd better hook it," he said briefly. "will you get me my overcoat, missis."

she comprehended that he wished to avoid speaking to louis again that night, and, nodding, went at once to the parlour and brought away the overcoat.

"he's going," she muttered hastily to louis, who was standing near the fire. leaving the parlour, she drew the door to behind her.

she helped julian with his overcoat and preceded him to the front door. she held out her hand to be tortured afresh, and suffered the grip of the vice with a steady smile.

"now don't forget," she whispered.

julian seemed to try to speak and to fail.... he was gone. she carefully closed and bolted the door.

v

louis had not followed julian and rachel into the back room because he felt the force of an instinct to be alone with his secret satisfaction. in those moments it irked him to be observed, and especially to be observed by rachel, not to mention julian. he was glad for several reasons—on account of his relief, on account of the windfall of money, and perhaps most of all on account of the discovery that he was not the only thief in the family. the bizarre coincidence which had divided the crime about equally between himself and julian amused him. his case and julian's were on a level. nevertheless, he somewhat despised julian, patronized him, condescended to him. he could not help thinking that julian was, after all, a greater sinner than himself. never again could julian look him (louis) in the face as if nothing had happened. the blundering julian was marked for life, by his own violent, unreasonable hand. julian was a fool.

rachel entered rather solemnly.

"has he really gone?" louis asked. rachel did not care for her husband's tone, which was too frivolous for her. she was shocked to find that louis had not been profoundly impressed by the events of the night.

"yes," she said.

"what's he done with the money?"

"he's left it in the other room." she would not disclose to louis that julian had restored the notes to the top of the cupboard, because she was afraid that he might treat the symbolic act with levity.

"all of it?"

"yes. i'll bring it you."

she did so. louis counted the notes and casually put them in his breast pocket.

"oddest chap i ever came across!" he observed, smiling.

"but aren't you sorry for him?" rachel demanded.

"yes," said louis airily. "i shall insist on his taking half, naturally."

"i'm going to bed," said rachel. "you'll see all the lights out."

she offered her face and kissed him tepidly.

"what's come over the kid?" louis asked himself, somewhat disconcerted, when she had gone.

he remained smoking, purposeless, in the parlour until all sounds had ceased overhead in the bedroom. then he extinguished the gas in the parlour, in the back room, in the kitchen, and finally in the lobby, and went upstairs by the light of the street lamp. in the bedroom rachel lay in bed, her eyes closed. she did not stir at his entrance. he locked the bank-notes in a drawer of the dressing-table, undressed with his usual elaborate care, approached rachel's bed and gazed at her unresponsive form, turned down the gas to a pinpoint, and got into bed himself. not the slightest sound could be heard anywhere, either in or out of the house, save the faint breathing of rachel. and after a few moments louis no longer heard even that. in the darkness the mystery of the human being next him began somehow to be disquieting. he was capable of imagining that he lay in the room with an utter stranger. then he fell asleep.