it can easily be believed that as the weeks passed the name and fame of the mysterious owner of the new hall resounded over the quiet countryside until the rumour of him had spread to the remotest corners of warwickshire and staffordshire. in birmingham on the one side, and in coventry and leamington on the other, there was gossip as to his untold riches, his extraordinary whims, and the remarkable life which he led. his name was bandied from mouth to mouth, and a thousand efforts were made to find out who and what he was. in spite of all their pains, however, the newsmongers were unable to discover the slightest trace of his antecedents, or to form even a guess as to the secret of his riches.
it was no wonder that conjecture was rife upon the subject, for hardly a day passed without furnishing some new instance of the boundlessness of his power and of the goodness of his heart. through the vicar, robert, and others, he had learned much of the inner life of the parish, and many were the times when the struggling man, harassed and driven to the wall, found thrust into his hand some morning a brief note with an enclosure which rolled all the sorrow back from his life. one day a thick double-breasted pea-jacket and a pair of good sturdy boots were served out to every old man in the almshouse. on another, miss swire, the decayed gentlewoman who eked out her small annuity by needlework, had a brand new first-class sewing-machine handed in to her to take the place of the old worn-out treadle which tried her rheumatic joints. the pale-faced schoolmaster, who had spent years with hardly a break in struggling with the juvenile obtuseness of tamfield, received through the post a circular ticket for a two months' tour through southern europe, with hotel coupons and all complete. john hackett, the farmer, after five long years of bad seasons, borne with a brave heart, had at last been overthrown by the sixth, and had the bailiffs actually in the house when the good vicar had rushed in, waving a note above his head, to tell him not only that his deficit had been made up, but that enough remained over to provide the improved machinery which would enable him to hold his own for the future. an almost superstitious feeling came upon the rustic folk as they looked at the great palace when the sun gleamed upon the huge hot-houses, or even more so, perhaps, when at night the brilliant electric lights shot their white radiance through the countless rows of windows. to them it was as if some minor providence presided in that great place, unseen but seeing all, boundless in its power and its graciousness, ever ready to assist and to befriend. in every good deed, however, raffles haw still remained in the background, while the vicar and robert had the pleasant task of conveying his benefits to the lowly and the suffering.
once only did he appear in his own person, and that was upon the famous occasion when he saved the well-known bank of garraweg brothers in birmingham. the most charitable and upright of men, the two brothers, louis and rupert, had built up a business which extended its ramifications into every townlet of four counties. the failure of their london agents had suddenly brought a heavy loss upon them, and the circumstance leaking out had caused a sudden and most dangerous run upon their establishment. urgent telegrams for bullion from all their forty branches poured in at the very instant when the head office was crowded with anxious clients all waving their deposit-books, and clamouring for their money. bravely did the two brothers with their staff stand with smiling faces behind the shining counter, while swift messengers sped and telegrams flashed to draw in all the available resources of the bank. all day the stream poured through the office, and when four o'clock came, and the doors were closed for the day, the street without was still blocked by the expectant crowd, while there remained scarce a thousand pounds of bullion in the cellars.
“it is only postponed. louis,” said brother rupert despairingly, when the last clerk had left the office, and when at last they could relax the fixed smile upon their haggard faces.
“those shutters will never come down again,” cried brother louis, and the two suddenly burst out sobbing in each other's arms, not for their own griefs, but for the miseries which they might bring upon those who had trusted them.
but who shall ever dare to say that there is no hope, if he will but give his griefs to the world? that very night mrs. spurling had received a letter from her old school friend, mrs. louis garraweg, with all her fears and her hopes poured out in it, and the whole sad story of their troubles. swift from the vicarage went the message to the hall, and early next morning mr. raffles haw, with a great black carpet-bag in his hand, found means to draw the cashier of the local branch of the bank of england from his breakfast, and to persuade him to open his doors at unofficial hours. by half-past nine the crowd had already begun to collect around garraweg's, when a stranger, pale and thin, with a bloated carpet-bag, was shown at his own very pressing request into the bank parlour.
“it is no use, sir,” said the elder brother humbly, as they stood together encouraging each other to turn a brave face to misfortune, “we can do no more. we have little left, and it would be unfair to the others to pay you now. we can but hope that when our assets are realised no one will be the loser save ourselves.”
“i did not come to draw out, but to put in,” said raffles haw in his demure apologetic fashion. “i have in my bag five thousand hundred-pound bank of england notes. if you will have the goodness to place them to my credit account i should be extremely obliged.”
“but, good heavens, sir!” stammered rupert garraweg, “have you not heard? have you not seen? we cannot allow you to do this thing blindfold; can we louis?”
“most certainly not. we cannot recommend our bank, sir, at the present moment, for there is a run upon us, and we do not know to what lengths it may go.”
“tut! tut!” said raffles haw. “if the run continues you must send me a wire, and i shall make a small addition to my account. you will send me a receipt by post. good-morning, gentlemen!” he bowed himself out ere the astounded partners could realise what had befallen them, or raise their eyes from the huge black bag and the visiting card which lay upon their table. there was no great failure in birmingham that day, and the house of garraweg still survives to enjoy the success which it deserves.
such were the deeds by which raffles haw made himself known throughout the midlands, and yet, in spite of all his open-handedness, he was not a man to be imposed upon. in vain the sturdy beggar cringed at his gate, and in vain the crafty letter-writer poured out a thousand fabulous woes upon paper. robert was astonished when he brought some tale of trouble to the hall to observe how swift was the perception of the recluse, and how unerringly he could detect a flaw in a narrative, or lay his finger upon the one point which rang false. were a man strong enough to help himself, or of such a nature as to profit nothing by help, none would he get from the master of the new hall. in vain, for example, did old mcintyre throw himself continually across the path of the millionaire, and impress upon him, by a thousand hints and innuendoes, the hard fortune which had been dealt him, and the ease with which his fallen greatness might be restored. raffles haw listened politely, bowed, smiled, but never showed the slightest inclination to restore the querulous old gunmaker to his pedestal.
but if the recluse's wealth was a lure which drew the beggars from far and near, as the lamp draws the moths, it had the same power of attraction upon another and much more dangerous class. strange hard faces were seen in the village street, prowling figures were marked at night stealing about among the fir plantations, and warning messages arrived from city police and county constabulary to say that evil visitors were known to have taken train to tamfield. but if, as raffles haw held, there were few limits to the power of immense wealth, it possessed, among other things, the power of self-preservation, as one or two people were to learn to their cost.
“would you mind stepping up to the hall?” he said one morning, putting his head in at the door of the elmdene sitting-room. “i have something there that might amuse you.” he was on intimate terms with the mcintyres now, and there were few days on which they did not see something of each other.
they gladly accompanied him, all three, for such invitations were usually the prelude of some agreeable surprise which he had in store for them.
“i have shown you a tiger,” he remarked to laura, as he led them into the dining-room. “i will now show you something quite as dangerous, though not nearly so pretty.” there was an arrangement of mirrors at one end of the room, with a large circular glass set at a sharp angle at the top.
“look in there—in the upper glass,” said raffles haw.
“good gracious! what dreadful-looking men!” cried laura. “there are two of them, and i don't know which is the worse.”
“what on earth are they doing?” asked robert. “they appear to be sitting on the ground in some sort of a cellar.”
“most dangerous-looking characters,” said the old man. “i should strongly recommend you to send for a policeman.”
“i have done so. but it seems a work of supererogation to take them to prison, for they are very snugly in prison already. however, i suppose that the law must have its own.”
“and who are they, and how did they come there? do tell us, mr. haw.”
laura mcintyre had a pretty beseeching way with her, which went rather piquantly with her queenly style of beauty.
“i know no more than you do. they were not there last night, and they are here this morning, so i suppose it is a safe inference that they came in during the night, especially as my servants found the window open when they came down. as to their character and intentions, i should think that is pretty legible upon their faces. they look a pair of beauties, don't they?”
“but i cannot understand in the least where they are,” said robert, staring into the mirror. “one of them has taken to butting his head against the wall. no, he is bending so that the other may stand upon his back. he is up there now, and the light is shining upon his face. what a bewildered ruffianly face it is too. i should so like to sketch it. it would be a study for the picture i am thinking of of the reign of terror.”
“i have caught them in my patent burglar trap,” said haw. “they are my first birds, but i have no doubt that they will not be the last. i will show you how it works. it is quite a new thing. this flooring is now as strong as possible, but every night i disconnect it. it is done simultaneously by a central machine for every room on the ground-floor. when the floor is disconnected one may advance three or four steps, either from the window or door, and then that whole part turns on a hinge and slides you into a padded strong-room beneath, where you may kick your heels until you are released. there is a central oasis between the hinges, where the furniture is grouped for the night. the flooring flies into position again when the weight of the intruder is removed, and there he must bide, while i can always take a peep at him by this simple little optical arrangement. i thought it might amuse you to have a look at my prisoners before i handed them over to the head-constable, who i see is now coming up the avenue.”
“the poor burglars!” cried laura. “it is no wonder that they look bewildered, for i suppose, mr. haw, that they neither know where they are, nor how they came there. i am so glad to know that you guard yourself in this way, for i have often thought that you ran a danger.”
“have you so?” said he, smiling round at her. “i think that my house is fairly burglar-proof. i have one window which may be used as an entrance, the centre one of the three of my laboratory. i keep it so because, to tell the truth, i am somewhat of a night prowler myself, and when i treat myself to a ramble under the stars i like to slip in and out without ceremony. it would, however, be a fortunate rogue who picked the only safe entrance out of a hundred, and even then he might find pitfalls. here is the constable, but you must not go, for miss mcintyre has still something to see in my little place. if you will step into the billiard-room i shall be with you in a very few moments.”
