"so you have conquered your dislike to leaving england, tom; i am very glad. i felt certain you would give-in to our wishes, and see the wisdom of what we suggested to you."
"well, i am not so certain about that, ally; i don't go-in for magnanimity; and i believe there is just that touch of obstinacy in my nature, which would induce me to run counter to any proposition which was very hardly pressed. but when the suggestion was backed as it has been in this instance, i could not possibly doubt the sincerity of those who made it. and so, as you see, i am off."
the place where the conversation, of which a fragment has just been given, occurred, was a broad gravelled path, the favourite promenade of such of the worthy townspeople of southampton as prefer the beauties of nature to the attractions of the shops in the high-street. on one side was the broad water glistening in the bright, cheerful october sun, on the other a large strip of greensward fringed on the farther edge by a row of shining, white-faced lodging-houses and hotels. on the promenade, the grim cannons--trophies taken during the russian war--were surrounded by happy children, fearlessly climbing upon the now innocuous engines of death, within hailing distance of the shore a few boatmen were lazily pulling about, some young men were intent on watching the progress of two dogs who were making a neck-and-neck race for a stick which had been thrown into the water for them to fetch, and the whole scene was one of pleasant cheerfulness.
not out of harmony with it were the two persons whose words have been recorded. the first speaker was a young woman about two-and-twenty, of middle height, with a slight and graceful figure, and with a face which, while some would have called it pretty, would have been pronounced agreeable by all. the features were not regular, the nose was decidedly not classical, the mouth was a little too large, and the lips were a little too full; but there was a wonderful charm in the whiteness and regularity of the teeth, in the bright flash of the hazel eyes, in the crisp ripples of the dark brown hair, and in the clear, healthy red and white of her complexion. she was very becomingly dressed in a black silk gown, a dark-gray jacket trimmed with velvet of the same colour, and a coquettish little black straw hat, and she wore perfectly-fitting gloves and boots. her companion was some twelve years older, a short, squarely-built man, whose breadth of shoulders and length of arms showed much muscular power. the lower part of his face was covered with a thick copper-red beard; the heavy moustaches falling over his mouth so completely as to defy any revelation which might be made by the movements of that tell-tale organ; but his eyes, small and set close together, had a shifty expression, and round them there was that strained, seared look, which in some men is always indicative of dissipation and late hours. he wore a travelling suit of gray tweed, and a wide-awake hat, and from under his beard the ends of a loosely-tied red silk neckerchief fluttered in the wind. lounging along with a rolling gait, his hands buried in his jacket-pockets, he seemed to take but little heed of his companion or her conversation, but paid particular attention to various nursemaids in charge of the children who were playing about, honouring each of them in turn with a long, peculiar, and offensive stare.
he had half turned round to look after a particularly attractive damsel, when his companion, wishing to resume the conversation, touched him on the arm, and said, "you will get to ceylon in--"
"o yes, in so many weeks--what matters one or two more or less? it will be jolly enough on board ship, and when i arrive--i arrive."
"i hope you have made up your mind to be steady, tom, and to work hard. you have now the means for a capital start in life, and for my sake, if for nothing else, you ought to show yourself worthy of what has been done for you."
"look here, ally, don't preach," he said, turning sharply round to her; "everybody thinks they can have a fling at me, and it is, 'o tom durham this, and o tom durham that,' until i am sick enough of it without being sermonised by my half-sister. of curse it was very kind of old claxton--i beg your pardon," he said with a sneer, as he saw a shade pass over her face; "i ought to speak with more deference of your husband and my benefactor--of course it was very kind of mr. claxton to pay my passage out to ceylon, and give me two thousand pounds to set myself up in business on my arrival there; but he is a very long-headed fellow, and he knows i am no fool, and if the agency turns out rightly, he will get a very considerable profit on his outlay."
"i am sure john has no such notion in doing this, tom, and you have no right to impute such a motive to him."
"i impute nothing; i merely suggested; and, after all, perhaps he only did it out of love for you, ally, whom he worships as the apple of his eye, in order to give your reckless half-brother a chance of reform--and to get him out of his way," he muttered under his breath.
"i am sure john is kindness itself," said alice claxton. "if there were nothing to prove that, it could be found in the fact of his wishing me to come down here to see the last of you."
"nothing like giving the old--i mean your husband, every possible credit, ally. you know just now he is away on one of his regular tours and that therefore he won't miss you from hendon."
"i know," said the girl, half-pettishly, "these horrible business-tours are the bane of my life, the only thing i have to complain about. however, john says he hopes, it will not be very long before they are over, and then he will be always at home."
"does he?" said tom durham, looking at her keenly; "i would not have you depend upon that, ally; i would not have you ask him to give up the business which takes him away. it is important for him that he should attend to it for the present, and indeed until there is no longer a necessity for him to do so."
"you need not speak so earnestly, tom," said alice, with a half-laugh; "i assure you i do not worry john about it; it is he who speaks about it much oftener than i do. he is constantly talking of the time when he shall be able to retire altogether, and take me away for a long foreign travel, perhaps to settle entirely abroad, he said, in florence or vienna, or some charming place of that kind."
"old idiot!" muttered tom durham; "why can't he leave well alone?"
"i told him," said alice, not hearing or heeding the interruption, "that i am perfectly content with rose cottage. all i wish is, that he could be more there to enjoy it with me."
"yes," said tom durham, with a yawn. "well, that will come all right, as i told you; only don't you worry him about it, but leave it alone, and let it come right in its own way. now look here, ally. you had better go back to london by the 11.15 train, so that we have only half an hour more together."
"but you know, tom, john told me i might wait and see the massilia start. indeed, he particularly wished me to do so."
"my dear child, the massilia does not sail until half-past two; and if you waited to see me fairly off, you would not have time to get over to the railway to catch the three o'clock train. even if you did, you would not get to town until nearly six, and you would have a long dreary drive in the dark to hendon. now, if you go by the quarter-past eleven train, i shall see you off, and shall then be able to come back to radley's, and write a few letters of importance before i go on board."
"very well, tom," said alice; "perhaps it will be better; only, john--"
"never mind john on this occasion, ally; he did not know at what time the massilia sailed. now, ally, let us take one final turn, and finish our chat. i am not going to be sentimental--it is not in my line--but i think i like you better than anybody else in the world, though i did not take to you much at first. when i came back from sea, a boy of fifteen, and went home and found my father had married again, i was savage; and when he showed me a little baby lying in the cradle, and told me it was my half-sister, i hated you. but you were a sweet little child, and fended off many a rough word, and many a blow for the matter of that, which the governor would have liked to have given me, and i took to you; and when you grew up, you did me a good turn now and then, and of course it is owing to you, one way or the other, that i have got john claxton's two thousand pounds in my pocket at this moment. so i love you, and i leave you with regret, and i say this to you at parting. take this envelope, and lock it away somewhere where it will be safe, and where you can lay your hand upon it at any moment. it contains the address of an old pal of mine--a friend i mean--one of the right sort, a staunch, tried, true, honest, upright fellow. hardworking and persevering too; such a kind of man, that you may be astonished at his ever having been intimate with me. but he was, and is, and i know that i may reckon upon him to the utmost. if ever you come to grief, if ever you are in trouble, no matter of what kind, go to the address which you will find there, and seek him out, and tell him all about it; i will warrant he will see you through it."
"thank you, dear tom; it is very kind and thoughtful of you to say this, but you know i have john and--"
"yes, of course, you have john now; but there may be a time when--however, that is neither here nor there. there is the envelope, take it, and don't forget what i say. now come round to the hotel and pack your bag; it is time for you to start."
the bell rang, and with a scream the engine attached to the eleven-fifteen train for london forged slowly out of the southampton station. tom durham, with an unusual expression of emotion on his face, stood upon the platform kissing his hand to alice, who, with the tears in her eyes, leant back in the carriage and covered her face with her handkerchief. in a second-class compartment next to that which she occupied were two middle-aged, plainly-dressed men, who had been observing the parting of the half-brother and sister with some interest.
"was not that tom durham?" said one, as the train sped on its way.
"right you are," said the other; "i knew his face, but could not put a name to it. what is he at now--working on the square or on the cross?"
"on the square, i believe," said the first; "leastways i saw him walking with mr. calverley in the city the other day, and he would not have been in such respectable company if he had not been all right."
"i suppose not," said the other man, "for the time being; but tom durham is a shaky kind of customer anyways."
