although edward hazeldine had made up his mind to refund the twelve thousand pounds, it was impossible for him to do so at once. the amount had been invested by him in his mother's name in a certain undertaking of which lord elstree was one of the managing directors, subject, however, to six months' notice of withdrawal. consequently, even if he were to give notice immediately, half a year must elapse before he should be in a position to carry out the plan as agreed upon with his brother. one specially awkward feature of the affair was that he was utterly at a loss what excuse to allege to lord elstree for the withdrawal of the money, which his lordship would doubtless look upon as a somewhat extraordinary proceeding. it seemed to him that, in any case, he would be under the necessity of telling a lie in the matter, which was a thing he hated doing; but, even so, the lie must be a feasible one, and, for the life of him, he could not think of one that would "hold water." he smiled bitterly to himself to think that matters had come to such a pass with him that he should have to keep on puzzling his brain for hours over the invention of a plausible falsehood. had anyone told him six months before that such would be the case, he would unhesitatingly have denounced the assertion in much stronger language than he ordinarily made use of.
as it fell out, however, he was saved from a hateful necessity by no less a person than lord elstree himself. at their next interview, which befell a few days later, his lordship said:
"by the way, hazeldine, i think it just as well to inform you, in view of the fact that you have a very considerable sum invested in the affair, that i am by no means satisfied with the present policy and management--mismanagement would be the proper term for it--of it. my advice is no longer listened to by the board; my representations are pooh-poohed behind my back; and, in point of fact, i have good reason for believing that the corporation is slowly but surely drifting into difficulties. in any case, i mean to sever my connection with the concern as soon as possible, and i should advise you to do the same. all this, of course, is strictly entre nous."
"i am extremely grateful to your lordship for your kindness in giving me the hint"--and so, indeed, he felt himself to be. "i will send in a notice of withdrawal by this evening's post."
after that, his lordship's talk drifted away to an entirely different topic, but one which, as it happened, had for edward an interest only secondary to that of the previous one, and the first result of it was a brief note, written and dispatched a couple of hours later.
"dear clem,
"if possible, come and see me in the course of to-morrow. yours,
"e. h."
the following afternoon found clement at the brewery.
edward's first words were: "as regards the twelve thousand pounds, i have already sent in the notice of withdrawal, but, as you are aware, unless the fact has escaped your memory, i shall not receive a draft for the amount till six months from the date of the notice."
"there is no help for that, of course. after all, half a year is not a long time to wait, and now that the first and most important step has been taken, the rest will follow easily and in due course."
"and now i've another item of news that will please you," said edward. "the position of chief bookkeeper at the hollowdale smelting works happens to be vacant. lord elstree is chairman of the company, and the appointment rests with him. at my intercession he has agreed to offer the post in question to john brancker, whom he considers to have been very shamefully treated by mr. avison. the salary will be a hundred and eighty pounds a year to start with, and as the works are only a dozen miles away, john will be able to go backward and forward morning and evening by train--that is to say, provided he thinks the post worthy of his acceptance."
"i feel nearly sure that i can answer for john's acceptance of the offer," said clem, with sparkling eyes. "and then to think what a weight it will lift off both your shoulders and mine!"
john brancker had replied to mr. hodgson's somewhat peremptorily-worded note on the day following that of his return from london. miss rivers, he told him, absolutely declined to break off her engagement with mr. hazeldine, or even to consider the question at all, unless the command to do so emanated from some one who was legally entitled to control her actions until she should come of age. in short, mr. hodgson must lift the veil which concealed her parentage, and prove to her that there was someone still living who had a right to her obedience, or to so much of it as could be looked for by anyone who for seventeen years had neglected to put forward the slightest claim thereto. it was a very outspoken letter, and john meant it for such. he was heart and soul with the young people, and totally opposed to their having their fate settled by someone as to whose identity they knew no more than they did of that of the proverbial man in the moon.
but day passed after day without bringing any answer to john's letter. hermia shrugged her pretty shoulders, and said it was quite evident that the information she had asked for was more than mr. hodgson was prepared, or empowered, to furnish her with. meanwhile she was quite content to let matters go on as they were at present.
john had not failed to tell his sister all that had passed at the momentous interview between himself and clement, and how he had resolved to keep the true story of mr. hazeldine's death as a sacred secret to be divulged to no one save her to whom he now told it. it was a course which received the full approval of aunt charlotte. however much her brother might have suffered in the past, and however dark the prospect ahead might still be, to have revealed the dead man's secret, which he had been at such terrible pains to hide from everyone save his two sons, would have seemed to these worthy souls almost as much an act of profanation as if they had rifled his grave.
it was left to clement to disclose to hermia as much, or as little, relating to the affair as he might deem advisable. with what he told her, or what, in the exercise of a wise reticence, he omitted to tell her, we have nothing here to do.
and now came the offer from lord elstree. "at last--at last the sun is breaking through the clouds," exclaimed aunt charlotte, with tears of joy in her eyes when the news was told her. "what will the ashdown people think now, dear, when they find that his lordship has taken you by the hand?" she added. "there will be no more looking askance at you in future, i'll warrant. not one of them but will discover that he, or she, was quite convinced from the first that you were an innocent man who had been deeply wronged."
to frank derison life seemed a somewhat tame affair after he had broken off his engagement to miss rivers and had given his word to mr. avison that the billiard table of the "crown and cushion" should see him no more. now that he had lost hermia, he felt that he loved her far more than he had ever loved her before. he could not get her image out of his thoughts; her face haunted his dreams by night and came between him and his work by day. he had not even the satisfaction of knowing that he had made her unhappy. he might and did regret her, but he had no proof that she regretted him. evidently she had told him no more than the truth, although he could not credit it at the time, when she said in her letter that she should hail the rupture of their engagement as a relief. the news of her engagement to clement hazeldine had not failed to reach his ears--it had been no hole-and-corner affair; more than once, in the pleasant spring evenings, he saw them walking out together, and he ground his teeth and raged inwardly as he watched them.
frank, however, was not without his compensations, although they were of a kind which he was not the one to value as many in his place would have done. he was made aware through his mother, who had her information from the elder mr. avison, that he was rising slowly but surely in his employer's estimation. it was mrs. derison's opinion, and doubtless she had good reasons for giving expression to it, that if only he were careful to keep on as he had begun, there was nothing to hinder him from attaining in the course of a few years to a partnership in the business. ephraim judd's death had been the means of giving him another step upward and another increase of salary. already he stood next to mr. howes, who had succeeded mr. hazeldine as managing clerk.
yet frank no more liked his work at the bank now than he had liked it when a youth of sixteen, although that was a fact which he confided to no one's ear but his mother's. he hated banking and everything connected with it, save and except the drawing of his salary at the close of each month. he was not without a certain amount of surface cleverness, together with a degree of tact which had in it an element of cunning; and by the aid of these, in combination with a frankly audacious manner and a handsome presence, he contrived to throw dust in the eyes of most people, and to pass for a much cleverer fellow than he was. he was not brought much into personal contact with mr. avison, who seemed, indeed, for reasons best known to himself, to keep aloof from him of set purpose; and as to how far his shallow pretensions to business ability were accurately gauged by mr. howes, was best known by mr. howes himself. in any case, the new managing clerk treated frank with much consideration, not unmixed with a finely shaded measure of deference; but it may have been that the astute old official was not without his suspicions that master frank might one day sit in the curule chair of authority at the bank.
although mrs. derison had lived in ashdown for several years she had but few acquaintances and no intimates, consequently the virtue of hospitality was one which she was rarely called upon to exercise. now and then one or two lady visitors of her own age would call and would be invited to stay for tea, but that was all; while it was only on rare occasions that she visited anywhere herself. frank had, therefore, every reason for feeling surprised when his mother said to him one evening:
"i want you to give up your bedroom for a few weeks, and change into the back room. we are about to have a visitor."
"good gracious! mother. it must be somebody important, or you would not want me to budge."
"it is your half-cousin, mildred dixon. i have invited her to stay for a month, and she has agreed to do so."
"wonders will never cease," said the mystified frank.
"you have not forgotten her i hope."
"not a bit of it, though it must be seven or eight years since i saw her last. but what is your object in inviting her, if i may make so bold as to ask?"
"my object is that you should make love to her, propose to her, and by-and-bye make her your wife."
frank stared aghast at his mother. "have you taken leave of your senses, madre mia?" he asked, after a pause.
"i have no reason to think so, my son."
"i marry mildred dixon! the notion is too utterly preposterous. in the first place she's six years older than i am. then she's awfully freckled, and wears spectacles, and has a squat figure. i'd as soon marry my grandmother, if the old lady were alive."
"what have either her looks or her age to do with the affair? miss dixon is both accomplished and amiable, and has, in addition, a fortune of twenty thousand pounds."
frank bit his nails for a few moments as if deep in thought; then looking up, he said:
"mother, this thing is not a suggestion of your own. i can pretty well guess the quarter from whence it emanates."
"and what then? is not your welfare at the bottom of the scheme? people at the head of a prosperous concern don't usually choose a virtual beggar for their partner; but no one could call a man with twenty thousand pounds at his back by any such title!"
so that was how the wind lay! frank felt that the golden shackles were being riveted upon him one by one. he had thrown over--like the mean cur he knew himself to be--the only girl he could ever really love, and now he was called on to sell his freedom.
