with strange swiftness tidings of a fellow’s misfortune are carried by the wind and wafted into every willing ear. people are the more quick to receive the news of another’s failure in preference to some small glory that may have blessed some one among them. save to the generous few, the follies of humanity fall like libations poured before the eternal ego. a man’s so-called friends are his most subtle enemies, for they stand ever ready to stab him, claiming hypocritical candor in justification of the deed. the world loves disaster even that it may point the obvious moral, smite its self-righteous bosom and exclaim, “god, i thank thee that i am no fool.”
now in saltire charity abounded and the milk of human kindness flowed like water. the good news had spread even as a fire spreads over a dry heath before a western wind. the ladies of saltire were in their element. for when a fair sister errs, her fellow-women lift up their voices and rejoice in that unctuous patois that passes for sure piety.
“ophelia gusset attempted to commit suicide!”
then there was much wagging of heads, much holding up of hands. in tavern and in drawing-room the same tale was told, embellished with many a detail, colored with many a suggestive tint. vain had been blanche gusset’s efforts to gloze and cover her sister’s deed. hirelings are ever hirelings, and their tongues run fast. groom, maid, and stable-boy spread the truth. moreover, john strong had spoken fearlessly, daring the law. maltravers had fled, and gabriel had returned home.
many an inquiring spirit had analyzed the truth, not for the pure truth’s sake, but for the incense that might be extracted therefrom to delight the nostrils of society. maltravers had evaporated; his horses had been sold in rilchester. ophelia gusset had gone to scotland for “her health.” the gates of gabingly castle were closed over the emptiness within, while john strong and gabriel his son had been seen in saltire, side by side. the inference was obvious, the truth self-evident.
one of the first persons to call at saltire hall was mr. mince, glib-tongued and benignant. he shook hands with gabriel with much fervor, like one welcoming a wronged man out of prison. he, mr. mince, had never doubted the matter for a moment. moreover, john strong’s gold piece had been absent from the plate for many months.
“as a christian minister,” he said, “may i congratulate you, sir; on the wonderful workings of god’s providence.”
there was a subtle something in gabriel’s eyes that even mr. mince’s complacency could not ignore.
“ah, sir,” said the clergyman, “you think perhaps that we are hypocrites. as a humble and forgiving christian, i do not resent the thought.”
“the world takes us, mr. mince,” gabriel had answered him, “for what we seem and not for what we are.”
“but, mr. strong, is not the diagnosis often one of extreme complexity?”
“not so complex, sir, to those who prefer to discover the evil rather than the good.”
meanwhile john strong had other strategies in view. he had ransacked his escritoire, where in the many pigeon-holes letters lay carefully hoarded. methodical man that he was, he had sorted the documents through, reserved such as seemed needful, and enclosed them, with the anonymous letter maltravers had surrendered to him, to a certain expert who dealt in the subtleties of caligraphy. john strong had found that the hand-writing of the anonymous letter tallied with that of a certain epistle written to him by mrs. marjoy for her husband, concerning one of the hall servants whom the doctor had attended. but the master of saltire waited for an unbiassed opinion. he would make sure of his weapons before he attacked the redoubtable dragon of saltire.
thus, one afternoon, late in june, mrs. marjoy was darning stockings in her drawing-room when she received the news that john strong of saltire stood as a suppliant upon her threshold. mrs. marjoy sniffed at the necessity. she edged her work-basket under the sofa with her foot and deigned to receive the master of saltire hall. doubtless these vulgar plutocrats desired to court the serene approval of her seraphic countenance.
she received john strong with the air of a woman whose extravagant sense of “respectability” made her a fit compeer of the gods. moreover, mrs. marjoy confounded staring and red-faced hauteur with stately aloofness and a distinguished air of reserve. she always glared at strangers through her spectacles as though she would demand many and abundant proofs of their gentility before she could deign to relax her vigilance. mrs. marjoy delighted in what she was pleased to call “a select circle,” acquaintances who were aristocratic enough to be toadied to, or friends familiar enough to deserve patronage.
without rising from her chair, she extended a bony hand towards john strong. it had always been her constant complaint that the hall folk were “so detestably healthy.”
“good-afternoon, mr. strong,” she observed; “i am afraid my husband is out.”
“so much the better, madam,” said the ex-tea-merchant. “i have driven round to have a short talk with you.”
mrs. marjoy stared. there was an expression upon john strong’s face that she did not understand. moreover, his confident and masterful air irritated her perpetual propensities towards tyranny. mrs. marjoy always regarded the spirit of independence in others as insufferable arrogance.
“one of your servants is ill, i suppose. my husband is very busy. will to-morrow do?”
“on the contrary, madam, it is entirely a personal matter.”
“a personal matter, mr. strong?”
“strictly personal.”
“please explain.”
“with pleasure, madam.”
john strong, drawing out his pocket-book with studied deliberation, unfolded a much-soiled sheet of note-paper and spread it upon his knee. the doctor’s wife watched him with the sincerest curiosity. as yet there was no suggestive irony in the appearance of the crumpled document.
“i have here, madam,” he said, “a certain letter.”
mrs. marjoy was sitting very stiff and straight in her chair.
“a letter that was written to my late daughter-in-law—”
“indeed!”
“containing certain libellous statements concerning my son.”
mrs. marjoy’s usually florid face grew a shade ruddier; her manner grew instantly more aggressive, and she began to twitch her shoulders, an infallible storm-signal to those who knew her.
“well, mr. strong, what has all this to do with me?”
“simply this, madam, that you wrote this letter and that i desire to discuss the situation with you.”
mrs. marjoy’s first impulse was to slap this stolid and masterful old gentleman’s face. she restrained herself from such a physical retort, remembering a certain fracas she had once had with a cook.
“how dare you, sir, make such an insinuation?”
“i insinuate nothing, madam.”
“sir!”
“i am merely stating a fact.”
“you mean to tell me to my face that i am a liar?”
john strong emphasized his words by beating his closed fist rhythmically upon his knee.
“no, madam, i am merely stating a fact. you wrote this letter. i should recommend you not to dispute the truth.”
mrs. marjoy half started from her chair. there was a look of such unsophisticated malignity in her brown eyes that john strong gave thanks inwardly that he was not her husband.
“am i to be insulted in my own house?” she asked.
john strong ignored the side issue, being thoroughly convinced that he had the lady within his power.
“libel, madam,” he continued, with great callousness—“libel is a serious matter. as you know, i am a wealthy man, a man of influence in the neighborhood.”
“your vulgar money, sir!”
john strong smiled, one of those peculiarly exasperating smiles that betray to the weaker disputants their own palpable inferiority.
“my vulgar money, madam,” he said, “could easily upset your husband’s trade. why, by my soul, i have already bought this rented house of yours over your heads. i could drive you step by step out of saltire, ay, and subsidize a dozen pill-peddlers in the neighborhood. my vulgar money, madam, is not a power to be scoffed at.”
mrs. marjoy seemed staggered.
“you consider yourself a gentleman?”
“i am an honest man, madam, and i am going to stand by my son.”
“your son—poof!”
mrs. marjoy’s red face blazed. john strong seemed as calm and undisturbed as though he were giving orders to a groom.
“let me but catch one tag of scandal from your tongue, madam,” he said, “one single fabrication compromising my son’s honor, and, by my immortal soul, my vulgar money shall make saltire too dear for you.”
“preposterous!”
“the profession, madam, this noble profession, must stand well with society. a soft answer turneth away wrath, and a good manner bringeth in guineas. i like your husband, madam, for he has a heart in him. but remember that a doctor is dependent upon whims, and that your tongue may do much to work his ruin.”
mrs. marjoy was a woman whose whole courage resided in her temper. her heroism was in this respect spasmodic, impressive, yet uncertain. she overpowered others by her gift of making life unlivable for those who withstood her will. her husband had always preferred surrender for the sake of his own peace. but, like most women, when thoroughly frightened she was no longer the medusa whose face petrified her enemies. in john strong she had met her match.
thus, after one shrewd glare at the tea-merchant’s obdurate face, she subsided somewhat suddenly in her chair and gave way to semi-hysterical tears. it was, indeed, an impressive sight to see mrs. marjoy weep. yet there was no subtlety, no dramatic purpose in her grief. her tears were the tears of an angry and impotent woman.
“this is mere brutality,” she said.
“of course, madam, that letter was not brutal.”
“it was an honest letter.”
“you think so.”
“mrs. mince and miss snodley helped me to write it.”
“indeed!” said john strong, “then i trust that you will advise them to desist from such recreations in the future.”
“i shall appeal to my husband.”
“do so, madam. doubtless a libel action would improve his practice.”
john strong, like a clever diplomat, had taken the measure of his adversary’s resources. he had frightened her sufficiently to prove that he was in grim earnest. being no mere bovine bully, he adapted his methods to the exigencies of the situation, and proffered the lady a chance to regain her dignity.
“a year ago,” he began, “you probably believed that letter to be honest and sincere. but being a woman of sense, you will doubtless acknowledge that one’s opinions must change when new facts have been brought to light.”
mrs. marjoy mopped her glasses.
“i may have been mistaken,” she confessed.
“of course, of course. we all make mistakes in life. you must pardon me if i have seemed over hard with you. put yourself in my place, madam. imagine how you would feel if a child of your own had suffered great wrong.”
mrs. marjoy’s tears still flowed. she swayed to and fro in her chair and dabbed her red face with her crumpled handkerchief. john strong rose and prepared to depart.
“come, madam,” he said, “i think we have talked sufficiently to bridge an understanding between us in this matter. remember that facts are proving that my son is not the scoundrel you once believed him to be. whether he was a fool or not, such a question is beyond the immediate issue. now let me suggest to you that your course of action is plain.”
“plain, mr. strong!”
“respect the truth, madam, and i will respect your sex. may we be good friends in the future, for straight speaking does nobody any harm. but remember, madam, that i shall keep this letter, and that vulgar gold is a good lawyer. also understand that this house you live in is my property, that half saltire is in the palm of my hand. and remember, above all things, madam, that a woman’s tongue may ruin her husband.”
after the enunciating of such blunt truths, john strong departed, leaving the lachrymose lady to her darning and her meditations. but mrs. marjoy was not a peaceful penitent. though cowed and beaten, the original sin still stirred in her, for neither man nor angel can convert a shrew.
“guor—how i hate that man,” she reflected. so to ease her temper, she proceeded to the kitchen and scolded her cook.
