"Don"t say you"ve forgotten me, Mr. Dunbar," repeated the Major.
Henry Dunbar smiled. It was a forced smile, perhaps; but, at any rate, it was a smile.
"I have a great many acquaintances," he said; "and I fancy you must have gone down in the world since I knew you, if I may judge from appearances."
The bystanders, who had listened to every word, began to murmur among themselves. "Yes, indeed, they should rather think so:--if ever this shabby stranger had known Mr. Dunbar, and if he was not altogether an impostor, he must have been a very different sort of person at the time of his acquaintance with the millionaire."
"When and where did I know you?" asked Henry Dunbar, with his eyes still looking straight into the eyes of the other man.
"Oh, a long time ago--a very long way off!"
"Perhaps it was--somewhere in India--up the country?" said the banker, very slowly.
"Yes, it was in India--up the country," answered the other.
"Then you won"t find me slow to befriend you," said Mr. Dunbar. "I am always glad to be of service to any of my Indian acquaintances--even when the world has treated them badly. Get into my carriage, and I"ll drive you home. I shall be able to talk to you by-and-by, when all this wedding business is over."
The two men seated themselves side by side upon the spring cushions of the banker"s luxurious carriage; and the vehicle drove rapidly away, leaving the spectators in a rapture of admiration at Henry Dunbar"s condescension to his shabby Indian acquaintance.
CHAPTER XXV.
AFTER THE WEDDING.
The banker and the man who was called the Major talked to each other earnestly enough throughout the short drive between Lisford churchyard and Maudesley Abbey; but they spoke in low confidential whispers, and their conversation was interlarded by all manner of strange phrases; the queer, outlandish words were Hindostanee, no doubt, and were by no means easy to comprehend.
As the carriage drove up to the grand entrance of the Abbey, the stranger looked out through the mud-spattered window.
"A fine place!" he exclaimed; "a splendid place!"
"What am I to call you here?" muttered Mr. Dunbar, as he got out of the carriage.
"You may call me anything; as long as you do not call me when the soup is cold. I"ve a two-pair back in the neighbourhood of St. Martin"s Lane, and I"m known _there_ as Mr. Vavasor. But I"m not particular to a shade.
Call me anything that begins with a V. It"s as well to stick to one initial, on account of one"s linen."
From the very small amount of linen exhibited in the Major"s toilette, a malicious person might have imagined that such a thing as a shirt was a luxury not included in that gentleman"s wardrobe.
"Call me Vernon," he said: "Vernon is a good name. You may as well call me Major Vernon. My friends at the Corner--not the Piccadilly corner, but the corner of the waste ground at the back of Field Lane--have done me the honour to give me the rank of Major, and I don"t see why I shouldn"t retain the distinction. My proclivities are entirely aristocratic: I have no power of a.s.similation with the _canaille_. This is the sort of thing that suits me. Here I am in my element."
Mr. Dunbar had led his shabby acquaintance into the low, tapestried room in which he usually sat. The Major rubbed his hands with a gesture of enjoyment as he looked at the evidences of wealth that were heedlessly scattered about the apartment. He gave a long sigh of satisfaction as he dropped with a sudden plump upon the spring cushion of an easy-chair on one side of the fireplace.
"Now, listen to me," said Mr. Dunbar. "I can"t afford to talk to you this morning; I have other duties to perform: When they"re over, I"ll come and talk to you. In the meantime, you may sit here as long as you like, and have what you please to eat or drink."
"Well, I don"t mind the wing of a fowl, and a bottle of Burgundy. It"s a long time since I"ve tasted Burgundy. Chambertin, or Clos de Vougeot, at twelve bob a bottle--that"s the sort of tipple, I rather flatter myself--eh?"
Henry Dunbar drew himself up with a slight shudder, as if repelled and disgusted by the man"s vulgarity.
"What do you want of me?" he asked. "Remember that I am waited for. I am quite ready to serve you--for the sake of "auld lang syne!""
"Yes," answered the Major, with a sneer; "it"s so pleasant to remember "auld lang syne!""
"Well," asked Mr. Dunbar, impatiently, "what is it you want of me?"
"A bottle of Burgundy--the best you have in your cellar--something to eat, and--that which a poor man generally asks of his rich friends--his fortunate friends--MONEY!"
"You shall not find me illiberal towards you. I"ll come back by-and-by, and write you a cheque."
"You"ll make it a thumping one?"
"I"ll make it as much as you want."
"That"s the sort of thing. There always was something princely and magnificent about you, Mr. Dunbar."
"You shall not have any reason to complain," answered the banker, very coldly.
"You"ll send me the lunch?"
"Yes. You can hold your tongue, I suppose? You won"t talk to the servant who waits upon you?"
"Has your friend the manners of a gentleman, or has he not? Hasn"t he had the eminent advantage of a collegiate education--I may say, a prolongued course of collegiate study? But look here, since you"re so afraid of my putting my foot in it, suppose I go back to Lisford now, and I can return to you to-night after dark. Our business will keep. I want a long talk, and a quiet talk; but I must suit my convenience to yours. It"s the dee-yuty of the poor-r-r dependant to wait upon the per-leasure of his patron," exclaimed Major Vernon, in the studied tones of the villain in a melodrama.
Henry Dunbar gave a sigh of relief.
"Yes, that will be much better," he said. "I can talk to you comfortably after dinner."
"Ta-ta, then, old boy. "Oh, reservoir!" as we say in the cla.s.sics."
Major Vernon extended a brawny hand of rather doubtful purity. The millionaire touched the broad palm with the tips of his gloved fingers.
"Good-bye," he said; "I shall expect you at nine o"clock. You know your way out?"
He opened the door as he spoke, and pointed through a vista of two or three adjoining rooms to the hall. It was rather a broad hint. The Major pulled the poodle collar still higher above his ears, and went out with only his nose exposed to the influence of the atmosphere.
Henry Dunbar shut the door, and walked to one of the windows. He leaned his forehead against the gla.s.s, and looked out, watching the tall figure of the Major, as he walked rapidly along the broad carriage-drive that skirted the lawn.
The banker watched his shabby acquaintance until Major Vernon was quite out of sight. Then he went back to the fireplace, dropped heavily into his chair, and gave a long groan. It was not a sigh, it was a groan--a groan that seemed to come from a bosom that was rent by all the agony of despair.
"This decides it!" he muttered to himself. "Yes, this decides it! I"ve seen it for a long time coming to a crisis. But _this_ settles everything."
He got up, pa.s.sed his hand across his forehead and over his eyelids, like a man who had just been awakened from a long sleep; and then went to play his part in the grand business of the day.
There is a very wide difference between the feelings of the poor adventurer--who, by some lucky accident, is enabled to pounce upon a rich friend--and the sentiments of the wealthy victim who is pounced upon. Nothing could present a stronger contrast than the manner of Henry Dunbar, the banker, and the gentleman who had elected to be called Major Vernon. Whereas Mr. Dunbar seemed plunged into the uttermost depths of despair by the sudden appearance of his old acquaintance, the worthy Major exhibited a delight that was almost uproarious in its manifestation.
It was not until he found himself in a very lonely part of the park, where there were no other witnesses than the timid deer, lurking here and there under the poor shelter of a clump of leafless elms,--it was not till Major Vernon felt himself quite alone, that he gave way to the full exuberance of his spirits.