"My dear sir," said Mr. Anerley, calmly, "you don"t look at the matter in its proper light. You don"t see the use of such men. You don"t reflect that the tendency to excess of reproduction in animals is wholesomely checked by the ravages of other animals. But who is to do that for men, except men? There is, you see, a necessity for human tigers, to prey on their species, kill the weakly members, and improve the race by limiting its numbers and narrowing the conditions of existence."
"That"s very nice as a theory, Mr. Anerley; but it wouldn"t console me for losing the money that you have lost."
"Because you don"t believe in it. Tell me now, how is a penniless man, without a trade, but with some knowledge of the multiplication-table, to gain a living in London?"
"There are too many trying to solve the problem, Mr. Anerley," said the lawyer.
"You say there is a chance of the bank retrieving itself in a certain time?"
"Yes. I have shown you how the money has been sunk. But in time--"
"Until then, those who are in a position like myself must contrive to exist somehow?"
"That"s it."
"Unfortunately, I never settled, as you know, a farthing on my wife; and as for my life-insurance, they illogically and unreasonably exclude suicide from their list of casualties. Your ordinary suicide does not compa.s.s his own death any more doggedly than the man who persists in living in an undrained house, or in drinking brandy until his brain gives way, or in lighting his pipe in a coal-mine. However, that"s neither here nor there. You have been my lawyer, Mr. Green, for a great many years, and you have given me some good advice. But at the most critical moment, I find you without a sc.r.a.p. Still I bear you no malice; for I don"t owe you any money."
"It isn"t very easy, sir, to tell a gentleman how to recover his fortune," said Mr. Green, with a smile-glad that his client was taking matters so coolly.
"I was a gentleman three days ago," said Mr. Anerley. "Now I am a man, very anxious to live, and not seeing my way clearly towards that end."
"Come, sir," said Will, "Mr. Green is anxious to live too; and we are taking up his time."
"But really, Mr. Anerley," said the lawyer, "I should like to know what your views are?"
"Ah, you want to know what I propose to do. I am not good at blacking boots; I am indifferent at cookery. Gardening-well, no. I should like to be head-keeper to a duke; or, if they start any more of these fancy stage-coaches between London and the seaside, I can drive pretty well."
"You are joking," said the other, dubiously.
"A man with empty pockets never jokes, unless he hopes to fill them. At present-well, good day to you-you will let me know if you hear of anything to my advantage."
No sooner were they outside, than Will earnestly remonstrated with his father.
"You should not suddenly lose your pride, sir."
"I never had any, my boy. If I had, it is time I should lose it."
"And why need you talk of taking a situation? If you can only tide over a little time, Miall & Welling will come all right."
"My lad, the bladders that help you to float in that little time are rather expensive."
"I have a few pounds--"
"And you will lend me them. Good. What we must do now is this. Get your landlord to give us a couple of bedrooms in the house, and we can all use your sitting-room. Then we shall be together; and the first opportunity I have offered me of earning money, in whatever employment, I will accept it."
"If I were not disabled, sir, by this confounded arm, you would not need to do anything of the kind."
"Tuts! Every man for himself, and all of us for poor Dove, who, at present, will be moping up in that great room, terrified by the attentions of the waiters."
How they pa.s.sed the day does not matter to us. In the evening they went to the theatre, and chose, at Will"s instigation, the dress-circle instead of the stalls. He hoped that he might escape being seen.
He had scarcely cast his eye over the bill handed to him by the box-keeper, when he discovered that Annie Brunel"s name was not there at all.
"Dove," he said, "here"s a disappointment for you. Miss Featherstone plays "Rosalind" to-night, not Miss Brunel."
"Doesn"t she appear at all to-night?" said Dove, with a crestfallen face.
"Apparently not. Will you go to some other theatre?"
"No," said Dove, decidedly. "I want to see "Rosalind," whoever is "Rosalind." Don"t you, papa?"
"My dear, I want to see anything that you want to see; and I"m sure to be pleased if you laugh."
"It isn"t a laughing part, and you know that quite well, you tedious old thing!" said Dove.
Will went and saw Mr. Melton, from whom he learned little beyond the fact that Annie Brunel did not intend to act any more in his theatre.
"She is not unwell?"
"I believe not."
"Has she given up the stage altogether?"
"I fancy so. You"d better ask Count Schonstein: he seems to know all about it," said Mr. Melton, with a peculiar smile.
"Why should _he_ know all about it?" asked Will, rather angrily: but Melton only shrugged his shoulders.
He returned to his place by Dove"s side; but the peculiar meaning of that smile-or rather the possible meaning of it-vexed and irritated him so that he could not remain there. He professed himself tired of having seen the piece so often; and said he would go out for a walk, to cure himself of a headache he had, and return before the play was over.
So he went out into the cool night-air, and wandered carelessly on along the dark streets, bearing vaguely westward. He was thinking of many things, and scarcely knew that he rambled along Piccadilly, and still westward, until he found himself in the neighbourhood of Kensington.
Then he stopped; and when he recognised the place in which he stood, he laughed slightly and bitterly.
"Down here, of course. I had persuaded myself I had no wish to go to the theatre beyond that of taking Dove there, and that I was not disappointed when I found she did not play. Well, my feet are honester than my head."
He took out his watch. He had walked down so quickly that there were nearly two hours before he had to return to the theatre. Then he said to himself that, as he had nothing to do, he might as well walk down and take a look at the house which he knew so well. Perhaps it was the last time he might look on it, and know that she was inside.
So he walked in that direction, taking little heed of the objects around him. People pa.s.sed and repa.s.sed along the pavement; they were to him vague and meaningless shadows, occasionally lit up by the glare of a shop-window or a lamp. Here and there he noticed some tall building, or other object, which recalled old scenes and old times; and, indeed, he walked on in a kind of dream, in which the past was as clearly around him as the present.
At the corner of the street leading down to the smaller street, or square, in which Annie Brunel lived, there was a chemist"s shop, with large windows looking both ways. Also at the corner of the pavement was a lamp, which shed its clear orange light suddenly on the faces of the men and women who pa.s.sed.
He paused there for a moment, uncertain whether to turn or venture on, when a figure came out of the shop which-without his recognising either the dress or the face-startled him, and made him involuntarily withdraw a step. It was the form, perhaps, or the motion, that told him who it was; at all events he knew that she herself was there, within a few yards of him. He did not know what to do. There was a vague desire in his heart to throw to the wind all considerations-his promise, his duty to one very dear to him; but he only looked apprehensively at her. It was all over in a second, in half a second. She caught sight of him, shrank back a little, uncertain, trembling, and then appeared as if she were about to pa.s.s on. But the great yearning in both their hearts suddenly became master of the situation; for, at the same moment, apparently moved by the same impulse, they advanced to each other, he caught her hands in his, and there was between them only one intense look of supreme and unutterable joy.
Such a look it is given to most men to receive once or twice-seldom oftener-in their lives. It is never to be forgotten. When a strong revulsion of feeling, from despondency and despair to the keen delight of meeting again, draws away from a girl"s eyes that coy veil of maiden bashfulness that generally half-shrouds their light, when the spirit shines full and frank there, no disguise being longer possible, and it seems as if the beautiful eyes had speech in them-but how is it possible to describe such a moment in cold and brittle words? The remembrance of one such meeting colours a man"s life. You know that when you have lain and dreamed of enjoying companionship with one hopelessly separated from you-of seeing glad eyes you can never see again, and hearing sweet talk that you can never again hear-you rise with a confused sense of happiness, as if the morning air were full of tender thrills; you still hear the voice, and you seem to be walking by the side of the sea, and there is sunshine and the sound of waves abroad. That dizzy remembrance, in itself a perplexing, despairing joy, is something like the thought of such a moment and such a look as that I speak of, when one glances backward, after long years, and wonders how near heaven earth has been.
When she went towards him, and looked up into his face, and when they walked away together, there was no thought of speech between them.
Silence being so full of an indescribable joy, why should they break it?
It was enough that they were near each other-that, for the present, there was no wide and mournful s.p.a.ce between them, full of dim longings and bitter regrets. To-morrow was afar off, and did not concern them.