We all spoke at once. He stared at the letters and then at us. We stared back again.
"It _is_ _Jerry"s Gazette_--as I think. Come and see, Joe."
Tod looked over the Squire"s shoulder. It certainly looked like "_Jerry"s Gazette_," he said; but the ink was pale.
""_Jerry"s Gazette._" Go on, father. Perhaps you"ll find an explanation further on."
""This _Jerry"s Gazette_, it appears, is circulated chiefly (and I think privately) amongst comical men--commercial men; merchants, and tradespeople. When they read its list of names, they know at once who is in difficulties. Of course they saw my husband"s name there, Pyefinch Blair; unfortunately a name so peculiar as not to admit of any doubt.
I did not see the _Gazette_, but I believe the amount of the debt was stated, and that Gavity (but I don"t know whether he was mentioned by name) had a bill of sale on our household furniture.""
"What the d.i.c.kens is _Jerry"s Gazette_?" burst forth the Squire, giving the letter a pa.s.sionate flick. "I know but of one _Gazette_, into which men of all conditions go, whether they are made lords or bankrupts.
What"s this other thing?"
He put up his spectacles, and stared at us all again, as if expecting an answer. But he might as well have asked it of the moon. Mrs. Todhetley sat with the most hopeless look you ever saw on her face. So he went on reading again.
""We knew nothing about _Jerry"s Gazette_ ourselves, or that there was such a pub--pub--publication, or that the transaction had appeared in it; and could not imagine why the school began to fall off. Some of the pupils were taken away, _at once_, some at Lady-day; and by Midsummer nearly every one had left. We used to lie awake night after night, grieving and wondering what could be the matter, searching in vain for any cause of offence, given unwittingly to the boys or their parents.
Often and often we got up in the morning to go about our day"s work, never having closed our eyes. At last, a gentleman, whose son had been one of the first renewed--removed, told Pyefinch the truth: that he had appeared in _Jerry"s Gazette_. The fathers who subscribed to _Jerry"s Gazette_ had seen it for themselves; and they informed the others.""
"The devil take _Jerry"s Gazette_," interrupted Tod, deliberately. "This reads like an episode of the Secret Inquisition, sir, in the days of the French Revolution."
"It reads like a thing that an honest Englishman"s ears ought to redden to hear of," answered the Squire, as he put the lamp nearer, for his outstretched arms were getting cramped.
""Pyefinch went round to every one of the boy"s fathers. Some would not see him, some not hear him; but to those who did, he imported--imparted--the whole circ.u.mstances; showing how it was that he had had to borrow the money (or rather to re-borrow it, but I have not time in this letter to go so far into detail), and that it could not by any possibility injure the boys or touch their interests. Most of them, he said, were very kind and sympathizing, so far as words went, saying that in this case _Jerry"s Gazette_ appeared to have been the means of inflicting a cruel wrong; but they would not agree to replace their sons with us. They either declined point-blank, or said they"d consider of it; but you see the greater portion of the boys were already placed at other schools. All of them told Pyefinch one thing--that they were thoroughly satisfied with his treatment in every respect, and but for this interruption would probably have left their sons with him as long as they wanted intrusion--instruction. The long and short of it was this, my dear friends: they did not choose to have their sons educated by a man who was looked upon in the commercial world as next door to a bankrupt. One of them delicately hinted as much, and said Mr. Blair must be aware that he was liable to have his house topped--stripped--at any moment under the bill of sale. We said to ourselves that evening, as Pyefinch and I talked together, that we might have removed boys of our own from a school under the same circ.u.mstances.""
"That"s true enough," murmured Mrs. Todhetley.
""My letter has grown very long and I must hasten to conclude it.
Just before the rent was due at Michaelmas (we paid it half-yearly, by agreement) Gavity put the bill of sale into force. One morning several men came in and swept off the furniture. We were turned out next: though indeed to have attempted to remain in that large house were folly. The landlord came in a pa.s.sion, and told Pyefinch that he would put him in prison if he were worth it; as he was not, he had better go out of the pitch--place--forthwith, as another tenant was ready to take possession.
Since then we have been staying here, Pyefinch vainly seeking to get some employment. What we hoped was, that he would obtain an under-mastership to some public fool----"
"Fool, sir!"
""School. But it seems difficult. He sends his best regards to you, and bids me say that the reason you have not heard from us so long is, that we could not bear to tell you the ill news after your former kindness to us. The arrival of the hamper leaves us no resource.
""Thank you for that. Thank you very truly. The people at the old house have our address, and re-directed it here. We received it early on Christmas Eve. How good the things were, you do not need to be told. I stuffed the turkey--I shall make a famous cook in time--and sent it to the backhouse--bakehouse. You should have seen the pill--picture--it was when it came home. Believe me, my dear friends, we are both of us grateful for all your kindness to us, past and present. Little Joe is so delighted with the doll, he scarcely puts it out of his arms. Our best love to all, including Hugh and Lena. Thank Johnny for the beautiful new book he put in. I must apologize in conclusion for my writing; the ink we get in these penny bottles is pale; and baby has been on my lap all the time, never easy a minute. Do not say anything of all this, please, should you be writing to Wales.
""Ever most truly yours, ""MARY BLAIR.
""_13, Difford"s Buildings, Paddington._""
The Squire put the letter down and his spectacles on it, quite solemnly.
You might have heard a pin drop in that room.
"This is a thing that must be inquired into. I shall go up to-morrow."
"And I"d go too, sir, but for my engagement to the Whitneys," said Tod.
"She must mean, in speaking of a baby, that there"s another," spoke Mrs.
Todhetley, in a frightened sort of whisper. "Besides little Joe. Dear me!"
"I don"t understand it," stamped the Squire, getting red. "Turned out of house and home through _Jerry"s Gazette_! Do we live in England, I"d like to ask?--under English laws?--enjoying English rights and freedom?
_Jerry"s Gazette?_ What the deuce _is_ _Jerry"s Gazette_? Where does it come from? What issues it? The Lord Chamberlain"s Office?--or Scotland Yard?--or some Patent society that we"ve not heard of, down here? The girl must have been imposed upon: her statement won"t hold water."
"It looks as though she had been, sir."
"_Looks_ like it, Johnny! It must be so," said the Squire, growing warmer. "I have temporary need of a sum of money, and I borrow it straightforwardly, honestly purposing and undertaking to pay it back with good interest, but not exactly wanting my neighbours to know about it; and you"d like me to believe that there"s some a.s.sociation, or publication, or whatever else it may be, that won"t allow this to be done privately, but must pounce upon the transaction, and take it down in print, and send it round to the public, just as if it were a wedding or a burying!"
The Squire had grown redder than a roost-c.o.c.k. He always did when tremendously put out, and the matter would not admit of calling in old Jones the constable.
"Folly! Moonshine! Blair, poor fellow, has been slipping into some disaster, had his furniture seized, and so invents this fable to appease his wife, not liking to tell her the truth. _Jerry"s Gazette!_ When I was a youngster, my father took me to see an exhibition in Worcester called "Jerry"s Dogs." The worst damage you could get there was a cold, from the holes in the canvas roof, or a pitch over the front into the sawdust. But in _Jerry"s Gazette_, according to this tale, you may be damaged for life. Don"t tell me! Do we live in Austria, or France, or any of those places, where--as it"s said--a man can"t so much as put on a pair of clean stockings in a morning, but its laid before high quarters in black and white at mid-day by the secret police! No, you need not tell me that."
"I never heard of _Jerry"s Gazette_ in all my life; I don"t know whether it is a stage performance or something to eat; but I feel convinced Mary Blair would not write this without having good grounds for it," said Tod, bold as usual.
And do you know--though you may be slow to believe it--the Squire had taken latterly to listen to him. He turned his red old face on him now, and some of its fierceness went out of it.
"Then, Joe, all I can say is this--that English honour and English notions have changed uncommonly from what they used to be. "Live and let live" was one of our mottoes; and most of us tried to act up to it. I know no more of this," striking his hand on the letter, "than you know, boys; and I cannot think but that she must have been under some unaccountable mistake in writing it. Any way, I"ll go up to London to-morrow: and if you like, Johnny, you can go with me."
We went up. I did not feel sure of it until the train was off, for Tod seemed three-parts inclined to give up the shooting at the Whitneys", and start for London instead; in which case the Squire might not have taken me. Tod and some more young fellows were invited to Whitney Hall for three days, to a shooting-match.
It was dusk when we reached London, and as cold as charity. The Squire turned into the railway hotel and had some chops served, but did not wait for a regular dinner. When once he was in for impatience, he _was_ in for it.
"Difford"s Buildings, Paddington," had been the address, so we thought it would not be far to go. The Squire held on in his way along the crowded streets, as if he were about to set things to rights, elbowing the people, and asking the road at every turn. Some did not know Difford"s Buildings, and some directed us wrongly; but we got there at last. It was in a narrow, quiet street; a row of what Londoners call eight-roomed houses, with little gates opening to the square patches of smoky garden, and "Difford"s Buildings" written up as large as life at the corner.
"Let"s see," said the Squire, looking sideways at the windows. "Number thirteen, was it not, Johnny?"
"Yes, sir."
Difford"s Buildings were not well lighted, and there was no seeing the numbers. The Squire stopped before the one he thought must be thirteen; when some one came out at the house-door, shutting it behind him, and met us at the gate. A youngish clergyman in a white necktie. He and the Squire stood looking at each other in the gathering darkness.
"Can you tell me if Mr. Blair lives here?"
"Yes, he does," was the answer. "I think--I think I have the pleasure of speaking to Mr. Todhetley."
The Squire knew him then--the Reverend Mr. Lockett. They had met when Blair first took to the school.
"What _is_ all this extraordinary history?" burst forth the Squire, seizing him by the b.u.t.ton of his great-coat, and taking him a few yards further on. "Mrs. Blair has been writing us a strange rigmarole, which n.o.body can make head or tail of; about ruin, and sales, and something she calls _Jerry"s Gazette_."
"Ay," quietly answered the clergyman in a tone of pain, as he put his arm inside the Squire"s, and they paced slowly up and down. "It is one of the saddest histories my experience has ever had to do with."
The Squire was near coming to an explosion in the open street. "Will you be pleased to tell me, sir, whether there exists such a thing as _Jerry"s Gazette_, or whether it is a fable? I have heard of Jerry"s Performing Dogs; went to see "em once: but I don"t know what this other invention can be."
"Certainly there is such a thing," said Mr. Lockett. "It is, I fancy, a list of people who unfortunately get into difficulties; at least, people who fall into difficulties seem to get shown up in it. I am told it is meant chiefly for private circulation: which may imply, as I imagine (but here I may be wrong) what may be called secret circulation. Blair had occasion to borrow a little money, and _his_ name appeared in it.
From that moment he was a marked man, and his school fell off."
"Goodness bless my soul!" cried the Squire solemnly, completely taken aback at hearing Mary"s letter confirmed. "Who gives _Jerry"s Gazette_ the right to do this?"
"I don"t know about the right. It seems it has the power."