This struck us dumb. Bill said nothing, neither did I.
"It was Miss Sophie Chalk, I presume," went on old Brandon, ringing the bell. "Sit down, boys; we"ll have tea up."
The tea and coffee must have been ordered beforehand, for they came in at once. Mr. Brandon drank four cups of tea, and ate a plate of bread-and-b.u.t.ter and some watercress.
"Tea is my best meal in the day," he said. "You young fellows all like coffee best. Don"t spare it. What"s that by you, William Whitney?--anchovy toast? Cut that pound-cake, Johnny."
n.o.body could say, with all his strict notions, that Mr. Brandon was not hospitable. He"d have ordered up the Mitre"s whole larder had he thought we could eat it. And never another word did he say about Tod until the things had gone away.
Then he began, quietly at first: he sitting on one side the fire, I and Bill on the other. Touching gently on this, alluding to that, our eyes opened in more senses than one; for we found that he knew all about Sophie Chalk"s sojourn in the town, the attention she received from the undergraduates, and Tod"s infatuation.
"What"s Todhetley"s object in going there?" he asked.
"Amus.e.m.e.nt, I think, sir," hazarded Bill.
"Does he gamble there for amus.e.m.e.nt too?"
Where on earth had old Brandon got hold of all this?
"How much has Todhetley lost already?" he continued. "He is in debt, I know. Not for the first time from the same cause."
Bill stared. He knew nothing of that old episode in London with the Clement-Pells. I felt my face flush.
"Tod does not care for playing really, sir. But the cards are there, and he sees others play and gets drawn in to join."
"Well, what amount has he lost this time, Johnny?"
"I don"t know, sir."
"But you know that he is in debt?"
"I--yes, sir. Perhaps he is a little."
"Look here, boys," said old Brandon. "Believing that matters were not running in a satisfactory groove with some of you, I came down to Oxford yesterday to look about me a bit--for I don"t intend that Johnny Ludlow shall lapse into bad ways, if I can keep him out of them. Todhetley may have made up his mind to go to the deuce, but he shall not take Johnny with him. I hear no good report of Todhetley; he neglects his studies for the sake of a witch, and is in debt over his head and shoulders."
"Who could have told you that, sir?"
"Never you mind, Johnny Ludlow; I dare say you know it"s pretty true.
Now look here--as I said just now. I mean to see what I can do towards saving Todhetley, for the sake of my good old friend, the Squire, and for his dead mother"s sake; and I appeal to you both to aid me. You can answer my questions if you will; and you are not children, that you should make an evasive pretence of ignorance. If I find matters are too hard for me to cope with, I shall send for the Squire and Sir John Whitney; their influence may effect what mine cannot. If I can deal with the affair successfully, and save Todhetley from himself, I"ll do so, and say nothing about it anywhere. You understand me?"
"Yes, sir."
"Very well. To begin with, what amount of debt has Todhetley got into?"
It seemed to be a choice of evils: but the least of them was to speak.
Bill honestly said he would tell in a minute if he knew. I knew little more than he; only that Tod had been saying the night before he wished he could raise a hundred pounds.
"A hundred pounds!" repeated old Brandon, nodding his head like a Chinese mandarin. "Pretty well, that, for a first term at Oxford. Well, we"ll leave that for the present, and go to other questions. What snare and delusion is drawing him on to make visits to this person, this Sophie Chalk? What does he purpose? Is it marriage?"
Marriage! Bill and I both looked up at him.
"She is married already, sir. Did you not know it?"
"Married already! Who says so?"
So I told him all about it--as much as I knew--and that her husband, Mr. Everty, had been to Oxford once or twice to see her.
"Well, that"s a relief," cried Mr. Brandon, drawing a deep breath, as though a fear of some kind had been lifted from his mind. And then he fell into a reverie, his head nodding incessantly, and his yellow handkerchief in his hand keeping time to it.
"If it"s better in one sense, it"s worse in another," he squeaked.
"Todhetley"s in love with her, I suppose!"
"Something like it, sir," said Bill.
"What brainless fools some of you young men can be!"
But it was then on the stroke of nine, when Old Tom would peal out.
Mr. Brandon hurried us away: he seemed to understand the notions of University life as well as we did: ordering us to say nothing to Tod, as he intended to speak to him on the morrow.
And we concluded that he did. Tod came stalking in during the afternoon in a white rage with somebody, and I thought it might be with old Brandon.
The time pa.s.sed. Mr Brandon stayed on at the Mitre as though he meant to make it his home for good, and was evidently watching. Tod seemed to be conscious of it, and to exist in a chronic state of irritation. Sophie Chalk stayed on also, and Tod was there more than ever. The affair had got wind somehow--I mean Tod"s infatuation for her--and was talked of in the colleges. Richardson fell ill about that time: at least, he met with an accident which confined him to his bed: and the play at Mrs.
Everty"s was not much to speak of: I did not go, Mr. Brandon had interdicted it. Thus the time went on, and Pa.s.sion Week was coming in.
"Are you running for a wager, Johnny Ludlow?"
I was running down to the river and had nearly run over Mr. Brandon, who was strolling along with his hands under his coat-tails. It was Sat.u.r.day afternoon, and some of us were going out rowing. Mr. Brandon came down to see us embark.
As we all stood there, who should loom into sight but Sophie Chalk. She was leading a little mouse-coloured dog by a piece of red tape, one that Fred Temple had given her; and her shining hair was a sight to be seen in the sunlight; Tod walked by her with his arms folded. They halted to talk with some of us for a minute, and then went on, Madam Sophie giving old Brandon a saucy stare from her wide-open blue eyes. He had stood as still as a post, giving never a word to either of them.
That same night, when Tod and I were in our room alone, Mr. Brandon walked in. It was pretty late, but Tod was about to depart on his visit to High Street. As if the entrance of Mr. Brandon had been the signal for him to bolt, he put on his trencher and turned to the door. Quick as thought, Mr. Brandon interposed himself.
"If you go out of this room, Joseph Todhetley, it shall be over my body," cried he, a whole hatful of authority in his squeaky voice. "I have come in to hold a final conversation with you; and I mean to do it."
I thought an explosion was inevitable, with Tod"s temper. He controlled it, however; and after a moment"s hesitation put off his cap. Mr.
Brandon sat down in the old big chair by the fire; Tod stood on the other side, his arm on the mantelpiece.
In a minute or two, they were going at it kindly. Old Brandon put Tod"s doings before him in the plainest language he could command; Tod retorted insolently in his pa.s.sion.
"I have warned you enough against your ways and against that woman,"
said Mr. Brandon. "I am here to do it once again, and to bid you for the last time give up her acquaintanceship. Yes, sir, _bid_ you: I stand in the light of your unconscious father."
"I wouldn"t do it for my father," cried Tod, in his fury.
"She is leading you into a gulf of--of brimstone," fired old Brandon.
"Day by day you creep down a step lower into it, sir, like a calf that is being wiled to the shambles. Once fairly in, you"ll be smothered: the whole world won"t be able to pull you out again."