"_Not_ to-morrow," she repeated steadily, though dreading lest she should burst into tears, "and not till I see clearly--till I can--" She caught her breath. "Now I am going back to Lady Winterbourne."
CHAPTER XIV.
For some hours after he reached his own room, Wharton sat in front of his open window, sunk in the swift rushing of thought, as a bramble sways in a river. The July night first paled, then flushed into morning; the sun rose above the empty street and the light mists enwrapping the great city, before he threw himself on his bed, exhausted enough at last to fall into a restless sleep.
The speculation of those quick-pulsed hours was in the end about equally divided between Marcella and the phrases and turns of his interview with Mr. Pearson. It was the sudden leap of troubled excitement stirred in him by that interview--heightened by the sight of Raeburn--that had driven him past recall by the most natural of transitions, into his declaration to Marcella.
But he had no sooner reached his room than, at first with iron will, he put the thought of Marcella, of the scene which had just pa.s.sed, away from him. His pulses were still quivering. No matter! It was the brain he had need of. He set it coolly and keenly to work.
Mr. Pearson? Well!--Mr. Pearson had offered him a _bribe_; there could be no question as to that. His clear sense never blinked the matter for an instant. Nor had he any illusions as to his own behaviour. Even now he had no further right to the sleep of the honest man.
Let him realise, however, what had happened. He had gone to Lady Masterton"s party, in the temper of a man who knows that ruin is upon him, and determined, like the French criminal, to exact his cigar and _eau de vie_ before the knife falls. Never had things looked so desperate; never had all resource seemed to him so completely exhausted.
Bankruptcy must come in the course of a few weeks; his entailed property would pa.s.s into the hands of a receiver; and whatever recovery might be ultimately possible, by the end of August he would be, for the moment, socially and politically undone.
There could be no question of his proposing seriously to Marcella Boyce.
Nevertheless, he had gone to Lady Masterton"s on purpose to meet her; and his manner on seeing her had a.s.serted precisely the same intimate claim upon her, which, during the past six weeks, had alternately attracted and repelled her.
Then Mr. Pearson had interrupted.
Wharton, shutting his eyes, could see the great man lean against the window-frame close to the spot where, a quarter of an hour later, Marcella had sat among the flowers--the dapper figure, the long, fair moustaches, the hand playing with the eye-gla.s.s.
"I have been asked--er--er--" What a conceited manner the fellow had!--"to get some conversation with you, Mr. Wharton, on the subject of the Damesley strike. You give me leave?"
Whereupon, in less than ten minutes, the speaker had executed an important commission, and, in offering Wharton a bribe of the most bare-faced kind, had also found time for supplying him with a number of the most delicate and sufficient excuses for taking it.
The masters, in fact, sent an emba.s.sy. They fully admitted the power of the _Clarion_ and its owner. No doubt, it would not be possible for the paper to keep up its strike fund indefinitely; there were perhaps already signs of slackening. Still it had been maintained for a considerable time; and so long as it was reckoned on, in spite of the wide-spread misery and suffering now prevailing, the men would probably hold out.
In these circ.u.mstances, the princ.i.p.al employers concerned had thought it best to approach so formidable an opponent and to put before him information which might possibly modify his action. They had authorised Mr. Pearson to give him a full account of what was proposed in the way of re-organisation of the trade, including the probable advantages which the work-people themselves would be likely to reap from it in the future.
Mr. Pearson ran in a few sentences through the points of the scheme.
Wharton stood about a yard away from him, his hands in his pockets, a little pale and frowning--looking intently at the speaker.
Then Mr. Pearson paused and cleared his throat.
Well!--that was the scheme. His princ.i.p.als believed that, when both it and the employers" determination to transfer their business to the Continent rather than be beaten by the men were made fully known to the owner of the _Clarion_, it must affect his point of view. Mr. Pearson was empowered to give him any details he might desire. Meanwhile--so confident were they in the reasonableness of the case that they even suggested that the owner of the _Clarion_ himself should take part in the new Syndicate. On condition of his future co-operation--it being understood that the masters took their stand irrevocably on the award--the men at present responsible for the formation of the Syndicate proposed to allot Mr. Wharton ten Founder"s Shares in the new undertaking.
Wharton, sitting alone, recalling these things, was conscious again of that start in every limb, that sudden rush of blood to the face, as though a lash had struck him.
For in a few seconds his mind took in the situation. Only the day before, a city acquaintance had said to him, "If you and your confounded paper were out of the way, and this thing could be placed properly on the market, there would be a boom in it at once. I am told that in twenty-four hours the Founder"s Shares would be worth 2,000 _l._ apiece!"
There was a pause of silence. Then Wharton threw a queer dark look at the solicitor, and was conscious that his pulse was thumping.
"There can be no question I think, Mr. Pearson--between you and me--as to the nature of such a proposal as that!"
"My dear sir," Mr. Pearson had interrupted hastily, "let me, above all, ask you to take _time_--time enough, at any rate, to turn the matter well over in your mind. The interests of a great many people, besides yourself, are concerned. Don"t give me an answer to-night; it is the last thing I desire. I have thrown out my suggestion. Consider it.
To-morrow is Sunday. If you are disposed to carry it further, come and see me Monday morning--that"s all. I will be at your service at any hour, and I can then give you a much more complete outline of the intentions of the Company. Now I really must go and look for Mrs.
Pearson"s carriage."
Wharton followed the great man half mechanically across the little room, his mind in a whirl of mingled rage and desire. Then suddenly he stopped his companion:
"Has George Denny anything to do with this proposal, Mr. Pearson?"
Mr. Pearson paused, with a little air of vague cogitation.
"George Denny? Mr. George Denny, the member for Westropp? I have had no dealings whatever with that gentleman in the matter."
Wharton let him pa.s.s.
Then as he himself entered the tea-room, he perceived the bending form of Aldous Raeburn chatting to Lady Winterbourne on his right, and that tall whiteness close in front, waiting for him.
His brain cleared in a flash. He was perfectly conscious that a bribe had just been offered him, of the most daring and cynical kind, and that he had received the offer in the tamest way. An insult had been put upon him which had for ever revealed the estimate held of him by certain shrewd people, for ever degraded him in his own eyes.
Nevertheless, he was also conscious that the thing was done. The bribe would be accepted, the risk taken. So far as his money-matters were concerned he was once more a free man. The mind had adjusted itself, reached its decision in a few minutes.
And the first effect of the mingled excitement and self-contempt which the decision brought with it had been to drive him into the scene with Marcella. Instinctively he asked of pa.s.sion to deliver him quickly from the smart of a new and very disagreeable experience.
Well! why should he not take these men"s offer?
He was as much convinced as they that this whole matter of the strike had of late come to a deadlock. So long as the public would give, the workers, pa.s.sionately certain of the justice of their own cause, and filled with new ambitions after more decent living, would hold out. On the other hand, he perfectly understood that the masters had also in many ways a strong case, that they had been very hard hit by the strike, and that many of them would rather close their works or transfer them bodily to the Continent than give way. Some of the facts Pearson had found time to mention had been certainly new and striking.
At the same time he never disguised from himself for an instant that but for a prospective 20,000 _l._ the facts concerned would not have affected him in the least. Till to-night it had been to his interest to back the strike, and to hara.s.s the employers. Now things were changed; and he took a curious satisfaction in the quick movements of his own intelligence, as his thought rapidly sketched the "curve" the _Clarion_ would have to take, and the arguments by which he would commend it.
As to his shares, they would be convertible of course into immediate cash. Some man of straw would be forthcoming to buy what he would possess in the name of another man of straw. It was not supposed--he took for granted--by the men who had dared to tempt him, that he would risk his whole political reputation and career for anything less than a bird in the hand.
Well! what were the chances of secrecy?
Naturally _they_ stood to lose less by disclosure, a good deal, than he did. And Denny, one of the princ.i.p.al employers, was his personal enemy.
He would be likely enough for the present to keep his name out of the affair. But no man of the world could suppose that the transaction would pa.s.s without his knowledge. Wharton"s own hasty question to Mr. Pearson on the subject seemed to himself now, in cold blood, a remarkably foolish one.
He walked up and down thinking this point out. It was the bitter pill of the whole affair.
In the end, with a sudden recklessness of youth and resource, he resolved to dare it. There would _not_ be much risk. Men of business do not as a rule blazon their own dirty work, and public opinion would be important to the new Syndicate.
_Some_ risk, of course, there would be. Well! his risks, as they stood, were pretty considerable. He chose the lesser--not without something of a struggle, some keen personal smart. He had done a good many mean and questionable things in his time, but never anything as gross as this.
The thought of what his relation to a certain group of men--to Denny especially--would be in the future, stung sharply. But it is the part of the man of action to put both scruple and fear behind him on occasion. His career was in question.
Craven? Well, Craven would be a difficulty. He would telegraph to him first thing in the morning before the offices closed, and see him on Monday. For Marcella"s sake the man must be managed--somehow.
And--Marcella! How should she ever know, ever suspect! She already disliked the violence with which the paper had supported the strike. He would find no difficulty whatever in justifying all that she or the public would see, to her.
Then insensibly he let his thoughts glide into thinking of the money.
Presently he drew a sheet of paper towards him and covered it with calculations as to his liabilities. By George! how well it worked out!
By the time he threw it aside, and walked to the window for air, he already felt himself a _bona-fide_ supporter of the Syndicate--the promoter in the public interest of a just and well-considered scheme.