"A letter--a letter--let me see!"
The old gentleman evidently did not remember anything about a letter; no letter had seen the light, or all had been explained between Harriet and Sidney, and the course of true love was running smoothly to the end. So much the better; it was as well to say no more about it, Mattie thought.
If the letter were lost, the old gentleman might only create suspicion by alluding to it upon Sidney"s return; Mattie did not know how far to trust him.
She went away a few minutes afterwards, stopping for awhile to exchange greetings with Ann Packet, to whom she gave her address--a back street in Southwark Bridge Road--after much adjuration.
"You won"t mind me, my dear," said Ann, "now you"re settled down to something--but, oh! dear, how thin you"ve got. You"ve been fretting all the flesh off your precious bones."
"I haven"t fretted much, Ann," was Mattie"s answer; "you know I never liked to do anything but make the best of it. And I"ve not tried in vain--all will come right again--I"m sure of it!"
"And the worst is over--ain"t it?"
"To be sure, the very worst. And now don"t tell my address to anyone--not to Mr. Sidney or Miss Harriet especially."
"But Miss Harriet----"
"Will only offend her father by coming to see _me_--you, Ann, won"t offend any one very much."
"Only a poor stray like yourself, Mattie--am I?"
"And our hearts don"t stray very far from those we have loved, Ann--and never will."
"Ah! she talks like a book almost--the sight of learning that that child got hold on, and the deal of good she does a body," muttered Ann, looking after Mattie through the misty twilight stealing up the street.
"For every one her liked, and every one her loved," wrote Spenser, ages ago, of his heroine--Ann Packet might have quoted the same words, barring all thoughts of Mr. Wesden, whom the force of events had turned aside from Mattie.
Mr. Hinchford liked Mattie; her presence had brightened him up, given a shake to ideas that had been rusting of late.
"She"s a quick girl," he muttered, "but she has the most foolish and out-of-the-way thoughts. How she disturbs one--I meant to have asked her seriously, and yet kindly, why she stopped out all night, and offended Mr. Wesden. Odd I should forget that--I don"t generally let things slip my memory in that ridiculous fashion. And about that man who called himself her father--why, I forgot that, too!--G.o.d bless me! A curious girl--my brother, indeed!--my hard-hearted and unsympathetic brother!"
CHAPTER IV.
HIS TURN!
Mr. Hinchford did not forget the foolish and out-of-the-way thought of Mattie"s. It has been already said that his memory was retentive enough in all things that affected his son"s welfare, and the new suggestion kept his mind busy as the days stole on, and Sidney brought back his cheerful face but no good news with him.
The old man"s pride had kept him aloof from the brother for many years; he had been hurt by that brother"s coldness, and he had resolved to show that he was able to work his own way in life, without that a.s.sistance which he had once solicited. He had kept his word; for his own sake it had been easy, but, for his son"s, there was a temptation he could scarcely withstand. There might be a chance, there might not be; in his heart, he thought the odds were against Sid. He did not set much value upon the brother"s visit to Great Suffolk Street; it might have been curiosity, or a spasm of affection which had rendered him eccentric for a day; he remembered his brother simply as a hard, inflexible being who, having formed an opinion, closed upon it with a snap, and was ever after that immovable. Still for Sidney"s sake he thought at last that he would try. It should not be said of him that he neglected one chance to benefit his son, or that his pride stood in the way of Sid"s advancement--that queer girl, whom he could scarcely make out, should not say that he had not done his best for Sidney.
He dressed himself in his best suit one day, seized his stick, and marched down to Camberwell Green, whence he took the omnibus to the City. Sidney had again departed in quest of "something"--on a visit to the news-rooms to search the papers there--and Mr. Hinchford was following in his wake shortly afterwards.
He had a nervous fear that he should meet Sidney in the City, at first, but the crowd which surrounded him there a.s.sured him that that event was not likely to ensue. He had not been in the City for many years and the place alarmed him; he almost guessed how weak and nervous he had become when he struggled with the mob of money-hunters in King William Street, and found it hard to fight against.
"All these hunting for places in one shape or another," he thought, "looking but for the best chance, and greedy of any one who gets in the way, and seems likely to deprive them of it, or add to their expenses.
Why, where"s all the places that hold these men and keep my Sid doing nothing?"
He turned into the narrow lanes branching out of the great thoroughfare leading to the Bank, and proceeded without any difficulty to the banking-house of his brother Geoffry. His memory was not in fault here; every short cut through the shady by-ways of the City he took by instinct--he had banked with his brother in days gone by, and it was like retracing his youthful steps to find himself once more in these old streets.
Before the swing gla.s.s doors of a quiet, old-fashioned banking-house he paused, changed the stick from his right hand to his left, gave a little tug to his stock, changed hands again with his stick, finally crossed over the way, and set his back against the dingy wall opposite. The pride which had held him aloof so long from his brother rose up again, that ruling pa.s.sion which a struggling life had circ.u.mscribed. He became very red in the face, and looked almost fiercely at the banking-house in front of him. He felt that his brother would say "No" again, and the humiliation in store he should have courted by his own folly. But Sidney?--possibly Sidney might be of service there, and room found for him, if he asked; and if not; still, for Sidney"s sake, he must attempt it--courage and forward!
Mr. Hinchford nerved himself to the task, crossed the road, and went up the steps into the bank. They were busy before and behind the counters there; money was being shovelled in and out of drawers; cheques were flying across the counter; there was the stir and bustle of a first-cla.s.s banking-house before him; everybody was talking, whispering, studying, and thinking of money; what room for any sentiment in that place from nine till four?
He took his place by the counter, waiting to address one of the clerks at the first convenient opportunity that might present itself; he was in no hurry; he wished to collect his thoughts, and arrange his plan of action; and instead of arranging any plan, he looked at the clerks, and thought Sidney Hinchford might as well have a place behind that counter as not--and how well he would look there, and what a good place for him it would be!
He stood there for a considerable time, until his presence began to oppress a bald-headed young man at the third desk, an energetic young man of uncivil appearance--soured in life perhaps, by his hair coming off so early--who, in the hurry of business, had taken little notice of Mr. Hinchford until then.
"What is it?" he asked, abruptly.
Mr. Hinchford objected to abruptness, and felt it hard to be snubbed by his brother"s clerk to begin with. He reddened a little, and said that he wished to see Mr. Hinchford directly.
"Mr. Hinchford!" the clerk repeated; "oh! you can"t see either of _them_!"
"Just ask, young man, and don"t answer for your master!"
"If it"s anything about an account, Mr. Maurice will, if you"ve a proper introduction, at----"
"Mr. Maurice will not do, sir!" cried Mr. Hinchford; "go and tell my brother directly that I wish to see him, if you please."
There was some pride in claiming brotherhood with the banker, even under the difficulties before him; the effect upon the uncivil bank clerk--why are bank clerks uncivil in the aggregate?--was bewildering; he stared at Mr. Hinchford, detected the likeness at once, and backed from the counter on the instant. Mr. Hinchford saw no more of him--he was beginning to think that his message had not been delivered after all, when a young man behind touched him on the arm.
"Will you please to step this way?"
Mr. Hinchford turned, followed the usher to the end of the counting-house, pa.s.sed through a room, where two or three gentlemen were busily writing, went through another door into a larger room, where one old gentleman--very like himself--was seated in all the divinity that doth hedge a princ.i.p.al.
"Good morning, James," was the banker"s first remark, nodding his head familiarly in his brother"s direction.
"Good morning, Geoffry."
And then there was a pause; the two men who had parted in anger nearly twenty-six years ago, and had not met since, looked at each other somewhat curiously. It was a strange meeting, and a strange commencement thereto, a little affected on the part of the banker, the senior by eight years. In the same room together, the likeness between them was singularly apparent--the height, figure, features, even the scanty crop of white hair, were all identical; but in the senior"s face there was expressed a vigour and determination, which in Sid"s father was wholly wanting. Geoffry Hinchford was still the cool, calculating man of business, who let no chance slip, and who fought for his chances, and held his place with younger men.
There was no sentiment in the meeting of the brothers, and yet each was moved and touched by the changes time had made. They had parted in the prime of life, stalwart, handsome men, and they came face to face in their senility.
"Take a seat," said Geoffry Hinchford, indicating one with the feather of the quill pen he held in his hand.
The brother took a chair with a grave inclination of the head, and then crossed his hands upon his stick, and began to evidence a little of that nervousness that had beset him before he entered the banking-house.
Geoffry Hinchford"s keen eyes detected this, and he hastened to avoid one of those scenes which he had confessed to his nephew he hated, when he made his first and last call in Great Suffolk Street.
"You have been walking fast, James; will you look at the _Times_ a bit, and compose yourself. _That"s_ the money article."
He pa.s.sed the paper over to his brother, and then began making a few entries in a small pocket volume before him--a hybrid book, with a lock and key. Mr. Hinchford turned the paper over in his hands, inspected the money article upside down, and appeared interested in it from that point of view--gave a furtive tug to his stock, which he was sure Sid, who always b.u.t.toned it, had taken in a hole too much, and then mustered up courage to begin the subject which had brought him thither.
"Geoffry, it"s six-and-twenty years or so since I sat in this very place and asked a favour of you."
"Ah! thereabouts," responded Geoffry from over his private volume.
"Which was refused," added the old gentleman.