"No, no," cried the noisy guests. "Not one in a million. No one but yourself, Mr. Bence. That"s why we"re so proud of you."
And just as the town had turned towards Bence in his prosperity, so it had turned away from Mrs. Marsden in her adversity. These people worshipped success, and nothing else. The old shop was dying fast; its legend was already dead. The ancient triumph of the brave young widow was thus in a few years almost totally forgotten. It was a fabled greatness that faded before her present insignificance. There were of course some who still remembered; but they did not trouble to sustain or revive her name and fame.
Did she know how they spoke of her--these few who remembered?
A pitiful story: a poor wretch who posed for a little while as a good woman of business, and got absurd kudos for what was sheer luck. Just clever enough to make a little money in propitious times; but without staying power, unable to adapt herself to new methods--a _stupid_ woman, really! That was the kindest talk. Others, who should have been grateful and did not care to pay their debts, spoke of her as a criminal. "I never forgave her that disgraceful marriage. I endeavoured to prevent it, and warned her what would be the consequence of her--say her folly; but I think one would be justified in using a stronger word.
Well, she has made her bed; and she must lie upon it."
On a cold winter evening, when she had walked to the railway station with Enid and was finding her a seat in the local train, a porter officiously pointed out Bence.
"There! That"s Mr. Bence, ma"am. Mr. Bence--the small gentleman!"
The local train was on one side of the platform, and on the other stood the London express. And Bence, in fur coat and glossy topper, surrounded with sycophantic inspectors and ticket-collectors, was approaching the Pullman car. He was off to London, to buy fresh cargos of Leghorn hats or whole warehouses of mauve blouses.
The local train, with Enid in it, rolled away; and Mrs. Marsden, a shabby insignificant black figure, remained motionless, waving a pocket handkerchief and staring wistfully at the receding train. Then, as Bence came bustling from the Pullman door to the book-stall at the end of the platform, he and Mrs. Marsden met face to face.
It was a strange encounter. Intelligent onlookers, if there had been any on the platform, might have found food for much thought in studying this chance meeting between the Spirit of the age and the Ghost of the past.
There was nothing of the conqueror"s exultant air in Bence"s low bow. He uncovered his bald head and bowed deeply, with ostentatious humbleness and almost excessive respect--as if magnanimously determined to show that greatness though fallen was still greatness to him.
And there was nothing of the conquered in Mrs. Marsden"s dignified acknowledgment of the pa.s.sing courtesy. Bowing, she looked at Bence and through Bence; and her face seemed calm, cold, dispa.s.sionate: as absolutely devoid of trouble or resentment as if one of the ticket-collectors whom she used to tip had touched his hat to her.
None of these greedy ruffians did salute her. In all the station, through which she used to pa.s.s as a queen, only little Bence showed her a sign of respect to-night.
In her deserted shop there were still faithful hearts; outside the shop, in all Mallingbridge, it seemed as if she could not count more than one true friend.
Prentice was true as the magnet to the pole. For a long time he had asked her no questions, given her no advice; and she told him nothing of her affairs, either commercial or domestic. But he guessed that things were going from bad to worse. He knew that she was more and more frequently at the offices of Hyde & Collins. He saw her entering their front door almost as often as he saw Bence entering it; and he interpreted these visits as a certain indication that they were still raising money for her. She had probably sold the last of her stocks and shares, and now they were helping her to get rid of the small remainder of her possessions. He knew of two or three houses in River Street, and of a moderate mortgage on this property. Hyde & Collins might effect a second mortgage perhaps; and then the houses would be practically gone, as everything else had gone--into the bottomless pit. They would not care how quickly she beggared herself. When she was squeezed dry, they would just shut the door in her face. Insolent, unscrupulous brutes! And he thought with anger of how cavalierly they would treat her even now, before the end: breaking their appointments, telling her to call again, leaving her to wait in outer rooms while they kow-towed to their best client, their only prosperous client, the omnipotent Bence.
To the mind of loyal Prentice the utter downfall of Mrs. Marsden was abominable and intolerable. He could not bear it--this wreck of a life that had been so n.o.ble. His hope of saving something from the wreck was cruelly frustrated. He had tried again and again; but she would not listen, she would not be guided.
He thought sadly of the bright past, of her talent and genius; and, above all, of her tremendous intellectual strength. In those days, when he began to unfold a matter of business, she stopped him before he had completed half a dozen sentences. It was enough--she had grasped the whole position, sent beams from the search-light of her intelligence flashing all round it, shown him essential points that he had not seen himself. Difficulties never frightened her; she was subtle in defence, swift in attack. Give her but a hint of danger, and in a moment she was armed and ready. Before you knew what she would be at, she had sprung into decisive action; and before you could hurry up with your feeble reinforcements, the danger was over, the battle had been gained.
But now she was weak as water--helpless, yet refusing help, hopeless and making hope impossible, just drifting to her fate. At night Mr. Prentice sometimes could not sleep. He lay awake, thinking of what it would come to in the end--bankruptcy, her little h.o.a.rd squandered, her last penny gone in the futile effort to satisfy her husband and sustain the shop.
And then? She was so proud that perhaps she might not allow Enid to supply her simplest daily needs. He tossed and turned restlessly as he thought of Enid"s marriage settlement; and, remembering some of its ill-advised clauses, he felt stung by remorse. He had bungled the settlement. He ought to have stood firm, and not have permitted himself to be overruled by the idiotic whims of a love-sick girl who was being generous at another person"s expense. He blamed himself bitterly now for the manner in which funds had been permanently secured to Enid"s worthless husband. Of course the Divorce Court, exercising its statutory powers, might wipe out the entire blunder, and handsomely punish the offender by handsomely benefiting the wife; but he had small hope that this would happen. No, the rascal Charles Kenion, when disposed of, will still enjoy his life interest. The money that should come back now to the hand that gave it is gone. Enid will not have more than she wants for herself and her child.
He could not sleep. The thought of Mrs. Marsden"s pride made him shiver.
No prouder woman ever lived: famine and cold would not break her pride.
He had thought of her in the workhouse, or an almshouse, finishing her days on the bread of charity. But no--great Heaven!--she would never consent to do that. She would rather sell matches in the street. And he imagined her appearance. An old woman in rags--creeping at dusk with bent back,--pausing on a country road to hold her side and cough,--lying down on the frozen ground beneath a haystack, and dying in the winter storm.
He knew--only too well--that these are the things that happen: the inexorable facts of the world. But never should they happen in this case--not while he had one sixpence to rub against another.
He could not go on thinking about it without doing something. So he woke up his invalid wife. That seemed the only thing he could do just then;--and he told Mrs. Prentice that she must be kind to Mrs. Marsden; she must begin being kind the first thing in the morning; she must write a letter, pay a call, do _something_ to cheer and gladden his poor old friend.
Mrs. Prentice, an amiable nondescript woman, readily obeyed her husband; and after this nocturnal conversation she used frequently to wait upon Mrs. Marsden, often persuade her to go out for a drive, and now and then entice her to come and dine in a quiet friendly fashion without any fuss or ceremony. These pleasant evenings must have made bright and warm spots amidst the cold dark gloom that now surrounded Mrs. Marsden. At Mr. Prentice"s comfortable private house she was treated with an honour to which she had been long unaccustomed; there was nothing here to remind her of her troubles; and she really appeared to forget them when chatting freely with her kind host and hostess.
"My dear Mrs. Prentice, it is too good of you to let me drop in on you like this."
"No, it is so good of you," said Mrs. Prentice, "to give us the pleasure of your company."
"It is a great pleasure to _me_," said Mrs. Marsden; "and I always thoroughly enjoy myself."
Mrs. Prentice liked her better in her adversity than in her prosperity.
She found it easy to join her husband in his admiration of the fort.i.tude and dignity of Mrs. Marsden as an ill-used wife and a broken-down shopkeeper--now that the fable of her colossal brain-power was finally shattered. Perhaps Mrs. Prentice"s naturally kind heart had never opened to Mrs. Marsden till the day when Mr. Prentice said that his idol was acting like a fool.
Their guest used to eat sparingly, although the hostess pressed her to taste of every dish; and she scarcely drank more than half a gla.s.s of wine, although the host had brought out his most highly prized vintage; but she talked so cheerfully, so calmly, and so wisely, that her society was as charming as it was welcome. Mr. Prentice, beaming on her and listening with deference to her lightest words, was especially delighted each time that he recognized something like a flash of the old light.
Once they were discussing a rumour that had just reached Mallingbridge.
It was said that the War Office had purchased a tract of land on the downs, and proposed to establish a large permanent camp up there.
"Half a dozen regiments, with all their followers--an invasion!"
"It will be dreadful for the town," said Mrs. Prentice. "Utterly destroy its character."
"That"s what I think," said Mr. Prentice. "Do no good to anybody."
"Do you know," said Mrs. Marsden, "I am inclined to disagree. Since the soldiers came to Ellerford, trade--I am told--has picked up wonderfully."
"Ah, yes," said Prentice. "But that"s a trifling affair--a very small camp, compared with what this would be."
"But, Mr. Prentice," and Mrs. Marsden smiled; "if a small camp does a little good, why shouldn"t a large camp do a lot of good?"
It sounded quite simple, and yet only she would have said it. Mr.
Prentice laughed. It reminded him of the old way she had of going straight to the point, and flooring you by a question that seemed childishly nave until all at once you found you could not answer it.
Mrs. Prentice continued to lament the many degradations that Mallingbridge had already undergone.
"The Theatre Royal turned into a music hall! The Royal! That is the last blow. _Three_ music halls in the place, and not one theatre where you can go and see a real play.... I used to love the Royal. It seemed a _part_ of Mallingbridge."
"My dear Mrs. Prentice," said the guest, calmly and philosophically, "the town that you and I loved has gone. It was inevitable--one can"t put back the clock. Time won"t stand still for us."
"No, but they"re making the new town so ugly, so vulgar. Whenever they pull down one of the dear old houses, they do build such gimcrack monstrosities."
"I fancy," said Mrs. Marsden, "that the distance from London decided our destiny. It was just far enough off to reproduce and copy the metropolis. Nowadays, the little places that remain unchanged are all close to the suburban boundary."
When she talked in this style, Prentice thought how effectually she gave the lie to people who said of her, that she had failed because she lacked the faculty of appreciating altered conditions.
"Did you happen," she asked him, "to read the report of the general meeting of the railway company?"
"No--I don"t think I did."
"The chairman mentioned Mallingbridge."
"What did he say about it?"
"He said that they might before long have to consider the propriety of building a new station, and putting it on another site."