"I _really_ don"t know," said poor Reginald. "Who are you?"
"I"m the lady who ordered the globe and blackboard, and sent two pounds along with the order to you, Mr Cruden Reginald. There! _Now_ perhaps you know what I"ve come for!"
If she had expected Reginald to fly out of the window, or seek refuge up the chimney, at this announcement, the composure with which he received the overpowering disclosure must have considerably astonished her.
"Eh?" she said. "Eh? Do you know me now?"
"I have no doubt you are right," said he. "We had more than a hundred orders for the globes and boards, and expect they will be delivered this week or next."
"Oh! then you have been imposing on more than me?" said the lady, who till this moment had imagined she had been the only correspondent of the Corporation on the subject.
"We"ve been imposing on no one," said Reginald warmly. "You have no right to say that, Mrs Wrigley."
His honest indignation startled the good lady.
"Then why don"t you send the things?" she demanded, in a milder tone.
"There are a great many orders to attend to, and they have to be taken in order as we receive them. Probably yours came a good deal later than others."
"No, it didn"t. I wrote by return of post, and put an extra stamp on too. You must have got mine one of the very first."
"In that case you will be one of the first to receive your globe and board."
"I know that, young man," said she. "I"m going to take them with me now!"
"I"m afraid you can"t do that," said Reginald. "They are being sent off from London."
The lady, who had somewhat moderated her wrath in the presence of the secretary"s unruffled politeness, fired up as fiercely as ever at this.
"There! I _knew_ it was a swindle! From London, indeed! Might as well say New York at once! _I"m_ not going to believe your lies, you young robber! Don"t expect it!"
It was a considerable tax on Reginald"s temper to be addressed in language like this, even by a lady, and he could not help retorting rather hotly, "I"m glad you are only a woman, Mrs Wrigley, for I wouldn"t stand being called a thief by a man, I a.s.sure you!"
"Oh, don"t let that make any difference!" said she, fairly in a rage, and advancing up to him. "Knock me down and welcome! You may just as well murder a woman as rob her!"
"I can only tell you again your order is being executed in London."
"And I can tell you I don"t believe a word you say, and I"ll just have my two pounds back, and have done with you! Come, you can"t say you never got _that_!"
"If you sent it, I certainly did," said Reginald.
"Then perhaps you"ll hand it up this moment?"
"I would gladly do so if I had it, but--"
"I suppose it"s gone to London too?" said she, with supernatural calmness.
"It has been paid in with all the money to the bank," said Reginald.
"But if you wish it I will write to the managing director and ask him to return it by next post."
"Will you?" said she, in tones that might have frozen any one less heated than Reginald. "And you suppose I"ve come all the way from Dorsetshire to get that for an answer, do you? You"re mistaken, sir! I don"t leave this place till I get my money or my things! So now!"
"Then," said Reginald, feeling the case desperate, and pushing a chair in her direction, "perhaps you"d better sit down."
She glared round at him indignantly. But perhaps it was the sight of his haggard, troubled face, or the faint suspicion that he, after all, might be more honest than his employers, or the reflection that she could get her rights better out of the place than in it. Whatever the reason was, she changed her mind.
"You shall hear of me again, sir!" said she; "mind that! Love, indeed!"
whereupon she bounced out of the office and slammed the door behind her.
Reginald sat with his eyes on the door for a full two minutes before he could sufficiently collect his wits to know where he was or what had happened.
Then a sense of indignation overpowered all his other feelings--not against Mrs Wrigley, but against Mr Medlock, for leaving him in a position where he could be, even in the remotest degree, open to so unpleasant a charge as that he had just listened to.
Why could he not be trusted with sufficient money and control over the operations of the Corporation to enable him to meet so unfounded a charge? What would the Bishop of S-- or the other directors think if they heard that a lady had come all the way from Dorsetshire to tell them they were a set of swindlers and thieves? If he had had the sending off of the orders to see to, he was confident he could have got every one of them off by this time, even if he had made up every parcel with his own hands.
What, in short, was the use of being called a secretary if he was armed with no greater authority than a common junior clerk?
He opened the letter he had just written to Mr Medlock, and sat down to write another, more aggrieved in its tone and more urgent in its request that Mr Medlock would come down to Liverpool at once to arrange matters on a more satisfactory footing. It was difficult to write a letter which altogether pleased him; but at last he managed to do it, and for fear his warmth should evaporate he went out to post it, locking the office up behind him.
He took a walk before returning--the first he had taken for a week. It was a beautiful crisp December day, when, even through the murky atmosphere of Liverpool, the sun looked down joyously, and the blue sky, flecked with little fleecy clouds, seemed to challenge the smoke and steam of a thousand chimneys to touch its purity. Reginald"s steps turned away from the city, through a quiet suburb towards the country.
He would have to walk too far, he knew, to reach real open fields and green lanes, but there was at least a suggestion of the country here which to his weary mind was refreshing.
His walk took him past a large public school, in the playground of which an exciting football match was in active progress. Like an old war horse, Reginald gazed through the palings and snorted as the cry of battle rose in the air.
"Hack it through, sir!" "Well run!" "Collar him there!"
As he heard those old familiar cries it seemed to him as if the old life had come back to him with a sudden rush. He was no longer a poor baited secretary, but a joyous school-boy, head of his form, lord and master of half a dozen f.a.gs, and a caution and example to the whole junior school.
He had chums by the score; his study was always crowded with fellows wanting him to do this or help them in that. How jolly to be popular!
How jolly, when the ball came out of the scrimmage, to hear every one shout, "Let Cruden have it!" How jolly, as he s.n.a.t.c.hed it up and rushed, cleaving his way to the enemy"s goal, to hear that roar behind him, "Run indeed, sir!"
"Back him up!"
"Well played!" Yes, he heard them still, like music; and as he watched the shifting fortunes of this game he felt the blood course through his veins with a strange, familiar ardour.
Ah, here came the ball out of the scrimmage straight towards him! Oh, the thrill of such a moment! Who does not know it? A second more and he would have it--
Alas! poor Reginald awoke as suddenly as he had dreamed. A hideous paling stood between him and the ball. He was not in the game at all.
Nothing but a lonely, friendless drudge, whom n.o.body wanted, n.o.body cared about.
With a glistening in his eyes which he would have scornfully protested was not a tear, he turned away and walked moodily back to Shy Street, caring little if it were to be the last walk he should ever take.
He was not, however, to be allowed much time for indulging his gloomy reflections on reaching his journey"s end. A person was waiting outside the office, pacing up and down the pavement to keep himself warm. The stranger took a good look at Reginald as he entered and let himself in, and then followed up the stairs and presented himself.
"Is Mr Reginald at home?" inquired he blandly.
Reginald noticed that he was a middle-aged person, dressed in a sort of very shabby clerical costume, awkward in his manner, but not unintelligent in face.
"That is my name," replied he.