"Thoughtful!" repeated Mr. Smithson.
"He has gone away for a time out of consideration for me," said the widow. "As things are, it is a little bit awkward for us to meet much at present."
"I don"t think he"s gone away for that at all," said the other, bluntly.
Mrs. Phipps shook her head. "Ah, you don"t know him as well as I do,"
she said, fondly. "He has gone away on my account, I feel sure."
Mr. Smithson screwed his lips together and remained silent.
"When he feels that it is right and proper for him to come back," pursued Mrs. Phipps, turning her eyes upwards, "he will come. He has left his comfortable home just for my sake, and I shall not forget it."
Mr. Smithson coughed-a short, dry cough, meant to convey incredulity.
"I shall not do anything to this house till he comes back," said Mrs.
Phipps. "I expect he would like to have a voice in it. He always used to admire it and say how comfortable it was. Well, well, we never know what is before us."
Mr. Smithson repeated the substance of the interview to Mr. Clarkson by letter, and in the lengthy correspondence that followed kept him posted as to the movements of Mrs. Phipps. By dint of warnings and entreaties he kept the bridegroom-elect in London for three months. By that time Little Molton was beginning to talk.
"They"re beginning to see how the land lays," said Mr. Smithson, on the evening of his friend"s return, "and if you keep quiet and do as I tell you she"ll begin to see it too. As I said before, she can"t name the day till you ask her."
Mr. Clarkson agreed, and the following morning, when he called upon Mrs.
Phipps at her request, his manner was so distant that she attributed it to ill-health following business worries and the atmosphere of London.
In the front parlour Mr. Digson, a small builder and contractor, was busy whitewashing.
"I thought we might as well get on with that," said Mrs. Phipps; "there is only one way of doing whitewashing, and the room has got to be done.
To-morrow Mr. Digson will bring up some papers, and, if you"ll come round, you can help me choose."
Mr. Clarkson hesitated. "Why not choose "em yourself?" he said at last.
"Just what I told her," said Mr. Digson, stroking his black beard.
"What"ll please you will be sure to please him, I says; and if it don"t it ought to."
Mr. Clarkson started. "Perhaps you could help her choose," he said, sharply.
Mr. Digson came down from his perch. "Just what I said," he replied.
"If Mrs. Phipps will let me advise her, I"ll make this house so she won"t know it before I"ve done with it."
"Mr. Digson has been very kind," said Mrs. Phipps, reproachfully.
"Not at all, ma"am," said the builder, softly. "Anything I can do to make you happy or comfortable will be a pleasure to me."
Mr. Clarkson started again, and an odd idea sent his blood dancing.
Digson was a widower; Mrs. Phipps was a widow. Could anything be more suitable or desirable?
"Better let him choose," he said. "After all, he ought to be a good judge."
Mrs. Phipps, after a faint protest, gave way, and Mr. Digson, smiling broadly, mounted his perch again.
Mr. Clarkson"s first idea was to consult Mr. Smithson; then he resolved to wait upon events. The idea was fantastic to begin with, but, if things did take such a satisfactory turn, he could not help reflecting that it would not be due to any efforts on the part of Mr. Smithson, and he would no longer be under any testamentary obligations to that enterprising gentleman.
By the end of a week he was jubilant. A child could have told Mr.
Digson"s intentions--and Mrs. Phipps was anything but a child. Mr.
Clarkson admitted cheerfully that Mr. Digson was a younger and better-looking man than himself--a more suitable match in every way.
And, so far as he could judge, Mrs. Phipps seemed to think so. At any rate, she had ceased to make the faintest allusion to any tie between them. He left her one day painting a door, while the attentive Digson guided the brush, and walked homewards smiling.
"Morning!" said a voice behind him.
"Morning, Bignell," said Mr. Clarkson.
"When--when is it to be?" inquired his friend, walking beside him.
Mr. Clarkson frowned. "When is what to be?" he demanded, disagreeably.
Mr. Bignell lowered his voice. "You"ll lose her if you ain"t careful,"
he said. "Mark my words. Can"t you see Digson"s little game?"
Mr. Clarkson shrugged his shoulders.
"He"s after her money," said the other, with a cautious glance around.
"Money?" said the other, with an astonished laugh. "Why, she hasn"t got any."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "She"ll be riding in her carriage and pair in six months"]
"Oh, all right," said Mr. Bignell. "You know best of course. I was just giving you the tip, but if you know better--why, there"s nothing more to be said. She"ll be riding in her carriage and pair in six months, anyhow; the richest woman in Little Molton."
Mr. Clarkson stopped short and eyed him in perplexity.
"Digson got a bit sprung one night and told me," said Mr. Bignell. "She don"t know it herself yet--uncle on her mother"s side in America. She might know at any moment."
"But--but how did Digson know?" inquired the astonished Mr. Clarkson.
"He wouldn"t tell me," was the reply. "But it"s good enough for him.
What do you think he"s after? Her? And mind, don"t let on to a soul that I told you."
He walked on, leaving Mr. Clarkson standing in a dazed condition in the centre of the foot-path. Recovering himself by an effort, he walked slowly away, and, after prowling about for some time in an aimless fashion, made his way back to Mrs. Phipps"s house.
He emerged an hour later an engaged man, with the date of the wedding fixed. With jaunty steps he walked round and put up the banns, and then, with the air of a man who has completed a successful stroke of business, walked homewards.
Little Molton is a small town and news travels fast, but it did not travel faster than Mr. Smithson as soon as he had heard it. He burst into Mr. Clarkson"s room like the proverbial hurricane, and, gasping for breath, leaned against the table and pointed at him an incriminating finger.
"You you"ve been running," said Mr. Clarkson, uneasily.
"What--what--what do you--mean by it?" gasped Mr. Smithson. "After all my trouble. After our--bargain."
"I altered my mind," said Mr. Clarkson, with dignity.