"RIDDLESWORTH."
"Two hundred a year! Fifty less than we gave our cook!" said Bramleigh, with a faint smile.
"It is an insult, an outrage," said Nelly, whose face and neck glowed till they appeared crimson. "I hope, Gusty, you "ll have the firmness to reject such an offer."
"What does Mr. Cutbill say?" asked he, turning towards him.
"Mr. Cutbill says that if you "re bent on playing Don Quixote, and won"t go back and enjoy what"s your own, like a sensible man, this pittance--it ain"t more--is better than trying to eke out life by your little talents."
Nelly turned her large eyes, open to the widest, upon him, as he spoke, with an expression so palpably that of rebuke for his freedom, that he replied to her stare by saying,--
"Of course I am very free and easy. More than that, I "m downright rude. That"s what you mean--a vulgar dog! but don"t you see that"s what diminished fortune must bring you to? You "ll have to live with vulgar dogs. It"s not only coa.r.s.e cookery, but coa.r.s.e company a man comes to. Ay, and there are people will tell you that both are useful--as alteratives, as the doctors call them."
It was a happy accident that made him lengthen out the third syllable of the word, which amused Nelly so much that she laughed outright
"Can you tell us where is Cattaro, Mr. Cutbill?" asked Bramleigh, eager that the other should not notice his sister"s laughter.
"I haven"t the faintest notion; but Bollard, the messenger, is eating his luncheon at the station. I "ll run down and ask him." And without waiting for a reply, he seized his hat and hurried away.
"One must own he is good-natured," said Nelly, "but he does make us pay somewhat smartly for it. His wholesome truths are occasionally hard to swallow."
"As he told us, Nelly, we must accept these things as part of our changed condition. Poverty would n"t be such a hard thing to bear if it only meant common food and coa.r.s.e clothing; but it implies scores of things that are far less endurable."
While they thus talked, Cutbill had hurried down to the station, and just caught the messenger as he was taking his seat in the train. Two others--one bound for Russia and one for Greece--were already seated in the compartment, smoking their cigars with an air of quiet indolence, like men making a trip by a river steamer.
"I say, Bollard," cried Cutbill, "where is Cattaro?"
"Don"t know; is he a tenor?"
"It"s a place; a consulate somewhere or other."
"Never heard of it Have you, Digby?"
"It sounds like Calabria, or farther south."
"I know it," said the third man. "It"s a vile hole; it"s on the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Adriatic. I was wrecked there once in an Austrian Lloyd"s steamer, and caught a tertian fever before I could get away. There was a fellow there, a vice-consul they called him. He was dressed in sheepskins, and, I believe, lived by wrecking. He stole my watch, and would have carried away my portmanteau, but I was waiting for him with my revolver, and winged him."
"Did nothing come of it?" asked another.
"They pensioned him, I think. I "m not sure; but I think they gave him twenty pounds a year. I know old Kepsley stopped eight pounds out of my salary for a wooden leg for the rascal. There"s the whistle; take care, sir, you"ll come to grief if you hang on."
Cutbill attended to the admonition, and bidding the travellers good-bye, returned slowly to the Bramleighs" lodgings, pondering over all he had heard, and canva.s.sing with himself how much of his unpleasant tidings he would venture to relate.
"Where "s your map?" said he, entering. "I suspect I can make out the place now. Show me the Adriatic. Zara--Lissa--what a number of islands!
Here you are; here"s Bocca di Cattaro--next door to the Turks, by Jove."
"My dear Gusty, don"t think of this, I beseech you," said Nelly, whispering. "It is enough to see where it is, to know it must be utter barbarism."
"I won"t say it looks inviting," said Cutbill, as he bent over the map, "and the messenger had n"t much to say in its praise, either."
"Probably not; but remember what you told me awhile ago, Mr. Cutbill, that even this was better than depending on my little talents."
"He holds little talents in light esteem, then?" said Ellen, tartly.
"That"s exactly what I do," rejoined Cutbill, quickly. "As long as you are rich enough to be courted for your wealth, your little talents will find plenty of admirers; but as to earning your bread by them, you might as well try to go round the Cape in an outrigger. Take it, by all means,--take it, if it is only to teach you what it is to earn your own dinner."
"And is my sister to face such a life as this?"
"Your sister has courage for everything--but leaving you," said she, throwing her arm on his shoulder.
"I must be off. I have only half an hour left to pack my portmanteau and be at the station. One word with you alone, Bramleigh," said he, in a low tone, and Augustus walked at once into the adjoining room.
"You want some of these, I "m certain," said Cutbill, as he drew forth a roll of crushed and crumpled bank-notes, and pressed them into Bramleigh"s hand. "You "ll pay them back at your own time; don"t look so stiff, man, it"s only a loan."
"I a.s.sure you if I look stiff, it"s not what I feel. I "m overwhelmed by your good-nature; but, believe me, I "m in no want of money."
"n.o.body ever is; but it"s useful, all the same. Take them to oblige me.
Take them just to show you "re not such a swell as won"t accept even the smallest service from a fellow like me--do now, do!" and he looked so pleadingly that it was not easy to refuse him.
"I "m very proud to think I have won such friendship; but I give you my word I have ample means for all that I shall need to do; and if I should not, I "ll ask you to help me."
"Good-bye, then. Good-bye, Miss Ellen," cried he, aloud. "It"s not _my_ fault that I "m not a favorite with you;" and thus saying, he s.n.a.t.c.hed his hat, and was down the stairs and out of the house before Bramleigh could utter a word.
"What a kind-hearted fellow it is!" said he, as he joined his sister.
"I must tell you what he called me aside for."
She listened quietly while he recounted what had just occurred, and then said,--
"The Gospel tells us it"s hard for rich men to get to heaven; but it"s scarcely less hard for them to see what there is good here below! So long as we were well off I could see nothing to like in that man."
"That was my own thought a few minutes back; so you see, Nelly, we are not only travelling the same road, but gaining the same experiences."
"Sedley says in this letter here," said Augustus, the next morning, as he entered the breakfast-room, "that Pracontal"s lawyer is perfectly satisfied with the honesty of our intentions, and we shall go to trial in the November term on the ejectment case. It will raise the whole question, and the law shall decide between us."
"And what becomes of that--that arrangement," said she, hesitatingly, "by which M. Pracontal consented to withdraw his claim?"
"It was made against my consent, and I have refused to adhere to it. I have told Sedley so, and told him that I shall hold him responsible to the amount disbursed."
"But, dear Gusty, remember how much to your advantage that settlement would have been."
"I only remember the shame I felt on hearing of it, and my sorrow that Sedley should have thought my acceptance of it possible."
"But how has M. Pracontal taken this money and gone on with his suit?--surely both courses are not open to him?"
"I can tell you nothing about M. Pracontal. I only know that he, as well as myself, would seem to be strangely served by our respective lawyers, who a.s.sume to deal for us, whether we will or not."
"I still cling to the wish that the matter had been left to Mr. Sedley."