"Suppose any harm were to come to her," Ingworth continued with something very like a break in his voice. "She"s quite alone and unprotected. She is the daughter of a man who was in the Navy, and now she has to earn her own living as an a.s.sistant librarian in Kensington.
A man like Lothian who can talk, and write beautiful letters--d.a.m.ned scoundrel and blackguard!"
Toftrees was not much interested in his young friend"s stormy love-affairs. But he _was_ interested in the putting of a spoke into Gilbert Lothian"s wheel. And he had a genuine dislike and disgust of intrigue. A faithful husband to a faithful wife whose interests were identical with his, the fact of a married man of his acquaintance running after some little typewriting girl whose people were not alive to look after her, seemed abominable. Nice girls should not be used so.
He thought of dodges and furtive meetings, sly telephone calls, and anxious country expeditions with a shudder. And if he thanked G.o.d that he was above these things, it was perhaps not a pharisaical grat.i.tude that animated him.
"Look here," he said suddenly. "You needn"t go on, Ingworth. I know who it is. It"s Miss Wallace, of the Podley Library. She was at the Amberleys" that night when Lothian made such a beast of himself. She writes a little, too. Very pretty and charming girl!"
Ingworth a.s.sented eagerly. "Yes!" he cried, "that"s just it! She"s clever. She"s intrigued by Lothian. She doesn"t _love_ him, she told me so yesterday----"
He stopped, suddenly, realising what he had said.
Toftrees covered his confusion in a moment. Toftrees wanted to see this to the end.
"No, no," he said with a.s.sumed impatience. "Of course, she knows that Lothian is married, and, being a decent girl, she would never let her feelings--whatever they may be--run away with her. She"s dazzled.
That"s what it is, and very natural, too! But it ought to be stopped.
As a matter of fact, Ingworth, I saw them together at the Metropole at Brighton one night. They had motored down together. And I"ve heard that they"ve been seen about a lot in London at night. Most people know Lothian by sight, and such a lovely girl as Miss Wallace everyone looks at. From what I saw, and from what I"ve heard, they are very much in love with each other."
"It"s a lie," Ingworth answered. "She"s not in love with him. I know it! She"s been led away to compromise herself, poor dear girl, that"s all."
Now, Toftrees arose in his glory, so to speak.
"I"ll put a stop to it," he said. The emperor of the sixpenny market was once more upon his virtuous throne.
His deep voice was rich with promise and power.
"I know Mr. Podley," he said. "I have met him a good many times lately.
We are on the committee of the "Pure Penny Literature Movement." He is a thoroughly good and fatherly man. He"s quite without culture, but his instincts are all fine. I will take him aside to-night and tell him of the danger--you are right, Ingworth, it is a real and subtle danger for that charming girl--that his young friend is in. Podley is her patron.
She has no friends, no people, I understand. She is dependent for her livelihood upon her place at the Kensington Library. He will tell her, and I am sure in the kindest way, that she must not have anything more to do with our Christian poet, or she will lose her situation."
Ingworth thought for a moment. "Thanks awfully," he said, almost throwing off all disguise now. Then he hesitated--"But that might simply throw her into Lothian"s arms," he said.
Toftrees shook his head. "I shall put it to Mr. Podley," he said, "and he, being receptive of other people"s ideas and having few of his own, will repeat me, to point out the horrors of a divorce case, the utter ruin if Mrs. Lothian were to take action."
Ingworth rose from his seat.
"To-night?" he said. "You"re to see this Podley to-night?"
"Yes."
"Then when do you think he will talk to Rit--to Miss Wallace?"
"I think I can ensure that he will do so before lunch to-morrow morning."
"You will be doing a kind and charitable thing, Toftrees," Ingworth answered, making a calculation which brought him to the doors of the Podley Inst.i.tute at about four o"clock on the afternoon of the morrow.
Then he took his leave, congratulating himself that he had moved Toftrees to his purpose. It was an achievement! Rita would be frightened now, frightened from Gilbert for ever. The thing was already half done.
"Mine!" said Mr. d.i.c.kson Ingworth to himself as he got into a taxi-cab outside Lancaster Gate.
"I think I shall cook master Lothian"s goose very well to-night,"
Herbert Toftrees thought to himself.
Mixed motives on both sides.
Half bad, perhaps, half good. Who shall weigh out the measures but G.o.d?
Ingworth was madly in love with Rita Wallace, who had become very fond of him. He was young, handsome, was about to offer her advantageous and honourable marriage.
Ingworth"s pa.s.sion was quite good and pure. Here he rose above himself.
"All"s fair"--treacheries grow small when they a.s.sist one"s own desire and can be justified upon the score of morality as well.
Toftrees was outside the fierce burning of flames beyond his comprehension.
He was a cog-wheel in the machinery of this so swiftly-weaving loom.
But he also paid himself both ways--as he felt instinctively.
He and his wife owed this upstart and privately disreputable poet a rap upon the knuckles. He would administer it to-night.
And it was a _duty_, no less than a fortunate opportunity, to save a good and charming girl from a scamp.
When Toftrees told his wife all about it at lunch that morning she quite agreed, and, moreover, gave him valuable feminine advice as to the conduct of the private conversation with Podley.
CHAPTER VIII
THE AMNESIC DREAM-PHASE
"In the drunkenness of the chronic alcoholic the higher brain centres are affected more readily and more profoundly than the rest of the nervous system, with the result that the drinker, despite the derangement of his consciousness, is capable of apparently deliberate and purposeful acts. It is in this dream-state, which may last a considerable time, that the morbid impulses of the alcoholic are most often carried into effect."
_The Criminology of Alcoholism_ by William C. Sullivan, M.D., Medical Officer H.M. Prison Service.
"The confirmed toper, who is as much the victim of drug-habit as the opium eater, may have amnesic dream phases, during which he may commit automatically offensive acts while he is mentally irresponsible."
_Medico-Legal Relations of Alcoholism_ by Stanley B. Atkinson, M.A., M.B., B.Sc. Barrister at Law.
At nine o"clock one evening Lothian went into his wife"s room. It was a bitterly cold night and a knife-like wind was coming through the village from the far saltings. There was a high-riding moon but its light was fitful and constantly obscured by hurrying clouds.
Mary was lying in bed, patiently and still. She was not yet better. Dr.
Heywood was a little puzzled at her continued listlessness and depression.
A bright fire glowed upon the hearth and sent red reflections upon the bedroom ceiling. A shaded candle stood upon the bedside table, and there were also a gla.s.s of milk, some grapes in a silver dish, and the "Imitatio Christi" there.
Lothian was very calm and quiet in demeanour. His wife had noticed that whenever he came to see her during the last two or three days, there had been an unusual and almost drowsy tranquillity in his manner. His hands shook no more. His movements were no longer jerky. They were deliberate, like those of an ordinary and rather ponderous man.