"Never mind!" said Mr. Mortimer, taking up a book.
Mr. Bennett went back to bed in an uneasy frame of mind.
He brooded for half an hour, and, at the expiration of that period, rang for Webster and requested that Billie should be sent to him.
"I want you to go to London," he said, when she appeared. "I must have legal advice. I want you to go and see Sir Mallaby Marlowe. Tell him that Henry Mortimer is annoying me in every possible way and sheltering himself behind his knowledge of the law, so that I can"t get at him. Ask Sir Mallaby to come down here. And, if he can"t come himself, tell him to send someone who can advise me. His son would do, if he knows anything about the business."
"Oh, I"m sure he does!"
"Eh? How do you know?"
"Well, I mean, he looks as if he does!" said Billie hastily. "He looks so clever!"
"I didn"t notice it myself. Well, he"ll do, if Sir Mallaby"s too busy to come himself. I want you to go up to-night, so that you can see him first thing to-morrow morning. You can stop the night at the Savoy. I"ve sent Webster to look out a train."
"There"s a splendid train in about an hour. I"ll take that."
"It"s giving you a lot of trouble," said Mr. Bennett, with belated consideration.
"Oh, _no_!" said Billie. "I"m only too glad to be able to do this for you, father dear!"
CHAPTER XI
MR. BENNETT HAS A BAD NIGHT
The fragment of a lobster-sh.e.l.l which had entered Mr. Bennett"s tongue at twenty minutes to two in the afternoon was still in occupation at half-past eleven that night, when that persecuted gentleman blew out his candle and endeavoured to compose himself for a night"s slumber. Its unconscious host had not yet been made aware of its presence. He had a vague feeling that the tip of his tongue felt a little sore, but his mind was too engrossed with the task of keeping a look-out for the preliminary symptoms of mumps to have leisure to bestow much attention on this phenomenon. The discomfort it caused was not sufficient to keep him awake, and presently he turned on his side and began to fill the room with a rhythmical snoring.
How pleasant if one could leave him so--the good man taking his rest.
Facts, however, are facts; and, having crept softly from Mr. Bennett"s side with the feeling that at last everything is all right with him, we are compelled to return three hours later to discover that everything is all wrong. It is so dark in the room that our eyes can at first discern nothing; then, as we grow accustomed to the blackness, we perceive him sitting bolt upright in bed, staring gla.s.sily before him, while with the first finger of his right hand he touches apprehensively the tip of his protruding tongue.
At this point Mr. Bennett lights his candle--one of the charms of Windles was the old-world simplicity of its lighting system--and we are enabled to get a better view of him.
Mr. Bennett sat in the candlelight with his tongue out and the first beads of a chilly perspiration bedewing his forehead. It was impossible for a man of his complexion to turn pale, but he had turned as pale as he could. Panic gripped him. A man whose favourite reading was medical encyclopaedias, he needed no doctor to tell him that this was the end.
Fate had dealt him a knockout blow; his number was up; and in a very short while now people would be speaking of him in the past tense and saying what a pity it all was.
A man in Mr. Bennett"s position experiences strange emotions, and many of them. In fact, there are scores of writers, who, reckless of the cost of white paper, would devote two chapters at this point to an a.n.a.lysis of the unfortunate man"s reflections and be glad of the chance. It is sufficient, however, merely to set on record that there was no stint.
Whatever are the emotions of a man in such a position, Mr. Bennett had them. He had them all, one after another, some of them twice. He went right through the list from soup to nuts, until finally he reached remorse. And, having reached remorse, he allowed that to monopolise him.
In his early days, when he was building up his fortune, Mr. Bennett had frequently done things to his compet.i.tors in Wall Street which would not have been tolerated in the purer atmosphere of a lumber-camp, and, if he was going to be remorseful about anything, he might well have started by being remorseful about that. But it was on his most immediate past that his wistful mind lingered. He had quarrelled with his lifelong friend, Henry Mortimer. He had broken off his daughter"s engagement with a deserving young man. He had spoken harsh words to his faithful valet.
The more Mr. Bennett examined his conduct, the deeper the iron entered into his soul.
Fortunately, none of his acts were irreparable. He could undo them. He could make amends. The small hours of the morning are not perhaps the most suitable time for making amends, but Mr. Bennett was too remorseful to think of that. Do It Now had ever been his motto, so he started by ringing the bell for Webster.
The same writers who would have screamed with joy at the chance of dilating on Mr. Bennett"s emotions would find a congenial task in describing the valet"s thought-processes when the bell roused him from a refreshing sleep at a few minutes after three a.m. However, by the time he entered his employer"s room he was his own calm self again.
"Good morning, sir," he remarked equably. "I fear that it will be the matter of a few minutes to prepare your shaving water. I was not aware,"
said Webster in manly apology for having been found wanting, "that you intended rising so early."
"Webster," said Mr. Bennett, "I"m a dying man!"
"Indeed, sir?"
"A dying man!" repeated Mr. Bennett.
"Very good, sir. Which of your suits would you wish me to lay out?"
Mr. Bennett had the feeling that something was going wrong with the scene.
"Webster," he said, "this morning we had an unfortunate misunderstanding. I"m sorry."
"Pray don"t mention it, sir."
"I was to blame. Webster, you have been a faithful servant! You have stuck to me, Webster, through thick and thin!" said Mr. Bennett, who had half persuaded himself by this time that the other had been in the family for years instead of having been engaged at a registry-office a little less than a month ago. "Through thick and thin!" repeated Mr.
Bennett.
"I have endeavoured to give satisfaction, sir."
"I want to reward you, Webster."
"Thank you very much, sir."
"Take my trousers!"
Webster raised a deprecating hand.
"No, no, sir, thanking you exceedingly, I couldn"t really! You will need them, sir, and I a.s.sure you I have an ample supply."
"Take my trousers," repeated Mr. Bennett, "and feel in the right-hand pocket. There is some money there."
"I"m sure I"m very much obliged, sir," said Webster, beginning for the first time to feel that there was a bright side. He embarked upon the treasure-hunt. "The sum is sixteen pounds eleven shillings and threepence, sir."
"Keep it!"
"Thank you very much, sir. Would there be anything further, sir?"
"Why, no," said Mr. Bennett, feeling dissatisfied nevertheless. There had been a lack of the deepest kind of emotion in the interview, and his yearning soul resented it. "Why, no."
"Good-night, sir."
"Stop a moment. Which is Mr. Mortimer"s room?"
"Mr. Mortimer, senior, sir? It is at the further end of this pa.s.sage, on the left facing the main staircase. Good-night, sir. I am extremely obliged. I will bring you your shaving-water when you ring."
Mr. Bennett, left alone, mused for awhile, then, rising from his bed, put on his dressing-gown, took his candle, and went down the pa.s.sage.