CHAPTER LXI.
IN WHICH DAME DUTTON IS VISITED.
Duly next morning the rosy-fingered Aurora drew the gold and crimsoncurtains of the east, and the splendid Apollo, stepping forth from hischamber, took the reins of his unrivalled team, and driving four-in-handthrough the sky, like a great swell as he is, took small note of thestaring hucksters and publicans by the road-side, and sublimelyoverlooked the footsore and ragged pedestrians that crawl below hislevel. It was, in fact, one of those brisk and bright mornings whichproclaim a universal cheerfulness, and mock the miseries of those dismalwayfarers of life, to whom returning light is a renewal of sorrow, who,bowing toward the earth, resume their despairing march, and limp andgroan under heavy burdens, until darkness, welcome, comes again, andtheir eyelids drop, and they lie down with their loads on, looking up asilent supplication, and wishing that death would touch their eyelids intheir sleep, and their journey end where they lie.
Captain Lake was in London this morning. We know he came aboutelectioneering matters; but he had not yet seen Leverett. Perhaps onsecond thoughts he rightly judged that Leverett knew no more than he didof the matter. It depended on the issue of the great debate that wasdrawing nigh. The Minister himself could not tell whether the dissolutionwas at hand; and could no more postpone it, when the time came, than hecould adjourn an eclipse.
Notwithstanding the late whist party of the previous night, the gallantcaptain made a very early toilet. With his little bag in his hand, hewent down stairs, thinking unpleasantly, I believe, and jumped into theHansom that awaited him at the door, telling the man to go to the ----station. They had hardly turned the corner, however, when he popped hishead forward and changed the direction.
He looked at his watch. He had quite time to make his visit, and save thedown-train after.
He did not know the City well. Many men who lived two hundred miles away,and made a flying visit only once in three years, knew it a great dealbetter than the London-bred rake who had lived in the West-end all hisdays.
Captain Lake looked peevish and dangerous, as he always did, when he wasanxious. In fact he did not know what the next ten minutes might bringhim. He was thinking what had best be done in any and every contingency.Was he still abroad, or had he arrived? was he in Shive's Court, or,cursed luck! had he crossed him yesterday by the down-train, and was heby this time closeted with Larkin in the Lodge? Lake, so to speak, stoodat his wicket, and that accomplished bowler, Fortune, ball in hand, atthe other end; will it be swift round-hand, or a slow twister, or ashooter, or a lob? Eye and hand, foot and bat, he must stand tense, yetflexible, lithe and swift as lightning, ready for everything--cut, block,slip, or hit to leg. It was not altogether pleasant. The stakes wereenormous! and the suspense by no means conducive to temper.
Lake fancied that the man was driving wrong, once or twice, and was onthe point of cursing him to that effect, from the window. But at last,with an anxious throb at his heart, he recognised the dingy archway, andthe cracked brown marble tablet over the keystone, and he recognisedShive's Court.
So forth jumped the captain, so far relieved, and glided into the dimquadrangle, with its square of smoky sky overhead; and the prattle ofchildren playing on the flags, and the scrape of a violin from a window,were in his ears, but as it were unheard. He was looking up at a window,with a couple of sooty scarlet geraniums in it. This was the court whereDame Dutton dwelt. He glided up her narrow stair and let himself in bythe latch; and with his cane made a smacking like a harlequin's swordupon the old woman's deal table, crying: 'Mrs. Dutton; Mrs. Dutton. IsMrs. Dutton at home?'
The old lady, who was a laundress, entered, in a short blue cottonwrapper, wiping the suds from her shrunken but sinewy arms with herapron, and on seeing the captain, her countenance, which was threatening,became very reverential indeed.
'How d'ye do, Mrs. Dutton? Quite well. Have you heard lately from Jim?'
'No.'
'You'll see him soon, however, and give him this note, d'ye see, and tellhim I was here, asking about you and him, and very well, and glad if Ican serve him again? don't forget that, _very_ glad. Where will you keepthat note? Oh! your tea-caddy, not a bad safe; and see, give him this,it's ten pounds. You won't forget; and you want a new gown, Mrs. Dutton.I'd choose it thyself, only I'm such a bad judge; but you'll choose itfor me, won't you? and let me see it on you when next I come,' and with acourtesy and a great beaming smile on her hot face, she accepted thefive-pound note, which he placed in her hand.
In another moment the captain was gone. He had just time to swallow a cupof coffee at the 'Terminus Hotel,' and was gliding away towards thedistant walls of Brandon Hall.
He had a coupe all to himself. But he did not care for the prospect. Hesaw Lawyer Larkin, as it were, reflected in the plate-glass, with hishollow smile and hungry eyes before him, knowing more than he should do,paying him compliments, and plotting his ruin.
'Everything would have been quite smooth only for that d---- fellow. TheDevil fixed him precisely there for the express purpose of fleecing andwatching, and threatening him--perhaps worse. He hated that sly,double-dealing reptile of prey--the arachnida of social nature--thespiders with which also naturalists place the scorpions. I dare say Mr.Larkin would have had as little difficulty in referring the gallantcaptain to the same family.
While Stanley Lake is thus scanning the shabby, but dangerous image ofthe attorney in the magic mirror before him, that eminent limb of the lawwas not inactive in the quiet town of Gylingden. Under ordinarycircumstances his 'pride' would have condemned the vicar to a direfulterm of suspense, and he certainly would not have knocked at the door ofthe pretty little gabled house at the Dollington end of the town for manydays to come. The vicar would have had to seek out the attorney, to liein wait for and to woo him.
But Jos. Larkin's pride, like all his other passions--except his weaknessfor the precious metals--was under proper regulation. Jim Dutton mightarrive at any moment, and it would not do to risk his publishing themelancholy intelligence of Mark Wylder's death before the transfer of thevicar's reversion; and to prevent that risk the utmost promptitude wasindispensable.
At nine o'clock, therefore, he presented himself, attended by his legalhenchmen as before.
'Another man might not have come here, Mr. Wylder, until his presence hadbeen specially invited, after the--the----' when he came to define theoffence it was not very easy to do so, inasmuch as it consisted in thevicar's having unconsciously very nearly escaped from his fangs; 'but letthat pass. I have had, I grieve to say, by this morning's post a mostserious letter from London;' the attorney shook his head, while searchinghis pocket. 'I'll read just a passage or two if you'll permit me; itcomes from Burlington and Smith. I protest I have forgot it at home;however, I may mention, that in consequence of the letter you authorisedme to write, and guaranteed by your bond, on which they have enteredjudgment, they have gone to the entire expense of drawing the deeds, andinvestigating title, and they say that the purchaser will positively beoff, unless the articles are in their office by twelve o'clock to-morrow;and, I grieve to say, they add, that in the event of the thing fallingthrough, they will issue execution for the amount of their costs, which,as I anticipated, a good deal exceeds four hundred pounds. I have,therefore, my dear Mr. Wylder, casting aside all unpleasant feeling,called to entreat you to end and determine any hesitation you may havefelt, and to execute without one moment's delay the articles which areprepared, and which must be in the post-office within half an hour.'
Then Mr. Jos. Larkin entered pointedly and briefly into Miss Lake'soffer, which he characterised as 'wholly nugatory, illusory, andchimerical;' told him he had spoken on the subject, yesterday evening, tothe young lady, who now saw plainly that there really was nothing in it,and that she was not in a position to carry out that part of herproposition, which contemplated a residence in the vicar's family.
This portion of his discourse he dismissed rather slightly andmysteriously; but he contrived to leave upon the vicar's m
ind a verypainful and awful sort of uncertainty respecting the young lady of whomhe spoke.
Then he became eloquent on the madness of further indecision in a stateof things so fearfully menacing, freely admitting that it would have beenincomparably better for the vicar never to have moved in the matter,than, having put his hand to the plough, to look back as he had beendoing. If he declined his advice, there was no more to be said, but tobow his head to the storm, and that ponderous execution would descend inwreck and desolation.
So the vicar, very much flushed, in panic and perplexity, and trustingwildly to his protesting lawyer's guidance, submitted. Buggs and thebilious youngster entered with the deed, and the articles were dulyexecuted, and the vicar signed also a receipt for the fanciful part ofthe consideration, and upon it and the deed he endorsed a solemn promise,in the terms I have mentioned before, that he would never take any stepto question, set aside, or disturb the purchase, or any matter connectedtherewith.
Then the attorney, now in his turn flushed and very much elated,congratulated the poor vicar on his emancipation from his difficulties;and 'now that it was all done and over, told him, what he had never toldhim before, that, considering the nature of the purchase, he had got a_splendid_ price for it.'
The good man had also his agreement from Lake to sell Five Oaks.
The position of the good attorney, therefore, in a commercial point ofview, was eminently healthy and convenient. For less than half the valueof Five Oaks alone, he was getting that estate, and a vastly greater onebeside, to be succeeded to on Mark Wylder's death.
No wonder, then, that the good attorney was more than usually bland andhappy that day. He saw the pork-butcher in his back-parlour, and had afew words to say about the chapel-trust, and his looks and talk werequite edifying. He met two little children in the street, and stopped andsmiled as he stooped down to pat them on the heads, and ask them whosechildren they were, and gave one of them a halfpenny. And he satafterwards, for nearly ten minutes, with lean old Mrs. Mullock, in herlittle shop, where toffey, toys, and penny books for young people weresold, together with baskets, tea-cups, straw-mats, and other adult ware;and he was so friendly and talked so beautifully, and although, as headmitted in his lofty way, 'there might be differences in fortune andposition,' yet were we not all members of one body? And he talked uponthis theme till the good lady, marvelling how so great a man could be sohumble, was called to the receipt of custom, on the subject of 'paradise'and 'lemon-drops,' and the heavenly-minded attorney, with a celestialcondescension, recognised his two little acquaintances of the street, andactually adding another halfpenny to his bounty--escaped, with a hastyfarewell and a smile, to the street, as eager to evade the thanks of thelittle people, and the admiration of Mrs. Mullock.
It is not to be supposed, that having got one momentous matter well offhis mind, the good attorney was to be long rid of anxieties. The humanmind is fertile in that sort of growth. As well might the gentleman whoshaves suppose, as his fingers glide, after the operation, over thepolished surface of his chin--_factus ad unguem_--that he may fling hisbrush and strop into the fire, and bury his razor certain fathoms in theearth. No! One crop of cares will always succeed another--not veryoppressive, nor in any wise grand, perhaps--worries, simply, no more; butneeding a modicum of lather, the looking glass, the strop, the diligentrazor, delicate manipulation, and stealing a portion of our precious timeevery day we live; and this must go on so long as the state of man isimperfect, and plenty of possible evil in futurity.
The attorney must run up to London for a day or two. What if thatmysterious, and almost illegible brute, James Dutton, should arrive whilehe was away. Very unpleasant, possibly! For the attorney intended to keepthat gentleman very quiet. Sufficient time must be allowed to interveneto disconnect the purchase of the vicar's remainder from the news of MarkWylder's demise. A year and a-half, maybe, or possibly a year might do.For if the good attorney was cautious, he was also greedy, and would takepossession as early as was safe. Therefore arrangements were carefullyadjusted to detain that important person, in the event of his arriving;and a note, in the good attorney's hand, inviting him to remain at theLodge till his return, and particularly requesting that 'he would kindlyabstain from mentioning to _anyone_, during his absence, any matter hemight intend to communicate to him in his professional capacity orotherwise.'
This, of course, was a little critical, and made his to-morrow's journeyto London a rather anxious prospect.
In the meantime our friend, Captain Lake, arrived in a hired fly, withhis light baggage, at the door of stately Brandon. So soon as the dustand ashes of railway travel were removed, the pale captain, in changedattire, snowy cambric, and with perfumed hair and handkerchief, presentedhimself before Dorcas.
'Now, Dorkie, darling, your poor soldier has come back, resolved to turnover a new leaf, and never more to reserve another semblance of a secretfrom you,' said he, so soon as his first greeting was over. 'I long tohave a good talk with you, Dorkie. I have no one on earth to confide inbut you. I think,' he said, with a little sigh, 'I would never have beenso reserved with you, darling, if I had had anything pleasant to confide;but all I have to say is triste and tiresome--only a story ofdifficulties and petty vexations. I want to talk to you, Dorkie. Whereshall it be?'
They were in the great drawing-room, where I had first seen DorcasBrandon and Rachel Lake, on the evening on which my acquaintance with theprincely Hall was renewed, after an interval of so many years.
'This room, Stanley, dear?'
'Yes, this room will answer very well,' he said, looking round. 'We can'tbe overheard, it is so large. Very well, darling, listen.'
Wylder's Hand Page 62