by Thomas Hardy
II.
A few days after the party at Stancy Castle, Dare was walking down theHigh Street of Markton, a cigarette between his lips and a silver-toppedcane in his hand. His eye fell upon a brass plate on an opposite door,bearing the name of Mr. Havill, Architect. He crossed over, and rang theoffice bell.
The clerk who admitted him stated that Mr. Havill was in his privateroom, and would be disengaged in a short time. While Dare waited theclerk affixed to the door a piece of paper bearing the words 'Back at2,' and went away to his dinner, leaving Dare in the room alone.
Dare looked at the different drawings on the boards about the room.They all represented one subject, which, though unfinished as yet, andbearing no inscription, was recognized by the visitor as the design forthe enlargement and restoration of Stancy Castle. When he had glanced itover Dare sat down.
The doors between the office and private room were double; but the onetowards the office being only ajar Dare could hear a conversation inprogress within. It presently rose to an altercation, the tenor of whichwas obvious. Somebody had come for money.
'Really I can stand it no longer, Mr. Havill--really I will not!' saidthe creditor excitedly. 'Now this bill overdue again--what can youexpect? Why, I might have negotiated it; and where would you have beenthen? Instead of that, I have locked it up out of consideration for you;and what do I get for my considerateness? I shall let the law take itscourse!'
'You'll do me inexpressible harm, and get nothing whatever,' saidHavill. 'If you would renew for another three months there would be nodifficulty in the matter.'
'You have said so before: I will do no such thing.'
There was a silence; whereupon Dare arose without hesitation, and walkedboldly into the private office. Havill was standing at one end, asgloomy as a thundercloud, and at the other was the unfortunate creditorwith his hat on. Though Dare's entry surprised them, both parties seemedrelieved.
'I have called in passing to congratulate you, Mr. Havill,' said Daregaily. 'Such a commission as has been entrusted to you will make youfamous!'
'How do you do?--I wish it would make me rich,' said Havill drily.
'It will be a lift in that direction, from what I know of theprofession. What is she going to spend?'
'A hundred thousand.'
'Your commission as architect, five thousand. Not bad, for making a fewsketches. Consider what other great commissions such a work will leadto.'
'What great work is this?' asked the creditor.
'Stancy Castle,' said Dare, since Havill seemed too agape to answer.'You have not heard of it, then? Those are the drawings, I presume, inthe next room?'
Havill replied in the affirmative, beginning to perceive the manoeuvre.'Perhaps you would like to see them?' he said to the creditor.
The latter offered no objection, and all three went into thedrawing-office.
'It will certainly be a magnificent structure,' said the creditor, afterregarding the elevations through his spectacles. 'Stancy Castle: I hadno idea of it! and when do you begin to build, Mr. Havill?' he inquiredin mollified tones.
'In three months, I think?' said Dare, looking to Havill.
Havill assented.
'Five thousand pounds commission,' murmured the creditor. 'Paid down, Isuppose?'
Havill nodded.
'And the works will not linger for lack of money to carry them out, Iimagine,' said Dare. 'Two hundred thousand will probably be spent beforethe work is finished.'
'There is not much doubt of it,' said Havill.
'You said nothing to me about this?' whispered the creditor to Havill,taking him aside, with a look of regret.
'You would not listen!'
'It alters the case greatly.' The creditor retired with Havill to thedoor, and after a subdued colloquy in the passage he went away, Havillreturning to the office.
'What the devil do you mean by hoaxing him like this, when the job is nomore mine than Inigo Jones's?'
'Don't be too curious,' said Dare, laughing. 'Rather thank me forgetting rid of him.'
'But it is all a vision!' said Havill, ruefully regarding the pencilledtowers of Stancy Castle. 'If the competition were really the commissionthat you have represented it to be there might be something to laughat.'
'It must be made a commission, somehow,' returned Dare carelessly. 'I amcome to lend you a little assistance. I must stay in the neighbourhood,and I have nothing else to do.'
A carriage slowly passed the window, and Havill recognized the Powerliveries. 'Hullo--she's coming here!' he said under his breath, as thecarriage stopped by the kerb. 'What does she want, I wonder? Dare, doesshe know you?'
'I would just as soon be out of the way.'
'Then go into the garden.'
Dare went out through the back office as Paula was shown in at thefront. She wore a grey travelling costume, and seemed to be in somehaste.
'I am on my way to the railway-station,' she said to Havill. 'I shall beabsent from home for several weeks, and since you requested it, I havecalled to inquire how you are getting on with the design.'
'Please look it over,' said Havill, placing a seat for her.
'No,' said Paula. 'I think it would be unfair. I have not looked atMr.--the other architect's plans since he has begun to design seriously,and I will not look at yours. Are you getting on quite well, and do youwant to know anything more? If so, go to the castle, and get anybody toassist you. Why would you not make use of the room at your disposal inthe castle, as the other architect has done?'
In asking the question her face was towards the window, and suddenly hercheeks became a rosy red. She instantly looked another way.
'Having my own office so near, it was not necessary, thank you,' repliedHavill, as, noting her countenance, he allowed his glance to stray intothe street. Somerset was walking past on the opposite side.
'The time is--the time fixed for sending in the drawings is the firstof November, I believe,' she said confusedly; 'and the decision will become to by three gentlemen who are prominent members of the Institute ofArchitects.'
Havill then accompanied her to the carriage, and she drove away.
Havill went to the back window to tell Dare that he need not stay in thegarden; but the garden was empty. The architect remained alone in hisoffice for some time; at the end of a quarter of an hour, when thescream of a railway whistle had echoed down the still street, he beheldSomerset repassing the window in a direction from the railway, withsomewhat of a sad gait. In another minute Dare entered, humming thelatest air of Offenbach.
''Tis a mere piece of duplicity!' said Havill.
'What is?'
'Her pretending indifference as to which of us comes out successful inthe competition, when she colours carmine the moment Somerset passesby.' He described Paula's visit, and the incident.
'It may not mean Cupid's Entire XXX after all,' said Dare judicially.'The mere suspicion that a certain man loves her would make a girl blushat his unexpected appearance. Well, she's gone from him for a time; thebetter for you.'
'He has been privileged to see her off at any rate.'
'Not privileged.'
'How do you know that?'
'I went out of your garden by the back gate, and followed her carriageto the railway. He simply went to the first bridge outside the station,and waited. When she was in the train, it moved forward; he was allexpectation, and drew out his handkerchief ready to wave, while shelooked out of the window towards the bridge. The train backed beforeit reached the bridge, to attach the box containing her horses, and thecarriage-truck. Then it started for good, and when it reached the bridgeshe looked out again, he waving his handkerchief to her.'
'And she waving hers back?'
'No, she didn't.'
'Ah!'
'She looked at him--nothing more. I wouldn't give much for his chance.'After a while Dare added musingly: 'You are a mathematician: did youever investigate the doctrine of expectations?'
'Never.'
Dare drew f
rom his pocket his 'Book of Chances,' a volume as wellthumbed as the minister's Bible. 'This is a treatise on the subject,' hesaid. 'I will teach it to you some day.'