CHAPTER XCVI.
WHERE "THE WILD ASSES QUENCH THEIR THIRST."
We must now go back a little in our story,--about three weeks,--inorder that the reader may be told how affairs were progressing at theBeargarden. That establishment had received a terrible blow in thedefection of Herr Vossner. It was not only that he had robbed theclub, and robbed every member of the club who had ventured to havepersonal dealings with him. Although a bad feeling in regard tohim was no doubt engendered in the minds of those who had suffereddeeply, it was not that alone which cast an almost funereal gloomover the club. The sorrow was in this,--that with Herr Vossner alltheir comforts had gone. Of course Herr Vossner had been a thief.That no doubt had been known to them from the beginning. A man doesnot consent to be called out of bed at all hours in the morning toarrange the gambling accounts of young gentlemen without being athief. No one concerned with Herr Vossner had supposed him to be anhonest man. But then as a thief he had been so comfortable that hisabsence was regretted with a tenderness almost amounting to love evenby those who had suffered most severely from his rapacity. DollyLongestaffe had been robbed more outrageously than any other memberof the club, and yet Dolly Longestaffe had said since the departureof the purveyor that London was not worth living in now that HerrVossner was gone. In a week the Beargarden collapsed,--as Germanywould collapse for a period if Herr Vossner's great compatriot weresuddenly to remove himself from the scene; but as Germany wouldstrive to live even without Bismarck, so did the club make its newefforts. But here the parallel must cease. Germany no doubt wouldat last succeed, but the Beargarden had received a blow from whichit seemed that there was no recovery. At first it was proposed thatthree men should be appointed as trustees,--trustees for payingVossner's debts, trustees for borrowing more money, trustees for thesatisfaction of the landlord who was beginning to be anxious as tohis future rent. At a certain very triumphant general meeting ofthe club it was determined that such a plan should be arranged, andthe members assembled were unanimous. It was at first thought thatthere might be a little jealousy as to the trusteeship. The club wasso popular and the authority conveyed by the position would be sogreat, that A, B, and C might feel aggrieved at seeing so much powerconferred on D, E, and F. When at the meeting above mentioned one ortwo names were suggested, the final choice was postponed, as a matterof detail to be arranged privately, rather from this considerationthan with any idea that there might be a difficulty in findingadequate persons. But even the leading members of the Beargardenhesitated when the proposition was submitted to them with all itshonours and all its responsibilities. Lord Nidderdale declared fromthe beginning that he would have nothing to do with it,--pleading hispoverty openly. Beauchamp Beauclerk was of opinion that he himselfdid not frequent the club often enough. Mr. Lupton professed hisinability as a man of business. Lord Grasslough pleaded his father.The club from the first had been sure of Dolly Longestaffe'sservices;--for were not Dolly's pecuniary affairs now in process ofsatisfactory arrangement, and was it not known by all men that hiscourage never failed him in regard to money? But even he declined."I have spoken to Squercum," he said to the Committee, "and Squercumwon't hear of it. Squercum has made inquiries and he thinks theclub very shaky." When one of the Committee made a remark as toMr. Squercum which was not complimentary,--insinuated indeed thatSquercum without injustice might be consigned to the infernaldeities,--Dolly took the matter up warmly. "That's all very well foryou, Grasslough; but if you knew the comfort of having a fellow whocould keep you straight without preaching sermons at you you wouldn'tdespise Squercum. I've tried to go alone and I find that does notanswer. Squercum's my coach, and I mean to stick pretty close tohim." Then it came to pass that the triumphant project as to thetrustees fell to the ground, although Squercum himself advisedthat the difficulty might be lessened if three gentlemen could beselected who lived well before the world and yet had nothing to lose.Whereupon Dolly suggested Miles Grendall. But the Committee shook itsheads, not thinking it possible that the club could be re-establishedon a basis of three Miles Grendalls.
Then dreadful rumours were heard. The Beargarden must surely beabandoned. "It is such a pity," said Nidderdale, "because there neverhas been anything like it."
"Smoke all over the house!" said Dolly.
"No horrid nonsense about closing," said Grasslough, "and no infernalold fogies wearing out the carpets and paying for nothing."
"Not a vestige of propriety, or any beastly rules to be kept! That'swhat I liked," said Nidderdale.
"It's an old story," said Mr. Lupton, "that if you put a man intoParadise he'll make it too hot to hold him. That's what you've donehere."
"What we ought to do," said Dolly, who was pervaded by a sense of hisown good fortune in regard to Squercum, "is to get some fellow likeVossner, and make him tell us how much he wants to steal above hisregular pay. Then we could subscribe that among us. I really thinkthat might be done. Squercum would find a fellow, no doubt." But Mr.Lupton was of opinion that the new Vossner might perhaps not know,when thus consulted, the extent of his own cupidity.
One day, before the Whitstable marriage, when it was understood thatthe club would actually be closed on the 12th August unless somenew heaven-inspired idea might be forthcoming for its salvation,Nidderdale, Grasslough, and Dolly were hanging about the hall andthe steps, and drinking sherry and bitters preparatory to dinner,when Sir Felix Carbury came round the neighbouring corner and, in acreeping, hesitating fashion, entered the hall door. He had nearlyrecovered from his wounds, though he still wore a bit of courtplaster on his upper lip, and had not yet learned to look or to speakas though he had not had two of his front teeth knocked out. He hadheard little or nothing of what had been done at the Beargarden sinceVossner's defection. It was now a month since he had been seen atthe club. His thrashing had been the wonder of perhaps half ninedays, but latterly his existence had been almost forgotten. Now, withdifficulty, he had summoned courage to go down to his old haunt, socompletely had he been cowed by the latter circumstances of his life;but he had determined that he would pluck up his courage, and talk tohis old associates as though no evil thing had befallen him. He hadstill money enough to pay for his dinner and to begin a small rubberof whist. If fortune should go against him he might glide into I. O.U.'s;--as others had done before, so much to his cost. "By George,here's Carbury!" said Dolly. Lord Grasslough whistled, turned hisback, and walked up-stairs; but Nidderdale and Dolly consented tohave their hands shaken by the stranger.
"Thought you were out of town," said Nidderdale. "Haven't seen youfor the last ever so long."
"I have been out of town," said Felix,--lying; "down in Suffolk. ButI'm back now. How are things going on here?"
"They're not going at all;--they're gone," said Dolly.
"Everything is smashed," said Nidderdale. "We shall all have to pay,I don't know how much."
"Wasn't Vossner ever caught?" asked the baronet.
"Caught!" ejaculated Dolly. "No;--but he has caught us. I don't knowthat there has ever been much idea of catching Vossner. We closealtogether next Monday, and the furniture is to be gone to law for.Flatfleece says it belongs to him under what he calls a deed of sale.Indeed, everything that everybody has seems to belong to Flatfleece.He's always in and out of the club, and has got the key of thecellar."
"That don't matter," said Nidderdale, "as Vossner took care thatthere shouldn't be any wine."
"He's got most of the forks and spoons, and only lets us use what wehave as a favour."
"I suppose one can get a dinner here?"
"Yes; to-day you can, and perhaps to-morrow."
"Isn't there any playing?" asked Felix with dismay.
"I haven't seen a card this fortnight," said Dolly. "There hasn'tbeen anybody to play. Everything has gone to the dogs. There has beenthe affair of Melmotte, you know;--though, I suppose, you do know allabout that."
"Of course I know he poisoned himself."
"Of course that had effect," said Dolly, continuing his histo
ry."Though why fellows shouldn't play cards because another fellow likethat takes poison, I can't understand. Last year the only day Imanaged to get down in February, the hounds didn't come because someold cove had died. What harm could our hunting have done him? I callthat rot."
"Melmotte's death was rather awful," said Nidderdale.
"Not half so awful as having nothing to amuse one. And now they saythe girl is going to be married to Fisker. I don't know how you andNidderdale like that. I never went in for her myself. Squercum neverseemed to see it."
"Poor dear!" said Nidderdale. "She's welcome for me, and I dare sayshe couldn't do better with herself. I was very fond of her;--I'll beshot if I wasn't."
"And Carbury too, I suppose," said Dolly.
"No; I wasn't. If I'd really been fond of her I suppose it would havecome off. I should have had her safe enough to America, if I'd caredabout it." This was Sir Felix's view of the matter.
"Come into the smoking-room, Dolly," said Nidderdale. "I can standmost things, and I try to stand everything; but, by George, thatfellow is such a cad that I cannot stand him. You and I are badenough,--but I don't think we're so heartless as Carbury."
"I don't think I'm heartless at all," said Dolly. "I'm good-naturedto everybody that is good-natured to me,--and to a great many peoplewho ain't. I'm going all the way down to Caversham next week to seemy sister married, though I hate the place and hate marriages, andif I was to be hung for it I couldn't say a word to the fellow whois going to be my brother-in-law. But I do agree about Carbury. It'svery hard to be good-natured to him."
But, in the teeth of these adverse opinions Sir Felix managed to gethis dinner-table close to theirs and to tell them at dinner somethingof his future prospects. He was going to travel and see the world. Hehad, according to his own account, completely run through London lifeand found that it was all barren.
"In life I've rung all changes through, Run every pleasure down, 'Midst each excess of folly too, And lived with half the town."
Sir Felix did not exactly quote the old song, probably having neverheard the words. But that was the burden of his present story. It washis determination to seek new scenes, and in search of them to travelover the greater part of the known world.
"How jolly for you!" said Dolly.
"It will be a change, you know."
"No end of a change. Is any one going with you?"
"Well;--yes. I've got a travelling companion;--a very pleasantfellow, who knows a lot, and will be able to coach me up in things.There's a deal to be learned by going abroad, you know."
"A sort of a tutor," said Nidderdale.
"A parson, I suppose," said Dolly.
"Well;--he is a clergyman. Who told you?"
"It's only my inventive genius. Well;--yes; I should say that wouldbe nice,--travelling about Europe with a clergyman. I shouldn't getenough advantage out of it to make it pay, but I fancy it will justsuit you."
"It's an expensive sort of thing;--isn't it?" asked Nidderdale.
"Well;--it does cost something. But I've got so sick of this kind oflife;--and then that railway Board coming to an end, and the clubsmashing up, and--"
"Marie Melmotte marrying Fisker," suggested Dolly.
"That too, if you will. But I want a change, and a change I mean tohave. I've seen this side of things, and now I'll have a look at theother."
"Didn't you have a row in the street with some one the other day?"This question was asked very abruptly by Lord Grasslough, who, thoughhe was sitting near them, had not yet joined in the conversation, andwho had not before addressed a word to Sir Felix. "We heard somethingabout it, but we never got the right story." Nidderdale glancedacross the table at Dolly, and Dolly whistled. Grasslough looked atthe man he addressed as one does look when one expects an answer. Mr.Lupton, with whom Grasslough was dining, also sat expectant. Dollyand Nidderdale were both silent.
It was the fear of this that had kept Sir Felix away from the club.Grasslough, as he had told himself, was just the fellow to ask sucha question,--ill-natured, insolent, and obtrusive. But the questiondemanded an answer of some kind. "Yes," said he; "a fellow attackedme in the street, coming behind me when I had a girl with me. Hedidn't get much the best of it though."
"Oh;--didn't he?" said Grasslough. "I think, upon the whole, youknow, you're right about going abroad."
"What business is it of yours?" asked the baronet.
"Well;--as the club is being broken up, I don't know that it is verymuch the business of any of us."
"I was speaking to my friends, Lord Nidderdale and Mr. Longestaffe,and not to you."
"I quite appreciate the advantage of the distinction," said LordGrasslough, "and am sorry for Lord Nidderdale and Mr. Longestaffe."
"What do you mean by that?" said Sir Felix, rising from his chair.His present opponent was not horrible to him as had been John Crumb,as men in clubs do not now often knock each others' heads or drawswords one upon another.
"Don't let's have a quarrel here," said Mr. Lupton. "I shall leavethe room if you do."
"If we must break up, let us break up in peace and quietness," saidNidderdale.
"Of course, if there is to be a fight, I'm good to go out withanybody," said Dolly. "When there's any beastly thing to be done,I've always got to do it. But don't you think that kind of thing isa little slow?"
"Who began it?" said Sir Felix, sitting down again. Whereupon LordGrasslough, who had finished his dinner, walked out of the room."That fellow is always wanting to quarrel."
"There's one comfort, you know," said Dolly. "It wants two men tomake a quarrel."
"Yes; it does," said Sir Felix, taking this as a friendlyobservation; "and I'm not going to be fool enough to be one of them."
"Oh, yes, I meant it fast enough," said Grasslough afterwards upin the card-room. The other men who had been together had quicklyfollowed him, leaving Sir Felix alone, and they had collectedthemselves there not with the hope of play, but thinking that theywould be less interrupted than in the smoking-room. "I don't supposewe shall ever any of us be here again, and as he did come in Ithought I would tell him my mind."
"What's the use of taking such a lot of trouble?" said Dolly. "Ofcourse he's a bad fellow. Most fellows are bad fellows in one way oranother."
"But he's bad all round," said the bitter enemy.
"And so this is to be the end of the Beargarden," said LordNidderdale with a peculiar melancholy. "Dear old place! I always feltit was too good to last. I fancy it doesn't do to make things tooeasy;--one has to pay so uncommon dear for them! And then, you know,when you've got things easy, then they get rowdy;--and, by George,before you know where you are, you find yourself among a lot ofblackguards. If one wants to keep one's self straight, one has towork hard at it, one way or the other. I suppose it all comes fromthe fall of Adam."
"If Solomon, Solon, and the Archbishop of Canterbury were rolled intoone, they couldn't have spoken with more wisdom," said Mr. Lupton.
"Live and learn," continued the young lord. "I don't think anybodyhas liked the Beargarden so much as I have, but I shall never trythis kind of thing again. I shall begin reading blue books to-morrow,and shall dine at the Carlton. Next session I shan't miss a day inthe House, and I'll bet anybody a fiver that I make a speech beforeEaster. I shall take to claret at 20_s._ a dozen, and shall go aboutLondon on the top of an omnibus."
"How about getting married?" asked Dolly.
"Oh;--that must be as it comes. That's the governor's affair. None ofyou fellows will believe me, but, upon my word, I liked that girl;and I'd 've stuck to her at last,--only that there are some things afellow can't do. He was such a thundering scoundrel!"
After a while Sir Felix followed them up-stairs, and entered the roomas though nothing unpleasant had happened below. "We can make up arubber;--can't we?" said he.
"I should say not," said Nidderdale.
"I shall not play," said Mr. Lupton.
"There isn't a pack of cards in the house," said Dol
ly. LordGrasslough didn't condescend to say a word. Sir Felix sat down withhis cigar in his mouth, and the others continued to smoke in silence.
"I wonder what has become of Miles Grendall," asked Sir Felix. But noone made any answer, and they smoked on in silence. "He hasn't paidme a shilling yet of the money he owes me." Still there was not aword. "And I don't suppose he ever will." There was another pause."He is the biggest scoundrel I ever met," said Sir Felix.
"I know one as big," said Lord Grasslough,--"or, at any rate, aslittle."
There was another pause of a minute, and then Sir Felix left the roommuttering something as to the stupidity of having no cards;--andso brought to an end his connection with his associates of theBeargarden. From that time forth he was never more seen by them,--or,if seen, was never known.
The other men remained there till well on into the night, althoughthere was not the excitement of any special amusement to attractthem. It was felt by them all that this was the end of theBeargarden, and, with a melancholy seriousness befitting theoccasion, they whispered sad things in low voices, consolingthemselves simply with tobacco. "I never felt so much like crying inmy life," said Dolly, as he asked for a glass of brandy-and-water atabout midnight. "Good-night, old fellows; good-bye. I'm going down toCaversham, and I shouldn't wonder if I didn't drown myself."
How Mr. Flatfleece went to law, and tried to sell the furniture, andthreatened everybody, and at last singled out poor Dolly Longestaffeas his special victim; and how Dolly Longestaffe, by the aid ofMr. Squercum, utterly confounded Mr. Flatfleece, and brought thatingenious but unfortunate man, with his wife and small family, toabsolute ruin, the reader will hardly expect to have told to him indetail in this chronicle.
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