Jim did explain; or, rather, he answered frankly that he had never heard Isaac Gold’s name before and certainly had never given him a photograph, and I believed him. Then he jumped up with his usual impetuosity and proposed to go at once to Gold’s house and see the photograph, and I was delighted. In half a minute we were all three in a cab, and in twenty more had the good luck to discover old Gold alone at home. A five-shilling piece slipped into the drunkard’s hand sufficed to obtain for us the view we desired.
“I suppose it is a likeness of me,” Jim murmured, looking hard at the photograph.
“Certainly it is!” the Colonel replied rather curtly. Up to this moment he had thought me deceived by a chance resemblance.
“Then let us see who took it, and where it was printed,” Jim answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “I do not believe I have ever been taken in this dress. See, it bears no photographer’s name; so an amateur has taken it. Let me think.”
While he thought, old Gold pottered about the open door of the room on the watch for Isaac’s return. “Yes,” Jim said at last, “I think I have it. I was photographed in this dress as one of a group before a meet of the hounds at Old Bulcher’s.
“At Frome?”
“Yes. And this has been enlarged, I have no doubt, from the head in the group. But why, or who has done it, or how it comes to be here, I give you my honour, sir, I know no more than you do.”
At this moment young Gold’s footsteps were heard ascending. He seemed to have some suspicion that his secrets were in danger, for he came up the stairs three at a time, and bounced into the room — looking for a moment, as his eyes alighted on us and the open album, as if he would knock us down. When his glance fell on Jim, however, a change came over him. It was singular to see the two looking at one another, Jim eyeing him with the supercilious stare of the boy-officer, and young Gold returning the look with a covert recognition in his defiant eyes. “Well,” said Jim, “do you know me?”
“I have never seen you before, to my knowledge.”
“Perhaps you will explain how you came by this photograph?”
“That is my business!” said Gold sternly.
“Oh, is it?” retorted Jim with fire. “We will see about that.” I think it annoyed him, as it certainly did me, to detect in the other’s glance and tone a subtle meaning — a covert understanding. “If you do not explain, I’ll — I will call in the police, my man.”
But here the Colonel interfered. He told me afterwards that he felt some sympathy for Gold. He silenced Jim, and, telling the other that he should hear from him again, he led us downstairs. I noticed that, as we passed into the street, he slipped his arm through his son’s, and I have no doubt he managed to convey to the young fellow as plainly as by words that his faith was unshaken.
Very naturally, however, Jim was not satisfied with this or with the present position of things; which was certainly puzzling. “But, look here!” he said, standing still in the middle of the pavement, “what is to be done, sir? That fellow believes or pretends to believe, though he will not say a word, that I have used him to do my dirty work. And I have not! Then why the deuce does he parade my photograph? Do you think — by George! I believe I have got it — do you think it is a case of blackmail?”
“No,” the Colonel said with decision, “it cannot be. We came upon the photograph by the purest accident. It was not sent to us, or used against you. No! But see here!” The Colonel in his turn stopped in the middle of the pavement and struck the latter with his stick. He had got his idea, and his eyes sparkled.
“Well?” we said.
“Suppose some other fellow employed Gold to pass the examination, and, having this very fear — of being blackmailed — in his mind, got a photograph of a friend tolerably like himself? And sent it up instead of his own? What then?”
“What then? Precisely!” I said. And we all nodded at one another like so many Chinese mandarins, and the Colonel looked proudly at his son, as though saying, “Now what do you think of your father, my boy?”
“I think you have hit it, sir!” Jim said, answering the unspoken question. “There were nearly thirty fellows at Bulcher’s.”
“And among them there was one low rascal — a low rascal, sir,” replied the Colonel, his eyes sparkling, “who did not even trust his companion in iniquity, but arranged to have an answer ready if his accomplice turned upon him! ‘I suborned him?’ he resolved to say— ‘I deny it. He has my name pat enough, but has he any proof? A photograph? But that is not my photograph!’ Do you see, Major?”
“I see,” I said. “And now come home with me, both of you, and we will talk it over with Kitty.”
By this time, however, it was two o’clock. Jim, who had only come up for an hour or two, found he must resign the hope of seeing Kitty to-day, and take a cab to Charing Cross if he would catch his train. The Colonel had a luncheon engagement — for which he was already late. And so we separated then and there in something of a hurry. When I got back the first question Kitty — who, you may be sure, met me in the hall — asked was: “Where is Jim, father?” The second: “And what does he say about the letter?”
“God bless my soul!” I exclaimed, “I never gave a thought to the letter! I am afraid I never mentioned it, my dear. I was thinking about the photograph. I fancy we have got to something like the bottom of that.”
“Pooh!” she said. And, she pretended to take very little interest in the explanation I gave her, though — the sly little cat! — when I dropped the subject, she was quite ready to take it up again, rather than not talk about Jim at all.
I am sometimes late for breakfast; she rarely or never. But next morning on entering the dining-room I found the table laid for one only, and Matthews, the maid, waiting modestly before the coffeepot. “Where is Miss Bratton?” I said grumpily, taking the Times from the fender. “Miss Kitty had a headache,” was the answer, “and is taking a cup of tea in bed, sir.” “Ho, ho!” thought I, “this comes of being in love! Confound the lads! Sausage? No, I won’t have sausage. Who the deuce ordered sausages at this time of year? Bacon? Seems half done. This coffee is thick. There, that will do! That will do. Don’t rattle those cups and saucers all day! Confound the girl! — do you hear? You can go!” The way women bully a man when they get him alone is a caution.
When I returned from my morning stroll, I heard voices in the dining-room, and looked in to see how Kitty was. Well, she was — in brief, there was a scene going on. Miss Kitty, her cheeks crimson and her eyes bright, was standing with her back to the window; and facing her, half angry and half embarrassed, was Jim. “Hoity, toity, you two!” I said, closing the door behind me. “These are early times for this kind of thing. What is up?”
“I’ll be hanged if I know, sir!” Jim answered, looking rather foolish.
“What have you got there, my dear?” I continued, for Kitty had one hand behind her, and I was not slow to connect this hand with the expression on her pretty face.
“He knows,” she said, trembling with anger — the little vixen.
“I know nothing!” Jim returned sheepishly. “I came in, and when I — Kitty flew out and attacked me, don’t you see, sir?”
“Very well, my dear,” I answered, “if you do not feel able to explain, Jim had better go. Only, if he goes now, of course I cannot say when he will come back.”
“I will come back, Kitty, whenever you want me,” said the young fool.
“Shut your mouth, sir,” I shouted. “Now, Kitty, attend to me. What is it?”
“Ask him — to whom he gave his photograph at Frome!” she said, in a breathless sort of way.
“His photograph? Why, that is just what we were talking about yesterday,” I replied sharply. “I thought it did not interest you, my girl, when I told you all about it last night.”
“That photograph!” — with withering contempt— “I do not mean that! Do you think I suspect him of that?” She stepped forward as though to go to him, and her face altered wonderfull
y. Then she recollected herself and fell back. “No,” she said coldly, “to what woman, sir, did you give your photograph at Frome?”
“To no woman at all,” he said emphatically.
“Then look at this!” she retorted. She held out as she spoke a photograph, which I identified at once as the portrait we had seen at Gold’s, or a copy of that one. I snatched it from Jim. “Where did you get this, my girl?” I asked briskly.
“It came this morning — with another letter from that woman,” she murmured.
I think she began to feel ashamed of herself; and in two minutes I got the letter from her. It was written by the same hand as the letter of the day before, and was, like it, unsigned. It merely said that the writer, in proof of her good faith, enclosed a photograph which Master Jim — that gay Lothario! — had given her. We were still looking at the letter, when the Colonel came in. I explained the matter to him, and I will answer for it, before he understood it, Kitty was more ashamed of herself than ever.
“This photograph and the one at Gold’s are facsimiles,” said he thoughtfully. “That is certain. And both come from Frome. Doesn’t it seem probable that the gentleman who obtained Jim’s photograph for his own purpose last year — to send to Gold — printed off more than one copy? And having this one by him, and wishing to cause mischief between Kitty and Jim, thought of this and used it? The sender is, therefore, some one who passed his examination last year and is still at Frome.”
Jim shook his head.
“If he passed, sir, he would not be at Bulcher’s now,” he said.
“On second thoughts he may not be,” the Colonel replied. “He may have sent the two letters to Frome to a confidential friend with orders to post them. Wait — wait a minute,” my old chum added, looking at me with a new light in his eyes. “Where have I seen a letter addressed to Frome — within the last day or two? Eh? Wait a bit.”
We did wait; and presently the Colonel announced his discovery in a grim voice.
“I have it,” he said. “It is that scoundrel, Farquhar!”
“Farquhar!” I said. “What do you mean, Colonel?”
“Just that, Major, just that. Do you remember him knocking against you in the hall at the club the day before yesterday? He dropped a letter, and I picked it up. It was addressed — I could not help seeing so much — to Frome.”
“Well,” Jim said slowly, “he was at Bulcher’s, and he passed last year.”
“And the letter,” continued the Colonel in his turn, “was in a large envelope — an envelope large enough to contain a cabinet photograph.”
There was silence in the room. Kitty’s face was hidden. Jim moved at last — towards her? No, towards the door. He had his hand on it when the Colonel observed him.
“Stop!” he said sharply. “Come back, my boy. None of that. The Major and I will deal with him.”
Jim lingered with his hand on the door.
“Well, sir,” he said, “I will only — —”
“Come back!” roared the Colonel, but with a smile in his eyes as he looked at his boy. “You will stop here, you lucky dog, you. And I hope this will be a lesson to you not to give your photograph to young ladies at Frome!”
If Kitty squirmed a little at that, she deserved it. I said before that a woman’s faith is a wonderful thing. But when there is another woman in the case — umph!
* * * * *
“Mr. Farquhar, sir? Yes, sir, he is in the house,” the club porter said, turning in his glass case to consult his book. “I believe he went upstairs to the drawing-room, sir.”
“Thank you,” the Colonel replied, and he glanced at me and I at him; and then, fixing our hats on tightly, and grasping our sticks, we went upstairs.
We were in luck, as it turned out, for not only was Farquhar in the drawing-room, but there was no one else in the long, stiff, splendid room. He looked up from his writing, and saw us piloting our way towards him between the chairs and tables. And I think he turned green. At any rate, my last doubt left me at the sight of his face.
“A word with you, Mr. Farquhar,” the Colonel said grimly, keeping a tight hand on my arm, for I confess I had been in favour of more drastic measures. “It is about a photograph.”
“A photograph?” the startled wretch exclaimed, his mouth ajar.
“Well, perhaps I should have said two photographs,” the Colonel replied gravely; “photographs of my son which are lying, one in the possession of Major Bratton, and one in the album of a friend of yours, Mr. Isaac Gold.”
He tried to frame the words, “A friend of mine!” and to feign astonishment and stare us down. But it was a pitiable attempt, and his eyes sank. He could only mutter, “I do not know — any Gold. There is some mistake.”
“Perhaps so,” the Colonel answered smoothly. “I hope there is some mistake. But let me tell you this, Mr. Farquhar. Unless you apply within a week for leave to resign your commission, I shall lay certain facts concerning these photographs before the Commander-in-Chief and before the mess of your regiment. You understand me, I am sure. Very well. That is all I wish to say to you.”
Apparently he had nothing to say to us in return. And we were both glad to turn our backs on that baffled, spiteful face, in which the horror of discovery strove with the fear of ruin. It is ill striking a man when he is down, and I was glad to get out of the house and breathe a purer air.
We had no need to go to the Commander-in-Chief. Lieutenant Farquhar applied for leave to resign within the week, and Her Majesty obtained, I think, a better bargain in Private Isaac Gold, who, following the Colonel’s advice, enlisted about this time. He is already a corporal, and, aided by an education rare in the ranks, bids fair to earn a sergeant’s stripes at an early date. He has turned over a new leaf — the Colonel always maintained that he had a keen sense of honour; and I feel little doubt that if he ever has the luck to rise to Farquhar’s grade, and bear the Queen’s commission, he will be a credit to it and to his friend and brother officer — the Colonel’s boy. Not, mind you, that I think he will ever be as good a fellow as Jim! No, no.
A GOOD MAN’S DILEMMA
The clock of St. Martin’s was striking ten as Archdeacon Yale, of Studbury, in Gloucestershire, who had taken breakfast at the Athenæum, walked down the club steps, eastward bound. He was a man of fresh complexion and good presence; of tolerable means and some reputation as the author of a curiously morbid book, “Timon Defended.” As he walked the pavement briskly, an unopened letter which peeped from his pocket seemed — and rightly — to indicate a man free from anxieties: a man without a care.
Before he left the dignified stillness of Pall Mall, however, he found leisure to read the note. “I enclose,” wrote his wife, “a letter which came for you this morning. I trust, Cyprian, that you are not fretting about the visitation question and that you get your meals fairly well cooked.” The Archdeacon paused at this point and smiled as at some pleasant reminiscence. “Give my love to dear Jack. Oh — h’m — I do not recognise your correspondent’s handwriting.”
“Nor do I!” the Archdeacon said aloud; and he opened the enclosure with a curiosity that had in it no fear of trouble. After glancing at the signature, however, he turned into a side street and read the letter to the end. He sighed. “Oh dear, dear!” he muttered. “What can I do? I must go! There is no room for refusal. And yet — oh dear! — after all these years. Number 14, Sidmouth Street, Gray’s Inn Road? What a place!”
It was a shabby third-rate lodging-house place, as perhaps he knew. But he called a cab and had himself driven thither forthwith. At the corner of the street he dismissed the cab and looked about him furtively. For a man who had left his club so free from care, and whose wife at Studbury and son at Lincoln’s Inn were well, he wore an anxious face. It could not be — for he was an Archdeacon — that he was about to do anything of which he was ashamed. Bishops, and others of that class, may be open to temptations, or have pages of their lives folded down, which they would not wish turned. But an Archd
eacon?
Yet when he was distant a house or so from No. 14 he started guiltily at a very ordinary occurrence; at nothing more than the arrival of a hansom cab at the door. True, a young woman descended from it, and let herself into the house with a latchkey. But young women and latchkeys are common in London, as common as — as dirt. It could hardly be that which darkened his face as he rang the bell.
In the hall, where a dun was sitting, there was little to remove the prejudice he may have conceived; little, too, in the dingy staircase, cumbered with plates and stale food; or in the first-floor rooms, from which some one peeped and another whispered, and both giggled; or in that second-floor room, at once smart and shabby, and remarkable for many photographs of one young girl, where he was bidden to wait — little or nothing. But when he had pished and pshawed at the tenth photograph, he was called into an inner room, where a strange silence prevailed. Involuntarily he stepped softly. “It was kind of you to come,” some one said — some one who was lying in a great chair brought very near to the open window that the speaker might breathe more easily— “very kind. And you have come so quickly.”
“I have been in London some days,” he answered gently, the fastidious expression gone from his face. “Your daughter’s letter followed me from the country and reached me an hour ago. It has been no trouble to me to come. I am only pained at finding you so ill.”
“Ah!” she answered. Doubtless her thoughts were busy; while his flew back nearly thirty years to a summer evening, when he had walked with her under the trees in Chelsea Gardens and heard her pour into his ear — she was a young actress in the first blush of success — her hopes and ambitions. There was nothing in the memory of which he had need to be ashamed. In those days he had been reading for orders, and, having lodgings in a respectable street, had come by chance to know two of his neighbours — her mother and herself. The two were living a quiet domestic life, which surprised and impressed him. The girl’s talent and the contrast between her notoriety and her simple ways had had a charm for him. For some months the neophyte and the actress were as brother and sister. But there the feeling had stopped; and when his appointment to a country curacy had closed this pretty episode in his life, the exchange of a few letters had but added grace to its ending.
Complete Works of Stanley J Weyman Page 822