Foul Play

by Charles Reade

  CHAPTER VI.

  WHITE & CO. stumbled on a treasure in James Seaton. Your colonial clerkis not so narrow and apathetic as your London clerk, whose two objectsseem to be to learn one department only, and not to do too much in that;but Seaton, a gentleman and a scholar, eclipsed even colonial clerks inthis, that he omitted no opportunity of learning the whole business ofWhite & Co., and was also animated by a feverish zeal that now and thenprovoked laughter from clerks, but was agreeable as well as surprising toWhite & Co. Of that zeal his incurable passion was partly the cause.Fortunes had been made with great rapidity in Sydney; and Seaton nowconceived a wild hope of acquiring one, by some lucky hit, before Wardlawcould return to Helen Rolleston. And yet his common sense said, if I wasas rich as Croesus, how could she ever mate with me, a stained man? Andyet his burning heart said, don't listen to reason; listen only to me.Try.

  And so he worked double tides; and, in virtue of his universityeducation, had no snobbish notions about never putting his hand to manuallabor. He would lay down his pen at any moment and bear a hand to lift achest or roll a cask. Old White saw him thus multiply himself, and was sopleased that he raised his salary one third.

  He never saw Helen Rolleston, except on Sunday. On that day he went toher church, and sat half behind a pillar and feasted his eyes and hisheart upon her. He lived sparingly, saved money, bought a strip of landby payment of ten pounds deposit, and sold it in forty hours for onehundred pounds profit, and watched keenly for similar opportunities on alarger scale; and all for her. Struggling with a mountain; hoping againstreason, and the world.

  White & Co. were employed to ship a valuable cargo on board two vesselschartered by Wardlaw & Son; the _Shannon_ and _Proserpine._

  Both these ships lay in Sydney harbor, and had taken in the bulk of theircargoes; but the supplement was the cream; for Wardlaw in person hadwarehoused eighteen cases of gold dust and ingots, and fifty of lead andsmelted copper. They were all examined and branded by Mr. White, who hadduplicate keys of the gold cases. But the contents as a matter of habitand prudence were not described outside; but were marked _Proserpine_ and_Shannon,_ respectively; the mate of the _Proserpine,_ who was inWardlaw's confidence, had written instructions to look carefully to thestowage of all these cases, and was in and out of the store one afternoonjust before closing, and measured the cubic contents of the cases, with aview to stowage in the respective vessels. The last time he came heseemed rather the worse for liquor; and Seaton, who accompanied him,having stepped out for a minute for something or other, was rathersurprised on his return to find the door closed, and it struck him Mr.Wylie (that was the mate's name) might be inside; the more so as the doorclosed very easily with a spring bolt, but it could only be opened by akey of peculiar construction. Seaton took out his key, opened the door,and called to the mate, but received no reply. However, he took theprecaution to go round the store, and see whether Wylie, renderedsomnolent by liquor, might not be lying oblivious among the cases; Wylie,however, was not to be seen, and Seaton, finding himself alone, did anunwise thing; he came and contemplated Wardlaw's cases of metal andspecie. (Men will go too near the thing that causes their pain.) He eyedthem with grief and with desire, and could not restrain a sigh at thesematerial proofs of his rival's wealth--the wealth that probably hadsmoothed his way to General Rolleston's home and to his daughter's heart;for wealth can pave the way to hearts, ay, even to hearts that cannot bedownright bought. This reverie no doubt, lasted longer than he thought,for presently he heard the loud rattle of shutters going up below. It wasclosing time; he hastily closed and locked the iron shutters, and thenwent out and shut the door.

  He had been gone about two hours, and that part of the street, so noisyin business hours, was hushed in silence, all but an occasional footstepon the flags outside, when something mysterious occurred in thewarehouse, now as dark as pitch.

  At an angle of the wall stood two large cases in a vertical position,with smaller cases lying at their feet. These two cases were about eightfeet high, more or less. Well, behind these cases suddenly flashed afeeble light, and the next moment two brown and sinewy hands appeared onthe edge of one of the cases--the edge next the wall; the case vibratedand rocked a little, and the next moment there mounted on the top of itnot a cat, nor a monkey, as might have been expected, but an animal thatin truth resembles both these quadrupeds, viz., a sailor; and need we saythat sailor was the mate of the _Proserpine?_ He descended lightly fromthe top of the case behind which he had been jammed for hours, andlighted a dark lantern; and went softly groping about the store with it.

  This was a mysterious act, and would perhaps have puzzled the proprietorsof the store even more than it would a stranger. For a stranger wouldhave said at once this is burglary, or else arson; but those acquaintedwith the place would have known that neither of those crimes was verypracticable. This enterprising sailor could not burn down this particularstore without roasting himself the first thing; and indeed he could notburn it down at all; for the roof was flat, and was in fact one giganticiron tank, like the roof of Mr. Goding's brewery in London. And by a neatcontrivance of American origin the whole tank could be turned in onemoment to a shower-bath, and drown a conflagration in thirty seconds orthereabouts. Nor could he rifle the place; the goods were greatlyprotected by their weight, and it was impossible to get out of the storewithout raising an alarm, and being searched.

  But, not to fall into the error of writers who underrate their readers'curiosity and intelligence, and so deluge them with comments andexplanations, we will now simply relate what Wylie did, leaving you toglean his motives as this tale advances.

  His jacket had large pockets, and he took out of them a bunch of eighteenbright steel keys, numbered, a set of new screwdrivers, a flask of rum,and two ship biscuits.

  He unlocked the eighteen cases marked _Proserpine,_ etc., and, peering inwith his lantern, saw the gold dust and small ingots packed in parcels,and surrounded by Australian wool of the highest possible quality. It wasa luscious sight.

  He then proceeded to a heavier task; he unscrewed, one after another,eighteen of the cases marked _Shannon,_ and the eighteen so selected,perhaps by private marks, proved to be packed close, and on a differentsystem from the gold, viz., in pigs, or square blocks, three, or in somecases four, to each chest. Now, these two ways of packing the specie andthe baser metal, respectively, had the effect of producing a certainuniformity of weight in the thirty-six cases Wylie was inspecting.Otherwise the gold cases would have been twice the weight of those thatcontained the baser metal; for lead is proverbially heavy, but underscientific tests is to gold as five to twelve, or thereabouts.

  In his secret and mysterious labor Wylie was often interrupted. Wheneverhe heard a step on the pavement outside he drew the slide of his lanternand hid the light. If he had examined the iron shutters he would haveseen that his light could never pierce through them into the street. Buthe was not aware of this. Notwithstanding these occasional interruptions,he worked so hard and continuously that the perspiration poured down himere he had unscrewed those eighteen chests containing the pigs of lead.However, it was done at last, and then he refreshed himself with adraught from his flask. The next thing was, he took the three pigs oflead out of one of the cases marked _Shannon,_ etc., and numberedfifteen, and laid them very gently on the floor. Then he transferred tothat empty case the mixed contents of a case branded _Proserpine_ 1,etc., and this he did with the utmost care and nicety, lest gold dustspilled should tell tales. And so he went on and amused himself byshifting the contents of the whole eighteen cases marked _Proserpine,_etc., into eighteen cases marked _Shannon,_ etc., and refilling them withthe _Shannon's_ lead. Frolicsome Mr. Wylie! Then he sat down on one ofthe cases _Proserpine'd,_ and ate a biscuit and drank a little rum; notmuch; for at this part of his career he was a very sober man, though hecould feign drunkenness, or indeed anything else.

  The gold was all at his mercy, yet he did not pocket an ounce of it; noteven a penny-weight to make a wedding-r
ing for Nancy Rouse. Mr. Wylie hada conscience. And a very original one it was; and, above all, he was verytrue to those he worked with. He carefully locked the gold cases up againand resumed the screwdriver, for there was another heavy stroke of workto be done; and he went at it like a man. He carefully screwed downagain, one after another, all those eighteen cases marked. _Shannon,_which he had filled with gold dust, and then, heating a sailor's needlered-hot over his burning wick, he put his own secret marks on thoseeighteen cases--marks that no eye but his own could detect. By this time,though a very powerful man, he felt much exhausted and would gladly havesnatched an hour's repose. But, consulting his watch by the light of hislantern, he found the sun had just risen. He retired to his place ofconcealment in the same cat-like way he had come out of it--that is tosay, he mounted on the high cases, and then slipped down behind them,into the angle of the wall.

  As soon as the office opened, two sailors, whom he had carefullyinstructed overnight, came with a boat for the cases; the warehouse wasopened in consequence, but they were informed that Wylie must be presentat the delivery.

  "Oh, he won't be long," said they; "told us he would meet us here."

  There was a considerable delay, and a good deal of talking, and presentlyWylie was at their back, and put in his word.

  Seaton was greatly surprised at finding him there, and asked him where hehad sprung from.

  "Me!" said Wylie, jocosely, "why, I hailed from Davy Jones's lockerlast."

  "I never heard you come in," said Seaton, thoughtfully.

  "Well, sir," replied Wylie, civilly, "a man does learn to go like a caton board ship, that is the truth. I came in at the door like my betters;but I thought I heard you mention my name, so I made no noise. Well, hereI am, anyway, and--Jack, how many trips can we take these thunderingchests in? Let us see, eighteen for the _Proserpine,_ and forty for the_Shannon._ Is that correct, sir?"

  "Perfectly."

  "Then, if you will deliver them, I'll check the delivery aboard thelighter there; and then we'll tow her alongside the ships."

  Seaton called up two more clerks, and sent one to the boat and one onboard the barge. The barge was within hail; so the cases were checked asthey passed out of the store, and checked again at the small boat, andalso on board the lighter. When they were all cleared out, Wylie gaveSeaton his receipt for them, and, having a steam-tug in attendance, towedthe lighter alongside the _Shannon_ first.

  Seaton carried the receipt to his employer. "But, sir," said he, "is thisregular for an officer of the _Proserpine_ to take the _Shannon's_ cargofrom us?"

  "No, it is not regular," said the old gentleman; and he looked through awindow and summoned Mr. Hardcastle.

  Hardcastle explained that the _Proserpine_ shipped the gold, which wasthe more valuable consignment; and that he saw no harm in the officer whowas so highly trusted by the merchant (on this and on former occasions)taking out a few tons of lead and copper to the _Shannon._

  "Well, sir," said Seaton, "suppose I was to go out and see the chestsstowed in those vessels?"

  "I think you are making a fuss about nothing," said Hardcastle.

  Mr. White was of the same opinion, but, being too wise to check zeal andcaution, told Seaton he might go for his own satisfaction.

  Seaton, with some difficulty, got a little boat and pulled across theharbor. He found the _Shannon_ had shipped all the chests marked with hername; and the captain and mate of the _Proserpine_ were beginning to shiptheirs. He paddled under the _Proserpine's_ stern.

  Captain Hudson, a rough salt, sang out, and asked him roughly what hewanted there.

  "Oh, it is all right," said the mate; "he is come for your receipt andHewitt's. Be smart now, men; two on board, sixteen to come."

  Seaton saw the chests marked _Proserpine_ stowed in the _Proserpine,_ andwent ashore with Captain Hewitt's receipt for forty cases on board the_Shannon,_ and Captain Hudson's of eighteen on board the _Proserpine._

  As he landed he met Lloyds' agent, and told him what a valuable freighthe had just shipped. That gentleman merely remarked that both ships wereunderwritten in Sydney by the owners; but the freight was insured inLondon, no doubt.

  There was still something about this business Seaton did not quite like;perhaps it was in the haste of the shipments, or in the manner of themate. At all events, it was too slight and subtle to be communicated toothers with any hope of convincing them; and, moreover, Seaton could notbut own to himself that he hated Wardlaw, and was, perhaps, no fair judgeof his acts, and even of the acts of his servants.

  And soon a blow fell that drove the matter out of his head and his heart.Miss Helen Rolleston called at the office, and, standing within a fewfeet of him, handed Hardcastle a letter from Arthur Wardlaw, directingthat the ladies' cabin on board the _Shannon_ should be placed at herdisposal.

  Hardcastle bowed low to Beauty and Station, and promised her the bestpossible accommodation on board the _Shannon,_ bound for England nextweek.

  As she retired, she cast one quiet glance round the office in search ofSeaton's beard. But he had reduced its admired luxuriance, and trimmed itto a narrow mercantile point. She did not know his other features fromAdam, and little thought that young man, bent double over his paper, washer preserver and _protege;_ still less that he was at this moment coldas ice, and quivering with misery from head to foot, because her own lipshad just told him she was going to England in the _Shannon._

  Heartbroken, but still loving nobly, Seaton dragged himself down to theharbor, and went slowly on board the _Shannon_ to secure Miss Rollestonevery comfort.

  Then, sick at heart as he was, he made inquiries into the condition ofthe vessel which was to be trusted with so precious a freight; and theold boatman who was rowing him, hearing him make these inquiries, toldhim he himself was always about, and had noticed the _Shannon's_ pumpswere going every blessed night.

  Seaton carried this intelligence directly to Lloyds' agent; he overhauledthe ship, and ordered her into the graving dock for repairs.

  Then Seaton, for White & Co., wrote to Miss Rolleston that the _Shannon_was not seaworthy and could not sail for a month at the least.

  The lady simply acknowledged Messrs. White's communication, and Seatonbreathed again.

  Wardlaw had made Miss Rolleston promise him faithfully to sail that monthin his ship, the _Shannon._ Now she was a slave to her word and constantof purpose; so when she found she could not sail in the _Shannon,_ shecalled again on Messrs. White, and took her passage in the _Proserpine._The essential thing to her mind was to sail when she had promised, and togo in a ship that belonged to her lover.

  The _Proserpine_ was to sail in ten days.

  Seaton inquired into the state of the _Proserpine._ She was a good, soundvessel, and there was no excuse for detaining her.

  Then he wrestled long and hard with the selfish part of his great love.Instead of turning sullen, he set himself to carry out Helen Rolleston'swill. He went on board the _Proserpine_ and chose her the best sterncabin.

  General Rolleston had ordered Helen's cabin to be furnished, and theagent had put in the usual things, such as a standing bedstead withdrawers beneath, chest of drawers, small table, two chairs, washstand,looking-glass, and swinging lamp.

  But Seaton made several visits to the ship, and effected the followingarrangements at his own cost. He provided a neat cocoa-mat for her cabindeck, for comfort and foot-hold. He unshipped the regular six-paned sternwindows, and put in single-pane plate glass; he fitted venetian blinds,and hung two little rose-colored curtains to each of the windows; all soarranged as to be easily removed in case it should be necessary to shipdead-lights in heavy weather. He glazed the door leading to her bath-roomand quarter gallery with plate glass; he provided a light easy-chair,slung and fitted with grommets, to be hung on hooks screwed into thebeams in the midship of the cabin. On this Helen could sit and read, andso become insensible to the motion of the ship. He fitted a smallbookcase, with a button, which could be raised when a book might bewanted; h
e fixed a strike-bell in her maid's cabin communicating with twostrikers in Helen's cabin; he selected books, taking care that thevoyages and travels were prosperous ones. No "Seaman's Recorder,""Life-boat Journal," or "Shipwrecks and Disasters in the British Navy."

  Her cabin was the after-cabin on the starboard side, was entered throughthe cuddy, had a door communicating with the quarter gallery, two sternwindows and a dead-eye on deck. The maid's cabin was the portafter-cabin; doors opened into cuddy and quarter-gallery. And a finetrouble Miss Rolleston had to get a maid to accompany her; but at last ayoung woman offered to go with her for high wages, demurely suppressingthe fact that she had just married one of the sailors, and would havegladly gone for nothing. Her name was Jane Holt, and her husband'sMichael Donovan.

  In one of Seaton's visits to the _Proserpine_ he detected the mate andthe captain talking together and looking at him with unfriendlyeyes--scowling at him would hardly be too strong a word.

  However, he was in no state of mind to care much how two animals in bluejackets received his acts of self-martyrdom. He was there to do the lastkind offices of despairing love for the angel that had crossed his darkpath and illumined it for a moment, to leave it now forever.

  At last the fatal evening came; her last in Sydney.

  Then Seaton's fortitude, sustained no longer by the feverish stimulus ofdoing kindly acts for her, began to give way, and he desponded deeply.

  At nine in the evening he crept upon General Rolleston's lawn, where hehad first seen her. He sat down in sullen despair upon the very spot.

  Then he came nearer the house. There was a lamp in the dining-room; helooked in and saw her.

  She was seated at her father's knee, looking up at him fondly; her handwas in his; the tears were in their eyes; she had no mother; he no son;they loved one another devotedly. This, their tender gesture, and theirsad silence, spoke volumes to any one that had known sorrow. Poor Seatonsat down on the dewy grass outside and wept because she was weeping.

  Her father sent her to bed early. Seaton watched, as he had often donebefore, till her light went out; and then he flung himself on the wetgrass and stared at the sky in utter misery.

  The mind is often clearest in the middle of the night; and all of asudden he saw, as if written on the sky, that she was going to Englandexpressly to marry Arthur Wardlaw.

  At this revelation he started up, stung with hate as well as love, andhis tortured mind rebelled furiously. He repeated his vow that thisshould never be; and soon a scheme came into his head to prevent it; butit was a project so wild and dangerous that, even as his heated brainhatched it, his cooler judgment said, "Fly, madman, fly! or this lovewill _destroy_ you!"

  He listened to the voice of reason, and in another minute he was out ofthe premises. He fluttered to his lodgings.

  When he got there he could not go in; he turned and fluttered about thestreets, not knowing or caring whither; his mind was in a whirl; and,what with his bodily fever and his boiling heart, passion began tooverpower reason, that had held out so gallantly till now. He foundhimself at the harbor, staring with wild and bloodshot eyes at the_Proserpine,_ he who, an hour ago, had seen that he had but one thing todo--to try and forget young Wardlaw's bride. He groaned aloud, and ranwildly back into the town. He hurried up and down one narrow street,raging inwardly, like some wild beast in its den.

  By-and-by his mood changed, and he hung round a lamp-post and fell tomoaning and lamenting his hard fate and hers.

  A policeman came up, took him for a maudlin drunkard, and half-advised,half-admonished, him to go home.

  At that he gave a sort of fierce, despairing snarl and ran into the nextstreet to be alone.

  In this street he found a shop open and lighted, though it was but fiveo'clock in the morning. It was a barber's whose customers were workingpeople. HAIRCUTTING, SIXPENCE. EASY SHAVING, THREEPENCE. HOT COFFEE,FOURPENCE THE CUP. Seaton's eye fell upon this shop. He looked at itfixedly a moment from the opposite side of the way and then hurried on.

  He turned suddenly and came back. He crossed the road and entered theshop. The barber was leaning over the stove, removing a can of boilingwater from the fire to the hob. He turned at the sound of Seaton's stepand revealed an ugly countenance, rendered sinister by a squint.

  Seaton dropped into a chair and said, "I want my beard taken off."

  The man looked at him, if it could be called looking at him, and saiddryly, "Oh, do ye? How much am I to have for that job?"

  "You know your own charge."

  "Of course I do. Threepence a chin."

  "Very well. Be quick then."

  "Stop a bit. That is my charge to working folk. I must have somethingmore off you."

  "Very well, man, I'll pay you double."

  "My price to you is ten shillings."

  "Why, what is that for?" asked Seaton in some alarm; he thought, in hisconfusion, the man must have read his heart.

  "I'll tell ye why," said the squinting barber. "No, I won't. I'll showye." He brought a small mirror and suddenly clapped it before Seaton'seyes. Seaton started at his own image; wild, ghastly, and the eyes sobloodshot. The barber chuckled. This start was an extorted compliment tohis own sagacity. "Now wasn't I right?" said he; "did I ought to take thebeard off such a mug as that--for less than ten shillings?"

  "I see," groaned Seaton; "you think I have committed some crime. One mansees me weeping with misery; he calls me a drunkard; another sees me palewith the anguish of my breaking heart; he calls me a felon. May God'scurse light on him and you, and all mankind!"

  "All right," said the squinting barber, apathetically; "my price is tenbob, whether or no."

  Seaton felt in his pockets. "I have not got the money about me," said he.

  "Oh, I'm not particular; leave your watch."

  Seaton handed the squinting vampire his watch without another word andlet his head fall upon his breast.

  The barber cut his beard close with the scissors, and made trivialremarks from time to time, but received no reply.

  At last, extortion having put him in a good humor, he said, "Don't be sodown-hearted, my lad. You are not the first that has got into trouble andhad to change faces."

  Seaton vouchsafed no reply.

  The barber shaved him clean, and was astonished at the change, andcongratulated him. "Nobody will ever know you," said he; "and I'll tellyou why; your mouth, it is inclined to turn up a little; now a mustacheit bends down, and that alters such a mouth as yours entirely. But, I'lltell you what, taking off this beard shows me something. _You are agentleman!!_ Make it a sovereign, sir."

  Seaton staggered out of the place without a word.

  "Sulky, eh?" muttered the barber. He gathered up some of the long hair hehad cut off Seaton's chin with his scissors, admired it, and put it awayin paper.

  While thus employed, a regular customer looked in for his cup of coffee.It was the policeman who had taken Seaton for a convivial soul.