Elster's Folly by Mrs. Henry Wood (most important books to read TXT) 📖
- Author: Mrs. Henry Wood
Book online «Elster's Folly by Mrs. Henry Wood (most important books to read TXT) 📖». Author Mrs. Henry Wood
"Did Capper See You As You Came By, Sir? Wouldn't She Be Struck!"
"Nearly Into Stone," He Laughed.
Mirrable Disappeared For A Minute Or Two, And Came Back With A Silver
Coffee-Pot In Her Hand. The Name Of The Lodge-Keeper Had Brought To His
Remembrance The Unpleasant Hint She Mentioned, And He Spoke Of It
Impulsively--As He Did Most Things.
"Mirrable, What Man Is It They Call Pike, Who Has Taken Possession Of
That Old Shed?"
"I'm Sure I Don't Know, Sir," Answered Mirrable, After A Pause, Which Mr.
Elster Thought Was Involuntary; For She Was Busy At The Moment Rubbing
The Coffee-Pot With Some Wash-Leather, Her Head And Face Bent Over It, As
She Stood With Her Back To Him. He Slipped Off The Table, And Went Up To
Her.
"I Saw Smoke Rising From The Shed, And Asked Capper What It Meant, And
She Told Me About This Man Pike. Pike! It's A Curious Name."
Mirrable Rubbed Away, Never Answering.
"Capper Said He Had Been Suspected Of Firing The Shot That Killed My
Brother," He Continued, In Low Tones. "Did _You_ Ever Hear Of Such A
Hint, Mirrable?"
Mirrable Darted Off To The Fireplace, And Began Stirring The Milk Lest It
Should Boil Over. Her Face Was Almost Buried In The Saucepan, Or Mr.
Elster Might Have Seen The Sudden Change That Came Over It; The Thin
Cheeks That Had Flushed Crimson, And Now Were Deadly White. Lifting The
Saucepan On To The Hob, She Turned To Mr. Elster.
"Don't You Believe Any Such Nonsense, Sir," She Said, In Tones Of Strange
Emphasis. "It Was No More Pike Than It Was Me. The Man Keeps Himself To
Himself, And Troubles Nobody; And For That Very Reason Idle Folk Carp At
Him, Like The Mischief-Making Idiots They Are!"
"I Thought There Was Nothing In It," Remarked Mr. Elster.
"I'm _Sure_ There Isn't," Said Mirrable, Conclusively. "Would You Like
Some Broiled Ham, Sir?"
"I Should Like Anything Good And Substantial, For I'm As Hungry As
A Hunter. But, Mirrable, You Don't Ask What Has Brought Me Here So
Suddenly."
The Tone Was Significant, And Mirrable Looked At Him. There Was A Spice
Of Mischief In His Laughing Blue Eyes.
"I Come On A Mission To You; An Avant-Courier From His Lordship, To
Charge You To Have All Things In Readiness. To-Morrow You Will Receive
A Houseful Of Company; More Than Hartledon Will Hold."
Mirrable Looked Aghast. "It Is One Of Your Jokes, Mr. Val!"
"Indeed, It Is The Truth. My Brother Will Be Down With A Trainful; And
Desires That Everything Shall Be Ready For Their Reception."
"My Patience!" Gasped Mirrable. "And The Servants, Sir?"
"Most Of Them Will Be Here To-Night. The Countess-Dowager Of Kirton Is
Coming As Hartledon's Mistress For The Time Being."
"Oh!" Said Mirrable, Who Had Once Had The Honour Of Seeing The
Countess-Dowager Of Kirton. And The Monosyllable Was So Significant
That Val Elster Drew Down The Corners Of His Mouth.
"I Don't Like The Countess-Dowager, Sir," Remarked Mirrable In Her
Freedom.
"I Can't Bear Her," Returned Val Elster.
Chapter 2 (Willy Gum)
Had Percival Elster Lingered Ever So Short A Time Near The Clerk's House
That Morning He Would Have Met That Functionary Himself; For In Less Than
A Minute After He Had Passed Out Of Sight Jabez Gum's Door Opened, And
Jabez Gum Glided Out Of It.
It Is A Term Chiefly Applied To Ghosts; But Mr. Gum Was A Great Deal More
Like A Ghost Than Like A Man. He Was Remarkably Tall And Thin; A Very
Shadow; With A White Shadow Of A Face, And A Nose That Might Have Served
As A Model For A Mask In A Carnival Of Guys. A Sharp Nose, Twice The
Length And Half The Breadth Of Any Ordinary Nose--A Very Ferret Of A
Nose; Its Sharp Tip Standing Straight Out Into The Air. People Said, With
Such A Nose Mr. Gum Ought To Have A Great Deal Of Curiosity. And They
Were Right; He _Had_ A Great Deal In A Quiet Way.
A Most Respectable Man Was Mr. Gum, And He Prided Himself Upon It. Mr.
Gum--More Often Called Clerk Gum In The Village--Had Never Done A Wrong
Thing In His Life, Or Fallen Into A Scrape. He Had Been Altogether A
Pattern To Calne In General, And To Its Black Sheep In Particular. Dr.
Ashton Himself Could Not Have Had Less Brought Against Him Than Clerk
Gum; And It Would Just Have Broken Mr. Gum's Heart Had His Good Name Been
Tarnished In Ever So Slight A Degree. Perhaps No Man Living Had Been Born
With A Larger Share Of Self-Esteem Than Jabez Gum. Clerk Of The Parish
Longer Than Dr. Ashton Had Been Its Rector, Jabez Gum Had Lived At His
Ease In A Pecuniary Point Of View. It Was One Of Those Parishes (I Think
Few Of Them Remain Now) Where The Clerk's Emoluments Are Large. He Also
Held Other Offices; Was An Agent For One Or Two Companies, And Was Looked
Upon As An Exceedingly Substantial Man For His Station In Life. Perhaps
He Was Less So Than People Imagined. The Old Saying Is All Too True:
"Nobody Knows Where The Shoe Pinches But He Who Wears It."
Jabez Gum Had His Thorn, As A Great Many More Of Us Have Ours, If The
Outside World Only Knew It. And Jabez, At Odd Moments, When The Thorn
Pierced Him Very Sharply, Had Been Wont To Compare His Condition To St.
Paul's, And To Wonder Whether The Pricks Inflicted On That Holy Man Could
Have Bled As His Own Did. He Meant No Irreverence When He Thought This;
Neither Do I In Writing It. We Are Generally Wounded In The Most
Vulnerable Spot About Us, And Jabez Gum Made No Exception To The Rule. He
Had Been Assailed In His Cherished Respectability, His Self-Esteem.
Assailed And _Scarred_. How Broad And Deep The Scar Was Jabez Never Told
The World, Which As A Rule Does Not Sympathise With Such Scars, But Turns
Aside In Its Cruel Indifference. The World Had Almost Forgotten The Scar
Now, And Supposed Clerk Gum Had Done The Same. It Was All Over And Done
With Years Ago.
Jabez Gum's Wife--To Whom You Will Shortly Have The Honour Of An
Introduction, But She Is In Her Bedroom Just Now--Had Borne Him One
Child, And Only One. How This Boy Was Loved, How Tenderly Reared, Let
Calne Tell You. Mrs. Gum Had To Endure No Inconsiderable Amount Of
Ridicule At The Time From Her Gossiping Friends, Who Gave Willy Sundry
Endearing Names, Applied In Derision. Certainly, If Any Mother Ever Was
Bound Up In A Child, Mrs. Gum Was In Hers. The Boy Was Well Brought Up. A
Good Education Was Given Him; And At The Age Of Sixteen He Went To London
And To Fortune. The One Was Looked Upon As A Natural Sequence To The
Other. Some Friend Of Jabez Gum's Had Interested Himself To Procure The
Lad's Admission Into One Of The Great Banks As A Junior Clerk. He Might
Rise In Time To Be Cashier, Manager, Even Partner; Who Knew? Who Knew
Indeed? And Clerk Gum Congratulated Himself, And Was More Respectable
Than Ever.
Better That Willy Gum Had Remained At Calne! And Yet, And Again--Who
Knew? When The Propensity For Ill-Doing Exists It Is Sure To Come Out, No
Matter Where. There Were Some People In Calne Who Could Have Told Clerk
Gum, Even Then, That Willy, For His Age, Was Tolerably Fast And Forward.
Mrs. Gum Had Heard Of One Or Two Things That Had Caused Her Hair To Rise
On End With Horror; Ay, And With Apprehension; But, Foolish Mother That
She Was, Not A Syllable Did She Breathe To The Clerk; And No One Else
Ventured To Tell Him.
She Talked To Willy With Many Sighs And Tears; Implored Him To Be A Good
Boy And Enter On Good Courses, Not On Bad Ones That Would Break Her
Heart. Willy, The Little Scapegrace, Was Willing To Promise Anything. He
Laughed And Made Light Of It; It Wasn't His Fault If Folks Told Stories
About Him; She Couldn't Be So Foolish As To Give Ear To Them. London? Oh,
He Should Be All Right In London! One Or Two Fellows Here Were Rather
Fast, There Was No Denying It; And They Drew Him With Them; They Were
Older Than He, And Ought To Have Known Better. Once Away From Calne, They
Could Have No More Influence Over Him, And He Should Be All Right.
She Believed Him; Putting Faith In The Plausible Words. Oh, What Trust
Can Be So Pure, And At The Same Time So Foolish, As That Placed By A
Mother In A Beloved Son! Mrs. Gum Had Never Known But One Idol On Earth;
He Who Now Stood Before Her, Lightly Laughing At Her Fears, Making His
Own Tale Good. She Leaned Forward And Laid Her Hands Upon His Shoulders
And Kissed Him With That Impassioned Fervour That Some Mothers Could Tell
Of, And Whispered That She Would Trust Him Wholly.
Mr. Willy Extricated Himself With As Little Impatience As He Could Help:
These Embraces Were Not To His Taste. And Yet The Boy Did Love His
Mother. She Was Not At All A Wise Woman, Or A Clever One; Rather Silly,
Indeed, In Many Things; But She Was Fond Of Him. At This Period He Was
Young-Looking For His Age, Slight, And Rather Undersized, With An
Exceedingly Light Complexion, A Wishy-Washy Sort Of Face With No Colour
In It, Unmeaning Light Eyes, White Eyebrows, And Ragged-Looking Light
Hair With A Tawny Shade Upon It.
Willy Gum Departed For London, And Entered On His Engagement In The Great
Banking-House Of Goldsworthy And Co.
How He Went On In It Calne Could Not Get To Learn, Though It Was
Moderately Inquisitive Upon The Point. His Father And Mother Heard From
Him Occasionally; And Once The Clerk Took A Sudden And Rather Mysterious
Journey To London, Where He Stayed For A Whole Week. Rumour Said--I
Wonder Where Such Rumours First Have Their Rise--That Willy Gum Had
Fallen Into Some Trouble, And The Clerk Had Had To Buy Him Out Of It At
The Cost Of A Mint Of Money. The Clerk, However, Did Not Confirm This;
And One Thing Was Indisputable: Willy Retained His Place In The
Banking-House. Some People Looked On This Fact As A Complete Refutation
Of The Rumour.
Then Came A Lull. Nothing Was Heard Of Willy; That Is, Nothing Beyond The
Reports Of Mrs. Gum To Her Gossips When Letters Arrived: He Was Well, And
Getting On Well. It Was Only The Lull That Precedes A Storm; And A Storm
Indeed Burst On Quiet Calne. Willy Gum Had Robbed The Bank And
Disappeared.
In The First Dreadful Moment, Perhaps The Only One Who Did _Not_
Disbelieve It Was Clerk Gum. Other People Said There Must Be Some
Mistake: It Could Not Be. Kind Old Lord Hartledon Came Down In His
Carriage To The Clerk's House--He Was Too Ill To Walk--And Sat With
The Clerk And The Weeping Mother, And Said He Was Sure It Could Not Be
So Bad As Was Reported. The Next Morning Saw Handbills--Great, Staring,
Large-Typed Handbills--Offering A Reward For The Discovery Of William
Gum, Posted All Over Calne.
Once More Clerk Gum Went To London. What He Did There No One Knew. One
Thing Only Was Certain--He Did Not Find Willy Or Any Trace Of Him. The
Defalcation Was Very Nearly Eight Hundred Pounds; And Even If Mr. Gum
Could Have Refunded That Large Sum, He Might Not Do So, Said Calne, For
Of Course The Bank Would Not Compound A Felony. He Came Back Looking Ten
Years Older; His Tall, Thin Form More Shadowy, His Nose Longer And
Sharper. Not A Soul Ventured To Say A Syllable To Him, Even Of
Condolence. He Told Lord Hartledon And His Rector That No Tidings
Whatever Could Be Gleaned Of His Unhappy Son; The Boy Had Disappeared,
And Might Be Dead For All They Knew To The Contrary.
So The Handbills Wore Themselves Out On The Walls, Serving No Purpose,
Until Lord Hartledon Ordered Them To Be Removed; And Mrs. Gum Lived
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