As it fell out, however, he was saved from a hateful necessity by no less a person than Lord Elstree himself. At their next interview, which befell a few days later, his Lordship said:
"By the way, Hazeldine, I think it just as well to inform you, in view of the fact that you have a very considerable sum invested in the affair, that I am by no means satisfied with the present policy and management--mismanagement would be the proper term for it--of it. My advice is no longer listened to by the Board; my representations are pooh-poohed behind my back; and, in point of fact, I have good reason for believing that the Corporation is slowly but surely drifting into difficulties. In any case, I mean to sever9 my connection with the concern as soon as possible, and I should advise you to do the same. All this, of course, is strictly10 entre nous."
"I am extremely grateful to your Lordship for your kindness in giving me the hint"--and so, indeed, he felt himself to be. "I will send in a notice of withdrawal by this evening's post."
After that, his Lordship's talk drifted away to an entirely11 different topic, but one which, as it happened, had for Edward an interest only secondary to that of the previous one, and the first result of it was a brief note, written and dispatched a couple of hours later.
"Dear Clem,
"If possible, come and see me in the course of to-morrow. Yours,
"E. H."
The following afternoon found Clement12 at the Brewery13.
Edward's first words were: "As regards the twelve thousand pounds, I have already sent in the notice of withdrawal, but, as you are aware, unless the fact has escaped your memory, I shall not receive a draft for the amount till six months from the date of the notice."
"There is no help for that, of course. After all, half a year is not a long time to wait, and now that the first and most important step has been taken, the rest will follow easily and in due course."
"And now I've another item of news that will please you," said Edward. "The position of chief bookkeeper at the Hollowdale Smelting14 Works happens to be vacant. Lord Elstree is Chairman of the Company, and the appointment rests with him. At my intercession he has agreed to offer the post in question to John Brancker, whom he considers to have been very shamefully15 treated by Mr. Avison. The salary will be a hundred and eighty pounds a year to start with, and as the works are only a dozen miles away, John will be able to go backward and forward morning and evening by train--that is to say, provided he thinks the post worthy16 of his acceptance."
"I feel nearly sure that I can answer for John's acceptance of the offer," said Clem, with sparkling eyes. "And then to think what a weight it will lift off both your shoulders and mine!"
John Brancker had replied to Mr. Hodgson's somewhat peremptorily-worded note on the day following that of his return from London. Miss Rivers, he told him, absolutely declined to break off her engagement with Mr. Hazeldine, or even to consider the question at all, unless the command to do so emanated17 from some one who was legally entitled to control her actions until she should come of age. In short, Mr. Hodgson must lift the veil which concealed18 her parentage, and prove to her that there was someone still living who had a right to her obedience19, or to so much of it as could be looked for by anyone who for seventeen years had neglected to put forward the slightest claim thereto. It was a very outspoken20 letter, and John meant it for such. He was heart and soul with the young people, and totally opposed to their having their fate settled by someone as to whose identity they knew no more than they did of that of the proverbial man in the moon.
But day passed after day without bringing any answer to John's letter. Hermia shrugged21 her pretty shoulders, and said it was quite evident that the information she had asked for was more than Mr. Hodgson was prepared, or empowered, to furnish her with. Meanwhile she was quite content to let matters go on as they were at present.
John had not failed to tell his sister all that had passed at the momentous22 interview between himself and Clement, and how he had resolved to keep the true story of Mr. Hazeldine's death as a sacred secret to be divulged23 to no one save her to whom he now told it. It was a course which received the full approval of Aunt Charlotte. However much her brother might have suffered in the past, and however dark the prospect24 ahead might still be, to have revealed the dead man's secret, which he had been at such terrible pains to hide from everyone save his two sons, would have seemed to these worthy souls almost as much an act of profanation25 as if they had rifled his grave.
It was left to Clement to disclose to Hermia as much, or as little, relating to the affair as he might deem advisable. With what he told her, or what, in the exercise of a wise reticence26, he omitted to tell her, we have nothing here to do.
And now came the offer from Lord Elstree. "At last--at last the sun is breaking through the clouds," exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, with tears of joy in her eyes when the news was told her. "What will the Ashdown people think now, dear, when they find that his Lordship has taken you by the hand?" she added. "There will be no more looking askance at you in future, I'll warrant. Not one of them but will discover that he, or she, was quite convinced from the first that you were an innocent man who had been deeply wronged."
To Frank Derison life seemed a somewhat tame affair after he had broken off his engagement to Miss Rivers and had given his word to Mr. Avison that the billiard table of the "Crown and Cushion" should see him no more. Now that he had lost Hermia, he felt that he loved her far more than he had ever loved her before. He could not get her image out of his thoughts; her face haunted his dreams by night and came between him and his work by day. He had not even the satisfaction of knowing that he had made her unhappy. He might and did regret her, but he had no proof that she regretted him. Evidently she had told him no more than the truth, although he could not credit it at the time, when she said in her letter that she should hail the rupture27 of their engagement as a relief. The news of her engagement to Clement Hazeldine had not failed to reach his ears--it had been no hole-and-corner affair; more than once, in the pleasant spring evenings, he saw them walking out together, and he ground his teeth and raged inwardly as he watched them.
Frank, however, was not without his compensations, although they were of a kind which he was not the one to value as many in his place would have done. He was made aware through his mother, who had her information from the elder Mr. Avison, that he was rising slowly but surely in his employer's estimation. It was Mrs. Derison's opinion, and doubtless she had good reasons for giving expression to it, that if only he were careful to keep on as he had begun, there was nothing to hinder him from attaining28 in the course of a few years to a partnership29 in the business. Ephraim Judd's death had been the means of giving him another step upward and another increase of salary. Already he stood next to Mr. Howes, who had succeeded Mr. Hazeldine as managing clerk.
Yet Frank no more liked his work at the Bank now than he had liked it when a youth of sixteen, although that was a fact which he confided30 to no one's ear but his mother's. He hated banking31 and everything connected with it, save and except the drawing of his salary at the close of each month. He was not without a certain amount of surface cleverness, together with a degree of tact32 which had in it an element of cunning; and by the aid of these, in combination with a frankly33 audacious manner and a handsome presence, he contrived34 to throw dust in the eyes of most people, and to pass for a much cleverer fellow than he was. He was not brought much into personal contact with Mr. Avison, who seemed, indeed, for reasons best known to himself, to keep aloof35 from him of set purpose; and as to how far his shallow pretensions36 to business ability were accurately37 gauged38 by Mr. Howes, was best known by Mr. Howes himself. In any case, the new managing clerk treated Frank with much consideration, not unmixed with a finely shaded measure of deference39; but it may have been that the astute40 old official was not without his suspicions that Master Frank might one day sit in the curule chair of authority at the Bank.
Although Mrs. Derison had lived in Ashdown for several years she had but few acquaintances and no intimates, consequently the virtue41 of hospitality was one which she was rarely called upon to exercise. Now and then one or two lady visitors of her own age would call and would be invited to stay for tea, but that was all; while it was only on rare occasions that she visited anywhere herself. Frank had, therefore, every reason for feeling surprised when his mother said to him one evening:
"I want you to give up your bedroom for a few weeks, and change into the back room. We are about to have a visitor."
"Good gracious! mother. It must be somebody important, or you would not want me to budge42."
"It is your half-cousin, Mildred Dixon. I have invited her to stay for a month, and she has agreed to do so."
"Wonders will never cease," said the mystified Frank.
"You have not forgotten her I hope."
"Not a bit of it, though it must be seven or eight years since I saw her last. But what is your object in inviting43 her, if I may make so bold as to ask?"
"My object is that you should make love to her, propose to her, and by-and-bye make her your wife."
Frank stared aghast at his mother. "Have you taken leave of your senses, madre mia?" he asked, after a pause.
"I have no reason to think so, my son."
"I marry Mildred Dixon! The notion is too utterly preposterous44. In the first place she's six years older than I am. Then she's awfully45 freckled46, and wears spectacles, and has a squat47 figure. I'd as soon marry my grandmother, if the old lady were alive."
"What have either her looks or her age to do with the affair? Miss Dixon is both accomplished48 and amiable49, and has, in addition, a fortune of twenty thousand pounds."
Frank bit his nails for a few moments as if deep in thought; then looking up, he said:
"Mother, this thing is not a suggestion of your own. I can pretty well guess the quarter from whence it emanates50."
"And what then? Is not your welfare at the bottom of the scheme? People at the head of a prosperous concern don't usually choose a virtual beggar for their partner; but no one could call a man with twenty thousand pounds at his back by any such title!"
So that was how the wind lay! Frank felt that the golden shackles51 were being riveted52 upon him one by one. He had thrown over--like the mean cur he knew himself to be--the only girl he could ever really love, and now he was called on to sell his freedom.
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1
refund
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| v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款 | |
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2
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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4
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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6
allege
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| vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言 | |
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7
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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8
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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9
sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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11
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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clement
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| adj.仁慈的；温和的 | |
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13
brewery
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| n.啤酒厂 | |
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smelting
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| n.熔炼v.熔炼，提炼（矿石）( smelt的现在分词 ) | |
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15
shamefully
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| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
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16
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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17
emanated
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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18
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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19
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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20
outspoken
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| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
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21
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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22
momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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divulged
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| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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profanation
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| n.亵渎 | |
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reticence
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| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
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27
rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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28
attaining
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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29
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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30
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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31
banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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32
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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34
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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36
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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38
gauged
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| adj.校准的；标准的；量规的；量计的v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；计量；划分 | |
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39
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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40
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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41
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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42
budge
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| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
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43
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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44
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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45
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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46
freckled
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| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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48
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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49
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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50
emanates
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的第三人称单数 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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51
shackles
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| 手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊 | |
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52
riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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