I have said that he was Warden of the Court of Dowry, and the reader, if she has any acquaintance with parliamentary affairs, will remember that at the time of which I speak, the month of March, 1915, that post commonly carried with it Cabinet rank. The experienced in political matters will certainly induce that he was also in the House of Commons.[2] He sat there for Pailton, a borough5 which had been the last to elect him after previous experiences in Merionethshire, Kirkby, Bruton, Powkeley and the Wymp division of Dorset, in which last his somewhat constrained6 and cold manner had perhaps led to his defeat.
It was not his first experience of office, but he had never stood so high in the Councils of the Nation, nor had his presence in the Cabinet ever more weighed with the young and popular Prime Minister (who was suffering slightly from his left lung) than at this moment. For though Charles Repton did not belong by birth to the group of families from which the Prime Minister had sprung, he was of those who, as they advance through life, accumulate an increasing number of clients, of dependents and of friends who dare not trifle with such friendships.
In figure he was tall and somewhat lean; he was clean-shaven; his brilliant white hair was well groomed7; his brown eyes were singularly piercing, and, in contrast with his head, two thick, very dark and strongly arched eyebrows8 emphasized his expression. He was by persuasion9 at this time of his life a Second Day Wycliffite, and had indeed professed10 his connection with that body since at least his fortieth year, before which period in his career he had permanently11 resided in a suburb of Leicester, to which in turn he had removed from Newcastle.
By profession he was, or rather had been, a[3] solicitor12, in which calling he had ever advised those clients who had the wisdom to accumulate wealth to leave the investment of it at his discretion13, nor were they disappointed in the regular receipt of a moderate but secure income calculated at a reasonable rate; while to those who (for whatever reason) lay under the necessity of borrowing, he was ever ready to advance at a somewhat higher rate such sums as he had at his disposal.
But this humdrum14 course of professional life could never satisfy abilities of his calibre. Shortly after his entry into political life he had undertaken the management of numerous industrial ventures, several of which had proved singularly successful, while those which had been less fortunate came to grief through the action of others than himself: nay15 it was often shown when the winding-up order came that such risks had attracted but little of his spare cash.
He was that morning in March, 1915, eating an egg. He had before him a copy of the Times, the affairs of which newspaper were among his most valued connections. The moments he could spare from its perusal16 were given to the methodical cutting open of envelopes and the glancing at their contents,—an exercise which it was his rule most methodically to pursue before he permitted his secretary to deal with the answers. Indeed some one or two of these missives he put into his pocket to be dealt with at his private leisure.
He was alone, for his wife—Maria, Lady Repton—would[4] commonly affect to come down after he had left the house; and this, no matter how late divisions might have kept him upon the previous evening, he invariably did at the hour of half-past nine. I may add that he had no children, but could boast no less than five horses in town and sixteen in the country, all his own property, and used to drag in the country I know not how many vehicles; in London three, each suitable for its own function. Of motor cars he kept but one, but that large and in colour a very bright sky-blue. As he had no proficiency17 in riding, he did not indulge in that exercise; but he was fond of golf and was acquainted with all the technical terms of the game.
To do him justice he was not without means, nay, he was what many would call wealthy, and the salary of ￡5000 to which, amid the enthusiastic cheers of the Legislature, the Wardenship18 of the Court of Dowry had recently been raised was of no great consequence to his position.
To another, alas19! in the vast and heartless city, such a salary was shortly to mean far more,—and George Mulross Demaine, upon whom I will not for the moment linger, would have been even more benefited in pocket than in status by the handling of it.
Careless, however, as Sir Charles Repton might be of a fringe of income obtainable only while his own Party were in office, it was imagined that he was not a little attached to other advantages connected with[5] his Wardenship. It is doubtful whether a man of this firm, reticent20 and dominating character could really be attached to such accidents of his post as the carrying of a model ship, bareheaded, in the great procession upon Empire Day, the wearing upon state occasions of shoes which curled up at the toe and were caught back to the ankles by small silver chains, or the presence upon these ornaments21 of several tiny bells that jingled22 as he walked; anachronisms of this kind can have produced little but discomfort23 in one of his stern mould when, upon the rare occasions of court functions, he was compelled to adopt the official dress. But there was more!
The Wardenship of the Court of Dowry carried with it something regal in that great world of affairs in which he moved, and bitter as had been the attacks upon his colleagues in the Nationalist Cabinet,—especially during the futile24 attempt to pass the Broadening of the Streets Bill—Sir Charles had always been treated with peculiar25 and exceptional respect, though he would never have used methods so underhand as to foreclose upon any newspaper with whom he might have a political difference or to embarrass by official action any considerable advertiser of patent medicines whose manufacture came under the purview26 of his Department.
It would be an exaggeration to say that he had raised one of the minor27 Government posts to the[6] level of the Foreign Office, but, at any rate, it had under his reign28 become almost as prominent as it had been when GHERKIN had first raised it to the rank of a principal function in the State. It was one of the great spending departments; Repton saw to that.
Sir Charles Repton prepared to leave his house, I say, at half-past nine; his mind was intent upon the business of the morning, which was a Board meeting of the Van Diemens. It need not yet concern the reader, it is enough for her to know (and the knowledge is consonant29 with Repton’s character) that the Company was prepared to develop all that North-eastern littoral30 of the Australian Continent for which it had obtained a charter but which no enterprise had as yet succeeded in bringing into line with the vast energies of the Empire.
Of the strategical advantages such a position can give, I need not speak. Luckily they were in the hands of patriots31.
The comparatively small sum of ￡4,000,000 which by its charter the Company was permitted to raise would have been subscribed32 twenty times over in the rush for shares seven years before, and it is common knowledge that at a particular moment during which values must surely have been inflated33, they reached a premium34 of between 800 and 900 per cent. The cool process of reflection which often follows such errors had by this time driven them if anything too low, and the original one pound[7] share which had twice all but touched ￡9, had been for now many months unsaleable at a nominal35 price of 16/3.
There exists a sound rule of public administration of this country—inaugurated, I believe, by Mr. Gladstone—which forbids a Cabinet Minister to hold any public directorship at the same time as his official post, and indeed it is this rule which renders it usual for a couple of men upon opposite sides of the House to come to an arrangement whereby the one shall be Director while his colleague is in office, lest important commercial affairs should be neglected through the too rigid36 application of what is in principle so excellent a rule. But there had been no necessity for this arrangement in the case of so great an Imperial business as the Van Diemens: it touched too nearly the major interests of the country for its connection with a Cabinet Minister to be remarkable37, and all patriotic38 opinion was sincerely glad when, in the preceding January, Sir Charles Repton had consented to acquire without direct purchase a few thousand shares and to take an active part in raising the fortunes of the scheme.
It was recognised upon all sides that the act was one of statesman-like self-sacrifice, and there were perhaps but two papers in London (two evening papers of large circulation but of no high standing) which so much as alluded39 to Sir Charles’ labours in this field.
Of these one, the Moon, catered40 especially[8] for that very considerable public which will have England mistress of the waves, which is interested in the printed results of horse-racing, which had formerly41 triumphantly42 carried at the polls the demand for protection, and which was somewhat embittered43 by so many years of office during which the Nationalist Party had done little more than tax the parts of motor cars, foreign unsweetened prunes44, moss45 litter, and such small quantities of foreign sulphuric acid as are used in the manufacture of beer.
The other, the Capon—to give it its entire name—was of a finer stamp. All the young enthusiasts46 read it, and it was enormously bought for its Notes on Gardening, its caricatures, its clever headlines, and its short, downright little leaders not twenty lines long, printed, by a successful innovation, in capitals throughout, and in a red ink that showed up finely against the plain black and white of the remainder.
Both these papers had continually and violently attacked the connection of one of our few great statesmen with the last of the vast enterprises of Empire. The Capon, whose editor was a young man with very wild eyes and hair like a weeping willow47, attacked it on principle. The Moon—whose proprietor48 was an intimate friend of Sir Charles’ own—was more practical, and attacked the connection between Repton and the Company with good old personalities49 worthy50 of a more virile51 age.
Well then, at this hour of half-past nine on that March day of 1915, Charles Repton rose from his[9] breakfast. He touched the crumbs52 upon his waistcoat so that they fell, and those upon his trousers also. He looked severely53 at the footman in the hall, who quailed54 a little at that glance, he rapidly put on his coat unaided, and asked briefly55 to see the butler.
The butler came.
“I’m out to lunch.”
“Yes, Sir Charles.”
“Tell Parker that if one of my letters is ever left again on the table after I have gone, I shall speak to Lady Repton.”
“Yes, Sir Charles.”
“The car is not to be used on any account.”
“No, Sir Charles.”
He turned round abruptly56 and went down the steps and into the street, while one of his large footmen shut the huge door ever so gently behind him.
He was a man of such character, who conducted his household so firmly, that the man, though now five months in his service, dared exchange no jest with the butler who went quietly off to his own part of the house again. It was a singular proof of what rigid domestic government can do.
From her room Maria, Lady Repton, when she was quite sure that her husband was gone, slunk downstairs. With a cunning that was now a trifle threadbare, she discovered from Parker the housekeeper57, from the secretary, from the butler, by methods which she fondly believed to be indirect, what plans her husband had formed for the day.[10] She sighed to learn that she might not have the car, for she had designed to go and see her dear old friend widow, Mrs. Hulker, formerly of Newcastle, now of Ealing, a woman of great culture and refinement58 and one who gave Maria, Lady Repton, nearly all her information upon books and life. Of course there was always the Tube and the Underground, but they greatly wearied this elderly lady, and it was too far to drive. She sighed a little at her husband’s order.
He, meanwhile, was out in Oxford59 Street, and with the rapidity that distinguishes successful men, had decided60 not to take a motor-bus but to walk. The March day was cold and clear and breezy, and he went eastward61 at a happy gait. He did not need to be at his work until close upon eleven, and even that he knew to be full early for at least one colleague, the stupidest of all the Directors, a certain Bingham, upon whose late rising he counted. For the intolerable tedium62 of arguing against a man who invariably took the unintelligent side was one of the few things which caused Sir Charles to betray some slight shade of impatience63.
The day pleased him, as indeed it pleased the greater part of London, from its fineness. He walked upon the sunny side of the street, and his smile, though restrained and somewhat sadly dignified64, was the more genial65 from the influence of the weather. His brain during this brief exercise was not concerned, as those ignorant of our great[11] men might imagine, with affairs of State, nor even with the choice of investments upon which he was in so short a time to determine. He was occupied rather in planning (for his power of organisation66 was famous) how exactly he should fit in his engagements for the day.
A Board meeting, especially if there is any chance of long argument with a late riser of exceptional stupidity, may last for an indefinite time. He gave it an hour and a half.
Then he must lunch, and that hour was earmarked for a certain foreigner who could not wholly make up his mind whether to build a certain bridge over a certain river for a certain government or no.
By a quarter to three he must be in the House of Commons to answer questions, for those which fell to his share came early upon the paper, and it was the pride of this exact and efficient man to keep no one waiting. Before four he must see the manager of a bank; the matter was urgent, he did not wish to write or telephone. By five he must be back again in his room in the House of Commons to receive a deputation of gentlemen who would arrive from his distant constituency, and who proposed with a mixture of insistence67 and of fear to demand certain commercial advantages for their town at the expense of a neighbouring borough whose representative but rarely busied himself with the Great Council of the Nation.
At six he must order with particular care a[12] dinner upon which (in his opinion) the chances of the Saltoon Development largely depended. At seven he must dress, at eight he must dine. His guests (many of whom to his knowledge would drink to excess) would certainly detain him till long after ten. He must be back in the House to vote at eleven; for some half-hour or so after eleven he must be present to attend a short debate (or what he hoped would prove a short debate) concerning his own Department. He would be lucky if he was in bed by twelve.
Let the reader leave him there walking in Oxford Street and turn her attention to George Mulross Demaine, or rather, to Mount Popocatapetl.
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1
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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2
warden
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| n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人 | |
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3
graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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groomed
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| v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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10
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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12
solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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13
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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14
humdrum
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| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
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15
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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16
perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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17
proficiency
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| n.精通，熟练，精练 | |
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18
wardenship
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| n.warden之职权（或职务） | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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reticent
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| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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jingled
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| 喝醉的 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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24
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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purview
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| n.范围；眼界 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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consonant
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| n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的 | |
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30
littoral
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| adj.海岸的；湖岸的；n.沿（海）岸地区 | |
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31
patriots
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| 爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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32
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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33
inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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34
premium
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| n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的 | |
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35
nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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39
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
catered
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| 提供饮食及服务( cater的过去式和过去分词 )； 满足需要，适合 | |
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41
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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42
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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43
embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
prunes
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| n.西梅脯，西梅干( prune的名词复数 )v.修剪（树木等）( prune的第三人称单数 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
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45
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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enthusiasts
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| n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 ) | |
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47
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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48
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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49
personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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50
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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51
virile
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| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
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52
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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53
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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54
quailed
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| 害怕，发抖，畏缩( quail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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56
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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57
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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58
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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60
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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61
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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62
tedium
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| n.单调；烦闷 | |
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63
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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64
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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65
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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66
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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