CHAPTER LX.
Alice Vavasor's Name Gets into the Money Market.
Some ten or twelve days after George Vavasor's return to London fromWestmoreland he appeared at Mr. Scruby's offices with four smallslips of paper in his hand. Mr. Scruby, as usual, was pressing formoney. The third election was coming on, and money was already beingspent very freely among the men of the River Bank. So, at least, Mr.Scruby declared. Mr. Grimes, of the "Handsome Man," had shown signsof returning allegiance. But Mr. Grimes could not afford to be loyalwithout money. He had his little family to protect. Mr. Scruby,too, had his little family, and was not ashamed to use it on thisoccasion. "I'm a family man, Mr. Vavasor, and therefore I never runany risks. I never go a yard further than I can see my way back."This he had said in answer to a proposition that he should takeGeorge's note of hand for the expenses of the next election, payablein three months' time. "It is so very hard to realize," said George,"immediately upon a death, when all the property left is realproperty." "Very hard indeed," said Mr. Scruby, who had heard withaccuracy all the particulars of the old Squire's will. Vavasorunderstood the lawyer, cursed him inwardly, and suggested to himselfthat some day he might murder Mr. Scruby as well as John Grey,--andperhaps also a few more of his enemies. Two days after the interviewin which his own note of hand had been refused, he again called inGreat Marlborough Street. Upon this occasion he tendered to Mr. Scrubyfor his approval the four slips of paper which have been mentioned.Mr. Scruby regarded them with attention, looking first at one sidehorizontally, and then at the other side perpendicularly. But beforewe learn the judgement pronounced by Mr. Scruby as to these four slipsof paper, we must go back to their earlier history. As they werestill in their infancy, we shall not have to go back far.
One morning, at about eleven o'clock the parlour-maid came up toAlice, as she sat alone in the drawing-room in Queen Anne Street, andtold her there was a "gentleman" in the hall waiting to be seen byher. We all know the tone in which servants announce a gentleman whenthey know that the gentleman is not a gentleman.
"A gentleman wanting to see me! What sort of a gentleman?"
"Well, miss, I don't think he's just of our sort; but he's decent tolook at."
Alice Vavasor had no desire to deny herself to any person but one.She was well aware that the gentleman in the hall could not be hercousin George, and therefore she did not refuse to see him.
"Let him come up," she said. "But I think, Jane, you ought to ask himhis name." Jane did ask him his name, and came back immediately,announcing Mr. Levy.
This occurred immediately after the return of Mr. John Vavasor fromWestmoreland. He had reached home late on the preceding evening, andat the moment of Mr. Levy's call was in his dressing-room.
Alice got up to receive her visitor, and at once understood the toneof her maid's voice. Mr. Levy was certainly not a gentleman of thesort to which she had been most accustomed. He was a little dark man,with sharp eyes, set very near to each other in his head, with abeaked nose, thick at the bridge, and a black moustache, but no otherbeard. Alice did not at all like the look of Mr. Levy, but she stoodup to receive him, made him a little bow, and asked him to sit down.
"Is papa dressed yet?" Alice asked the servant.
"Well, miss, I don't think he is,--not to say dressed."
Alice had thought it might be as well that Mr. Levy should know thatthere was a gentleman in the house with her.
"I've called about a little bit of business, miss," said Mr. Levy,when they were alone. "Nothing as you need disturb yourself about.You'll find it all square, I think." Then he took a case out of hisbreast-pocket, and produced a note, which he handed to her. Alicetook the note, and saw immediately that it was addressed to her byher cousin George. "Yes, Mr. George Vavasor," said Mr. Levy. "I daresay you never saw me before, miss?"
"No, sir; I think not," said Alice.
"I am your cousin's clerk."
"Oh, you're Mr. Vavasor's clerk. I'll read his letter, if you please,sir."
"If you please, miss."
George Vavasor's letter to his cousin was as follows:--
DEAR ALICE,
After what passed between us when I last saw you I thought that on my return from Westmoreland I should learn that you had paid in at my bankers' the money that I require. But I find that this is not so; and of course I excuse you, because women so seldom know when or how to do that which business demands of them. You have, no doubt, heard the injustice which my grandfather has done me, and will probably feel as indignant as I do. I only mention this now, because the nature of his will makes it more than ever incumbent on you that you should be true to your pledge to me.
Till there shall be some ground for a better understanding between us,--and this I do not doubt will come,--I think it wiser not to call, myself, at Queen Anne Street. I therefore send my confidential clerk with four bills, each of five hundred pounds, drawn at fourteen days' date, across which I will get you to write your name. Mr. Levy will show you the way in which this should be done. Your name must come under the word "accepted," and just above the name of Messrs. Drummonds, where the money must be lying ready, at any rate, not later than Monday fortnight. Indeed, the money must be there some time on the Saturday. They know you so well at Drummonds' that you will not object to call on the Saturday afternoon, and ask if it is all right.
I have certainly been inconvenienced by not finding the money as I expected on my return to town. If these bills are not properly provided for, the result will be very disastrous to me. I feel, however, sure that this will be done, both for your own sake and for mine.
Affectionately yours,
GEORGE VAVASOR.
The unparalleled impudence of this letter had the effect which thewriter had intended. It made Alice think immediately of her ownremissness,--if she had been remiss,--rather than of the enormity ofhis claim upon her. The decision with which he asked for her money,without any pretence at an excuse on his part, did for the timeinduce her to believe that she had no alternative but to give it tohim, and that she had been wrong in delaying it. She had told himthat he should have it, and she ought to have been as good as herword. She should not have forced upon him the necessity of demandingit.
But the idea of signing four bills was terrible to her, and she feltsure that she ought not to put her name to orders for so large anamount and then intrust them to such a man as Mr. Levy. Her fatherwas in the house, and she might have asked him. The thought thatshe would do so of course occurred to her. But then it occurred toher also that were she to speak to her father as to this advancingof money to her cousin,--to this giving of money, for she now wellunderstood that it would be a gift;--were she to consult her fatherin any way about it, he would hinder her, not only from signing thebills for Mr. Levy, but, as far as he could do so, from keeping thepromise made to her cousin. She was resolved that George should havethe money, and she knew that she could give it to him in spite of herfather. But her father might probably be able to delay the gift, andthus rob it of its chief value. If she were to sign the bills, themoney must be made to be forthcoming. So much she understood.
Mr. Levy had taken out the four bills from the same case, and hadplaced them on the table before him. "Mr. Vavasor has explained, Ibelieve, miss, what it is you have to do?" he said.
"Yes, sir; my cousin has explained."
"And there is nothing else to trouble you with, I believe. If youwill just write your name across them, here, I need not detain you bystaying any longer." Mr. Levy was very anxious to make his visit asshort as possible, since he had heard that Mr. John Vavasor was in thehouse.
But Alice hesitated. Two thousand pounds is a very serious sum ofmoney. She had heard much of sharpers, and thought that she ought tobe cautious. What if this man, of whom she had never before heard,should steal the bills after she had signed them? She looked again ather cousin's letter, chiefly with the object of gaining time.
"It's
all right, miss," said Mr. Levy.
"Could you not leave them with me, sir?" said Alice.
"Well; not very well, miss. No doubt Mr. Vavasor has explained it all;but the fact is, he must have them this afternoon. He has got a heavysum to put down on the nail about this here election, and if it ain'tdown to-day, them on whom he has to depend will be all abroad."
"But, sir, the money will not be payable to-day. If I understand it,they are not cheques."
"No, miss, no; they are not cheques. But your name, miss, at fourteendays, is the same as ready money;--just the same."
She paused, and while she paused, he reached a pen for her from thewriting-table, and then she signed the four bills as he held thembefore her. She was quick enough at doing this when she had oncecommenced the work. Her object, then, was that the man should be gonefrom the house before her father could meet him.
These were the four bits of paper which George Vavasor tendered to Mr.Scruby's notice on the occasion which we have now in hand. In doingso, he made use of them after the manner of a grand capitalist, whoknows that he may assume certain airs as he allows the odours of thesweetness of his wealth to drop from him.
"You insisted on ready money, with your d---- suspicions," said he;"and there it is. You're not afraid of fourteen days, I dare say."
"Fourteen days is neither here nor there," said Mr. Scruby. "We canlet our payments stand over as long as that, without doing any harm.I'll send one of my men down to Grimes, and tell him I can't see him,till,--let me see," and he looked at one of the bills, "till the15th."
But this was not exactly what George Vavasor wanted. He was desirousthat the bills should be immediately turned into money, so that thenecessity of forcing payments from Alice, should due provision forthe bills not be made, might fall into other hands than his.
"We can wait till the 15th," said Scruby, as he handed the bits ofpaper back to his customer.
"You will want a thousand, you say?" said George.
"A thousand to begin with. Certainly not less."
"Then you had better keep two of them."
"Well--no! I don't see the use of that. You had better collect themthrough your own banker, and let me have a cheque on the 15th or16th."
"How cursed suspicious you are, Scruby."
"No, I ain't. I'm not a bit suspicious. I don't deal in sucharticles; that's all!"
"What doubt can there be about such bills as those? Everybody knowsthat my cousin has a considerable fortune, altogether at her owndisposal."
"The truth is, Mr. Vavasor, that bills with ladies' names onthem,--ladies who are no way connected with business,--ain't just thepaper that people like."
"Nothing on earth can be surer."
"You take them into the City for discount, and see if the bankersdon't tell you the same. They may be done, of course, upon your name.I say nothing about that."
"I can explain to you the nature of the family arrangement, but Ican't do that to a stranger. However, I don't mind."
"Of course not. The time is so short that it does not signify. Havethem collected through your own bankers, and then, if it don't suityou to call, send me a cheque for a thousand pounds when the timeis up." Then Mr. Scruby turned to some papers on his right hand, asthough the interview had been long enough. Vavasor looked at himangrily, opening his wound at him and cursing him inwardly. Mr. Scrubywent on with his paper, by no means regarding either the wound or theunspoken curses. Thereupon Vavasor got up and went away without anyword of farewell.
As he walked along Great Marlborough Street, and through thoseunalluring streets which surround the Soho district, and so on tothe Strand and his own lodgings, he still continued to think of somewide scheme of revenge,--of some scheme in which Mr. Scruby might beincluded. There had appeared something latterly in Mr. Scruby's mannerto him, something of mingled impatience and familiarity, which madehim feel that he had fallen in the attorney's estimation. It was notthat the lawyer thought him to be less honourable, or less clever,than he had before thought him; but that the man was like a rat,and knew a falling house by the instinct that was in him. So GeorgeVavasor cursed Mr. Scruby, and calculated some method of murdering himwithout detection.
The reader is not to suppose that the Member for the ChelseaDistricts had, in truth, resolved to gratify his revenge bymurder,--by murdering any of those persons whom he hated sovigorously. He did not, himself, think it probable that he wouldbecome a murderer. But he received some secret satisfaction inallowing his mind to dwell upon the subject, and in making thosecalculations. He reflected that it would not do to take off Scrubyand John Grey at the same time, as it would be known that he wasconnected with both of them; unless, indeed, he was to take off athird person at the same time,--a third person, as to the expediencyof ending whose career he made his calculations quite as often as hedid in regard to any of those persons whom he cursed so often. Itneed hardly be explained to the reader that this third person was thesitting Member for the Chelsea Districts.
As he was himself in want of instant ready money Mr. Scruby'sproposition that he should leave the four bills at his own bankers',to be collected when they came to maturity, did not suit him. Hedoubted much, also, whether at the end of the fourteen days themoney would be forthcoming. Alice would be driven to tell her father,in order that the money might be procured, and John Vavasor wouldprobably succeed in putting impediments in the way of the payment.He must take the bills into the City, and do the best there that hecould with them. He was too late for this to-day, and therefore hewent to his lodgings, and then down to the House. In the House hesat all the night with his hat over his eyes, making those littlecalculations of which I have spoken.
"You have heard the news; haven't you?" said Mr. Bott to him,whispering in his ear.
"News; no. I haven't heard any news."
"Finespun has resigned, and Palliser is at this moment with the Dukeof St. Bungay in the Lords' library."
"They may both be at the bottom of the Lords' fishpond, for what Icare," said Vavasor.
"That's nonsense, you know," said Bott. "Still, you know Palliser isChancellor of the Exchequer at this moment. What a lucky fellow youare to have such a chance come to you directly you get in. As soon ashe takes his seat down there, of course we shall go up behind him."
"We shall have another election in a month's time," said George. "I'msafe enough," said Bott. "It never hurts a man at elections to beclosely connected with the Government."
George Vavasor was in the City by times the next morning, but hefound that the City did not look with favourable eyes on his fourbills. The City took them up, first horizontally, and then, witha twist of its hand, perpendicularly, and looked at them withdistrustful eyes. The City repeated the name, Alice Vavasor, asthough it were not esteemed a good name on Change. The City suggestedthat as the time was so short, the holder of the bills would be wiseto hold them till he could collect the amount. It was very clear thatthe City suspected something wrong in the transaction. The City, byone of its mouths, asserted plainly that ladies' bills never meantbusiness. George Vavasor cursed the City, and made his calculationabout murdering it. Might not a river of strychnine be turned onround the Exchange about luncheon time? Three of the bills he leftat last with his own bankers for collection, and retained the fourthin his breast-pocket, intending on the morrow to descend with itinto those lower depths of the money market which he had not as yetvisited. Again, on the next day, he went to work and succeeded tosome extent. Among those lower depths he found a capitalist who waswilling to advance him two hundred pounds, keeping that fourth billin his possession as security. The capitalist was to have fortypounds for the transaction, and George cursed him as he took hischeque. George Vavasor knew quite enough of the commercial world toenable him to understand that a man must be in a very bad conditionwhen he consents to pay forty pounds for the use of two hundred forfourteen days. He cursed the City. He cursed the House of Commons. Hecursed his cousin Alice and his sister Kate. He cursed the memory ofhis gra
ndfather. And he cursed himself.
Mr. Levy had hardly left the house in Queen Anne Street, beforeAlice had told her father what she had done. "The money must beforthcoming," said Alice. To this her father made no immediate reply,but turning himself in his chair away from her with a sudden start,sat looking at the fire and shaking his head. "The money must be madeto be forthcoming," said Alice. "Papa, will you see that it is done?"This was very hard upon poor John Vavasor, and so he felt it tobe. "Papa, if you will not promise, I must go to Mr. Round about itmyself, and must find out a broker to sell out for me. You would notwish that my name should be dishonoured."
"You will be ruined," said he, "and for such a rascal as that!"
"Never mind whether he is a rascal or not, papa. You must acknowledgethat he has been treated harshly by his grandfather."
"I think that will was the wisest thing my father ever did. Had heleft the estate to George, there wouldn't have been an acre of itleft in the family in six months' time."
"But the life interest, papa!"
"He would have raised all he could upon that, and it would have donehim no good."
"At any rate, papa, he must have this two thousand pounds. You mustpromise me that."
"And then he will want more."
"No; I do not think he will ask for more. At any rate, I do not thinkthat I am bound to give him all that I have."
"I should think not. I should like to know how you can be bound togive him anything?"
"Because I promised it. I have signed the bills now, and it must bedone." Still Mr. Vavasor made no promise. "Papa, if you will not saythat you will do it, I must go down to Mr. Round at once."
"I don't know that I can do it. I don't know that Mr. Round can doit. Your money is chiefly on mortgage." Then there was a pause fora moment in the conversation. "Upon my word, I never heard of sucha thing in my life," said Mr. Vavasor; "I never did. Four thousandpounds given away to such a man as that, in three months! Fourthousand pounds! And you say you do not intend to marry him."
"Certainly not; all that is over."
"And does he know that it is over?"
"I suppose he does."
"You suppose so! Things of that sort are so often over with you!"This was very cruel. Perhaps she had deserved the reproach, but stillit was very cruel. The blow struck her with such force that shestaggered under it. Tears came into her eyes, and she could hardlyspeak lest she should betray herself by sobbing.
"I know that I have behaved badly," she said at last; "but I ampunished, and you might spare me now!"
"I didn't want to punish you," he said, getting up from his chair andwalking about the room. "I don't want to punish you. But, I don'twant to see you ruined!"
"I must go to Mr. Round then, myself."
Mr. Vavasor went on walking about the room, jingling the money inhis trousers-pockets, and pushing the chairs about as he chanced tomeet them. At last, he made a compromise with her. He would take aday to think whether he would assist her in getting the money, andcommunicate his decision to her on the following morning.