A Girl of the Commune

  CHAPTER XVII.

  The belief that in a few hours the siege would come to an end was sogeneral the next morning, that Cuthbert determined to lose no time inseeing Cumming. As soon as the way was open the man might take theopportunity to move off to some other hiding-place; and, therefore,instead of bringing out his canvases, as he had intended, Cuthbertdecided to call on him at once. Having chartered one of the fewremaining fiacres, at an exorbitant rate, he drove to the house wherehe had seen Cumming enter, and went into the concierge.

  "I want some information, my friend," he said, laying a five-franc pieceon the table. "You have a foreigner lodging here?"

  The man nodded.

  "Monsieur Jackson is a good tenant," he said. "He pays well for anylittle services."

  "How long has he been here?"

  "He came just after war was declared."

  "Has he taken his apartments for a long period?"

  "He has taken them for a year, monsieur. I think he will take thempermanently. I hope so, for he gives no trouble, and has never been outlate once since he came here."

  "I want to see him," Cuthbert said, "I believe he is an old acquaintanceof mine."

  "If you ring his bell he will open himself. He keeps an old woman asservant, but she has just gone out to do his shopping. He always takehis meals at home. He is on the second floor--the door to the left."

  Cuthbert went up and rang the bell. Cumming himself opened the door. Helooked at his visitor inquiringly.

  "You do not remember me, Mr. Cumming?" Cuthbert said, cheerfully. "I amnot surprised, for I have but just recovered from a very serious wound.I will come in and sit down, if you don't mind; I want to have a chatwith you. My name is Cuthbert Hartington!"

  The man had given a violent start when his name was mentioned, and hisface turned to an ashy pallor. He hesitated for a moment, and then, asCuthbert entered, he closed the door behind him, and silently led theway into the sitting-room.

  "I happened to see you in the street," Cuthbert went on, pleasantly, ashe seated himself. "Of course, your beard has altered you a bit, and Icould not at first recall your face, but it soon came back to me. It wasa happy idea of yours shutting yourself up here when there was no chanceof an extradition warrant being applied for. However, to-morrow or nextday that little difficulty will be at an end. I thought I would comeand have a conversation with you, and naturally the course that I shalltake will depend a good deal on the results. I may mention," he went on,taking a revolver from his pocket and laying it on the table before him,"that I thought it as well to bring this with me, for just at present Idon't feel quite up to a personal tussle."

  "What do you want to talk about?" the man asked, doggedly. "I may tellyou at once that I placed what little money I got where it will never befound, and beyond sending me up for some years, there will be nothing tobe gained by denouncing me."

  "There might be some satisfaction though in seeing a man who has ruinedyou punished--at least there would be to some men. I don't know thatthere would be to me. It would depend upon circumstances. I am ready tobelieve that in those transactions of yours that brought the bank toruin, you honestly believed that the companies you assisted would turnout well, and that things would come out right in the end. I do notsuppose you were such a fool as to run the risk of ruin and penalservitude when you had a snug place, unless you had thought so; and,indeed, as the directors were as responsible as yourself for makingthose advances--although they were, of course, ignorant of the fact thatyou held a considerable interest in those companies--there was nothingactually criminal in those transactions. Therefore, it is only for thatmatter of your making off with the contents of the safe that you can beactually prosecuted. At any rate, I have no present intention ofinterfering in the affair, and you can remain here as Mr. Jackson up tothe end of your life for what I care, if you will give me theinformation that I desire."

  The look on the man's face relaxed.

  "I will give you any information you desire, I have nothing to conceal.Of course, they can obtain a conviction against me for taking the money,but I should save them trouble by pleading guilty at once. Therefore, Idon't see that I could harm myself in any way by answering any questionsthey may choose to ask me."

  "I want to get to the bottom of what has all along been a mystery to me,and that is how my father came to take those shares, just at the momentwhen the bank was so shaky."

  "That is more than I can tell you, Mr. Hartington. It has been a puzzleto myself."

  "But they were your shares that were transferred to him."

  "That is so, and the money came in useful enough, for I knew that thesmash must take place soon, and that possibly I might not be able to laymy hands on much ready cash. However, I will tell you exactly how itcame about. Brander, the lawyer came to me and said his client, Mr.Hartington, wanted fifty shares. I own I was astounded, for Brander knewperfectly well that things were in a very bad way. By the way he spoke Isaw there was something curious about the affair, but as he put thescrew on, and as much as hinted that if I did not follow hisinstructions he would blow the whole thing into the air, I made noobjections, especially as he proposed that I should transfer some of myown shares. The transfer was drawn up in regular form. He brought it tome duly signed by your father.

  "I noticed that his own clerks witnessed the signature, so I supposed itwas done in the office. He made a point that I should get the transferpassed with some others without the attention of the directors beingcalled to the matter. I got the transfer signed and sealed by two of thedirectors while there was a talk going on about other things, and theysigned without looking at names. So far as I am concerned that was thebeginning and ending of the matter. Oh, there was another point, thetransfer was ante-dated three weeks. Of course, it might have been lyingin Brander's office all the time. It was dated on the day after theprevious board meeting, so that in the ordinary course it would not bepassed until the next meeting, and it might very well have remained inBrander's hands until he knew that the directors were going to meetagain. I have often wondered what Brander's game was, and of course Ithought all the more of it when I saw that he had bought Fairclose. Hewas a crafty old fox, Brander, but I have never been able to understandwhy he permitted your father to ruin himself."

  Cuthbert remained silent for some time.

  "Your explanation only thickens the mystery," he said. "I can no moreunderstand his motive than you can. Brander's explanation of the affairto me was that my father insisted against his advice in buying theshares, as he did not believe in the rumors to the discredit of thebank. He was a strong county man, as you may know, and thought that whenpeople heard that he had taken shares, it would tend to restoreconfidence in the concern. Now, as, on the contrary, Brander seems tohave taken special pains to prevent the transaction being known even bythe directors, it is clear that his explanation was a lie, that for somereasons of his own he wished to defeat my father's intentions. I think Imust get you to put the statement you have made to me on paper, and toget it sworn before a public notary--at least I think that is the wayout here."

  "I have no objection to do that, but as it is my intention to continueto live here where I am now known as a resident and feel myself prettysafe, except from some chance meeting like that of yours, I would ratherthat it should be done somewhere else."

  "That is reasonable enough," Cuthbert agreed. "I expect the gates willbe open in a day or two, and I shall go to England at once and try toget to the bottom of this matter. I should think the Prussians will letEnglishmen pass out at once. Would you mind going with me as far asCalais? We can get the document sworn to in legal form and you can thencome back here."

  "I would rather go to Brussels," the man said.

  "No doubt that would be best," Cuthbert agreed. "It might be as wellthat it should not be done at any place in France. Well, Mr. Cumming,your secret is safe with me. I will call on you again as soon as I findthat we can get across to Brussels."

  "I shall be ready whenever
you are, Mr. Hartington. Of course, I don'tquite see what you will do with this document, but I am perfectly readyto sign it."

  "I don't see either. I shall want to think the matter over. At present Ifeel in a complete fog."

  "I can quite understand that. I may tell you that Brander puzzled me agood deal the last two or three months before the bank stopped. He spenttwo or three hours going into the affairs with me. He knew generally howmatters stood, but he had never gone thoroughly into them before. Whenhe had done he said, 'I knew you were in a very bad way before but I didnot think it was as bad as this. I want to see whether the smash couldnot be postponed. Things have been bad lately, but I think they areimproving, and some of these affairs that you have been bolstering upmight pull round if you had time given you."

  "I did not see much chance of that. However, I did not say so in fact, Iwanted to hear what he was driving at. He went on, after looking throughthe list of mortgages we held, 'Of course, Cumming, it is to yourinterest to hold on here as long as possible, and I may have mine forwishing the bank to keep its doors open for some little time yet. Itwould never do for you to be going into the market to try and transferany of these mortgages, but I have clients in London who would, I think,take some of them over. Of course, I have taken good care that in nocases did the bank lend more than fifty per cent. of the full value ofthe lands, and the mortgages are all as safe as if they were on consols.So if you will give me a fortnight's notice when there is anythingpressing coming forward, I think I can manage to get twenty thousandpounds' worth of these mortgages taken off our hands altogether. I mightrepeat the operation three or four times, and could get it done quietlyand with no fuss. In that way the bank could be kept going for a goodmany months, which would give time for things to take a turn. In case ofanything like a run taking place, which I think is unlikely, I could letyou have fifteen thousand of my own in a few hours. I have it standingat call and could run up to town and bring it down by the next train.'

  "Why he should make such an offer as this puzzled me, but his reason forwanting to prop the bank up was no business of mine, and there was nodoubt if he could get fifty or sixty thousand pounds' worth of mortgagestaken off our hands, it would enable us to hold on for some time. Hedid, in fact, get one batch of twenty thousand pounds' worthtransferred, but about a month before we stopped he came in one morningand said, 'I am sorry to tell you, Cumming, that I have heard from thepeople in town I had relied on to help us about those mortgages, andthey tell me they have undertaken the financing of a contractor for aSouth American railway, and that, therefore, they are not inclined atpresent to sink money farther in mortgages, so I am afraid, as far as Iam concerned, things here must take their course,' and, as you know,they did take their course. Naturally, I did not believe Brander'sstory, but it was evident he had, when he made the offer, some reasonfor wanting the bank to keep its doors open for a time, and that thatreason, whatever it was, had ceased to operate when he withdrew theoffer."

  "I don't see that that part of the business has any bearing upon myaffair," Cuthbert said, "beyond helping to show Brander was playing somedeep game of his own."

  "I don't know, Mr. Hartington. However, I will think the matter over,and we shall have opportunities for discussing it again on our way toBrussels."

  "I almost wish I had let the matter alone altogether," Cuthbert said tohimself as he drove back to his lodgings. "I wanted to clear up whatseemed a mystery, and I find myself plunged much deeper into a fog thanever. Before I only dimly suspected Brander of having for some reason orother permitted my father to take these shares when a word from himwould have dissuaded him from doing so. I now find that the wholetransaction was carried out in something like secrecy, and that so farfrom my father's name being used to prop up the bank, it was almostsmuggled into the list of shareholders, and that even the directors werekept in ignorance of the transfer of Cumming's shares to him. The wholebusiness has a very ugly look, though what the motive of this secrecywas, or why Brander should be willing to allow, if not to assist, in myfather's ruin is more than I can conceive. The worst of the matter is,he is Mary's father. Yes, I wish to goodness that I had left the wholebusiness alone."

  Cuthbert had given his address to Cumming, and to his surprise the mancalled on him that evening.

  "You did not expect to see me again to-day, Mr. Hartington," he said,when he entered, "but thinking the matter over a fresh light has struckme, and I felt obliged to come round to tell you. I hope I am notdisturbing you."

  "No, I have been so worried over the confounded business, that I havegiven up going to some friends as I had promised, as I didn't feel thatI could talk about indifferent matters."

  "Well, Mr. Hartington, my idea will surprise you; it will seemincredible to you, and it almost seems so to myself, and yet it allworks in so that I can't help thinking it is near the mark. I believethat your father never signed that transfer at all that his signaturewas in fact a forgery."

  "The deuce you do," Cuthbert exclaimed; "what on earth put such an ideainto your head? Why, man, the idea is absurd! If it was a forgery itmust have been done by Brander, and what possible motive could he havehad for such an act?"

  "That I don't pretend to say. If I could see that, I should say it was acertainty, but I own the absence of motive is the weak point of my idea.In all other respects the thing works out. In the first place, althoughyour father was not a man of business, it was singular that he should goout of his way to take shares in the bank, when he must have known thatin the case of things going wrong his whole property would be involved.No doubt that idea must have occurred to yourself."

  "Certainly; it astonished me beyond measure that he should have donesuch a thing. I wrote to Brander at once hoping for some sort ofexplanation. I was at the time satisfied with that that he gave me, butit was, as you know, because the matter, on reflection, has since seemedso extraordinary that I came to you to try and get some furtherinformation about it."

  "You saw your father after this supposed transaction, Mr. Hartington?"

  "Yes, I was down there for a fortnight."

  "And he did not mention it to you?"

  "Not a word!"

  "Was it his habit to talk on business matters with you?"

  "He never had any business matters except about the estate, and hegenerally told me if he had any difficulty about his rents, anddiscussed any improvements he thought of making, but beyond that therewas never any question of money. Sometimes he would say 'My balance atthe bank is rather larger than usual, Cuthbert, and if you like an extrahundred you can have it,' which I never did."

  "Well, of course it is only negative evidence that he made no allusionto his having purchased those shares, still, as he was in the habit ofspeaking to you about things, he might very naturally have said 'I havebeen investing some spare cash in the shares of the bank here.'"

  "Yes, I should have thought he would have done so!"

  "You don't think he would have abstained from telling you, because hemight have thought you would have considered it a rash speculation."

  "Certainly not," Cuthbert said, warmly, "I should no more have thoughtof criticising anything he chose to do with his money, than I should offlying."

  "Well, at any rate, you may take it that there is no proof whatever thatMr. Hartington was aware of this transaction at the time of your visit,nor that he was aware of it up to the time of his death." Cuthbertnodded. "Now let us suppose that this transfer was a forgery, and wascommitted by Brander, what course would he naturally pursue? Exactlythat which he followed, namely, to get it placed on the register withoutits being noticed by the directors. These men were all personal friendsof your father's. Knowing to some extent, though I admit withoutrealizing the peril, that the bank was seriously involved, they mighthave refused to register the transfer until they had privatelyremonstrated with him, especially as I was the vendor, even had theynot done this one or other of them would almost certainly have alludedto the subject the first time they met him. Bran
der might have intendedlater on to re-transfer the shares to some bogus purchaser, but at anyrate, if he knew your father was in bad health he would have wanted tokeep the bank from putting up its shutters until after his death. Youwill remark that he did assist in that way, while your father was alive,and that almost immediately after his death, he declined to support thebank farther. What his motive can have been in all this I own that Icannot imagine, but, given a motive, my supposition appears to beperfectly feasible. That the motive, whatever it was, must have been avery strong one, I admit, for in the first place he was running the riskof being detected of forgery, and in the second must have been threehundred pounds out of pocket, for that was the amount of the check hehanded to me."

  "It was his own check, then, and not my father's?"

  "Yes, he said he had rents in hand and therefore paid it out of them,which seemed natural enough. But how about the signatures of the twoclerks?"

  "They may be forgeries too, or possibly, knowing your father'ssignature, they may have signed as a matter of course without actuallyseeing him affix it. You will admit that all this is possible."

  "It seems possible enough," Cuthbert said, "but what motive could therehave been on Brander's part? He could never have run such a risk merelyto gratify any special fancy he may have had for Fairclose."

  "Certainly not, Mr. Hartington. Jeremiah Brander has not a particle ofsentiment in his composition. Of course, as he was the solicitor of thecompany, I made it my business to study the man pretty closely, and Icame to the conclusion that he was a rank humbug, but that he was ahumbug because it paid him to be one."

  "That is quite my own idea of him, but that does not help us in theslightest towards an explanation as to why he should risk everythingwhen he had nothing whatever to gain by it."

  "No, I feel that difficulty myself," Cumming said, stroking his chinthoughtfully, "I admit that beats me altogether. By the way," he said,suddenly, "I saw in the official report that he had a mortgage offifteen thousand on the estate. Do you mind telling me how that cameabout? It may possibly help us."

  "I have not the least idea. I never heard of the existence of themortgage until Brander wrote to me himself about it at the time hebought the estate; but he gave me an explanation that perfectlysatisfied me at the time."

  Mr. Cumming looked at him inquiringly.

  "It was an explanation," Cuthbert said, after a pause, "that closed mylips altogether on the subject. But in the present strange state ofaffairs I do not know that I need abstain from mentioning it to you.Brander explained that my father said that he required it to close up amatter that had long been troubling him. I gathered from the way he putit that it was some folly with a woman in his early years, and I neednot say that respect for my father's memory prevented me from pursuingthe matter further. Brander said that he had himself advanced the moneyon the mortgage in order that the business should be done privately andwithout any third person being cognizant of it."

  Cumming sat thoughtfully for a minute without speaking and then he leaptsuddenly to his feet and put his hand on Cuthbert's shoulder.

  "You take my word for it, Mr. Hartington, that mortgage was just as mucha bogus affair as the transfer. The one supplies the motive we have beenlooking for for the other. The failure of the bank brought Faircloseinto the market, and not only did Brander purchase it for ten or fifteenthousand below its value at any other time, but he gained anotherfifteen thousand by this bogus mortgage. There is your motive for theforgery of your father's name on the transfer."

  "I cannot believe it," Cuthbert said, slowly. "Brander could never besuch a scoundrel as that. Besides, of course, the men who wound up theaffairs of the bank would look closely into the mortgage. Whether itwas real or whether it was a forgery, Brander would equally haveobtained the money at my father's death, so your supposition of a motivefails."

  "I do not know. Had the claim been made direct to you, you wouldnaturally have got some sharp lawyer to investigate it, and, it wouldhave been inquired into a good deal more closely than the officialliquidator probably took the trouble to do. A mortgage, of which no oneknows anything until after the mortgagor's death, would always be lookedupon with suspicion, and some collateral proofs would be required. Ofcourse, I may be wrong altogether, but it would be well for you toascertain whether the official liquidator did take any steps to obtainsuch evidence."

  "That I will certainly do," Cuthbert said. "I did write to him at thetime, and I am bound to say his answer seemed entirely satisfactory andstraightforward. He said that Mr. Brander had given proof that he diddraw a check for the amount of the mortgage on the day on which it wasexecuted, and although he did not show that interest had beenspecifically paid by checks from my father, there were receipts foundamong my father's papers for the half-yearly payments of interest. Thesewere, it seemed, settled, when Brander, who collected his rents, made uphis accounts with him."

  "That all seems straightforward enough, Mr. Hartington, and as long asthere was no ground for suspicion would doubtless pass muster, but it iscertainly worth while inquiring into."

  Cuthbert sat silent for some time.

  "After all the whole of this is but the barest suspicion," he said. "Theonly thread of fact being that the transfer was kept secret from thedirectors, of which no doubt Brander will be able to give some plausibleexplanation, and his character stands so high at Abchester that thequestion, if raised, would be scouted as an atrocious libel upon him.But supposing that we had absolute proof, I don't see how I shouldstand. If my father was not a shareholder in the bank its creditors had,of course, no claim whatever on his property, but as the property hasin fact been sold and the proceeds divided long ago who should I have togo against?"

  "That is a matter for the lawyers, Mr. Hartington, but I imagine youwould not have to go back on the creditors to the bank. You would simplyprove that the bank was not in a position to give a title, and that,therefore, the sale was null and void. It would be argued, of course,that you gave the title, as I suppose you signed the deeds, and yourplea would be that the signature was obtained from you by fraud."

  "I did not sign the deeds," Cuthbert said. "Brander pointed out that, asI had not received any rents or profits, it would be better that Ishould stand out of it altogether, and that the will should not beproved, as otherwise the death dues would be charged upon it, andtherefore it remained in the hands of the executors of whom he was one,and it was they who gave the titles."

  "Whoever gave the titles, I should say that, as the bank had no claimwhatever on the property, if the transfer was a forgery, the sale wouldbe declared void and the loss would fall on the purchaser. This would,in the case of anyone but Brander, have been very hard, but would, inhis, be in strict accordance with justice. However, this is a matter forwhich, of course, you will require the best legal opinion, but all thatis for after consideration. The great difficulty, and I grant that Idon't see how it is to be got over, is to prove that your father'ssignature to the transfer was a forgery. The first step is to ascertainwhether the attesting witnesses were actually present as they shouldhave been when your father's signature was affixed."

  "I will clear up that point anyhow," Cuthbert said; "I will go straightfrom Brussels to England, see the clerks, and hear what they have to sayon the matter. If they were present and saw my father sign the transferthere is an end to the whole affair."

  The other nodded.

  "I would not mind wagering a hundred pounds to one that you find thatthey were not present."

  "Well, that will soon be settled, for I have heard this afternoon thatthe conditions of surrender were signed this morning and that to-morrowthe forts are to be given over, and an armistice will commence. In thatcase I suppose that foreigners will meet with no difficulty in obtainingpasses to leave at once. Well, I am very much obliged to you for thesuggestion you have made, Mr. Cumming, though I have, I confess, verylittle faith indeed that anything will come of it, and just at presentit seems to me that I would much rather the matter h
ad remained as itwas."