CHAPTER XXXIX
THE FRUITS OF SUBMISSION
"Molly, my dear." The captain's voice was broken. "It is mydoing--mine. I am an old fool. Yet I thought I was doing the best foryou."
"Nay," said Molly. "It is no one's fault. It is my great misfortune."
"Must he take all?" asked the captain.
"He will take all he can claim," the vicar answered. "Revenge, as wellas cupidity, is in his mind. I read it through the cold masque ofpride with which he covers his face and tries to conceal himself. Hewill be revenged. He is like unto Lucifer for pride, and unto Belialfor wickedness. Molly, my dear, I fear thou wilt soon be poor indeedin worldly goods. The Lord knoweth what is best. He leaveth thee,still, the friends who love thee."
The mother resumed the lamentations which she never ceased.
"Molly is a widow who cannot marry again--Molly is a wife without ahusband. Oh, Molly! My poor Molly!"
"It grieves me sore," said the vicar, "to counsel submission. Yet whatcould we do? How can we explain this great mystery that he who knewnot your change of purpose should in a moment be able to substitute,in your place, at the hour fixed, a woman dressed and masked as hadbeen arranged? There is no explanation possible, and I understand veryclearly that this fact outweighs all the evidence on either side.There is nothing to be done. We must submit, saving only your personalfreedom, Molly. The man confesses that he has no wish to molest you,and nothing to gain by any molestation. To be sure, without it he cantake what he pleases. Your presence, indeed, would be a hindrance anda reproach to his mode of life."
So we talked together, with sadness and heaviness. Yet for one thing Iwas well pleased; that Molly had not been forced into dailycompanionship with this man. For that would have killed her--body andsoul, if a soul can be destroyed by despair and misery, and cruelty.
"Courage, Molly!" We were on the point of weighing anchor--and westood on the quay to say farewell. "Things will get right, somehow.Oh! I know they will. I cannot tell how I know. Perhaps we shall findthe woman. Then we shall explain the mystery and expose the cheat.Perhaps--but we know not what may happen. As for your fortune, Molly,that is as good as gone; but you yourself remain, and you are far moreprecious than all the gold and silver in the land."
"YOU ARE FAR MORE PRECIOUS THAN ALL THE GOLD AND SILVERIN THE LAND."]
So we parted and for five months, until our return, I knew nothing ofwhat was done.
You may easily guess what was done.
First of all, a letter came from London. It was addressed to CaptainCrowle, and it called upon him to prepare the books and accountsconnected with the estate of Mary, Countess of Fylingdale, for theinformation of the Right Honourable the Earl of Fylingdale. It waswritten by an attorney, and it announced the intention of the writerto send down a person--one, Stephen Bisse, attorney-at-law--dulyauthorised to examine and to audit the accounts, and to make known hislordship's intentions as regards the administration of the estate.
The captain, ignorant of the law, took the letter to the vicar foradvice.
"This," said the latter, "may be simply a first step to taking overthe whole of the property, or it may be the first step towards asystem of revenge and persecution. For if the attorney who comes hereto investigate the accounts finds anything irregular, we may betrapped into legal expenses, and heaven knows, what to follow."
The captain, however, had not commanded a ship in vain; for thecommanding officer of a ship must keep the log and all the papersconnected with the cargo, lading, and unlading, pay of the ship'scompany, port dues, and everything. He must, in a word, be asmethodical in his accounts as any quill driver ashore.
"He may examine my accounts as much as he pleases," he declared. "Theyare all right."
"Nevertheless, friend, be advised. Place the whole business in thehands of one who knows the law. In the end it may be far cheaper."
In every port there must be one or more persons skilled in that partof the law which concerns trade and commerce, imports and exports,customs, excise, and harbour dues. At Lynn there was such an one,attorney and notary; a man of great probity and responsibility--Mr.Nathaniel Redman by name. To him the captain entrusted the papers ofthe estate. These papers, which had been accumulating for eighteenyears, and represented the increase and the administration of a verylarge estate, were now voluminous to the highest degree. The mereperusal of them would entail the labour of many attorneys for manyweeks, while the audit of the whole, bit by bit, would engage the samepersons many months, or even years.
"The Earl of Fylingdale will have the accounts audited, will he?" saidMr. Redman. "Then his lordship is in no immediate want of money."
"Why? Cannot he take what he wants?"
"Sir, you are the lady's guardian; you have to be released from yourtrust before you hand over the property. Without such a release youwill keep the whole. That means, that his lordship must wait for thelong and tedious business of a complete audit. I say long and tedious,because, if the examination of accounts is undertaken in a spirit ofhostility, we can raise in our turn objection after objection by goingback to the commencement of the trust. In other words, captain, ifyour papers are all preserved, which I doubt not, we shall be in aposition to delay the acquisition of the estate by the earl almostindefinitely."
"But at whose charge?" asked the vicar. "For the captain has no meansof paying heavy expenses."
"At the charge of the estate. Oh! sir, do not think that an attorneyof London, to say nothing of myself, would embark upon so large abusiness save at the charge of the estate itself."
"It is, then, in your interest to prolong this examination into theaccounts?"
"It is, most certainly, in the interest of this gentleman from Londonand of myself; but," he sighed heavily, "if all reports are true, I donot believe that Lord Fylingdale will prolong the inquiry."
The person who was promised presently arrived with his credentials. Hewas quite a young man, apparently about two or three and twenty; hisletter to Captain Crowle described him as an attorney-at-law. He wasquick of speech and of the greatest possible assurance in manner. Inappearance he was small of stature, pasty-faced, and with a turned-upnose, the possession of which should be regarded by the owner as amisfortune and personal defect, like a round back. It is said, on theother hand, to be an indication of great self-conceit.
He came, therefore, was set down at the "Crown," and inquired for theresidence of Captain Crowle, on whom he called without delay.
The captain received him in his summerhouse. He read the letter,introducing and describing him. Then he laid it down and looked at hisvisitor cursorily. "Oh!" he said, "you are the attorney of LordFylingdale, are you, and you want to make an audit of my accounts?You've come all the way from London on purpose to make that audit,have you? Well, sir, you will carry this letter to Mr. NathanielRedman, and you will give it to him."
"Who is Mr. Redman? I know of no Redman in this business."
"He is an attorney-at-law, like yourself, young man, and he is anotary, and this job is turned over to him."
"Oh! I understood, Captain Crowle, that I should confer with youpersonally."
"Did you so? Well, sir, if you will see Mr. Redman you can confer withhim instead. The job is his."
The captain, in fact, had been warned not to make any communicationsor to hold any conversation with the attorney. He felt himself onlysafe, therefore, in repeating that the job was Mr. Redman's.
"We may, however, come to some preliminary, Captain Crowle. The estatenow----"
The captain waved his hand in the direction of the garden door. "Thejob, young man, is Mr. Redman's. There is your letter. Take it tohim."
Mr. Bisse accordingly retired and repaired to the office and residenceof Mr. Redman--to whom he gave his letter.
"We shall have no difficulties, I presume," he said.
"I hope not."
"Of course, I know the law in these matters--I can direct you----"
"Young gentleman"--Mr. Redman was well stric
ken in years--"I coulddirect your father. But go on. You will proceed in accordance withyour powers. I shall take good care that you keep within your powers.Now, sir, what do you propose?"
Mr. Redman spoke from the commanding position of an armchair before alarge table; he was also a large and imposing man to look at while Mr.Bisse stood before him, small and insignificant, his originalimpudence fast deserting him. As for Mr. Redman, his professionalpride was aroused; this young Skip Jack dared to direct _him_ inmatters of law, did he?
"I am, I confess," said Mr. Bisse, "disappointed to find that my nobleclient's advances are received with suspicion. I hoped that CaptainCrowle would have met me in a spirit of confidence."
"Come, sir, between ourselves what has your noble client to complainof? He sends an attorney here. Captain Crowle meets him in the personof an attorney."
"Well, it matters not. Captain Crowle has, no doubt, reasons of hisown for his action. We must, however, since we are men of business asyou say, demand an exact audit. The interests involved are, Iunderstand, very considerable?"
"They are very considerable."
"I shall, however, ask for an advance of ten thousand pounds to bemade to his lordship on account."
"An advance? The guardian to advance money before you have audited theaccounts? My dear sir, are you serious?"
"You admit that there will be a great deal more than L10,000."
"I admit nothing that is not proved."
"Then you refuse to give my client anything?" His air of assurancebegan to desert him. In fact, he had been especially charged to openthe proceedings by demanding such an advance.
"We refuse to do anything illegal. The papers will show the extent andthe nature of the estate. You can then claim the whole. But you mustfirst send in your claim and be prepared with the release."
Mr. Bisse hesitated. "My instructions are to demand a strict scrutinyof all the accounts."
"They are waiting for you. Would you like to see the papers?" Mr.Redman led him into an adjoining room where on shelves and on thetables the books and papers were laid out in order--tied up andlabelled. "My clerk," said Mr. Redman, "will go through these paperswith you. I shall look on."
"All these papers?" Mr. Bisse gazed with dismay upon the piles beforehim.
"You will have to peruse, to examine, to pass every scrap of paper inthis room. Captain Crowle, sir, is the most methodical man in theworld."
"All these papers? But it will take months."
"Years, perhaps. You have your instructions."
"Sir," said Mr. Bisse, crestfallen, "I must write to my principals forfurther instructions."
"That will probably be your best course. Good-morning, sir."
Mr. Bisse wrote accordingly. Meanwhile he made another attempt toassert his authority. He went to the quay, looked about him withsatisfaction at the proofs and evidences of brisk trade, and enteredthe counting-house where the clerks were at work.
"My name," he said pompously, "is Bisse, Mr. Stephen Bisse,attorney-at-law. I am here as attorney for the Right Honourable theEarl of Fylingdale."
"What do you want?" asked the chief clerk.
"You will at once show me your ledgers, your day books, and the booksused by you in your daily business."
"You must go to Mr. Redman, sir. His office is beside the customhouse.Without his permission we can do nothing for you."
Mr. Redman had been before him, you see.
"You refuse me, at your peril," said Mr. Bisse. "I am----"
"You will go out of the counting-house, sir," said the chief clerk,"and you will leave the quay. We take our orders from Mr. Redman inplace of Captain Crowle."
So Mr. Bisse departed. He walked from the quay to the Common Stathe,and there, looking at the ships lying moored in the stream, he asked awaterman if by chance any of them belonged to Captain Crowle.
The man pointed to one. "Then," said Mr. Bisse, "take me to thatship."
Mr. Redman had been before him here as well. He climbed up the ladderand was about to step on the deck when the mate accosted him.
"What is your business, friend?" he asked.
Mr. Bisse replied as he had done in the counting-house.
"Well, sir," said the mate, "you can't come aboard here. Strangers arenot allowed aboard this ship without an order from Captain Crowle orMr. Redman."
So, Mr. Bisse had to go ashore again.
He found, I fear, the town of Lynn inhospitable. In fact, everybodywas in favour of Molly, and the name of Lord Fylingdale stank. No onewould speak to him. He wandered about waiting for a reply to hisletter asking for further instructions in a disconsolate andcrestfallen spirit, very different from the confident assurance whichhe had shown on his arrival.
His new instructions reached him in about ten days. Again he waited onMr. Redman.
"Well, sir?" asked the latter. "You are come to direct me in mattersof law?"
"I have received new instructions," the young man put the questionaside, "from my principals. They are to the effect that if you willdraw up for me a schedule of the whole estate, I am to forward it toLondon, and to receive orders thereupon as to what part of theaccounts I must specially examine."
"Sir, at the outset I refuse to accept anything but a general release.You will represent to your principals that every part of thiscomplicated estate is involved with the whole transactions whichprecede it. That is to say, every purchase of a farm or a house has tobe made by combined savings from every source of income, consequently,any special line of investigation will necessitate a wide andprolonged examination."
"I perceive that you are determined to give us trouble."
"Not so, sir. We are determined to resist persecution. Yourinstructions, if I understand them aright, were to fix upon CaptainCrowle some difficulty, and, if possible, to accuse him ofmalversation." Mr. Bisse changed colour. That was, in fact, the secretinstruction. "Now, sir, we have all our papers in order, and you willfind it impossible, while I stand at your elbow, to discover or toinvent a loophole. At the same time, I shall prolong the investigationif you once enter upon it as much as possible. You may inform yourprincipals of this, and you will return as soon as you have furtherinstructions."
"Will you not, at least, prepare a schedule of the property?"
"Certainly. You shall have this prepared in readiness for your nextvisit, which will be, I suppose, in another ten days. I hope you findyour stay pleasant."
"No, sir, it is not pleasant. At the inn the people are barely civil,and I am treated everywhere as if I were a Frenchman."
"No; not a Frenchman, but the attorney of Lord Fylingdale."
Mr. Redman addressed himself, therefore, with the aid of the captain,to the schedule. The estate was far greater than he had anticipated.
"Why," he said, "you are surprised that a noble earl should marry thisgirl for her money. Had the world suspected the truth, there wouldhave been an abduction every week." He then proceeded to go throughthe long list of lands, houses, mortgages, money lying idle, jewels,and everything. "The only charge upon the estate seems to be anannuity of L150 a year for the mother. What money have you taken formaintenance?"
"Why, none."
"None? Did the girl live on air? And what for your own services?"
"Nothing; we lived rent free. It is Molly's own house; and hermother's money kept the household."
"Well, but--captain--the thing is incredible. You have conducted thewhole business from the death of Molly's father to the present dayactually for nothing."
"It was for the little maid."
"Captain, you have acted, I dare say, for the best. But withsubmission, you have acted like a fool. However, it is not too late toremedy. I shall charge the estate, which will now become LordFylingdale's, with L300 a year, your salary for administering theestate and for managing the business. It will be impossible to refusethis claim, and I shall set down L150 a year for maintenance of yourward."
The captain stared. Here was a turning of the tables, with aven
geance.
"The claim is just, reasonable, and moderate. I shall not advance itas a thing to be objected to. You will, meantime, go through theaccounts; take out L450 a year; this for eighteen years, would beL8,100; but the money must be considered as used for investments. Youwill therefore set apart L450 a year, and as soon as that amounts to asufficient sum to be represented by an investment, you will set apartthat piece of property as your own. This will represent a much largersum than L8,100. Your ward will not, after all, be left penniless, ifyou bequeath her your money. Ha! the young man is going to direct_The Lady of Lynn_ in matters of law--ME, is he?"
In fact the captain was so simple that it had never occurred to himthat he could take a salary for his conduct of the business; or thathe could ask for an allowance for the maintenance of his ward, andthis timely discovery by the attorney in the end saved Molly frompoverty and left her still, in comparison with most girls of the placeor of the county, a very considerable heiress.
When Mr. Bisse, a few days later, arrived with his instructions, hefound drawn up for him a statement for the eighteen years of thecaptain's trusteeship. On the working side of the account was shown acharge of L150 a year as provided by the will of Molly's father forhis widow for life; a similar sum for the maintenance of the ward, anda salary of L300 to Captain Crowle for managing the business in thename of the firm as shippers and general merchants. Mr. Stephen Bisse,by this time, had quite lost his assurance. He attempted noobjections. "I suppose," he said, "you will allow me an inspection ofthe books."
"Certainly. You will, however, find them difficult to make out. Areyou acquainted with the routine work of a counting-house?"
Mr. Bisse owned that he was not. "I shall be asked," he said, "if Ihave examined the books."
"You shall examine what you please." Mr. Redman understood by thistime the character of this young attorney. "The chief clerk of thecounting-house shall be with you to answer any questions you please toask."
He had come to Lynn, you see, by order of his principals, instructedthat the guardian was an old addle-headed sailor, whose accounts wouldcertainly prove liable to question and very likely open to dispute andto claims; he was aware that the noble client desired nothing so muchas to ruin this old sailor; that he was also in great necessities forwant of money; and that he was anxious, for some reason unknown to hisattorney that the question of the validity of the marriage should notbe raised or tried in open court. But he had been met by a man of lawand by accounts of a most complicated kind, and by the direct refusalto part with any money until a final release had been obtained for theguardian. He, therefore, referred to his principals twice. On thesecond occasion he was told that his lordship could not wait; that hewas to guard against fraud by such an examination of the books as waspossible; that he was to get rid of the guardian, grant the release ifthe accounts allowed him to do so, lay hands on all the moniesavailable, and report progress.
This, in short, he did. The amended schedule reserved propertyamounting in value to L450 a year as invested year after year, andtherefore at something like compound interest, so that this deductiongave the captain personal and real property representing some L12,000.The rest was acknowledged to be the property of the ward, andtherefore, assuming the marriage to be valid, under the control of myLord Fylingdale.
The auditor went to the counting-house and called for the books. Heopened one or two at random; he looked wise; he made a note or two,for show; he asked a question or two, for pretence, and he went away.
This done, he repaired to Mr. Redman's office again and tendered afull release to Captain Crowle for his trusteeship. The document, inwhich Molly was called by her maiden name, and not by that of theCountess of Fylingdale, when it was signed and sealed, rendered theold man free of any persecution; but it left the estate entirely inthe hands of the pretended husband.
"You are aware, sir, of course," said Mr. Bisse, "that this releaseaccepted by Captain Crowle, also accepts the truth of my client'sstatements as regards his marriage."
"We are not going to dispute the fact. We have our opinion, but theweight of evidence and presumption is against us. As his lordship onlywants the fortune he can take it. May I ask what you are instructed todo about it?"
"My instructions are first to receive all monies in hand, save what iswanted for current expenses in conducting the business."
"You will see what Captain Crowle has in his strong room. You can takethat money to-day if you please."
"And next, all the jewels, gold chains, bracelets, etc., belonging tothe countess."
"You can have them also."
"As regards the lands, houses, mortgages, and the business, my lordwill consider what is best to be done. I am directed to find someperson of integrity in the place who will receive the rents and carryon the business. I fear I cannot ask for your assistance."
"You can, and may. It is still our interest that the affairs of thefirm shall be well managed. The chief clerk in the counting-house isthe best man you can appoint. He now receives L90 a year. You can givehim what the captain had, L300."
"I do not know how long the arrangement will last."
"You mean that your client will probably waste and squander thewhole."
"I desire to speak of that nobleman with respect. He is, however, inexpenditure even more profuse than becomes his high rank."
Molly shed no tears over the loss of her jewels. She brought the boxdown with her own hands; she opened it, took out the contents to beverified by the inventory, shut and locked it, and gave the attorneythe key. The captain led him downstairs to the cellar, in a wall ofwhich a cupboard had been constructed, which, with a stone in front,removable with a little trouble, formed a strong room. Here were theboxes of guineas waiting to be invested or employed. I know not howmany there were, but Mr. Bisse carried all away with him.
When he departed the next day for London he was escorted by four stoutfellows armed with cudgels and pistols riding beside his post-chaise.However, he reached London in safety and delivered his prize.
"I wonder," said Mr. Redman, "how long it will be before instructionscome for the foreclosing of the mortgages and the sale of theproperty."
"I am doubtful after all," said the vicar, who always doubted becausehe always saw both sides of the question, "whether we have donerightly. We could have made a good fight, and we could have proved, atleast, that Lord Fylingdale was in desperate straits for money."
"Jack was right," said Molly. "Nothing can be done until we find theother woman."