The Palliser Novels (466 page)

“Why then should he burden himself with a companion? His money, whatever he has, would go further without such impediment.”

“Perhaps he thinks, papa, that while I am with him he has a hold upon you.”

“He shall have a stronger hold by leaving you. What is he to gain? If I could only know his price.”

“Ask him, papa.”

“I do not even know how I am to speak to him again.”

Then again there was a pause. “Papa,” she said after a while, “I have done it myself. Let me go. You will still have Everett. And it may be that after a time I shall come back to you. He will not kill me, and it may be that I shall not die.”

“By God!” said Mr. Wharton, rising from his chair suddenly, “if there were money to be made by it, I believe that he would murder you without scruple.” Thus it was that within eighteen months of her marriage the father spoke to his daughter of her husband.

“What am I to take with me?” she said to her husband a few days later.

“You had better ask your father.”

“Why should I ask him, Ferdinand? How should he know?”

“And how should I?”

“I should have thought that you would interest yourself about it.”

“Upon my word I have enough to interest me just at present, without thinking of your finery. I suppose you mean what clothes you should have?”

“I was not thinking of myself only.”

“You need think of nothing else. Ask him what he pleases to allow you to spend, and then I will tell you what to get.”

“I will never ask him for anything, Ferdinand.”

“Then you may go without anything. You might as well do it at once, for you will have to do it sooner or later. Or, if you please, go to his tradesmen and say nothing to him about it. They will give you credit. You see how it is, my dear. He has cheated me in a most rascally manner. He has allowed me to marry his daughter, and because I did not make a bargain with him as another man would have done, he denies me the fortune I had a right to expect with you. You know that the Israelites despoiled the Egyptians, and it was taken as a merit on their part. Your father is an Egyptian to me, and I will despoil him. You can tell him that I say so if you please.”

And so the days went on till the first week of February had passed, and Parliament had met. Both Lopez and his wife were still living in Manchester Square. Not another word had been said as to that notice to quit, nor an allusion made to it. It was supposed to be a settled thing that Lopez was to start with his wife for Guatemala in the first week in April. Mr. Wharton had himself felt that difficulty as to his daughter’s outfit, and had told her that she might get whatever it pleased her on his credit. “For yourself, my dear.”

“Papa, I will get nothing till he bids me.”

“But you can’t go across the world without anything. What are you to do in such a place as that unless you have the things you want?”

“What do poor people do who have to go? What should I do if you had cast me off because of my disobedience?”

“But I have not cast you off.”

“Tell him that you will give him so much, and then, if he bids me, I will spend it.”

“Let it be so. I will tell him.”

Upon that Mr. Wharton did speak to his son-in-law; — coming upon him suddenly one morning in the dining-room. “Emily will want an outfit if she is to go to this place.”

“Like other people she wants many things that she cannot get.”

“I will tell my tradesmen to furnish her with what she wants, up to, — well, — suppose I say £200. I have spoken to her and she wants your sanction.”

“My sanction for spending your money? She can have that very quickly.”

“You can tell her so; — or I will do so.”

Upon that Mr. Wharton was going, but Lopez stopped him. It was now essential that the money for the shares in the San Juan mine should be paid up, and his father-in-law’s pocket was still the source from which the enterprising son-in-law hoped to procure it. Lopez had fully made up his mind to demand it, and thought that the time had now come. And he was resolved that he would not ask it as a favour on bended knee. He was beginning to feel his own power, and trusted that he might prevail by other means than begging. “Mr. Wharton,” he said, “you and I have not been very good friends lately.”

“No, indeed.”

“There was a time, — a very short time, — during which I thought that we might hit it off together, and I did my best. You do not, I fancy, like men of my class.”

“Well; — well! You had better go on if there be anything to say.”

“I have much to say, and I will go on. You are a rich man, and I am your son-in-law.” Mr. Wharton put his left hand up to his forehead, brushing the few hairs back from his head, but he said nothing. “Had I received from you during the last most vital year that assistance which I think I had a right to expect, I also might have been a rich man now. It is no good going back to that.” Then he paused, but still Mr. Wharton said nothing. “Now you know what has come to me and to your daughter. We are to be expatriated.”

“Is that my fault?”

“I think it is, but I mean to say nothing further of that. This Company which is sending me out, and which will probably be the most thriving thing of the kind which has come up within these twenty years, is to pay me a salary of £1000 a year as resident manager at San Juan.”

“So I understand.”

“The salary alone would be a beggarly thing. Guatemala, I take it, is not the cheapest country in the world in which a man can live. But I am to go out as the owner of fifty shares on which £100 each must be paid up, and I am entitled to draw another £1000 a year as dividend on the profit of those shares.”

“That will be twenty per cent.”

“Exactly.”

“And will double your salary.”

“Just so. But there is one little ceremony to be perfected before I can be allowed to enter upon so halcyon a state of existence. The £100 a share must be paid up.” Mr. Wharton simply stared at him. “I must have the £5000 to invest in the undertaking before I can start.”

“Well!”

“Now I have not got £5000 myself, nor any part of it. You do not wish, I suppose, to see either me or your daughter starve. And as for me, I hardly flatter myself when I say that you are very anxious to be rid of me. £5000 is not very much for me to ask of you, as I regard it.”

“Such consummate impudence I never met in my life before!”

“Nor perhaps so much unprevaricating downright truth. At any rate such is the condition of my affairs. If I am to go the money must be paid this week. I have, perhaps foolishly, put off mentioning the matter till I was sure that I could not raise the sum elsewhere. Though I feel my claim on you to be good, Mr. Wharton, it is not pleasant to me to make it.”

“You are asking me for £5000 down!”

“Certainly I am.”

“What security am I to have?”

“Security?”

“Yes; — that if I pay it I shall not be troubled again by the meanest scoundrel that it has ever been my misfortune to meet. How am I to know that you will not come back to-morrow? How am I to know that you will go at all? Do you think it probable that I will give you £5000 on your own simple word?”

“Then the scoundrel will stay in England, — and will generally find it convenient to live in Manchester Square.”

“I’ll be d––––d if he does. Look here, sir. Between you and me there can be a bargain, and nothing but a bargain. I will pay the £5000, — on certain conditions.”

“I didn’t doubt at all that you would pay it.”

“I will go with you to the office of this Company, and will pay for the shares if I can receive assurance there that the matter is as you say, and that the shares will not be placed in your power before you have reached Guatemala.”

“You can come to-day, sir, and receive all that assurance.”

“And I must have a written undertaking from you, — a document which my daughter can show if it be necessary, — that you will never claim her society again or trouble her with any application.”

“You mistake me, Mr. Wharton. My wife goes with me to Guatemala.”

“Then I will not pay one penny. Why should I? What is your presence or absence to me except as it concerns her? Do you think that I care for your threats of remaining here? The police will set that right.”

“Wherever I go, my wife goes.”

“We’ll see to that too. If you want the money, you must leave her. Good morning.”

Mr. Wharton as he went to his chambers thought the matter over. He was certainly willing to risk the £5000 demanded if he could rid himself and his daughter of this terrible incubus, even if it were only for a time. If Lopez would but once go to Guatemala, leaving his wife behind him, it would be comparatively easy to keep them apart should he ever return. The difficulty now was not in him but in her. The man’s conduct had been so outrageous, so bare-faced, so cruel, that the lawyer did not doubt but that he could turn the husband out of his house, and keep the wife, even now, were it not that she was determined to obey the man whom she, in opposition to all her friends, had taken as her master. “I have done it myself, and I will bear it,” was all the answer she would make when her father strove to persuade her to separate herself from her husband. “You have got Everett,” she would say. “When a girl is married she is divided from her family; — and I am divided.” But she would willingly stay if Lopez would bid her stay. It now seemed that he could not go without the £5000; and, when the pressure came upon him, surely he would go and leave his wife.

In the course of that day Mr. Wharton went to the offices of the San Juan mine and asked to see the Director. He was shown up into a half-furnished room, two stories high, in Coleman Street, where he found two clerks sitting upon stools; — and when he asked for the Director was shown into the back room in which sat the Secretary. The Secretary was a dark, plump little man with a greasy face, who had the gift of assuming an air of great importance as he twisted his chair round to face visitors who came to inquire about the San Juan Mining Company. His name was Hartlepod; and if the San Juan mine “turned out trumps,” as he intended that it should, Mr. Hartlepod meant to be a great man in the City. To Mr. Hartlepod Mr. Wharton, with considerable embarrassment, explained as much of the joint history of himself and Lopez as he found to be absolutely necessary. “He has only left the office about half-an-hour,” said Mr. Hartlepod.

“Of course you understand that he is my son-in-law.”

“He has mentioned your name to us, Mr. Wharton, before now.”

“And he is going out to Guatemala?”

“Oh yes; — he’s going out. Has he not told you as much himself?”

“Certainly, sir. And he has told me that he is desirous of buying certain shares in the Company before he starts.”

“Probably, Mr. Wharton.”

“Indeed, I believe he cannot go unless he buys them.”

“That may be so, Mr. Wharton. No doubt he has told you all that himself.”

“The fact is, Mr. Hartlepod, I am willing, under certain stipulations, to advance him the money.” Mr. Hartlepod bowed. “I need not trouble you with private affairs between myself and my son-in-law.” Again the Secretary bowed. “But it seems to be for his interest that he should go.”

“A very great opening indeed, Mr. Wharton. I don’t see how a man is to have a better opening. A fine salary! His expenses out paid! One of the very best things that has come up for many years! And as for the capital he is to embark in the affair, he is as safe to get 20 per cent. on it, — as safe, — as safe as the Bank of England.”

“He’ll have the shares?”

“Oh yes; — the scrip will be handed to him at once.”

“And, — and — “

“If you mean about the mine, Mr. Wharton, you may take my word that it’s all real. It’s not one of those sham things that melt away like snow and leave the shareholders nowhere. There’s the prospectus, Mr. Wharton. Perhaps you have not seen that before. Take it away and cast your eye over it at your leisure.” Mr. Wharton put the somewhat lengthy pamphlet into his pocket. “Look at the list of Directors. We’ve three members of Parliament, a baronet, and one or two City names that are as good — as good as the Bank of England. If that prospectus won’t make a man confident I don’t know what will. Why, Mr. Wharton, you don’t think that your son-in-law would get those fifty shares at par unless he was going out as our general local manager. The shares ain’t to be had. It’s a large concern as far as capital goes. You’ll see if you look. About a quarter of a million paid up. But it’s all in a box as one may say. It’s among ourselves. The shares ain’t in the market. Of course it’s not for me to say what should be done between you and your son-in-law. Lopez is a friend of mine, and a man I esteem, and all that. Nevertheless I shouldn’t think of advising you to do this or that, — or not to do it. But when you talk of safety, Mr. Wharton, — why, Mr. Wharton, I don’t scruple to tell you as a man who knows what these things are, that this is an opportunity that doesn’t come in a man’s way perhaps twice in his life.”

Mr. Wharton found that he had nothing more to say, and went back to Lincoln’s Inn. He knew very well that Mr. Hartlepod’s assurances were not worth much. Mr. Hartlepod himself and his belongings, the clerks in his office, the look of the rooms, and the very nature of the praises which he had sung, all of them inspired anything but confidence. Mr. Wharton was a man of the world; and, though he knew nothing of City ways, was quite aware that no man in his senses would lay out £5000 on the mere word of Mr. Hartlepod. But still he was inclined to make the payment. If only he could secure the absence of Lopez, — if he could be sure that Lopez would in truth go to Guatemala, and if also he could induce the man to go without his wife, he would risk the money. The money would, of course, be thrown away, — but he would throw it away. Lopez no doubt had declared that he would not go without his wife, even though the money were paid for him. But the money was an alluring sum! As the pressure upon the man became greater, Mr. Wharton thought he would probably consent to leave his wife behind him.

In his emergency the barrister went to his attorney and told him everything. The two lawyers were closeted together for an hour, and Mr. Wharton’s last words to his old friend were as follows: — “I will risk the money, Walker, or rather I will consent absolutely to throw it away, — as it will be thrown away, — if it can be managed that he shall in truth go to this place without his wife.”