CHAPTER IV.
STALLED OX AND A DINNER OF HERBS
But on this particular evening, as it happened, Vincent had promised to dine at home; for his aunt was returning to Brighton on the following day; and there was to be a little farewell banquet given in her honour. Of course aunt and nephew sate together; Mrs. Ellison had arranged that; knowing that at these semi-political dinner-parties the company was frequently a trifle mixed, she took care that on one side at least she should have a pleasant neighbour. And indeed when the guests had taken their places – there were about thirty in all – the table presented a pretty sight. From end to end it was a mass of flowers; at intervals there were pyramids of ice, draped with roses, blush-red and yellow; but the candles in the tall candelabra were not lit – the softly-tinted globes of the electric light shed a sufficient and diffused lustre. It was a sumptuous entertainment; and yet there prevailed an air of elegance and refinement. When soup was served, it was not the aldermanic turtle, but a clear golden fluid with gems of crimson and green; and it was handed round in silver dishes. No one thought of a thick soup on this hot June night.
As soon as the hum of conversation became general, the tall and handsome young widow turned to her companion – who was only a year or two her junior, by the way – and with her demure and mischievous eyes grown full of meaning she said —
"Vin, what has happened to you to-day?"
"What do you mean, aunt?" he answered, with some surprise.
"Something has happened to you to-day," she went on, confidently. "You can't hoodwink me. Why have you been so radiant, so complaisant, this afternoon – why are you here, for example – when you haven't shown up at this dinner-table for weeks past?"
"And you going away to-morrow, aunt!" he exclaimed.
"No use, Vin. All of a sudden you want to be magnanimous to the whole human race; your amiability becomes almost burdensome; your eyes are full of pride and joy; and you think you can hide the transformation from me! Well, then, I will tell you, since you won't tell me: to-day you were introduced to her."
He was startled – and no wonder: had his aunt, by some extraordinary chance, witnessed that interview in Hyde Park? Mrs. Ellison's shrewd, quick eyes noticed his alarm, and laughed.
"The story is as clear as noonday," she continued, in the same undertone. "You come home every night between nine and ten. Why? Because she is an actress, playing in the first piece only; and of course the theatre loses its attraction for you the moment she has left. Now, my dear Vin, that is not the kind of thing for you at all! You'd better stop it – even although you have experienced the wild joy of being introduced to her. What do you know about her? You have been investing her with all the charming qualities of her stage heroines; you haven't learnt yet that she is a little slatternly in her dress, that her tastes in eating and drinking are rather coarse, that her tastes in literature and art aren't any – worse still, that she is already provided with a husband, a lounger about Strand public-houses, only too ready to accept your patronage and the price of a glass of gin – "
He was immensely relieved.
"Oh, you're all wrong, aunt!" he said, cheerfully. "I haven't been inside a theatre for six months!"
"You haven't?" she said, glancing at him with a kind of amused suspicion. "You are really playing the good boy with Parliamentary reports and blue books? A very admirable diligence. Other young men would be strolling in the Park, in this hot weather." And then all of a sudden she asked: "What subject were you studying to-day, Vin?"
"Thompson's Distribution of Wealth," he made answer, with equal promptitude.
"Oh. What does he say?"
"You don't want to know, aunt!"
"Yes, I do: I'm used to hearing all sorts of theories at this table – though I seldom see them put in practice."
Well, he on his side was glad enough to get away from that other and dangerous topic; and whether or not he believed in her innocent desire for knowledge, he began to discourse on the possibility of universal human happiness being reached by a voluntary equality in the distribution of the products of labour.
"Voluntary, do you see, aunt? – that is the very essence of the scheme," he rambled on, while she appeared to be listening gravely. "Thompson will have nothing to do with force; he himself points out that if you once bring in force to redress the inequalities of wealth, you leave it open for every succeeding majority to employ the same means, so that industry would be annihilated: the capitalists would not lend, the workers would not work. No, it is all to be done by mutual consent. Those who have wealth at present are not to be disturbed; what they have amassed is but a trifle compared with what the millions can produce; and it is this product of universal co-operation that is to constitute the real wealth of the world. Well, I suppose it is only a dream," he proceeded. "On the other hand, take my father's way of looking at it. He is all for State interference; the State is to appropriate everything and manage everything; and to keep on managing it, I suppose, or else things would revert to their former condition. That's where the trouble comes in, of course. The moment you allow anything like freedom of contract, how can you prevent the former condition of affairs coming into existence again? You know, after all, aunt, there is generally a reason for the institutions and social arrangements of any country; they don't spring out of nothing; they grow, and their growth is a necessity – "
"Vincent Harris," said the young widow, solemnly, "I perceive the seeds of a rabid Toryism beginning to sprout in your young mind. Wouldn't your father say that the reason for the monstrous condition of affairs now existing – I don't consider them monstrous; not I; I'm pretty well content, thank you – but wouldn't he say the reason was simply the ignorance of the people who produce and the unscrupulous greed of the other people who take the lion's share of the profits? Of course he would; and so he wants to educate the producer; and protect him by the State; and see that he isn't swindled. Go to; thou art Didymus, and an unbeliever; I suspect Lord Musselburgh has been corrupting you. Tell me," she said, irrelevantly, "who is the woman with the black curls – I did not catch her name when she was introduced to me – "
He was delighted that she showed no sign of returning to that awkward topic.
"Goodness gracious me, aunt," said he, glancing in the direction indicated, where sat an elderly lady, thin and gaunt and pale, with large lustrous black eyes, and black hair clone up in the fashion of a generation ago, "do you mean to say you don't know Madame Mikucsek?"
"Who is Madame – What-is-it?"
"You never even heard of her!" he exclaimed, in affected astonishment. "Madame Mikucsek – the discoverer of the Mystery of the East – the Prophetess of the New Religion – who has her followers and disciples all over the world – from Syria to the Himalayas – from New York to Sacramento. Really, aunt, you surprise me: you will be saying next you never heard of Bô."
"What is Bô – or who is he?" she demanded, impatiently.
"Bô," he repeated, as if he were too puzzled by her appalling ignorance to be able to explain, "why, Bô—Bô is the equivalent of the Chinese Tá. It is the principle of life; it is the beginning and the end of all things; it is the condition of the soul – and yet not quite the condition of the soul, for the soul can live outside Bô until the miracle of initiation happens. Then the soul is received into Bô, and finds that the present is non-existent, and that only the past and the future exist, the future being really the past, when once the soul has entered Bô– "
"Vin, I believe you are making a fool of me," the pretty Mrs. Ellison said, severely.
"Oh, I assure you, aunt," he said, with eyes innocent of guile, "it is the great discovery of the age – the great discovery of all time – the Sacred – the Ineffable. When you enter into Bô you lose your individuality – or rather, you never had any individuality – for individuality was a confusion of thought, a product of the present, and the present, as I have explained to you, my dear aunt, ceases to exist when you have entered Bô. Did I tell you that Bô is sentient? Yes, but yet not a being; though there are manifestations, mysterious and ecstatic; and the disciples write to each other on the first day of each month, and tell each other what trances they have been in, and what spiritual joy they have received. These reports are sent to Madame Mikucsek; and they are published in a journal that circulates among the initiated; but the phraseology is hieratic, the outside world could make nothing of it. As for her, she is not expected to reveal anything – what she experiences transcends human speech, and even human thought – "
"I saw the woman mopping up gravy with a piece of bread," said Mrs. Ellison, with frowning eyebrows.
"Bô," continued the young man, very seriously, "as far as I have been able to make it out, consists of a vast sphere; elliptical, however: the zenith containing all human aspiration, the base consisting of forgotten evil. When you once enter this magic circle, you are lost, you are transformed, you are here and yet not here; to be does not signify to be but not to be; and not to be is the highest good except not to have been. Bô, when once you have received the consecration, and bathed in the light, and perceived the altitudes and the essential deeps and cognisances – "
"Ought to be written Bosh," said she, briefly. "I will not hear any more of that nonsense. And I believe you are only humbugging me: Madame What's-her-name looks more like the widow of a French Communist. Now listen to me, Vin, for I am going away to-morrow. I am glad I was mistaken about the actress; but take care; don't get into scrapes. I shan't be happy till I see you married. Ordinarily a man should not marry until he is thirty or five-and-thirty – if he is five-and-forty so much the better – but even at five-and-thirty, he may have acquired a little judgment; he may be able to tell how much honesty there is in the extreme amiability and unselfishness and simplicity that a young woman can assume, or whether she is likely to turn out an ill-conditioned, cross-grained, and sulking brute. Oh, you needn't laugh: it's no laughing matter, as you'll find out, my young friend. But you – you are different; you are no schoolboy; you've seen the world – too much of it, for you've learnt disrespect for your elders, and try to bamboozle them with accounts of sham systems of philosophy or religion or whatever it is. I say you ought to marry young; but not an elderly woman, as many a young man does, for money or position. Good gracious, no! You'll have plenty of money; your father isn't just yet going to sell this silver dinner-service – which I detest, for it always looks more greasy than china, and besides you feel as if you were scoring it with the edge of your knife all the time – I say he isn't going to sell his silver and distribute unto the poor just yet. As for position, you've got to make that for yourself: would you owe it to your wife? Very well," proceeded his pretty monitress, in her easy and prattling fashion; "come down to Brighton for a week or two. I will ask the Drexel girls; you will have them all to yourself, to pick and choose from, but Louie is my favourite. You have no idea how delightful Brighton is in June – the inland drives are perfect, so cool and shaded with trees, when you know where to go, that is. If you come down I'll make up a party and take you all to Ascot: Mrs. Bourke has offered me her house for the week – isn't that good-natured, when she could easily have let it? – and I have to telegraph yes or no to-morrow. I hadn't intended going myself; but if you say you will come down, I will accept; and I know I can get the Drexel girls."
"It is so kind of you, aunt; so very kind," he said; "but I really can't get away. You know I don't care much about racing —
"But Louie Drexel isn't racing."
"I'm very sorry, but you must excuse me, aunt," he said contritely.
"Oh – distribution of wealth – supply and demand – sugar-bounties and blue-books – is that it? Well, well, what the young men of the present day are coming to – "
She could say no more; for at this moment her neighbour, an elderly and learned gentleman from Oxford, addressed her. He had not hitherto uttered a word, having paid strict attention to every dish and every wine (albeit he was a lean and famished-looking person); but now he remarked that the evenings were hot for the middle of June. He spoke of the danger of having recourse to iced fluids. Then he went on to compare the bathing of the Greeks and Romans with the ablutions of the English – until he was offered strawberries, whereupon, having helped himself largely, he fell into a business-like silence again.
When at length the ladies had gone upstairs, Lord Musselburgh came and took the seat just vacated by Mrs. Ellison.
"I have a commission from your father, Vin," said he. "I am to persuade you of the sweet reasonableness of his project – that you should for a time become the private secretary of Mr. Ogden."
"The private secretary of a man who hasn't an h!" retorted Master Vin, with scorn.
"What has that to do with it?" the young nobleman said, coolly. "No. After all, there is something in what your father says. He believes that the next great political and social movement will be the emancipation of the wage-earner – the securing to the producer his fair share of the products of his labour. If that is so, it will be a big thing. It will be years before it comes off, no doubt; but then there will be a great wave of public opinion; and if you are prepared – if you are there – if you are identified with this tremendous social revolution, why, that magnificent wave will peacefully and calmly lift you into the Cabinet. I think that's about his notion. Very well. If you are willing to take up this work, how could you begin better than by becoming private secretary to Josiah Ogden? There you would come into direct touch with the masses; you would get to know at first hand what they are thinking of, what they are hoping for; subsequently, you could speak with authority. Then there's another thing, Vin. If you want to become a figure in public life in England, if you want to build a splendid monument for yourself, you should begin at the base. Capture the multitude; be as red-hot a Radical as they can desire; and they won't mind what you do afterwards. You may accept office; you may be petted by Royalty; but they will rather like it – they will look on it as a compliment paid to one of themselves. And that is where Ogden would come in. He, too, is one of themselves – though he has his hired brougham when he comes to town, and his big dinners at the Menagerie Club. What have you got to do with his h's? If I want to back a horse, or order a pair of boots, or have my hair cut, what does it matter to me whether the man has an h, or a superfluity of h's? You make him useful to you; you get what you want; isn't that enough?"
"Oh, no, it is not," Vincent rejoined – but respectfully, for he never forgot that Lord Musselburgh was his senior by very nearly five years. "You see, you don't go into partnership with your hairdresser, and you don't put your name over the bootmaker's shop. And I shouldn't learn much from Mr. Ogden, for I don't believe in his machine-made politics – everything to be done by committees, and resolutions, and majorities. I expect to find him starting a Society for the Suppression of Punch and Judy Shows, so that the infantile mind of England may not be corrupted by exhibitions of brutality."
"He is a very able man, let me tell you that," said Musselburgh, with decision. "And a capital speaker – a slogger, of course, but that is wanted for big crowds. And sometimes he turns out a neat thing. Did you notice what he said at Sheffield the other day – telling the working men not to be too grateful for rich men's charities – for recreation grounds, drinking fountains, and the like? What he said was this – 'When the capitalist has robbed Peter, it is easy for him to salve his conscience by throwing a crust to Paul' – not bad. I think you might do worse, Vin, than become Ogden's private secretary. Pretty hard work, of course; but the modern young man, in politics, is supposed to be thoroughly in earnest: if he isn't he will have to reckon with the evening papers, for they don't like to be trifled with."
The subject was not a grateful one, apparently; Vincent changed it.
"Do you remember," he said, with some little diffidence, "that – that I was in your house one afternoon a few weeks ago when an old gentleman called – and – and his granddaughter – "
"The perfervid old Scotchman – yes!"
"How did you come to know him?" the young man asked, with downcast eyes.
"I hardly recollect. Let me see. I think he first of all wrote to me, enclosing a note of introduction he had brought from a friend of mine in New York – a brother Scot. Then, as you saw, he called, and told me something further about a book he is going to bring out; and I gave him some little assistance – I don't think he is above accepting a few sovereigns from any one to help him on his way through the world."
Vin Harris flushed hotly – and he raised his head and looked his friend straight in the face as he put the next question.
"But – but he is a gentleman! – his name – his family – even his bearing – "
"Oh, yes, yes, I suppose so," Lord Musselburgh said, lightly. "Poor old fellow, I was glad to lend him a helping hand. I think his enthusiasm, his patriotism, was genuine; and it is a thing you don't often meet with nowadays."
"Yes – but – but – " Vincent said, with a good deal of embarrassment, and yet with some touch of half-indignant remonstrance, "the money you gave him – that was to aid him in bringing out the book, wasn't it?"
"Certainly, certainly!" the other made answer – he did not happen to notice the expression on his friend's face. "Something about Scotland – Scotch poetry – I think when he wrote he said something about a dedication, but that is an honour I hardly covet."
"In any case," observed the young man, "you have no right to say he would accept money from – from anyone – from a stranger."
Then Lord Musselburgh did look up – struck by something in his companion's tone.
"Did I say that? I'm sure I don't know. Of course it was on account of the book that I ventured to give him some little help – oh, yes, certainly – I should not have ventured otherwise. If he had been offended, I dare say he would have said so; but I fancy the old gentleman has had to overcome his pride before now. He seems to have led a curious, wandering life. By the way, Vin, weren't you very much impressed by the young lady – I remember your saying something – "
Fortunately there was no need for Vincent to answer this question; for now there began a general movement on the part of the remaining guests to go upstairs to the drawing-room; and in this little bit of a bustle he escaped from further cross-examination.
When at the end of the evening all the people had gone away, and when Harland Harris had shut himself up in his study to finish his correspondence – for he was going down the next morning to a Congress of Co-operative Societies at Ipswich – Mrs. Ellison and her nephew found themselves alone in the drawing-room; and the fair young widow must needs return to the subject she had been discoursing upon at dinner – namely, that this young man, in order to guard against pitfalls and embroilments, should get married forthwith.
"You seem anxious that I should marry," said he, bluntly; "why don't you get married yourself?"
"Oh, no, thank you!" she replied, with promptitude. "I know when I have had – " Apparently she was on the point of saying that she knew when she had had enough; but that would not have been complimentary to the memory of the deceased; so she abruptly broke off – and then resumed. "It isn't necessary for me to make any further experiments in life; but for you, with such a splendid future before you, it is a necessity. As for me, I mean to let well alone. And it is well – very well. I do believe, Vin, that I am the only woman on this earth – "
"What?" he said.
" – who is really contented. I am too happy. Sometimes I'm afraid; it seems as if I had no right to it. Why, when I come downstairs in the morning, and draw an easy-chair to the open windows – especially when there is a breeze coming off the sea, and the sun-blinds are out, and the balcony nicely shaded, you know – I mean at home, in Brunswick Terrace – well, when I take up the newspaper and begin to read about what's going on – as if it was all some kind of a distant thing – I feel so satisfied with the quiet and the coolness and the sea-air that I am bound to do a little kindness to somebody, and so I turn to the columns where appeals are made for charity. I don't care what it is; I'm so well content that I must give something to somebody – distressed Irish widows, sailors' libraries, days in the country, anything. I dare say I sometimes give money where I shouldn't; but how am I to know? – and at any rate it pleases me."
"But why shouldn't you be happy, aunt?" said the young man. "You are so good-humoured, and so kind, and so nice to look at, that it is no wonder you are such a favourite, with men especially."
"Oh, yes," she said, frankly. "Men are always nice to you – except the one you happen to marry; and I'm not going to spoil the situation. At present they're all sweetness, and that suits me: I'm not going to give any one of them the chance of showing himself an ungrateful brute. When I come downstairs at Brighton, I like to see only one cup on the breakfast-table, and to feel that I have the whole room to myself. Selfish? – then you can make amends by sending something to the Children's Hospital or the People's Palace or something of that kind."
"Do you know, aunt," he observed, gravely, "what Mr. Ogden says of you? He says that, having robbed Peter, you try to salve your conscience by throwing a crust to Paul."
"When did I rob Peter? – what Peter?" she said, indignantly.
"You are a capitalist – you have more than your own share – you possess what you do not work for – therefore you are a robber and a plunderer. I am sorry for you, aunt; but Mr. Ogden has pronounced your doom —
"Mr. Ogden – !" she said, with angry brows – and then she stopped.
"Yes, aunt?" he said, encouragingly.
"Oh, nothing. But I tell you this, Vin. You were talking of the proper distribution of wealth. Well, when you come to marry, and if I approve of the girl, I mean to distribute a little of my plunder – of my ill-gotten gains – in that direction: she shan't come empty-handed. That is, if I approve of her, you understand. And the best thing you can do is to alter your mind and come down to Brighton for a week or two; and I'll send for the Drexel girls and perhaps one or two more. If you can't just at present, you may later on. Now I'm going off to my room; and I'll say good-bye as well as good-night; for I don't suppose I shall see you in the morning.
"Good-night, then, and good-bye, aunt!" said he, as he held her hand for a second; and that was the last that he saw of her for some considerable time.
For a great change was about to take place in this young man's position and circumstances, in his interests, and ambitions, and trembling hopes. He was about to enter wonderland – that so many have entered, stealthily and almost fearing – that so many remember, and perhaps would fain forget. Do any remain in that mystic and rose-hued region? Some, at least, have never even approached it; for its portals are not easily discoverable, are not discoverable at all, indeed, except by the twin torches of imagination and abolition of self.
When he went up to his chambers the next morning he was surprised to find a card lying on the table; he had not expected a visitor in this secluded retreat. And when he glanced at the name, he was still more perturbed. What an opportunity he had missed! Perhaps Mr. Bethune had brought an informal little invitation for him – the first overture of friendliness? He might have spent the evening in the hushed, small parlour over the way, with those violin strains vibrating through the dusk; or, with the lights ablaze, he might have sate and listened to the old man's tales of travel, while Maisrie Bethune would be sitting at her needle-work, but looking up from time to time – each glance a world's wonder! And what had he had in exchange? – a vapid dinner-party; some talk about socialism; an invitation that he should descend into the catacombs of North of England politics and labour mole-like there to no apparent end; finally, a promise that if he would only marry the young lady of Mrs. Ellison's choice – presumably one of her American friends – his bride should have some additional dowry to recommend her. What were all those distant schemes, and even the brilliant future that everybody seemed to prophesy for him, to the bewildering possibilities that were almost within his reach? He went to the window. The pots of musk, and lobelia, and ox-eye daisies, in the little balcony over there, and also the Virginia creeper intertwisting its sprays through the iron bars, seemed fresh: no doubt she had sprinkled them with water before leaving with her grandfather. And had they gone to Hyde Park as usual? He was sorely tempted to go in search; but something told him this might provoke suspicions; so he resolutely hauled in a chair to the table and set to work with his books and annotations – though sometimes there came before his eyes a nebulous vision, as of a sheet of silver-grey water and a shimmering of elms.
In the afternoon he went out and bought a clothes-brush, a couple of hair-brushes, some scented soap, and other toilet requisites – of which he had not hitherto known the need in these chambers; and about five o'clock or a little thereafter, having carefully removed the last speck from his coat-sleeve, he crossed the way, and rather timidly knocked at the door. It was opened by the landlady's daughter, who appeared at once surprised and pleased on finding who this visitor was.
"Is Mr. Bethune at home?" he demanded – with some vaguely uncomfortable feeling that this damsel's eyes looked too friendly. She seemed to understand everything – to have been expecting him.
"Oh, yes, sir."
"May I go upstairs?"
He gave no name; but she did not hesitate for a moment. She led the way upstairs; she tapped lightly; and in answer to Mr. Bethune's loud "Come in!" she opened the door, and said —
"The young gentleman, sir," – a form of announcement that might have struck Vincent as peculiar if he had not been much too occupied to notice.
"Ah, how do you do – how do you do?" old George Bethune (who was alone) called out, and he pushed aside his book and came forward with extended hand. "Nothing like being neighbourly; solitary units in the great sea of London life have naturally some interest in each other: you would gather that I looked in on you last night – "
"Yes," said the young man, as he took the proffered chair. "I am very sorry I happened to be out – I had to dine at home last evening – "
"At home?" repeated Mr. Bethune, looking for the moment just a trifle puzzled.
"Oh, yes," said his visitor, rather nervously. "Perhaps I didn't explain. I don't live over there, you know. I only have the rooms for purposes of study; the place is so quiet I can get on better than at home; there are no interruptions – "
"Except a little violin-playing?" the old man suggested, good-naturedly.
"I wish there were more of that, sir," Vincent observed, respectfully. "That was only in the evenings; and I used to wait for it, to tell you the truth, as a kind of unintentional reward after my day's work. But of late I have heard nothing; I hope that Miss Bethune was not offended that I ventured to – to open my piano at the same time – "
"Oh, not at all – I can hardly think so," her grandfather said, airily. "She also has been busy with her books of late – it is Dante, I believe, at present – and as I insist on her always reading aloud, whatever the language is, she goes upstairs to her own room; so that I haven't seen much of her in the evenings. Now may I offer you a cigar?"
"No, thank you."
"Or a glass of claret?"
"No, thanks."
"Then tell me what your studies are, that we may become better acquainted."
And Vincent was about to do that when the door behind him opened. Instinctively he rose and turned. The next instant Maisrie Bethune was before him – looking taller, he thought, than he had, in Hyde Park, imagined her to be. She saluted him gravely and without embarrassment; perhaps she had been told of his arrival; it was he who was, for the moment, somewhat confused, and anxious to apologise and explain. But, curiously enough, that was only a passing phase. When once he had realised that she also was in the room – not paying much attention, perhaps, but listening when she chose, as she attended to some flowers she had brought for the central table – all his embarrassment fled, and his natural buoyancy and confidence came to his aid. She, on her side, seemed to consider that she was of no account; that she was not called upon to interfere in this conversation between her grandfather and his guest. When she had finished with the flowers, she went to the open window, and took her seat, opening out some needlework she had carried thither. The young man could see she had beautiful hands – rather long, perhaps, but exquisitely formed: another wonder! But the truly extraordinary thing – the enchantment – was that here he was in the same room with her, likely to become her friend, and already privileged to speak so that she could hear!