Edith Metcalfe

“ Money! Never had false god so devout a worshipper, never had mistress so ardent a wooer as money had in Melville Ashley. He loved it; but as the spendthrift, not the miser. To scatter it broadcast with both hands was life to him, and he recked not how he came by it so that he had it in unfailing abundance; it meant gaiety and excitement and irresponsibility, music and wine and cards—everything that he summed up in the comprehensive name of pleasure. Honour and self-respect were a small price to pay for money which, in his opinion, could not cost too much. What was blackmail, after all? ”

“ Gwendolen asked lightly, and she nodded gaily as she ran upstairs, not noticing how the expression altered on Sir Geoffrey's face.
"Blows beneath the heart dealt by those one loves the most," he muttered sadly. "Well, it's inevitable in this world, I suppose, and, after all, there's compensation in the love itself. But Ralph ought not to have stooped to borrow that money from Melville; and what on earth can he have wanted it for that he was afraid to ask me? That's the sting," and the old gentleman walked slowly to his library and shut himself in there alone. ”

“ Why should I, who have lived all my life upon Sir Geoffrey's bounty, kill the man upon whom I actually depend for my daily bread?"
Lavender stared at him with increasing horror. Could he possibly intend to shift suspicion on to her, or was he only putting into words what would be the general opinion if her presence at Fairbridge that afternoon became known? Melville read the doubt in her mind, and, with his fiendish cleverness, allayed her first uncertainty. To let that rankle might be to goad her too far, but he must appeal to her self-interest too. ”

“ Gwendolen replied, "and I think you have brought him up very well."
"I told Martin to bring us some coffee and liqueurs," Sir Geoffrey went on, "and I'm going to smoke, if you ladies will allow me, and look at the reflections in the water, and fancy I'm young again."
Mrs. Austen protested.
"You are young, until you feel old," she said, "and you don't feel that to-night."
"No, I don't," said Sir Geoffrey stoutly. "This is an ideal ending to one of the happiest days of my life, and if a man is only as old as he feels, I shall come of age on Ralph's wedding-day." ”

“ His bow was a magician's wand, drawing music from the violin that stole into Gwendolen's heart and held her very soul spell-bound.
"No man can be bad who plays as divinely as he does," she often thought, and Melville, noting the rapt expression on her face and the moisture in her glorious eyes, would play as he had never played before, until the silence that followed the dying away of the last note was broken by an involuntary sigh from all who had the privilege of listening.
Thus it was that Melville forsook The Vale in favour of The Grange. ”

“ Both to Sir Geoffrey and to Gwendolen the morning seemed to drag, but at last the train which brought Ralph from town arrived, and, heedless of the bystanders, Gwendolen kissed her lover and walked down the hill with him to the river.
"Had a happy morning, dear?" he asked.
"A very long one," Gwendolen replied. "Time is very inconsiderate to people who are in love; it flies when they are together and halts when they are alone, whereas, of course, it ought to do exactly the reverse." ”

“ Melville lighted a cigar and cursed his luck again.
Then the gambler's spirit re-asserted itself. He had had a glorious time at Monte Carlo while it lasted. One night he had won more than five thousand pounds, and another night the bank had to send out twice for fresh supplies of money. That was the time of triumph. People had crowded round him, some to follow his play, some to envy, some to congratulate him, and among them he had seen Lavender Sinclair for the first time: a magnificent woman truly, with splendid colouring and grandly moulded limbs ”

“ I will accept a hundred and twenty pounds now, and hold my tongue about her while that lasts."
Sir Geoffrey betrayed no anger.
"Blackmail?" he said enquiringly.
"Yes," said Melville. "The word is of your own choosing. Indeed, I'm indebted to you for putting the idea into my head. But a man who holds his tongue when it would pay him to talk may not be a blackmailer, but is most certainly a fool."
"You are not a fool," said Sir Geoffrey, "but you are a knave. ”

“ The Manor House was looking its best in the mellow light of an ideal summer evening. It had been one of those days when it is impossible not to feel delight in life, and Ralph awoke to full consciousness of the fact that he had youth and love and wealth to comfort himself withal. He spent the morning at The Grange, and after luncheon punted Gwendolen up the river, arranging for Mrs. Austen to join them at the Manor House. ”

“ For Ralph, in the period of forced inactivity that followed, existence became a nightmare; the charge against him being one of murder, bail was not granted, and his innocence, instead of making his incarceration tolerable, added to its horror. He felt stifled, and raged at being shut up within the four walls of a cell in this glorious summer weather, when, but for the crass imbecility of some over-zealous detective, he might have been luxuriating in the sunshine with Gwendolen on the Thames. By degrees, too, a morbid nervousness took possession of him. ”

“ From the moment of Ralph's arrest until the moment at the assizes when the jury failed to agree upon a verdict, she had remained in London, unable to tear herself away from the dreadful fascination of his danger. She had confidently anticipated his acquittal, and the relief she would have experienced at knowing that an innocent man would not suffer death, would have been the saving of her own life and reason. ”

“ Melville grew more and more anxious, for this mood was a difficult one to combat. He affected to consider the point sympathetically.
"You may be right," he replied; "but that's not the Sir Geoffrey whom I know. He has always been most generous to me, but I've never seen the soft side of the man. He does respect people who do the square thing, but, on the other hand, he never forgives those who don't. And he's as proud as Lucifer."
"I know," said Lavender, and flushed.
Melville noted her heightened colour and drew confidence from it. ”

“ What time is the immaculate hero to honour us by his reappearance?"
"About a quarter to one," Gwendolen replied.
"In time for luncheon," Sir Geoffrey remarked. "Whatever one may think about his other meritorious qualities, there can be no doubt about the excellence of Ralph's appetite."
"You're trying to draw me," said Gwendolen cheerfully; "but I won't be drawn. I like a man to have a good appetite, and, by the way, you're not a bad trencherman yourself." ”

“ Melville she did not mention any more; she had kept her promise and that sufficed. So she lay, waiting for the end, with an expression on her face in which fear had no part. Warm-hearted and impulsive, no one could ever tell how much she may have repented the part she played in spoiling Sir Geoffrey's life by her early desertion of him. From that point onwards, however, within the limitations of her rather crude nature, she had always been kind, straightforward, and true, and death found her not afraid. Of many a better woman not so much can be said. ”

“ Scared by the fearful intensity of the storm, all the people flocked away from Longbridge regatta, those who could manage to find room there hurrying in to the single inn the place possessed, while, of those who could not, some invaded the houseboats along the bank, and others, more bold, and in reality more wise, made the best of a bad business and started for home. Among these last were Ralph and Gwendolen. He wrapped her up as well as circumstances allowed, and then, cramming his cap upon his head and seizing his punt pole, began to work for all he was worth. ”

“ The impact threw the driver clear over the cab and forced Lavender through the window folded up above her. Shivering glass and splintering wood tore and rent their way into her face and neck and hands; one sob escaped her as a blaze of red flashed up before her to die away in utter hopeless blackness, and she was lying crushed and bleeding in the wreckage of the cab, as motionless as the mare that lay dead beside her.
There is no city in the world where help is so speedily forthcoming for the injured as it is in London. ”

“ That very evening he had given a final dinner party to celebrate the betrothal of his god-child, Gwendolen Austen, to his favourite nephew, Ralph Ashley.
In the whole of a land which is proud to claim as its children so many fair women and brave men, it would be difficult to find a fairer woman or a braver man than now engrossed Sir Geoffrey's thoughts, and in their approaching union he looked to see the culmination of his own happiness. ”

“ It is an invisible seed, of which the fruit is more deadly than the upas tree, and in sowing it as he did it is possible that Melville himself had no idea of what the harvest would be. Society knew little of Sir Geoffrey, who lived a comparatively retired life in his fine old Surrey home, but the mystery attaching to the unknown Lady Holt tickled its palate, and the murder of a man who was one of its order was not lightly to be forgotten. ”

“ Martin seemed very slow in coming, and Melville paced up and down the room. As he did so he felt in his hip pocket the little revolver which he always carried.
"Gad!" he thought, "on what a hair one's fortune hangs! I was within an ace of turning that on myself when I saw Ralph's letter, and if I had not got that cheque so easily from Uncle Geoffrey I was mad enough then to have turned it on to him. And if I had done so all this knowledge and the power it gives would have come too late—just a few hours too late. And yet there are people who don't believe in luck!" ”

“ His first impulse was to follow Ralph, who might be going up to town, but he refrained, and walked softly down to the towing path again, turning round at every other step to see if Sir Geoffrey were coming. The evening grew colder, and Melville turned up the collar of his coat and stood back among the shadows, steadying himself against a tree.
"Perhaps that is Sir Geoffrey," he thought, as the sound of footsteps fell upon his ear. "No! it's someone going the other way. 'Pon my word, I'm beginning to feel quite guilty. ”

“ Sir Geoffrey had held his peace about the past in which she had figured, and it might be buried with him in his grave; the fear of prosecution for her bigamous marriage with Mr. Sinclair, which Melville had conjured up so vividly before her, was removed as well, and she could continue her indolent existence as his widow at The Vale, or burst forth into a period of splendour as the wife of the Scotch millionaire. No one knew of the picnic up the river, and the procrastination, in which she had acquiesced through terror and physical illness, had proved the safest and wisest policy after all. ”

“ The day had been very hot, and, after letting down the sun-blinds, Melville threw himself upon the sofa and idly blew rings of smoke into the still air. A pile of illustrated papers lay within reach, syphons and decanters stood upon a table at his elbow, and he was just falling into a doze when he heard a woman's voice, and in another moment his valet opened the outer door with his master-key and ushered Mrs. Sinclair in. ”

“ It was Melville Ashley undergoing the process of identification as a well-known frequenter of the rooms before receiving the viaticum which should enable him to return to London.
It is the habit of the Englishman to conceal his feelings, and no one could have guessed from Melville's demeanour whether he experienced relief at having come to the end of his tether, regret at knowing that he could play no more that season, mortification at his somewhat humiliating position, or any other emotion which one may suppose natural to a gambler who is suddenly baulked in his pursuits. ”