Stephen McKenna

“ The business men have got in before you.” And, goodness me, in those days, Whitehall was like a foreign capital! Even the ministers were unheard-of, and every one seemed to be a mining magnate or a shipping magnate or a railway magnate or the keeper of a shop. . . If one had a favour to ask, one quite literally did not know whom to approach. And they were always changing. . . “No, Mr. Deepe,” I said, “some enter society through politics, others enter politics through society; but no man ever rose to the top of the political tree—and stayed there—without backing”. ”

“ In a crisis I am only too well aware that I am always left to find a way out, but that night I felt hardly adequate even to ordinary conversation; and, when this Sir Appleton began to shew the cloven hoof, I knew that only a man could deal with him.
We were taken utterly off our guard. He came into the room, shook hands with me, bowed to Will, waited until Norden was out of the room and then said:
“There’s a lady downstairs who wants to see one of you for a moment. She was on the doorstep, when I arrived, and your servants didn’t want to admit her. ”

“ When the bomb-shell first descended from Morecambe, I thought at once of him. In such a business there must be scores of openings for young men of character and ability, accustomed to command; and, say what you like, the presence of those whom for want of a better word I will call “well-connected” does help to lift commerce out of the ruck. . . Unhappily Sir Appleton was abroad at the time, and that was really why we chose Menton, which truly honestly is only a suburb of Monte Carlo. ”

“ These “merchant princes” are all the same—never content to stick to their business, always looking for fresh worlds to conquer. I met Sir Appleton—he was plain Mr. Deepe then—in the early days of the war; and, though any intimacy was out of the question, I felt that he was a man to keep one’s eye on for the days when the war would be over and all our boys would be wondering what to do next. He had great ideas then of going into politics—something that Lady Maitland let fall had started the train, and he was convinced that the business man had the world at his feet. ”

“ I have seen enough of life to know that, when a woman abandons herself to this kind of thing, very few even of the purest and best are proof against her wiles. This Molly had made up her mind to get a hold on Will; and, once she had decided on that, she would stop at nothing.
I never knew a thing at the time. When my boy suddenly arrived in London, when the mad clergyman followed him and insisted on seeing Arthur, I thought that she would content herself with making him compromise her. If they could be discovered kissing . ”

“ Whatever success she had, poor Will is not free to marry where his heart leads him, unless his heart leads him where there is some money (I have always, as you know, dreaded an entanglement with some girl whom he would simply have to support all his life) ; and Will is too honourable to give any encouragement to some one he has no intention of marrying. ”

“ All his life she would drag him down and down. . . How would he like to see a son of his in such a position? . . .
“He should have thought of that before he began playing the fool,” said Sir Appleton.
“Before he began playing the fool! A woman knows well enough. . . And a clergyman’s daughter! You want my boy to marry her with his knowledge, our knowledge of her character? You must be mad!”
Will said nothing. This quite unseemly altercation, when he was already worn out with the long persecution. . . I wished, oh! I wished that Arthur had been dining at home ”

“ It need not take more than a moment.”
I fancied that I knew better. . .
“Norden can find out what the matter is while we’re at dinner,” I said. “You’ll agree that it is not a very reasonable hour for calling.”
“Which is what makes me think that her business is urgent,” said Sir Appleton. “If you don’t want to be bothered, will you allow me to interview her? If it’s only a five-pound note she wants because she’s lost her purse. . .” ”

“ The girl called that same afternoon and asked to see my boy. . .
She called daily, refusing to take “no” for an answer. Mr. William Spenworth not at home? When would he be home? . . . But for this dinner to Sir Appleton, I should have insisted on sending Will right away, but I had to hold my hand until the Chinese appointment had been arranged. The servants were instructed to say that they did not know. . . And, after that, I knew it was only a question of time before she encamped on the pavement at sunrise and stayed there. . . Can you imagine a more intolerable situation? ”

“ Even a court of law would award substantial damages, if she could prove that there had been a promise of marriage.”
“She can’t prove it,” I said.
“And I’m sure you would not like her to try,” he retorted with quite an undisguised threat in his voice. “It would cause an ugly scandal, and you would all gladly pay ten times whatever damages a jury would give her for the sake of hushing up the scandal. Are you prepared to give her enough to go abroad and, if need be, live abroad and make a new life for herself?” ”

“ I told you of the mad clergyman from Morecambe who swept like a whirl-wind into this room, demanding to see my husband and, so far as I can make out, trying to browbeat my boy into marrying his daughter. . . It began from that day, and I find it hard to forgive Arthur for not enlightening me. With Will it was altogether different; no man that I should care to meet would try to get out of a difficulty at the expense of a woman. The code forbids that. ”

“ You must forgive me for making you wait like this. The servants have positive instructions to say that I am not at home to any one until I have been specifically asked. Why one should be at the mercy of anybody who chooses to burst in. ”