Mr. Bates

“ Bates is really fond of you."
Dale gave a snort; and then after a long pause spoke with strong emphasis.
"I'll tell you, Mavis, what Mr. Bates is. He's a good man, every bit and crumb of him. There's no one between the downs and the sea that I feel the same respect for that I do for that old gentleman." ”

“ Susan Bates answered him pantingly, all a-tremble with nervous excitement. "Mr. Bates is a just man, and not an ungenerous man, but—but"—She clasped her hands and leaned forward anxiously. "Mr. Bates and I have always stepped along together. He has always done whatever I have asked him to do. He has never disappointed me. But—oh, Roger, he never knew your father in those early days; if he had, could he stand by and see him on the edge of ruin without making some effort to save him?" She waved her hand over the disorder of Roger's desk. ”

“ The under-laundress dried her eyes on one corner of her apron.
"I dunno about Felice," she said uncertainly. "Mebbe Mr. Bates—oh, here comes Mr. Bates now."
Round, red, highly perturbed, the Dalton butler bustled into the laundry and looked Wilkins up and down.
"Trunk for the master?" he asked crisply.
"For Felice, the young lady's maid, as I understand," Wilkins said quietly. "Where shall I find her? It's for herself."
His calm and superior smile warned Bates not to question an affair that could not possibly concern him—yet the warning missed Bates somehow. ”

“ Venner said. "Most of it is in this paper. It appears that the aforesaid Mr. Bates is a gentleman of retiring disposition, and somewhat eccentric habits. As far as one can gather, he has no friends, but lives quietly in Portsmouth Square, his wants being ministered to by a body of servants who have been in his employ for years. Of necessity, Mr. Bates is a man of wealth, or he could not possibly live in a house the rent of which cannot be less than five or six hundred a year. ”

“ Then the hands of a man clutched the farther edge of the table, and slowly and evidently with infinite difficulty a figure rose and the dark face of Bates, with eyes blurred and staring strangely, confronted me.
He drew his body to its height, and leaned heavily upon the table. I snatched a candle and bent toward him to make sure my eyes were not tricking me.
“Mr. Glenarm! Mr. Glenarm!” he exclaimed in broken whispers. “It is Bates, sir.”
“What have you done; what has happened?” I demanded.
He put his hand to his head uncertainly and gaped as though trying to gather his wits. ”

“ Bates, hoping against hope for the return of the boat, endeavoured to gain time. “Shut down the skylight, then,” said he, with the ghost of an authority in his voice, “until I ask the lady.”
This, however, John Rex refused to do. “You can ask well enough where you are,” he said.
But there was no need for Mr. Bates to put a question. The door of the state-room opened, and Mrs. Vickers appeared, trembling, with Sylvia by her side. “Accept, Mr. Bates,” she said, “since it must be so. We should gain nothing by refusing. We are at their mercy—God help us!” ”

“ Good-by. Pity, great pity, you weren't at Oxford, Mr. Taberman. It would have done you good, made a man of you."
"Not if Harvard's failed to," retorted Jerry loyally. "Good-by, and good luck. Hope we'll meet again some day."
They shook hands, and Mr. Wrenmarsh and Jack descended to the waiting cutter.
"Adio, Signor'," called out old Gonzague, who was standing by the main-rigging.
"A riverderla forse" returned the collector from the stern-sheets of the cutter.
"Il mondo è piccolo, Signor'. Spero," answered the Provençal.
"Oars!" cried Jack. "Bear away,—let fall,—ready,—pull." ”

“ Bates, with a little gasp, "if I may have something outside, sir! I—I should hardly like to sit down with you, sir."
The Professor raised his eyebrows again. "Really, Mr. Bates, a little more self-respect, if you please. You must remember that you are a burglar now, not a valet."
"Yes, sir."
Mr. Bates seated himself in the second chair, and the Professor, whose appetite seemed suddenly to have vanished, helped him to about seven-eighths of the eggs and bacon. Mr. Bates fell upon them with as much ferocity as his professional refinement would permit. ”

“ He could in the light see the cheeks of the men in front of him as they swayed with their rowing, the brass rowlocks of the cutter, and the dripping blades of the oars. He strained his eyes toward the land, but was blinded by the glare into which he looked; and on the instant a voice, eager but subdued, hailed from the shore some twenty feet away.
"Hallo! Are you there, Mr. Taberman?"
"Here all right," answered Jerry. "Eyes in the boat!" he added sharply to the men, every one of whom except Dave had turned to look ashore. "Three good strokes now: Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!... Let her run!" ”

“ But this evening the mind is but slightly arrested by the great Verulam, and is in the humour to think a dead philosopher less interesting than a living gardener, who sits conspicuous in the half-circle round the fireplace. Mr. Bates is habitually a guest in the housekeeper’s room of an evening, preferring the social pleasures there—the feast of gossip and the flow of grog—to a bachelor’s chair in his charming thatched cottage on a little island, where every sound is remote, but the cawing of rooks and the screaming of wild geese, poetic sounds, doubtless, but, humanly speaking, not convivial. ”

“ Bates was a cynic. He despised all the customs and manners of the place most heartily and took the most curious care to observe them. He might have been the inventor and patentee of rocker, if one judged him by the fervour with which he played it. He entered his name for every possible event at the sports, and jumped the jumps and threw the hammer and ran the races as if his life depended on it. Once Mr. Horbury had accidentally over-head Bates saying something about "the honour of the House" which went to his heart. ”

“ Bates began mechanically to wash up. The Professor sat in silence while plate after plate was cleaned and put aside. When both piles were finished, he looked up at the small clock which was ticking away on the mantelpiece. The time was about five-and-twenty minutes to seven.
"It is a little early for breakfast," he remarked, "but I think that, as you are here, Mr. Bates, I will take advantage of the fact by getting you to cook me some eggs and bacon. There ought to be plenty, unless Andrew has excelled himself."
"Yes, sir," said Mr. Bates. ”

“ The light had not advanced from where they had seen it stop, but it had gone waving wildly up and down the beach as if the bearers had encountered some impassable obstacle and sought in vain for a place which would allow a passage.
"Aspetta!" bawled the voice. "Aspetta nel nomme del Re!"
"What's that?" asked Jerry.
"They're calling us to stand—in the king's name," Mr. Wrenmarsh returned with sullen nervousness.
"Head the boat 'round," cried Tab. "Why the devil don't they come down if they want us?"
"I can't imagine," the collector answered. ”

“ The “Lad” is a youth of twenty-two or so, just through Harvard; and the depth, strength, and variety of his love are well illustrated by his frantic passion for a widow old enough to be his mother, by his rapid transfer of affection to her lovely daughter, and by his nearly getting entangled with a third woman before he secures the right one. There is a thorough-bred air about the book which leaves a good impression, and a liveliness of fancy and description which promises more good stories from Mr. Bates’s pen. ”

“ A carpenter of the name of Bates was called in, so distant a relative of Mrs Bowater's apparently that she never by nod, word, or look acknowledged the bond. Mr Bates held my landlady in almost speechless respect. "A woman in a thousand," he repeatedly assured me, when we were grown a little accustomed to one another; "a woman in ten thousand. And if things hadn't been what they was, you may understand, they might have turned out different. Ah, miss, there's one looking down on us could tell a tale." ”

“ Venner said. "A name like Bates implies middle age and respectability. But this Bates is described as being young and exceedingly good looking. Moreover, he is afflicted with a kind of paralysis, which renders his movements slow and uncertain. And now you know all about it. There is not the slightest doubt that this missing Bates is no other than our interesting friend, the good-looking cripple. The only point which leaves us in doubt is the fact that Mr. Bates is a respectable householder, living at 75, Portsmouth Square, while the man who tried to murder you entertained you at No. ”

“ The Professor looked at him. "Ah," he said, after a short pause. "I thought there must be some reason. Come, Mr. Bates, what's the trouble? Never be afraid to speak the truth."
"I was out of a place for about three months, sir, and—and my wife got very ill, sir, and I had spent all my savings. The doctor said that the only chance of saving her was to send her out of London. I went to call on a gentleman about a place, and while I was waiting, sir, I—I—I saw a couple of sovereigns on the mantelpiece, and I took them, sir." ”

“ Fairhew. "At least I had not that good fortune."
"Nature left you one to get for yourself, because she knew you'd do it so easily," Tab said gallantly.
"Really," cried the lady, "you are evidently determined to overwhelm me, Mr. Taberman. Compliments drop from your lips like the traditional showers of pearls."
"There are frogs too in that fairy story," suggested Jack.
"Oh, Mr. Castleport," declared Katrine, coming to the rescue of Jerry, "that is simply brutal."
"Of course it's brutal," retorted Jack, willfully twisting her meaning, "but he keeps it up all the same." ”

“ The respectful, mournful voice of Bates announced:
“There’s a bite ready for you, sir.”
I followed him through the hall to a small high-wainscoted room where a table was simply set.
“This is what Mr. Glenarm called the refectory. The dining-room, on the other side of the house, is unfinished. He took his own meals here. The library was the main thing with him. He never lived to finish the house, —more’s the pity, sir. He would have made something very handsome of it if he’d had a few years more. But he hoped, sir, that you’d see it completed. It was his wish, sir.” ”

“ Jack blushed at the remembrance, vivid and sharp, of his declaration to Jerry that he would make his uncle realize that he had come to man's estate.
[Pg 321]
"Oh, ho," said Mr. Drake, regarding him keenly, but with humorous eyes, "you thought so too, did you? Of course you did! Well, I know it now, and I've been an old fool. I congratulate you, Jack, with all my heart. If Miss Marchfield is like her mother"—He broke off as if his thought had got the better of his speech. "If she is all that Mrs. Fairhew says she is, you have a treasure, my boy. Don't ever run off with her yacht." ”

“ No other man would come aft to relieve him. So much the better. It all works for us.’
We joined Mr. Bates and went to the helm and stood there. They were now making a horrible roaring noise in the cuddy. It sounded like a great, drunken cheering of a ‘sentiment,’ or speech.
‘I’ve been watching them light their pipes,’ said Mr. Bates. ‘We must stand by, Butler.’
‘Bates, it’s to be done!’ exclaimed Tom, looking round the sea. ‘What shall we want? Nothing that may not be got and stowed in twenty minutes. Johnstone, jump [89] forward and try one of the scuttle-butts. ”

“ Mrs. Fairhew observed, "I would never go anywhere by night except on my own private car. All sleepers are an abomination, and I hate the thought of who may have been in the compartment when I have to sleep in it. I hope we shall see you at dinner, Mr. Taberman?"
"Thank you," Jerry answered, "but I have business to-night. I assure you I regret it tremendously."
"Well," the lady returned over her shoulder as she departed, "at least we shall expect to see you to-morrow; and I hope you'll leave us Mr. Castleport.
"Glad to," laughed Jerry, with a nod; and the men were left to themselves. ”

“ Jack spun around like a teetotum.
"Katrine—Miss Marchfield!" he cried. "How do you do? I—I— You know, I came here—this minute—I was just going to ask if you were here."
"Well," laughed the lady, whose heightened color and shining eyes were evidences of a pleasant excitement, "you see I am.—Oh, Mr. Taberman, how do you do? I'm delighted to see you."
"How are you?" responded Jerry, taking her slim hand in his own hard paw. "It's awfully jolly to see you here. How's Mrs. Fairhew? Well, I hope."
[Pg 89]
"Yes, thank you," answered Katrine. "She's never better than when she's traveling, you know." ”

“ He continued:
“I didn’t do it, sir. I was in the pantry when I heard the crash in the refectory window. The bullet came from out of doors, as I should judge, sir.”
The facts and conclusions were undoubtedly with Bates, and I felt that I had not acquitted myself creditably in my effort to fix the crime on him. My abuse of him had been tactless, to say the least, and I now tried another line of attack.
“Of course, Bates, I was merely joking. What’s your own theory of the matter?”
“I have no theory, sir. Mr. Glenarm always warned me against theories. ”

“ As the three men came on deck the cutter was bobbing up and down in the wash of the ferry which plies to and fro across the Cattewater, and which had just gone heavily past.
[Pg 267]
"Dear England!" ejaculated Mr. Wrenmarsh fervently under his breath in the face of all this. Then turning to Taberman, "You're not coming ashore with us?"
Jerry shook his bare head, and gave an exaggerated shiver for reply.
"No?" the collector said. "Well, we'll say good-by here, then. Lucky we met, wasn't it? Those combinations—they make the world go round; stop it sometimes. ”