Mr. Bell

“ Bell, Margaret?"
"No; I never saw him, I think. But I know who he is. Frederick's godfather—your old tutor at Oxford, don't you mean?"
"Yes. He is a Fellow of Plymouth College there. He is a native of Milton-Northern, I believe. At any rate he has property there, which has very much increased in value since Milton has become such a large manufacturing town. Well; I had reason to suspect—to imagine—I had better say nothing about it, however. But I felt sure of sympathy from Mr. Bell. I dont know that he gave me much strength. He has lived an easy life in his college all his days. ”

“ and she turned away sighing.
"Yes!" said Mr. Bell. "It is the first changes among familiar things that make such a mystery of time to the young, afterwards we lose the sense of the mysterious. I take changes in all I see as a matter of course. The instability of all human things is familiar to me, to you it is new and oppressive." ”

“ Bell spoke of this lady as the intimate friend of Mrs Flinders, and the most charming of human beings. Her husband too was a delightful man: intimately acquainted with the first nobility, and quite regardless of expense. Mr and Mrs Flinders were thrown entirely into the back ground by this still more brilliant pair; but Captain Mollins, who was a prime favourite of Mr Spurton's, gained not a little in Bell's opinion, from the avowed friendship of so great a man. ”

“ I said; "not an accident, I hope?"
"No, sir, no accident that I know of, and yet I have been half expecting one to occur all day, and I have been that weak I could hardly wind up the sluices. I am getting old now, and I'm not the man I was; but I'm right glad to see you, Mr. Bell, that I am."
He kept pausing as he spoke, and now and then glanced up the river, as if expecting to see a boat coming round the bend every moment. I was much puzzled by his extraordinary manner. I knew him to be a steady man, and one whose services were much valued by the Conservancy ”

“ To his unflagging zeal and intelligence Mr. Bell owed a great deal. Few men could so whole-heartedly have effaced their own personality and thrown themselves with such zest into the success of another as did Thomas Watson."
The tutor paused.
"Up to this time," he presently went on, "the telephones used by Bell and Watson in their experiments had been very crude affairs; but those designed for the Centennial were glorified objects. ”

“ But plainly he had tried them all, and now he could do no more than try them all again, with as little result.
"It is a ventilator," he said, positively. "Unless——" he broke off thoughtfully and stood silent for a few moments. "Ah! of course!" he resumed presently. "We'll send for the housekeeper and a candle. Which is the nearest empty office—the nearest office to let? Is there one on this floor?"
"I think not," Mr. Bell answered. "But there's one on the floor below, just opposite the lift—I see the bill on the door every day as I come up." ”

“ and then at the station a man came up— tipsy and reeling—and he tried to collar Fred, and over-balanced himself as Fred wrenched himself away, and fell over the edge of the platform; not far, not deep; not above three feet; but oh! Mr. Bell, somehow that fall killed him!" ”

“ A gentleman’s set of cobweb lace ruffles and frills—of which it was fine ladies’ work, particularly when it was a work of love, to do the exquisite mending—lay, with the needle and thread hanging from the rent, and the gold thimble in an open workbox.
A gentleman’s miniature, in which the powdered hair was represented in a queue, tied with a blue riband—the last suiting the effeminate fairness of the complexion, was half drawn from its case. Lady Bell saw at a glance that it was a likeness of Mr. Sundon, which had the place of honour on the table. ”

“ In the life of Henry Bell by E. Morris (Glasgow, 1844) , there is the following letter from Mr. Bell to a Mr. John McNeill. It is dated, Helensburgh, 1st March, 1824, and is as follows:—
“Sir, I this morning was favoured with your letter. In reply to your enquiry respecting the late Robert Fulton the American engineer, his father was a native of Ayrshire, but of what town or district there I cannot say. He went to America, where his son Robert was born.” ”

“ I hope you'll never be taken so far from me."
"I don't think I shall allow myself to be taken up to London," said Bell, laughing. "But one can never tell. If I do you must follow us, mamma."
"I do not want another Mr. Crosbie for you, dear."
"But perhaps I may want one for myself. You need not tremble quite yet, however. Apollos do not come this road every day."
"Poor Lily! Do you remember when she first called him Apollo? I do, well. I remember his coming here the day after Bernard brought him down, and how you were playing on the lawn, while I was in the other garden. ”

“ Mrs. Bell hired me to come over and get you. You see I'm about the only one that's got an auto in these parts, and as it's quite a drive through the woods for a team, Mrs. Bell thought maybe I'd better come in my machine."
"I'm glad you did," said Mr. Bunker. "There will be room for all of us in it."
"Yes, and the baggage too," said the man, who said he was Mr. Jim Mead. "When I get an auto I want one big enough for the whole family. Pile in now, children, and make yourselves at home."
"Do you know our Grandma Bell?" asked Russ of Mr. Mead. ”

“ Ye’ll see that we’re putting a better house on the Knowe Park? It’s a nice stance. The old cottage was done, so we’re putting up a good plain house; but the plasterers have dilly-dallied; they’re a provoking set.”
We were now in the garden. Bell’s first remark was, “This is no’ like you, Mr. Martin; but, however, I want to ask ye a secret” (so Bell put it) . “Can you tell me if Mr. Barrie’s gotten a call, or if he’s likely to get a call, to ony other kirk?” ”

“ He looked at Bell with a shrewd smile. “Haven’t you found that in your job?” And Bell laughed. “Yes, I’m afraid I don’t help you much. Are you going to help Mark? Where is the butler?”
“Yes. Yes, we are rather wasting time, aren’t we?” Reggie stretched himself. “It’s too soothing, Sir Brian. Can we walk across the park? I hate exercise, but man must live.”
“I don’t think anyone would have to murder me if I stayed here long,” Sir Brian started up. “I’ll show you the way. We can send your car round to the village.” ”

“ One need not condemn that man alone—there were hundreds and thousands of men like him, desperately jaded, mind and body, with the springs of life poisoned early, who might have been capable of higher and better things.
The couple were swift to recognise Lady Bell’s position, as she recognised theirs, and to show her what had become the courtesy of foes. It touched her all the more when she recalled it, after she had happened to see from her window Mr. Trevor’s encounter with Mr. Sundon in the market-place. ”

“ He’s a decent, honest, sterling man, your uncle—a great friend of mine” (Mr. Walker’s forte was friendliness—his heart was larger than his head) ; “a fine, a very fine man. Then Bell; Bell’s a—it beats me to tell what Bell is. She’s the cleverest an’ best servant in Blinkbonny; but she’s more—she’s—she’s Bell Barrie, and that’s the pink o’ perfection for a farmer’s wife. She’s a tocher in hersel’. Bell for a manager—Bell for a garden, or hens, or cows, or cookin’! ”

“ Because in that case I shall wish I had made the amount less.”
“I—don’t—think—he—will,” said Bell, busily straightening the bureau-cover. “He—he’s a very nice boy and a splendid scholar. Mr. Blackman wanted him to fit for college, but they’re real poor; they live up-stairs in Mr. Pratt’s house, and Mr. Bowers took him into his store. They say he makes him work real hard. His father’s gone to sea, or something. They aren’t exactly in our set; we never call,” concluded Bell in her grandest manner. ”

“ Bell, so much so, that at the period of the revolution in 1830, it employed upwards of two hundred and twenty workmen daily. In 1836, on the death of the proprietor, it passed into the hands of a joint stock company, by whom it has been enlarged to more than thrice its previous extent, at an expense of upwards of one million of francs. It is at present conducted by Mr. Windsor, a gentleman from Leeds, and is certainly the most admirably arranged establishment of the kind I have ever seen—those of England not excepted. ”

“ Bell revealed to her much of the sadness and melancholy of his first years in London, oppressed by the consciousness of not occupying a position corresponding to his talents, and finding everywhere difficulties. “Many and many a time in the prosecution of my plans of life have I wished that I were with the armies, to rid myself of the load of life without discredit.” He was married on the 3d of June, 1811.
The next year was another important landmark in Charles Bell’s life. He accepted an offer of partnership with Mr. Wilson in the Great Windmill Street School of Medicine. ”

“ Together they charged the door and were beaten back “And that’s that, Bell,” said Reggie. He flashed his light round the crypt, and it fell again on the corpse. “You and me and the butler.”
Bell’s hand felt for him. “Mr. Fortune—Mr. Fortune—was he dead when he came here?”
“Oh Lord, yes. Sir Brian’s quite a humane man. But business is business.”
“Sir Brian?” Bell gasped. ”

“ For the rest of the way Sir Brian told strange stories of the past of the family of Carwell.
“He’s a good talker, sir,” said Superintendent Bell, when they had left him at the park gate and were in their car. “Very pleasant company. But you’ve something on your mind.”
“The chair,” Reggie mumbled. “Why was the man in his chair?”
“Lord Carwell, sir?” Bell struggled to adjust his mind. “Well, he was. That girl was telling the truth.”
“I know, I know. That’s the difficulty. You smash the side of a man’s head in. He won’t sit down to think about it.” ”

“ He is only waiting at home for a pair of colours, which he is certain to get in these war times, so that you may not be long troubled with him. An idle young man is a great trouble and snare. You see I think it right to warn you, Miss Barlowe”—Mrs. Siddons cleared her conscience—“before sending you to this situation.”
“Mr. Charles Kingscote will not keep me back,” asserted Lady Bell, crossing her hands with an almost comical, youthful arrogance in her attitude, which expressed, “I shall put the young bumpkin in his proper place and keep him there, trust me for that.” ”

“ Gardiner G. Hubbard and Mr. Thomas Sanders—who were insisting that the wisest thing for Bell to do was to perfect the harmonic telegraph; then he would have money and leisure enough to build air castles like the telephone. ”

“ Alan and Teddy approached the girls, but Bullard was before them. The man refused to believe he was beaten.
"Doris," he said, almost pleasantly, "now that the clock has stopped, I feel at liberty to announce our engagement."
She looked at him bravely, but did not speak.
He lowered his voice. "Your father's debt to the Syndicate is paid, but—"
"Oh, you worm!" cried Marjorie. "Where's my revolver?"
But Alan took him by the collar and slung him halfway across the room, crying savagely: "How dare you speak to a lady?"
"Bravo, Mr. Craik!" Guidet chuckled. "Another good bean!" ”

“ Die did not dispute, though she had not been in public save at the quarter sessions, not even so far as to hear Mr. Greenwood preach in the little church close at hand, of which Squire Godwin was the patron, for these dozen years and more. The whole family at St. Bevis’s were to grace Lord Thorold’s wedding rejoicings.
CHAPTER VI.
FROM SCYLLA TO CHARYBDIS. “It is an ill wind which blows nobody good,” Lady Bell thought, rising with the alacrity of her years to join the pleasure-seekers. ”

“ She stays out at Nutfield with a bachelor brother, who is half a dozen years younger than she is; in short, who stands between her and you in point of age. I wish the difference had been the other way.”
“Why, madam?” demanded Lady Bell, like a little Turk.
“You need not look affronted.” Mrs. Siddons did not mind much having given the affront. “Try for your own sake, Miss Barlowe, and not be so thin-skinned; however, neither that defect, nor Mr. Charles Kingscote’s twenty-two years can be mended in a day. ”

“ It was about five o’clock when he reached Aberdare Mansions. He was admitted without delay to his employer’s study. Before he could speak, Mr. Risk, with a smile, said—
“Sorry I gave you that vain journey, Hayward. This morning a note from Symington came to the office requesting that the new certificates should be delivered to him at the Kingsway Grand Hotel.”
“Yes; that’s the address his housekeeper gave me, Mr. Risk,” said Colin. “Do you wish me to take the letter there now?” he inquired, producing it. ”

“ So, when the chance came, I felt it was my duty to take it. Accordingly, while they were going through the passage, I shut off the electric at the main switch." Caw paused to light a cigarette: he was becoming somewhat frivolous in his ways. "Later," he proceeded, "I gathered that they came out at the other end an engaged couple."
"Clever, Mr. Caw! You are a philosopher, I think."
"Oh, any idiot knows that people in that condition prefer darkness.
Still, I think I have done a service to both my masters, for she was Mr.
Christopher's choice for his nephew. ”

“ Grant,” she said. “Of course,” she added, a faint hint of inquiry in her tone, “they are of no value as claims to the platinum without the third.”
“Quite right—just as the third without these is mere paper and ink.”
“You had better take care of them, Mr. Stormont,” she said carelessly. And then: “I suppose what you're after is for me to give you freedom to secure your share of the platinum at once—”
“It will cost Grant nothing.”
“And what about myself, Mr. Stormont?”
“And Mrs. Lismore?”
“Ah, yes. I am a selfish person. But—” A sound she had been longing for had reached her ears at last. ”