Mr. Carleton

“ Carleton, "who would leave that ground waste, or would cultivate it only in the narrow spirit of a utilitarian. He needs an influence in his family not more refreshing than rectifying; and no man will seek that in one greatly his inferior. He is to be pitied who cannot fall back upon his home with the assurance that he has there something better than himself."
"Why, Mr. Carleton, sir--" said Mrs. Evelyn, with every line of her mouth saying funny things,--"I am afraid you have sadly neglected your own interest--have you anything at Carleton better than yourself?" ”

“ Surely Henry Carleton’s little evening had been enjoyed to the full by every one. And, as it chanced, even the humblest actor in it was to have his share of luck. Tom Satterlee, with some two thirds of his journey to Mr. Sheldon’s accomplished, suddenly gripped the reins more tightly as a warning blast fell on his ears, and a moment later a big motor whizzed past him from the rear. Instantly he recognized the chauffeur, driving alone, and the next moment his cheerful hail had brought the motor to a halt. ”

“ It was ten o’clock the next morning, when, no whit less discouraged and sick at heart, he contrived to gain an audience with Henry Carleton. Even the great man’s unfailing affability, this morning, it seemed, even kindlier and more pronounced than ever, for once failed to awaken in Vaughan’s downcast face any semblance of an answering [Pg 248] gleam. “Bad news, Mr. Carleton,” he said, briefly, “it’s been rejected again.” ”

“ His little oily professional smile was as winning and as confident as ever. Yet he realized that he was dealing with a busy man, and prudently determined, while the chance yet remained to him, to play his last card without delay.
“I understand, my dear Mr. Carleton,” he exclaimed, “I perfectly understand. For a man like yourself, a man of your standing in the community, none can realize better than I what a tax these constant [Pg 152] demands must be, on patience and on pocket-book as well.” He paused for just the veriest instant, inwardly to smack his lips ”

“ Van Socum bore his honors modestly. “Six,” he answered, again producing the subscription book from his pocket, “six; and excellent position in all. And of course our own paper, The Flaming Torch, which in itself has a circulation by no means contemptible. Let me see. Five hundred, Mr. Carleton? A thousand, perhaps, would be almost too large a sum.”
Inwardly Henry Carleton was returning the compliment the Reverend Doctor had just paid to him. “This fellow,” he thought, “is thrown away on the church. I could use a man like him to excellent [Pg 156] advantage.” ”

“ Henry Carleton looked, as he felt, a trifle uncomfortable. “I deplore,” he said, a little stiffly, “any publicity in such matters. The right hand, and the left, Van Socum, you know.”
Occasionally an expert boxer, for some reason of his own, will leave himself unguarded, purposely to invite a blow. With joy the Reverend William Van Socum foresaw the beginning of the end. “True! true!” he cried, “as far as the giver is concerned. But for the effect on others, Mr. Carleton. ”

“ Family trees and all that never meant such a great deal to me, and [Pg 171] money bags even less, but for Rose’s sake, why, I wish I were the wealthiest man in the world, and the most aristocratic; she ought to have everything that a girl can have. So you’re awfully good not to make a row.”
Again Henry Carleton smiled. “Nonsense,” he said heartily, “those things make no difference with me, either. You’ve chosen a great career, and all we must do now is to make success assured, so that you can come to me as I know you want to come, saying, ‘Mr. Carleton, I’m earning a fair living ”

“ Helmar shook his head. “No, that’s all,” he answered, “and I’m mighty glad to trade. For one thing, I was just thinking how the country would [Pg 5] look to-day, and for another, I’d like to meet old Mr. Carleton. I knew Jack Carleton very well when we were in college—as well as I knew anyone, really. So I should enjoy meeting his father.”
Doctor Morrison paused a moment. He was rather a well-advised man on social affairs. ”Jack Carleton,” he repeated, “some trouble there somewhere, isn’t there? Isn’t he the one who doesn’t live at home?”
“Yes,” Helmar assented, “he’s the one. ”

“ Farrington himself, a man perhaps best described by saying that he perfectly typified that somewhat vague being whom most of us have in mind when we speak glibly of the “average man.” “Average” best described him in height, build, and appearance, the nondescript sort of person whom one meets on Monday, and passes in the street on Tuesday, wholly unconscious of ever having seen him before.
As Jack entered, he glanced up quickly. “Mr. Carleton?” he questioned, and as Jack nodded, motioned to a chair. ”

“ All would-be literary men, in greater or less degree, were poor. Vaughan, presuming on a rather slight acquaintanceship, had come to borrow money. The whole matter was painfully plain.
And then, even at the very instant when Henry Carleton had sorrowfully, but with philosophy, arrived at this inevitable conclusion, Vaughan, [Pg 164] drawing a long breath, at last found his tongue. “Why,” he said, speaking with a seeming boldness and hardihood which in reality were but the result of the most extreme embarrassment, “it’s like this, Mr. Carleton; I want to marry Rose.” ”

“ It would help immensely. And as for to-morrow night, nothing could please me more. And how is Jack? I haven’t seen him since he got back from the West.”
“Jack is greatly improved, I think,” Henry Carleton answered, as it seemed to Vaughan, a trifle shortly, “however, you’ll see him to-morrow night, and can judge for yourself.”
Vaughan nodded. “I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “I got the impression from his letters that he was doing far better in every way, and I’m awfully glad if it’s so. Well, I must go, Mr. Carleton. You’ve been very kind to take everything the way you have. ”

“ Some men would have hit up the claim agent for a stake; Shanley hit up Carleton for a job. But for modesty's sake, previous to presenting himself before the superintendent's desk, he borrowed from one of the wrecking crew the only available article of wearing apparel at hand—a very dirty and disreputable pair of overalls. Dirty and disreputable, but—whole.
"I want a job, Mr. Carleton," said he bluntly, when he had gained admittance to the super.
"You do, eh?" replied Carleton, looking him up and down. "You do, eh? You're a pretty hard-looking nut, h'm?" ”

“ Vaughan nodded. “Yes, that’s like Mr. Carleton,” he said. “But of course it wasn’t any of his [Pg 224] fault, just the same. He couldn’t have looked ahead to anything like that.”
“No, indeed, sir,” the man answered heartily, “of course he couldn’t. But as you say, sir, it’s like him. He’s always very considerate with all of us. Oh, he certainly took on terrible; he was as white as a sheet when they brought poor Tom in.”
“Yes, yes,” said Vaughan absently, “I don’t doubt;” then quickly, “and how about Mr. Jack?” ”

“ Carleton was scribbling on a piece of paper.
"All right, h'm?" he said, looking up and handing over the paper. "There's an order on Dinkelman, only get some one else to show you the way this time, and take the other side of the street going up. Understand?"
"Mr. Carleton," Shanley blurted out, "if ever I get full again, you——"
"I will!" said Carleton grimly. "I'll fire you so hard and fast you'll be out of breath for a month. Don't make any mistake about that. No man gets more than two chances with me. ”

“ My young friend, however, is at the present—you remember as in pasenti, Edward—only an ensign, but, please God, old as some of us are, Mrs. M. to wit—ahem! we will live to shake hands with him as captain yet.”
“You mean, of course, my dear,” said his wife, “that I will live to do so; the youngest, as the proverb has it, lives longest. No man, Mr. Roberts, will more regret the improbability of verifying his own wishes than Mr. Mainwaring.”
“Ah, Martha! you're always too hard for me,” he replied, laughing. ”

“ A horse is good enough for me. It isn’t your automobile troubles I want to hear about, Tom. It’s your own, if you’ve got any, only I don’t believe you have. As near as I can make out, you’re an infernally lucky man.”
The chauffeur nodded. “I am that, sir,” he answered, readily enough. “No man could have had better luck, or more of it, than I’ve had the last year. It seems sometimes to me, Mr. Jack, like it couldn’t really be so. It’s been most too much for one man.”
Jack nodded. “It was all a surprise to me,” he said. “Mr. Carleton never told me he’d built you the house ”

“ I wouldn't threaten you if there wasn't niver another man in Europe. Let me out, if you plaise—let me out, and may the div—the Lord lov you!”
“Now,” said the other, raising the blinds and afterwards opening the door, “you may go about your business, and mark me, Mr Hourigan—”
“I do, sir,” replied the other, bolting out “oh, God knows I do—you have marked me, Misther Purcel, and I will mark you, sir—for—” he added muttering in a low voice to those who stood about him—“one good turn desarves another, anyhow.” ”

“ The noblemen and gentlemen in the country around were very glad, all of them, I am told, of Mr. Carleton's return. Is there nothing more I can do for you, Ma'am?"
The last question was put with an indefinable touch of kindliness which had not softened the respect of her first words. Fleda begged her to show the way to the library, which Mrs. Fothergill immediately did, remarking, as she ushered her in, that "those were Mr. Carleton's favourite rooms." ”

“ Why, do they think—”
The man shook his head. “Nobody knows anything, sir,” he answered. “It was right near his house; right underneath a big high rock; he might have fell off, or been pushed off; you couldn’t tell. Of course, sir, they’ve sent for the medical examiner, direct. He should be here in an hour or two, I should judge, sir, at the most.”
“Yes, yes,” Vaughan assented. “I understand;” then at once added, “and what does Mr. Carleton say?”
“Oh, he feels terribly, sir,” the valet answered, “I never saw him so broke up in my life. ”

“ Farrington, glancing up, acknowledged his greeting, with a curt nod; then looked at him with questioning gaze. “Well?” he said.
“Well,” Jack echoed, a trifle deprecatingly, “you can guess what I’ve come for, I suppose. You saw the opening. I want ten thousand more—fifteen, if I can have it—but ten will do.”
Farrington looked him straight in the eye.
[Pg 103] “Ten will do,” he echoed; then, dryly, “I should think it would.” He paused for the veriest instant, then added, with the utmost directness, “It’s no go, Mr. Carleton. I’m caught myself. I can’t let you have a cent.” ”

“ Satterlee’s assent could hardly have been readier, or more heartily given. “Of course I’ll go, sir,” he answered, “and be more than glad to. It’s not too long a drive, sir. The night’s fine. Let me see. Twelve miles over. Twelve miles back. I could take old Robin, sir, and make it in a matter of three hours, or I could take Fleetwood, in the sulky, and make it in pretty near an hour quicker, if there’s haste.”
Henry Carleton shook his head. “Oh, no, there’s no special hurry,” he answered, “and I wouldn’t take Fleetwood, I think. I want to save him for Mr. Jack to drive to-morrow. ”

“ Alick.”
“Thank you, Mogue; I really feel obliged to you; and I shall think over what you have said to me. If we admit any stranger to sleep in the house, with the exception of Mr. M'Carthy, you shall be the man; I will promise you that much, conditionally.”
“And not a word of what I hinted about Jerry?”
“You need not be at all uneasy on that score; as I said, I shall keep my eye on him. We must now go to prepare for this auction, which, of course, so far as we are concerned, will be both an unpleasant and unprofitable affair. Go, then, and get the horses. ”

“ O'Driscol.”
“Of course I will not, Mr. Purcel; not a bit of it. I will ride—armed, of course—past Philpot's corner this very day, at half-past three o'clock; that is all I say.”
“Well all I can say,” returned Alick, “is that you are a fearfully-determined man, sir.”
“I grant that, Alick, I know I am; but then it is in my nature. I was born with it—I was born with it. Any news?”
“Why not much, sir. That scoundrel, Buck English, has written to my father, notwithstanding all that happened, to know if he will consent to let Julia marry him. ”

“ The neighbors, men, women, and children, ran out to be spectators; the laborers suspended their work to enjoy it, assembling on such eminences as commanded a full view of the pursuit.
“Bravo, boys—success, masther; lie into him—where's your huntin' horn, Mr. Kavanagh?—he'll bate yez if ye don't take the wind of him. Well done, Callaghan, keep up yer heart, yer sowl, and you'll do it asy—you're gaining' on them, ma bouchal—the masther's down, you gallows clip, an' there's none but the scholars afther ye—he's safe.” ”

“ Here it is then, Misther Purcel, let you and your sons do what the ould song says—'be good boys and take care of yourselves. Thighin thu? (*Do you understand.) An' this gintleman, if I knew his name, maybe I'd say something to him too.”
“This is Mr. M'Carthy, Cannie.”
“Ay, M'Carthy—troth 'tis a good ould name. Well, Mr. M'Carthy, all I have to say to you! is, that if you happen to meet a man that gives you good advice, TAKE IT. An' now God be Wid you all, an' spare you to one another!” ”