Reginald Cruden

“ We subjoin full list of winter clothing for gentlemen, ladies, and children. Money orders to be made payable to Cruden Reginald, Esquire, Secretary, 13, Shy Street, Liverpool.”
“Hullo!” said Reginald, looking up excitedly, “don’t fold up any more of those, boy. They’ve made a mistake in my name and called me Cruden Reginald instead of Reginald Cruden. It will have to be altered.”
“Oh, ah. There’s on’y a couple of billions on ’em printed; that won’t take no time at all,” said Master Love, beginning to think longingly of Tim Tigerskin. ”

“ Oh, Cruden,” ejaculated his depressed friend.
“Why, what’s wrong?” said Horace. “Don’t you think she’s nice?”
“She is; but Shuckleford, Cruden, is not.”
“Hullo, you two,” said the voice of the gentleman in question at this moment; “you seem jolly thick. Oh, of course, shopmates; I forgot; both in the news line. Eh? Now, who’s for musical chairs? Don’t all speak at once.”
“I shall have to play the piano now, Mr Reginald,” said Miss Jemima, making a last effort to get a word out of her silent companion. “I’m afraid you’re not enjoying yourself a bit.” ”

“ Like an old war horse, Reginald gazed through the palings and snorted as the cry of battle rose in the air.
“Hack it through, sir!” “Well run!” “Collar him there!”
As he heard those old familiar cries it seemed to him as if the old life had come back to him with a sudden rush. He was no longer a poor baited secretary, but a joyous school-boy, head of his form, lord and master of half a dozen fags, and a caution and example to the whole junior school. He had chums by the score; his study was always crowded with fellows wanting him to do this or help them in that. How jolly to be popular! ”

“ I say, Cruden, it’s a merciful thing for me you’ve come. I was bound to go to the dogs if I’d gone on as I was much longer.”
Reginald brightened. It pleased him just now to think any one was glad to see him, and the spontaneous way in which this boy had come under his wing won him over completely.
“We must manage to stick together,” he said. “Horace, you know, is working in another part of the office. It’s awfully hard lines, for we set our minds on being together. But it can’t be helped ”

“ When Reginald announced that he had written and accepted the invitation to Liverpool, there was no jubilation, no eager congratulation.
“What shall we do without you?” said Mrs Cruden.
“It is horrid having to go, mother,” said the boy; “but we must make the best of it. If you look so unhappy, I shall be sorry I ever thought of it.”
His mother tried to smile, and said,—
“Yes, we must try and make the best of it, dear boys; and if we cannot seem as glad as we should like to be, it’s not to be wondered at at first, is it?”
“I hope you’ll get holidays enough now and then to run up,” said Horace. ”

“ Oh, never mind, if it’s secrets! Nice it is, Mrs Cruden, to see young people such good friends so soon. We must be going now, children,” she added. “We shall soon see our friends in our own ’ouse, I ’ope.”
A tender leave-taking ensued. For a while, as the retreating footsteps of the visitors gradually died away on the stairs, the little family stood motionless, as though the slightest sound might recall them. But when at last the street-door slammed below, Reginald flung himself into a chair and groaned.
“Mother, we can’t stay here. We must leave to-morrow!”
Horace could not help laughing. ”

“ A flush of pleasure rose to Reginald’s cheeks, such as would have moved to pity any heart less cold-blooded than Mr Medlock’s.
“No one has called, I suppose?”
“No, sir. There’s been a letter, though, from the Rev. T. Mulberry, of Woolford-in-the-Meadow, to ask why the suit he ordered has not yet been delivered.”
Mr Medlock smiled.
“These good men are so impatient,” said he; “they imagine their order is the only one we have to think of. What would they think of the four hundred and odd suits we have on order, eh, Mr Reginald?” ”

“ We must hope for the best, anyhow.”
And with a brotherly grip of the hand they turned over and went to sleep.
Reginald presented himself at the Rocket next morning in an unusual state of trepidation. He had half made up his mind to march straight to the manager’s room and tell him boldly what had happened, and take his discharge from him. But Horace dissuaded him.
“After all,” he said, “Durfy may think better of it.”
“Upon my word I hardly know whether I want him to,” said Reginald, “except for young Gedge’s sake and mother’s. Anyhow, I’ll wait and see, if you like.” ”

“ What are you talking about?” said Reginald, in blank amazement.
“Oh, I’ve give him a wonner,” said the boy, beaming. “He says to me, ‘Collar all the letters your gov’nor writes ’ome,’ he says, ‘and I’ll give you a tanner for every one you shows me.’”
“Love, you’re talking rubbish!” said Reginald indignantly.
“Are I? don’t you make no mistake,” said the boy confidently; “I knows what he says; and that there letter you wrote home last night and leaves on the table, ‘That’s a tanner to me,’ says I to myself when I sees it this morning. ‘A lie,’ says I, recollecting of that chap in the story-book. ”

“ Barely convalescent, and still in the agony of suspense as to Reginald’s fate, Mrs Cruden was able to see no one. But the major was not thus to be baulked of his friendly intentions. Before he left the house he wrote a letter, which in due time lay in the widow’s hands and brought tears to her eyes.
“Dear Mrs Cruden,—I am on my way back to Malta, and sorry not to see you. We all have our troubles, but you seem to have had more than your share; and what I should have liked would be to see whether there was anything an old friend of your husband could do to serve you. ”

“ The trial of Medlock and Shanklin took place in due time, and among the witnesses the most important, but the most reluctant, was Reginald Cruden. It was like a hateful return to the old life to find himself face to face with those men, and to have to tell over again the story of their knavery and his own folly. But he went through with it like a man. ”

“ Was it as bad as you expected?”
“It wasn’t particularly jolly,” said Reginald, shrugging his shoulders—“nothing like Wilderham, was it, Horrors?”
“Well, it was a different sort of fun, certainly,” said Horace. “You see, mother, our education has been rather neglected in some things, so we didn’t get on as well as we might have done.”
“Do you mean in the literary work?” said Mrs Cruden. “I’m quite sure you’ll get into it with a little practice.”
“But it’s not the literary work, unluckily,” said Reginald.
“Ah! you mean clerk’s work. You aren’t as quick at figures, perhaps, as you might be?” ”

“ Heigho! suppose “J.S.” had got a mother like Mrs Cruden, what a brute he must be to cut away. What had he been doing to her? robbing her? or bullying her? or what? Reginald worked himself into a state of wrath over the prodigal, and very nearly persuaded himself to leave out the promise of forgiveness altogether.
“If the young gentleman who dropped an envelope in the Putney omnibus on the evening of the 6th instant will apply to B, at 16, Grip Street, he may hear of something to his advantage.”
How some people were born to luck! ”

“ Reginald smiled.
“I work for my living,” said he, keeping his eye steadily fixed on Mr Pillans, as if waiting to catch the first sign of an insult on his part.
“That’s what we all do, more or less,” said Mr Shanklin. “Blandford here works like a nigger to spend his money, don’t you, old man?”
“I do so,” said Blandford, “with your valuable assistance.”
“And with somebody else’s assistance too,” said Mr Pillans, with a shrug in the direction of Reginald. ”

“ Reginald returned to the foul garret, and found Love still asleep, but tossing restlessly, and muttering to himself the while.
He sat down beside him and waited till he opened his eyes.
At first the boy looked round in a bewildered way as though he were hardly yet awake, but presently his eyes fell on Reginald and his face lit up.
“Gov’nor,” he said, with a smile, sitting up.
“Well, old boy,” said Reginald, “what a long sleep you’ve had. Are you rested?”
“I ’ave ’ad sich dreams, gov’nor, and—my, ain’t it cold!” And he shivered. ”

“ To his mother, and even to young Gedge, he said nothing of his misgivings, but to Horace, as the two lay awake that night, he made a clean breast of all.
“You’ll call me a fool, I suppose,” he said; “but how could I help it?”
“A fool! Why, Reg, I know I should have done the same. But for all that, it is unlucky.”
“It is. Even eighteen shillings a week is better than nothing,” said Reginald, with a groan. “Poor mother was saying only yesterday we were just paying for our keep, and nothing more. What will she do now?” ”

“ It is sad, of course, to lose any one’s good esteem, but as things really did look up for the Crudens—as Reginald really did recover, as Mrs Cruden and Horace really did not go to the workhouse, and as the Grand Roundabout Railway really was spirited enough to buy up the Wishwash and Longstop Railway at half-price, I cannot help saying so, whatever the consequences may be. ”

“ The Crudens had always been great heroes in the eyes of their schoolfellows, for their family was unimpeachable, and even with others who had greater claims to be considered as aristocratic, their ample pocket-money commended them as most desirable companions.
Mr Cruden, however, with all his virtues and respectability, was not a good man of business. People said he let himself be imposed upon by others who knew the value of money far better than he did. His own beautiful estate at Garden Vale, Rumour said, was managed at double the expense it should be ”

“ She stood with her eyes fixed on her boy, and felt she needed all her courage to do that steadily.
“Horrors,” said Reg, as the guard locked the carriage door, and the usual silence which precedes the blowing of the whistle ensued, “keep your eye on young Gedge, will you? there’s a good fellow.”
“I will, and I’ll—”
But here the whistle sounded, and amid the farewells that followed, Reginald went out into his new world, leaving them behind, straining their eyes for a last look, but little dreaming how and when that little family should meet again. ”

“ He had not spirit or resolution enough to wait to see Gedge or any one that evening, but slunk away, hating the sight of everybody, and wishing only he could lose himself and forget that such a wretch as Reginald Cruden existed.
Ah! Reginald. It’s a long race to escape from oneself. Men have tried it before now with better reason than you, and failed. Wait till you have something worse to run from, my honest, foolish friend. Face round like a man, and stand up to your pursuer. ”

“ I hope so.”
“Workmen!” exclaimed Reginald, suddenly. “Do you mean we are to be workmen, Mr Richmond? Just like any fellows in the street. Couldn’t you find anything better than that for us?”
“My dear Master Cruden, I am very sorry for you, and would gladly see you in a better position. But it is not a case where we can choose. ”

“ He disliked Mr Durfy, and therefore he flared up if Mr Durfy so much as looked at him. He liked young Gedge, and therefore it was impossible to leave the youngster to his fate and let him ruin himself without an effort at rescue.
It is one thing to snatch a heedless one from under the hoofs of a cab-horse and another to pick him up from the slippery path of vice and set him firmly on his feet. Reginald had thought nothing of the one, but he looked forward with considerable trepidation to meeting the boy next morning and attempting the other. ”

“ Whatever it is, Booms’s doleful face relaxes presently into a solemn smile, and Miss Crisp goes over and sits by Mrs Cruden, who puts her arm round the blushing girl and kisses her in a very motherly way on the forehead. It is a curious piece of business altogether, and it is just as well the four young men are too engrossed in football and cricket to notice it, and that Gedge and Waterford find their whole attention occupied by the contents of the little bookcase in the corner to have eyes for anything else. ”

“ What was the use of trying to be better than others when the result was an infamy which, had he been a little more greedy or a little less upright, he might have avoided?
What was the use of conscious innocence and unstained honour, when they could not save him from a sense of shame of which no convicted felon could know the bitterness?
It would go out to all the world that Reginald Cruden, the suspected swindler, had been “let off” for lack of evidence after three days’ imprisonment. ”

“ Already Love was curled up and asleep on the bed next to that where the other lodger lay; and Reginald, stifling every feeling but his weariness, flung himself by his side and soon forgot both place and surroundings in a heavy sleep.
Heavy but fitful. He had scarcely lain an hour when he found himself suddenly wide awake. Love still lay breathing heavily beside him. The other lodger turned restlessly from side to side, muttering to himself, and sometimes moaning like a person in pain. It must have been these latter sounds which awoke Reginald. ”

“ I never did have much faith in the chap, but I didn’t fancy he was that sort. Cruden Reginald, eh? Nice boy you are. Never mind! I’m dead on you this time. Nuisance it is that ma’s gone and mixed herself up with that lot. Can’t be helped, though; business is business; and such a bit of practice too. Cruden Reginald! ”

“ Reginald had leisure to notice one or two little points as he went on, which, though trivial in themselves, still interested him. He observed for one thing that the largest proportion of the names marked in the directory were either ladies or clergymen, and most of them residing in the south of England. Very few of them appeared to reside in any large town, but to prefer rural retreats “far from the madding crowd,” where doubtless a letter, even on the business of the Corporation, would be a welcome diversion to the monotony of existence. ”