CHAPTER XXVII.
RESTITUTION.
Shortly after Scrafton's departure, Gordon Lowndes also took his leave.It was not, however, until he had offered Harry his hand with muchdiffidence, and the younger man had grasped it without a moment'shesitation. At this the other coloured and dropped his eyes, but stoodfor some moments returning Harry's pressure twofold.
"Ringrose," he faltered, "I would give all I'm worth to-night to havetold the truth in the beginning. But how could I? I might as well haveblown my brains out. I--I tried to be your friend instead. I supposeyou'll never let me be your friend any more?"
It is doubtful whether any man could have said these words to HarryRingrose, in any conceivable circumstances, without receiving some suchresponse as that which instantly burst from his lips. Want ofgenerosity was not one of Harry's faults; yet he had no sooner forgivenLowndes, once and for all, and with a whole heart, than an inner voicereminded him that he had but served self-interest in doing so; and thereason, coming home to him like a bullet, gave a strange turn to hisemotions.
The father was sitting in a deep reverie in his wife's chair: his facewas in his hands: he neither saw nor heard. Harry looked at him,hesitated, and in the end not only saw Lowndes to the door butaccompanied him downstairs in the first leaden light of the Septembermorning. He had something more to say.
He merely wanted to know whether Miss Lowndes was in town, and whetherhe might call. Yet he only got it out as they were shaking hands forthe last time.
"You mean at Berkeley Square?" said Lowndes.
"Yes--if I may."
"You'll have to be quick about it, Ringrose. We leave there in a day ortwo. The men are already in the house. Still, I've no doubt she'll beglad to see you."
"Taking a country seat?" asked Harry, smiling.
"No, a suburban one: the sort of thing we had at Richmond, only ratherbetter."
"You don't mean it!"
"A fact."
"But the Crofters are paying such a dividend?"
Gordon Lowndes shrugged his shoulders with a gesture that remindedHarry of former days.
"A paltry fourteen per cent.!" said he. "I'm sick of it. I thought weshould all be millionaires by this time. I've sold out, and, of course,at a good enough figure; but we've been doing ourselves pretty wellthese last few years, and I haven't got much change out of the Croftersafter all. In point of fact, it would take a few thousands to clear me;but, on the other hand, the credit's better than ever it was, and I'msimply chock-a-block with new plans. Loaded to the muzzle, Ringrose,and just spoiling for the fray! I know my nature better than ever Iknew it before. I wasn't built for sitting in a chair and drawing mysalary and receiving my dividends. I've found that out. It's worryingthe thing through that I enjoy; there's some sport in that. However,I'm as lively as an old cheese with schemes and ideas; and one of them,at least, should appeal to you. It's a composite daily paper onabsolutely new lines--that is, on all existing lines run parallel for apenny. My idea is to knock out the _Times_ and the _Guardian_ on onehand, and _Punch_ and the _Pink 'Un_ on the other. What should you sayto coming in as comic editor at a four-figure screw?"
"Where's the capitalist?" was what Harry said.
"Where is he not?" cried Lowndes. "Every man Jack of them would jump atit! I made such a success of the Crofters that I could raise a millionto-morrow for any crack-brained scheme I liked to put my name to. Yes,my boy, I'll have my pick of the capitalists this time; have themcoming to me with their hats in one hand and their cheque-books in theother; but, between ourselves, I don't think we shall have far to seekfor our man, Ringrose!"
"What do you mean?" cried Harry, his curiosity whetted by the other'stone.
"Ask your father," was the reply. "I may be mistaken, and he mayn'thave made such a pile as I imagine; but he'll tell you as soon as hehas you to himself; and meanwhile I'll warn Fanny that you're going tolook her up."
A hansom tinkled and twinkled across the jaws of Earl's Court Road; andas the light-hearted rapscallion darted off in pursuit, few would havebelieved with what a deed he had been connected; fewer still with whatemotion he had lamented his wickedness not five minutes ago.
* * * * *
The father had not stirred, but he looked up as Harry burst in,breathless and ashamed.
"What, have you been out?"
"Yes, father," with deep humility.
"And where is Lowndes?"
"I have been seeing him off."
"I never heard him go," said Mr. Ringrose, with a deep sigh. "The oldthings about me--they carried me back into the past. One question,Harry, and then you shall hear all you care to know. We found out fromthe commissionaire that your mother is at Eastbourne. What is she doingthere?"
"I thought it would set her up for the winter."
"Is she not well?"
"Perfectly, father; but--she likes it, and--we were able to do it lastyear."
"She is in lodgings, then, and alone?"
"Yes."
"When does the next train leave?"
"Eight-ten," said Harry, a minute later.
Mr. Ringrose had shaded his eyes once more. They shone like a youngman's as with a sudden gesture he whisked his hand away and snatched athis watch.
"Only five hours more! Thank God--thank God--that I can look her in theface to-day!"
* * * * *
"Do you remember how I taught you to swim when you were a tiny shrimp?It was my one accomplishment in my own boyhood, my one love amongoutdoor sports, and I sometimes think it must have been implanted in mefor the express purpose of saving my life when the time came. Certainlynothing else could have saved it; and I cannot think that I was sparedby mere chance, Harry, but intentionally, for better things. Mine hadbeen an easy life up to that time; even in my difficulties it had beenan easy life. Well, it has not been easy since!
"He stunned me first--that's how it happened. He struck me a murderousblow as I was leaving him to go in search of Lowndes. I knew no moreuntil I was in the water. Then, before my head was clear, my limbs weredoing their work. I was keeping myself afloat. I kept myself afloatuntil close upon daylight, when a French fisherman picked me up. Hecarried me to his cottage on the coast, and treated me from first tolast with a kindness which I hope still to reward. At the time I boughthis silence, with but little faith in his sticking to his bargain; nowI know how loyally he must have done so. When I left him it was to findmy way to Havre, and at Havre I took ship for Naples. I had still alittle paper-money which had not come to me from Lowndes, and which Idid not think likely to leave traces. With this money I transhipped atNaples, after reading of my own mysterious disappearance from Dieppe.Yes, that puzzled me; but I thought and thought, and hit at last uponsomething not altogether unlike the actual explanation. No, I nevercontemplated returning to unmask the villain who had attempted mymurder. I was beginning to feel almost grateful to him. It was to him Iowed such a fresh start as no ruined man ever had before.... Harry,Harry, don't look like that! My ruin was complete in any case. Howcould I come back and say I had been running away with the money, buthad thought better of it? I could have come back in the beginning, andmet my creditors without telling them what I had been tempted to do.This was impossible now. It was too late to undo the immediate effectsof my disappearance; it was not too late to begin life afresh underanother name and in another land. Rightly or wrongly, that is what Iresolved to do--for my family's sake as much as for my own. They mustforgive me, or my heart will break!"
* * * * *
It was to Durban that the fugitive had taken ship at Naples. He hadlanded on those shores within a month of the day on which his son hadquitted them. And the first man he met there was one who recognised himon the spot. But good came of it; the man was an old friend, and proveda true one; he was down from Johannesburg on business, and when hereturned Mr. Ringrose accompanied him. With this staunch friend theironma
ster's secret was safe; and partly through him, and partly withhim--for within the year the pair were partners--the man who had lost afortune bit by bit in the old country had made another by leaps andbounds in the new. Which was a sufficiently romantic story when Harrycame to hear it in detail at a later date. At the time it was but thebare fact that the father cared to chronicle or the son to hear. It wasthe result on which Mr. Ringrose preferred to dwell. That very day hehad returned with interest (before he knew that his wife had beenpaying it all these years) the money those four old friends had lenthim through Gordon Lowndes. He had barely touched it, and would havereturned it long ago, only he did not want his wife and son to knowthat he was alive until he could come back to them a rich enough man toatone in some degree for the wrong that he had done them--for thepoverty and the shame they had endured for his sake.
Harry said that Lowndes had spoken as though his father was amillionaire. Mr. Ringrose smiled slightly as he shook his head.
"That's entirely his own idea," said he. "There might have been sometruth in it in a few more years; but, as it is, it was no great pile Iset myself to make, and I am more than content in having made it. Inpoint of fact I am a poorer man than I was when you were born, but I ama free man for the first time for many years. This very day I have paidevery penny that I owed here in town. A cheque is also on its way tothe old firm, with which they can settle to-morrow any outstandingliabilities, and put the rest into the works in my name. And now I canface your mother. I could not do it until I could tell her this."
Yet he had not been a dozen hours in England; the cheques had beenwritten on board, and posted the moment he landed. On reaching Londonhe had gone straight to Gordon Lowndes, and it was only the almostsimultaneous arrival of Scrafton which had kept him so long fromseeking his own. Scrafton, who had latterly taken to pestering hisvictim almost daily, had ultimately left him (to the delight ofLowndes) with the avowed intention of carrying out his old threat andgoing straight to Harry Ringrose. In what followed Harry's father hadonce more yielded, against his better judgment, to Gordon Lowndes.
"It was his frankness that did it," said Mr. Ringrose; "he told meeverything, before he need have told me anything at all, in his sheerjoy at seeing me alive. He told me everything that he has since toldyou, and upon my word I am not sure that you or I would have acted verydifferently in his place. It was while we were talking that Scraftoncalled, and I learned for myself how Lowndes had suffered at his hands.I could not refuse to give him his revenge, though I should have vastlypreferred to give it him there. Scrafton had gone, however, and Lowndesseemed almost equally anxious that you should judge between them, as itwere, on their merits. So he had his way ... I am glad you have made itup with him, Harry. He is a strange mixture of good and bad, but whichof us is not? And which of us does not need forgiveness from the other?I--most of all--need it from you!"
"And I from you," said Harry in a low voice.
"You? Why?"
"Four years ago I suspected foul play. I was sure of it. Some othertime I will tell you why."
"I rather think Lowndes has told me already. Well?"
"I held my tongue! I found out most on the promise of not trying tofind out any more. I shall never forgive myself for making thatpromise--and keeping it."
"Nay; thank God you did that!"
"You don't know what I mean."
"I think I do."
"Every day I have felt a traitor to you!"
"I think there has been a little morbid exaggeration," said Mr.Ringrose, with his worn smile. "What good could you have done? And towhom did you make this promise?"
Harry told him with a red face.
* * * * *
The night was at an end. Milk-carts clattered in the streets; milkmenclattered on the stairs. Harry put out the single light that had beenburning all night in the sober front of the many-windowed mansions; andin the early morning he took his father over the flat. The rooms hadnever seemed so few--so tiny. Mr. Ringrose made no remark until he wasback in the only good one that the flat contained.
"And your mother has made shift here all these years!" he exclaimedthen, and the remorse in his voice had never sounded so acute.
"Oh, no; we have only been here a year."
"Where were you before?"
"In a smaller flat downstairs."
"A smaller one than this? God forgive me! I was not prepared for much;but from what I read I did expect more than this!"
"From what you read?" cried Harry. "Read where?"
A new light shone in the father's face. "In some paragraphs I oncestumbled across in some paper--I have them in my pocket at thismoment!" said he. "Did you suppose I never saw your name in the papers,Harry? It has been my one link with you both. I saw it first byaccident, and ever since I have searched for it, and sent foreverything I could hear of that had your name to it. So I have alwayshad good news of you; and sometimes between the lines I have thought Iread good news of your mother too. God bless you ... God bless you ...for working for her ... and taking my place."
* * * * *
The old servant wept over her old master as though her heart wouldbreak with gladness. Her breakfast was a sorry thing, but no sooner wasit on the table than she was sent down for a hansom, and she was stillwhistling when the gentlemen rushed after her and flew to find one forthemselves. It was ten minutes to eight, and their train left Victoriaat ten minutes past.
Mrs. Ringrose was reading quietly in her room--reading some proof-sheetswhich Harry had posted to her the day before--when she heard the bellring and her boy's own step upon the stairs. "You have news!" she criedas he entered; then at his face--"He has come back!"
"Mother, did you expect it?"
"I have expected it every morning of all these years. I have prayed forit every night."
"Your prayer is answered!"
"Where is he?"
"I left him in the cab----"
"But he could not wait!" cried a broken voice; and as Harry stood asideto let his father pass, he could see nothing through his own tears, buthe never forgot the next words he heard.
"I have paid them all--all--all!" his father cried. "I can look theworld in the face once more!"
"I care nothing about that," his mother answered. "You have come backto me. Oh! you have come back!"