CHAPTER VIII.
A MILLIONAIRE IN THE MAKING.
There was a bright light in the little drawing-room, and Harry madesure that the master of the house had returned from town. Miss Lowndesput the question as soon as the door was opened, however, and he heardthe reply as he followed her within.
"No, miss, not yet."
"Then who is here?"
"Mr. Huxtable."
"Mr. Huxtable--in the drawing-room?"
"He insisted on waiting, and I thought he might as well wait there asanywhere."
Harry thought the man's manner presumptuous, and, looking at himseverely, was actually answered with a wink. Before he had time tothink twice about that, however, Miss Lowndes marched erect into thedrawing-room, and the visitor at her heels became the unwilling witnessof a scene which he never forgot.
A little bald man had planted himself on the hearthrug, where he stoodtrembling like a terrier on the leash, in an attitude of indescribabletruculence and determination.
"Good evening, young lady!" cried he, in a tone so insolent that Harrylonged to assault him on the spot.
"Good evening, Mr. Huxtable. Do you wish to speak to me?"
"No, thank you, miss. Not this time. I've spoken to you often enoughand nothing's come of it. To-night I mean to see your pa. 'E's not come'ome yet, 'asn't 'e? Then 'ere I stick till 'e does."
"May I ask what you want with him?"
"May you arst?" roared Mr. Huxtable. "I like that, I'm blessed if Idon't! Oh, yes, you may arst, young lady, and you may pretend you don'tknow; and much good it'll do you! I want my money; that's what _I_want. Thirty-eight pound seventeen shillings and fourpence forbutcher-meat delivered at this 'ere 'ouse--that's all _I_ want! Ifyou've got it 'andy, well and good; and if 'e's got it 'andy when 'ecomes in, well and good again, for 'ere I wait; but if not, I'llcounty-court 'im to-morrow, and there's plenty more'll follow myexample. It's a perfect scandal the way this 'ouse is conducted. Not acoal or a spud, let alone a bit o' meat, are you known to 'ave paid forthis blessed year. It's all over Richmond, and for my part I'm sick ofit. I've been put off and put off but I won't be put off no more. 'EreI stick till 'is nibs comes in."
During the first half of this harangue--considerably lengthened bypauses during which the tradesman gasped for breath and seemed once ortwice on the verge of apoplexy--Harry Ringrose was on the horns of adilemma in the hall. One moment he was within an ace of rushing in andejecting the fellow on his own responsibility, and the next he felt itbetter to spare his new friend's feelings by making his own escape. Butthe butcher had only partly said his say when a latch-key grated in thedoor, and Gordon Lowndes entered in time to overhear the mostimpertinent part. Shutting the door softly behind him, he stoodlistening on the mat, with his head on one side and a very comicalexpression on his face. Harry had been tremulous with indignation.Lowndes merely shook with suppressed amusement; and, handing a heavyparcel to Harry, entered the room, as the tradesman ceased, in aperfect glow of good-humour and geniality.
"Ah! my dear Huxtable, how are you?" cried he. "Delighted to see you;only hope I haven't kept you very long. You must blame the Earl ofBanff, not me; he kept me with him until after eight o'clock. Not aword, my dear sir--not one syllable! I know exactly what you are goingto say, and don't wonder at your wishing to see me personally. My dearHuxtable, I sympathise with you from my soul! How much is it? Thirty orforty pounds, eh? Upon my word it's too bad! But there again the Earlof Banff's to blame, and I've a very good mind to let you send in youraccount to him. His Lordship has been standing between me and a millionof money all this year, but he won't do so much longer. I think I'vebrought him to reason at last. My good Mr. Huxtable, we're on the eveof the greatest success in modern finance. The papers will be full ofit in about a week's time, and I shall be a rich man. But meanwhile I'ma poor one--I've put my all on it--I've put my shirt on it--and I'm amuch poorer man than ever you were, Huxtable. Poor men should hangtogether, shouldn't they? Then stand by me another week, and I give youmy word I'll stand by you. I'll pay you thirty shillings in the pound!Fanny, my dear, write Mr. Huxtable an IOU for half as much again as weowe him; and let him county-court me for _that_ if he doesn't get itbefore he's many days older!"
Mr. Huxtable had made several ineffectual attempts to speak; now he wasleft without a word. Less satisfied than bewildered, he put the IOU inhis pocket and was easily induced to accept a couple of the Earl ofBanff's cigars before he went. Lowndes shook hands with him on thesteps, and returned rubbing his own.
"My dear Ringrose," said he, "I'm truly sorry you should have come infor this little revelation of our _res angusta_, but I hope you willlay to heart the object-lesson I have given you in the treatment ofthat harmful and unnecessary class known as creditors. There are buttwo ways of treating them. One is to kick them out neck-and-crop, andthe other you have just seen for yourself. But don't misunderstand me,Ringrose! I meant every word I said, and he shall have his thirtyshillings in the pound. The noble Earl has been a difficult fish toplay, but I think I've landed him this time. Yes, my boy, you'll bedrawing your three hundred a year, and I my thirty thousand, beforemidsummer; but I'll tell you all about it after supper. Why, bless mysoul, that's the supper you've got in your hands, Ringrose! Take itfrom him, Fanny, and dish it up, for I'm as hungry as a coach-load ofhunters, and I've no doubt Ringrose is the same."
And now Harry understood the trepidation with which Miss Lowndes hadconsulted him as to whether they should wait supper for her father, andher relief on hearing his opinion on the point: there had been nosupper in the house. Lowndes, however, had brought home material for anexcellent meal, of which caviare, a raised pie, French rolls,camembert, peaches and a pine-apple, and a bottle of Heidsieck, wereconspicuous elements. Black coffee followed, rather clumsily served bythe man-servant, who waited in a dress suit some sizes too small forhim. And after supper Harry Ringrose at last heard something definiteconcerning the Company from which he was still assured that he mightcount on a certain income of three hundred pounds a year.
"Last night my tongue was tied," said Lowndes; "but to-night the matteris as good as settled; and I may now speak without indiscretion. I musttell you first of all that the Company is entirely my own idea--and abetter one I never had in my life. It is founded on the elementaryprinciple that the average man gives more freely to a good cause thanto a bad one, but most freely to the good cause out of which he'slikely to get some change. He enjoys doing good, but he enjoys it mostwhen it pays him best, and there you have the root of the whole matter.Only hit upon the scheme which is both lucrative and meritorious, whichgives the philanthropist the consolation of reward, and themoney-grubber the kudos of philanthropy, and your fortune's made. Youmay spread the Gospel or the Empire, and do yourself well out ofeither; but, for my part, I wanted something nearer home--where charitybegins, Ringrose--and it took me years to hit upon the right thing.Ireland has been my snare: to ameliorate the Irish peasant and theEnglish shareholder at the same swoop: it can't be done. I wasted wholemonths over the Irish Peasants' Potato Produce Company, but it wouldn'tpan out. Nobody will put money into Ireland, and potatoes are cheapalready as the dirt they grow in. But I was working in the rightdirection, and the crofter grievances came as a godsend to me about ayear ago. The very thing! I won't trouble you with the intermediatestages; the Highland Crofters' Salmon and Trout Supply Association,Limited, will be registered this week; and the greatest of Scottishlandlords, my good old Earl of Banff, is to be Chairman of Directorsand rope in all the rest."
Harry asked how it was to be made to pay. Lowndes had every detail athis finger-ends, and sketched out an amazing programme with bewilderingvolubility. The price of salmon would be reduced a hundred per cent.The London shops would take none but the Company's fish. Fresh troutwould sell like herrings in the street, and the Company would buy upthe fishmongers' shops all over the country, just as brewers bought uppublic-houses. As soon as possible they would have their own line tothe North, and expresses full of
nothing but fish would do the distancewithout stopping in time hitherto unprecedented in railway annals.
"But," said Harry, "there are plenty of fish in the sea, and in otherplaces besides the Highlands."
"So there are, but in ten years' time we shall own every river in thekingdom, and every cod-bank round the coast."
"And where will the crofters come in then?"
Lowndes roared with laughter.
"They won't come in at all. It will be forgotten that they ever werein: the original Company will probably be incorporated with the BritishFresh Water and Deep Sea Fishing Company, Limited. Capital tenmillions. General Manager, Sir Gordon Lowndes, Bart., Park Lane, W.Secretary, H. Ringrose, Esq., at the Company's Offices, TrafalgarSquare. We shall buy up the Grand Hotel and have them there. As for thecrofters, they'll be our Empire and our Gospel; we'll play them for allthey're worth in the first year or two, and then we'll let them slide."
Miss Lowndes had been present all this time, and Harry had stolen morethan one anxious glance in her direction. She never put in a word, norcould she be said to wear her thoughts upon her face, as she bent itover some needlework in the corner where she sat. Yet it was thedaughter's silent presence which kept Harry himself proof for onceagainst the always contagious enthusiasm of the father. He could nothelp coupling it with other silences of the early evening, and theHighland Crofters' Salmon and Trout Supply Association, Limited, lefthim as cold as he felt certain it left Miss Lowndes. It was now aftereleven, however, and he rose to bid her good-night, while Lowndes wentto get his hat in order to escort him to the station.
"And I shall never forget our walk," added Harry, and unconsciouslywrung her hand as though it were that of some new-found friend of hisown sex.
"Then don't forget my advice," said Miss Lowndes, "butwrite--write--write--and come and tell me how you get on!"
It was her last word to him, and for days to come it stimulated HarryRingrose, like many another remembered saying of this new friend,whenever he thought of it. But at the time he was most struck by hertacit dismissal of the more brilliant prospects which had beendiscussed in her hearing.
"A fine creature, my daughter," said Lowndes, on the way to thestation. "She's one to stand by a fellow in the day of battle--she's asstaunch as steel."
"I can see it," Harry answered, with enthusiasm.
"Yes, yes; you have seen how it is with us, Ringrose. There's no usemaking a secret of it with you, but I should be sorry for your motherto know the hole we've been in, especially as we're practically out ofit. Yet you may tell her what you like; she may wonder Fanny has neverbeen to see her, but she wouldn't if she knew what a time the poor girlhas had of it! You've no conception what it has been, Ringrose. Icouldn't bear to speak of it if it wasn't all over but the shouting.To-night there was oil in the lamps, but I shouldn't like to tell youhow many times we've gone to bed in the dark since they stopped ourgas. You may keep your end up in the City, because if you don't you'redone for, but it's the very devil at home. We drank cold water with ourbreakfast this morning, and I can't conceive how Fanny got in coals tomake the coffee to-night."
Harry could have told him, but he held his tongue. He was trying toreconcile the present tone of Lowndes, which had in it a strong dash ofremorse, with the countless extravagances he had already seen himcommit. Lowndes seemed to divine his thoughts.
"You may wonder," said he, "how I managed to raise wind enough for theprovender I had undertaken to bring home. I wonder if I dare tell you?I called at your tailors' on my way to the noble Earl's, and--and Istruck them for a fiver! There, there, Ringrose, they'll get it backnext week. I've lived on odd fivers all this year, and I simply didn'tknow where else to turn for one to-day. Yet they want me to pay anincome tax! I sent in my return the other day, and they sent it backwith 'unsatisfactory' written across my writing. So _I_ sent it backwith 'I entirely agree with you' written across theirs, and that seemsto have shut them up. One of the most pestilent forms of creditor isthe tax gatherer, and the income tax is the most iniquitous of all.Never you fill one in correctly, Ringrose, if you wish me to remainyour friend."
"But," said Harry, as they reached the station and were waiting for thetrain, "you not only keep servants----"
"Servants?" cried Lowndes. "We have only one, and she's away at theseaside. I send her there for a change whenever she gets grumpy forwant of wages. I tell her she looks seedy, and I give her a sovereignto go. It has the air of something thrown in, and it comes a good dealcheaper than paying them their wages, Ringrose. I make you a present ofthe tip for what it's worth."
"But you have a man-servant, too?"
"A man-servant! My good fellow, that's no servant of mine. I only makeit worth his while to lend a hand."
"Who is he, then?"
"This is your train; jump in and I'll tell you."
The spectacled eyes were twinkling, and the sharp nose twitching, whenHarry leant out of the third-class carriage window.
"Well, who is it?"
"The old dodge, Ringrose, the old dodge."
"What's that?"
"The Man in Possession!"
And Gordon Lowndes was left roaring with laughter on the platform.