"Now,
papa," said Clara that morning,
wrinkling her brows and putting
her finger-tips together with
the air of an experienced person
of business, "I want to have
a
talk to you about money matters."
"Yes, my dear." He
laid down his
paper, and
looked a question.
"Kindly
tell me again,
papa, how much
money I have
in my very
own right. You have often told
me before, but I always forget
figures."
"You
have two hundred
and fifty pounds
a year of your
own, under
your aunt's will.
"And
Ida?"
"Ida
has one hundred
and fifty."
"Now,
I think I can
live very well
on fifty pounds
a year,
papa. I am not very extravagant,
and I could make my own dresses
if I had a sewing-machine."
"Very
likely, dear."
"In
that case I
have two hundred
a year which I could do without."
"If
it were necessary."
"But it is necessary. Oh, do
help me, like a good, dear, kind
papa, in this matter, for my
whole heart is set upon it. Harold
is in sore need of money, and
through no fault of his own." With
a woman's tact and eloquence,
she told the whole story. "Put
yourself in my place, papa. What
is the money to me? I never think
of it from year's end to year's
end. But now I know how precious
it is. I could not have thought
that money could be so valuable.
See what I can do with it. It
may help to save him. I must
have it by to-morrow. Oh, do,
do advise me as to what I should
do, and how I should get the
money."
The
Doctor smiled
at her eagerness. "You
are as anxious to get rid of
money as others are to gain it," said
he. "In another case I might
think it rash, but I believe
in your Harold, and I can see
that he has had villainous treatment.
You will let me deal with the
matter."
"You,
papa?"
"It
can be done
best between
men. Your capital, Clara, is
some five thousand pounds, but
it is out on a mortgage, and
you could not call it in."
"Oh,
dear! oh, dear!"
"But
we can still
manage. I have
as much at
my bank. I
will
advance it to the Denvers as
coming from you, and you can
repay it to me, or the interest
of it, when your money becomes
due."
"Oh,
that is beautiful!
How sweet and
kind of you!"
"But
there is one
obstacle: I
do not think
that you would
ever induce Harold to take this
money."
Clara's
face fell. "Don't
you think so,
really?"
"I
am sure that
he would not."
"Then
what are you
to do? What
horrid things money matters are
to arrange!"
"I
shall see his
father. We
can manage
it all between
us."
"Oh,
do, do, papa!
And you will
do it soon?"
"There is no time like the
present. I will go in at once." He
scribbled a cheque, put it in
an envelope, put on his broad
straw hat, and strolled in through
the garden to pay his morning
call.
It was a singular sight which
met his eyes as he entered the
sitting-room of the Admiral.
A great sea chest stood open
in the center, and allround upon
the carpet were little piles
of jerseys, oil-skins, books,
sextant boxes, instruments, and
sea-boots. The old seaman sat
gravely amidst this lumber, turning
it over, and examining it intently;
while his wife, with the tears
running silently down her ruddy
cheeks, sat upon the sofa, her
elbows upon her knees and her
chin upon her hands, rocking
herself slowly backwards and
forwards.
"Hullo, Doctor," said the Admiral,
holding out his hand, "there's
foul weather set in upon us,
as you may have heard, but I
have ridden out many a worse
squall, and, please God, we shall
all three of us weather this
one also, though two of us are
a little more cranky than we
were."
"My
dear friends,
I came in to
tell you how
deeply we sympathize
with you all. My girl has only
just told me about it."
"It has come so suddenly upon
us, Doctor," sobbed Mrs. Hay
Denver. "I thought that I had
John to myself for the rest of
our lives--Heaven knows that
we have not seen very much of
each other--but now he talks
of going to sea again.
"Aye,
aye, Walker,
that's the
only way out
of it. When
I first
heard of it I was thrown up in
the wind with all aback. I give
you my word that I lost my bearings
more completely than ever since
I strapped a middy's dirk to
my belt. You see, friend, I know
something of shipwreck or battle
or whatever may come upon the
waters, but the shoals in the
City of London on which my poor
boy has struck are clean beyond
me. Pearson had been my pilot
there, and now I know him to
be a rogue. But I've taken my
bearings now, and I see my course
right before me."
"What
then, Admiral?"
"Oh, I have one or two little
plans. I'll have some news for
the boy. Why, hang it, Walker
man, I may be a bit stiff in
the joints, but you'll be my
witness that I can do my twelve
miles under the three hours.
What then? My eyes are as good
as ever except just for the newspaper.
My head is clear. I'm three-and-sixty,
but I'm as good a man as ever
I was--too good a man to lie
up for another ten years. I'd
be the better for a smack of
the salt water again, and a whiff
of the breeze. Tut, mother, it's
not a four years' cruise this
time. I'll be back every month
or two. It's no more than if
I went for a visit in the country." He
was talking boisterously, and
heaping his sea-boots and sextants
back into his chest.
"And
you really
think, my dear
friend, of hoisting your pennant
again?"
"My
pennant, Walker?
No, no. Her
Majesty, God
bless her,
has
too many young men to need an
old hulk like me. I should be
plain Mr. Hay Denver, of the
merchant service. I daresay that
I might find some owner who would
give me a chance as second or
third officer. It will be strange
to me to feel the rails of the
bridge under my fingers once
more."
"Tut! tut! this will never
do, this will never do, Admiral!" The
Doctor sat down by Mrs. Hay Denver
and patted her hand in token
of friendly sympathy. "We must
wait until your son has had it
out with all these people, and
then we shall know what damage
is done, and how best to set
it right. It will be time enough
then to begin to muster our resources
to meet it."
"Our resources!" The Admiral
laughed. "There's the pension.
I'm afraid, Walker, that our
resources won't need much mustering."
"Oh,
come, there
are some which
you may not have thought of.
For example, Admiral, I had always
intended that my girl should
have five thousand from me when
she married. Of course your boy's
trouble is her trouble, and the
money cannot be spent better
than in helping to set it right.
She has a little of her own which
she wished to contribute, but
I thought it best to work it
this way. Will you take the cheque,
Mrs. Denver, and I think it would
be best if you said nothing to
Harold about it, and just used
it as the occasion served?"
"God bless you, Walker, you
are a true friend. I won't forget
this, Walker. "The Admiral sat
down on his sea chest and mopped
his brow with his red handkerchief.
"What
is it to me
whether you
have it now or then? It may be
more useful now. There's only
one stipulation. If things should
come to the worst, and if the
business should prove so bad
that nothing can set it right,
then hold back this cheque, for
there is no use in pouring water
into a broken basin, and if the
lad should fall, he will want
something to pick himself up
again with."
"He
shall not fall,
Walker, and
you shall not
have occasion
to be ashamed of the family into
which your daughter is about
to marry. I have my own plan.
But we shall hold your money,
my friend, and it will strengthen
us to feel that it is there."
"Well, that is all right," said
Doctor Walker, rising. "And if
a little more should be needed,
we must not let him go wrong
for the want of a thousand or
two. And now, Admiral, I'm off
for my morning walk. Won't you
come too?"
"No,
I am going
into town."
"Well,
good-bye. I
hope to have
better news,
and that all
will come right. Good-bye, Mrs.
Denver. I feel as if the boy
were my own, and I shall not
be easy until all is right with
him." |