A Rich Man's Relatives Volume III Part 1

A Rich Man's Relatives.

Vol. 3.

by Robert Cleland.

CHAPTER I.

BANKS AND BRAYS.

Ralph's satisfaction at carrying through his man[oe]uvre with the mining company's directors amounted almost to elation. The unexpected appearance of opposition in that docile body had startled him at first, but he had been able to ride it down in so summary and highhanded a fashion that he doubted not but the spirit was quenched for ever, and congratulated himself on its having appeared at a moment when it could so easily and utterly be crushed and abolished. A meeting of the bank directors next door was now due. Glancing at his watch, he found that he was already fifteen minutes late, caught up his portfolio of bank papers in haste, and pa.s.sed by way of the dressing-room into the bank, confident as an Alexander mounting his war-horse, and riding forth to new victories.

A breath of chill air blew in his face as he entered the board-room and met reserved and distant glances on every side. They had not waited for his coming, and were already deep in business. His own arm-chair, he observed--the arm-chair of pre-eminence at the end of the table, heretofore sacred to his own use, was occupied by M.

Pet.i.tot, the pork packer, vice-president of the bank, who, however, had the grace to rise apologetically, and make way, observing that they had feared Mr. Herkimer did not intend to be present, when Mr.

Jowler, the bark dealer, sprang to his feet, and moved that the vice-president retain the chair for the present, M. Petipomme seconding the motion.

Ralph bit his lip, and something like a scowl pa.s.sed momentarily across his face at the overt act of mutiny, which not so long before he would have quelled with a crack of the whip, and brought the unruly curs to heel with drooping neck and tail. But the moment was not opportune for the exercise of authority; his brow grew clear again, if somewhat pale, his features calm, if a trifle set, and expressionless, and he sat down in a vacant chair at the lower end of the table.

The business, however, appeared to have come to a stop; no one spoke, and each looked at his neighbour, while the vice-president moved restlessly in his chair, and twiddled his watch chain with uneasy fingers. He coughed, cleared his voice, lifted his eye-gla.s.s to his eyes, and let it drop, but still he said nothing, while Ralph looked inquiringly round the board. Several ledgers had been brought in from the bank and lay upon the table, every one open at the page headed, "Ralph Herkimer & Son;" and while he waited, a clerk entered with yet another, containing some further variety of information which he laid before the chairman, opening it and officiously pointing out the desired record, then looking up as he turned to withdraw, his eyes lighted on the president himself, when a guilty flush and a deprecatory glance betrayed that the information he had been presenting bore upon the same point as the rest.

"You appear, gentleman, to be looking into the working of my account,"

said Ralph, after a further period of silence; "Pray go on, don't mind me! You will find it is a profitable account, perhaps the _most_ profitable in your books. Satisfy yourselves by all means. It is your right. But permit me to say that the time and the manner are not well chosen. There is something not altogether friendly, nor quite above-board, in this way of gratifying your curiosity. Is it honourable, gentleman, or manly, to watch till you get a man's back turned before proceeding to overhaul his account?"

"Strong language, Mr. Herkimer," said several voices at once.

"Most unwarrantable," muttered Jowler.

"It is true, gentlemen, and not a bit stronger than the facts warrant."

"Indeed, Mr. President," said Pet.i.tot blandly--he was noted for a courteous benignity which never failed, so long at least as there remained a chance of the other side's ability to make him regret being otherwise. After that--well, after those others became too weak for it to matter, the world took little heed how he behaved, and he acted accordingly, as pleased him best--brutally, the sufferers called it.

"Indeed, Mr. President, you take up the matter too seriously. The accident of your absence when the question arose was a mere coincidence. We are all, I a.s.sure you, well aware of the value of your account."

"Should think so," muttered Jowler, pleased to find how quickly they were drifting to the pith of the grievance. "It amounts to half or two-thirds of the bank's capital already, and it promises to swallow up the whole before long."

"Which would not suit you, Jowler," retorted Ralph, sneering a.s.siduously to conceal his wrath, and perhaps his dismay. "But it might be well for the country and for the bank itself, that it should not have any funds to dissipate in the bark business. I say 'dissipate' designedly, gentlemen. I know of four cargoes of cutch and gambler now on the way for this port, with more to follow. Bark prices must collapse, and the less we have to do with the article at present, the better for us. It is well for the country, I consider, that discouragement should arise to stop the reckless destruction of our hemlock forests. If Jowler and his like are allowed their way, we shall not have a hemlock left standing in ten years' time."

"And how much better off is the bank with its tons of plumbago, which cannot be brought to market?" retorted Jowler angrily. "The plumbago paper has been renewed three times already, and the amount increased without the sanction of the board."

"Are we not drifting into a wrangle, gentlemen, and wasting time to no good purpose?" said Mr. Seebright, of the _Journal_. "The bank settlements are going against us week after week, and the specie reserve is running down. What are we to do? That is the question."

"Circulation going down every day," added Petipomme, with an air of wisdom.

"And pray, gentlemen, did you ever know it otherwise at this season?"

cried Ralph, eager to score any point an injudicious speaker might put in his way. "Look into the government returns for last year, look into them for any year, and you will find the circulation of the country reaches its lowest points in August and February. It has several weeks to go on diminishing yet, but it is larger than it was this time last year. Wait till September, and you will see it go up and increase steadily till it reaches its highest point in November. The thing is as regular as the seasons, and no resolution this board can pa.s.s will alter it."

"All very true, President," said Seebright; "but this drain of the reserve must be stopped somehow. How do you propose to do it? We must contract--realize. Where shall we begin to prune?"

Ralph was silent. He wanted to borrow more, and with the particulars of the account actually on the table, it seemed best not to excite ill-will by proposing to impose a reduction on any one else. Jowler had taken up a share list to cover his chagrin under Ralph's attack; he now laid it down with a loud "Hillo! St. Euphrase mining shares down four per cent since yesterday! What's up, President? Things going badly?"

"I walked down street with old Mr. Premium this morning," said Petipomme--"parted from him not half-an-hour ago. He says there's something up, he could not make out what, but some villager had been to him, eager to sell out at once, and at any price. The man was very close and would say nothing, but he was so eager that Premium grew panicky and was going to unload."

"The bank has made you an advance, President, on some of that stock,"

cried Jowler. "Four per cent off the security at one drop! I call on you to put up a fresh margin."

"I scarcely think you will consider that necessary, gentlemen, when I tell you that, at the meeting held this morning, the directors have agreed to declare a dividend of five per cent. It will be in all the papers to-morrow. You will find the announcement on your table, Mr.

Seebright, when you get back to your office, and an advertis.e.m.e.nt for to-morrow's issue."

"Five per cent?" said Pet.i.tot, congratulating himself on not having joined in the late attempted onslaught. "Is not that unexpected? I have heard no word of it."

"It was only decided this morning, and we agreed to declare it at once, so that _bona fide_ shareholders should reap the advantage rather than mere speculators."

"And it is not known yet?" asked Pet.i.tot eagerly. "But it _will_ be, in an hour's time," he added, answering himself. "Gentlemen! I think there is no other business before the board. I declare the meeting adjourned to this day next week;" and, seizing his hat, Mr. Pet.i.tot was gone, and half-way across the street to his broker's before any of his brethren could have interposed a word, which, however, none of them seemed wishful to do. Such a rush for hats and general stampede had never been seen before; the a.s.sistant cashier, who wrote the minutes, found the room deserted, when he laid down his pen, by all but the president, and the roll of bills, which should have been shared among the several gentlemen, still before him--an unprecedented circ.u.mstance.

"What is to be done with this, Mr. Herkimer?"

"You and I had better share it between us, Briggs," he chuckled. "What would they say if we did? They have all skipped off to buy St.

Euphrase mining shares, and they will make so much money they will never miss this--that is, not before the shares are bought.

Afterwards, when they have completed their operation, they will recollect, and come asking for it. Put it in your desk for the present, it will not be long till they relieve you of the charge."

CHAPTER II.

A CONFIDANTE.

The day came for the Misses Stanley's return to the country. Muriel's cla.s.ses were over, and the streets grown hot and dusty past endurance.

Life was a burden under the all-pervading glare shot from the vault overhead, and the two miles breadth of gla.s.sy river, the acres on acres of shining tin-roofs, and the heated face of limestone pavements. The breeze felt withering like breath from a furnace, hotter even than the air at rest, and cool was attainable only by ingenious contrivance, and in twilight darkness.

"Ah!" said Considine; he had been lingering in town till now, and had suddenly found out that it was time to take his yearly _villagiatura_ at St. Euphrase, his plans coinciding with those of his friends so closely, that when the ladies reached the railway station he was already on the platform to a.s.sist them about tickets and baggage as well as to join them in the parlour car; which Miss Penelope considered quite remarkable, but most fortunate and "very nice." "Ah!"

said Considine, raising a window as the train rolled into the country, "what a different air to breathe! It smells and feels of the country already."

"Yes," said Miss Matilda, "I feel myself absorbing new vitality from the verdure as we pa.s.s along. Do the woods not look seductive after the baking and withering we have suffered of late? One grudges even the delay of railway speed. What will it not be this afternoon to sit among the trees, with coolness rustling softly through the foliage--just to sit and feel one's self alive--with every breath a new deliciousness, and the sense of rest and freshness making one happy and new down to the finger-tips. You will find it delightful at Podevin's to-day, so close by the river. I can imagine you will get into a boat immediately, and go out in the stream and drift, and smoke your cigar, I dare say; you gentlemen seem always doing that, though it must spoil the flavour of a day so exquisite as this, it seems to me."

"As Podevin, whose house is full, has fitted me up the room over the boat-house for my chamber, I imagine I shall have my share of any coolness stirring; yet it would, I dare say, be pleasant to make a beginning of the freshness at full strength by getting into a boat.

However, I shall not stay long, and if you will permit me, when the afternoon heat grows moderate, I will walk up to your house and learn if you and Miss Stanley are still alive--and my young friend Muriel also, though indeed, the weather appears to suit her well enough."

And truly at that moment Muriel was in perfect comfort, sitting a little apart with an escort of her own--her friend Gerald who had deserted the cares of business for her sweet company. Not that he found her difficult of access at other times, for they often met; but there is a privacy in a public railway carriage when the rumbling of the wheels drowns conversation for every ear other than the one addressed, and a safety from intrusion and interruption while the journey lasts, not easily to be found elsewhere.

Muriel sat in one corner of a sofa, with Gerald in the other, listening to his purring, and purring softly back. It may have been owing to the heat of the day, but their talk seemed less lively than at other times, and their glances drooped shyly on the ground instead of seeking and meeting each other's as they were wont. Gerald drew closer as they talked, and by-and-by his hands secured one of hers, and held it in possession. He would have slipped his hand behind her waist, perhaps, if her position in the corner of the sofa had not been beyond his reach; and as it was, she used some effort to liberate the imprisoned hand, and regained it at last. Hushing and growing pale the while in her fear of having become grouped with her companion into a _tableau_ too interesting to escape notice. And then her eyes rose shyly to his face, and shining with a light they had not held before, and her lips parted tremulously to smile, and faltered out words which were lost in the roar and hubbub of the rattling wheels, and Gerald could not hear them; but the eyes which had looked in his a moment, the rosy flushing and the tremulous smile, were proof the unheard answer was not "no," and he was happy. When the train reached St.

Euphrase Muriel was "engaged," while still it wanted a week of her sixteenth birthday.

It is not very remarkable, if, in view of his success, young Gerald stepped on the platform with something of the victor in his mein--his head thrown back, and his coat unb.u.t.toned, flapping away from the expanded chest, while his eyes looked forth on the world at large, with the broad imperial gaze of a new-crowned conqueror, while Muriel leaned on his arm perhaps a shade more clingingly than she was aware.

It struck Betsey Bunce, at least, who, according to her custom, was awaiting the city train, to espy the new arrivals, and pick up any fragments of news dropped by her acquaintance--it struck Betsey that summer day, that Gerald was a far finer and handsomer fellow than theretofore she had thought him. She bowed and waved her hand with much _empress.e.m.e.nt_; she even stepped forward to welcome him to St.

Euphrase at that unusual hour; but Gerald did not see her. His head was in the clouds, and he inhaling that upper ether where swim the stars and the souls of the most blest, to whom the G.o.ds have granted all their desire. He was dazzled by the brightness of his own felicity--alas, that the felicity should be as fleeting as its power to dazzle--and saw little of what pa.s.sed around him. Only he felt, and felt only the pressure of a slender hand resting on his arm. And so, unwittingly, he strode past Betsey Bunce; and Muriel, too, being with him, and somewhat overcome, looking down, and with her mind disturbed with new and confusing thoughts, and feelings which, if not so altogether new, were yet now first acknowledgedly to herself permitted to harbour there.

And Betsey believed herself to have been slighted, and her wrath grew hot against the young man, and her envy greener-eyed against the girl, who continued to secure so many things which in justice should have been hers; but having a "spirit," as she considered, she only tossed her head, and walked forward through the arriving pa.s.sengers in search of other acquaintance.