Dutch the Diver: or, A Man's Mistake

“Presents, indeed!” exclaimed the lady, “attentions! – very delicate attentions. Kidneys, that you got out of the nasty fat that you buy of the butchers.”

“But I never brought one as was the least tainted,” said Peter, “and you always said there was nothing nicer for supper.”

“And, pray, who always ate a good half?” retorted Keziah angrily.

“But I never should have touched ’em if they hadn’t been so gloriously cooked – such brown – such gravy! O, Keziah, don’t be hard on me,” sighed Peter.

“Peter Pash!” exclaimed the lady indignantly, “you’re a great goose; and if I didn’t know that you’d been sitting here three hours without nothing stronger than small beer before you, I should say you’d been drinking. Now, once for all, you can come if you like, or you can stay away if you like. I’m not going even to think about getting married till Miss May’s settled, and that won’t be well, never mind that. Now go home.”

“Yes, my dear,” said Peter in a resigned way, and taking his hat off the sideboard he began to brush the nap round and round very carefully. “But you’re very hard on me, Keziah.”

“Didn’t I tell you to go?” said the lady.

Peter Pash sighed and drew the back of his hand across his mouth, but then his heart failed him, and he shook hands and said “good-night” – words which seemed thrown back at him by the lady of his heart; directly after he withdrew in accordance with the line in italics which appeared at the bottom of his tallow-chandler’s trade card – “N.B. Orders punctually executed!” leaving Keziah Bay, cook and housekeeper to John Richards, the old money-lender, of Walbrook, nipping her lips together, beating one foot upon the fender, and frowning very fiercely at the fire.

For this had been a very exciting affair for Mrs Keziah Bay, since, heretofore, Peter Pash’s custom had been to come three times a week to Walbrook, where he would sit in the half kitchen, half sitting-room, of the dingy old mansion – a house built in the days when merchants condescended to live over their offices, with bedrooms looking down upon warehouse or yard – sit and smoke a pipe while Keziah darned her master’s stockings; stare at her very hard, sup, and say “good-night,” and then go. That was the extent of Peter Pash’s courting. He had certainly once before said something respecting wedding, and been snubbed into silence; but only that once; hence, then, this had been rather an exciting time at Walbrook, and for more reasons than that one.

Mrs Keziah Bay had not been thoughtfully tapping the old-fashioned brass fender with her foot for more than five minutes before the door softly opened and a slight girlish figure entered, to steal quietly to the comely dame’s side, kneel down, and clasp two little white hands round her waist.

“That means trouble, I know,” said Keziah sharply, but all the same one of her hands was passed caressingly over the soft brown hair, and her lips were pressed to the white upturned forehead. “That means trouble, and worry, and upsets, or you wouldn’t come to me. Now, what is it? But there: I know: you’ve been thinking about Frank Marr; haven’t you?”

A sigh was taken for an affirmative answer, and Keziah continued:

“What’s Mr Brough been here for to-night?”

“Don’t talk about it – don’t ask me!” cried the kneeling girl, who now burst out into a passion of weeping. “O, ’Ziah, what shall I do, what shall I do?”

“Why, tell me all about what you’re crying for, to be sure,” cried Keziah sharply; but all the same with a motherly attempt or two at soothing. “Surely master hasn’t been at you again about Mr Frank, has he?”

“O, yes – yes,” sobbed the girl; “and it does seem so cruel and hard. O, ’Ziah, I’ve no one to talk to but you – no one to ask for help. He talks as if Frank could help being poor, and not prospering in his business, when, poor fellow, he strove so hard.”

“But what did he bring all that up for?” cried Keziah. “Mr Frank hasn’t been here these two months, I’ll swear. Did you say anything?”

“No, no!” sobbed the girl, bursting into a fresh paroxysm of weeping.

“Then some one must have brought it up. There, I see plain as plain. Bless him! He ought to be boiled in his own sugar, that he ought! He’s a nice fellow, he is, for a sugar-baker, to come here tattling and setting people against other people.”

“What do you mean?” sobbed May Richards, gazing wonderingly at her comforter.

“Mean? Why, that that old Tom Brough ought to be ashamed of himself to come tattling to master about Mr Frank. That was it, wasn’t it?”

“No, no!” sobbed the poor girl wearily.

“Then what did he come for?” said Keziah.

There was a pause, during which May wept bitterly.

“I shall go and ask master myself,” said Keziah authoritatively, as she half rose. “I’m not going to have my child upset like this for nothing.”

“No, no, no!” sobbed May. “Pray stay, ’Ziah – dear ’Ziah, don’t be angry, and I’ll tell you all.”

“Then what is it?” said Keziah.

“Mr Brough – ”

“Well?”

“Mr Brough has been to talk to papa.”

“Well, go on, child, for goodness’ sake, and do wipe your eyes. He’s been to talk to master, and what about, pray?”

“About me,” sobbed May.

“Well, and pray what about you?”

“He came to propose, and papa gave him leave.”

“To propose what?” said Keziah. “There, for goodness gracious in heaven sake, child, speak out and do not keep on riddle-me-riddle-me-reeing in that way. What did he want? Why!” she exclaimed, as a sudden light seemed to break upon her, “he ain’t broke, and come after money? Not he though, he’s as rich as a Jew. What does it all mean?”

“He came to propose, and papa ordered me to accept him,” sobbed Mary; “and when I told papa that I considered myself engaged to poor Frank, he was ready to strike me, and he cursed him, and called him horrible names, and said he would sooner see me dead than married to such a beggar, and that I was to accept Mr Brough’s offer.”

“What!” exclaimed Keziah, her eyes dilating as she caught May by the shoulders, and seemed to look her through and through. “Do you mean to tell me that old Tom Brough, the sugar-baker, wants to marry you, and that master said he should?”

“Yes, yes,” sobbed May. “O, ’Ziah, I’m half brokenhearted. What shall I do?”

“Do!” cried Keziah fiercely; “I’d have knocked their heads together. Old Tom Brough! An old villain! An old rascal! He’s sixty, if he’s an hour. It’s a good job for him he’s gone. Sneaking out as he did, and giving me five shillings when he went. Ah! if I’d have known when he was with me there in the passage, I’d have given it him!”

May clung to her, sobbing more than ever. “I’d – I’d – I’d have wrung his neck,” cried Keziah furiously; and then she burst out into a contemptuous laugh, as she strove to comfort the weeping girl, kissing her, wiping her eyes, and holding her to her breast. “There – there,” she said, “let it be now, and I’ll talk to them both. I’ll let them see that money is not going to do everything. Tom Brough, indeed! A carneying old rascal, with his smooth tongue and pleasant ways; an old deceiver. I thought better things of him. But I haven’t done with them all yet; I don’t believe there’s a man under the sun good for anything. But there goes the bell.”

Keziah Bay rose to leave the room, but May clung to her imploringly.

“You will not say a word?” she said pleadingly.

“And why not, pray?” Then seeing the agitation and fear in the poor girl’s face she continued, “Then I won’t – not to him; for it would be like trying to turn a rushing bull; – but I’m not married yet, Peter Pash,” she muttered as she left the room, “nor she isn’t married yet, John Richards and Thomas Brough, alderman and big man as you are. We’re a poor weak, helpless lot, that we are, and it’s my belief that men are born with but one idea, and that is that they ought to persecute us women.”

Story 3-Chapter II.

Under Temptation

There is, and there always was, about Walbrook something of an exasperating nature. I don’t care whether you journey upon wheels, or by means of your nature-given supports, you shall always find an obstruction. The pathways are as narrow and awkward as the road; and while there is always a perky, impudent-looking, heavily-laden truck, with its handle either cocked up in defiance, or pointed down insultingly, as it obstructs the horse-drawn traffic, there is sure to be some one carrying a box of stationery, or a bale of paper-hangings, or something or another with hard, harsh corners, to come in contact with your front or your back, to injure your hat, or tear your coat with a ragged nail, or jostle you off into the gutter. It don’t matter when you go down Walbrook, passing by the sombre Mansion House, and seeking to be at peace in the quiet shades of Budge-row, or Watling, you shall certainly have your feathers ruffled, mentally of course; therefore, it was not surprising that Frank Marr, a sturdy young fellow of goodly aspect, and some eight-and-twenty years, should look angry and frowning as he sought the house of old John Richards.

Not that it was at all surprising for people either going to or coming from John Richards’ office to look lowering of brow, for interviews with that gentleman were none of the most pleasant; they had too much to do with interest, and renewing, and bill stamps, and too little to do with hard cash – unless it were for repayments – to be gratifying to any one.

But Frank Marr’s business, as he thought, did not relate to money; and without hanging about the passage in the hope of catching sight of May Richards, his old playmate and boyhood’s love, he asked to be, and was shown at once into the presence of old John Richards, – “Grab-all,” – “Grind-’em,” – “Screw-bones,” – “Publican,” – for by all these pleasant sobriquets was the money-lender known.

But Frank Marr, merchant, who had just passed through the Bankruptcy Court, after five years’ hard struggle with unforeseen difficulties, and paid ten shillings in the pound, after all the expenses had come out of his estate – Frank Marr knew that he had chosen a bad morning for his visit. John Richards’ enemy had him by the leg; and swathed and bandaged, suffering terribly from gout, but transacting business all the same, as many a trembling client knew to his cost, he sat with a curious smile upon his face as the young man entered.

“Now for a fierce volley of rage and curses,” thought Frank; “he shall hear me, though, all the same!” But to his great surprise the old man greeted him most civilly.

“Well, Mr Marr, what’s in the wind, eh? Little accommodation bill, eh? Whose names?”

“No, Mr Richards,” said Frank, dashing at once into the subject nearest his heart, “I have not come about money.”

“Indeed!” said the money-lender, grinning with pain, but still speaking suavely. “Pray what is it, then?”

“I have had news this morning, Mr Richards.”

“Good, I hope. An opening, perhaps, for business?”

“No, sir! Bad news – vile news – cruel news!” cried the young man excitedly.

“Sorry, very sorry,” said Richards, quietly. “Pray what is it, then?”

“It is the news of slave-dealing in this city, sir,” said Frank. “Of a father making a contract with a rich purchaser for the sale and delivery of his only child, as if she were so much merchandise, and I come, old man, to tell you to your face that it is cruel, and a scandal to our civilisation. But I beg pardon, Mr Richards; I am hot and excited. I am deeply moved. You know I love May, that we have loved from childhood, and that we are promised to one another. Don’t interrupt me, please.”

“I’m not going to,” said the old man, still quietly, to the other’s intense astonishment.

“I know what you would say to me if I were to advance my pretensions now. But look here, Mr Richards – I am young yet, May is young. I have been very unfortunate. I have had to buy experience, in spite of my endeavours, in a very dear school; but there is time for me to retrieve my position. I shall get on – I feel assured. For heaven’s sake, then, let this cruel affair be set aside: give me a few years to recover myself, and all will yet be well, I am sure. You will break her heart if you force her to marry this old man.”

“Who told you of this?” said John Richards, still calmly.

“I cannot tell you,” said Frank.

“Did May write to you?”

“No,” said Frank warmly; “she promised you, sir, that she would not. I, too, promised you that while my affairs were in such a state I would not hold communication with her. We have kept our words, sir, even as we intend to keep those upon another point. I have neither spoken to nor heard from May for months.”

“Only gone to church to sit and stare at her,” said John Richards quietly.

“It were hard indeed, sir, if that poor gratification were not afforded me,” said Frank. “But now, sir, pray hear me – pray listen to me. Think of the misery you would inflict.”

“Stop now, and hear me,” said the old money-lender quietly, though his lips quivered with pain. “Your name is Frank; now be frank with me. You are at the present time penniless, are you not?”

Frank had hard work to suppress a groan as he bowed his head and thought of how, had he been given time, he could have paid every creditor in full, and had to spare, instead of his poor assets being more than half swallowed up in costs.

“You came here expecting a stormy interview, did you not?”

“I did!” said Frank.

“To be sure! and now I am going to show you that old Grab-all is not so black a devil as he is painted.”

“Good heavens, sir!” cried Frank joyfully.

“Stop a bit – stop a bit – don’t be rash, young man; for perhaps I am not going to favour you in the way you may expect, though I do feel disposed to help you. Now look here: I suppose five hundred pounds would be a great help to you just now?”

“It would start me in life again, sir,” said Frank, sadly; “but I should not feel justified in commencing upon borrowed capital at high interest.”

“Did I say a word about borrowed capital or high interest?”

“No, sir, but – ”

“Yes, yes – of course – I know – old Grind-’em will have sixty per cent, they say, eh? But look here, suppose I were to give you five hundred pounds to start with!”

“Give! give! Give me five hundred pounds in hard cash, sir! Mr Richards, why do you play with my feelings?”

“Play, young man?” said the money-lender quietly. “I am not playing – I am in earnest. I tell you that I will give you, now, this minute, five hundred pounds. There,” he said, “give me that cheque book,” and he pointed to a safe in the wall. “I’ll write you one now this instant; and with five hundred pounds you have the key to a fortune. You may die rich as I am, Frank Marr.”

“But you have a condition: you wish to buy something with this five hundred pounds, Mr Richards,” said Frank sternly.

“I only want five minutes of your time,” said the old man.

“What to do?”

“To write half a dozen lines at my dictation.”

“And to whom?”

“To my daughter.”

“Their purport?”

“That you break with her, and set her free, now and for ever.”

“If I do,” cried Frank fiercely, “may God in heaven bring down – ”

“Stop, stop, you rash, mad fool!” cried the old man excitedly. “Look here, Frank Marr: you have not a penny; your mother is almost starving; you are living together in a beggarly second-floor room at a tallow-chandler’s. You see I know all! You are suffering the poor old lady’s murmurs day by day, and she reproaches you for wasting her little all in your business. Look here: be a man, and not a love-sick boy. I’ll be frank with you. Mr Brough has proposed, and I approve of him for a son-in-law. He is elderly, but a better-hearted man does not exist; and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that May has gone to a good home; while you have the chance, and at once, of doing your duty by your old mother. She wants change of air, Frank, and more nourishment. Five hundred pounds clear, Frank, to start with, and on your obtaining one name, one respectable name, beside your own, I’ll advance you five hundred more – at five per cent, Frank, my good fellow – at five per cent. – a thing I never before did in my life. I’ll do it at once, this very hour, and you can pay the cheque into a banker’s, start a new account, and a prosperous one. There, I’ll find you a name – your uncle, Benjamin Marr; I’ll take him; he’s a respectable man, and good for five hundred pounds. He’ll do that for you. Now, my good lad, sit down and accept my offer.”

“Does the devil tempt men still in human form?” gasped Frank, as with veins starting he stood panting for breath before the old man.

“Pooh! nonsense! absurd! Now, how can you talk such silly book-trash, Frank Marr? I thought five years with me as clerk would have made another man of you. You ought never to have left me. Throw all that folly aside, and look the matter in the face like a man. Now you see how calm and how lenient I am. I might play the tyrant, and say that May shall be Mr Brough’s wife, and all that sort of thing; but I want to spare everybody’s feelings. I don’t want any scenes. Come, now: you give her up; you will write to her, eh?”

Frank Marr’s voice was hoarse as he spoke; for he had felt the old man’s words burning as it were into his brain, as scene after scene presented itself to his imagination. There on one side wealth, prosperity, comfort for the old and ailing woman whom he had, as he told himself, in an evil hour robbed of the comforts of her declining years; a new career, and the means to pay off that other ten shillings in the pound, so that he could once more hold up his head amongst his fellow-men. On the other side, the sweet, loving face of May Richards, whom he thought he loved as man never yet loved. He told himself that without a moment’s hesitation he should defy the temptation to gain a hold; but for all that he temporised, and John Richards saw it, and stretched out his hand to take a pen.

“But you will give me time to recover myself?” said Frank.

“What for? I don’t understand,” said Richards.

“For May’s sake,” pleaded Frank.

“Stop! Not another word!” cried the old man, now speaking fiercely. “I told her last night that I’d sooner see her dead than your wife. I tell you the same. But I will not be angry, nor yet harsh – I was put out last night. Now, once more look here: Five hundred pounds in cash – a free gift, mind – and five hundred more as an easy business loan, renewable year after year during my life, so long as the interest is punctually paid. Nothing can be easier for you. Think now, to give up a boy’s milk-and-water love I offer you what to a man in your present position is a fortune – a thousand pounds. And you will take it?”

Frank tried to speak, but he seemed to be choking.

“A thousand pounds, which means future prosperity – which means, as well, a score of rich and beautiful women to choose from.”

Frank had not heard a door open behind them; he had not seen May, pale as ashes, standing motionless listening to every word; he could only hear the words of the tempter, and the scratch, scratch of a cruel pen, sharp as a needle, dipped apparently in some subtle venom, writing the words one thousand pounds on his heart at the same time as in that little slip-book, while the poison was coursing through his veins, making them to beat and throb.

“One thousand pounds, John Richards; payable to Frank Marr, Esquire, or his order,” said the old man aloud, but as if speaking to himself; “and all for giving up a boy-and-girl love affair. Pish! I am getting into my dotage. Look here, Mr Marr,” he said, speaking up, “I only want you to write the few lines I dictate, and to get that name to the bill, and here is the cheque ready. You’ll get on, now, I feel sure,” he said, in cool, business-like tones, but watching his victim like a cat the while. “Bought wit is better than taught wit. Shall I order you a gloss of wine?”

“God help me!” groaned Frank Marr as, making an effort to speak, he tore at his throat for an instant, snatched at his hat, and then rushed out of the house.

“Expensive, but safe!” said John Richards, with a bitter smile, as he pinned the cheque to its duplicate. “What, you here?”

“Father!” cried May, coming forward and speaking in tones that should have pierced even his heart, had it not been stony to the very core; “O, father, what have you done?”

“Spent hundreds of my hard-earned pounds to free you from a bankrupt lover – a scoundrel whose every thought was on my cash, whose every calculation was as to how many years I should be before I died; upon a man who had not the heart to stand up for you, who valued you at less than five hundred pounds; and yet you reproached me with wishing to sell you to a rich husband, when he is a pure, sterling, true-hearted man, the only one I know that I could trust – a man you have known from a child, and one who has long loved you. Suppose he is grey-headed, what then? You can trust in his experience and – eh? What? Why? What the deuce! talk of the – How are you, Brough? glad to see you. Got the gout awful this morning. Don’t stop; I’m bothered and sick with pain. Take May up-stairs. My dear, give Mr Brough some lunch.”

Then, in an undertone, he spoke to the new-comer:

“I’ve done it for you, Brough; smoothed the way, and the day’s your own. Bought him off for five hundred.”

“And has he taken it?” said the new-comer, a handsome, florid, elderly man.

“As good as taken it. It’s all right, I tell you. She knows it too. Go and comfort her up, Brough; comfort her up.”

“Poor child, poor child,” muttered Mr Brough, taking a cold stony hand in his; and the tears rose to his eyes as he read in the despairing look directed at him the truth of the old money-lender’s words. The next minute he had led May Richards up-stairs and was seated by her on one of the sofas, gazing pityingly at her, for with her face covered by her hands the poor girl wept as though her heart would break.

Story 3-Chapter III.

Tom Brough

For a good quarter of an hour no word was spoken; then again taking one of the unresisting hands in his, May’s new courtier talked long and earnestly, telling of how, with no ardent passion, but with the chastened love of one who had known a bitter disappointment, he had long watched her and waited.

“And now, at last, May, I ask you to be an old man’s wife,” he said. “Yours shall be no life of slavery; but there, you have known me long, and for some time past,” he said tenderly; “I have not been without hope that you loved me in return.”

“Mr Brough,” sobbed May, throwing herself on her knees at his feet, “I do love you, I have loved you ever since I was a child – loved you as one should love a dear father. Have I not often come to you with my girlish troubles; but you surely never can mean this – you cannot wish what you say? How can I be your wife, when you know how long – how long – O, Frank, Frank, Frank!” she cried, with a wail of despair that seemed to thrill through her suitor’s heart, and raising her in his arms he kissed her tenderly – as lovingly as might a father – and placed her on a sofa at his side, drawing her nearer to him in spite of a slight resistance, as he tried to whisper a few words in his endeavour to soothe the fierce burst of despair that shook the poor girl’s frame.

“There, May – my child,” he said at last, “try and command yourself,” when a thought seemed to strike him, and, though evidently troubled and reluctant, he rose to go, tenderly taking leave of the weeping girl.

But before he could reach the door, May had him by the hand.

“Dear Mr Brough,” she said beseechingly, “I cannot think that you would wish to make me unhappy for life.”

“Indeed, no,” he said gently, as he held both her hands in his. “I would devote my life to making you happy.”

“But you know – for some time – Mr Frank Marr – ”

Then the recollection of what she had heard and seen that morning seemed to flash across her brain, scathing her as it passed, and with a wild look she sought to withdraw her hands, but they were fist held.

“Nay, my child,” said Mr Brough tenderly, “I love you too well to wish to give you pain. I would sooner suffer myself than cause a pang to your gentle little heart. Show me that Frank Marr is worthy of you – that is, that your father’s words which he told me were either untrue, or that he had been deceived; tell me, in fact, that by waiving my claims I can give you happiness, and I will do so, and at once, even though – ” His voice trembled as he spoke, and then he added hastily: “But you are much agitated; I will go. Only one question before a painful subject is buried for ever – Are you aware that Frank Marr was with your father this morning?”