The Westlakes

Front matter

u/ THE WESTLAKES BY THOMAS COBB AUTHOR OF 'ON TRUST,' 'MISS MEREWETHER's MONEY,' 'FOR VALUE RECEIVED,' ETC, ETC. GRIFFITH FARRAN & COMPANY, LIMITED NEWBERY HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD LONDON CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. — The Westlakes at Home, . . i II. — Walter Richmond, ... 8 III. — Love's Young Dream, . . 15 IV. — Major Meredith, . . .22 V. — Prideux and Westlake, . . 30 VI. — Barbara hears the News, . . 42 VII. — Home Again, . . . -52 VIII. — Afterwards, . . . .70 IX.— In London Lodgings, . . .84 X. — An Unexpected Meeting, . . 96 XI. — Mr Westlake at Home, . . 108 XII. — Barbara makes a Beginning, . -117 XIII. — Mr Westlake makes a Call, . . 132 XIV.— An Invitation, . . • . CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE XV.— At Norborough, . . . .162 XVI. — Barbara's Eyfs are opened, . .174 XVII.— Mr Westlake prepares to go away, 192 XVIII. — Exit Mr Westlake, . . . 203 XIX.— At Brighton, . . . .213 XX.— Margery's Offer, . . . 226 XXI. — A Traveller returns, . . . 244 XXII. — Sydney is made happy, . . . 257 XXIII.— The Meeting, . . . .278 XXIV. — Uncertainty, .... 297 XXV. — Certainty, ..... 309 XXVI. — The Blow falls, .... 320 XXVII.— After, ..... 333 XXVIII. — Conclusion, ....

Chapter I. The Westlakes At Home

' Barbara, which hand will you have ? One letter for you, one for father, none for poor me. Right or left. Which will you have ? ' Barbara sat at the head of the breakfast-table as usual. The two windows which looked on to the gravel-drive before the house were open ; the scent of the young May found its way indoors ; the blackbirds sang in the garden. The sun shone full on her head, and her smile as she looked at her sister Margery by the door was bright as the sunshine. It was hard to believe that she was four-and-twenty : twenty, perhaps, or one-and-twenty ; she did not look a day older. Her hair was dark brown, and, though she had A hardly known a week's illness in her life, her face was pale, with small and not very regular features ; the upper lip curling slightly, as if it objected to close upon the lower.

In height, Barbara was below the average, so that Margery could look down upon her. This morning she was clad in a white cotton dress, and her hair was coiled in a loosish knob behind her ears. She had not a care in the world ; the sun played upon her face, lighting up a few chestnut tresses amongst the darker brown ; her eyes sparkled, not at anything in particular, but because it was the spring of the year, and the spring of her life, and she was happy. Margery stood in the doorway, both hands above her head, a letter in each, looking mischievously from Mr Westlake to her sister. Taller than Barbara, her figure as yet undeveloped, her move ments were not free from awkwardness. Her hair, just too dark to be golden, was fastened in a kind of loop, which flapped up and down as she ran towards her father.

She gave promise of remark able beauty, and each day the promise was being fulfilled. ' Which hand will you have, father ? ' she cried, standing betwixt Barbara and Mr Westlake. ' Kindly let me have my letter without any more THE WESTLAKES AT HOME. 3 nonsense, Margery,' he answered testily, and, giving it up, she turned with a pout to her sister. ' I know whom yours is from, Barbara. Nobody but Mrs Gellatly writes like that. May I open it? ' ' Yes, if you like,' answered Barbara, to whom a letter was not so important an event as to Margery. ' Well,' continued Margery, her attention still on the letter, which its lawful owner had not yet read, ' well, I do call it shabby. I call it awfully mean. To invite Barbara, and leave me out. Then to send me her love ! now, that's a mockery. Oh dear, how dreadfully dull it will be.' ' You don't know that I shall go,' said Barbara, with a rather wistful glance at her father.

Seated, he looked like a tall man, with his broad shoulders, his massive head, and his long black beard. It was a disappointment to see him rise ; with such a head and shoulders, he ought to have stood six feet at least, whereas Mr Westlake wanted several inches of that height. Prideux & Westlake's bank was known through out the county ; the firm having been Prideux & Co. before Prideux & Westlake. Mr Prideux ruled at South Marling; Mr Westlake had pre sided over the fortunes of the Bathington branch for the last twenty years. It was said that a change had come over Mr Westlake of late : some declaring that it dated from the death of his second wife, five years ago ; others that he had never been the same since he fell from his horse twelve months earlier. Mr Westlake's first wife having died at Barbara's birth, before the child was a year old he married again, and Barbara gained not only a mother, but in due course a brother and a sister also.

Between Barbara and Sydney there was a difference of less than two years, and now that she was ap proaching her twenty-fourth birthday, Sydney had turned twenty-two, while Margery would soon be seventeen. 'Why shouldn't you go, Barbara?' demanded Mr Westlake. ' There's nothing to prevent your going. Of course you must go. There's no earthly reason why not.' And he looked at her irritably. ' I'm not at all sure that you could exist for a month without me, father — to say nothing of Margery. I am not at all sure.' ' Nonsense, Barbara. I wish you to go. A pity that Margery can't go with you. However, you had better write this morning and accept the in vitation. When is it for ? ' ' Friday week,' answered Margery for her sister, and after Mr Westlake had started on his usual walk to the bank, Barbara wrote to Mrs Gellatly.

THE WESTLAKES AT HOME. 5 ' Don't send my love,' said Margery, standing with her violin against her chin, inquisitively peer ing over Barbara's shoulder. ' Don't mention my name, because I hate Mrs Gellatly for not inviting me.' To a certain extent Barbara was a person of independent means, her grandfather — her mother's father — having bequeathed her, a few years ago, the sum of three hundred pounds a year ; thus she was enabled to make her preparations for the journey without troubling her father. But as the day of her departure drew near, Mr Westlake looked so worn and worried that she doubted whether she ought to leave home. ' Father,' she said on the Wednesday, coming to his side after Margery had gone to bed, 'are you quite positive that I ought to go to Mrs Gellatly's on Friday ? ' ' Why not ? ' he demanded, turning upon her almost angrily. ' Why on earth shouldn't you go ? ' ' Because I am afraid you are not well,' she ex plained; 'you seem so dreadfully low-spirited and anxious.

I can easily put Mrs Gellatly off' ' Don't take foolish fancies into your head,' he answered. ' I was never better in my life — never better. I wish you would try to be a little more sensible.' For a moment he was inclined to tell her the truth — to tell her what terrible cause he had to be low-spirited and anxious, as she said. Nobody had ever been to him quite what Barbara was, it would be a relief to tell her ; but as he sat watching her sweet face, his courage failed him. It was so wretched a business at the best. Five years had passed since Mr Westlake's first speculation on the Stock exchange ; and his operations had yearly increased in magnitude. Of late his speculations had turned out badly, and this was easy to account for. Eager to retrieve his fortunes, he played for higher stakes, and not only dealt in vast sums, but in stock which promised larger profits.

Now, large profits mean great risks ; it is impossible to take the one without the other. Sorely pushed on one occasion, Mr Westlake had pledged some securities belonging to the firm. To do this, it was necessary to obtain Mr Prideux's signature, which he supplied with his own hand. Always hoping to save himself by some lucky speculation, he had plunged deeper and deeper until the deficiency amounted to a vast amount, every day increasing the risk of detection. Mr Westlake relied upon Aurentinas to recoup THE WESTLAKES AT HOME. 7 his losses, and he could not have trusted to anything more unstable than the stock of this South American Republic. Its price was very low at present, but it was rising daily ; if he could only hold on, and if the rise continued, he believed that he might yet avoid disaster — ruin and disgrace for himself and his children.

But if he wished to avoid exposure, he had no time to spare. He never entered the bank without dread, and was unable to look Mr Halse, his chief cashier, in the face. Halse was the man he feared most ; he was sure that the cashier suspected him. But though it might be that Barbara must know the worst before long, Mr Westlake could not bring himself to tell her to-night, and she left Bathington on the morrow, entirely un conscious of the storm that threatened to overtake her.

Chapter II. Walter Richmond

SlN'CE her husband's death four years ago, Mrs Gellatly had lived in Colonel Oldacre's house at Montague Square. When Mr Gellatly paid the one debt for which he could give neither a pro missory note nor an I.O.U., his widow found it necessary to survey her position. She was pos sessed of no treasures but her daughter Annie ; and though Annie might be worth her weight in gold, she was not yet a marketable com modity, being only sixteen years old at her father's death. It was suggested that Mrs Gellatly should retire to Malines or Bruges, where she could live upon next to nothing a year, but Mrs Gellatly strongly objected to this kind of suttee. Instead of going to Belgium, she went to Colonel Oldacre. Colonel Oldacre was Mrs Gellatly's uncle, and as he had recently lost his wife, while she had recently lost her husband, she hoped that a fellow WALTER RICHMOND. 9 feeling would make him kind.

At all events, he was very rich. As well as the house in Montague Square, he kept another house at Norborough, and owned ever so many houses besides. Colonel Oldacre had a house with no one to look after it ; Mrs Gellatly had no house, but, on the other hand, she was capable of looking after any thing or anybody. Here was a manifest case for co-operation. At first Colonel Oldacre refused to see the matter in the same light, but when Mrs Gellatly introduced Annie to the scene, he began to relent. He was fond of children, had no child of his own, and Mrs Gel latly carried her point, owing her success to Annie. Thus she established herself in Montague Square, with results that were mutually satis factory. Regarding Colonel Oldacre as her bene factor, she was ever ready to prove her gratitude ; he found his reward in Annie, who soon grew to love him as if he were her father.

Colonel Oldacre was related to Barbara West lake through her mother, and was also the trustee of her small fortune. When Sydney Westlake began his course at the hospital, he was made free of the house in Montague Square, and as Annie grew from girlhood to youngwomanhood, he enjoyed this freedom to the fullest extent. Regarding Mr Westlake as a man of great possessions, his son as his heir, Mrs Gellatly offered no objection to Sydney's constant presence. Annie, it was true, had expectations from Colonel Oldacre, but Colonel Oldacre might possibly take unto himself a second wife, and Annie's expecta tions be disappointed. All things considered, it appeared that Annie and Sydney were made for one another, and nobody was disposed to quarrel with destiny. Still, no word of love had been spoken between them.

Eighteen months must elapse before Sydney could qualify for practice, some years before he could think of marriage. On this first Friday of June, Mrs Gellatly sat alone in the drawing-room, which overlooked the garden in the square. It was half-past three, and Colonel Oldacre had gone with Annie to meet Barbara at the railway station. The furniture of the room was cumbersome and antiquated, though Mrs Gellatly did her best to modernise it by the addition of more rickety tables, flowers, and draperies of sombre hue. Of average height, Mrs Gellatly sat very erect, scarcely bending her neck to look down on her needlework. Her dark hair was streaked with grey, and on the top of her head she wore a square of lace, with the point towards her sorehead. Still WALTER RICHMOND. 11 handsome and dignified, her complexion was rather sallow, as if she had known ill-health. ' A gentleman of the name of Mr Richmond for Colonel Oldacre,' said the housemaid, opening the door as Mrs Gellatly raised her eyes. ' I said the Colonel was not at home, and the gentleman would like to see you.' ' If he is a gentleman, you had better ask him to walk up,' replied Mrs Gellatly.

But Walter Richmond had never walked up stairs in his life ; he always ran up, taking three steps at a stride. ' I must offer you my apologies,' he said, entering the room, ' but I wanted to see Colonel Oldacre rather particularly ; in fact, I have a letter for him, and if I don't succeed in delivering it to-day, I don't know when I shall find another chance.' ' Am I right in supposing that the letter is from India ? ' she asked. For the greater part of Colonel Oldacre's life had been spent in India, where he had still a number of friends, whilst Richmond's tanned cheeks and rather thin hair suggested the Anglo Indian to Mrs Gellatly's experienced eyes. Though he was not yet thirty, Walter's forehead had a tendency to expand towards his crown, but to make amends his moustache drooped, entirely hiding his mouth.

Slimly built and tall, his thin face was remarkably handsome, and lighted up by a pair of clear, light blue eyes. ' My letter is from Major Meredith,' he answered. 'Then,' said Mrs Gellatly, ' you must sit down and await Colonel Oldacre's return. He won't be long, but, however long he is, I hope you will wait ; he would never forgive me if I let you go without seeing him. There is no one of whom the Colonel thinks so highly as Major Meredith. Colonel Oldacre was an intimate friend of his father. Do you stay long in England ? ' ' About six weeks, that is all, unfortunately. But I am off to Yorkshire on Monday, and — ' At that moment Walter heard a carriage stop at the door. But the footsteps which presently ascended the stairs sounded light for a man of seventy, and when the door opened it was Barbara who entered, followed by Annie Gellatly.

Slightly flushed by the excitement of her arrival, as pleasant an object as Walter's eyes had ever rested on, Barbara stopped abruptly on beholding a visitor. ' Let me introduce Mr Richmond,' said Mrs Gellatly, taking her hand, for Meredith's name was a talisman in Colonel Oldacre's house. ' Annie,' she added, ' where is the Colonel ? ' Annie Gellatly was taller than Barbara, and WALTER RICHMOND. 13 of fuller figure. Fair and fresh looking, she was a good specimen of the average healthy English girl. Before she could answer, Colonel Oldacre was in the room. 'This is Mr Richmond,' Mrs Gellatly explained, ' he has a letter for you ; ' and Colonel Oldacre stood pulling down his drab linen waistcoat while Walter took the envelope from his pocket. ' I think you will recognise the writing,' said Walter ; and, placing his spectacles half-way down his nose, Colonel Oldacre examined it.

Although nearer seventy than sixty, he was still remarkably erect ; what remained of his hair was white, like his carefully-trimmed moustache and bushy whiskers. His florid face was marked by several minute purple veins, and his watery eyes gave him an irritable expression which libelled his disposition. ' Why on earth didn't you say the letter was from Ernest Meredith?' he demanded, glancing over the top of the envelope at Mrs Gellatly. ' Mr Richmond, I am glad to see you. Why, I haven't had a line from the fellow — it must be two years or more. Sit down, sit down, Mr Richmond, and tell us all about him.' ' Suppose you read the letter first,' suggested Mrs Gellatly; and, holding it at arm's -length, Colonel Oldacre stood with his back to the window to do so. The letter did not take long to read : — ' Dear Colonel Oldacre,' — it ran, — ' You will get this from Richmond — a friend of mine.

He will give you the news, so no more from — Yours, ' Ernest Meredith.' ' No more ! ' cried Colonel Oldacre ; ' why, he hasn't said anything. That is Ernest all over. A fine letter, to be sure.' ' At all events, it serves its purpose,' said Mrs Gellatly ; ' it introduces Mr Richmond.' ' Well, yes, it does that. Richmond,' he con tinued, ' I hope you will let us see a good deal of you. Any friend of Ernest's is a friend of mine. When can you dine with us ? ' 'It is a pity that Mr Richmond is leaving London on Monday,' said Mrs Gellatly, while Walter glanced at Barbara, and repented. ' Leaving on Monday, are you ? Well, come to night. We dine at half-past seven. Come to night if you've nothing better to do.' Vowing that there could be nothing better to do, Walter accepted the invitation, and took his leave.

Chapter III

love's young dream. On reaching Montague Square at half-past seven, Walter was introduced to Barbara's brother. There could be no doubt that he was her brother; indeed, he was more like Barbara than Margery, who was as fair as her mother had been, while Sydney was dark, like Mr Westlake. As tall and slim as Richmond, Sydney looked pale beside him ; his small moustache was nearly black, and his hazel eyes sunken like Barbara's. ' Who is he ? ' asked Sydney, as he led Annie down to dinner. He was naturally curious con cerning visitors to the house. ' A friend of Ernest Meredith's,' she explained. ' You know what a blessing it is to uncle to see any one from India. It will be nothing but India all dinner time.' ' I suppose,' said Richmond, seated between Mrs Gellatly and Barbara, 'that you know Meredith is coming home ; he said he intended sailing by the "Odessa"; and if he did sail by her, he is on his way by this time.' Colonel Oldacre was overjoyed, and when his excitement had to some extent subsided, Walter turned his attention to Barbara. 'A dreadful thing to be consumed by envy, Miss Westlake.' ' It's a feeling one should try to conquer,' she answered demurely. ' Quite beyond my power.

Just as this man arrives, I depart. I shall welcome him at the docks, and straightway begin to pack. In fact, I sha'n't be able to welcome him— it will be a ghastly failure. Don't you think it's rather hard ? ' ' On Major Meredith ? ' ' No, on me. To have to tear one's self away. The most annoying part of it is that I have wasted so much of my leave, it was the merest fluke that I came here to-day.' ' We ought all to be very grateful,' she answered. Mrs Gellatly left her guests pretty well to their own devices, and later in the evening Barbara sang some duets with Walter. The time passed pleasantly for everybody but the host, who missed his game of cards. ' Always glad to see you,' he said, bidding LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM. 17 Walter good-night. ' By-the-bye, do you play whist ? Nothing like a game of whist, in my opinion.

I love cards.' ' I quite agree with you,' was the mendacious answer. ' Come in on Monday and have a game,' said Colonel Oldacre. ' Come to dinner at half-past seven.' Ignoring his talked-of journey, Walter readily accepted, and Monday found him concentrating his errant attention on the game. On Tuesday he was again at the house, and calling on Wednesday afternoon, he found Barbara alone in the drawing-room. ' I am sorry that Mrs Gellatly is not at home,' she said, flushing slightly as she took his hand. ' Does that mean that I ought not to have come up ? ' he asked, feeling guilty. ' At all events, the mischief is done now,' she said. ' As you are here, won't you sit down ? ' ' The fact is,' he explained, with a good deal of embarrassment, ' I have been so kindly received, I am afraid I take advantage of it.

You know I looked on Meredith's letter as an awful bore when he offered it. I couldn't well refuse it, though I put off its delivery as long as I could. Strange B that I should have brought it on the very day of your arrival, wasn't it ? ' ' I don't quite see the strangeness, Mr Richmond.' ' Well, you know, it seems as if we were destined to meet. Not that I am a fatalist, though I come from the East.' ' I don't think that destiny concerns itself with so insignificant a person as myself ' But,' he persisted, ' you must admit that certain persons seem to have a special attraction for one another. You seem to know them far more quickly than the common run. Now, it appears to me that I have known you a good deal longer than a week, yet I saw you the first time last Friday.' Barbara began almost to wish for Mrs Gellatly's return.

This young man was rather bold, yet, strangely enough, she did not feel affronted. For the following Friday an expedition on the Thames had been arranged, and two o'clock found Walter and Barbara leaving Teddington Lock in a double canoe, while Sydney and Annie followed in an outrigger. ' You don't find the sun too hot ? ' asked Walter, as they paddled into the wider stream. ' Not at all. I love the sun,' she replied, looking at the glistening ripples on the water. ' Then you would like India? ' LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM. 19 ' Don't you prefer a canoe to a boat ? ' she asked quickly. ' I have a canoe of my own at home. I like to see where I am going to.' He wondered whether she did see whither she was drifting ; but, at all events, there was one person who saw quite clearly, and that was Mrs Gellatly, who spared no effort to throw him and Barbara together.

Barbara having no mother, it behoved Mrs Gellatly to play a mother's part towards her, and from this time forward Walter found the way made smooth for him. It was true that he could not come to the house more frequently, but he more often found himself alone with Barbara. ' My time is almost up,' he said rather dolefully one day, a week or two later. ' Mine also, Mr Richmond. If it were not that Colonel Oldacre has specially asked me to stay till Major Meredith comes, I should go early next week.' ' Yes,' he said, leaning towards her, ' our visits began together and they end together. There the resemblance ceases. You look forward to see your people again, I have to turn my back on my friends.' ' It seems to me that your friends must have been a good deal neglected of late,' she replied. ' My best friends are here, Miss Westlake.

I don't think,' he added with a laugh, ' that Mrs Gellatly can accuse me of neglect, do you ? ' ' But Mrs Gellatly is a new friend. Where are the old ones? But I am forgetting your theory. You form friendships at a first interview ; time is nothing to you.' ' Don't you believe in love at first sight ? ' he asked, lowering his voice as he looked into her face. 'Oh,' she answered, turning away, 'I was not talking of love — of friendship merely, a very different thing. If one makes up his mind so quickly, I fancy that he will change it just as readily.' ' Miss Westlake,' he said earnestly, ' is that your honest opinion ? Don't you believe that one does know at a glance whether one likes — loves a — a person or not ? ' ' You must be guided only by the face, then No, I don't believe that, Mr Richmond.' ' It's true, though,' he insisted. ' Good physiog nomists choose well, bad ones ill.

You see one, and you are at once either attracted or repelled. You must have experienced the truth of that ? ' ' Yes, of course, I have experienced that,' she admitted. LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM. 21 ' Well, and how often has your first impression proved wrong ? Not once in a thousand times.' 'It is all very plausible,' Barbara said, 'but I shall never prefer new friends to old. If I make a friend, I keep her. I don't make friends lightly ; I never give them up.' Her words damped his spirits, while the slightest encouragement would have provoked a declaration of his love. His position was a difficult one. Though he had known Barbara long enough to love her, it was not a month since their first meeting. A rebuff would be fatal, since there was not time to retrieve a disaster, and he left her without putting his fate to the touch.

Chapter IV. Major Meredith

The following Wednesday afternoon, Walter sat opposite to Meredith at luncheon, having met him at the docks an hour or two earlier. Meredith's darkly-tanned face was strikingly handsome, albeit somewhat grave and gaunt. His black hair was short and thick, his heavy eyebrows ran in an almost unbroken line across his low, square forehead, his moustache, bereft of its points, seemed to curl inwards beneath his upper lip. At the present moment his hands were thrust in his trouser pockets, his chair was pushed away from the table, beneath which his long legs were crossed. A faint odour of camphor was diffused by his old-fashioned clothes ; the short blue coat, with wide lapels and broad black braid, must have been built years ago, likewise his light baggy trousers and low waistcoat of a fancy pattern.

For many years Meredith had nothing but his pay to live upon ; hence his prolonged sojourn in India. But about a year ago, to his own intense surprise, he had inherited a considerable fortune ; and still testified his gratitude by the black mourning band worn on his coat sleeve. ' No more wine,' he said, placing his long, thin, brown hand over his glass. Walter turned the neck of the bottle towards his own, which he had just emptied. 'By Jove, Meredith, I'd give any blessed thing to stand in your shoes. I would, upon my word. See what a devil of a fix I'm in. A five years' engagement would be no end of a sell, yet it's certain I sha'n't set foot in England earlier.' He had confided his hopes and fears to Meredith on the way from the docks, and had talked of nothing else since, Meredith being an admirable listener and a trusty confidant, who would never take the trouble to betray a secret. ' She can follow you out' ' Of course she can ; I know that.

The question is, whether she will. It's a strong thing to ask a girl to do : to leave England and all her people for a man she has not known five weeks.' ' They do it,' said Meredith. ' Barbara isn't to be classed with the herd,' answered Walter, with a good deal of enthusiasm. ' Wait till you see her to-night. I never saw any one to come near her. By Jove, I don't believe there is any one to come near her.' ' That's of course.' 'What a miserable old cynic you are! But look here, Meredith, tell me what I ought to do. I was ready to try my luck any time after the first day I saw her. But I wasn't certain of her, and I've no time to throw away a chance.' ' Are you certain now ? ' asked Meredith. ' Yes,' said Walter, after a momentary hesitation, 'I am certain. I don't know that I'm more of a coxcomb than most men, but I think I am certain.