Queen Mab

Chapter I

Queen Square, Bloomsbury, is a quiet place. Securelyit sleeps within the shelter of the neighbouring Law and the shadow of a few old trees. It hears, indeed, the subdued roar of Holborn, and the distant hum of the city ; but it hears them as in a dream, ancl, heeding neither, it slumbers and dozes on. Its lot is cast in peace and silence; rude carriages disturb it not, for it has but a few incon venient outlets, and intruding feet seldom profane the grass that grows freely between its ancient flags. It has seen better days, that a glance wiU tell, but the ghost of departed greatness protects it from the last humiliation of decay : it is not popu lous. It has ceased to be fashionable, but, thank heaven, it is still " genteel." B The houses suit the place : they are old, brown, substantial burgher houses — they have never been palatial mansions.

They deal Httle with the va nities of life, but mind their own concerns, and see to their little gardens behind, and look at their green and quiet square in front, with its clamp stained statue of that Queen Anne who took and filled her father's throne, and was called " Good." To persons of a speculative turn who see such a place for the first time, it is a perfect godsend. If they enter it from Gloucester Street, for instance, fresh from the turmoil of Holborn, they are struck with its quaint charm ; for one it has, and quite its own. To be sure, it is neither picturesque, nor pretty, nor beautiful. It was never meant to answer any of these epithets, but then we do not look for beauty in great commercial cities ; and who that is wise would wish to live in a pietureque neighbourhood, or would even indulge in conjec tures concerning its inhabitants.

But here the very absence of all that is brilliant or striking is a temptation. In that shady house beyond a stu dent might roost and dream away a lifetime. In its sad looking neighbour an invalid, to whom country air was no necessity, might pass through querulous years, and not be affronted with the cheerfulness of places more favoured. In this a miser might hoard his gold, and contrive hiding-places of his own. Or a disappointed man might hide his head from the world's cold scorn, and sink unheeded into his grave. But whatever the tenant might be, that decorum which seems innate in Queen Square, would be expected to mark his habitation. Now, it was precisely decorum that was wanting in AL. Ford's house. It was that which made it look so singular and incongruous a dwelling. It had no business in Queen Square.

It was as well built, as valuable a freehold as its neighbours on either hand, but they looked comfortable if not affluent, and AL. Ford's house was decidedly shabby ancl poor. Their very plainness was sug gestive of citizen comforts; they were homes where a hearty Christinas dinner could be served up, and whence a respectable funeral could issue, after gout and good living had done their work ; but Mr. Ford's house, dingy and forlorn, suggested none but images of poverty or avarice. A miserly or a needy man alone could inhabit this desolate abode. Country poverty has its graceful aspect ; weeds grow prettily amongst the loose stones, ancl moss does very well on a roof ; we need not even trench upon ivy, which belongs to ruins, to make some thing nice and becoming of a dilapidated country mansion ; but London decay is like London itself, rather grim, smoky, and dirty, and Air.

Ford's house was inconceivably dreary to look at. The doorsteps, that last stronghold of English cleanli ness, were of a dull grey, and told of a negligent or overtasked maid-of -allwork. The paint on the door was worn away in frightful patches of scarred brown. The hancUe of the area bell was broken ; and the bell itself, when put in motion by some mysterious piece of mechanism, uttered a faint and ghostlike squeak. The curtains of the kitchen windows were yellow rags torn ancl never mended. The faded bUnd of the parlour window was of a common printed pattern ; poor and miserable looked its Gothic arches that nearly met a rusty iron screen, savingly substituted to the clear mushn of the neighbouring houses. The first floor, indeed, had a decent look. The yellow blinds were never raised — but, though yellow, they were whole; and everyone knew, moreover, that behind them there was a tale and a mystery; but the second and third storeys were even more conspicuous than the lower part of the house.

Broken panes, mended with brown paper stuck on with wafers, were of common occurrence in those unfortunate regions ; it was even said that sundry garments had there been hung out to dry. " But that must be a slander," as ALs. Smith kindly remarked; "for had they not the garden and the back windows '?" Airs. Slater, who owned a house in Devonshire Street, took a less lenient view of the matter, and openly de clared, " AL. Ford's house was a disgrace to the Square, it was. And she did not care who heard her saying so. Ancl she neither cared nor knew who AL. Ford was." Part of this declaration was very true. ALs. Slater did not know who Mr. Ford was, and Queen Square was no wiser than ALs. Slater. Some knowledge indeed it had, but of that broad delusive kind which is almost worse than complete ignorance.

This at least leaves imagination free; now to know a little is to be fettered in a most unpleasant man ner. It is in some sort to be compelled to the labour of distorting, and not to be allowed the de lightful liberty of invention. Mr. Ford's house was his own freehold pro perty — that everyone knew ; he had also chambers somewhere, but what he did there, none seemed able to decide. He led a dull, silent sort of life ; his three boys, a grim servant-woman, and Mr. Ford himself, were the only persons on whom the shabby door ever opened and shut again. Visitors being unknown at Air. Ford's, attention became all the keener : and AL. Ford, a shabby-genteel man, with a step alternately depressed and elastic, his raw scape-grace-looking boys, and Susan, who put no questions and answered none, became the legitimate prey of the inquisitive.

Very little was made of them. Anyone could see that though the boys outgrew their trousers and jackets, these were seldom renewed ; that AL. Ford's coat grew whiter at the seams, and his nose rather redder as time passed : and that t Susan's temper, as displayed in her conversations at the front door, or from the bottom of the area steps, did not become more mellow as Susan herself ripened. But such general discoveries only heightened curiosity, by suggesting all that remained unknown. That much was left to find out was certain. In the first place, there was ALs. Ford ; what had AL. Ford done with her ? She was not dead. Even Susan admitted that by implication, since, vvdien questioned, she in variably answered in her sharpest tones ancl angriest key, "that Alissus was very well, she was."

And it was pretty well ascertained that, well or ill, the missing lady, whom not a soul had seen for the last seven years, was to be found behind those drawing-room blinds, which were never raised in day-time at least. But what did that prove ? as the French say. AVas she crazy, a prisoner, an in valid, or a hypochondriac ? No one knew ; and heaven alone knows what extraordinary conjec tures were rife in Queen Square on this subject. Such being the sort of interest Air. Ford's house excited in the minds of his neighbours, the vigi lance of their curiosity may be imagined. As a general rule, there was Httle or nothing to repay it ; but a most interesting exception occurred on a gusty autumn afternoon. A double knock, a genuine double knock, was heard at Air. Ford's door. Two cautious heads appeared ; one at the parlour window of the house on the right-hand side, the other at the attic of that on the left.

They were quickly withdrawn as AL. Ford's visitor looked round and leered at ALs. Buddy, then nodded waggishly at Alary Anne. He had leisure to do so, for the unusual event of a double knock not having been attended to, he had to repeat it with such an increase of force as secured attention. Susan, the sourest of sour-looking housemaids, came and opened, wiping her hands on a greasy apron as she did so, and looking askance at the visitor. "AL. Ford at home?" he said, jauntily swinging his cane. " I shall see, sir," mistrustfully replied Susan ; " what name, please, sir ?" " Captain George. Oh ! he's at home for Cap tain George. Tell him his cousin, Captain George, wishes to speak to him five minutes — that's all." Susan obeyed slowly, not without first giving Captain George a suspicious look.

He was a tall ancl handsome man of sixty, or thereabouts. He had brown eyes, dark hair, sil vering fast, and mustachios carefully trimmed. He had, also, veiy good, straight features, and a pleasant smile, that revealed teeth of pearl ; and, conscious of these personal advantages, Captain George displayed them to every female gaze with the most graceful liberality. He now smUed at Susan, spite her evident mistrust, and, foUowing her in, kindly shut the street door, and at once made his way to the parlour; but Susan was first, and, laying her hand on the lock, stared sternly at him. Captain George, by no means daunted, kissed his hand ; and as Susan, amazed and indignant, was going to ask him what he meant by it, he added, with a wink, " Good — eh V in a tone so evidently meant for a third person, that Susan at once looked round.

Peering through the banisters of the kitchen staircase, she saw the face of a boy, eating, with evident relish, into a good-sized tart. At once Susan left the parlour door, and, making a dart at the boy, she shook him soundly. " So you have been and eaten your poor ma's tart. Eh ! have you ? — have you ?" Every question was accompanied by a shake. The culprit attempted resistance ; a scuffle fol lowed, ancl the noise attracted a lad of thirteen, fair, and very handsome, who at once put away Susan, and stepped between her and her vic tim. " A^ou must not. Sue," he said, sharply ; " don't you be afraid, Neddy — I am here." " Do you know what he has been and done, Alaster Robert !" asked Susan ; " been and eaten missus's tart — and how am I to get her another ?" " He did wrong, but you must not touch him," doggedly said the elder boy ; " I don't allow Neddy to be beaten at school, and no one shall lay a finger on him at home."

" She pulled my hair !" whimpered Neddy ; " and if I ate the tart, AVilliam ate the pigeon." " Well, then, if I don't settle master William for it !" cried Susan, exasperated, " that's all." " I teU you — you shall not touch William either," said the elder brother ; "no one shall beat my brothers whilst I am by. I shall punish them. Send William to me ; and you, Neddy, just come this w-ay." He pushed the boy before him, through what seemed to be a garden door. Susan stood looking sullenly at them ; and Cap tain George, an amused and observant spectator of this scene, now that it was over, coolly opened the parlour door, and, putting in his head, without waiting to have his name taken in, said in his pleasant way, "It's only me. Never mind me. It's only Captain George." The parlour which Captain George thus uncere moniously entered was a peculiar one ; and not having seen it for something Hke seven or eight years, that gentleman allowed his keen brown eyes to examine it curiously, whilst he exchanged a cordial greeting, coolly received, with Air.

Ford. Captain George's first impression was, that he had never seen so comfortless, so untidy, so dirty a place; his second, that his cousin was even a poorer man than the outward appearance of his house, the behaviour of Susan, and the scene on the staircase, all strengthened by some private in formation, had led him to suppose. There was everything to justify both impressions. TobaccG smoke hung in clouds in the air ; the paper hang ings were dark with dirt and stains, where they were not torn away in strips, leaving the white walls bare. The table near the window was a litter of books, papers, dirty tumblers, cigar boxes, and bottles of various sizes. The old horse-hair sofa was broken in many places, and recklessly allowed its stuffing to escape. The chairs looked rickety and insecure.

The carpet on the floor was full of holes and rents — a trap to unwary feet. The dusty mantel-shelf, above which hung a dull looking-glass with a long crack, was covered with dreary attempts at ornament. An old picture, a broken china vase, an empty watchcase, stood far apart on that long line of yellow board. The untidy hearth, still strewn with the ashes ancl cinders of a long-extinct fire, crowned this picture of domestic discomfort. Captain George saw it all, whilst he shook his cousin by the hand, paternally patting it with both his, proofs of affection which, as we already said, AL. Ford received coldly enough. AL. Ford was a man of forty-two, who had once been handsome, but who was now too worn and haggard to have any claim to the epithet. He was tall and sharp-featured, with good-natured though obstinate brown eyes, and a weak nether lip, that betrayed temper as well as weakness.

His high, broad forehead had intellectual claims, but it was both feeble and haughty. His look, his smile, offered the same contradictions. There was shrewd ness in the one, and kindness in the other; but AL. Ford's look was not always intelligent, and his smUe was often sarcastic, when it was not envious. He was, indeed, made up of the contrasts which are found in unsuccessful men, the result of broken aims and ever disappointed hopes, and unsuccess ful was written in his whole aspect. His uncer tain carriage and half-stoop, his loose gait in spite of great physical strength, his very hands thrust in his pockets, and his feet shuffling in a pahof old slippers, completed the story of the dismal ruin, one of the saddest eyes ever gazed on, that of a man. Of these unpleasant facts, Captain George chose to remain unconscious.

He closed his men tal vision, and saw a cheerful parlour, and a happy, prosperous man. " Went to your chambers, and not finding you, came here," he said, gaily sitting down on a broken chair, and heroically disregarding its warning groan. " A comfortable place you have of it. Poor Airs. Ford — poor ALs. Ford— a great trouble." And Captain George meditatively smoothed his moustachios, and, in his compassion for Mr. Ford's troubles, abstractedly poured him self out a glass of rum. " How is ALs. George ?" rather sulkily asked AL. Ford, thrusting his hands deeper in his pockets, and leaning back hi his chair. " Not very well — not very well," replied Cap tain George, speaking softly, as if he were addressing the invalid lad)' herself ; " ALs. Georo-e is very delicate — very much so — like Airs.

Ford — all the ladies are, I am afraid." "And so you went to my chambers," impatiently said Air. Ford. " Oh ! to be sure ! Fine little fellows those of yours ! Gad, sir, I thought we should have had a battle on the kitchen stairs. William had eaten a pigeon, and Ned had jtucked in a tart, and Susan was for immediate justice. But what's the big one's name? Robert, ay? Robert held out man fully for his little brothers — shan't touch them ; I don't allow my little brothers to be beaten at school, and you shan't touch them; I'll punish them ; and off he marches with them. Capital — on my word — capital — ha, ha ! A regular trump, that boy of yours." " And so you went to my chambers," said Mr. Ford again. " That's to say, what brings you here, eh ? That big boy is just like you. Just like you."

" So much the worse for himself," morosely re plied AL. Ford. " Come, old feUow, don't be so sulky," said Captain George, giving him a jovial thrust with the end of his cane ; " if I hunted you out to-day, it was to do you a good turn. Why, man, you know as well as any one that Captain George is a good natured fellow, rather fiery now and then, but a good-natured fellow." A most knowing wink of the left eye, a wink that recalled to Air. Ford's memory many a merry night, when Captain George had at least put on wonderfully well the appearance, if he did not possess the reality, of good-nature, compelled a smile, an advantage which Captain George at once followed up. " I have come to make your fortune," he said, striking his stick on the floor, and giving every word suitable emphasis. " Have you made yours ?

" asked AL. Ford. " I have come to make your fortune," repeated Captain George, disdaining to answer the question. " A hundred pounds, no more, sir, will make your fortune this very day." AL. Ford was just then very much in want of a guinea, and to be asked for a hundred pounds by the least trustworthy of his acquaintance, was not soothing, even though the end in view was so excellent as the making of his fortune. He could not even consider the proposal under its ludicrous aspect. He felt sharp, irritable, and full of his wrongs, and humour and Captain George were equally foreign to his mood. An exclamation which did not convey a benediction rose to his lips, but hospitality checked it, and it subsided into a sort of impatient and half-muttered growl. " Not a hundred ! — well, then, five hundred, sav five hundred," facetiously added Captain George.

" You had better not," exclaimed Air. Ford, looking much excited — " you had better not, Cap tain George." " AVhy, you are just Hke that boy of yours now," said Captain George — " shan't touch them, no one shall touch my brothers. A'ou are just Hke him now — a regular trump that boy is !" " I tell youyouhadbetternot," resumed AL. Ford, with rising anger. " I am not to be fooled out of any more money. And if I had what I lent you, and what I " " Now, what's the use of ripping up old sores," expostulated Captain George, " let bygones be bygones. If you had not been good-natured to me formerly, you know well enough I should not now have this opportunity of doing you a good turn. And, seriously, what is a hundred pounds ? Now, what is it?" AL. Ford's glass was by him — he took and drained it sullenly.

" A wUful man — a wilful man," said Captain George. " Now, just listen to me ; hear me, only hear me, my dear fellow, and I will convince you that the money must be found. Now, just listen ; but are you sure we are alone ?" "Ay, alone enough." "No fear of that pleasant-looking maid of yours," here Captain George winked in the direc tion of the kitchen stairs, " having her ear at the keyhole." AL. Ford impatiently grumbled that there was no fear ; upon which Captain George rose, and, cautiously putting his hand to his mouth, whispered something in AL. Ford's ear. "Alines," audibly said AL. Ford. VOL. I. C "Hush — sh! my dear fellow," and Captain George whispered again. " There was to be a canal once," surhly said AL. Ford. " The fortune of war," replied Captain George, with o-reat coolness, "the fortune of war.

A hundred pounds will do it this time — not guineas, mind ; a hundred pounds ! " Air. Ford rested his elbow on the table and leaned his cheek on his hand. He had not a hundred pounds indeed, but he had been staggered by Captain George's whispers, and Captain George, who knew his face of old, was quite aware of the fact. " It is to your strong practical sense I appeal, my dear fellow," he said, insidiously, praising AL. Ford for the quality he least possessed. " If any one understands these matters you do ; and whether you invest or not, I shall be glad of your opinion on my own account." "Oh! that is it, is it?" sneered AL. Ford, "I thought you had some object in coming here to day." Captain George looked at Air. Ford with pro found admiration, winked, gave him a thrust of his cane, and drawing a packet of papers from the breast-pocket of his coat, he put them on the table with an emphatic thump of his left hand, and a significant " there !"

AL. Ford took the papers up and glanced hastily over them. Then he began at the beginning, ancl whilst Captain George leaned back in his chair and surveyed the walls and the ceiling, he read them through with close attention. AL. Ford was, unfortunately for himself, an excellent judge of business matters, and he soon perceived that the speculation had every appearance of being sound and fortunate. Judgment is of two kinds — critical and practical. AL. Ford's was critical ; no one knew better than he did the weak or the strong point of this world's concerns. In these matters he was keen, clear-sighted ancl sensible, but even as good critics rarely write good books, so Mr. Ford, who saw so clearly and so well where the elements of success lay, never yet had known how to secure its fruits. The undertakings in which he had embarked were all fair and prosperous, but either he withdrew too soon from them through caprice, or he stayed too long through obstinacy.

That practical sense which enables men, ignorant, untaught, and often inexperienced, to do the right thing at the right moment, was that which failed him. He said he was unlucky, and many people said so too ; ancl so he was, but his was the ill luck not of circumstance, but of character, the most fatal of any. With secret irritation and discontent, he now c read those sheets of foolscap, pregnant with golden promises, none of which could be fulfilled for him. " Even if I had the money, something would come to cross it aU," was his bitter thought ; " and I have not got it ; and that fool, who cannot know this thing wUl answer — or he would not have come to me — will reap all the benefit." " Well," anxiously said Captain George, who had been sucking the head of his cane for the last five minutes.

" Well," said AL. Ford, pushing away the papers with an impatient sigh, " it looks weU, but I will have nothing to do with it." Captain George's face fell. "Then you don't think WeU of it," he said, taking up the papers. " Oh ! yes, I do ; but just leave me these for a day or so — I had better look at them again." Captain George obeyed with great alacrity; then, suddenly looking uneasy, " I say, Ford, fair play ; don't invest, and not tell me : fair play — eh ?" " If you talk of fanplay, I shall begin and sus pect something," said AL. Ford, sharply ; " I have already told you I shall not invest." Captain George poured himself out a glass of rum, shook his head, rose, and walked out. Air. Ford saw him to the door. On the last step, Captain George turned round, and nodding with what looked very like drunken solemnity, he said, with much emphasis : "Deep, Ford, deep — devilishly deep," and walked away.

Chapter II

Me. Ford closed the door on his visitor; then going to the head of the kitchen stairs, he asked, in a subdued tone, " Susan, are the boys ready to go and see their mother ?" " The boys ha' been and adone all sorts of mis chief, sir," shortly answered Susan, appearing on the stairs, and speaking in the same key ; " whilst I opened the door to the strange gentleman, one ate the tart, and the other the pigeon, that was for missus's dinner. They're worse than cats, them boys — they are ! " AL. Ford had a pimple on his forehead, which he always scratched in cases of difficulty. He now recurred to it with a look more perplexed than in dignant. " I am afraid the poor fellows are often hungry," sighed AL. Ford ; " you must get something else, Susan." " I told missus the cat had done it. God forgive me all the stories I do tell in this house.

Ancl she said ' never mind.' " " Well, that is all right ; is it not ?" " AVhy, no, sir, it ain't. The cat made me bring in Mary Ann, ancl what do you think missus is up to now ? AVhy, she wants Mary Ann up-stairs." Now Alary Ann was a fiction, the myth of the household, and this was a most inconvenient wish, as Air. Ford's lengthened face expressed. " I put it off, saving Alary Ann was ill in bed," pursued Susan ; " but that is not all, missus wishes for fruit. Now, sir, Covent-garden is not far off : but I put it to you, sir, can I get chei-ries at this time of the year ?" " Perhaps hot-house grapes would do," suggested AL. Ford, looking deeply perplexed. " Perhaps they will," doubtfully said Susan ; " and perhaps they will not ; but that ain't all. Alissus wants an organ." " A harmonium, you mean ; well — perhaps I can get one on hire."

But when Mr. Ford looked round his wretched home, when he remembered his debts and his downhill name, he wondered who would be so fool hardy as to trust him with an instrument. " Perhaps an accordion would do," said Susan, looking sagacious ; " organs are only fit for churches." But Mr. Ford shook his head. His wife had been an accomplished musician, and none but a first-rate instrument would answer her. " God help me !" he exclaimed, distractedly ; " it will be all out if she does not get that harmo nium, and it will break her heart, Susan, it will break her heart, not for herself, but for the boys and me." Tears stood in his eyes, and Susan looked sorely troubled, but the accordion had exhausted her short stores of comfort. " Well," said AL. Ford, with a deep sigh, " I must put her off for a while ; and say I am pro mised one.

Tell the boys to dress, and come to me, Susan, and then I'll see." • Alas ! " I'll see," was an old phrase, and Susan knew it but too weU. " I'll see" had often paid Susan's wages, and been the final settlement of many a bill; but "I'll see" had never wrought any substantial good. " And if she counts on l I'll see,' for her organ," thought Susan, as she went up-stairs, "she'll wait long enough." Poor AL. Ford remained absorbed in perplexing meditations. From whom could he borrow ? — what could he sell to get that harmonium for his wife ? " Decidedly she is getting better," he thought ; " for once she could bear no noise, and now she wants to make a noise that will fill the house. She is getting better, that is one comfort." "The boys are ready, sir," whispered Susan, on the staircase. " Have they got on their good shoes, Susan ?"

" They have, sir." " Alind you stay outside, and make them take their things off at once, Susan." " No fear of it, sir." " And, Susan, tell Robert to give them a talking about the tart and the pigeon. They mind him more than they do me." Susan nodded grimly, and AL. Ford softly went up the staircase. The three boys were standing on the landing. Their faces were washed ; their hair was brushed ; their attire was neat and clean. Their father gave them a scrutinizing glance, then opening the drawing-room door, he signed them to enter. They obeyed, in silence. He followed them on tiptoe, and closed the door with so much care, that it made not the least noise. The drawing-room of AL. Ford's house offered a very striking contrast to the squalid parlour be low7. Here time had stood still ; the seven years during which the lower regions had lost the rule of the mistress of the house and gone to chaos, had left no trace of their passage upstairs.