The Railway Man and his Children

Chapter I Archie

had not remarked at all the incident Avhich had startled Johnson, and which Eddy Saumarez, alone at present among the relics of the supper, and making a final meal with considerable appetite, was going over and over in his eager and fertile mind, trying to make out its meaning, and in Avhat way it could affect himself, and on the course he ought to pursue. The man in the over coat, closely buttoned up, coming suddenly out of the cold outside to the lighted and dazzling ball room, with his pale face and startled air, was as a picture to the mind of Eddy, full of innumerable suggestions and possible fate : but it would have conveyed no idea at all to the intelligence of Archie even had he perceived it. Somebody about business ; if not, as was most likely, some invited guest who VOL. III. B THE RAILWA Y MAN CHAP. 2 had not caught the boat, or had been othenvise detained on the way.

Avas all the son of the house Avould have thought of. Somebody about business did not mean much to Archie. It could have, he would have been quite sure, nothing Avhatever to do with him. The hall in which the dancing took place Avas separated from the great door by a vestibule and inner door, chiefly made of glass, and half-covered by heavy curtains The stranger, Avhen he jumped from the dogcart which had brought him round the loch, a long detour, had pushed into the vestibule, finding it open and no servants visible. There had been a general AvithdraAval both of the servants of the house and the many strange footmen, Avho had attended the guests, to the servants' hall, where a supper was going on, quite as merry, and not much less luxurious, than the other supper in the dining room : and at this moment there was nobody about to direct the visitor.

He had accordingly, his business being urgent, opened the glass door, to find himself in the ball-room, as has been already de scribed. He stood there much surprised, looking round him for some one Avho could direct him to the master of the house. And, as luck Avould have it, the master of the house himself was the first to perceive this curious apparition in the midst of his guests. At that end of the hall none of the usual loiterers were standing about. They were all at the other end and along the upper sides of the ball room, Avhich Avere free from those draughts which, AND HIS CHILDREN I 3 as the elder people confided to each other, can never be quite shut out from a room so close to the open air. Mr. RoAvland made his Avay through the dancers, dodging here and there a quickly gyrating pair, Avith a smile upon his face, towards the man in the greatcoat, Avho stood help lessly at the door not knoAving what to do.

He held out his cordial hand to him as if he had been the most Avelcome of visitors. " I don't remember your face," he said, " excuse me ; and you're very late : but the fun, as you see, is still going on." The newcomer stared at him, with his lips apart. " You are Mr. Rowland ? " he said. " Well, yes, naturally," said the good-humoured host, with a laugh ; " it appears you don't know me any more than I know you." " I'm from the Bank of Scotland — the Glasgow branch," said the stranger. " I have come, if you please, Avith a private communication from the manager, very important. If I could speak a word to you by yourself " " The Bank of Scotland ! Then you have not come to the ball ? " said Rowland. The neAvcomer looked round with a glance of admiration and awe. He was a young man, and he thought it a scene of enchantment, though his Scotch pride was too great to permit any desire to intrude himself into that dazzling assembly.

He drew himself up a little and replied, " I have nothing to do with the ball. I knew nothing about it. I have driven round the head of the loch, a very long B THE RAIL WA Y MAN CHAP. 4 road ; and I've no prospect but to spend the whole night that way, getting back. Ten minutes, sir, if you can give it me, will be enough for what I have to sav." " Come this way," said Rowland, drawing back the curtain that covered the library door. He had preferred to keep his sanctuary uninvaded by the visitors, to whom the rest of the house had been throAvn open. He stirred the fire in the grate, Avhich was burning Ioav, and turned up higher the subdued light of the lamp. " Sit doAvn there," he said, " and get warm ; and tell me what this business is that has brought you so far on a cold night. I suppose you missed the boat ?

" " I just missed it by tAvo minutes, so there Avas nothing to do but to drive ; if I had known that there was a ball, I think I should have stayed on the other side till the morning, Avhatever the manager said." " Oh, never mind that," said Rowland, with a genial laugh. " Dancing's not much in my line — a little business will be a diversion. What is it ? The Bank of Scotland has not broke, I hope, nor the Bank of England either. Banks have no great reputation, I'm afraid, in these parts." " The Bank of Scotland, sir, is not like your Glasgow banks," said the visitor, with some severity, for he was an east country man. He paused a little, and then he took from the breast pocket of his overcoat a case, and from that a piece of paper. I AND HIS CHILDREN 5 " Will you tell me if this is your signature ?

" he said. It Avas a cheque for a thousand pounds — a cheque crumpled and refolded in diverse Avays, as if it had already passed through several hands. Rowland took it with great surprise, and held it to the light. " My signature ? " he said. It Avas mere beAvilderment, not intuition, Avhich kept him silent as he examined the Avriting ; and then there sprang a sudden flutter and dart of anguish through his heart, Avhich he neither under stood nor could account for. " It looks like my signature — why do you ask such a question ? " He said this, scarcely knoAving why, to gain time : though he could not have told Avhy he Avanted to gain time. " God be thanked ! " said the stranger. " You lift a load from my mind. It was paid yesterday by one of our young clerks ; but our attention was not called to it till to-day.

On comparing it Avith your usual signature, Ave felt a doubt ; and the cheque itself Avas unlike you. It was not crossed — it Avas drawn to nobody's order ; and it's a considerable sum, Mr. RoAvland — nothing to you — but to most people a considerable sum. If you say it's all right, you will lift a load from my mind. It was young Farquhar that paid it — a fine young fellow*. And his career would be spoiled " THE RAILWAY MAN CHAP. These words came in a sort of strange mist to RoAvland's mind. He was standing all the time with the cheque in his hands, holding it to the light. Everything external was in a mist to him, both Avhat he saw and what he heard. The very cheque, with that signature " James Rowland " spraAvling on it as his own signature spraAvled, seemed to float in the air. But within his mind, everything was acute and clear — a great anguish rending him as Avith a serpent's fangs — a dart through all his veins, dull in his heart like a stone, violent in his head, as if all the blood had gone there to throb and knell in his ears, and beat like a hammer in his temples.

All the time he Avas standing Avith his back to the ill-omened mes senger, holding the cheque as if he Avere examining it, in his hands. His voice, Avhen he spoke, had a dull and thick sound, and he did not turn round, but remained as if fixed in that position, with the cheque stretched out in both his hands, and his head bent to get the light upon it. " I needn't trouble you any more," he said ; " the cheque's — all right. It was draAvn for a special purpose ; it is nothing to me, as you say." Here he broke into a hoarse laugh. " Nothing to me ! What's a thousand pounds in comparison Avith You can relieve your friend, young Farquhar's mind. Young Farquhar, is that his name ? But he ought to be more careful. That's a large sum to pay to bearer over the counter Avithout any guarantee. But he did quite right — quite right — my name's enough for many a thousand pounds."

He moved from Avhere he was standing to ring the bell, but did not turn round. Then he Avent back to the lamp and pushed the shade loAver doAvn. " I'll keep the cheque," he said, " to remind me not to do such a thing again. Saunders, will you take this gentleman into the dining-room, and see that he has some supper before he goes. I don't know your name," he added, turning upon the stranger and putting out his hand, " but I highly approve your energy in coming, and I'll take care to say so to the directors." " My name is Fergusson — and I'm very glad of your approval, Mr. RoAvland : and the night jour ney Avill be nothing, for I am going back with a light heart." " Yes, yes," said RoAvland, " on account of young Farquhar : but you should tell him to be careful. Take a good supper, and then you're less likely to catch cold.

You'll excuse me entrusting you to my butler, for you see for yourself that to night " " I am only grieved I troubled you," said the bank clerk. " No, no, nothing of the sort — and mind, Saun ders, that Mr. Fergusson has a good glass of wine." He Avaited until they were gone, and then he dropped heavily into a chair. He had no doubt none whatever — not for a moment. Who could have done it but one ? He took out that fatal scrap of paper again, and laid it out before him on the table in the intense light. It Avas very like his signature. He Avould have himself been taken in, had that been possible. Some of the lines were laboured, while his were merely a dash ; but it was very like — so like, he thought, that no new hand could have done it, no one uninstructed. He might himself have been taken in, had he not known, as the bank people did, that he never dreAv a cheque like that — a cheque with no protection — drawn to bearer, not crossed, nothing to ensure its safety.

He smiled a little at the ridiculous thought that he could have been capable of doing that — then suddenly flung himself doAvn upon the table, covering his face with his hands. Oh, pain intolerable ! oh anguish not to be shaken off! His boy — Mary's son, who had her eyes — his heir, his successor, the only one to con tinue his name. Oh burning, gnawing, living pang, that Avent through and through him like a spear made not of steel, but of fire ! He Avrithed upon it, as we all do in our time, feeling each sharp edge, as well as the fiery point that pins us help less to the earth. What was Prometheus upon his rock, of Avhom the ancients raved ? — a trifler, a nothing, in comparison with the father, who had just been persuaded of the guilt of his only son. And all the time the music was sounding outside the door, the sound of the light feet going and coming in rhythmic Avaves, the confused hum of voices and laughter.

The boy AA'ho had put this spear into his father's heart Avas there, enjoying it all. Rowland had been pleased to see that Archie was enjoying it. He had said to himself that the boy Avas no such cub after all ; that perhaps that failure of his about his comrade might be ex plained ; that he might have been dazzled by the possession of money, and too completely unused to it to understand the spending of it. He might have been afraid to give Avhat was Avanted, fearing that he Avould be blamed. There must be some reason. He had persuaded himself that this must be the case in the sensation of a certain pride in his children, which the sight of them among the others had produced. And noAv, and now ! — James Rowland had gone through the usual experiences of man — he had knoAvn sorroAV, and he had known the pangs of repentance.

He had not always been satisfied Avith himself, and he had been disappointed in others from time to time. But Avhat were all these miseries to this ? As he lay there Avith his face hidden, a hand was suddenly laid upon his shoulder. "James — Avhat is the matter, Avhat is the matter ? " his Avife said. He turned at first from her.with a thought that she Avas the last person Avho should hear —she who Avas not the mother, who had nothing to do with the boy ; and then he turned towards her : for was not she bound to be his own comforter, to help him in everything ? He raised himself up slowly, and lifted his face from his hands, which had left the mark of their pressure upon his ashy cheeks. " The matter ! " he said ; " the worst is the matter ! — the Avorst that can happen. I am afraid of nothing more in this world !

" " James ! " she cried, — then Avith an attempt to smile — " You are trying to frighten me. What is it ? A man has been here. — Dear James, it is not the loss of — your money ? — for Avhat is that ! We will bear it together, and be just as happy." Evelyn's mind, in spite of herself, was mo\ed by accounts in story-books of catastrophes Avhich were announced in this Avay. I am not sure that he even heard her suggestion, much less Avas capable of comprehending the devotion to himself that Avas in it. He moved his hand to the pink paper Avhich lay stretched upon the table in the full light of the lamp. " Look at that," he said. She took it up perplexed. A cheque for a thousand pounds, Avhich to Evelyn, unaccustomed to the possession of money, looked, as the bank clerk had said, like a large sum.

She looked at it again, turning it over, as if any enlightenment was to be had in that Avay. Then it occurred to her in the midst of her alarm, that after all her husband's great fortune could not be represented by a cheque for a thousand pounds. " What does it mean ? " she said, still holding it vaguely in her hands. I AND HIS CHILDREN 11 " Can't you see ? " He Avas almost harsh in his impatience, snatching it out of her hand and holding it up to the light. " They Avere fools to pay it at the bank ; and, as for that young Far quhar, I'll Can't you see? Look there, and there " " 1 don't know- Avhat you mean me to see, James. It is a little laboured, not quite like your hand. You must have been tired Avhen you Ah ! " said Evelyn, breaking suddenly off, and beginning to examine, fascinated, the terrible document that looked so simple.

She looked up in his face, quite pale, her lips dropping apart. " You don't mean me to think- " " Think ! See ! look at it ; it is forged — that is what it is." She looked at him, every tint of colour gone from her face, her eyes wide open, her lips trembling. It might have been supposed that she had done it. " Oh, James, James ! " she cried in a Ioav voice of terror and dismay. Then there flashed before her eyes a Avhole panorama of moving scenes : the pale and lowering face of Archie ; the lively one of Eddy Saumarez ; the disreputable Johnson — all came and went like distracting shadows. In a second she went over a whole picture-gallery of visionary portraits. Her husband looked at her intently, as if to read the name of the culprit in her eyes ; but she only repeated, " Oh, James, James !

" as if this appeal was all that she could say. THE RAIL WA Y MAN CHAP. 12 " You see it," he said Avith a sort of exasperated calm. " Though that young Farquhar — confound him, oh, confound him ! " Here he stopped again, as if the thought were too much. " He's got a father and mother now, no doubt, Avho can trust him with everything they've got ; Avho look forward to his becoming a director of the bank ; whom he goes home to every night self-conceited — Oh, confound them every one ! " " James," she said, laying her hand doubtfully again upon his shoulder, " is it Mr. Farquhar Avho has got your money ? Is it — ? Whom do you — suspect ? " He broke out into a loud, harsh laugh. " I haven't much choice, have I ? " he said, "there are not many that could have done it. There is only one, so far as I can judge.

He's been set on horseback and he's ridden to the devil ; and to make it up — though God knows how it's gone, for he has nothing to show for it— he puts his father under a forced contribution — that's about what it is." " You mean Archie ! — no, no, no," cried Evelyn ; " it is not Archie — it is not Archie ! James, you are angry ; you are letting prejudice lead you astray." " Prejudice — against my only son ! If it had been prejudice in his favour, prejudice to look over his faults, to think him better than he is " " No, no, no," said Evelyn, " that is not your way. You want perfection, and you can't bear I AND HIS CHILDREN 13 not to have it, James. There is nothing — nothing vicious about Archie. He must have been vicious to Avant that money ? No, no, no. I am as sure that you are mistaken as that I'm alive."

He shook his head, but he Avas a little com forted for the moment. " You can send for him if you are so confident," he said ; and then there came to them in a sudden gust the sound of the music, the movement of the dancers, Avhich made the floor thrill even AA'here they AA'ere apart in that room full of trouble ; and the horror of the com bination brought from Evelyn a cry of pain, as she put up her hands to her face. " Oh, don't send for him now ! in the middle of all that, A\'here he is doing his best, poor boy — where he has forgotten everything that's been troubling him ; — don't, James, don't, for your Avife's sake send for the poor boy noAv " " For my Avife's sake ! — It is you Avho are my wife, Evelyn." " If I am it is not to sweep her influence away, but to help it. Have mercy on her boy !

Oh, James, you have been hard upon him : you are a good man, but you have been hard upon him. Why did you expose him the other day about that money ? There might be a hundred reasons that you never stopped to hear. James, I am in Mary's place ; and Avhat she would have done I am doubly bound to do. Don't ruin her boy. Don't, for God's sake, James, even if your anger is just, destroy her boy ! " THE RAILWAY MAN CHAP. 14 He rose up and walked about the room in his Avay, laughing at intervals that hard, dry little laugh Avhich was his signal of distress. " It shoAvs what you think of me," he said, " that you bid me not to ruin him. What's the meaning of that accursed bit of paper lying there ? It means that I have adopted the lie and the guilt to save him. I haA'e said it Avas all right — not for his sake — but to save an open shame."

" Ah, James ! for his sake too." He put his arm round her, and bent his head doAvn upon her shoulder for a moment. She felt his heart beating like a loud, hard piece of machinery, thumping and labouring in his breast ; and she thought she divined the pain that Avas in him, forcing all his organs into such fierce movement. And so she did, in fact ; but Avho can altogether understand the bitterness in another's heart ? He sat down again after a while, and said again — " Send for him — he must answer for himself." " I will have to go and see to the people Avho are leaving, James ; you ought to come too." " I can't, it is impossible." " Then Archie must stay to take your place. He has done very Avell, as Avell as any boy could have done. He must back me up, and help me to see all the people away."

Rowland made a gesture of disgust at the people, the music, the gaiety, the whole brilliant, AND HIS CHILDREN 15 delightful entertainment Avhich he had devised so splendidly, and only an hour or two ago enjoyed so intensely. He could not bear the thought, much less the sight of it noAv. He remained alone while Evelyn went back to go through the final proceedings — to shake hands with the guests, and receive their acknowledgments. He sat and listened to the music and the sound of the feet keeping time, and the driving up of the carriages outside, and the commotions of the departure. TAvice in his impatience, as the reader has seen, he rang for the butler, Avho was dispensing hospitality on a scale little inferior to that of his master, and who was much annoyed to be disturbed. Saunders took one message after another to Archie, as has been seen, Avithout very much effect.

The butler's feelings Avere all with the young man. He too was of opinion, from his master's aspect and a something in the air which the inferior members of a household are quick to perceive, that there was " a wigging " in store for Archie ; and everybody in the servants' hall instinctively took Archie's side, and agreed with Saunders that to keep out of the governor's Avay as long as he could, was very natural on the part of the young man. Several of them wondered Avhether the man in the topcoat, Avho had supper punctually served to him in the dining-room, Avas the man who had made the row, an opinion to which Mr. Saunders himself privately inclined. But the opinion of these functionaries did not reach to Mr. Rowland in his THE RA IL WAY MA N CHAP. library. He sat and listened to all the voices and counted the carriages as they rolled away.

There could be but few remaining when he sent the last message to Archie. But A\-hen Saunders went out of the library with his errand, he met Mrs. Rowland coming in. She had stolen away from Miss Eliza and her vigorous group of dancers. Evelyn's heart was sick too, in dismal expectation of the intervieAv to come. She knew beforehand how it Avould be. Rowland Avould dash the accusation in his son's face, taking everything for granted, while Archie Avould either retire in sullen offence, or deny violently with as little reason or moderation as his father. They Avould meet like the clash of angry Avaves, neither making the smallest impression on the other ; and then they would drift afloat with Avhat she felt to be an irremediable Avrong betAveen them, something far more grave than had ever appeared on the stormy horizon before.

And what could Evelyn do, she Avho would so fain have taken all the trouble upon her shoulders, and saved them both ? Oh, no, there Avas no such luck in store for her ! She could not save her husband from committing himself to a great accusation, or Archie from violent rebellion and denial. If he took it too calmly, Evelyn felt that even her OAvn faith in him Avould fail, and if he were violent, it Avould make the breach with his father all the greater. She went and stood by her husband's side, putting her hand upon his arm as he sat at the table Avith the I AND HIS CHILDREN 17 shade of the lamp raised, and the light full upon his angry face, waiting till his son should come. And Archie came in so unconscious, almost self-satisfied, expecting a little approbation, and to find that his exertions had been appreciated !

There Avas a half smile on his mouth Avhich changed the expression of a face so often loAvering and heavy Avith anticipation of evil. He feared no evil this night. His eyes Avere limpid and blue, Avithout a cloud, though with a faint mist of boyish drowsiness in them just coming over the brightness of excitement. He Avas excited still, but a little sleepy, the call upon him being almost over : and it was nearly four o'clock in the morning, a sufficient reason for fatigue. " Did you Avant me, father ? " he said, in his fresh, boyish voice. Evelyn stood by her husband's side, holding his arm with a firm significant pressure. She gave one look at the lad who stood there, with his half smile, fearing no one, and then, with a sick heart, turned her face away. " Yes, sir, I Avanted you. I have been Avaiting for you here for hours," Rowland said.

Archie was startled by this unexpected tone. The smile went aAvay from his mouth. His eyes woke up from that mist of coming slumber and looked a little anxious, a little Avondering, ready to be defiant, in his father's face. Rowland took up the piece of paper that lay on the table in the fierce white light of the lamp. Archie had clearly perceived it was a cheque, but VOL. III. C THE RAILWAY MAN'S CHILDREN ch. I Avhat it could be for he did not imagine. His father took it up, and once more flung it at him as he had done so often. " Look at that," in a voice of thunder, " and tell me what it means ! " he cried.

Chapter II

" WHAT is the meaning of it ? " said Archie. He was so tired and pleased and sleepy, that he did not even now feel sure that anything was wrong. A faint idea struck his mind that his father, though he did not look amiable, might yet be making him another present, as he had done before. He caught it this time as it whirled tOAvards him, and looked at it puzzled, but without any alarm. " It is a cheque," he said, looking up from it with again that vague, slumbrous smile creeping about the corners of his mouth. " Is that all you have to say ? " "What should I say?" asked the young man. " Is it — another present you are making me ? — but it's a great sum," he added, waking up more and more ; " it can't be that." He was so simple as he stood, almost so childish, taking the aAvful missive, of the nature of Avhich he had no understanding, Avhich meant ruin, shame, everything that was dreadful, into his hand so in nocently, that there came from the breast of the c THE RAIL WA Y MAN CHAP. 20 spectator standing by — the only being whom the boy feared — a suppressed but irrestrainable groan of emotion.

Yet Evelyn felt that to her husband his son's ignorance meant nothing but acting, a consummate deceit, got up beforehand, the result of guilty expectation, not of innocent ignorance. " Mind, how you drive me wild !" Rowland said hoarsely. " I give you yet a place of repentance. For your mother's sake, and for my wife's sake, Avho is not your mother — own to it like a man even now — and I'll forgive you yet." Archie's unconsciousness was almost foolish, as he stood there with the thing in his hand. Evelyn, trembling from head to foot in her OAvn impatience and anxiety, could scarcely bear it. " Oh speak, speak ! " she cried under her breath. " OAvn to what ? " the boy said. " A place of repentance— for Avhat ? " His consternation and amazement Avere clear enough ; only to his father they seemed the deepest deceit.