The Princes of Peele

II Author Of

“a queer race,” “the blind musician,” “the phantom city,’’ “MR. FORTESCUE,” etc.

I

NEW YORK

LOVELL, GESTEFELD & COMPANY

125 East 23D Street

Copyright, 1892,

BY

UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY

[A// rights reserved"]

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

CHAPTER I. MRS. prince’s presentiment

The hall of an old-fashioned country house. Background, a massive oaken staircase ; on the walls, several handsomelyframed prints ; a trophy, composed of a fox’s mask and half a dozen “ brushes ” and stags’ antlers, arranged as a hat-stand. In the foreground, vases filled with ferns and flowers.

The comely couple standing in the sunlight, which streams in through the doorway, are the master and mistress of the house, Leonard Prince and Dorothy his wife. He is drawing on his gloves, she putting a gardenia in his buttonhole. Mrs. Prince is the stouter, albeit not the taller of the two, a matron of somewhat imposing presence, well-favored, with dark eyes and a fair skin. . Mr. Prince, not having thickened with age like his spouse, looks younger than his years, which are far on in the fifties ; his hair and mutton-chop whiskers are turning white, his comely face is bright with health and high spirits, and his keen gray eyes, strong white teeth, and square jaws bespeak a vigorous constitution, a sanguine temperament, and an energetic character.

“ Thank you very much, my dear,” says Mr. Prince as his wife hands him his hat, “ I think I hear Tommy’s step on the gravel. Come with me as far as the lodge gates.”

Mrs. Prince put on her garden hat, and the two went out together at the open door.

Tommy, Mr. Prince’s hack, an old favorite who knew his business so well that he always came to be mounted without escort, was waiting for his master. Mrs. Prince stroked his

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

neck, gave him a piece of sugar, and the three walked slowly down the avenue.

Mr. Prince cast a backward longing glance at the house, as if he were sorry to leave it, even for the day ; and well he might be, for it was a glorious morning, and Holmcroft, with its brick walls, tiled roof, clustering ivy and rose-covered porch, and in its fair setting of shrubberies and gardens, never looked more charming and picturesque.

“ Yes, it is a dear, beautiful old place,” said Mrs. Prince, following her husband’s eye, and reading his thoughts. “ Yet what a wilderness it was when we came here, nearly thirty years since.”

“ So it is ; and since we were first married. We have a great deal to be thankful for.”

“ We have indeed. God has been very good to us, and if we are permitted to end our days here ”

“ If I had reason to fear we should not, I think it would break my heart.”

“ And mine. However, we need not talk about ending our days. Neither of us is so very old yet. You are the youngest man of your years in the county; and Mr. Vayle was saying only the other day that you rode as straight as when you were thirty.”

“ And you walk as straight, Dorothy. While, as for your looks ”

“No more ; an’ thou lovest me ! You might suppose I was fishing for a compliment. Shall you be home late tonight ? ”

“No, Monday is generally an easy day at the office ; and if there isn’t much doing I mean to return early and do some jack-fishing before dinner.”

“ It seems rather a long time since we heard from Jack, doesn’t it ? ”

Mr. Prince smiled ; he was amused that his mention of jack-fishing should remind his wife of their eldest son ; but answered gravely —

“ Well, I don’t know. It seems only the other day that you had a letter from him.”

“ It is nearly three weeks since.”

“ Dear me ! How time flies ; I suppose he has been too busy.”

“ I am sure he has not been so busy that he could not find

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

time to write to his mother, and I hope he is not going

wrong again, Leonard.”

“ Why should you think so ? Peploe speaks of him in the highest terms. He is very steady and regular, and is becoming quite an adept at underwriting, they say. They are quite willing to take him in as a junior partner next year, if I find two thou. I think by that time I shall be able to do it — with a little effort ; and I don’t see why I should not. They are a young firm, I know, but Peploe and Pope are both honorable and enterprising ; and it is a chance not to be missed.”

“ I hope Jack will prove himself worthy of it, but my mind misgives me.”

“ Because he has not written to you for a fortnight ? ”

“ Not that only, though it is a bad sign. In his letters lately there has been something that I cannot define, which has made me very uneasy. Moreover, in my last letter to him, written nearly three weeks ago, I put some very pointed questions, which he has not thought fit to answer — another bad sign. And you know how facile and impulsive he is ; and he has gone wrong before. My fear is that he may be running into debt. He was always a spendthrift.”

“ You are over anxious, Dorothy. True, Jack has gone wrong before, as you say, and given us no end of trouble, but he has many redeeming qualities — he has never done anything dishonorable, nor taken to drink ; he is sharp and clever too, and very affectionate. Moreover, for three years his conduct has been quite irreproachable ; his employers speak well of him ; and I think we may safely conclude that he has sown his wild oats.”

“ Well, I am perhaps mistaken. Let us say no more about it, and hope for the best ; and if Jack had been like Ned and Charlie we should have been almost too happy. One must

have a cross, I suppose Here we are at the lodge

gates. I shall expect you about four. Good-bye, dear.”

“ Good-bye, dear,” echoed Mr. Prince ; and then, after kissing his wife, he rode off, slowly and pensively.

“ I hope I have no^ made Leonard unhappy with my croaking,” thought Mrs. Prince to herself, as she wended up the avenue. “ But I have had misgivings about Jack for some time, and I did no more than my duty in telling Leonard. It is not as if I had no warning for my fears. I know Jack

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

better than he does. His letters have not been sincere this month or more, and if he could have answered my queries he would have done so. Of that I am sure. In spite of our exhortations I fear — nay I am almost sure — that he has been getting into debt. I will write again to-day, and insist on an answer, and if it is not forthcoming his father shall go to Liverpool and see him.”

Meanwhile Mr. Prince was mentally accusing his wife of being fidgety, and too prone to look on the dark side of things. “ What if J ack has been wild ? ” he thought. “ Many a young fellow who has been wild turns out well. And if there were anything wrong, Peploe and Pope would be sure to let me know. All the same, he should answer his mother’s letters ; and when I get to the office I will write and tell him so.” And then Mr. Prince, dismissing the subject from his mind, and turning Tommy on the turfy side of the road, cantered gaily towards Peele.

Jack, their eldest son, had been a trouble to his parents from his youth upwards. In addition to minor scrapes he was expelled from a public school, and after spending a term or two at Cambridge, ran off, worked his way in a sailing ship to Australia, and a few years later returned to Holmcroft, penitent and ashamed. The experience did him good ; his father thought it had wrought a radical change in his character, and after a few months’ probation at home, Mr. Prince got the repentant prodigal a place with Peploe and Pope, a Liverpool firm of ship and insurance brokers, where the knowledge of shipping and commerce which he had gained on his voyages and at Melbourne, stood him in good stead, and being bright and intelligent withal, and having that capcity for making friends so common with most scapegraces, he was not long in winning the confidence of his employers, and obtaining a leading position in their office.

His father, though greatly disappointed (he had intended him for the bar), laid the flattering unction to his soul that Jack was on the high road to fortune and would give him no more trouble, an opinion, however, in which, as we have seen, his wife did not share.

Of their two other sons, Edward, the elder, is rounding off his legal education in the office of his father’s London agent, and Charlie, in the intervals of shooting, fishing, and hunting’ is serving his articles in the paternal establishment.

THE PRINCES OE PEELE.

As Mr. Prince rides up the High Street of Peele, which straggles over a low hill, topped by the ruins of an old castle, he is greeted by all and sundry. Common folks touch their hats to him, others nod familiarly, and say “ Good-morning, Mr. Prince,” for the master of Holmcroft is the most popular and influential man in the town, leading solicitor, clerk of the peace, clerk to the justices and board of guardians, and agent to Lord Hermitage, the largest land-owner in those parts. He has been several times mayor, and no candidate for suffrages of the “ free and independent ” burgesses of the borough whom he does not support has much chance of becoming its representative in Parliament.

His friend, Mr. Lincoln (of the great American firm of Lyman, Lincoln, and Jump), who has a country seat in the neighborhood, calls him the “ Boss of Peele.”

He is, moreover, supposed to be well off ; keeps a stud of hunters, lives in good style, and gives liberally to local charities. His legal business is of the lucrative sort so much desired by solicitors — mainly conveyancing ; he is the trusted adviser of all the squires and farmers in the countryside, and save in litigious cases never had a bill taxed in his life, nor has he ever consented to take up an unclean case or accept a disreputable client.

Mr. Prince reins up before an old-fashioned house in the High Street, throws his right leg over his horse’s withers and drops lightly on the pavement. On this. Tommy goes off to his stable, and his master walks briskly into his office, the old-fashioned house aforesaid. The brass plate on the door bears the inscription —

“ Prince and Prince, Solicitors.”

The Princes in question were Mr. Leonard Prince’s father and uncle, to whose business he succeeded many years previously. They have been long dead, but he likes to keep up the old style, the more especially as he has good reason to believe that his sons will succeed him in turn, and the firm become, in reality as in name, “ Prince and Prince ” once more.

After looking in at the general office and the estate office, and seeing that all the clerks are at work, and bidding them lO

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

good-morning, Mr. Prince enters his own room, where he is presently joined by Mr. Lilly white, his managing clerk.

A queer-looking gentleman was Mr. Lillywhite. People said he had the longest head in all Peele. He had certainly the biggest nose ; and it was the only part of his face which blushed or otherwise showed emotion, the rest of his visage being as sallow and expressionless as a piece of his own parchment. The nose, however, was all expression. It moved when he talked, wobbled when he laughed, and trembled when he swore. Its hue changed with the days of the week. On a Monday morning it was terra cotta red ; by Wednesday it toned down to light purple, on Saturday it was generally light blue. These remarkable variations were conceiveably due to the fact that Mr. Lillywhite made a rule of drinking a bottle of old port with his Sunday dinner, and with his other dinners only beer. The managing clerk was further distinguished by the length of his body and the phenomenal bareness of his face and head, the only hair of which he could boast being a single yellow tuft on the top of his cranium, which he humorously called his scalp lock.

“ Anything new this morning, Lillywhite ? asked Mr. Prince as he opened his letters.

“ Nothing particular. Mr. Jumper called. He wants another will making.”

“ The deuce he does ! Why, that will be the second this year, won’t it ? ”

“ The third. He is a good man, Mr. Jumper, always thinking about his latter end. However, it amuses him and pays us. This is a free country and a man has a right to make as many wills as he likes.”

“ Well, prepare the draft, and let him have it at once. Has anybody else called .? ”

“ A gentleman who seemed rather anxious to see you. He was here when I came. Said he would call again shortly, but refused to give his name.”

“ A stranger then .? ”

“ He must be ; I never saw him before.”

“ Probably a commercial traveller, who wants to recover a debt for his house.”

“ I don’t think so. He does not look like one. Besides, in that case he would have told me his business. Shall I send him in to you if he comes again ? ”

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

II

“ By all means.”

“Well, I think I’ll go and prepare this draft. It will be little more than a copy of the previous will, with a few variations.”

Whereupon Mr. Lillywhite withdrew ; but the door had hardly closed behind him when he was back again.

“ Here he is, Mr. Prince,” he whispered. “ Just come in

at the front door This way, sir. Mr. Prince has *

arrived.”

And then there entered a tall red-haired gentleman in a tweed travelling suit, closely followed by the managing clerk.

“ God bless me, Mr. Peploe ! ” exclaimed Mr. Prince, rising from his chair with a look of blank surprise. “ How are you ? ”

“ As well as can be expected, thank you, seeing that I have been travelling all night. Could I have a word with you, Mr. Prince ? ” (glancing at Lillywhite).

The head clerk took the hint and withdrew a second time.

“ Peploe, Peploe,” he murmured, “ Peploe and Pope. One of Jack’s masters. What’s up now, I wonder ? ”

“ Pray take a seat, Mr. Peploe,” said Mr. Prince seriously, for he thought of his wife, and feared that this visit boded no good. Peploe was a busy man. It was no light cause that brought him all the way from Liverpool to Peele.

“ How did you leave Jack .? ”

“ I did not leave him at all. He left us.”

“ Left you ? How, Mr. Peploe ? ”

“ In the lurch. You will excuse my bluntness, Mr. Prince. But I have neither time nor inclination just now to beat about the bush. I must come to the point at once. Your son has robbed us — that is why I am here to-day.”

Mr. Prince turned as white as a sheet, and fell back in his chair as if he had been struck.

“ Robbed you ! No, no, Mr. Peploe ! That is impossible. Jack may have been a little wild and extravagant, perhaps, but not dishonest, don’t say he has been dishonest.”

“I wish to God he had not. But there, see for yourself.”

CHAPTER II. peploe’s proposal.

Mr. Peploe took from his pocket-book two documents and laid them on Mr. Prince’s desk.

One was a wildly incoherent letter from Jack, in which, with many expressions of contrition, the writer acknowledged having abused his employers’ confidence and “taken ” a large sum of money — lost on the Stock Exchange and betting — he must have been mad, but he would pay them back every penny, so help him God, he would. He ended by begging them to say nothing to his father.

The other document was to the following effect : —

“ Private and Confidential.

“ Messrs. Peploe and Pope,

“ Dear Sirs, — I have gone through your books and find that the defalcations directly traceable to Mr. John Prince amount to the sum of 19,450/, (id . — Yours truly, Henry

Tanner, Accountant.”

Mr. Prince gazed at these letters like one fascinated, and his hand trembled so that he could scarcely hold them. He knew from the first that Peploe was the bearer of bad news ; but the reality surpassed his worst forebodings. His eldest son a felon and a fugitive from justice ! He would rather have heard that Jack had died by his own hand. Yet, even in that moment of unspeakable mental anguish Leonard Prince’s first thought was of his wife. “What would she say? How would she bear it? How should he tell her ? ” he asked himself.

“ But you — how ? ” he said at length in a husky voice.

“ I know what you mean,” answered Mr. Peploe. “ You mean how came we to let him rob us to the tune of nearly twenty thousand pounds ? Well, we were fools, there is no

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

doubt about that, people are fools sometimes. But he got on the blind side of us — that’s a fact. And it never occurred to us that such a bright, seemingly straightforward young fellow, so respectably connected, too, could be otherwise than honest. The worst of it is that it is not our money that he has taken.”

“ Not your own money.”

“ No, it is clients’ money. You know the nature of our business. We underwrite the names of a number of friends to policies, and the accumulated premiums form a fund for the payment of losses. If the premiums exceed the losses the profit goes to the underwriters, less our commission ; if the losses exceed the premiums the underwriters have to make up the difference. We have the handling of the money, which we invest on the best terms we can obtain, compatible with good security. Latterly this branch of the business has been managed by your son, under our directions. I am afraid, though, we did not look as sharply after him as we should have done. But as I said just now, we never thought that a man so respectably connected, and of whom we thought so highly that we were going to take him into partnership, would go wrong. He was so diligent, too, and regular in his attendance at the office — would not even take a holiday. I know why, now. If he had he would have been found out.

“ Well, last Saturday he went yachting with some friends, and intended to be back on Sunday night or Monday morning, but the yacht got into trouble off the Welsh coast, and Prince did not turn up at the office on Monday. Now, it so happened, that on the same day I received notice of several claims ; also I heard that a steamer in which we were rather largely interested had come to grief in the Channel. Knowing we should want money, and a lot of it — when claims are concerned it never rains but it pours — I called at a bank where we had, or rather should have had, ten thousand pounds on deposit, and gave notice of withdrawal. I was told that nearly half of it had already been withdrawn in various amounts and at intervals extending over several weeks. Though surprised I was not alarmed. I merely thought that Prince had changed the investment for some good reason, and blamed him only for not informing me. But when I found that the books contained no entry of the withdrawals, the possibility of something being wrong dawned on my mind. As the day

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

went on my uneasiness increased, and as soon as I could get away from the office I called at your son’s lodgings. He had not returned. In the course of the evening I called three times, always with the same result.

“ When I called again next morning, I learned that he did not return till midnight, and must have left shortly afterwards. At any rate, he had not been in bed. My visits had alarmed him, perhaps, also, he heard of the loss of the ‘ Cyclops,’ and knew that, in view of our financial requirements, his frauds could no longer be concealed. Anyhow, I have not seen him since last Saturday. That note came by post.”

“ The wretched, misguided boy,” groaned Mr. Prince. “ Have you any idea where he is ? ”

“ Well, I am afraid I could not give you his correct address at this moment. But I don’t doubt that if I tried I could lay my hands on him.”

In saying this Mr. Peploe went rather beyond the mark. He had not the faintest idea what was become of Jack, but it did not just then suit his purpose to say so.

“ Do you propose to prosecute ? ” asked Mr. Prince, in a voice which showed how much the effort cost him.

‘‘ Well, that depends on circumstances. We might, you know. Your son has behaved shamefully, there is no doubt about that. We trusted him and he has betrayed us. All the same, we have no wish to go to extremities, and if we could be met ”

“ If you could be met. Pray be explicit, Mr. Peploe,” said Mr. Prince, looking as if he had no idea what the other was driving at, though he knew only too well.

“ Explicit ! Oh, yes, I will be explicit. It is very easy to be explicit in an affair of this sort. As I remarked just now, we have no desire to prosecute. But unless we can have fifteen thousand pounds within the next four days — say by next Tuesday, at the latest — we must pull up, and then everything will be exposed, and we shall be forced to hunt your son. down and prosecute him, if only for our own justification ; and as it is a case of forgery as well as embezzlement, we can fetch him back from America, or anywhere else, if he goes out of the country.”

“ Forgery ! Good heavens ! ”

“ Yes, it is mostly embezzlement, but there are one or two

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

undoubted cases of forgery. It would be a terrible scandal for all of us. But if we can be met, nobody need be the wiser. Tanner is sworn to secrecy, so to speak, and you may be sure we won’t split. If this got wind we should lose half our underwriters, and our credit would be ruined. Can you find us fifteen thousand pounds between this and next Tuesday, Mr. Prince ? I am not in a position to make any promises about paying you back ; we shall have to lose nearly five thousand ourselves, and we are only a young firm, but we would try to pay you a moderate interest. What do you say, Mr. Prince, will you do it ? ”

“ It is not a quesion of will, Mr. Peploe. I am grieved beyond measure, I am unspeakably humiliated that a son of mine should have done you this wrong. It adds to my grief that his wrong-doing may entail your ruin, but I cannot do what you wish.”

Peploe’s saturnine face flushed with anger and disappointment.

“ That means you won’t,” he exclaimed angrily. “ I know fifteen thousand is a big lump. But just consider the consequences of your refusal. Our ruin is a minor consideration. We should have looked better after our business, I admit ; but having regard to the circumstances, I don’t think the creditors will be very hard on us. They will let us make a fresh start. But think of your son in a felon’s dock, he is sure to get ten years at least ; think of the scandal it will cause. You are a great man here, I am told. How will you look your townsmen in the face when they know that your eldest son ”

“ Mind what you say, sir, or ,” exclaimed Mr. Prince,

springing from his chair, as if he were minded to resent the insult with a blow or show the insulter to the door.

Then he sank down and bowed his head. The man had only spoken the truth.

“ You feel it keenly. I knew you would. What father would not,” returned Peploe soothingly. “All the more reason for letting us have this money. It will be well laid out, and we are asking nothing unreasonable ; we will pay you interest. My partner said to me the last thing before I came away — ‘ Be sure,’ he said, ‘ you don’t ask the old gentleman anything unreasonable, Sam. It is not hush-money we want, only help.’”

i6

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

Mr. Prince winced. He prided himelf on the comparative youthfulness of his appearance, and it went against the grain to know that these Liverpool people spoke of him as “ the old gentleman.”

“ Reasonable or unreasonable, I am unable to do it, Mr. Peploe,” he returned sharply. “ I don’t say I would not if I could. But as I unfortunately don’t happen to have fifteen thousand pounds in my pocket or at my bankers ”

“ I did not suppose you had, Mr. Prince. But there are ways and means. A gentleman in your position could easily raise as much. Anyhow, I should think so.”

“ Not in four or five days.”

“ We might, perhaps, make it seven.”

“ Not in seven, nor in fourteen days.”

“ In that case there is nothing more to be said,” observed Peploe, rising from his chair ; “ things must take their course, I suppose.”

Mr. Prince made no answer. It seemed useless to prolong the interview, and he wanted Peploe to go. He was beginning to hate the man, and he wanted to be alone.

“ Things must take their course, I suppose,” repeated the persistent Liverpudlian. “ But, perhaps, you may think better of it after all ; and if you do — if you see your way — you will, perhaps, be good enough to telegraph to our office in Liverpool. We won’t take any action before Friday, but the sooner the better. One word will do — ‘ Arranged.’ We shall understand.”

“ I can hold out no encouragement, Mr. Peploe, none whatever. Nevertheless, if I should see my way I will telegraph, as you say.”

Peploe’s countenance brightened. Like drowning men, the financially embarrassed catch at straws, and, though fairly considered, the lawyer’s concluding observation offered little ground for hope, Peploe went away comforted, and little doubting that on his arrival at Liverpool he should find awaiting him the telegram whose despatch he had suggested.

When the door closed behind his visitor, Mr. Prince leaned back in his chair, and wiped the perspiration from his brow. He had undergone the most painful experience of his life, and there was worse in store. How should he break the news to his wife ? If he could spare her he would. But it was impossible. Know she must. In a week the secret would be

THE PRINCES OF PEELE.

out. For though he had not liked to say so in express terms, it was as much out of his power to find fifteen thousand pounds in four days, or four months, as to find fifty thousand. Contrary to the general belief, a belief which he rather encouraged, Mr. Prince was not rich. He had a good income, and he lived up to it. Beyond the two or three thousand pounds which he employed in his business for temporary advances to his clients, and so forth, and which he could neither well spare nor immediately realize, he had very little laid by. He had always looked on his business as an estate which he could bequeath to his sons as his father had bequeathed it to him. His wife was provided for by a marriage settlement and a policy of insurance on his life. He had not thought it necessary to economize, and though not a thriftless man, it gave him less pleasure to accumulate than to spend. But now he bitterly regretted that he had not been more provident ; for he would gladly have paid twice, nay thrice, fifteen thousand pounds, to avert the disaster with which he was threatened.

Only a few days, and, as Peploe said, he would be unable to look his neighbors in the face. The hue and cry after Jack ; the story of his defalcations told in every paper in the land ; the trial and sentence (for he was sure to be taken) ; the consternation of friends, the exultation of the envious ; the joy of political opponents ; all this was torture, even in the thought. What would it be in the reality }