Читать книгу Ride With Me - Thomas B. Costain - Страница 12

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Caradoc came striding into the dining room with a copy of the morning edition in one hand. He had not waited to dress completely. A frilled shirt with full sleeves was stuffed into the top of his breeches, and he was carrying his shoes in his other hand.

“This is outrageous, positively outrageous!” he exclaimed, holding the paper out at arm’s length and shaking it, like a terrier with a rat. “I had no idea yesterday that what you planned was anything so rash, so unheard-of! Why, damn it, this article of Cope’s is an open attack on the administration!”

“I thought I made it clear that such was my intention.”

Caradoc continued to splutter. “I should have suspected it. You’re a damned sly fellow, Frank. You talk us into an agreement and then use it to stab my political friends in the back!” His blue eyes blazed furiously at his brother. “The nation’s at war and you have the effrontery to criticize the men at the head of the government. There’s going to be a storm about this, mark my words. It may even be considered treason.”

“Every Englishman has a right to his opinion,” answered Frank. “If he knows the administration is acting in a slow and stupid way, it’s his right and his duty to say so.”

“But not in print! Not in print, you blind fool!” Caradoc dropped everything and began to stride about the room. “At the dinner table, in your club, on the streets, if you must. But never in print!”

“It’s the only way to make criticism count, Carr.”

“I suppose it means nothing to you that you’ve prejudiced my chances for advancement?”

“I’m sure I haven’t. You’ll know what to do about that. I’m ready to take the full responsibility.”

“I wish the damned paper had never been started!”

“If it hadn’t, you wouldn’t be a member of Parliament today.”

Caradoc whisked up a slice of toast and began to munch it savagely. “Great God, I don’t know what to say or do. My chance for a career may be damaged beyond repair. It’s simply incredible that a thing like this could happen to me at the very time when the eyes of the treasury bench are on me! I think you’ve gone insane, Frank. It’s either that or you’re so damned jealous that you’re trying to block me. It’s one or the other. What will the members of the cabinet say?”

“I consider what they may say a matter of supreme unimportance. Carr, can’t you see that the administration is too weak to stay in control of the destinies of the nation in this emergency? We must have stronger men at the head of things. Foresighted men to meet Bonaparte with something of his own energy.”

“What men? The Whigs? A fine lot they are!”

“Not the Whigs necessarily. There must be men in England strong enough to lead us well. We can find another Chatham. If you would only see it, Carr, this is your great chance. Forget politics, stop playing the stale old game of the Ins versus the Outs. Stand up in the House and demand a vigorous prosecution of the war. The country needs men today with the courage to do that.” Frank got to his feet and dropped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Carr, I mean it. This is your great chance. Instead of standing around and waiting for whatever they may condescend to give you, you can make yourself a leader overnight. It enough of the members would show the right kind of courage, this senile and incompetent crowd could be forced out.”

Caradoc shook off his hand impatiently. “What do you think I am, a damned turncoat?”

“I was hoping you were a patriot.”

“By God, I am a patriot! I believe the only way we can win this war is to back up our government in everything. To stand by our guns. To do our duty.”

“We have so few guns to stand by, Carr. And such antiquated ones! Do you know anything about the artillery Napoleon used to blast the Prussians at Jena and the Russians at Friedland? If you do, you know that much more than the honorable gentlemen at the head of our government.”

“That’s just quibbling. Playing on words.”

“I agree with you that we must do our duty. But what is our duty at this moment?”

Caradoc snorted. “To work for King and country. I know no other duty.” He threw back his shoulders. “I’m going to support the King’s ministers to the best of my ability. And as soon as I can get into my clothes, I’m going to see a lawyer. That agreement you talked us into signing is going to be broken before you can do any more harm.”

“It can be broken in one way only. By mutual consent. And get this through your head, Carr: I’m not going to have it broken. I’ve started this campaign and I’m going to see it through.”

“You’ll ruin the newspaper if you do. And you’ll land in jail yourself.” Caradoc laughed scornfully. “I don’t know what’s got into you, Frank. You ought to have enough sense to see that it won’t do any good. I’m going to tell you the truth for once. You haven’t got it in you to do this kind of thing. It takes—well, you know yourself what it takes. More ability and more determination than you’ve got, my boy. And more courage.”

There was a moment’s silence. “You’re probably right,” said Frank finally. “I know my own shortcomings even better than you do. But in spite of all the things I lack, I’m going on.”

“Very well, then, go on with it. I’ve warned you. You’re a fool, Frank, a jealous fool!”

Frank walked from the house, his mind full of what his brother had said. Ability, determination, courage! Did he lack these qualities so conspicuously? He had always known that the other members of the family had a poor opinion of him, even little Hump, who worshiped Caradoc and had tried to model himself in every way on the masterful second son; but no one had voiced that feeling so openly before. He was not concerned about the first point of the indictment; he had ability of a kind, for he had managed to do well with the paper. But he could not be sure about his courage. He had never been put to a test. Perhaps he did lack it, as his brother had said; the fact that his natural inclination had been toward soldiering did not prove anything.

He walked slowly, unaware that his feet were getting wet. Once he looked up and blinked in the light of the sun. “If I’m a coward,” he thought, “I’ll soon find myself out.” His eyes were so dazzled that he did not see a tall man in a military cloak who waved to him from the other side of the square.

“Hallo! I was on my way to see you, my bold crusading editor.”

It was Sir Robert Wilson. They met at the entrance of the Tablet Building, and the soldier clapped Frank heartily on the back. “I got up early to read the article,” he boomed. “It was splendid, splendid! I said to myself, ‘There it is, the first shot in a campaign to drive these blockheads out of office!’ You’ve done a great thing for the country, Ellery, a great thing. And, by the way, I’ve never thanked you for the account of my ride from Russia. It was a spirited bit of writing, my boy. You couldn’t have done better if you’d made the ride yourself.”

“I’m not feeling too happy about things at this moment.”

“A natural reaction. Let me tell you, Ellery, all London’s talking about what you’ve done. Just now I heard a man say to another on the street, ‘The Tablet’s giving the guv-ment bloody fits this morning.’ It’s a safe wager every office in the city is buzzing with it. I’d give a lot to see Perceval’s face when he reads it. Canning, of course, will be secretly in agreement with you.”

“I’ve been hearing from my brother about it. He—he took me down a peg or two.”

“Don’t give anything he says a second thought,” declared Wilson, with a wave of his hand which dismissed the lordly Caradoc from all further consideration. “I’ve been sitting in the House the last few days and I’ve kept an eye on that young man. He’s a born politician. He’ll play his cards the way most of them do: sit around and make speeches only when he gets the nod from the great men on the bench; vote right on everything and never be guilty of a thought of his own. Oh, he’ll get on. They’ll use him when they need him and shove some profitable things his way. But never make the mistake, my friend, of letting anything he says affect your feelings or your course.”

“He said I lacked the courage to go through with this.” Frank got it out with considerable difficulty. “It disturbed me. I can’t be sure he isn’t right.”

“Courage? What gives that young rooster the right to lecture you about courage?” He seized both lapels of Frank’s coat and proceeded to talk with intense earnestness. “There are two kinds of courage, Ellery. One is much rarer than the other and harder to find. The first is the physical kind. Most men have it. There’ve been times when I’ve looked over a squad under me and decided they were the poorest kind of human misfits, and then I’ve seen them stand up under fire without a single man of them flinching. I’ve led a charge or two and gained some sort of reputation because of it. That’s an easy thing to do. The trumpets sound and there’s a wild cheer and you see the banners going forward. Your horse begins to gallop and then you hear that mad thunder of hoofbeats, and the excitement of it carries you away. It’s easy to be brave then. But the other kind of courage is different. It’s having the mettle to stand up to adversity, to go on with something when it’s hard and unpleasant. I think you have that kind, Ellery, as well as the other.”

“It makes me feel better to hear you say it.”

Frank was beginning to notice the cold, but Wilson made no move to go inside with him. His whole face seemed to have lighted up. “When I was knighted by old Nobs,” he said, “I made a vow. You see, I was pretty young, and it rather went to my head that I was getting the honor so early. I was sure I was destined for great things. When I felt the sword on my shoulder, I said to myself: ‘Sir Robert Wilson, you’re going to be from now on the kind of man the order of knighthood was intended for. You’re always going to do what you think is right and just. The ideas of other men are never going to sway you from that course, and you’re not going to let the hope of favors change your mind.’ That’s what I said to myself, Ellery, and I’ve tried honestly ever since to live up to my vow. It hasn’t helped me much. I guess you know all about that. I’ve never been given much of a chance, and I begin to think I never shall. But it doesn’t matter. I’m going to continue on my course just the same.

“The point I’m trying to make in this long speech,” he went on, “is that you and I are going to be in the same boat, from the present look of things. You’re doing what you see is your duty in this crisis. It isn’t going to be easy, and I’ve a strong conviction that you’re not going to get anything out of it but hard knocks. At first, I mean. In the long run you’re certain of the finest of all rewards: the knowledge that you did your country a great service and, perhaps, some belated recognition of that fact. Keep your mind on the future and you won’t feel the knocks you get in the present quite so much.”

A caller was waiting inside the entrance. Windy Topp, who had let him in, was staring down at him with a sort of dubious wonder.

“Here’s a boy, sahib,” he said, shaking his head. “Here’s a joov’nile C’lumbus, a globe-trottin’, Gulliver-travelin’ sort of a boy. He’s been all over Lunnon in the snow, he says, looking for a Mouser Ellery, and now as he’s found the place at last he shuts up like a urster and not a word’ll he say as to what he wants. He speaks English as good as you or me, sahib, but he lets the cat out of the bag with that ‘mouser.’ He’s a French furriner.”

It was Jean Baptiste Achille, and he was looking very cold and tired. His feet were wet, and there was still some snow on the bag of books over his back.

“M’sieur,” he said with a deep sigh of relief, “I thought I would never find you. I wanted to see you before going to school, but London seems a very large city. A very difficult city to find one’s way in, m’sieur.”

“Well, Jean Baptiste Achille,” said Frank. He took the small boy by the hand. “We’ll go into this office here where there’s a fine fire and we’ll be nice and warm. And then you can tell me what it’s all about. Both the young ladies are well, I trust?”

“Quite well, m’sieur. Mam’selle Gabrielle went to her employment, of course, this morning——” He stopped with a stricken look. “That is a secret, and no one was to be told. It was wrong of me to speak without thinking. But perhaps”—hopefully—“M’sieur already knew?”

“No, I didn’t, but you mustn’t let that worry you. I’ll see it’s kept a deep secret. And Mlle. Margot?”

“Margot was scrubbing when I left. She is a very good scrubber.”

The office into which they turned was occupied by a clerk who had kept his muffler on for extra warmth and was pretending to be very busy at some task which involved the use of a ruler, a paste pot, and a pair of shears longer than the iron on the French boy’s leg. The poker lay on the desk beside him, for greater facility, no doubt, in jabbing frequently at the fire. It was not as fine a fire as Frank had promised, so he pulled a chair up in front of it for Jean Baptiste Achille. The boy held his hands before the blaze at once.

“I think I was getting the hot-ache in my fingers, m’sieur,” he said. “That is what Mick Finnerty calls it, and sometimes it is very painful.”

“Toby,” said Frank, addressing the clerk, who was now wielding the ruler as though his continued employment depended on it, “can you find something else to do for a few minutes? This young gentleman and I have some weighty matters to discuss.”

“I’ll be glad to, Mr. Ellery,” said the clerk, dropping the ruler and blowing on his hands. “I don’t want to register a complaint, sir, far from it, but this chimbley, sir, it draws the worst of any in the whole place.”

“And now, Jean Baptiste Achille,” said Frank, when they had the room to themselves, “what took you all over London on such a cold morning?”

“It’s about the money, m’sieur,” said the boy. “Did you know how much would be left over after I bought the marbles? Indeed, m’sieur, I can buy them for two dace or half a gob at most. That will leave me with a great deal of money.”

“I told you to spend the rest for other things.”

“But, m’sieur.” The boy’s face took on an even more serious expression. “This morning quite early I was helping to clear the table, and I was not feeling so very well, and Margot said I should lie down on a couch until I felt better. It was dark in the room, and while I was there the Abbé Force came in to talk to the master, and they did not see me because I was not feeling well at all and was lying very still. They were talking about His Majesty, and then they talked about money. I could not help hearing what they said, m’sieur, though it was wrong of me to listen. The Abbé was saying that His Majesty was finding it hard to live because—I think he said it was because money was losing its value. I did not know what that meant, but it frightened me because now I have money too and I don’t want it to lose its value. I thought I should find out what he meant.”

“Well,” said Frank, finding it hard to keep from smiling, “it’s quite a serious matter about money today. You see, Jean Baptiste Achille, this country has been at war with Napoleon so long that we’re running into very heavy debts. That’s bad for a country because prices go up and people don’t have more money to buy things with, and so money loses some of its purchasing power. If the government should start to remedy it by putting out paper money, then it gets very bad. Savings become of very little value. That’s what the Abbé meant.”

The boy frowned as though such things were hard to believe. “Do you mean, m’sieur, that I could save the rest of my money and then, if I wanted to spend it later, I could not buy as much with it as I can now?”

“That’s exactly it.”

“You mean, m’sieur, that it might not be worth more than one hog instead of two?”

“It might even be worth nothing at all.”

The boy’s face went white on learning of such infamous possibilities. “I know this must be true, m’sieur, because it is you who say it. But it is hard to believe there could be such wickedness. Who would be punished for it?”

“No one would be punished for it. It would be too hard to decide who had been responsible. You see, things like that just seem to happen.”

“No one!” Jean Baptiste Achille’s universe was tumbling about him. “But, m’sieur, it is foolish then to save! I have always been told that to save is the most important thing of all. What am I to do?”

“I’ll tell you what we had better do about this, young man. Here you have some capital that you’re in danger of losing if we should run into trouble. And here I am with a business where I can always make use of more capital. Suppose you turn it over to me, and I’ll make you a solemn promise that, whenever you want it back, I’ll pay you enough to equal the purchasing value of a double shilling today. In addition to that, I’ll give you a nice return on your money. Shall we say one penny a month?”

The boy indulged in some earnest calculations. “That would be a very fine return on the capital, m’sieur. Your business must be a very good one to pay so much interest.”

“It’s a very good business. Well, what do you say? Would you like to invest your money that way?”

Jean Baptiste Achille gulped but managed to produce the money in a reluctant hand. “Yes, m’sieur, I think it will be wise to invest my money. It isn’t easy to part with it. It is very pleasant to keep it to yourself so you can look at it and know it is all there. But it will be pleasant too, I think, to feel it is safe. Am I to call here each month for the interest?”

“No, no. The essence of the bargain,” said Frank with a smile, “is that I am to call on you each month and deliver the money myself. I won’t mind doing that at all. I don’t want you to say anything about this, but it will be very pleasant for me that way.”

“I hope M’sieur doesn’t think it is wrong for me to ask him about money. You see”—he hesitated—“my father does not understand much about saving. He earns very little money, and mostly it is in arrears. When he does get some, he is very likely to spend it all on drink. When he gets old, m’sieur, he will have nothing laid away at all. It will be very hard for my father if I don’t save something for him.” He looked up at Frank and added in a hurry, as though fearful that he had given a wrong impression, “I hope you won’t think badly of my father, m’sieur, because of what I have said. Lots of fathers drink. Mick Finnerty says his father drinks more than any man for ten squares in every direction. Mick is proud because his father drinks so much.”

“I understand how it is,” answered Frank gravely. “You and I, Jean Baptiste Achille, must do something about this between us. We’ll see that money is laid away for your father. It’s a good thing that we both understand something about saving, isn’t it?”

Another visitor was waiting in the hall above, a plump individual who had thrown open his greatcoat and was irritably twirling his watch chain on an extended finger.

“Mr. Ellery?” he demanded when Frank appeared at the top of the stairs. “I’m from the customs, sir. I fancy you know what I’m here about.”

“I’m afraid I shall have to ask you to state your business.”

“You should know, sir. After publishing that infamous article in this morning’s edition. Well, sir, the head told me to come personally and hand you this letter. He couldn’t wait for the mails, sir. Not the head, sir. When he wants a little matter like this attended to, he wants it attended to without delay. Here, sir, take it. It’s a notification that we’re cutting off the printing contracts. We want nothing more to do with you, sir. The head authorized me to add anything that I felt called on to say. In fact, he said I could Pitch it Strong. I want to tell you, young man, that in cutting off the contracts we’re cutting them off for good. In other words, sir, you’ve cooked your goose.”

“In that case,” said Frank, “we shall have to do without the printing contracts. You might tell the head that I’m sorry he felt it necessary to act in such a hurry. It hardly seems possible that he’s given the matter due consideration. He’ll find we acted in the best interests of the country in publishing the article. And that applies equally to the other articles we plan to use.”

“More articles?” The eyes of the customs official seemed ready to pop out of his head with indignation. “More attacks on the gov’ment! You amaze me, sir. They’re very angry with you now. I’m sure they won’t be disposed to forgive more articles like this one.”

“They?”

“They, sir, they! The Prime Minister of Great Britain, sir, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, sir, the Home Sec’t’ry, sir, the lords of the Admiralty, sir, the Paymaster General, sir. All the responsible heads of the gov’ment, sir.”

“It must be gratifying to you to be in the confidence of so many of the great men of the country.”

“What’s that, sir? I don’t like the tone of it. I may report to you further, sir, what the head said to me. He said, ‘Higgs, I’ll see that young firebrand in the pillory one of these days.’ ”

“Perhaps he will,” declared Frank.

The visitor having departed, Frank walked into his office. The fire had not been laid long, for the room was very cold. He could see his breath as he seated himself at his desk.

It was piled high with notes. He did not need to open one to know what they were. They had all been delivered by messenger, and it seemed to him that indignation showed itself in the sharp lettering of the addresses. They were venting their feelings over the stand the Tablet had taken; and he was sure they were Pitching it Strong.

Frank sighed and reached for a letter cutter.