WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:05.839 Cheating the gallows. They say that a union of opposites 2 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:09.400 make the happiest marriage. And perhaps it is on the 3 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:13.560 same principle that men who jump together are always so 4 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:18.120 oddly assorted. You shall find a man of letters sharing 5 00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:21.920 diggings with an auctioneer, and a medical student pigging a 6 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:28.039 stockbroker's clerk. Perhaps each thus escapes the temptation to talk 7 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:31.839 shop in his hours of leisure, while he supplements his 8 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:37.359 own experiences of life by his companions. There could not 9 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:41.560 be an odd order couple than Tom Peters and Everett G. Rockstill. 10 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:45.799 The contrast began with their names and ran through the 11 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:50.119 entire chapter. They had a bedroom and a sitting room 12 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:53.159 in common, but it would not be easy to find 13 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:59.280 what else to his landlady worthy missus seekin. Tom Peters's 14 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:04.640 profession was little wig, But everybody knew that Rockstille was 15 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:08.000 the manager of the City and Suburban bank, and it 16 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:11.879 puzzled her to think why a bank manager should live 17 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.439 with such a seedy looking person who smoked clay pipes 18 00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:19.120 and sipped whisky and water all evening when he was 19 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:24.400 at home. For Rockstill was as spruce and erect as 20 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:29.040 his fellow Lodger was round shouldered and shabby. He never smoked, 21 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:32.519 and he confined himself to a small class of claret 22 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:37.400 at dinner. It is possible to live with a man 23 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.920 and see very little of him. Where each of the 24 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:44.599 partners lives his own life in his own way, with 25 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:49.040 his own circle of friends and external amusements, days may 26 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:54.280 go by without the men having five minutes together. Perhaps 27 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:58.040 this explains why these partnerships jog along so much more 28 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:01.680 peacefully than marriages, where the chain is drawn so much 29 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:07.680 tighter and galls the partners rather than links them diverse. However, 30 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:11.199 as were the hours and habits of the chums, they 31 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:15.879 often breakfasted together, and they agreed in one thing. They 32 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:21.319 never stayed out at night for the rest. Peters sought 33 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:25.639 his diversions in the company of journalists and frequented debating rooms, 34 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:30.919 where he propounded the more iconoclastic views, while rockstill had 35 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:35.840 highly respectable houses open to him in the suburbs, and 36 00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:39.599 was in fact engaged to be married to Clara Nowell, 37 00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:44.080 the charming daughter of a retired corn merchant. A widower 38 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:48.960 with no other child, Clara naturally took up a good 39 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.319 deal of Roxtelle's time, and he often dressed to go 40 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:55.360 to the play with her, while Peters stayed at home 41 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:59.879 in a faded dressing gown and loose slippers. Missus Seekin 42 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:02.719 liked to see gentlemen about the house and evening dress, 43 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:08.800 and made comparisons not favorable to Peters, and this in 44 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:12.199 spite of the fact that he gave her infinitely less 45 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:16.520 trouble than the younger man. It was Peters who first 46 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:20.039 took the apartments, and it was characteristic of his easy 47 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:24.919 going temperament that he was so openly and naively delighted 48 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:27.840 with a view of the Thames obtainable from the bedroom 49 00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:32.599 window that Missus Seekin was emboldened to ask twenty five 50 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:37.719 cent more than she had intended. She soon returned to 51 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.400 her normal terms. However, when his friend Rockstoe called the 52 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:45.520 next day to inspect the rooms and overwhelmed her with 53 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:51.879 a demonstration of their numerous shortcomings. He pointed out that 54 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:54.479 their being on the ground floor was not an advantage 55 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:58.000 but a disadvantage, since they were nearer to the noises 56 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:01.719 of the street. In fact, the house being a corner 57 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:07.560 one the noises of two streets. Rockstal continued to exhibit 58 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:11.120 the same finicking temperament in the petty details of the 59 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:17.000 minaj His shirt fronts was never sufficiently starched, nor his 60 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:23.399 boots sufficiently polished. Tom Peters, having no regard for rigid linen, 61 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:28.240 was always good tempered and satisfied, and never acquired the 62 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:32.720 respect of his landlady. He wore blue check shirts and 63 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:37.439 loose ties. Even on Sundays. It is true he did 64 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:41.399 not go to church, but slept on till Rockstal returning 65 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:45.560 from the morning service, and even then it was difficult 66 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:48.279 to get him out of bed or to make him 67 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:53.120 hurry up his toilet operations. Often the midday meal would 68 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:56.079 be smoking on the table while Peters would smoke in 69 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:59.720 the bed, and rockstill with his head thrust through the 70 00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:02.680 fold doors that separated the bedroom from the sitting room, 71 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:05.959 would be adjuring the sluggard to our eyes and shake 72 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.439 off his slumbers, and threatening to sit down without him 73 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.519 lest the dinner be spoilt. In revenge, Tom was usually 74 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:19.040 up first on week days, sometimes at such unearthly hours 75 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:22.120 that Polly had not yet removed the boots from the 76 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:25.480 outside the bedroom door, and would bawl down to the 77 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:31.120 kitchen for a shaving water for Tom. Lazy and indolent, 78 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:35.000 as he was shaved with an unfailing regularity of a 79 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.720 man to whom shaving had become an instinct. If he 80 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:43.319 had not kept fairly regular hours, Missus Seekin would have 81 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:47.079 set him down as an actor. So clean shaven was he, 82 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:52.720 Rockstill did not shave. He wore a full beard, and, 83 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:55.600 being a fine figure of a man to boot, no 84 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:00.480 uneasy investor could look upon him without being reassured as 85 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:03.600 to the stability of the bank he managed so successfully, 86 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:09.079 and thus the two men lived in an economical comradeship, 87 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:15.680 all the firmer, perhaps for their mutual incongruities. It was 88 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:18.680 on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of October, ten 89 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:22.199 days after Rockstill had settled in his new rooms, that 90 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:26.480 Clara Nowell paid her first visit to him. There, she 91 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:29.399 enjoyed a good deal of liberty and did not mind 92 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:35.759 accepting his invitation to tea. The corn merchant, himself indifferently educated, 93 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:40.319 had an exaggerated sense of the value of culture, and 94 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:44.639 so Clara, who had artistic tastes, thought much actual talent 95 00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:48.959 had gone in for painting and might be seen in 96 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:54.399 pretty toilettes copying pictures in the museum. At one time 97 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.560 it looked as if she might be reduced to working 98 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:01.839 seriously at her art. For Satan, who finds mischief still 99 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:05.600 for idle hands to do, had persuaded her father to 100 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:10.279 embark the fruits of years of toil in bubble companies. However, 101 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:13.800 things turned out not so bad as they might have been. 102 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:17.199 A little was saved from the wreck, and the appearance 103 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:20.759 of a suitor in the person of Everett J. Rockstall, 104 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:25.240 ensured her a future of competence, if not of the 105 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:29.680 luxury she had been entitled to expect. She had a 106 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:33.639 good deal of affection for Everett, who was unmistakably a 107 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:38.040 clever man as well as a good looking one. The 108 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:44.360 prospect seemed fair and cloudless. Nothing presaged the terrible storm 109 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:48.240 that was about to break over these two lives. Nothing 110 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:51.079 had ever, for a moment come to vex their mutual 111 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:57.319 contentment till this Sunday afternoon. The October sky, blue and 112 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:01.839 sunny with an Indian summer sultriness, seemed an exact image 113 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:05.439 of a life with its aftermath, of a happiness that 114 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:11.560 had once seemed blighted. Everard had always been so attentive, 115 00:08:12.040 --> 00:08:16.519 so solicious that she was much surprised as chagrined to 116 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:21.480 find that he had apparently forgotten the appointment. Hearing her 117 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:25.680 astonished interrogation of Pollyine the passage, Tom shambled from the 118 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:28.959 sitting room in his loose slippers and his blue check shirt, 119 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:33.360 with his eternal clay pipe in his mouth, and informed 120 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:37.519 her that Rockstall had gone out suddenly earlier in the afternoon. 121 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:45.039 Gone out, stammered poor Clara, all confused. But he asked 122 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:51.080 me to come to tea. Oh you, miss Noel, I suppose, 123 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:56.519 said Tom. Yes, I am Miss Noell. He has told 124 00:08:56.600 --> 00:08:59.440 me a great deal about you. But I wasn't able 125 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:04.799 honestly to congratulate him on his choice till now. Clara 126 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:08.480 blushed uneasily under the compliment and under the ardor of 127 00:09:08.519 --> 00:09:14.600 his admiring gaze. Instinctively she distrusted the man. The very 128 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:18.120 first tone of his deep bass voice gave her a 129 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:22.679 peculiar shudder, and then his impoliteness in smoking that wild 130 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:28.759 clay was so gratuous. Oh then you must be mister Peters, 131 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:32.320 she said. In return. He has often spoken to me 132 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:38.000 of you, ah, said Tom, laughingly. I suppose he told 133 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:41.080 you all my wisest her had accounts for. You are 134 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:46.320 not being surprised at my Sunday attire. She smiled a little, 135 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:51.080 showing a row of pearly teeth. Everett ascribes to you 136 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:55.879 all the virtues, she said. Now that's what I call 137 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:01.080 a friend. He cried ecstatically. But won't you come He 138 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:04.279 must be back in a moment. He surely would not 139 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:09.759 break an appointment with you. The admiration latent in the 140 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:15.559 accentuation of the last pronoun was almost offensive. She shook 141 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:20.519 her head. She had a just grievance against Everard and 142 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:26.240 would punish him by going away indignantly. Do let me 143 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:29.840 give you a cup of tea, Tom pleaded. You must 144 00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:34.200 be awfully thirsty this sultry weather. There. I'll make a 145 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:37.879 bargain with you if you will come in now. I 146 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:42.039 promise to clear out the moment Everard returns, and not 147 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:47.720 spoil your tete a tete. But Clara was obstinate. She 148 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:51.720 did not at all relish this man's society, and besides, 149 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:55.240 she was not going to throw away her grievance against Everard. 150 00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:00.519 I know Everard will slang me dreadfully when he comes in. 151 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:04.559 If I let you go, Tom urged, tell me at 152 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:09.559 least where he can find you. I'm going to take 153 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:13.159 the bus at Charing Cross and I'm going straight home, 154 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:18.080 Clara announced determinedly. She put up a parasol in a 155 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:22.960 pet and went up the street into the strand. A 156 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:26.639 cold shadow seemed to have fallen over all things. But 157 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:30.080 just as she was getting into the bus, a handsome 158 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:34.039 dashed down Trafalgar Square, and a well known voice hailed her. 159 00:11:35.159 --> 00:11:38.519 The hansom stopped, and Everett got out and held out 160 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:44.000 his hand. I'm so glad you're a bit late, he said, 161 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:48.360 I was called out unexpectedly, and having been trying to 162 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:51.919 rush back in time. You wouldn't have found me if 163 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:55.679 you had been punctual. But I thought, he added, laughingly, 164 00:11:56.200 --> 00:12:01.200 now I could rely on you as a woman. I 165 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.919 was punctual, Clara said angrily. I was not getting out 166 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:09.039 of this puss, as you seemed to imagine, but into it, 167 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:14.799 and was going home, my darling, He cried remorsefully a 168 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:20.120 thousand apologies. The regret on his handsome face soothed her. 169 00:12:21.159 --> 00:12:23.320 He took the rose he was wearing in the buttonhole 170 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:26.360 of his fashionably cut coat and gave it to her. 171 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.120 Why were you so cruel? He murmured, as she nestled 172 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:34.919 against him in the hansom, Think of my despair. If 173 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:38.000 I had come home to hear you had come and gone, 174 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:43.399 Why didn't you wait? A moment a shudder traversed her fame. 175 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:50.080 Not with that man Peters, she murmured, Not with that 176 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:55.360 man Peters, he echoed, sharply, What is the matter with Peters? 177 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:02.080 I don't know, she said. I don't like him, Clara, 178 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:06.559 he said, half sternly, half cajolingly. I thought you were 179 00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:11.000 above these feminine weaknesses. You are punctual, strive also to 180 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:16.080 be reasonable. Tom is my best friend from boyhood. We 181 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:19.720 have been always together. There is nothing Tom would not 182 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:24.360 do for me or I for Tom. You must like him, Clara, 183 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:31.320 You must, if only for my sake, I'll try, Clara promised, 184 00:13:32.039 --> 00:13:34.639 and then he kissed her in gratitude and broad daylight. 185 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:39.519 You'll be very nice to him at tea, won't you? 186 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:43.600 He said, anxiously. I shouldn't like you two to be 187 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:49.320 bad friends. I don't want to be bad friends, Clara protested. 188 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:53.480 Only the moment I saw him, a strange repulsion and 189 00:13:53.559 --> 00:13:58.759 mistrust came over me. You're quite wrong about him, quite wrong, 190 00:13:59.159 --> 00:14:03.519 he shut her. When you know him better, you'll find 191 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:07.519 him the best of fellows. Oh I know, he said suddenly, 192 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:12.679 I suppose he was very untidy A you women goes 193 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:18.919 so much by appearances, not at all, Clara retorted, it's 194 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:23.840 you men who go by appearances. Yes, you do. That's 195 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:28.200 why you care for me, he said, smiling. She assured 196 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:31.240 him it wasn't, and she didn't care for him so 197 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:36.200 much as he plumed himself. But he smiled on his 198 00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:39.519 smile died away. However, when he entered his rooms and 199 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:44.720 found Tom nowhere, I dare say you've made him run 200 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:49.600 about hunting for me, he grumbled. Perhaps he knew I'd 201 00:14:49.639 --> 00:14:53.399 come back and went away to leave us together, she answered, 202 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:59.600 He said he would when you came. And yet you 203 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:07.120 say you don't like him, She smiled reassuringly. Inwardly, however, 204 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:12.840 she felt pleased at the men's man's absence. If Clara 205 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:15.799 Novell could have seen Tom Peters carrying on with Polly 206 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:18.919 in the passage, she might have felt justified in her 207 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:24.240 prejudice against him. It must be confessed, though, that Everard 208 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:28.919 also carried on with Polly. Alas it is to be 209 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:32.840 feared that men are much of a muchness where women 210 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:39.000 are concerned shabby men and smart men, bank managers and journalists, 211 00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:45.559 bachelors and semi detached to bachelors. Perhaps it was a mistake, 212 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:48.399 after all to say that the chums had nothing patently 213 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:53.960 in common. Everard, I'm afraid, kissed Polly rather more often 214 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.559 than Clara, and although it was because he respected her less, 215 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:03.320 the reason would perhaps not have been sufficiently consoling to 216 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:08.799 his affianced wife. For Polly was pretty, especially on alternate 217 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:12.519 Sunday afternoons, and when at ten pm she returned from 218 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:16.000 her routings, she was generally met in the passage by 219 00:16:16.039 --> 00:16:20.120 one or other of the men. Polly liked to receive 220 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:24.039 homage of real gentlemen, and said a white cap at 221 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:29.559 all indifferently. Thus, just before Clara knocked on the memorable 222 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:34.440 Sunday afternoon, Polly, was being confined to the house by 223 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:39.159 unwritten code regulating the lives of servants, was amusing herself 224 00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:44.480 by flirting with Peters. You are fond of me a 225 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:50.679 little bit, the graceless Tom whispered, aren't you you know 226 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:55.200 I am? Sir? Polly replied, you don't care for anyone 227 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:59.320 else in the house, Oh no, sir, and never let 228 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:03.559 anyone kiss me but you. I wonder how it is, sir, 229 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:10.640 Polly replied, ingenuously, Give me another. Tom answered, She gave 230 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:14.359 him another, and tripped to the door to answer Clara's knock, 231 00:17:16.599 --> 00:17:19.920 And that very evening, when Clara was gone and Tom 232 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.799 still out, Polly turned, without the faintest atom of scrupulosity 233 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:30.000 or even jealousy, to the more fascinating rock star and 234 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:35.079 accepted his amorous advances. If it would seem at first 235 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.119 sight that Everett had less excuse for such frivility than 236 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:42.119 his friend, perhaps the seriousness he showed in this interview 237 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:45.440 may throw a different light upon the complex character of 238 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:50.319 the man. You're quite sure you don't care for anyone 239 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:56.799 but me, he asked, earnestly. Of course not, sir, Polly replied, indignantly. 240 00:17:57.640 --> 00:18:01.559 How could I but you care for that soldier I 241 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:05.759 saw you out with last Sunday. Oh no, sir, he's 242 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:10.759 only my young man, she said, apologetically. Would you give 243 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:16.200 him up? He hearsed. Suddenly, Polly's pretty face took a 244 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:21.559 look of terror. I couldn't, sir, He'll kill me. He's 245 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:27.400 such a jealous brute, you've no idea. Yes, but suppose 246 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:31.599 I took you away from here, he whispered, eagerly, somewhere 247 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:37.559 he couldn't find you. South America, Africa, somewhere thousands of 248 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:45.240 miles across the sea. Oh, sir, you've frightened me, whispered Polly, 249 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:49.400 cowering before his ardent eyes, which shone in the dimly 250 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:54.839 lit passage. Would you come with me, he hissed. She 251 00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:59.000 did not answer. She shook herself free and ran into 252 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:05.160 the kitchen, trembling with a vague fear. One morning earlier 253 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:09.359 than his earliest hour of demanding a shaving water, Tom 254 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:13.440 rang the bell violently and asked the alarmed Polly what 255 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:18.000 had become of mister Rockstill, how should I know, sir? 256 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:25.119 She gasped. Ain't he been in? Sir? Apparently not? Tom 257 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:30.079 answered anxiously, He never remains out. We have been here 258 00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:33.480 for three weeks now, and I can't recall a single night. 259 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:39.359 He hadn't been home before twelve. I can't make it out. 260 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:44.240 All inquiries proved futile. Missus Seekin reminded him of the 261 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:46.920 thick fog that had come on suddenly the night before. 262 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:55.400 What fog asked Tom, lord, didn't you notice it, sir? No. 263 00:19:56.519 --> 00:19:59.839 I came in early, smout read and went to bed 264 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.680 about eleven. I never thought of looking out the window. 265 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:10.400 It began about ten, said missus, seekin and got thicker 266 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:13.519 and thicker. I couldn't see the lights of the river 267 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:17.759 from my bedroom. The poor gentleman has been and gone 268 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:24.759 and walked into the water. She began to whimper. Nonsense, nonsense, 269 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:30.680 said Tom, though his expression bellied his words. At the worst, 270 00:20:30.759 --> 00:20:33.720 I should think he couldn't find his way home and 271 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:36.359 couldn't get a cab, so put up for the night 272 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:39.799 at some hotel. I dare say it'll be all right. 273 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:46.920 He began to whistle, as if in restored cheerfulness. At 274 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:51.400 eight o'clock there came a letter from rockstill marked immediate, 275 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:55.359 But as he did not turn up for breakfast, Tom 276 00:20:55.400 --> 00:20:59.480 went round personally to the City in Suburban Bank. He 277 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:02.359 waited half an hour there, but the manager did not 278 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:05.720 make his appearance. Then he left the letter with the 279 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:12.119 cashier and went away with anxious countenance. That afternoon it 280 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:14.720 was all over London that the manager of the City 281 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:19.440 in Suburban had disappeared, and that many thousands pounds of 282 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:25.519 gold and notes had disappeared with him. Scotland. Gayard opened 283 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:29.680 the letter marked immediate, and noted that there had been 284 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:33.039 a delay in its delivery, for the address had been 285 00:21:33.079 --> 00:21:37.960 obscure and an official alteration had been made. It was 286 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:42.920 written in feminine hand and said, on second thoughts, I 287 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:46.680 cannot accompany you. Do not try to see me again, 288 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:53.039 forget me. I shall never forget you. There was no signature. 289 00:21:54.960 --> 00:22:01.440 Clara Novelle distracted, disclaimed all knowledge of this letter. Polly deposed, 290 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:05.359 and the fugitive had proposed a flight to her, and 291 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:09.200 the routes to Africa and South America were especially watched. 292 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:16.759 Some months passed without result. Tom Peters went about, overwhelmed 293 00:22:16.759 --> 00:22:21.880 with grief and astonishment. The police took possession of all 294 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:28.440 the missing man's effects. Gradually the hue and cry dwindled, died. 295 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:34.720 At last, we meet, cried Tom Peters, with his face 296 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:38.440 lit up in joy. How are you, dear Miss novel 297 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:44.960 Clara greeted him coldly. Her face had an abiding pallor. 298 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:49.559 Now her lover's flight and the shame had prostrated her 299 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:55.240 for weeks. Her soul was the arena of contending instincts, 300 00:22:55.880 --> 00:22:59.720 alone of all the world. She still believed in Everett's innocence, 301 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:05.119 felt that there was something more than met the eye divined, 302 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:10.279 some devilish mystery behind it all. And yet that damning 303 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:15.839 letter from the anonymous lady shook her sadly. Then, too, 304 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:20.640 there was the deposition of Polly. When she heard Peter's 305 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:26.440 voice accosting her, all her old repugnance researched. It flashed 306 00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:31.440 upon her that this man Roxstall's boon companion must know 307 00:23:31.640 --> 00:23:36.200 far more than he had told to the police. She remembered, however, 308 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:39.720 it had spoken of him with what affection and confidence? 309 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:46.160 Was it likely he was utterly ignorant of Everett's movements. 310 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:53.200 Mastering her repugnance, she held out her hand. It might 311 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:55.920 be well to keep in touch with him. He was 312 00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:00.799 possibly the clue to the mystery. She noticed that he 313 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:05.240 was dressed a shade more trimly and was smoking a meercham. 314 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:10.480 He walked alongside her and made no offer to put 315 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:17.440 his pipe out. Have you not heard from Everard, he asked? 316 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:22.319 She flushed. Do you think I am an accessory? After 317 00:24:22.359 --> 00:24:28.240 the fact, she cried no, No, he said, soothingly, pardon me. 318 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:32.960 I was thinking he might have written, giving no exact address. 319 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:36.880 Of course men do sometimes dare to write to touch 320 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:41.160 to woman. But of course he knows you too well. 321 00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:46.039 You would have put the police on his tracks, certainly, 322 00:24:46.599 --> 00:24:51.400 she exclaimed indignantly. Even if he is innocent, he must 323 00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:57.279 face the charge. Do you still entertain the possibility of 324 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:02.920 his innocence? I do, she said boldly, and looked him 325 00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:06.960 full in the face. His eyelids drooped with a quiver. 326 00:25:08.680 --> 00:25:15.720 Don't you I have hoped against hope, he replied, in 327 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:21.559 a voice faltering with emotion, poor old Everard. But I'm 328 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:26.039 afraid there is no room for doubt. Oh, this wicked 329 00:25:26.119 --> 00:25:30.720 curse of money tempting the noblest and the best of us. 330 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:37.640 The weeks rolled on, Gradually she found herself seeing more 331 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:41.880 and more of Tom Peter's and gradually, strange to say, 332 00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:47.559 he grew less repulsive from the talks they had together. 333 00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:51.359 She began to see there was really no reason to 334 00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:57.440 put faith in Everard. His criminality, his faithlessness were too flagrant. 335 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:03.079 Gradually she grew ashamed of her early mistrust of Peter's 336 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:10.359 remorse bred esteem, and esteem ultimately ripened into feelings so 337 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:15.519 warm that Tom gave Frere went to the love that 338 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:18.880 had been visible to Clara from the first, she did 339 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:24.200 not repulse him. It is only in books that love 340 00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:29.799 lives for ever. Clara, so her father thought, showed herself 341 00:26:29.799 --> 00:26:33.599 a sensible girl in plucking out an unworthy affection and 342 00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:38.000 casting it from her heart. He invited the new lover 343 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:42.839 to his house and took to him at once. Rockstill's 344 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:47.920 somewhat supercilous manner had always charged jarred upon the unsophisticated 345 00:26:47.960 --> 00:26:52.880 corn merchant. With Tom, the old man got on much better. 346 00:26:54.680 --> 00:26:58.400 While evidently quite as well informed and cultured as his 347 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:03.279 Wilhelm friend, Tom knew how to impart his superior knowledge, 348 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.359 with the accent on the knowledge rather than on the superiority, 349 00:27:08.759 --> 00:27:12.039 while he had the air of gaining much information in return, 350 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:16.920 those who were most conscious of defects of earn early 351 00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:23.559 education are most resentful of other people sharing their consciousness. Moreover, 352 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:28.240 Tom's bonhamy was far more to the old fellow's liking 353 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:33.480 than the studied politeness of his predecessor, so that on 354 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:36.559 the whole Tom met more of a conquest of the 355 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:42.279 father than of the daughter. Nevertheless, Clara was by no 356 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:47.519 means unresponsive to Tom's affection and when after one of 357 00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:50.720 his visits to the house, the old man kissed her 358 00:27:50.759 --> 00:27:54.119 fondly and spoke of the happy turn of things had taken, 359 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:58.759 and how for the second time in their lives things 360 00:27:58.920 --> 00:28:03.559 had mended when they seemed at their blackest. Her heart 361 00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:07.400 swelled with a gush of gratitude and joy and tenderness, 362 00:28:08.200 --> 00:28:14.039 and she felt sobbing into her father's arms. Tom calculated 363 00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:16.599 that he had made a clear five hundred a year 364 00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:22.440 by occasional journalism, besides possessing some profitable investments which he 365 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:25.880 had inherited from his mother, so that there was no 366 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:31.039 reason for delaying the marriage. It was fixed for May day, 367 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:36.720 and the honeymoon was to be spent in Italy. But 368 00:28:36.839 --> 00:28:40.680 Clara was not destined to happiness. For the moment she 369 00:28:40.759 --> 00:28:44.519 had promised herself, her first love's old memories began to 370 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:49.200 rise up and reproach her. Strange thoughts stirred in the 371 00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:52.480 depths of her soul, and in the silent watches of 372 00:28:52.519 --> 00:28:56.680 the night she seemed to hear Evrett's accents, charred with 373 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:03.119 grief and upbraiding. Her uneasiness increased as her wedding day 374 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:09.200 drew nearer. One night, after a pleasant afternoon spent in 375 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:12.559 being rowed by Tom among the upper reaches of the Thames. 376 00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:18.200 She retired to rest, full of vague forebodings, and she 377 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:23.359 dreamt a terrible drain. The dripping form of Everard stood 378 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:29.440 by her bedside, staring at her with ghastly eyes. Had 379 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:32.119 he been drowned on the passage to his land of exile? 380 00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:39.599 Frozen with horror, she put the question, I have never 381 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:44.720 left England. The vision answered her, tongue clove to the 382 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:50.559 roof of her mouth. Never left England, she repeated, in 383 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:54.920 tones which did not seem to be hers. The great, 384 00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:00.200 stony eyes stared on her, but there was silence. Where 385 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:04.480 have you been? Then, she asked in her dream? Very 386 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:09.440 near you came the answer, there has been foul play. 387 00:30:09.480 --> 00:30:14.680 Then she shrieked. The phantom shook its head in doleful ascent. 388 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:21.200 I knew it, she shrieked, Tom Peters, Tom Peters had 389 00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:27.839 done away with you? Is it not he speak? Yes, 390 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:33.240 it is he Tom Peters, whom I loved more than 391 00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:38.839 all the world. Even in the terrible oppression of the dream, 392 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:43.559 she could not resist saying, woman like, did I not 393 00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:49.160 warn you against him? The phantom stared on silently and 394 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:54.400 made no reply. But what was his motive? She asked 395 00:30:54.400 --> 00:31:00.680 at length, love of gold and you and you are 396 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:06.039 giving yourself to him? It said sternly, No, no, Everett, 397 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:10.640 I will not, I will not. I swear it, forgive me. 398 00:31:13.160 --> 00:31:18.720 The spirit shook its head skeptically. You love him? Women 399 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:25.079 are false as false as men. She trove, strove to 400 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:31.039 protest again, but her tongue refused its office. If you 401 00:31:31.160 --> 00:31:37.559