Walter Besant
All Sorts and Conditions of Men: An Impossible Story
Lord Jocelyn walked slowly away in the direction of Stepney Green. She lived there, did she? Oh, and her name was Miss Kennedy; ah, and a man, by calling upon her, might see her. Very good – he would call. He would say that he was the guardian of Harry, and that he took a warm interest in him; and that the boy was pining away – which was not true; and that he called to know if Miss Kennedy as a friend would divine the cause – which was crafty. Quite a little domestic drama he made up in his own mind, which would have done beautifully had it not been completely shattered by the surprising things which happened, as will immediately be seen.
Presently he arrived at Stepney Green and stopped to look about him. A quiet, George-the-Third looking place, with many good and solid houses, and a narrow strip of garden running down the middle – in which of these houses did Miss Kennedy dwell?
There came along the asphalt walk an old, old man; he was feeble, and tottered as he went. He wore a black silk stock and a buttoned-up frock-coat. His face was wrinkled and creased. It was, in fact, Mr. Maliphant going rather late (because he had fallen asleep by the fire) to protect the property.
Lord Jocelyn asked him politely if he would tell him where Miss Kennedy lived.
The patriarch looked up, laughed joyously, and shook his head – then he said something inaudibly, but his lips moved; and then pointing to a large house on the right, he said aloud:
"Caroline Coppin's house it was – she that married Sergeant Goslett. Mr. Messenger, whose grandmother was a Coppin, and a good old Whitechapel family, had the deeds. My memory is not so good as usual this morning, young man, or I could tell you who had the house before Caroline's father; but I think it was old Mr. Messenger, because the young man who died the other day, and was only a year or two older than me, was born there himself." Then he went on his way, laughing and wagging his head.
"That is a wonderful old man," said Lord Jocelyn. "Caroline Coppin's house – that is, Harry's mother's house. Pity she couldn't keep it for her son – the sergeant was a thrifty man, too. Here is another native; let us try him."
This time it was Daniel Fagg, and in one of his despondent moods, because none of the promised proofs had arrived.
"Can you tell me, sir," asked Lord Jocelyn, "where Miss Kennedy lives?"
The "native," who had sandy hair and a gray beard, and immense sandy eyebrows, turned upon him fiercely, shaking a long finger in his face, as if it was a sword.
"Mind you," he growled, "Miss Kennedy's the only man among you! You talk of your scholars! Gar! – jealousy and envy. But I've remembered her – posterity shall know her when the head of the Egyptian department is dead and forgotten."
"Thank you," said Lord Jocelyn, as the man left him. "I am likely to be forwarded at this rate."
He tried again.
This time it happened to be none other than Mr. Bunker. The events of the last few weeks were preying upon his mind – he thought continually of handcuffs and prisons. He was nervous and agitated.
But he replied courteously, and pointed out the house.
"Ah!" said Lord Jocelyn, "that is the house which an old man, whom I have just asked, said was Caroline Coppin's."
"Old man – what old man?" (Mr. Bunker turned pale – it seemed as if the atmosphere itself was full of dangers.) "'Ouse was whose? That 'ouse, sir, is mine – mine, do you hear?"
Lord Jocelyn described the old man – in fact, he was yet within sight.
"I know him," said Mr. Bunker. "He's mad, that old man – silly with age; nobody minds him. That 'ouse, sir, is mine."
"Oh! And you" (for Lord Jocelyn now recollected him) – "are Mr. Bunker, are you? Do you remember me? Think, man."
Mr. Bunker thought his hardest; but if you do not remember a man, you might as well stand on your head as begin to think.
"Twenty years ago," said Lord Jocelyn, "I took away your nephew, who has now come back here."
"You did, you did," cried Bunker eagerly. "Ah, sir, why did you let him come back here? A bad business – a bad business."
"I came to see him to-day, perhaps to ask him why he stays here."
"Take him away again, sir – don't let him stay. Rocks ahead, sir!" Mr. Bunker put up hands in warning. "When I see youth going to capsize on virtue it makes my blood, as a Christian man, to curdle – take him away."
"Certainly it does you great credit, Mr. Bunker, as a Christian man; because curdled blood must be unpleasant. But what rocks?"
"A rock – one rock, a woman. In that 'ouse, sir, she lives; her name is Miss Kennedy – that is what she calls herself. She's a dressmaker by trade, she says; and a captivator of foolish young men by nature – don't go anigh her. She may captivate you. Daniel Fagg made her an offer of marriage, and he's sixty. He confessed it to me. She tried it on with me; but a man of principles is proof. The conjurer wanted to marry her. My nephew, Dick Coppin, is a fool about her."
"She must be a very remarkable woman," said Lord Jocelyn.
"As for that boy, Harry Goslett" (Bunker uttered the name with an obvious effort) – "he's further gone than all the rest put together. If it wasn't for her, he would go back to where he came from."
"Ah! and where is that?"
"Don't you know, then? You, the man who took him away? Don't you know where he came from? Was it something very bad?"
There was a look of eager malignity about the man's face – he wanted to hear something bad about his nephew.
Lord Jocelyn encouraged him.
"Perhaps I know – perhaps I do not."
"A disgraceful story, no doubt," said Bunker, with a pleased smile. "I dreaded the worst when I saw him with his white hands, and his sneerin', fleerin' ways. I thought of Newgate and jailbirds – I did, indeed, at once. O prophetic soul! Well, now we know the worst, and you had better take him away before all the world knows it. I shan't talk, of course."
"Thank you, Mr. Bunker; and about this Miss Kennedy, is there anything against her except that the men fall in love with her?"
"There is plenty against her; but I'm not the man to take away a woman's character. Reports are about her that would astonish you. If all secrets were known, we should find what a viper we've been cherishing. At the end of her year, out she goes of my 'ouse – bag and baggage, she goes; and wherever she goes, that boy'll go after her unless you prevent it."
"Thank you again, Mr. Bunker. Good-morning."
Angela (just returned from her chapel) was sitting at the window of the workroom, in her usual place; she looked out upon the green now and again.
Presently she saw Mr. Maliphant creep slowly along the pavement, and observed that he stopped and spoke to a gentleman. Then she saw Daniel Fagg swinging his arms and gesticulating, as he rehearsed to himself the story of his wrongs, and he stopped and spoke to the same man. Then she saw Mr. Bunker walking moodily on his way, and he stopped, too, and conversed with the stranger. Then he turned, and she saw his face.
It was Lord Jocelyn le Breton, and he was walking with intention toward her own door!
She divined the truth in a moment – he was coming to see the "dressmaker" who had bewitched his boy.
She whispered to Nelly that a gentleman was coming to see her who must be shown upstairs. She took refuge in the drawing-room, which was happily empty; and she awaited him with a beating heart.
She heard his footsteps on the stairs – the door opened. She rose to meet him.
"You here, Miss Messenger! This is, indeed, a surprise."
"No, Lord Jocelyn," she replied, confused, yet trying to speak confidently; "in this house, if you please, I am not Miss Messenger. I am Miss Kennedy, the – the – "
Now she remembered exactly what her next words would mean to him, and she blushed violently. "I am the – the dressmaker."
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THRICE HAPPY BOY
A man of the world at forty-five seldom feels surprised at anything, unless, indeed, like Molière, he encounters virtue in unexpected quarters. This, however, was a thing so extraordinary that Lord Jocelyn gasped.
"Pardon me, Miss Messenger," he said, recovering himself. "I was so totally unprepared for this – this discovery."
"Now that you have made it, Lord Jocelyn, may I ask you most earnestly to reveal it to no one? I mean no one at all."
"I understand perfectly. Yes, Miss Messenger, I will keep your secret. Since it is a secret, I will tell it to none. But I would ask a favor in return, if I may."
"What is that?"
"Take me further into your confidence. Let me know why you have done this most wonderful thing. I hope I am not impertinent in asking this of you."
"Not impertinent, certainly. And the thing must seem strange to you. And after what you told me some time ago, about – " She hesitated a moment, and then turned her clear brown eyes straight upon his face, "about your ward, perhaps some explanation is due to you."
"Thank you, beforehand."
"First, however, call me Miss Kennedy here; pray – pray, do not forget that there is no Miss Messenger nearer than Portman Square."
"I will try to remember."
"I came here," she went on, "last July, having a certain problem in my mind. I have remained here ever since, working at that problem. It is not nearly worked out yet, nor do I think that in the longest life it could be worked out. It is a most wonderful problem, for one thing leads to another, and great schemes rise out of small, and there are hundreds of plans springing out of one – if I could only carry them out."
"To assist you in carrying them out, you have secured the services of my ward, I learn."
"Yes; he has been very good to me."
"I have never," said Lord Jocelyn, "been greatly tempted in the direction of philanthropy. But pray go on."
"The first thing I came to establish was an association of dressmakers, myself being one. That is very simple. I have started them with a house free of rent and the necessary furniture – which I know is wrong, because it introduces an unfair advantage – and we divide all the money in certain proportions. That is one thing."
"But, my dear young lady, could you not have done this from Portman Square?"
"I could, but not so well. To live here as a workwoman among other workwomen is, at least, to avoid the danger of being flattered, deceived, and paid court to. I was a most insignificant person when I came. I am now so far advanced that a great many employers of women's labor cordially detest me, and would like to see my association ruined.
"O Lord Jocelyn," she went on, after a pause, "you do not know, you cannot know the dreadful dangers which a rich woman has to encounter. If I had come here in my own name I should have been besieged by every plausible rogue who could catch my ear for half an hour. I should have all the clergy round me imploring help for their schools and their churches; I should have had every unmarried curate making love to me; I should have paid ten times as much as anybody else; and, worse than all, I should not have made a single friend. My sympathies, whenever I read the parable, are always with Dives, because he must have been so flattered and worshipped before his pride became intolerable."
"I see. All this you escaped by your assumption of the false name."
"Yes. I am one of themselves; one of the people; I have got my girls together; I have made them understand my project; they have become my fast and faithful friends. The better to inspire confidence, I even sheltered myself behind myself. I said Miss Messenger was interested in our success. She sends us orders. I went to the West End with things made up for her. Thanks mainly to her, we are flourishing. We work for shorter hours and for greater pay than other girls: I could already double my staff if I could only, which I shall soon, double the work. We have recreation, too, and we dine together, and in the evening we have singing and dancing. My girls have never before known any happiness: now they have learned the happiness of quiet, at least, with a little of the culture, and some of the things which make rich people happy. Oh! would you have me go away and leave them, when I have taught these things of which they never dreamed before? Should I send them back to the squalid house and the bare pittance again? Stay and take your luncheon with us when we dine, and ask yourself whether it would not be better for me to live here altogether – never to go back to the West End at all – than to go away and desert my girls?"
She was agitated because she spoke from her heart. She went on without waiting for any reply:
"If you knew the joyless lives, the hopeless days of these girls, if you could see their workrooms, if you knew what is meant by their long hours and their insufficient food, you would not wonder at my staying here, you would cry shame upon the rich woman so selfish as to spend her substance in idle follies, when she might have spent it upon her unfortunate sisters."
"I think," said Lord Jocelyn, "that you are a very noble girl."
"Then there is another scheme of mine: a project so great and generous – nay, I am not singing my own praises, believe me – that I can never get it out of my mind. This project, Lord Jocelyn, is due to your ward."
"Harry was always an ingenious youth. But pray tell me what it is."
"I cannot," she replied; "when I put the project into words they seem cold and feeble. They do not express the greatness of it. They would not rouse your enthusiasm. I could not make you understand in any degree the great hopes I have of this enterprise."
"And it is Harry's invention?"
"Yes – his. All I have done is to find the money to carry it out."
"That is a good part of any enterprise, however."
At this point the bell rang.
"That is the first bell," said Angela; "now they lay down their work and scamper about – at least the younger ones do – for ten minutes before dinner. Come with me to the dining-room."
Presently the girls came trooping in, fifteen or so, with bright eyes and healthy cheeks. Some of them were pretty: one, Lord Jocelyn thought, of a peculiarly graceful and delicate type, though too fragile in appearance. This was Nelly Sorensen. She looked more fragile than usual to-day, and there were black lines under her lustrous eyes. Another, whom Miss Kennedy called Rebekah, was good-looking in a different way, being sturdy, rosy-cheeked, and downright in her manner. Another, who would otherwise have been quite common in appearance, was made beautiful – almost – by the patient look which had followed years of suffering; she was a cripple; all their faces during the last few months had changed for the better; not one among them all bore the expression which is described by the significant words "bold" and "common." Six months of daily drill and practice in good manners had abolished that look at any rate.
The dinner was perfectly plain and simple, consisting of a piece of meat with plenty of vegetables and bread, and nothing else at all. But the meat was good and well cooked, and the service was on fair white linen. Moreover, Lord Jocelyn, sitting down in this strange company, observed that the girls behaved with great propriety. Soon after they began, the door opened and a man came in. It was one of those to whom Lord Jocelyn had spoken on the green, the man with the bushy sandy eyebrows. He took his seat at the table and began to eat his food ravenously. Once he pushed his plate away as if in a temper, and looked up as if he was going to complain. Then the girl they called Rebekah – she came to dinner on Saturdays, so as to have the same advantages as the rest, though she did no work on that day – held up her forefinger and shook it at him, and he relapsed into silence. He was the only one who behaved badly, and Miss Kennedy made as if she had not seen.
During the dinner the girls talked freely among themselves without any of the giggling and whispering which, in some circles, is considered good manners; they all treated Miss Kennedy with great respect, though she was only one workwoman among the rest. Yet there was a great difference, and the girls knew it; next to her on her left sat the pretty girl whom she called Nelly.
When dinner was over, because it was Saturday there was no more work. Some of the girls went into the drawing-room to rest for an hour and read; Rebekah went home again to attend the afternoon service; some went into the garden, although it was December, and began to play lawn-tennis on the asphalt; the man with the eyebrows got up and glared moodily around from under those shaggy eyebrows and then vanished. Angela and Lord Jocelyn remained alone.
"You have seen us," she said; "what do you think of us?"
"I have nothing to say, and I do not know what to think."
"Your ward is our right hand. We women want a man to work for us always. It is his business, and his pleasure, too, to help us to amuse ourselves. He finds diversions; he invents all kinds of things for us. Just now he is arranging tableaux and plays for Christmas."
"Is it – is it – oh, Miss Kennedy – is it for the girls only?"
"That is dangerous ground," she replied, but not severely. "Do you think we had better discuss the subject from that point of view?"
"Poor boy!" said Lord Jocelyn. "It is the point of view from which I must regard it."
She blushed again – and her beautiful eyes grew limpid.
"Do you think," she said, speaking low, "do you think I do not feel for him? Yet there is a cause – a sentiment, perhaps. The time is not quite come. Lord Jocelyn, be patient with me!"
"You will take pity on him?"
"Oh!" she took the hand he offered her. "If I can make him happy – "
"If not," replied Lord Jocelyn, kissing her hand, "he would be the most ungrateful dog in all the world. If not, he deserves to get nothing but a shilling an hour for the miserable balance of his days. A shilling? No; let him go back to his tenpence. My dear young lady, you have made me at all events, the happiest of men! No, do not fear: neither by word nor look shall Harry – shall any one – know what you have been so very, very good, so generous, and so thoughtful as to tell me."
"He loves me for myself," she murmured. "He does not know that I am rich. Think of that, and think of the terrible suspicions which grow up in every rich woman's heart when a man makes love to her. Now I can never, never doubt his honesty. For my sake he has given up so much; for my sake – mine! oh! Why are men so good to women?"
"No," said Lord Jocelyn. "Ask what men can ever do that they should be rewarded with the love and trust of such a woman as you?"
That is, indeed, a difficult question, seeing in what words the virtuous woman has been described by one who writes as if he ought to have known. As a pendant to the picture 'tis pity, 'tis great pity we have not the eulogy of the virtuous man. But there never were any, perhaps.
Lord Jocelyn stayed with Angela all the afternoon. They talked of many things; of Harry's boyhood, of his gentle and ready ways, of his many good qualities, and of Angela herself, her hopes and ambitions, and of their life at Bormalack's. And Angela told Lord Jocelyn about her protégés, the claimants to the Davenant peerage, with the history of the "Roag in Grane," Saturday Davenant; and Lord Jocelyn promised to call upon them.
It was five o'clock when she sent him away, with permission to come again. Now this, Lord Jocelyn felt, as he came away, was the most satisfactory, nay the most delightful, day that he had ever spent.
That lucky rascal Harry! To think of this tremendous stroke of fortune! To fall in love with the richest heiress in England; to have that passion returned, to be about to marry the most charming, the most beautiful, the sweetest woman that had ever been made. Happy, thrice happy boy! What wonder, now, that he found tinkering chairs, in company, so to speak, with that incomparable woman, better than the soft divans of his club or the dinners and dances of society? What had he, Lord Jocelyn, to offer the lad, in comparison with the delights of this strange and charming courtship?
