CHAPTER XX
A HEAVY FATHER
Mr Lindon was excited,--there is no mistaking it when he is, becausewith him excitement means perspiration, and as soon as he was out ofthe cab he took off his hat and began to wipe the lining.
'Atherton, I want to speak to you--most particularly--somewhere inprivate.'
I took him into my laboratory. It is my rule to take no one there; itis a workshop, not a playroom,--the place is private; but, recently, myrules had become dead letters. Directly he was inside, Lindon beganpuffing and stewing, wiping his forehead, throwing out his chest, as ifhe were oppressed by a sense of his own importance. Then he started offtalking at the top of his voice,--and it is not a low one either.
'Atherton, I--I've always looked on you as a--a kind of a son.'
'That's very kind of you.'
'I've always regarded you as a--a level-headed fellow; a man from whomsound advice can be obtained when sound advice--is--is most to bedesired.'
'That also is very kind of you.'
'And therefore I make no apology for coming to you at--at what may beregarded as a--a strictly domestic crisis; at a moment in the historyof the Lindons when delicacy and common sense are--are essentiallyrequired.'
This time I contented myself with nodding. Already I perceived what wascoming; somehow, when I am with a man I feel so much more clear-headedthan I do when I am with a woman,--realise so much better the nature ofthe ground on which I am standing.
'What do you know of this man Lessingham?'
I knew it was coming.
'What all the world knows.'
'And what does all the world know of him?--I ask you that! A flashy,plausible, shallow-pated, carpet-bagger,--that is what all the worldknows of him. The man's a political adventurer,--he snatches aprecarious, and criminal, notoriety, by trading on the follies of hisfellow-countrymen. He is devoid of decency, destitute of principle, andimpervious to all the feelings of a gentleman. What do you know of himbesides this?'
'I am not prepared to admit that I do know that.'
'Oh yes you do!--don't talk nonsense!--you choose to screen the fellow!I say what I mean,--I always have said, and I always shall say.--Whatdo you know of him outside politics,--of his family--of his privatelife?'
'Well,--not very much.'
'Of course you don't!--nor does anybody else! The man's a mushroom,--ora toadstool, rather!--sprung up in the course of a single night,apparently out of some dirty ditch.--Why, sir, not only is he withoutordinary intelligence, he is even without a Brummagen substitute formanners.'
He had worked himself into a state of heat in which his countenancepresented a not too agreeable assortment of scarlets and purples. Heflung himself into a chair, threw his coat wide open, and his arms too,and started off again.
'The family of the Lindons is, at this moment, represented by a--ayoung woman,--by my daughter, sir. She represents me, and it's her dutyto represent me adequately--adequately, sir! And what's more, betweenourselves, sir, it's her duty to marry. My property's my own, and Iwouldn't have it pass to either of my confounded brothers on anyaccount. They're next door to fools, and--and they don't represent mein any possible sense of the word. My daughter, sir, can marry whom shepleases,--whom she pleases! There's no one in England, peer orcommoner, who would not esteem it an honour to have her for hiswife--I've told her so,--yes, sir, I've told her, though you--you'dthink that she, of all people in the world, wouldn't require telling.Yet what do you think she does? She--she actually carries on what I--Ican't help calling a--a compromising acquaintance with this manLessingham!'
'No!'
'But I say yes!--and I wish to heaven I didn't. I--I've warned heragainst the scoundrel more than once; I--I've told her to cut him dead.And yet, as--as you saw yourself, last night, in--in the face of theassembled House of Commons, after that twaddling clap-trap speech ofhis, in which there was not one sound sentiment, nor an ideawhich--which would hold water, she positively went away with him,in--in the most ostentatious and--and disgraceful fashion, on--on hisarm, and--and actually snubbed her father.--It is monstrous that aparent--a father!--should be subjected to such treatment by his child.'
The poor old boy polished his brow with his pocket-handkerchief.
'When I got home I--I told her what I thought of her, I promise youthat,--and I told her what I thought of him,--I didn't mince my wordswith her. There are occasions when plain speaking is demanded,--andthat was one. I positively forbade her to speak to the fellow again, orto recognise him if she met him in the street. I pointed out to her,with perfect candour, that the fellow was an infernal scoundrel,--thatand nothing else!--and that he would bring disgrace on whoever cameinto contact with him, even with the end of a barge pole.--And what doyou think she said?'
'She promised to obey you, I make no doubt.'
'Did she, sir!--By gad, did she!--That shows how much you knowher!--She said, and, by gad, by her manner, and--and the way she wenton, you'd--you'd have thought that she was the parent and I was thechild--she said that I--I grieved her, that she was disappointed in me,that times have changed,--yes, sir, she said that times havechanged!--that, nowadays, parents weren't Russian autocrats--no, sir,not Russian autocrats!--that--that she was sorry she couldn't obligeme,--yes, sir, that was how she put it,--she was sorry she couldn'toblige me, but it was altogether out of the question to suppose thatshe could put a period to a friendship which she valued, simply onaccount of-of my unreasonable prejudices,--and--and--and, in short,she--she told me to go the devil, sir!'
'And did you--'
I was on the point of asking him if he went,--but I checked myself intime.
'Let us look at the matter as men of the world. What do you knowagainst Lessingham, apart from his politics?'
'That's just it,--I know nothing.'
'In a sense, isn't that in his favour?'
'I don't see how you make that out. I--I don't mind telling you thatI--I've had inquiries made. He's not been in the House six years--thisis his second Parliament--he's jumped up like a Jack-in-the-box. Hisfirst constituency was Harwich--they've got him still, and much goodmay he do 'em!--but how he came to stand for the place,--or who, orwhat, or where he was before he stood for the place, no one seems tohave the faintest notion.'
'Hasn't he been a great traveller?'
'I never heard of it.'
'Not in the East?'
'Has he told you so?'
'No,--I was only wondering. Well, it seems to me that to find out thatnothing is known against him is something in his favour!'
'My dear Sydney, don't talk nonsense. What it proves is simply,--thathe's a nothing and a nobody. Had he been anything or anyone, somethingwould have been known about him, either for or against. I don't want mydaughter to marry a man who--who--who's shot up through a trap, simplybecause nothing is known against him. Ha-hang me, if I wouldn't tentimes sooner she should marry you.'
When he said that, my heart leaped in my bosom. I had to turn away.
'I am afraid that is out of the question.'
He stopped in his tramping, and looked at me askance.
'Why?'
I felt that, if I was not careful, I should be done for,--and,probably, in his present mood, Marjorie too.
'My dear Lindon, I cannot tell you how grateful I am to you for yoursuggestion, but I can only repeat that--unfortunately, anything of thekind is out of the question.'
'I don't see why.'
'Perhaps not.'
'You--you're a pretty lot, upon my word!'
'I'm afraid we are.'
'I--I want you to tell her that Lessingham is a damned scoundrel.'
'I see.--But I would suggest that if I am to use the influence withwhich you credit me to the best advantage, or to preserve a shred ofit, I had hardly better state the fact quite so bluntly as that.'
'I don't care how you state it,--state it as you like. Only--only Iwant you to soak her mind with a loathing of the fellow; I--I--I wantyou to paint him in his true colou
rs; in--in--in fact, I--I want you tochoke him off.'
While he still struggled with his words, and with the perspiration onhis brow, Edwards entered. I turned to him.
'What is it?'
'Miss Lindon, sir, wishes to see you particularly, and at once.'
At that moment I found the announcement a trifle perplexing,--itdelighted Lindon. He began to stutter and to stammer.
'T-the very thing!--c-couldn't have been better!--show her in here!H--hide me somewhere,--I don't care where,--behind that screen! Y-youuse your influence with her;--g-give her a good talking to;--t-tell herwhat I've told you; and at--at the critical moment I'll come in, andthen--then if we can't manage her between us, it'll be a wonder.'
The proposition staggered me.
'But, my dear Mr Lindon, I fear that I cannot--'
He cut me short.
'Here she comes!'
Ere I could stop him he was behind the screen,--I had not seen him movewith such agility before!--and before I could expostulate Marjorie wasin the room. Something which was in her bearing, in her face, in hereyes, quickened the beating of my pulses,--she looked as if somethinghad come into her life, and taken the joy clean out of it.
The Beetle: A Mystery Page 20
