Delphi Collected Works of Hugh Walpole (Illustrated)

by Hugh Walpole

  “Good morning, Canon Ronder,” he said.

  “Good morning,” Ronder replied severely, and tried to pass on. But the man stood in his way.

  “I’m not going to keep you,” he said. “I know what your business is this morning. I wouldn’t keep you from it for a single moment. I know what you’re going to do. You’re going to get rid of that damned Archdeacon. Finish him for once and all. Stamp on him so that he can never raise up his beautiful head again. I know. It’s fine work you’ve been doing ever since you came here, Canon Ronder. But it isn’t you that’s been doing it. It’s the Cathedral.”

  “Please let me pass,” said Ronder. “I haven’t any time just now to spare.”

  “Ah, that hurts your pride. You like to think it’s you who’s been the mighty fine fellow all this time. Well, it isn’t you at all. It’s the Cathedral. The Cathedral’s jealous, you know — don’t like its servants taking all the credit to themselves. Pride’s dangerous, Canon Ronder. In a year or two’s time, when you’re feeling pretty pleased with yourself, you just look back on the Archdeacon’s history for a moment and consider it. It may have a lesson for you. Good morning, Canon Ronder. Pleased to have met you.”

  The wretched creature went slithering up the aisle, chuckling to himself. How miserable to be drunk at that early hour of the morning! Ronder shrugged his shoulders as though he would like to shake off from them something unpleasant that was sticking to them. He was not in a good mood this morning. He was assured of victory — he had no doubt about it at all — and unquestionably when the affair was settled he would feel more tranquil about it. But ever since his talk with Wistons he had been unsure of the fellow. Was it altogether wise that he should come here? His perfect content seemed to be as far away as ever. Was it always to be so?

  And then this horrible affair in the High Street three days ago, how distressing! The Archdeacon’s brain was going, and that was the very last thing that Ronder had desired. What he had originally seen was the pleasant picture of Brandon retiring with his wife and family to a nice Rectory in the diocese and ending his days — many years hence it is to be hoped — in a charming old garden with an oak-tree on the lawn and pigeons cooing in the sunny air.

  But this! Oh, no! not this! Ronder was a practical man of straight common- sense, but it did seem to him as though there had been through all the movement of the last six months some spirit far more vindictive than himself had ever been. He had never, from the first moment to the last, been vindictive. With his hand on his heart he could say that. He did not like the Cathedral that morning, it seemed to him cold, hostile, ugly. The thick stone pillars were scornful, the glass of the East window was dead and dull. A little wind seemed to whistle in the roof so far, so far above his head.

  He hurried on, his great-coat hugged about him. All that he could say was that he did hope that Brandon would not be there this morning. His presence could alter nothing, the voting could go only one way. It would be very painful were he there. Surely after the High Street affair he would not come.

  Ronder saw with relief when he came into the Chapter House that Brandon was not present. They were standing about the room, looking out into the Cloisters, talking in little groups — the Dean, Bentinck-Major, Ryle, Foster, and Bond, the Clerk, a little apart from the others as social decency demanded. When Ronder entered, two things at once were plain — one, how greatly during these last months he had grown in importance with all of them and, secondly, how nervous they were all feeling. They all turned towards him.

  “Ah, Ronder,” said the Dean, “that’s right. I was afraid lest something should keep you.”

  “No — no — what a cold damp day! Autumn is really upon us.”

  They discussed the weather, once and again eyeing the door apprehensively. Bentinck-Major took Ronder aside:

  “My wife and I have been wondering whether you’d honour us by dining with us on the 25th,” he said. “A cousin of my wife’s, Lady Caroline Holmesby, is to be staying with us just then. It would give us such great pleasure if you and Miss Ronder would join us that evening. My wife is, of course, writing to Miss Ronder.”

  “So far as I know, my aunt and I are both free and will be delighted to come,” said Ronder.

  “Delightful! That will be delightful! As a matter of fact we were thinking of having that evening a little Shakespeare reading. We thought of King Lear.”

  “Ah! That’s another matter,” said Ronder, laughing. “I’ll be delighted to listen, but as to taking part—”

  “But you must! You must!” said Bentinck-Major, catching hold of one of the buttons on Ronder’s waistcoat, a habit that Ronder most especially disliked. “More culture is what our town needs — several of us have been thinking so. It is really time, I think, to start a little Shakespeare reading amongst ourselves — strictly amongst ourselves, of course. The trouble with Shakespeare is that he is so often a little — a little bold, for mixed reading — and that restricts us. Nevertheless, we hope...I do trust that you will join us, Canon Ronder.”

  “I make no promises,” said Ronder. “If you knew how badly I read, you’d hesitate before asking me.”

  “We are past our time,” said the Dean, looking at his watch. “We are all here, I think, but Brandon and Witheram. Witheram is away at Drymouth. He has written to me. How long we should wait — —”

  “I can hardly believe,” said Byle nervously, “that Archdeacon Brandon will be present. He is extremely unwell. I don’t know whether you are aware that three nights ago he was found by Lawrence the Verger here in the Cathedral in a fainting fit. He is very unwell, I’m afraid.”

  The whole group was immensely interested. They had heard.... Fainting? Here in the Cathedral? Yes, by the Bishop’s Tomb. He was better yesterday, but it is hardly likely that he will come this morning.

  “Poor man!” said the Dean, gently distressed. “I heard something...That was the result, I’m afraid, of his fracas that morning in the High Street; he must be most seriously unwell.”

  “Poor man, poor man!” was echoed by everybody; it was evident also that general relief was felt. He could not now be expected to be present.

  The door opened, and he came in. He came hurriedly, a number of papers in one hand, wearing just the old anxious look of important care that they knew so well. And yet how changed he was! Instead of moving at once to his place at the long table he hesitated, looked at Bentinck-Major, at Foster, then at Bond, half-puzzled, as though he had never seen them before.

  “I must apologise, gentlemen,” he said, “for being late. My watch, I’m afraid, was slow.”

  The Dean then showed quite unexpected qualities.

  “Will you sit here on my right, Archdeacon?” he said in a firm and almost casual voice. “We are a little late, I fear, but no matter — no matter. We are all present, I think, save Archdeacon Witheram, who is at Drymouth, and from whom I have received a letter.” They all found their places. Ronder was as usual exactly opposite to Brandon. Foster slouched into his seat with his customary air of absentmindedness. Ryle tried not to look at Brandon, but his eyes were fascinated and seemed to swim in their watery fashion like fish fascinated by a bait.

  “Shall we open with a prayer,” said the Dean, “and ask God’s blessing on this morning’s work?”

  They prayed with bent heads. Brandon’s head was bent longer than the others.

  When he looked up he stared about him as though completely bewildered.

  “As you all know,” the Dean said in his softly urgent voice, as though he were pressing them to give him flowers for his collection, “our meeting this morning is of the first urgency. I will, with your approval, postpone general business until the more ordinary meeting of next week. That is if no one has any objection to such a course?”

  No one had any objections.

  “Very well, then. As you know, our business this morning is to appoint a successor to poor Morrison at Pybus St. Anthony. Now in ordinary cases, such an appointment is not
of the first importance, but in the matter of Pybus, as you all know, there is a difference. Whether rightly or wrongly, it has been a tradition in the Diocese that the Pybus living should be given only to exceptional men. It has been fortunate in having a succession of exceptional men in its service — men who, for the most part, have come to great position in the Church afterwards. I want you to remember that, gentlemen, when you are making your decision this morning. At the same time you must remember that it has been largely tradition that has given this importance to Pybus, and that the living has been vacant already too long.”

  He paused. Then he picked up a piece of paper in front of him.

  “There have been several meetings with regard to this living already,” he said, “and certain names have been very thoroughly discussed among us. I think we were last week agreed that two names stood out from the others. If to-day we cannot agree on one of those two names, we must then consider a third. That will not, I hope, be necessary. The two names most favourably considered by us are those of the Rev. Rex Forsyth, Chaplain to Bishop Clematis, and the Rev. Ambrose Wistons of St. Edward’s Hawston. The first of these two gentlemen is known to all of us personally, the second we know chiefly through his writings. We will first, I think, consider Mr. Wistons. You, Canon Foster, are, I know, a personal friend of his, and can tell us why, in your opinion, his would be a suitable appointment.”

  “It depends on what you want,” said Foster, frowning around upon every one present; and then suddenly selecting little Bond as apparently his most dangerous enemy and scowling at him with great hostility, “if you want to let the religious life of this place, nearly dead already, pass right away, choose a man like Forsyth. But I don’t wish to be contentious; there’s been contention enough in this place during these last months, and I’m sick and ashamed of the share I’ve had in it. I won’t say more than this — that if you want an honest, God-fearing man here, who lives only for God and is in his most secret chamber as he is before men, then Wistons is your man. I understand that some of you are afraid of his books. There’ll be worse books than his you’ll have to face before you’re much older. That I can tell you! I said to myself before I came here that I wouldn’t speak this morning. I should not have said even what I have, because I know that in this last year I have grievously sinned, fighting against God when I thought that I was fighting for Him. The weapons are taken out of my hands. I believe that Wistons is the man for this place and for the religious life here. I believe that you will none of you regret it if you bring him to this appointment. I can say nothing more.”

  What had happened to Foster? They had, one and all, expected a fighting speech. The discomfort and uneasiness that was already in the room was now greatly increased.

  The Dean asked Ronder to say something. Ronder leaned forward, pushing his spectacles back with his fingers. He leaned forward that he might not see Brandon’s face.

  By chance he had not seen Brandon for more than a fortnight. He was horrified and frightened by the change. The grey-white face, the restless, beseeching, bewildered eyes belonging apparently to some one else, to whom they were searching to return, the long white fingers ceaselessly moving among the papers and tapping the table, were those of a stranger, and in the eyes of the men in that room it was he who had produced him. Yes, and in the eyes of how many others in that town? You might say that had Brandon been a man of real spiritual and moral strength, not Ronder, not even God Himself, could have brought Brandon to this. But was that so? Which of us knows until he is tried? His wife, his son, his body, all had failed him. And now this too.... And if Ronder had not come to that town would it have been so? Had it not been a duel between them from the moment that Ronder first set his foot in that place? And had not Ronder deliberately willed it so? What had Ronder said to Brandon’s son and to the woman who would ruin Brandon’s wife?

  All this passed in the flash of a dream through Ronder’s brain, perhaps never entirely to leave him again. In that long duel there had been perhaps more than one defeat. He knew that they were waiting for him to speak, but the thoughts would not come. Wistons? Forsyth?...Forsyth? Wistons? Who were they? What had they to do with this personal relation of his with the man opposite?

  He flushed. He must say something. He began to speak, and soon his brain, so beautifully ordered, began to reel out the words in soft and steady sequence. But his soul watched Brandon’s soul.

  “My friend, Canon Foster, knows Mr. Wistons so much better than I do,” he said, “that it is absurd for me to try and tell you what he should tell you.

  “I do regard him as the right man for this place, because I think our Cathedral, that we all so deeply love, is waiting for just such a man. Against his character no one, I suppose, has anything to say. He is known before all the world as a God-fearing Christian. He is no youth; he has had much experience; he is, every one witnesses, lovable and of strong personal charm. It is not his character, but his ideas, that people have criticised. He is a modernist, of course, a man of an enquiring, penetrating mind, who must himself be satisfied of the truth for which he is searching. Can that do us here any harm? I believe not. I think that some of us, if I may say so, are too easily frightened of the modern spirit of enquiry. I believe that we Churchmen should step forward ready to face any challenge, whether of scientists, psychologists or any one else — I think that before long, whether we like it or no, we shall have to do so. Mr. Wistons is, I believe, just the man to help us in such a crisis. His opinions are not precisely the same as those of some of us in this diocese, and I’ve no doubt that if he came here there would be some disputes from time to time, but I believe those same disputes would do us a world of good. God did not mean us to sit down twiddling our thumbs and never using our brains. He gave us our intelligences, and therefore I presume that He meant us to make some use of them.

  “In these matters Mr. Wistons is exactly what we want here. He is a much- travelled man, widely experienced in affairs, excellent at business. No one who has ever met him would deny his sweetness and personal charm. I think myself that we are very fortunate to have a chance of seeing him here—”

  Ronder ceased. He felt as though he had been beating thin air with weak ineffective hands. They had, none of them, been listening to him or thinking of him; they had not even been thinking of Wistons. Their minds had been absorbed, held, dominated by the tall broad figure who sat in their midst, but was not one of them.

  Brandon, in fact, began to speak almost before Ronder had finished. He did not look up, but stared at his long nervous fingers. He spoke at first almost in a whisper, so that they did not catch the first few words. “...Horrified...” they heard him say. “Horrified.... So calmly.... These present....

  “Cannot understand....” Then his words were clearer. He looked up, staring across at Ronder.

  “Horrified at this eager acceptance of a man who is a declared atheist before God.” Then suddenly he flung his head back in his old challenging way and, looking round upon them all, went on, his voice now clear, although weak and sometimes faltering:

  “Gentlemen, this is perhaps my last appearance at these Chapter Meetings. I have not been very well of late and, as you all know, I have had trouble. You will forgive me if I do not, this morning, express myself so clearly or carefully as I should like.

  “But the first thing that I wish to say is that when you are deciding this question this morning you should do your best, before God, to put my own personality out of your minds. I have learnt many things, under God’s hand, in the last six months. He has shown me some weaknesses and failings, and I know now that, because of those weaknesses, there are some in this town who would act against anything that I proposed, simply because they would wish me to be defeated. I do implore you this morning not to think of me, but to think only of what will be best — best — best — —” He looked around him for a moment bewildered, frowning in puzzled fashion at Ronder, then continued again, “best for God and the work of His Church.

>   “I’m not very well, gentlemen; my thoughts are not coming very clearly this morning, and that is sad, because I’ve looked forward to this morning for months past, wishing to fight my very best....” His voice changed. “Yes, fight!” he cried. “There should be no fight necessary in such a matter. But what has happened to us all in the last year?

  “A year ago there was not one of us who would have considered such an appointment as I am now disputing. Have you read this man’s books? Have you read in the papers his acknowledged utterances? Do you know that he questions the Divinity of Christ Himself — —”

  “No, Archdeacon,” Foster broke in, “that is not true. You can have no evidence of that.”

  Brandon seemed to be entirely bewildered by the interruption. He looked at Foster, opened his mouth as though he would speak, then suddenly put his hand to his head.

  “If you will give me time,” he said. “Give me time. I will prove everything, I will indeed. I beg you,” he said, suddenly turning to the Dean, “that you will have this appointment postponed for a month. It is so serious a matter that to decide hastily — —”

  “Not hastily,” said the Dean very gently. “Morrison died some months ago, and I’m afraid it is imperative that we should fill the vacancy this morning.”

  “Then consider what you do,” Brandon cried, now half-rising from his chair. “This man is breaking in upon the cherished beliefs of our Church. Give him a little and he will take everything. We must all stand firm upon the true and Christian ground that the Church has given us, or where shall we be? This man may be good and devout, but he does not believe what we believe. Our Church-that we love — that we love — —” He broke off again.