“The crystal box? Why was it?”
“To preserve my guests from the effects of the changes of temperature. It would be a poor kindness to bring them back to my smoking-room drenched through, and with the seeds of a violent cold. The crystal has to be kept warm, too, otherwise vapour would deposit, and you would have your view spoiled. But must you really go? Then here we are back in the smoking-room. I hope that it will not be your last visit by many a one. And if I may come down to Elmdene I should be very glad to do so. This is the way through the museum.”
As Robert McIntyre emerged from the balmy aromatic atmosphere of the great house, into the harsh, raw, biting air of an English winter evening, he felt as though he had been away for a long visit in some foreign country. Time is measured by impressions, and so vivid and novel had been his feelings, that weeks and weeks might have elapsed since his chat with the smoke-grimed stranger in the road. He walked along with his head in a whirl, his whole mind possessed and intoxicated by the one idea of the boundless wealth and the immense power of this extraordinary stranger. Small and sordid and mean seemed his own Elmdene as he approached it, and he passed over its threshold full of restless discontent against himself and his surroundings.
CHAPTER V. LAURA’S REQUEST.
That night after supper Robert McIntyre poured forth all that he had seen to his father and to his sister. So full was he of the one subject that it was a relief to him to share his knowledge with others. Rather for his own sake, then, than for theirs he depicted vividly all the marvels which he had seen; the profusion of wealth, the regal treasure-house of gems, the gold, the marble, the extraordinary devices, the absolute lavishness and complete disregard for money which was shown in every detail. For an hour he pictured with glowing words all the wonders which had been shown him, and ended with some pride by describing the request which Mr. Raffles Haw had made, and the complete confidence which he had placed in him.
His words had a very different effect upon his two listeners. Old McIntyre leaned back in his chair with a bitter smile upon his lips, his thin face crinkled into a thousand puckers, and his small eyes shining with envy and greed. His lean yellow hand upon the table was clenched until the knuckles gleamed white in the lamplight. Laura, on the other hand, leaned forward, her lips parted, drinking in her brother’s words with a glow of colour upon either cheek. It seemed to Robert, as he glanced from one to the other of them, that he had never seen his father look so evil, or his sister so beautiful.
“Who is the fellow, then?” asked the old man after a considerable pause. “I hope he got all this in an honest fashion. Five millions in jewels, you say. Good gracious me! Ready to give it away, too, but afraid of pauperising any one. You can tell him, Robert, that you know of one very deserving case which has not the slightest objection to being pauperised.”
“But who can he possibly be, Robert?” cried Laura. “Haw cannot be his real name. He must be some disguised prince, or perhaps a king in exile. Oh, I should have loved to have seen those diamonds and the emeralds! I always think that emeralds suit dark people best. You must tell me again all about that museum, Robert.”
“I don’t think that he is anything more than he pretends to be,” her brother answered. “He has the plain, quiet manners of an ordinary middle-class Englishman. There was no particular polish that I could see. He knew a little about books and pictures, just enough to appreciate them, but nothing more. No, I fancy that he is a man quite in our own position of life, who has in some way inherited a vast sum. Of course it is difficult for me to form an estimate, but I should judge that what I saw to-day — house, pictures, jewels, books, and so on — could never have been bought under twenty millions, and I am sure that that figure is entirely an under-statement.”
“I never knew but one Haw,” said old McIntyre, drumming his fingers on the table; “he was a foreman in my pin-fire cartridge-case department. But he was an elderly single man. Well, I hope he got it all honestly. I hope the money is clean.”
“And really, really, he is coming to see us!” cried Laura, clapping her hands. “Oh, when do you think he will come, Robert? Do give me warning. Do you think it will be to-morrow?”
“I am sure I cannot say.”
“I should so love to see him. I don’t know when I have been so interested.”
“Why, you have a letter there,” remarked Robert. “From Hector, too, by the foreign stamp. How is he?”
“It only came this evening. I have not opened it yet. To tell the truth, I have been so interested in your story that I had forgotten all about it. Poor old Hector! It is from Madeira.” She glanced rapidly over the four pages of straggling writing in the young sailor’s bold schoolboyish hand. “Oh, he is all right,” she said. “They had a gale on the way out, and that sort of thing, but he is all right now. He thinks he may be back by March. I wonder whether your new friend will come to-morrow — your knight of the enchanted Castle.”
“Hardly so soon, I should fancy.”
“If he should be looking about for an investment. Robert,” said the father, “you won’t forget to tell him what a fine opening there is now in the gun trade. With my knowledge, and a few thousands at my back, I could bring him in his thirty per cent. as regular as the bank. After all, he must lay out his money somehow. He cannot sink it all in books and precious stones. I am sure that I could give him the highest references.”
“It may be a long time before he comes, father,” said Robert coldly; “and when he does I am afraid that I can hardly use his friendship as a means of advancing your interest.”
“We are his equals, father,” cried Laura with spirit. “Would you put us on the footing of beggars? He would think we cared for him only for his money. I wonder that you should think of such a thing.”
“If I had not thought of such things where would your education have been, miss?” retorted the angry old man; and Robert stole quietly away to his room, whence amid his canvases he could still hear the hoarse voice and the clear in their never-ending family jangle. More and more sordid seemed the surroundings of his life, and more and more to be valued the peace which money can buy.
Breakfast had hardly been cleared in the morning, and Robert had not yet ascended to his work, when there came a timid tapping at the door, and there was Raffles Haw on the mat outside. Robert ran out and welcomed him with all cordiality.
“I am afraid that I am a very early visitor,” he said apologetically; “but I often take a walk after breakfast.” He had no traces of work upon him now, but was trim and neat with a dark suit, and carefully brushed hair. “You spoke yesterday of your work. Perhaps, early as it is, you would allow me the privilege of looking over your studio?”
“Pray step in, Mr. Haw,” cried Robert, all in a flutter at this advance from so munificent a patron of art; “I should be only too happy to show you such little work as I have on hand, though, indeed, I am almost afraid when I think how familiar you are with some of the greatest masterpieces. Allow me to introduce you to my father and to my sister Laura.”
Old McIntyre bowed low and rubbed his thin hands together; but the young lady gave a gasp of surprise, and stared with widely-opened eyes at the millionaire. Maw stepped forward, however, and shook her quietly by the hand,
“I expected to find that it was you,” he said. “I have already met your sister, Mr. McIntyre, on the very first day that I came here. We took shelter in a shed from a snowstorm, and had quite a pleasant little chat.”
“I had no notion that I was speaking to the owner of the Hall,” said Laura in some confusion. “How funnily things turn out, to be sure!”
“I had often wondered who it was that I spoke to, but it was only yesterday that I discovered. What a sweet little place you have here! It must be charming in summer. Why, if it were not for this hill my windows would look straight across at yours.”
“Yes, and we should see all your beautiful plantations,” said Laura, standing beside him in the window. “I was wishing only yes
terday that the hill was not there.”
“Really! I shall be happy to have it removed for you if you would like it.”
“Good gracious!” cried Laura. “Why, where would you put it?”
“Oh, they could run it along the line and dump it anywhere. It is not much of a hill. A few thousand men with proper machinery, and a line of rails brought right up to them could easily dispose of it in a few months.”
“And the poor vicar’s house?” Laura asked, laughing.
“I think that might be got over. We could run him up a facsimile, which would, perhaps, be more convenient to him. Your brother will tell you that I am quite an expert at the designing of houses. But, seriously, if you think it would be an improvement I will see what can be done.”
“Not for the world, Mr. Haw. Why, I should be a traitor to the whole village if I were to encourage such a scheme. The hill is the one thing which gives Tamfield the slightest individuality. It would be the height of selfishness to sacrifice it in order to improve the view from Elmdene.”
“It is a little box of a place this, Mr. Haw,” said old McIntyre. “I should think you must feel quite stifled in it after your grand mansion, of which my son tells me such wonders. But we were not always accustomed to this sort of thing, Mr. Haw. Humble as I stand here, there was a time, and not so long ago, when I could write as many figures on a cheque as any gunmaker in Birmingham. It was—”
“He is a dear discontented old papa,” cried Laura, throwing her arm round him in a caressing manner. He gave a sharp squeak and a grimace of pain, which he endeavoured to hide by an outbreak of painfully artificial coughing.
“Shall we go upstairs?” said Robert hurriedly, anxious to divert his guest’s attention from this little domestic incident. “My studio is the real atelier, for it is right up under the tiles. I shall lead the way, if you will have the kindness to follow me.”
Leaving Laura and Mr. McIntyre, they went up together to the workroom. Mr. Haw stood long in front of the “Signing of Magna Charta,” and the “Murder of Thomas a Becket,” screwing up his eyes and twitching nervously at his beard, while Robert stood by in anxious expectancy.
“And how much are these?” asked Raffles Haw at last.
“I priced them at a hundred apiece when I sent them to London.”
“Then the best I can wish you is that the day may come when you would gladly give ten times the sum to have them back again. I am sure that there are great possibilities in you, and I see that in grouping and in boldness of design you have already achieved much. But your drawing, if you will excuse my saying so, is just a little crude, and your colouring perhaps a trifle thin. Now, I will make a bargain with you, Mr. McIntyre, if you will consent to it. I know that money has no charms for you, but still, as you said when I first met you, a man must live. I shall buy these two canvases from you at the price which you name, subject to the condition that you may always have them back again by repaying the same sum.”
“You are really very kind.” Robert hardly knew whether to be delighted at having sold his pictures or humiliated at the frank criticism of the buyer.
“May I write a cheque at once?” said Raffles Haw. “Here is pen and ink. So! I shall send a couple of footmen down for them in the afternoon. Well, I shall keep them in trust for you. I dare say that when you are famous they will be of value as specimens of your early manner.”
“I am sure that I am extremely obliged to you, Mr. Haw,” said the young artist, placing the cheque in his notebook. He glanced at it as he folded it up, in the vague hope that perhaps this man of whims had assessed his pictures at a higher rate than he had named. The figures, however, were exact. Robert began dimly to perceive that there were drawbacks as well as advantages to the reputation of a money-scorner, which he had gained by a few chance words, prompted rather by the reaction against his father’s than by his own real convictions.
“I hope, Miss McIntyre,” said Raffles Haw, when they had descended to the sitting-room once more, “that you will do me the honour of coming to see the little curiosities which I have gathered together. Your brother will, I am sure, escort you up; or perhaps Mr. McIntyre would care to come?”
“I shall be delighted to come, Mr. Haw,” cried Laura, with her sweetest smile. “A good deal of my time just now is taken up in looking after the poor people, who find the cold weather very trying.” Robert raised his eyebrows, for it was the first he had heard of his sister’s missions of mercy, but Mr. Raffles Haw nodded approvingly. “Robert was telling us of your wonderful hot-houses. I am sure I wish I could transport the whole parish into one of them, and give them a good warm.”
“Nothing would be easier, but I am afraid that they might find it a little trying when they came out again. I have one house which is only just finished. Your brother has not seen it yet, but I think it is the best of them all. It represents an Indian jungle, and is hot enough in all conscience.”
“I shall so look forward to seeing it,” cried Laura, clasping her hands. “It has been one of the dreams of my life to see India. I have read so much of it, the temples, the forests, the great rivers, and the tigers. Why, you would hardly believe it, but I have never seen a tiger except in a picture.”
“That can easily be set right,” said Raffles Haw, with his quiet smile. “Would you care to see one?”
“Oh, immensely.”
“I will have one sent down. Let me see, it is nearly twelve o’clock. I can get a wire to Liverpool by one. There is a man there who deals in such things. I should think he would be due to-morrow morning. Well, I shall look forward to seeing you all before very long. I have rather outstayed my time, for I am a man of routine, and I always put in a certain number of hours in my laboratory.” He shook hands cordially with them all, and lighting his pipe at the doorstep, strolled off upon his way.
“Well, what do you think of him now?” asked Robert, as they watched his black figure against the white snow.
“I think that he is no more fit to be trusted with all that money than a child,” cried the old man. “It made me positively sick to hear him talk of moving hills and buying tigers, and such-like nonsense, when there are honest men without a business, and great businesses starving for a little capital. It’s unchristian — that’s what I call it.”
“I think he is most delightful, Robert,” said Laura. “Remember, you have promised to take us up to the Hall. And he evidently wishes us to go soon. Don’t you think we might go this afternoon?”
“I hardly think that, Laura. You leave it in my hands, and I will arrange it all. And now I must get to work, for the light is so very short on these winter days.”
That night Robert McIntyre had gone to bed, and was dozing off when a hand plucked at his shoulder, and he started up to find his sister in some white drapery, with a shawl thrown over her shoulders, standing beside him in the moonlight.
“Robert, dear,” she whispered, stooping over him, “there was something I wanted to ask you, but papa was always in the way. You will do something to please me, won’t you, Robert?”
“Of course, Laura. What is it?”
“I do so hate having my affairs talked over, dear. If Mr. Raffles Haw says anything to you about me, or asks any questions, please don’t say anything about Hector. You won’t, will you, Robert, for the sake of your little sister?”
“No; not unless you wish it.”
“There is a dear good brother.” She stooped over him and kissed him tenderly.
It was a rare thing for Laura to show any emotion, and her brother marvelled sleepily over it until he relapsed into his interrupted doze.
CHAPTER VI. A STRANGE VISITOR.
The McIntyre family was seated at breakfast on the morning which followed the first visit of Raffles Haw, when they were surprised to hear the buzz and hum of a multitude of voices in the village street. Nearer and nearer came the tumult, and then, of a sudden, two maddened horses reared themselves up on the other side of the garden hedge, prancing and pawing,
with ears laid back and eyes ever glancing at some horror behind them. Two men hung shouting to their bridles, while a third came rushing up the curved gravel path. Before the McIntyres could realise the situation, their maid, Mary, darted into the sitting-room with terror in her round freckled face:
“If you please, miss,” she screamed, “your tiger has arrove.”
“Good heavens!” cried Robert, rushing to the door with his half-filled teacup in his hand. “This is too much. Here is an iron cage on a trolly with a great ramping tiger, and the whole village with their mouths open.”
“Mad as a hatter!” shrieked old Mr. McIntyre. “I could see it in his eye. He spent enough on this beast to start me in business. Whoever heard of such a thing? Tell the driver to take it to the police-station.”
“Nothing of the sort, papa,” said Laura, rising with dignity and wrapping a shawl about her shoulders. Her eyes were shining, her cheeks flushed, and she carried herself like a triumphant queen.
Robert, with his teacup in his hand, allowed his attention to be diverted from their strange visitor while he gazed at his beautiful sister.
“Mr. Raffles Haw has done this out of kindness to me,” she said, sweeping towards the door. “I look upon it as a great attention on his part. I shall certainly go out and look at it.”
“If you please, sir,” said the carman, reappearing at the door, “it’s all as we can do to ‘old in the ‘osses.”
“Let us all go out together then,” suggested Robert.
They went as far as the garden fence and stared over, while the whole village, from the school-children to the old grey-haired men from the almshouses, gathered round in mute astonishment. The tiger, a long, lithe, venomous-looking creature, with two blazing green eyes, paced stealthily round the little cage, lashing its sides with its tail, and rubbing its muzzle against the bars.
Delphi Complete Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Illustrated) Page 539
