Benjamin Farjeon - Toilers of Babylon - A Novel

"Sir!"

"And to marry well. I have authority for saying that you can marry the daughter of a duchess. I don't wonder that you look startled. I have seen the young lady; she is nineteen years of age, and very beautiful. Of course she knows nothing of the scheme. It is for you to win her-of which I have no fears. You can make settlements upon her, Kingsley, which would satisfy the most exacting of duchesses. The family has influence, great influence, socially and politically. Married to her, with your talents, your future is assured, if you have only a fair amount of industry. I have set my heart upon it, Kingsley."

"There is the question of love, father," said Kingsley, in a low tone. It seemed to him that his father had cut the ground from under his feet.

"Quite so. There is the question of love. You will win your way to her heart, without a doubt."

There occurred here a pause. Kingsley did not know what to say. His father was waiting for him to speak.

"No man should think of marrying," said Kingsley, presently, "unless there is love on both sides."

"There is no occasion to discuss that point," said Mr. Manners. "As you will win your way to the young lady's heart, so will she win her way to yours. Wait till you see her, and meanwhile give me your promise that you will do your best to further my wishes. I do not expect a blind compliance; you shall go to her with your eyes open, and if you do not say she is very beautiful you must be a poor judge of beauty."

"But," murmured Kingsley, "to have an affair like this cut and dried beforehand for the man who is most deeply concerned-well, father, there is something sordid and mercenary in it."

"There might be," said Mr. Manners, calmly, "if the young lady knew anything of it; but she knows nothing."

"Yet you said you spoke with authority."

"Quite so. The young lady's mother has been indirectly sounded, and I spoke the truth. Listen, Kingsley," and Mr. Manners's more serious tone increased Kingsley's discomfort. "I said I have set my heart upon the projects I have unfolded concerning your future. I have set something more than my heart upon them-I have set all my hopes upon them. You are my only child, and will be my heir if everything is right between us. You will come into an enormous fortune, greater than you have any idea of, and by its means and a suitable marriage you will rise to power. There are few men who would not jump at the proposition I have made, which, plainly explained, means your coming into everything that can make life desirable. If I were asking you to marry a lady who was ugly or had some deformity I could understand your hesitation. Do you still refuse to give me the promise I ask?"

"I cannot give it to you, father."

"Why?" demanded Mr. Manners, in a stern voice; but he did not give Kingsley time to reply. "Listen further to me before you speak." He took a pocket-book from his pocket, and drew from it a paper which he consulted. "I can make excuses for slight faults of conduct, but will not pardon an opposition which threatens to destroy the most earnest wish of my life. You are acquainted with a person of the name of Loveday."

"I have the honor of his acquaintance," said Kingsley, nerving himself for the contest which he saw impending, and considerably surprised at his father's acquaintance with the name.

"He is a person of no character," said Mr. Manners.

"He is a gentleman," interrupted Kingsley.

"That is news to me," said Mr. Manners, "and is not in accordance with the information I have received."

"Have you been playing the spy upon me?" asked Kingsley, with some warmth.

"I should require to be in two places at once to have done that. This time last week I was in Russia."

"Then you have been paying some one to watch me. By what right, father?"

"You jump too hastily at conclusions. You make a statement which is not true, and you proceed to question me upon it."

"I beg your pardon; but you must have obtained your information from some source."

"Quite so."

"Will you tell me from whom?

"I may or I may not before we part to-night. You refused to give me a promise; I refuse to give you one. I might well take offence at the imputation that I have paid a spy to watch you."

"I withdrew the imputation, father."

"The suspicion was in itself an offence. I have allowed you to go your way, Kingsley, in the belief and hope that your way and mine were one, and that you would do nothing to disgrace me."

"I have done nothing to disgrace you."

"We may take different views. As a young man you have had what is called your 'fling.' I made you a most liberal allowance-"

"For which I have always been deeply grateful, father," said Kingsley, hoping to turn the current of his father's wrath. It smote him with keen apprehension, for Nansie's sake and his own, that the anger his father displayed when he first mentioned the name of Loveday should be no longer apparent, and that Mr. Manners spoke in his usual calm and masterful voice.

"I made you a most liberal allowance," repeated Mr. Manners, "which you freely spent. I did not demur to that; it pleased me that you should be liberal and extravagant, and prove yourself the equal in fortune, as you are in education and manners, of those with whom you mixed. You committed some follies, which I overlooked-and paid for."

"It is the truth, father. I got into debt and you cleared me."

"Did I reproach you?"

"No, sir."

"If I am not mistaken-and in figures I seldom am-I paid your debts for you on three occasions."

"It is true, sir."

"And always cheerfully."

"Always, sir."

"I am not wishful to take undue credit to myself by reminding you of this; it is only that I would have you bear in mind that I have endeavored to make your life easy and pleasurable, and to do my duty by you. Nor will I make any comparison between your career as a young man and mine at the same age. I am satisfied, and I suppose you are the same."

"I think, father," said Kingsley, "that I should have been content to work as you did."

"Not as I did, because we started from different standpoints. Pounds, shillings, and pence were of great importance to me, and I used to count them very jealously. I value money now perhaps as little as you do, but I know its value better than you, and what it can buy in a large way-in the way I have already explained to you. For that reason, and for no other, it is precious to me. There are men who have risen to wealth by discreditable means; that is not my case; what I possess has been fairly worked for and fairly earned. All through my life I have acted honorably and straightforwardly."

"All through my life, father," said Kingsley, with spirit, "I shall do the same."

"Well and good. I have a special reason, Kingsley, in speaking of myself in the way I have done."

"Will you favor me with your reason, father?"

"Yes. It is to put a strong emphasis upon what you will lose if you cut yourself away from me."

"Is there any fear of that, father?" asked Kingsley, with a sinking heart.

"It will be for you, not for me, to answer that question; and it will be answered, I presume, more in acts than in words. I return to the Mr. Loveday, who is described to me as a person of no character, and whom you describe as a gentleman."

"He is one, father, believe me," said Kingsley, earnestly.

"Do gentlemen travel about the country in caravans, sleeping in them by the roadsides?"

Kingsley could not help smiling. "Not generally, father, but some men are whimsical."

"Let us keep to the point, Kingsley. According to your account we are speaking of a gentleman."

"We are," said Kingsley, somewhat nettled at this pinning down.

"Then you mean that some gentlemen are whimsical?"