Pip : A Romance of Youth

by Ian Hay

IV

On clearing the lodge-gates Pip turned the car to the left, and they spun down the London road. For an hour they travelled, sometimes slowing through a village or changing gear up a hill, but usually running at top speed, rolling up the miles like shavings under a jack-plane. Pip sat gripping his wheel, intent on his work. Lottie, rigid and upright beside him, looked straight before her, with her hands clasped tightly together under the rug. Occasionally she cast a sidelong glance at her silent companion.

At last, when they had covered nearly thirty miles, Lottie spoke.

"Jack, I want to talk to you. Stop this machine in some quiet place. That beastly engine makes too much noise for me."

Pip, who was getting used to these wayside halts, ran the car up the next opening and stopped.

Then the two turned and regarded each other. A glance apprised Pip of the fact that he was to be big brother again.

"Well?" he said.

"Jack, I've done it this time."

"Done what?"

"Upset the apple-cart. Poor old Dad! But I'd do it again!"

"How did you do it the first time?" said Pip patiently.

"Well, I'll tell you. After lunch, Dad and I and his lordship went into the library. We all sat down, the old gentleman very stiff and upright. He had hardly given me a glance so far, but now he turned and looked at me. I felt pretty small, Jack. I can hold my own in a staring match with most people, but that proud old man fairly beat me. He simply looked right through me at the cushion my head was leaning against. By the way, you can do that a bit, too, Jack. It's a trick some men have. That's what first made me think that you—where was I?"

"In the library."

"Oh, yes. Well, at last the old man turned to Dad, and looked at him. Dad didn't half like it, I could see. The old man said—

"'I understand that my son proposes to ally himself with—er,—this young lady?'

"'Yes,' said Dad, 'he does.'

"'And you have given your consent to the match?'

"'Yes', says Dad, as solemn as a judge; 'after due consideration, I have.'

"'Then I may as well tell you at once,' says his lordship, quite briskly, 'that I am utterly and entirely opposed to the match, and will never give my consent to it.'

"There was a little silence, and we all three settled down in our chairs as much as to say, 'Now we are really getting to business.' Presently Dad said,—

"'I am afraid, my lord, that solemn agreements of this kind are not so easily broken. Consider my daughter's feelings.'

"'I am perfectly willing to consider her feelings, sir,' says the old gentleman, with a little odd bow. Then he turned to me and said,—

"'May I ask a direct question? Are you genuinely attached to my son?'

"I wished he wouldn't keep on at me like that. However, I had to keep my end up, so I said, in a sort of soft voice, 'Yes.'

"'Ah,' said he, as if he was thinking. Then Dad, evidently considering we were wasting time, put in,—

"'If this match is broken off, my daughter's susceptibilities must be solaced in a very substantial manner.'

"Then the old gentleman turned and looked Dad through and through, and said, 'Ah!' again, as much as to say, 'I thought so.'

"'Well,' he said at last, 'how much do you want?'

"'I?' says Dad, still playing the game—'nothing. I am not the injured party. It is for my poor girl to say.'

"The Earl looked at me. I took a big breath, and said, 'A hundred thousand pounds.'

"'You value your heart at rather a high figure, madam,' says he. (Do you remember, those were the very words you used to me, Jack?) Then he swings round to Dad, and says,—

"'Of course this is preposterous. I am willing to pay you five thousand pounds, to extricate my son from the trap, the carefully baited trap'—he looked all round the room, and I knew he knew everything in it had been got on the nod—'into which he has fallen. That is more than you would get out of the most impressionable jury, and I advise you to take it, Mr.—er—Lottingar.'

"'Quite true, my lord,' says Dad. 'But you know you'd give more than a hundred thousand to keep the family name out of the courts. You don't want the papers to get hold of it. "A Cabinet Minister's son sued for Breach-of-Promise"—you know the sort of stuff—and Lottie's portrait in "The Sketch."'

"'I am afraid we are wasting time, Mr. Lottingar,' says his lordship. 'If your daughter will sign a document, which I will draw up for her, renouncing all claims to my son, and undertaking not to molest him for the future, I will give her a cheque for five thousand pounds. If not, I must bid you good-afternoon.'

"'A hundred thousand!' says Dad.

"'I think you are acting foolishly,' says the old man, getting up. 'If you refuse my offer I shall go up to town now, and call on my solicitor to-morrow morning; and I think it highly probable, from what I see of your surroundings here, and from what I know of your antecedents already, that I shall be able to make it exceedingly risky for you to face the publicity of the law courts in any capacity whatsoever. In fact, I should not be surprised if you had to leave the country.'

"My word, Jack, he was fine! He dropped each word out of his mouth like a little lump of ice. But old Dad stood up to him. He simply chuckled.

"'No, no, my lord, it won't do,' he said. 'I have laid my plans farther ahead than you think. Now, look here. If you don't sign that little cheque I'm asking for, Lottie here will walk straight out of this house, take her motor, pick up your son, who is waiting for her at the roadside this minute, and drive straight to Lindley, where they will be married by special licence this very afternoon. Your son has got that licence in his pocket now. And when the two are firmly tied up, you'll realise two things, my lord,—first, that it's hardly the thing to rake up the past life of your daughter-in-law's father; and secondly, that a wife is a deal more expensive to buy off than a fiancée.'

"After that there was a very long pause. Dad was top dog again, and the old Earl was thinking it out. Suddenly he turned to me. He said,—

"'You say my son has a special licence in his pocket?'

"'Yes,' I said.

"'And you have asked him to wait by the roadside for you this afternoon, in case of—contingencies?'

"'Yes.'

"'You must possess great influence over him.'

"'She does,' says Dad, before any one else could speak.

"The old man took not the slightest notice, but went on talking to me.

"'If you married my son you would demand a large sum—'

"'Two hundred thousand quid,' says Dad.

"'You would demand a large sum,' goes on the Earl, acting as if he and I were alone together, 'as a condition of your living apart from him and refraining from molesting him. Would you?'

"The words began to stick in my throat a bit, but I said, 'Yes.'

"'I think,' he went on, 'that you told me just now that you were deeply attached to my son?'

"This time I just nodded.

"'Then you mean to say,' he says, looking at me in a way that simply made me feel faint, 'that you would marry a young man whom you profess to love, and, having blackmailed him to the fullest possible extent, would readily consent to live apart from him, leaving him prevented by the law of the land from ever taking a wife of his own station and fulfilling his duty to society and posterity, so long as you remained alive? For the sake of a sum of money you would deliberately wreck the life of a foolish but good-hearted young man, who has paid you the highest honour that a man can pay a woman; and with his life you would wreck the fortunes of an ancient and honourable house? Would you do that?"

"His face was like iron, Jack, but there were tears in his eyes. I sat gripping the arms of my chair. Suddenly Dad struck in,—

"'Come, come, my lord! you are simply wasting words. Which is it to be? Will you settle this matter, or must Lottie take the final step?'

"The old man said nothing, but looked at me. And then suddenly I found my voice. I boiled over, for I had realised at last what an awful thing I was going to do—awful for him, and awful for me. Somehow I didn't feel as if I could back Dad any longer. It flashed across me what I had been trying to do—sell myself! I'm not a great saint, Jack, but, thank God! I realised in time that there are things in this world that money can't buy. I just stood up and said,—

"'Dad, it's no good. I simply won't do this. I can't think why I ever consented. I'm sorry. I've always backed you up to now; but I'm a decent girl after all, and I won't do this—I won't, I won't.'

"Then I sat down and cried a bit. Dad looked perfectly flummoxed. In a minute I had dried my eyes, and I said to the old lord,—

"'Lord Cartavon, I wouldn't marry your son if you begged me on your knees. I won't marry a man I don't love, so I won't marry him. Keep your cheque-book in your pocket. I renounce all claims to him—there!'"

Lottie's voice broke at last.

"Oh, well done!" said Pip softly.

"That's just what the old lord said," exclaimed the girl, turning a surprised look upon him. "You both seem to have the same feelings."

"Well, what happened next?" inquired Pip.

"Things were a bit mixed after that," said Lottie, not without relish. "There was a great roar like thunder, and Dad dashed across the room at me. He was in an awful passion. He nearly killed me once, when he—never mind that. But the old Earl just stepped in front of him and said, 'Gently, sir, gently! there is a lady present.' Then he went quickly to the door and opened it, and gave me a little nod to go. All the time he was holding Dad's arm with his other hand. I walked out, and the old man bowed to me as I passed, and said, very gently, 'God bless you, young lady!' He said that—to me!" she reiterated proudly, turning a pair of shining eyes on Pip. "Then he closed it behind me just as Dad broke into another roar. I rushed out of the house, hopped on to the car, and here we are!"