CHAPTER XX.—PAVED WITH GOLD.
It was not probable that Mr Hadleigh would object to his son being endowed with a fortune by a wealthy uncle, whatever might be his feelings towards the donor. He would no doubt have been ready with congratulations if the endowment had come from any other quarter. As the case stood, Philip anticipated some difficulty in reconciling him to the arrangement, unless he should succeed in making the two men forget and forgive that old feud. However, there would be time enough to consider these details after the consultation with the solicitors.
He found Mr Hawkins and Mr Jackson together in the senior partner’s room—a rare circumstance for any client to find them so, for acting separately, they might cancel or amend opinions after private conference without loss of prestige. On the present occasion Philip’s affairs had been the subject of discussion.
‘Let me offer you my best congratulations, sir,’ said Mr Hawkins, a thin, grave-looking old gentleman in speckless black broadcloth, and with gold-mounted glasses on his prominent nose.
‘Accept the same from me, Mr Hadleigh,’ interjected Jackson. He was a sharp gentleman of middle age, with small mutton-chop whiskers, and dressed in the latest City fashion—for there is a City fashion, designed apparently to combine the elegance of the west end with a suggestion of superhuman ‘cuteness.’
‘Thank you, both. I must be a lucky fellow when you say so.’
‘In the course of my experience,’ said Mr Hawkins solemnly, ‘I have never known a young man start in life under such favourable auspices. We wish you success, and we believe you will find it difficult to fail.’
‘It is wonderful what a fool can do,’ said Philip, laughing; ‘but I will try not to fail. At present, I am a little in the dark as to the terms of the proposed arrangement, and Mr Shield referred me to you for the particulars.’
‘The particulars are simple,’ the lawyer proceeded slowly, as he turned over a number of papers on which various notes were written. ‘In the first place, I have great—very great—pleasure in informing you that a sum of fifty thousand pounds has been paid into your credit at the Universal Bank; and a second sum of the same amount will be at your command whenever you may have occasion for it, provided Mr Shield is satisfied with the manner in which you have disposed of the first sum.’
‘This is scarcely the kind of arrangement I expected. I had a notion that it was to be a partnership,’ said Philip.
‘The arrangement is so simple and so complete, Mr Hadleigh, that you will have no difficulty in comprehending every detail presently.’ Mr Hawkins went on leisurely, as if he enjoyed prolonging the agreeable statement he had to make. Mr Jackson nodded his head at the close of every sentence, as if thereby indorsing it. ‘We have often read in story-books of rich uncles coming home to make all their friends comfortable. You have the exceptional experience of finding a rich uncle in reality—one who is resolved to pave your way with gold, as I may express it.’
‘But what does he want me to do with all this money?’ asked Philip, desirous of bringing the loquacious old gentleman to the point.
Mr Hawkins was not to be hurried. Like a connoisseur with a glass of rare wine, he was bent on making the most of it. Every symptom of eagerness on Philip’s part added zest to the palate; and he was graciously tolerant of his client’s impatience.
‘As regards the partnership, that will come afterwards. In the meantime, he desires you to consider this handsome fortune as absolutely at your own disposal. He imposes no conditions. You are free to give up all thought of profession or trade, and to live as you please on the income of this capital, or on the capital itself, if you are so inclined.’
‘That, of course, is nonsense. He must wish me to do something.’
‘Certainly; and although he imposes no conditions, he has expressed two wishes.’
‘And what are they?’
Mr Hawkins polished his eye-glasses and consulted his notes. Mr Jackson nodded his head pleasantly, as if he were saying: ‘Now it is coming, you lucky dog.’
‘The first is,’ Mr Hawkins went on, ‘that you should enter into commerce: the second is, that you should take time to consider well in what direction you will employ your capital and energy—time to travel, if you are inclined, before deciding. Then, when you have decided, he will find whatever capital you may require beyond that already at your command. But there is to be no deed of partnership. You are to be prepared to take the full responsibility of your own transactions.’
Philip was silent. It required time for the mind to grasp the full meaning of this proposal. That it was a magnificent one, he felt; indeed it was the magnificence of it which perplexed him. He was to be hoisted at once into a prominent position in the commercial world, although he was without experience of business, and was not conscious of possessing any special aptitude for it. His father knew him better than his uncle did, and had declared him unfitted for commercial pursuits.
He mentioned these objections to his uncle’s plan; but the lawyers only smiled at the idea of a man even thinking of such disqualifications as obstacles to his own immediate gain.
‘I have known many men who were slow enough to give away a fortune,’ said Mr Hawkins, emphasising his words by rubbing his bald head with the eye-glasses, as he gazed almost reproachfully at this singular young man; ‘but I never before met a person who was slow to accept one.’
‘I daresay; but this position is a little curious. You may set aside at once the project that I should take the money and do nothing for it. Mr Shield’s wish is sufficient to bind me to go into trade of some sort; but in doing so, I may make ducks and drakes of his gift in no time.’
‘My dear sir, money always makes money if it be guided with even moderate prudence; and I give you credit for possessing that quality to a sufficient degree.’
Philip bowed in acknowledgment of this good opinion.
‘Besides, Mr Shield does not mean that you should be set adrift without rudder or compass. He will be always ready to advise; and I need not say that you may always command our best attention. Also he would expect you to appoint some competent person as your manager, who would be capable of directing the course of your affairs.’
‘Ah—Wrentham would be the man, if we could only make it worth his while to join me.’
‘We have no doubt, from what we know of Mr Wrentham, that he would consider it much to his advantage to undertake any charge with which you may be disposed to intrust him.’
‘I must have time to think over it all,’ said Philip, whilst a thousand visions were dancing before his mind’s eye, like the dazzling spray of sparks struck from iron at white-heat by a blacksmith’s sledge-hammer.
‘Certainly, certainly. It is especially mentioned that you are to take whatever time you may require to settle how you shall proceed. Mr Shield is anxious to see you begin operations, but he has no desire to hurry you.’
‘I will write to him as soon as I see my way. I suppose this is all you have to tell me?’
‘There is only one other trifling matter. I hope we have made you clearly understand that Mr Shield does not insist upon anything. He merely expresses a wish.’
‘And I have told you how I regard his wishes—as fixed conditions of my being thought worthy of all this generosity.’
‘He is emphatic in desiring that you shall not regard them as conditions, but as mere indications of what he would be most pleased to see you do.’
‘Well, what is the remaining wish or condition? It is all the same what we call it.’
‘It is, that in the event of your entering into business, he would like you to remember how much more freely and independently a man may act when unshackled by domestic ties. In short, he would like you to remain a bachelor for the first two or three years, until you have firmly established your position.’
‘Oh!’ exclaimed Philip in a soft crescendo scale; whilst Mr Jackson nodded and grinned, as if there were a good joke somewhere. ‘I cannot promise that.’
‘No promise is required; and Mr Shield would not consider it binding if you made it.’
‘I am not likely to make it,’ was the reply, with a hesitating laugh; ‘but this may seriously affect my decision.’
Mr Hawkins was unable to conceive any possible decision except one, and was again gravely effusive in his congratulations. Mr Jackson, shaking hands with Philip at the door, expressed his unqualified approval of the whole scheme in one short phrase: ‘You are a lucky dog.’
Philip was not sure whether he was a lucky dog or not. His uncle’s proposal was liberal and generous beyond all expectation; but there was something—he did not know what—about it that was perplexing. Probably, it was the fact that for the first time he was brought face to face with the necessity of deciding promptly in what course his whole future was to be directed. Hitherto there had been no hurry; and at the time when thoughts of Madge had brought him to serious consideration of how he could most rapidly win a position for her, the invitation from his uncle had arrived. The final decision was again postponed, as it was his duty to obey that call for his mother’s sake.
Now his future had been decided for him; and the prospect was in every way a tempting one. There would have been no hesitation on his part, but for the strange position which his father and Mr Shield occupied towards each other. The question Philip had first to settle with himself was, how he should act in order to bring about a reconciliation between them. He knew that if he could accomplish this, he would fulfil his mother’s dearest wish—an object nearer his heart than even the possession of a fortune.
As for business, although he had no special inclination for it, he did not dislike it. He had heard and read of millionaires—their struggles and victories, as desperate and as glorious as any recorded in the history of battlefields. Life and honour were as much at stake in doing the daily work of the world as in shooting down the foes of the nation or the foes of the nation’s policy. Our merchants, our inventors, our educators, our labourers, were the true soldiers, and their victories were the enduring ones. There was the great enemy of mankind, Poverty, with his attendant demons Ignorance and Laziness, still to conquer; and there were legions of starving people crying out to be led against him. Vast territories lay untilled, vast resources of earth, air, and water still unused, to be called forth to content and enrich the hungry and poor. What noble work there was for men to do who had sufficient capital at command!
He had never before speculated upon such a career. Now that it was presented to him, his imagination was stirred by thoughts of the great deeds that were yet to be done to bless humanity and ennoble life.
(To be continued.)