"No; I am attending to all you say, and waiting to hear how my daughter's name comes to be mixed up with the family history you are giving me."
"You will understand everything presently. My object is to make the matter perfectly clear, and to have no concealment. For this reason I wish you to be aware of the character of the young gentleman, and I am describing it carefully at the express wish of his father. At the same time I lay no positive charge against him; I am not saying he is a bad man, but an undesirable man. There are thousands of young fellows who are living just such a careless, irresponsible, reckless life, who get into debt, who gamble, and who ultimately find themselves passing through the bankruptcy court. Young men without balance, Mr.
Cohen, and who, in consequence, topple over. They sow trouble
wherever they go, and they are always smiling, self-possessed, and pleasant-mannered. Women especially are caught by these externals, but speaking myself as the father of grown-up daughters, I should be sorry to see one of that class visiting my house as a suitor to one of my girls." Aaron started, but did not speak. "Lord Storndale suspected that there was another reason, which his son had not mentioned, for his refusal of the colonial appointment, and in a short time his suspicions were confirmed. It came to his knowledge that his son was paying attentions to a young lady whom he was in the habit of meeting at garden parties and tennis, and he taxed the young gentleman with it. His son did not deny it; he said that he loved the lady, that her father was very wealthy, and that she was in every way presentable. 'I do not know,' said the young man, 'whether the circumstance of her father being a commoner will prejudice you against him.' Lord Storndale replied that he would have preferred his son had chosen from his own rank, but that marriages between rich commoners and members of the aristocracy were not unusual in these days, and that he would sanction the match if the lady's father was a gentleman. To be honest with you, Mr. Cohen, Lord Storndale has no liking for commoners who have made fortunes in trade or by speculating, but he did not allow these scruples to weigh with him, his hope being that the proposed union would be the means of extricating his son from his difficulties. The young man said that the lady's father was a gentleman widely known for his benevolence and uprightness of character, and that he was held in universal esteem. Up to this point the interview had been of an amiable nature, but then arose an insurmountable difficulty. 'Who is the gentleman?' inquired Lord Storndale. 'Mr. Aaron Cohen,' replied the young man." Observing Aaron's agitation, the lawyer suspended his narration and said: "Pardon me; you were about to speak."
Aaron by a great effort controlled himself.
"I will wait till you have quite finished, Mr. Dillworthy. Before I commit myself it will be as well that I should be in possession of all the facts."
"Quite so. I have been explicit and circumstantial in order that there shall be no mistake. When I have finished you will have few, if any, questions to ask, because you will know everything it is in my power to tell. Upon hearing your name his lordship remarked that it was a Jewish name. 'Yes,' said the young man, 'he is a Jew.' Lord Storndale was angry and distressed. I admit that it is an unreasonable prejudice, but he has an invincible dislike to Jews, and it shocked him to think that his son contemplated a marriage with a Jewess. I need dwell no longer upon the interview, which now took a stormy turn, and it ended by the son abruptly leaving the room. On no account whatever, Mr. Cohen, will Lord Storndale or any member of the family consent to such an alliance; if it is accomplished the young man will be thrown upon his own resources, and his wife will not be recognized by his kinsfolk. The trouble has already reached a climax. The young gentleman is hot-headed--a Storndale failing--and he declined to listen to remonstrances; the consequence is that he has been forbidden his father's home till he comes to reason. But despite his extravagances and the constant and perplexing involvements issuing therefrom, his father has an affection for him, and is bent upon saving his family from----"
The lawyer pausing here, with an awkward cough, as though he was choking down a word, Aaron quietly added it.
"Disgrace?"
"Well, yes," said Mr. Dillworthy briskly, "we will not mince matters. It is not my word, but Lord Storndale's. He would account such an alliance a disgrace. I will say nothing in his excuse. In all civilized countries we have living evidences of happy unions between members of the aristocracy and wealthy daughters of Israel, and also living evidences of happy mixed marriages between persons neither aristocratic nor wealthy; and these might be brought forward as powerful arguments against the view my client entertains. But they would have no weight with him. We must take into consideration the pride of race."
"Yes," said Aaron, still speaking in a quiet tone, "we must take that into consideration. You have not quite finished, sir."
"Not quite. As a last resource Lord Storndale consulted me, and intrusted me with a painful task. He requested me to call upon you and represent the matter in the plainest terms, which I have endeavored to do, omitting or concealing no single incident of the unhappy affair. I am deputed to ask you to take a course with your daughter similar to that he has taken with his son--that is, to absolutely forbid the union. The young gentleman is in a state of extreme pecuniary embarrassment, and it is possible--I do not state it as a fact, but merely as a presumption--that he reckons upon your aid to settle with his creditors. When he finds that this aid will not be forthcoming, and that he cannot depend upon your making a suitable settlement upon your daughter, he is not unlikely, for prudential reasons, to beat a retreat. A good end will thus be served, and much future misery averted. You will gather from what I have said that I do not believe the Honorable Percy Storndale possesses qualities which would make your daughter happy."