And with that Arthur left the room, and wended his way back to Lincoln’s Inn Fields. He had never liked Mr. Raidsford, and he could not be very cordial to him, even at the moment when he was stretching out his hand to save the contractor from ruin.
He had not done him this service out of good-will, but because right was right, and justice, justice. He had hasted to serve this man, whom he always regarded with jealousy and distrust; but it was not in Arthur’s nature to feel other than bitterly the fact, that while he was able to serve Mr. Raidsford he was unable to extricate himself; that though Moorlands might be preserved, still Berrie Down was heavily mortgaged.
The very step he had taken, moreover, would, he knew, make his own position more difficult. With Mr. Black for an enemy, what troubles might he not expect to have to face in the future—what about his bills, what about Berrie Down, what about his means of actual subsistence? If a man could, secretly and anonymously, damage another’s credit, plot and scheme to beggar a person against whom he had a grudge, watch the growth of his plans through months, and never flinch nor falter in the execution of his purpose, what might Arthur not expect at his hands, after having baulked him in his design?
All that night Squire Dudley lay awake, thinking in what words he should tell Mr. Black he had found him out, exposed his scheme, and defeated his carefully-prepared plot.
He knew exactly how the accident, which put him in possession of Mr. Black’s secret, had occurred; and he was well aware, in due time, the letter intended for him would be returned by Messrs. Shields and Montgomery to Dowgate Hill; but he resolved not to wait for that dénouement—instead of doing so, he started next morning, directly after breakfast, for the City, where Mr. Black received him with his usual easy flow of language.
“Well, and how is the ‘Protector?’” was his greeting; “anything new? I think things were a shade better on the market yesterday, and I have some applications this morning from parsons about shares in the ‘Universal.’ Discount is down a half, too. By-the-bye, you got my letter, I suppose? There is no help for it, Dudley, we must renew those confounded bills again. You noticed what I said about knowing a fellow willing to do them?”
“I did not,” answered Arthur, “for the simple reason that I suppose the letter you meant to send to me is now at Wolverhampton.”
“What the devil do you mean?”
There was no sham about Mr. Black’s tone or manner as he put this question. For the first time, perhaps, during all the years he had known him, Arthur beheld the actual man, and the actual man was not pleasant to behold.
“Messrs. Shields and Montgomery’s letter came in my envelope,” the secretary explained.