Yet to disturb the pleasant present by a word seemed far too hazardous--too like hurling a stone into the stream and breaking up the radiance. Better, perhaps, be content to bear in silence the cool reflection in his bosom, than, in leaping to catch the reality, lose even the shadow. When the pulses sober down to the steady task of living--when the turbulence, the cascades, and rainbows of the upper reaches of life are past, and the even stream has entered on the level country of middle age, love grows less confident and bold even in those better natures which alone retain the capacity of loving. Familiarity with disappointment makes man less willing to tempt his fate, and he clings more eagerly to such good as the gods vouchsafe, knowing its rarity and his own weakness to hold fast. "Better enjoy the friendship," thought Considine, "than tamper with and disturb it by futile endeavours to warm it into love;" and he drew a long breath; and somehow the air seemed to have grown dim, though in truth it was only a film of cloud stealing athwart the moon.
He rose and stretched himself, and yawned, and concluded that now it was time to turn in, when a tap at the door of his chamber surprised him.
"Who is there? Ha! Jordan? Glad to see you. And Herkimer! Let me light the lamp. How fortunate I had not gone to bed. Oh, no apology! Should have been sorry to miss you both. Smoking I see. So am I. Brandy and water? Bless my soul, the ice has nearly all melted. Enough? Glad of that--or here is soda if you prefer. Splendid night, is it not?" and so on. His visitors' flow of talk seemed blocked in a strange way for persons who had taken the trouble to visit him so late. He jerked out his disjointed sentences in answer to nods and monosyllables, doing his best to fulfil the rites of hospitality under difficulties.
Smoke, brightened by brandy and soda, however, had its perfect work at last. It dispensed, for one thing, with talk for talking sake, till its own soothing and clarifying influence had time to act; for is not the cloud blown by a fellow-smoker companionable and sufficient without a word? Then Jordan, clearing his voice with a preliminary cough, began:
"You are surprised, Considine, to see us at this hour; but Herkimer thought it our only chance of finding you alone. You popular bachelors are so run after. Fact is, Herkimer says that it would be of advantage to them to have young Gerald's fortune paid up at once, instead of waiting for the short remainder of the twenty years to run out. After talking it over, I am free to confess that much may be said in favour of his view; and, indeed, he has quite brought me round, so I agreed to come with him and assure you of my willingness to join you in acceding. Young Gerald, you will remember, is of age now, and can legally confirm his father's demand. They are partners in business, and nearest of kin to each other, and can give us a full and complete acquittance of our responsibilities, which, speaking for myself, I shall be thankful to be rid of; for candidly I am not as young as I have been, and I grow lazy, I suppose, as well as fat, and I find my own concerns require all the attention I have to bestow. It has been a long and an onerous trust, and I dare say that, like myself, you will not be sorry to be rid of it."
"I need scarcely say," observed Ralph, "that Gerald sees the importance to our affairs of winding up the trust at once, as strongly as I do. He has no desire, though, that the trustees should be deprived of their commission for management before the expiration of the twenty years. On the contrary, he appreciates their services so highly that it is his wish to make the allowance permanent, by granting them a capital sum sufficient to represent at eight per cent their emolument from the property."
When Jordan began to speak Considine had set down his pipe and lay back in his chair, his left foot across his right knee, stroking it with his hand, while he fixed his eyes upon the speaker. When Ralph began, an incipient frown hovered about his eyebrows, the blood rose hotly to his forehead as the speaker proceeded, and he sat bolt upright, with fingers clenched and lips compressed, ere the conclusion was reached; when he answered in a voice of suppressed indignation:
"I am humiliated, Mr. Herkimer, that you should have felt at liberty to speak as you have done. Your words might be taken to imply an insinuation against Jordan's probity and my own, for which I am certain that neither I nor he have given occasion. Take back what you have said, or I, for one, must decline to say a word upon the subject of your demand."
"My dear general!" cried Ralph in amazement, not untouched with scorn for the "canting old prig" who could pretend that the mode of earning a dollar made any difference in its value. "You have completely misunderstood me, I do assure you. No idea could have been farther from my mind, or indeed from the mind of any one who knows as I do your delicate sense of honour. I really must protest against your entertaining so erroneous an impression; and it seems hard that I should be prevented from expressing my boy's sense, and my own, of your assiduous attention to our interests."
"That will be time enough after you know what we have done," answered Considine dryly. "At present you know nothing, nor can, till the accounts of the estate have been made up, and submitted to your examination. However, as you agree to take back the promise of a consideration for violating the trust reposed in us, no more need be said."