Do you know, it was as much as I could do to prevail on him to meet Sir Appleton at all! This menace was preying on his nerves; this pitiless hail of appealing letters from his "heart-broken Molly". One day he came in looking as if he had seen a ghost. This girl had dared to call for him at his club! I am thankful to say that he kept his head and refused resolutely to see her, but we never imagined that she was in London... And we both knew that we should now never be safe even in our own house. She had not dared to face me; perhaps she made a good guess what kind of reception I should feel it my duty to give her; she was clever enough to know that a woman would see through her in a moment... But she would make for Will the moment she thought my back was turned...
It was then that I gave those orders to the servants. There had been one or two cases in the papers, you may remember, of people who called on chance and walked off with whatever they could lay their hands on. I made this the text for my little homily. And it was not a moment too soon! The girl called that same afternoon and asked to see my boy...
She called daily, refusing to take "no" for an answer. Mr. William Spenworth not at home? When would he be home? ... But for this dinner to Sir Appleton, I should have insisted on sending Will right away, but I had to hold my hand until the Chinese appointment had been arranged. The servants were instructed to say that they did not know... And, after that, I knew it was only a question of time before she encamped on the pavement at sunrise and stayed there... Can you imagine a more intolerable situation? Always having to peep round the curtain to see whether it was safe to venture into the street?
One day she forced her way into the house. It was the afternoon before Sir Appleton came to dine; and Will, who had been sleeping—on my suggestion—at his club, arrived in time to dress. Hardly had the door shut behind him when this girl (you would have thought she had more pride!) rang the bell and put her unvarying question. Mr. William Spenworth was not at home. Oh, but he was! She had just seen him come in! (An altercation with a servant on some one else's door-step!) Norden behaved with perfect discretion, asking her to take a seat while he made enquiries. After a moment he returned to say—once more—that Mr. William was not at home. The girl, from his account, was in two minds whether to search the house, but at last she consented to go.
I am not a nervous woman, as you are aware, but I was thoroughly upset. A worse prelude to a momentous meeting could hardly be imagined. Will was quite unstrung by the persecution; and, though I never encourage him to drink between meals, I said nothing when he helped himself to brandy. He needed it...
"Son of mine, we must rally," I said. "She must see, after this—"
"I shall go off my head if this goes on any longer," he said.
Utterly unnerved...
I had thought it better to send Arthur off to his club for dinner. To my mind, it is inconceivable that a father should be jealous of his own son, but I can think of no other way to explain my husband's persistent attitude of disparagement whenever a united front is most necessary. "A policy of pin-pricks" was the phrase that my boy once coined for it. We are, I hope, a devoted family, but Arthur seems never to lose an opportunity of indulging in a sneer... Yet I wish we had had him with us that night. In a crisis I am only too well aware that I am always left to find a way out, but that night I felt hardly adequate even to ordinary conversation; and, when this Sir Appleton began to shew the cloven hoof, I knew that only a man could deal with him.
We were taken utterly off our guard. He came into the room, shook hands with me, bowed to Will, waited until Norden was out of the room and then said: