The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope

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'I am not prepared to give a positive answer,' said the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, who of course did not choose to
commit himself.

Alaric assured the great man that he was not so unreasonable as
to expect a positive answer. Positive answers, as he well knew,
were not often forthcoming among official men; official men, as
he had already learnt, prefer to do their business by answers
which are not positive. He himself had become adverse to positive
answers since he had become a commissioner, and was quite
prepared to dispense with them in the parliamentary career which
he hoped that he was now about to commence. This much, however,
was quite clear, that he might offer himself as a candidate to
the electors of Strathbogy without resigning; and that Sir
Gregory's hostile remonstrance on the subject, should he choose
to make one, would not be received as absolute law by the greater
powers.

Accordingly as Alaric was elated, Sir Gregory was depressed. He
had risen high, but now this young tyro whom he had fostered was
about to climb above his head. O the ingratitude of men!

Alaric, however, showed no triumph. He was more submissive, more
gracious than ever to his chief. It was only to himself that he
muttered 'Excelsior!

CHAPTER XXXIV

WESTMINSTER HALL

The parliamentary committee pursued their animated inquiries
respecting the Limehouse bridge all through the sultry month of
July. How Mr. Vigil must have hated Mr. Nogo, and the M'Carthy
Desmond! how sick he must have been of that eternal witness who,
with imperturbable effrontery, answered the 2,250 questions put
to him without admitting anything! To Mr. Vigil it was all mere
nonsense, sheer waste of time. Had he been condemned to sit for
eight days in close contiguity to the clappers of a small mill,
he would have learnt as much as he did from the witnesses before
the committee. Nevertheless he went through it and did not lose
his temper. He smiled sweetly on Mr. Nogo every morning, and
greeted the titled Irishman with his easy familiar nod, as though
the continued sitting of this very committee was of all things to
him the most desirable. Such is Mr. Vigil's peculiar tact, such
his special talent; these are the gifts--gifts by no means
ordinary--which have made him Right Honourable, and recommended
him to the confidence of successive badgers.

But though the committee was uninteresting to Mr. Vigil, it was
not so to the speculative inhabitants of Limehouse, or to the
credulous shopkeepers of Rotherhithe. On the evening of the day
on which Mr. Blocks was examined, the shares went up 20 per cent;
and when his evidence was published _in extenso_ the next
Saturday morning by the _Capel Court Share-buyer_, a periodical
which served for Bible and Prayer-book, as well as a Compendium
of the Whole Duty of Man, to Undy Scott and his friends, a further rise
in the price of this now valuable property was the immediate
consequence.

Now, then, was the time for Alaric to sell and get out of his
difficulties if ever he could do so. Shares which he bought for
30s. were now worth nearly L2 10s. He was strongly of opinion
that they would fall again, and that the final result of the
committee would leave them of a less value than their original
purchase-money, and probably altogether valueless. He could not,
however, act in the matter without consulting Undy, so closely
linked were they in the speculation; and even at the present
price his own shares would not enable him to pay back the full
amount of what he had taken.

The joint property of the two was, however, at its present market
price, worth L12,000--L10,000 would make him a free man. He was
perfectly willing to let Undy have the full use of the difference
in amount; nay, he was ready enough to give it to him altogether,
if by so doing he could place the whole of his ward's money once
more in safety. With the power of offering such a douceur to his
friend's rapacity, he flattered himself that he might have a
chance of being successful. He was thus prepared to discuss the
matter with his partner.

It so happened that at the same moment Undy was desirous of
discussing the same subject, their joint interest, namely, in the
Limehouse bridge; there was no difficulty therefore in their
coming together. They met at the door of the committee-room when
Mr. Nogo had just put his 999th question to the adverse witness;
and as the summons to prayers prevented the 1,000th being
proceeded with at that moment, Undy and Alaric sauntered back
along the passages, and then walking up and down the immense
space of Westminster Hall, said each to the other what he had to
say on the matter mooted between them.

Undy was in great glee, and seemed to look on his fortune as
already made. They had at first confined their remarks to the
special evidence of the witness who had last been in the chair;
and Undy, with the volubility which was common to him when he was
in high spirits, had been denouncing him as an ass who was
injuring his own cause by his over obstinacy.

'Nothing that he can say,' said Undy, 'will tell upon the share-
market. The stock is rising from hour to hour; and Piles himself
told me that he knew from sure intelligence that the Chancellor
of the Exchequer is prepared to give way, whatever Vigil may say
to the contrary. Their firm, Piles says, is buying every share
they can lay their hands on.'

'Then in God's name let them buy ours,' said Alaric.

'Buy ours!' said Undy. 'You don't mean to tell me that you wish
to sell now? You don't mean to say that you want to back out, now
that the game is all going our own way?'

'Indeed I do, and I intend to do so; just listen to me, Undy----'

'I tell you fairly, Tudor, I will not sell a share; what you may
choose to do with your own I cannot say. But if you will be
guided by me you will keep every share you have got. Instead of
selling we should both add to our stock. I at any rate am
resolved to do so.'

'Listen to me, Undy,' said Alaric.

'The truth is,' said Undy--who at the present moment preferred
talking to listening--'the truth is, you do not understand buying
and selling shares. We should both be ruined very quickly were I
to allow myself to be led by you; you are too timid, too much
afraid of risking your money; your speculative pluck hardly rises
higher than the Three per cents, and never soars above a first-
class mortgage on land.'

'I could be as sanguine as you are, and as bold,' said Alaric,
'were I venturing with my own money.'

'In the name of goodness get that bugbear out of your head,' said
Undy. 'Whatever good it might have done you to think of that some
time ago, it can do you no good now.' There was a bitter truth in
this which made Alaric's heart sink low within his breast.
'Wherever the money came from, whose property it may have been or
be, it has been used; and now your only safety is in making the
best use of it. A little daring, a little audacity--it is that
which ruins men. When you sit down to play brag, you must brag it
out, or lose your money.'

'But, my dear fellow, there is no question here of losing money.
If we sell now we shall realize about L2,000.'

'And will that, or the half of that, satisfy you? Is that your
idea of a good thing? Will that be sufficient to pay for the
dozen of bad things which a fellow is always putting his foot
into? It won't satisfy me. I can tell you that, at any rate.'

Alaric felt very desirous of keeping Undy in a good humour. He
wished, if possible, to persuade him rather than to drive him; to
coax him into repaying this money, and not absolutely to demand
the repayment. 'Come,' said he, 'what do you call a good thing
yourself?'

'I call cent per cent a good thing, and I'll not sell a share
till they come up to that.'

'They'll never do that, Undy.'

'That's your opinion. I think differently. And I'm sure you will
own I have had more experience of the share-market than you have.
When I see such men as Blocks and Piles buying fast, I know very
well which way the wind blows. A man may be fishing a long time,
Tudor, in these waters, before he gets such a haul as this; but
he must be a great fool to let go his net when he does get it.'

They both then remained silent for a time, for each was doubtful
how best to put forward the view which he himself wished to urge.
Their projects were diametrically different, and yet neither
could carry his own without the assistance of the other.

'I tell you what I propose,' said Undy.

'Wait a moment, Undy,' said Alaric; 'listen to me for one moment.
I can hear nothing till you do so, and then I will hear
anything.'

'Well, what is it?'

We have each of us put something near to L5,000 into this
venture.'

'I have put more,' said Scott.

'Very well. But we have each of us withdrawn a sum equal to that
I have named from my ward's fortune for this purpose.'

'I deny that,' said Undy. 'I have taken nothing from your ward's
fortune. I have had no power to do so. You have done as you
pleased with that fortune. But I am ready to admit that I have
borrowed L5,000--not from your ward, but from you.'

Alaric was nearly beside himself; but he still felt that he
should have no chance of carrying his point if he lost his
temper.

'That is ungenerous of you, Scott, to say the least of it; but
we'll let that pass. To enable me to lend you the L5,000, and to
enable me to join you in this speculation, L10,000 has been
withdrawn from Clementina's fortune.'

'I know nothing about that,' said Scott.

'Know nothing about it!' said Alaric, looking at him with
withering scorn. But Undy was not made of withering material, and
did not care a straw for his friend's scorn.

'Nothing whatever,' said he.

'Well, so be it,' said Alaric; 'but the fact is, the money has
been withdrawn.'

'I don't doubt that in the least,' said Undy. 'I am not now going
to argue whether the fault has been most mine or yours,'
continued Alaric.

'Well, that is kind of you,' said Undy, 'considering that you are
the girl's trustee, and that I have no more to do with it than
that fellow in the wig there.'

'I wish at any rate you would let me explain myself,' said
Alaric, who felt that his patience was fast going, and who could
hardly resist the temptation of seizing his companion by the
throat, and punishing him on the spot for his iniquity.

'I don't prevent you, my dear fellow--only remember this: I will
not permit you to assert, without contradicting you, that I am
responsible for Clem's fortune. Now, go on, and explain away as
hard as you like.'

Alaric, under these circumstances, found it not very easy to put
what he had to say into any words that his companion would admit.
He fully intended at some future day to thrust Scott's innocence
down his throat, and tell him that he was not only a thief, but a
mean, lying, beggarly thief. But the present was not the time.
Too much depended on his inducing Undy to act with him.

'Ten thousand pounds has at any rate been taken.'

'That I won't deny.'

'And half that sum has been lent to you.'

'I acknowledge a debt of L5,000.'

'It is imperative that L10,000 should at once be repaid.'

'I have no objection in life.'

'I can sell my shares in the Limehouse bridge,' continued Alaric,
'for L6,000, and I am prepared to do so.'

'The more fool you,' said Undy,' if you do it; especially as
L6,000 won't pay L10,000, and as the same property, if overheld
another month or two, in all probability will do so.'

'I am ready to sacrifice that and more than that,' said Alaric.
'If you will sell out L4,000, and let me at once have that
amount, so as to make up the full sum I owe, I will make you a
free present of the remainder of the debt. Come, Undy, you cannot
but call that a good thing. You will have pocketed two thousand
pounds, according to the present market value of the shares, and
that without the slightest risk.'

Undy for a while seemed staggered by the offer. Whether it was
Alaric's extreme simplicity in making it, or his own good luck in
receiving it, or whether by any possible chance some all but
dormant remnant of feeling within his heart was touched, we will
not pretend to say. But for a while he walked on silent, as
though wavering in his resolution, and looking as if he wished to
be somewhat more civil, somewhat less of the bully, than he had
been.

There was no one else to whom Alaric could dare to open his heart
on this subject of his ward's fortune; there was none other but
this ally of his to whom he could confide, whom he could consult.
Unpromising, therefore, though Undy was as a confederate, Alaric,
when he thought he saw this change in his manner, poured forth at
once the full tide of his feelings.

'Undy,' said he, 'pray bear with me a while. The truth is, I
cannot endure this misery any longer. I do not now want to blame
anyone but myself. The thing has been done, and it is useless now
to talk of blame. The thing has been done, and all that now
remains for me is to undo it; to put this girl's money back
again, and get this horrid weight from off my breast.'

'Upon my word, my dear fellow, I did not think that you took it
in such a light as that,' said Undy.

'I am miserable about it,' said Alaric. 'It keeps me awake all
night, and destroys all my energy during the day.'

'Oh, that's all bile,' said Undy. 'You should give up fish for a
few days, and take a blue pill at night.'

'Scott, this money must be paid back at once, or I shall lose my
senses. Fortune has so far favoured me as to enable me to put my
hand at once on the larger portion of it. You must let me have
the remainder. In God's name say that you will do so.'

Undy Scott unfortunately had not the power to do as he was asked.
Whether he would have done so, had he had the power, may be
doubtful. He was somewhat gravelled for an answer to Alaric's
earnest supplication, and therefore made none till the request
was repeated.

'In God's name let me have this money,' repeated Alaric. 'You
will then have made two thousand pounds by the transaction.'

'My dear Tudor,' said he, 'your stomach is out of order, I can
see it as well as possible from the way you talk.'

Here was an answer for a man to get to the most earnest appeal
which he could make! Here was comfort for a wretch suffering from
fear, remorse, and shame, as Alaric was suffering. He had spoken
of his feelings and his heart, but these were regions quite out
of Undy Scott's cognizance. 'Take a blue pill,' said he, 'and
you'll be as right as a trivet in a couple of days.'

What was Alaric to say? What could he say to a man who at such a
crisis could talk to him of blue pills? For a while he said
nothing; but the form of his face changed, a darkness came over
his brow which Scott had never before seen there, the colour flew
from his face, his eyes sparkled, and a strange appearance of
resolute defiance showed itself round his mouth. Scott began to
perceive that his medical advice would not be taken in good part.

'Scott,' said he, stopping short in his walk and taking hold of
the collar of his companion's coat, not loosely by the button,
but with a firm grip which Undy felt that it would be difficult
to shake off--'Scott, you will find that I am not to be trifled
with. You have made a villain of me. I can see no way to escape
from my ruin without your aid; but by the living God, if I fall,
you shall fall with me. Tell me now; will you let me have the sum
I demand? If you do not, I will go to your brother's wife and
tell her what has become of her daughter's money.'

'You may go to the devil's wife if you like it,' said Undy, 'and
tell her whatever you please.'

'You refuse, then?' said Alaric, still keeping hold of Undy's
coat.

'Come, take your hand off,' said Undy. 'You will make me think
your head is wrong as well as your stomach, if you go on like
this. Take your hand off and listen to me. I will then explain to
you why I cannot do what you would have me. Take your hand away,
I say; do you not see that people are looking at us.'

They were now standing at the upper end of the hall--close under
the steps which lead to the Houses of Parliament; and, as Undy
said, the place was too public for a display of physical
resentment. Alaric took his hand away. 'Well,' said he, 'now tell
me what is to hinder you from letting me have the money you owe
me?'

'Only this,' said Undy, 'that every share I have in the concern
is made over by way of security to old M'Cleury, and he now holds
them. Till I have redeemed them, I have no power of selling.'

Alaric, when he heard these words, could hardly prevent himself
from falling in the middle of the hall. All his hopes were then
over; he had no chance of shaking this intolerable burden from
his shoulders; he had taken the woman's money, this money which
had been entrusted to his honour and safe-keeping, and thrown it
into a bottomless gulf.

'And now listen to me,' said Undy, looking at his watch. 'I must
be in the House in ten or fifteen minutes, for this bill about
married women is on, and I am interested in it: listen to me now
for five minutes. All this that you have been saying is sheer
nonsense.'

'I think you'll find that it is not all nonsense,' said Alaric.

'Oh, I am not in the least afraid of your doing anything rash.
You'll be cautious enough I know when you come to be cool;
especially if you take a little physic. What I want to say is
this--Clem's money is safe enough. I tell you these bridge shares
will go on rising till the beginning of next session. Instead of
selling, what we should do is to buy up six or seven thousand
pounds more.'

'What, with Clementina's money?'

'It's as well to be hung for a sheep as a lamb. Besides, your
doing so is your only safety. My brother Val insists upon having
250 shares.'

'Your brother Val!' said Alaric.

'Yes, Val; and why shouldn't he? I would give them to him if I
could, but I can't. M'Cleury, as I tell you, has every share of
mine in his possession.'

'Your brother Val wants 250 shares! And does he expect me to give
them to him?'

'Well--I rather think he does. That is, not to give them, of
course; you don't suppose he wants you to make him a present of
money. But he wants you to accommodate him with the price of
them. You can either do that, or let him have so many of your
own; it will be as broad as it is long; and he'll give you his
note of hand for the amount.'

Now it was well known among the acquaintance of the Scott family,
that the note of hand of the Honourable Captain Val was not worth
the paper on which it was written.

Alaric was so astonished at this monstrous request, coming as it
did after such a conversation, that he did not well know how to
take it.

Was Undy mad, or was he in joke? What man in his senses would
think of lending six or seven hundred pounds to Val Scott! 'I
suppose you are in jest,' said he, somewhat bitterly.

'I never was more in earnest in my life,' said Undy. 'I'll just
explain how the matter is; and as you are sharp enough, you'll
see at once that you had better oblige him. Val, you know, is
always hard up; he can't touch a shilling of that woman's money,
and just at present he has none of his own. So he came to me this
morning to raise the wind.'

'And you are kind enough to pass him on to me.'

'Listen a moment. I did not do anything of the kind. I never lend
money to Val. It's a principle with me not to do so, and he knows
it.'

'Then just tell him that my principles in this respect are
identical with your own.'

'That's all very well; and you may tell him so yourself, if you
like it; but hear first of all what his arguments are. Of course
I told him I could do nothing for him. 'But,' said he, 'you can
get Tudor to do it.' I told him, of course, that I could do
nothing of the kind. 'Oh!' said Val, 'I know the game you are
both playing. I know all about Clem's money.' Val, you know,
never says much. He was playing pool at the time, at the club;
but he came back after his stroke, and whispered to me--'You and
Tudor must let me have 250 of those shares, and then it'll be all
right.' Now Val, you know, is a most determined fellow.

Alaric, when he heard this, looked up into his companion's face
to see whether he was talking to the Evil One himself. Oh, what a
net of ruin was closing round him!--how inextricable were the
toils into which he had fallen!

'After all,' continued Undy,' what he asks is not much, and I
really think you should do it for him. He is quite willing to
give you his assistance at Strathbogy, and he is entitled to some
accommodation.'

'Some accommodation!' repeated Alaric, almost lost in the
consideration of his own misery.

'Yes; I really think he is. And, Tudor, you may be sure of this,
you know; you will be quite safe with him. Val is the very soul
of honour. Do this for him, and you'll hear no more about it. You
may be quite sure he'll ask for nothing further, and that he'll
never say a word to annoy you. He's devilish honourable is Val;
no man can be more so; though, perhaps, you wouldn't think it.'

'Devilish honourable!' said Alaric. 'Only he would like to have a
bribe.'

'A bribe!' said Scott. 'Come, my dear fellow, don't you make an
ass of yourself. Val is like the rest of us; when money is going,
he likes to have a share of it. If you come to that, every man
who is paid either for talking or for not talking is bribed.'

'I don't know that I ever heard of a much clearer case of a bribe
than this which you now demand for your brother.'

'Bribe or no bribe,' said Undy, looking at his watch, 'I strongly
advise you to do for him what he asks; it will be better for all
of us. And let me give you another piece of advice: never use
hard words among friends. Do you remember the Mary Janes which
Manylodes brought for you in his pocket to the hotel at
Tavistock?' Here Alaric turned as pale as a spectre. 'Don't talk
of bribes, my dear fellow. We are all of us giving and taking
bribes from our cradles to our graves; but men of the world
generally call them by some prettier names. Now, if you are not
desirous to throw your cards up altogether, get these shares for
Val, and let him or me have them to-morrow morning.' And so
saying Undy disappeared into the House, through the side door out
of the hall, which is appropriated to the use of honourable
members.

And then Alaric was left alone. He had never hitherto realized
the true facts of the position in which he had placed himself;
but now he did so. He was in the hands of these men, these
miscreants, these devils; he was completely at their mercy, and
he already felt that they were as devoid of mercy as they were of
justice. A cold sweat broke out all over him, and he continued
walking up and down the hall, ignorant as to where he was and
what he was doing, almost thoughtless, stunned, as it were, by
his misery and the conviction that he was a ruined man. He had
remained there an hour after Undy had left him, before he roused
himself sufficiently to leave the hall and think of returning
home. It was then seven o'clock, and he remembered that he had
asked his cousin to dine with him. He got into a cab, therefore,
and desired to be driven home.

What was he to do? On one point he instantly made up his mind. He
would not give one shilling to Captain Val; he would not advance
another shilling to Undy; and he would at once sell out his own
shares, and make such immediate restitution as might now be in
his power. The mention of Manylodes and the mining shares had
come home to him with frightful reality, and nearly stunned him.
What right, indeed, had he to talk of bribes with scorn--he who
so early in his own life had allowed himself to be bought? How
could he condemn the itching palm of such a one as Val Scott--he
who had been so ready to open his own when he had been tempted by
no want, by no poverty?

He would give nothing to Captain Val to bribe him to silence. He
knew that if he did so, he would be a slave for ever. The
appetite of such a shark as that, when once he has tasted blood,
is unappeasable. There is nothing so ruinous as buying the
silence of a rogue who has a secret.

What you buy you never possess; and the price that is once paid
must be repaid again and again, as often as the rogue may demand
it. Any alternative must be better than this.

And yet what other alternative was there? He did not doubt that
Val, when disappointed of his prey, would reveal whatever he
might know to his wife, or to his stepson. Then there would be
nothing for Alaric but confession and ruin. And how could he
believe what Undy Scott had told him? Who else could have given
information against him but Undy himself? Who else could have put
up so heavily stupid a man as Captain Scott to make such a
demand? Was it not clear that his own colleague, his own partner,
his own intimate associate, Undy Scott himself, was positively
working out his ruin? Where were now his high hopes, where now
his seat in Parliament, his authority at the board, his proud
name, his soaring ambition, his constant watchword? 'Excelsior'
--ah me--no! no longer 'Excelsior'; but he thought of the cells of
Newgate, of convict prisons, and then of his young wife and of
his baby.