"Pish!" said the Squire.
"Very good. Then with your permission I will seek my horse."
The old man turned to the window and opened it. "Thomas," he shouted violently. "Mr. Ovington's horse."
When he turned again. "Perhaps you may still think better of it,"
Ovington said. He had regained command of himself. "I ought to have mentioned that your nephew has consented to act as Secretary to the Company."
"The more fool he!" the Squire snarled. "My nephew! What the devil is he doing in your Company? Or for the matter of that in your bank either?"
"I think he sees more clearly than you that times are changed."
"Ay," the old man retorted, full of wrath, and well aware that the other had found a joint in his armor. "And he had best have a care that these fine times don't lead him into trouble!"
"I hope not, I hope not. Good-day, Mr. Griffin. I can find my way out.
Don't let me trouble you."
"I will see you out, if you please. After you, sir." Then, with an effort which cost him much, but which he thought was due to his position, "You are sure that you will take nothing?"
"Nothing, I thank you."
The Squire saw his visitor to the door; but he did not stay to see him ride away. He went back to his room and to a side window at which it was his custom to spend much time. It looked over the narrow vale, little more than a glen, which the eminence, on which the house stood, cut off from the main valley. It looked on its green slopes, on the fern-fringed brook that babbled and tossed in its bottom, on the black and white mill that spanned the stream, and on the Thirty Acre covert that clothed the farther side and climbed to the foot of the great limestone wall that towered alike above house and glen and rose itself to the knees of the boundary hills. And looking on all this, the Squire in fancy saw the railroad scoring and smirching and spoiling his beloved acres. It was nothing to him, that in fact the railroad would pass up the middle of the broad vale behind him--he ignored that. He saw the hated thing sweep by below him, a long black ugly snake, spewing smoke and steam over the green meadows, fouling the waters, darkening the air.
"Not in my time, by G--d!" he muttered, his knees quivering a little under him--for he was an aging man and the scene had tried him.
"Not in my time!" And at the thought that he, the owner of all, hill and vale, within his sight, and the descendant of generations of owners--that he had been threatened by this upstart, this loan-monger, this town-bred creature of a day, he swore with fresh vigor.
He had at any rate the fires of indignation to warm him, and the satisfaction of knowing that he had spoken his mind and had not had the worst of the bout. But the banker's feelings as he jogged homewards on his hackney were not so happy. In spite of Bourdillon's warning he had been confident that he would gain his end. He had fancied that he knew his man and could manage him. He had believed that the golden lure would not fail. But it had failed, and the old man's gibes accompanied him, and like barbed arrows clung to his memory and poisoned his content.
It was not the worst that he must return and own that Arthur had been wiser than he; that he must inform his colleagues that his embassy had failed. Worse than either was the hurt to his pride. Certain things that the Squire had said about money-making, his sneer about the difference in breeding, his warning that the banker might yet find that he had been too clever--these had pricked him to the quick, and the last had even caused him a pang of uneasiness. And then the Squire had shown so clearly the gulf that in his eyes lay between them!
Ay, it was that which rankled: the knowledge, sharply brought home to him, that no matter what his success, no matter what his wealth, nor how the common herd bowed down to him, this man and his like would ever hold themselves above him, would always look down on him. The fence about them he could not cross. Add thousands to thousands as he might, and though he conquered Lombard Street, these men would not admit him of their number. They would ever hold him at arm's length, would deal out to him a cold politeness. He could never be of them.
As a rule Ovington was too big a man to harbor spite, but as he rode and fumed, a plan which he had already considered put on a new aspect, and by and by his brow relaxed and he smote his thigh. Something tickled him and he laughed. He thought that he saw a way to avenge himself and to annoy his enemy, and by the time he reached the bank he was himself again. Indeed, he had not been human if he had not by that time owned that whatever Garth thought of him he was something in Aldersbury.
Three times men stopped him, one crossing the street to intercept him, one running bare-headed from a shop, a third seizing his rein. And all three sought favors, or craved advice, all, as they retreated, did so, eyed askance by those who lacked their courage or their impudence.
For the tide of speculation was still rising in the country, and even in Aldersbury had reached many a back-parlor where the old stocking or the money-box was scarcely out of date. Thousands sold their Three per cents., and the proceeds had to go somewhere, and other proceeds, for behind all there was real prosperity. Men's money poured first into a higher and then into a lower grade of security and raised each in turn, so that fortunes were made with astonishing speed. The banks gave extended credit; everything rose. Many who had bought in fear found that they had cleared a profit before they had had time to tremble. They sold, and still there were others to take their place.
It seemed as if all had only to buy and to sell and to grow rich. Only the very cautious stood aside, and one by one even these slid tempted into the stream.
The more venturesome hazarded their money afar, buying shares in steamship companies in the West Indies, in diamond mines in Brazil, or in cattle companies in Mexico. The more prudent preferred undertakings which they could see and which their limited horizon could compass, and to these such a local scheme as the Valleys Railroad held out a tempting bait. They knew nothing about a railroad, but they knew that steam had been applied to ocean travel, and they knew Aldersbury and the woollen district. Here was something the growth and progress of which they could watch, and which once begun could not vanish in a night.
Then the silence of those within and the rumors spread without added to its attractions. Each man felt that his neighbor was stealing a march upon him, and that if he were not quick he would not get in on equal terms.
One of Ovington's waylayers wished to know if the limit at which he had been advised to sell his stock was likely to be reached. "I sold on Saturday," the banker answered, "two pounds above your limit, Davies. The money will be in the bank in a week." He spoke with Napoleonic curtness, and rode on, leaving the man, amazed and jubilant, to calculate his gains.
The next wanted advice. He had a hundred in hand if Mr. Ovington would not think it too small. "Call to-morrow--no, Thursday," Ovington said, hardly looking at him. "I'll see you then."
The third ran bare-headed out of a shop. He was a man of more weight, Purslow the big draper on Bride Hill, who had been twice Mayor of Aldersbury; a tradesman, bald and sleek, whom fortune had raised so rapidly that old subservience was continually at odds with new importance. "Just a word, Mr. Ovington," he stuttered, "a word, sir, by your leave? I'm a good customer." He had not laid aside his black apron but merely twisted it round his waist, a sure sign, in these days of his greatness, that he was flustered.
The banker nodded. "None better, Purslow," he answered. "What is it?"
"What I says, then--excuse me--is, if Grounds, why not me? Why not me, sir?"
"I don't quite----"
"If he's to be on the Board, he and his mash-tubs----"
"Oh!" The banker looked grave. "You are thinking of the Railroad, Purslow?"
"To be sure! What else?--excuse me, sir! And what I say is, if Grounds, why not me? I've been mayor twice and him not even on the Council? And I'm not a pauper, as none knows better than you, Mr.
Ovington. If it's only that I'm a tradesman, why, there ought to be a tradesman on it, and I'll be bound as many will follow my lead as Grounds'."
The banker seemed to consider. "Look here, Purslow," he said, "you are doing very well, not a man in Aldersbury better. Take my advice and stick to the shop."
"And slave for every penny I make!"
"Slow and sure is a good rule."
"Oh, damn slow and sure!" cried the draper, forgetting his manners.
"No offence, sir, I'm sure. Excuse me. But slow and sure, while Grounds is paid for every time he crosses the street, and doubles his money while he wears out his breeches!"
"Well," said Ovington, with apparent reluctance, "I'll think it over.
But to sit on the Board means putting in money, Purslow. You know that, of course."
"And haven't I the money?" the man cried, inflamed by opposition.
"Can't I put down penny for penny with Grounds? Ay, though I've served the town twice, and him not even on the Council!"
"Well, I'll bear it in mind. I can say no more than that," Ovington rejoined. "I must consult Sir Charles. It's a responsible position, Purslow. And, of course, where there are large profits, as we hope there may be, there must be risk. There must be some risk. Don't forget that. Still," touching up his horse with his heel, "I'll see what I can do."
He gained the bank without further stay, and there the stir and bustle which his practised eye was quick to mark sustained the note already struck. There were customers coming and going: some paying in, others seeking to have bills renewed, or a loan on securities that they might pay calls, or accommodation of one kind or another. But with easy money these demands could be granted, and many a parcel of Ovington's notes passed out amid smiling and general content. The January sun was shining as if March winds would never blow, and credit seemed to be a thing to be had for the asking.
It was only within the last seven years that Ovington's had ventured on an issue of notes. Then, a little before the resumption of cash payments, they had put them forth with a tentative, "If you had rather have bank paper it's here." Some had had the bad taste to prefer the Abraham Newlands, a few had even asked for Dean's notes. But borrowers cannot be choosers, the notes had gradually got abroad, and though at first they had returned with the rapidity of a homing pigeon, the readiness with which they were cashed wrought its effect, and by this time the public were accustomed to them.
Dean's notes bore a big D, and Ovington's, for the benefit of those who could not read, were stamped with a large CO., for Charles Ovington.
Alone with his daughter that evening the banker referred to this.
"Betty," he said, after a long silence, "I am going to make a change.
I am going to turn CO. into Company."
She understood him at once, and "Oh, father!" she cried, laying down her work. "Who is it? Is it Arthur?"
"Would you like that?"
She replied by another question. "Is he really so clever?"
"He's a gentleman--that's much. And a Griffin, and that's more, in a place like this. And he's--yes, he's certainly clever."
"Cleverer than Mr. Rodd?"