A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus Part 28

'Is this necessary, Mr. Wingfield?' he pleaded. 'Won't you take my word for this money?'

'I am sorry to have to say it, sir, but we have trusted in your word too often.'

'But the money is there, I swear it.'

'It is the Company's money, and we must have it.'

'It will ruin my credit locally if I draw out my whole account under compulsion.'

'Then let him keep ten pounds in,' said Frank. Farintosh agreed with an ill grace to the compromise, and they all started off for the bank. When they reached the door the agent turned upon them with an appealing face.

'Don't come in with me, gentlemen. I could never hold up my head again.'

'It is for Mr. Crosse to decide.'

'I don't want to be unreasonable, Farintosh. Go in alone and draw the money.'

They could never understand why he begged for that extra five minutes. Perhaps it was that he had some mad hope of persuading the bank manager to allow him to overdraw to that amount. If so, the refusal was a curt one, for he reappeared with a ghastly face and walked up to Frank.

'I may as well confess to you, Mr. Crosse, I have nothing in the bank.'

Frank whistled and turned upon his heel. He could not by reproaches add to the wretched man's humiliation. After all, he had himself to blame. He had incurred a risk with his eyes open, and he was not the man to whine now that the thing had gone against him. Wingfield walked home with him and murmured some words of sympathy. At the gate the accountant left him and went on to the station.

So their liability had risen from fifty to two hundred and seventy pounds. Even Maude was for an instant daunted by the sum. The sale of their furniture would hardly meet it. It was the blackest hour of their lives, and yet, always a strange sweet undercurrent of joy was running through it, for it is only sorrow, fairly shared and bravely borne, which can weld two human souls together.

Dinner was over when there came a ring at the bell.

'If you please, sir, Mr. Farintosh would like to see you,' said the maid Jemima.

'Show him in here.'

'Don't you think, Frank, that I had better go?'

'No, I don't. I never asked him to come. If he comes, let him face us both. I have not made much of my dealings with him alone.'

He was shown in, downcast, s.h.i.+fty-eyed, and ill at ease. He laid his hat upon the floor, and crept humbly towards the chair which Frank pushed towards him.

'Well, Farintosh?'

'Well, Mr. Crosse, I have come round to tell you, and you too, missus, the sorrow I feel that I have brought this trouble upon you.

I hoped all would have gone right after that last time, but I've had to pay up back debts, and that's what has put me wrong. I've never had what one may call a fair chance. But I'm really sorry, sir, that you who have, as one might say, befriended me, should have to suffer for it in this way.'

'Words won't mend it, Farintosh. I only blame you for not coming to me when first things began to go wrong.'

'Well, sir, I was always hoping that I could turn them right again, so as you wouldn't need to be troubled at all. And so it went from bad to worse until we find ourselves here. But what I wanted to ask you, Mr. Crosse, was what you meant to do about it?'

Frank writhed before this home question.

'Well, I suppose I am responsible,' said he.

'You mean to pay the money, sir?'

'Well, somebody must pay it.'

'Do you remember the wording of the bond, Mr. Crosse?'

'Not the exact wording.'

'Well, sir, I should advise you to get your lawyer to read it. In my opinion, sir, you are not liable at all.'

'Not liable!' Frank felt as if his heart had turned suddenly from a round-shot to an air-balloon. 'Why not liable?'

'You were a little slapdashy, if one might say so, in matters of business, sir, and perhaps you read that bond less carefully than I did. There was a clause in it by which the Company agreed frequently and periodically to audit my accounts, so as to prevent your liability being at any time a very high one.'

'So there was!' cried Frank. 'Well, didn't they?'

'No, sir, they didn't.'

'By Jove--Maude, do you hear that?--if that is right, they brought their own misfortunes upon themselves. Do you mean to say they never audited you?'

'Yes, sir, they did so four times.'

'In how long?'

'In fourteen months.'

The air-balloon was gone and the cannon-ball back in its place once more.

'That will be held to exonerate them.'

'No, sir, I think not. "Frequently and periodically" does not mean four times in fourteen months.'

'A jury might take it so.'

'Consider, sir, that the object was that your liability should be limited. Thousands of pounds were pa.s.sing through my hands in that time, and therefore these four audits were, as one might say, insufficient for the object of the bond.'

'So I think,' cried Maude, with conviction. 'Frank, we'll have the best advice upon the subject to-morrow.'

'And meanwhile, Mr. Crosse,' said Farintosh, rising from his chair, 'I am your witness, whether the Company prosecutes me or not. And I hope that this will be some humble atonement for the trouble that I have brought you.'

And so a first rift of light began to s.h.i.+ne in the dark place. But it was not broadened by the letter which he found waiting upon his breakfast-table -

Re Farintosh's Accounts.

HOTSPUR INSURANCE OFFICE.

Dear Sir,--On arriving in London I came here at once, and checked Farintosh's accounts from the books of the head office. I am sorry to say that I find a further discrepancy of seventy pounds. I am able, however, to a.s.sure you that we have now touched bottom. The total amount is three hundred and forty pounds, and a cheque for that sum at your early convenience would oblige us, as we are anxious to bring so unpleasant a business to a conclusion.--Yours truly,