A Simpleton

C >> Charles Reade >> A Simpleton


As for Falcon, he went carefully through Staines's two letters, and
wherever he found a word that suited his purpose, he traced it by the
usual process, and so, in the course of a few hours, he concocted a
short letter, all the words in which, except three, were facsimiles,
only here and there a little shaky; the three odd words he had
to imitate by observation of the letters. The signature he got to
perfection by tracing.

He inserted this letter in the original envelope, and sealed it very
carefully, so as to hide that the seal had been tampered with.

Thus armed, he went down to Gravesend. There he hired a horse and rode
to Kent Villa.

Why he hired a horse, he knew how hard it is to forge handwriting, and
he chose to have the means of escape at hand.

He came into the drawing-room, ghastly pale, and almost immediately gave
her the letter; then turned his back, feigning delicacy. In reality he
was quaking with fear lest she should suspect the handwriting. But the
envelope was addressed by Staines, and paved the way for the letter;
she was unsuspicious and good, and her heart cried out for her husband's
last written words: at such a moment, what chance had judgment and
suspicion in an innocent and loving soul?

Her eloquent sighs and sobs soon told the caitiff he had nothing to
fear.

The letter ran thus:--


MY OWN ROSA,--All that a brother could do for a beloved brother, Falcon
has done. He nursed me night and day. But it is vain. I shall never see
you again in this world. I send you a protector, and a father to your
child. Value him. He has promised to be your stay on earth, and my
spirit shall watch over you.--To my last breath, your loving husband,

CHRISTOPHER STAINES.


Falcon rose, and began to steal on tiptoe out of the room.

Rosa stopped him. "You need not go," said she. "You are our friend. By
and by I hope I shall find words to thank you."

"Pray let me retire a moment," said the hypocrite. "A husband's last
words: too sacred--a stranger:" and he went out into the garden. There
he found the nursemaid Emily, and the little boy.

He stopped the child, and made love to the nursemaid; showed her his
diamonds--he carried them all about him--told her he had thirty thousand
acres in Cape Colony, and diamonds on them; and was going to buy thirty
thousand more of the government. "Here, take one," said he. "Oh, you
needn't be shy. They are common enough on my estates. I'll tell you
what, though, you could not buy that for less than thirty pounds at any
shop in London. Could she, my little duck? Never mind, it is no brighter
than her eyes. Now do you know what she will do with that, Master
Christie? She will give it to some duffer to put in a pin."

"She won't do nothing of the kind," said Emily, flushing all over.
"She is not such a fool." She then volunteered to tell him she had no
sweetheart, and did not trouble her head about young men at all. He
interpreted this to mean she was looking out for one. So do I.

"No sweetheart!" said he; "and the prettiest girl I have seen since I
landed: then I put in for the situation."

Here, seeing the footman coming, he bestowed a most paternal kiss on
little Christie, and saying, "Not a word to John, or no more diamonds
from me;" he moved carefully away, leaving the girl all in a flutter
with extravagant hopes.

The next moment this wolf in the sheep-fold entered the drawing-room.
Mrs. Staines was not there. He waited, and waited, and began to get
rather uneasy, as men will who walk among pitfalls.

Presently the footman came to say that Mrs. Staines was with her father,
in his study, but she would come to him in five minutes.

This increased his anxiety. What! She was taking advice of an older
head. He began to be very seriously alarmed, and, indeed, had pretty
well made up his mind to go down and gallop off, when the door opened,
and Rosa came hastily in. Her eyes were very red with weeping. She came
to him with both hands extended to him; he gave her his, timidly.
She pressed them with such earnestness and power as he could not have
suspected; and thanked him, and blessed him, with such a torrent of
eloquence, that he hung his head with shame; and, being unable to face
it out, villain as he was, yet still artful to the core, he pretended to
burst out crying, and ran out of the room, and rode away.

He waited two days, and then called again. Rosa reproached him sweetly
for going before she had half thanked him.

"All the better," said he. "I have been thanked a great deal too much
already. Who would not do his best for a dying countryman, and fight
night and day to save him for his wife and child at home? If I had
succeeded, then I would be greedy of praise: but now it makes me blush;
it makes me very sad."

"You did your best," said Rosa tearfully.

"Ah! that I did. Indeed, I was ill for weeks after, myself, through the
strain upon my mind, and the disappointment, and going so many nights
without sleep. But don't let us talk of that."

"Do you know what my darling says to me in my letter?"

"No."

"Would you like to see it?"

"Indeed I should; but I have no right."

"Every right. It is the only mark of esteem, worth anything, I can show
you."

She handed him the letter, and buried her own face in her hands.

He read it, and acted the deepest emotion.

He handed it back, without a word.




CHAPTER XXVIII.


From this time Falcon was always welcome at Kent Villa. He fascinated
everybody in the house. He renewed his acquaintance with Mr. Lusignan,
and got asked to stay a week in the house. He showed Rosa and her
father the diamonds, and, the truth must be owned, they made Rosa's eyes
sparkle for the first time this eighteen months. He insinuated rather
than declared his enormous wealth.

In reply to the old man's eager questions, as the large diamonds lay
glittering on the table, and pointed every word, he said that a few
of his Hottentots had found these for him; he had made them dig on a
diamondiferous part of his estate, just by way of testing the matter;
and this was the result; this, and a much larger stone, for which he had
received eight thousand pounds from Posno.

"If I was a young man," said Lusignan, "I would go out directly, and dig
on your estate."

"I would not let you do anything so paltry," said "le Menteur." "Why, my
dear sir, there are no fortunes to be made by grubbing for diamonds; the
fortunes are made out of the diamonds, but not in that way. Now, I
have thirty thousand acres, and am just concluding a bargain for thirty
thousand more, on which I happen to know there are diamonds in a sly
corner. Well, of my thirty thousand tried acres, a hundred only are
diamondiferous. But I have four thousand thirty-foot claims leased at
ten shillings per month. Count that up."

"Why, it is twenty-four thousand pounds a year."

"Excuse me: you must deduct a thousand a year for the expenses of
collection. But this is only one phase of the business. I have a large
inn upon each of the three great routes from the diamonds to the coast;
and these inns are supplied with the produce of my own farms. Mark the
effect of the diamonds on property. My sixty thousand acres, which are
not diamondiferous, will very soon be worth as much as sixty thousand
English acres, say two pounds the acre per annum. That is under the
mark, because in Africa the land is not burdened with poor-rates,
tithes, and all the other iniquities that crush the English land-owner,
as I know to my cost. But that is not all, sir. Would you believe it?
even after the diamonds were declared, the people out there had so
little foresight that they allowed me to buy land all round Port
Elizabeth, Natal, and Cape Town, the three ports through which the world
get at the diamonds, and the diamonds get at the world. I have got a
girdle of land round those three outlets, bought by the acre; in two
years I shall sell it by the yard. Believe me, sir, English fortunes,
even the largest, are mere child's play, compared with the colossal
wealth a man can accumulate, if he looks beyond these great discoveries
to their consequences, and lets others grub for him. But what is the use
of it all to me?" said this Bohemian, with a sigh. "I have no taste for
luxuries; no love of display. I have not even charity to dispense on a
large scale; for there are no deserving poor out there; and the poverty
that springs from vice, that I never will encourage."

John heard nearly all this, and took it into the kitchen; and
henceforth Adoration was the only word for this prince of men, this rare
combination of the Adonis and the millionnaire.

He seldom held such discourses before Rosa; but talked her father into
an impression of his boundless wealth, and half reconciled him to Rosa's
refusal of Lord Tadcaster, since here was an old suitor, who, doubtless,
with a little encouragement, would soon come on again.

Under this impression, Mr. Lusignan gave Falcon more than a little
encouragement, and, as Rosa did not resist, he became a constant visitor
at the villa, and was always there from Saturday to Monday.

He exerted all his art of pleasing, and he succeeded. He was welcome to
Rosa, and she made no secret of it.

Emily threw herself in his way, and had many a sly talk with him, while
he was pretending to be engaged with young Christie. He flattered her,
and made her sweet on him, but was too much in love with Rosa, after
his fashion, to flirt seriously with her. He thought he might want her
services: so he worked upon her after this fashion; asked her if she
would like to keep an inn.

"Wouldn't I just?" said she frankly.

Then he told her that, if all went to his wish in England, she should be
landlady of one of his inns in the Cape Colony. "And you will get a good
husband out there directly," said he. "Beauty is a very uncommon thing
in those parts. But I shall ask you to marry somebody who can help you
in the business--or not to marry at all."

"I wish I had the inn," said Emily. "Husbands are soon got when a girl
hasn't her face only to look to."

"Well, I promise you the inn," said he, "and a good outfit of clothes,
and money in both pockets, if you will do me a good turn here in
England."

"That I would, sir. But, laws, what can a poor girl like me do for a
rich gentleman like you?"

"Can you keep a secret, Emily?"

"Nobody better. You try me, sir."

He looked at her well; saw she was one of those who could keep a secret,
if she chose, and he resolved to risk it.

"Emily, my girl," said he sadly, "I am an unhappy man."

"You, sir! Why, you didn't ought to be."

"I am then. I am in love; and cannot win her."

Then he told the girl a pretty tender tale, that he had loved Mrs.
Staines when she was Miss Lusignan, had thought himself beloved in
turn, but was rejected; and now, though she was a widow, he had not the
courage to court her, her heart was in the grave. He spoke in such a
broken voice that the girl's good-nature fought against her little pique
at finding how little he was smitten with HER, and Falcon soon found
means to array her cupidity on the side of her good-nature. He gave her
a five-pound note to buy gloves, and promised her a fortune, and she
undertook to be secret as the grave, and say certain things adroitly to
Mrs. Staines.

Accordingly, this young woman omitted no opportunity of dropping a word
in favor of Falcon. For one thing, she said to Mrs. Staines, "Mr. Falcon
must be very fond of children, ma'am. Why, he worships Master Christie."

"Indeed! I have not observed that."

"Why, no, ma'am. He is rather shy over it; but when he sees us alone, he
is sure to come to us, and say, 'Let me look at my child, nurse;' and
he do seem fit to eat him. Onst he says to me, 'This boy is my heir,
nurse.' What did he mean by that, ma'am?"

"I don't know."

"Is he any kin to you, ma'am?"

"None whatever. You must have misunderstood him. You should not repeat
all that people say."

"No, ma'am; only I did think it so odd. Poor gentleman, I don't think he
is happy, for all his money."

"He is too good to be unhappy all his life."

"So I think, ma'am."

These conversations were always short, for Rosa, though she was too kind
and gentle to snub the girl, was also too delicate to give the least
encouragement to her gossip.

But Rosa's was a mind that could be worked upon, and these short but
repeated eulogies were not altogether without effect.

At last the insidious Falcon, by not making his approaches in a way to
alarm her, acquired her friendship as well as her gratitude; and, in
short, she got used to him and liked him. Not being bound by any limit
of fact whatever, he entertained her, and took her out of herself
a little by extemporaneous pictures; he told her all his thrilling
adventures by flood and field, not one of which had ever occurred, yet
he made them all sound like truth; he invented strange characters, and
set them talking; he went after great whales, and harpooned one, which
slapped his boat into fragments with one stroke of its tail; then died,
and he hung on by the harpoon protruding from the carcass till a
ship came and picked him up. He shot a lion that was carrying off
his favorite Hottentot. He encountered another, wounded him with both
barrels, was seized, and dragged along the ground, and gave himself up
for lost, but kept firing his revolver down the monster's throat till at
last he sickened him, and so escaped out of death's maw; he did NOT say
how he had fired in the air, and ridden fourteen miles on end, at the
bare sight of a lion's cub; but, to compensate that one reserve, plunged
into a raging torrent and saved a drowning woman by her long hair, which
he caught in his teeth; he rode a race on an ostrich against a friend on
a zebra, which went faster, but threw his rider, and screamed with rage
at not being able to eat him; he, Falcon, having declined to run unless
his friend's zebra was muzzled. He fed the hungry, clothed the naked,
and shot a wild elephant in the eye; and all this he enlivened with
pictorial descriptions of no mean beauty, and as like South Africa as if
it had been feu George Robins advertising that continent for sale.

In short, never was there a more voluble and interesting liar by word of
mouth, and never was there a more agreeable creature interposed between
a bereaved widow and her daily grief and regrets. He diverted her mind
from herself, and did her good.

At last, such was the charm of infinite lying, she missed him on the
days he did not come, and was brighter when he did come and lie.

Things went smoothly, and so pleasantly, that he would gladly have
prolonged this form of courtship for a month or two longer, sooner than
risk a premature declaration. But more than one cause drove him to a
bolder course; his passion, which increased in violence by contact with
its beautiful object, and also a great uneasiness he felt at not hearing
from Phoebe. This silence was ominous. He and she knew each other, and
what the other was capable of. He knew she was the woman to cross the
seas after him, if Staines left the diggings, and any explanation took
place that might point to his whereabouts.

These double causes precipitated matters, and at last he began to throw
more devotion into his manner; and having so prepared her for a few
days, he took his opportunity and said, one day, "We are both unhappy.
Give me the right to console you."

She colored high, and said, "You have consoled me more than all the
world. But there is a limit; always will be."

One less adroit would have brought her to the point; but this artist
only sighed, and let the arrow rankle. By this means he out-fenced her;
for now she had listened to a declaration and not stopped it short.

He played melancholy for a day or two, and then he tried her another
way. He said, "I promised your dying husband to be your protector, and
a father to his child. I see but one way to keep my word, and that gives
me courage to speak--without that I never could. Rosa, I loved you years
ago, I am unmarried for your sake. Let me be your husband, and a father
to your child."

Rosa shook her head. "I COULD not marry again. I esteem you, I am very
grateful to you: and I know I behaved ill to you before. If I could
marry again, it would be you. But I cannot. Oh, never! never!"

"Then we both are to be unhappy all our days."

"I shall, as I ought to be. You will not, I hope. I shall miss you
sadly; but, for all that, I advise you to leave me. You will carry my
everlasting gratitude, go where you will; that and my esteem are all I
have to give."

"I will go," said he; "and I hope he who is gone will forgive my want of
courage."

"He who is gone took my promise never to marry again."

"Dying men see clearer. I am sure he wished--no matter; it is too
delicate." He kissed her hand and went out, a picture of dejection.

Mrs. Staines shed a tear for him.

Nothing was heard of him for several days; and Rosa pitied him more and
more, and felt a certain discontent with herself, and doubt whether she
had done right.

Matters were in this state, when one morning Emily came screaming in
from the garden, "The child!--Master Christie!--Where is he?--Where is
he?"

The house was alarmed. The garden searched, the adjoining paddock. The
child was gone.

Emily was examined, and owned, with many sobs and hysterical cries, that
she had put him down in the summer-house for a minute, while she went to
ask the gardener for some balm, balm tea being a favorite drink of hers.
"But there was nobody near that I saw," she sobbed.

Further inquiry proved, however, that a tall gypsy woman had been seen
prowling about that morning; and suspicion instantly fastened on her.
Servants were sent out right and left; but nothing discovered; and the
agonized mother, terrified out of her wits, had Falcon telegraphed to
immediately.

He came galloping down that very evening, and heard the story. He
galloped into Gravesend, and after seeing the police, sent word out he
should advertise. He placarded Gravesend with bills, offering a reward
of a thousand pounds, the child to be brought to him, and no questions
asked.

Meantime the police and many of the neighboring gentry came about the
miserable mother with their vague ideas.

Down comes Falcon again next day; tells what he has done, and treats
them all with contempt. "Don't you be afraid, Mrs. Staines," said he.
"You will get him back. I have taken the sure way. This sort of rogues
dare not go near the police, and the police can't find them. You have no
enemies; it is only some woman that has fancied a beautiful child. Well,
she can have them by the score, for a thousand pounds."

He was the only one with a real idea; the woman saw it, and clung to
him. He left late at night.

Next morning out came the advertisements, and he sent her a handful by
special messenger. His zeal and activity kept her bereaved heart from
utter despair.

At eleven that night came a telegraph:--


"I have got him. Coming down by special train."


Then what a burst of joy and gratitude! The very walls of the house
seemed to ring with it as a harp rings with music. A special train, too!
he would not let the mother yearn all night.

At one in the morning he drove up with the child and a hired nurse.

Imagine the scene! The mother's screams of joy, her furious kisses, her
cooing, her tears, and all the miracles of nature at such a time. The
servants all mingled with their employers in the general rapture, and
Emily, who was pale as death, cried and sobbed, and said, "Oh, ma'am,
I'll never let him out of my sight again, no, not for one minute."
Falcon made her a signal, and went out. She met him in the garden.

She was much agitated, and cried, "Oh, you did well to bring him to-day.
I could not have kept it another hour. I'm a wretch."

"You are a good kind girl; and here's the fifty pounds I promised you."

"Well, and I have earned it."

"Of course you have. Meet me in the garden to-morrow morning, and I'll
show you you have done a kind thing to your mistress, as well as me. And
as for the fifty pounds, that is NOTHING; do you hear? it is nothing at
all, compared with what I will do for you, if you will be true to me,
and hold your tongue."

"Oh! as for that, my tongue shan't betray you, nor shame ME. You are a
gentleman, and I do think you love her, or I would not help you."

So she salved her nursemaid's conscience--with the help of the fifty
pounds.

The mother was left to her rapture that night. In the morning Falcon
told his tale.

"At two P.M. a man had called on him, and had produced one of his
advertisements, and had asked him if that was all square--no bobbies on
the lurk. 'All square, my fine fellow.' 'Well,' said he, 'I suppose you
are a gentleman.' 'I am of that opinion too.' 'Well, sir,' says he,
'I know a party as has FOUND a young gent as comes werry nigh your
advertisement.' 'It will be a very lucky find to that party,' I said,
'if he is on the square.' 'Oh, WE are always on the square, when the
blunt is put down.' 'The blunt for the child, when you like, and where
you like,' said I. 'You are the right sort,' said he. 'I am,' replied I.
'Will you come and see if it is all right?' said he. 'In a minute,' said
I. Stepped into my bedroom, and loaded my six-shooter."

"What is that?" said Lusignan.

"A revolver with six barrels: by the by, the very same I killed the lion
with. Ugh! I never think of that scene without feeling a little quiver;
and my nerves are pretty good, too. Well, he took me into an awful part
of the town, down a filthy close, into some boozing ken--I beg pardon,
some thieves' public-house."

"Oh, my dear friend," said Rosa, "were you not frightened?"

"Shall I tell you the truth, or play the hero? I think I'll tell YOU the
truth. I felt a little frightened, lest they should get my money and my
life, without my getting my godson: that is what I call him now. Well,
two ugly dogs came in, and said, 'Let us see the flimsies, before you
see the kid.'

"'That is rather sharp practice, I think,' said I; 'however, here's the
swag, and here's the watch-dog.' So I put down the notes, and my hand
over them with my revolver cocked, and ready to fire."

"Yes, yes," said Rosa pantingly. "Ah, you were a match for them."

"Well, Mrs. Staines, if I was writing you a novel, I suppose I should
tell you the rogues recoiled; but the truth is they only laughed, and
were quite pleased. 'Swell's in earnest,' said one, 'Jem, show the
kid.' Jem whistled, and in came a great tall black gypsy woman, with the
darling. My heart was in my mouth, but I would not let them see it. I
said, 'It is all right. Take half the notes here, and half at the door.'
They agreed, and then I did it quick, walked to the door, took the
child, gave them the odd notes, and made off as fast as I could, hired a
nurse at the hospital--and the rest you know."

"Papa," said Rosa, with enthusiasm, "there is but one man in England who
would have got me back my child, and this is he."

When they were alone, Falcon told her she had said words that gladdened
his very heart. "You admit I can carry out one half of his wishes?" said
he.

Mrs. Staines said "Yes," then colored high; then, to turn it off, said,
"But I cannot allow you to lose that large sum of money. You must let me
repay you."

"Large sum of money!" said he. "It is no more to me than sixpence to
most people. I don't know what to do with my money; and I never shall
know, unless you will make a sacrifice of your own feelings to the
wishes of the dead. O Mrs. Staines--Rosa, do pray consider that a man of
that wisdom sees the future, and gives wise advice. Sure am I that,
if you could overcome your natural repugnance to a second marriage, it
would be the best thing for your little boy--I love him already as if
he were my own--and in time would bring you peace and comfort, and some
day, years hence, even happiness. You are my only love; yet I should
never have come to you again if HE had not sent me. Do consider how
strange it all is, and what it points to, and don't let me have the
misery of losing you again, when you can do no better now, alas! than
reward my fidelity."

She was much moved at this artful appeal, and said, "If I was sure I was
obeying his will. But how can I feel that, when we both promised never
to wed again?"

"A man's dying words are more sacred than any other. You have his
letter."

"Yes, but he does not say 'marry again.'"

"That is what he meant, though."

"How can you say that? How can you know?"

"Because I put the words he said to me together with that short line to
you. Mind, I don't say that he did not exaggerate my poor merits; on the
contrary, I think he did. But I declare to you that he did hope I should
take care of you and your child. Right or wrong, it was his wish, so
pray do not deceive yourself on that point."

This made more impression on her than anything else he could say, and
she said, "I promise you one thing, I will never marry any man but you."

Instead of pressing her further, as an inferior artist would, he broke
into raptures, kissed her hand tenderly, and was in such high spirits,
and so voluble all day, that she smiled sweetly on him, and thought to
herself, "Poor soul! how happy I could make him with a word!"