MR HARTLEPOD.
When the time came at which Lopez should have left Manchester Square he was still there.Mr Wharton, in discussing the matter with his daughter,--when wishing to persuade her that she might remain in his house even in opposition to her husband,--had not told her that he had actually desired Lopez to leave it.He had then felt sure that the man would go and take his wife with him, but he did not even yet know the obduracy and cleverness and the impregnability of his son-in-law.When the time came, when he saw his daughter in the morning after the notice had been given, he could not bring himself even then to say to her that he had issued an order for his banishment.Days went by and Lopez was still there, and the old barrister had no further word on the subject.The two men never met;--or met simply in the hall or passages.Wharton himself studiously avoided such meetings, thus denying himself the commonest uses of his own house.At last Emily told him that her husband had fixed the day for her departure.The next Indian mail-packet by which they would leave England would start from Southampton on the 2nd of April, and she was to be ready to go on that day.'How is it to be till then?'
the father asked in a low, uncertain voice.
'I suppose I may remain with you.'
'And your husband?'
'He will be here, too,--I suppose.'
'Such a misery,--such a destruction of everything no man ever heard of before!' said Mr Wharton.To this he made no reply, but continued working at some necessary preparation for her final departure.'Emily,' he said.'I will make any sacrifice to prevent it.What can be done? Short of injuring Everett's interests, I will do anything.'
'I do not know,' she said.
'You must understand something of his affairs.'
'Nothing whatever.He has told me nothing of them.In earlier days,--soon after our marriage,--he bade me get money from you.'
'When you wrote to me for money from Italy?'
'And after that.I have refused to do anything,--to say a word.
I told him that it must be between you and him.What else could I say? And now he tells me nothing.'
'I cannot think that he wants you to go with him.' Then there was again a pause.'Is it because he loves you?'
'Not that, papa.'
'Why then should he burden himself with a companion? His money, whatever he has, would go further without such impediment.'
'Perhaps he thinks, papa, that while I am with him he has a hold upon you.'
'He shall have a stronger hold by leaving you.What is he to gain? If I could only know his price.'
'Ask him, papa.'
'I do not know how I am to speak to him again.'
Then again there was a pause.'Papa,' she said after a while, 'Ihave done it myself.Let me go.You will still have Everett.
And it may be that after a time I shall come back to you.He will not kill me, and it may be that I shall not die.'
'By God!' said Mr Wharton, rising from his chair suddenly, 'if there was money to be made by it, I believe he would murder you without a scruple.' Thus it was that within eighteen months of her marriage the father spoke to his daughter of her husband.
'What am I to take with me?' she said to her husband a few days later.
'You had better ask your father.'
'Why should I ask him, Ferdinand? How should he know?'
'And how should I?'
'I should have thought you would interest yourself about it.'
'Upon my word I have enough to interest me just at present, without thinking of your finery.I suppose you mean what clothes you should have?'
'I was not thinking of myself only.'
'You need think of nothing else.Ask him what he pleases to allow you to spend, and then I will tell you what to get.'
'I will never ask him for anything, Ferdinand.'
'Then you may go without anything.You might as well do it at once, for you will have to do it sooner or later.Or, if you please, go to his tradesmen and say nothing to him about it.
They will give you credit.You see how it is, my dear.He has cheated me in a most rascally manner.He has allowed me to marry his daughter, and because I did not make a bargain with him as another man would have done, he denies me the fortune I had a right to expect with you.You know that the Israelites despoiled the Egyptians, and it was taken as merit on their part.Your father is a Egyptian to me, and I will despoil him.You can tell him that I say so if you please.'
And so the days went on till the first week of February had passed, and Parliament had met.Both Lopez and his wife were still living in Manchester Square.Not another word had been said as to that notice to quit, nor an allusion made to it.It was supposed to be a settled thing that Lopez was to start with his wife for Guatemala in the first week of April.Mr Wharton had himself felt that difficulty as to his daughter's outfit, and had told her that she might get whatever it pleased her on his credit.'For yourself, my dear.'
'Papa, I will get nothing till he bids me.'
'But you can't go across the world without anything.What are you to do in such a place as that unless you have the things you want?'
'What do poor people do who have to go? What should I do if you had cast me off because of my disobedience?'
'But I have not cast you off.'
'Tell him that you will give him so much, and then, if he bids me, I will spend it.'
'Let it be so.I will tell him.'
Upon that Mr Wharton did speak to his son-in-law;--coming upon him suddenly one morning in the dining-room.'Emily will want an outfit if she is to go to this place.'
'Like other people she wants many things that she cannot get.'
'I will tell my tradesmen to furnish her with what she wants, up to,--well,--suppose I say 200 pounds.I have spoken to her and she wants your sanction.'
'My sanction for spending money? She can have that very quickly.'
'You can tell her so;--or I will do so.'