Chapter 118
"Discharge William Halliburton!" echoed Mr. Ashley in surprise. "I could as soon discharge myself. William is the right hand of the business. It could go on without me, but I am not sure that it could do so without him."
"Cyril can take his place."
"Cyril is not qualified for it. And----"
"Cyril declares he will never enter the place again, so long as Halliburton is in it."
"Cyril never will enter it again," quietly rejoined Mr. Ashley. "Cyril and I have parted. I will give you his wages for this week, now that you are here; legally, though, he could not claim them."
Mr. Dare looked sad--gloomy. It was only what he had expected for some time past. "You promised to do well by him, Mr. Ashley; to take him into partners.h.i.+p."
"You must surely remember that I promised nothing of the sort," said Mr.
Ashley. "I have been telling the same thing to Cyril. All I said--and a shrewd, business man, as you are, could not fail thoroughly to understand me," he pointedly added--"was, that I would choose Cyril in preference to others, provided he proved himself worthy of the preference. Circ.u.mstances appear to have worked entirely against carrying out that idea, Mr. Dare."
"What circ.u.mstances?"
Mr. Ashley did not immediately reply, and the question was repeated in a hasty, almost an imperative tone. Then Mr. Ashley answered it.
"I do not wish to say a word that should unnecessarily hurt your feelings; but in a matter of business I believe there is no resource but to speak plainly. The unfortunate notoriety acquired, in one way or other, by your sons, has rendered the name of Dare so conspicuous, that, were there no other reason, it could never be a.s.sociated with mine."
"Conspicuous? How?" interposed Mr. Dare.
Mr. Ashley would not have believed the words were uttered as a question, but that the answer was evidently waited for. "You ask _how_," he said.
"Surely I need not remind you. The scandal which, in more ways than one, attached to Anthony--though I am sorry to allude to him, poor fellow, in any such way; the circ.u.mstances attending the trial of Herbert; the----"
"Herbert was innocent," interrupted Mr. Dare.
"Innocent of the murder, no doubt; as innocent as you or I. But people made free with his name in other ways; had often made free with it. And look at this last report, wafted over to us from Germany, that is just now astonis.h.i.+ng the city!"
"Hang him for a simpleton!" burst forth Mr. Dare.
"It is all so much discredit to the name--to the family
concluded Mr. Ashley, as if his sentence had not been interrupted.
"The faults of his brothers ought to be no good reason for your rejecting Cyril."
"They are not my reason for rejecting him," quietly returned Mr. Ashley.
"No? You have just said they were."
"I said the notoriety given by your sons to the name of Dare would bar its a.s.sociation with mine. In saying 'your sons,' I included Cyril himself. _He_ interposes the greatest barrier of all. Were the rest of them of good report in the sight of day, Cyril is not so."
"What's the matter with him?" asked Mr. Dare.
"I do not care to tell you. A great deal of it you must know."
"Go on," cried Anthony Dare, who was leaning forward in his chair, his chin resting on his stick, as one who sets himself calmly to hear the whole.
"Cyril's private conduct is bad. He----"
"Follies of youth only," cried old Anthony. "He will outlive them."
"Youth's follies sometimes end in manhood's crimes," was the reply. "I am thankful that my son is free from them."
"Your son!" returned Anthony Dare, coughing down his slighting tone.
"Your son is one apart. He has not the health to be knocking about. If young men are worth anything, they are sure to be a bit wild."
A frown pa.s.sed over the master's brow. "You are mistaken, Mr. Dare.
Young men who are worth anything keep themselves from such folly.
Opinions have taken a turn. Society is becoming more sensible of the world's increased enlightenment; and ill conduct, although its pursuer may be a fas.h.i.+onable young man, is beginning to be called by its right name. Would you believe that Cyril has, more than once, come here--I hesitate to say the word, it is so ugly a one--drunk? Drunk, Mr. Dare!"
"No!"
"He has."
"Then he must have been a fool for his pains," was the angry retort of old Anthony.
"He is untruthful; he is idle; he is deceitful--but I do not, I say, care to go into this. Were you cognizant of the application Cyril made to me yesterday, respecting my daughter?"
"I don't know of any application."
"He did me the honour to make her an offer of marriage."
Old Anthony lifted his head sharply, not speaking. The master continued:
"He said yesterday that he was acting by your advice. He repeated to-day, that you and Mrs. Dare had led him to look to Mary."
"Well?" returned Mr. Dare. "But I did not know he had spoken."
"How could you--excuse me, I again say, if I am to speak plainly--how could you ever have entertained so wild an idea?"
"Perhaps you would like to call it a presumptuous one?" chafed Mr. Dare.
"I do call it so," returned Mr. Ashley. "It can be regarded as nothing less; any impartial person would tell you so. I put out of the discussion altogether the want of means on the part of Cyril; I speak of its suitability. That Cyril should have aspired to an alliance with Mary Ashley was presumption in the highest degree. It has displeased me very much, and Henry looks upon it in the light of an insult."
"Who's Henry?" scornfully returned Mr. Dare. "A dreamy hypochondriac!
Pray is Cyril not as well born as Mary Ashley?"
"Has he been as well reared? Is he proving that he has been? A man's conduct is of far more importance than his birth."
"It would seem that you care little about birth, or rearing either, or you would not exalt Halliburton to a level with yourself."
The master fixed his expressive eyes on Anthony Dare. "Halliburton's birth is, at any rate, as good as your family's and mine. His father's mother and your wife's father were brother and sister."
Old Anthony looked taken by surprise. "I don't know anything about it,"
said he, somewhat roughly. "I know a little of how he has been bred, he and his brothers."
"So do I," said Mr. Ashley. "I wish a few more in the world had been bred in the same way."