Chapter XIX.

For some days it so happened that Fixer's business kept him from town, and consequently he did not see Hobart till the fifth day after the party. He then received from Hobart a note, asking him up to his house that evening, and accordingly he went. He was received by Hubart, as he thought, in rather a cool way; but he took no notice of that, and, seating himself, he asked after Clara's health and his own.

"Clara is fairly well," said Hobart; "better than she has been, for she seemed quite worn out after the party. To-night she has gone out for a run, and I scarcely know when she will return; but, I presume, before you leave. As for myself, I am also pretty well; but not any better for your little recital of the other evening. Why you did such a thing I cannot understand."

"Your memory, my dear Hobart, at times, fails you so very badly, that it is only fair for me to attempt to brighten it a little."

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"I don't want it done in this way," returned Hobart. "I fail to see why you should interfere with me to the extent you do. I treat you very differently."

"Hobart, is it not enough to blight the prospects for ever of two of the best girls you ever knew, without adding another to the list? I am not, John Hobart, any better than any other of my kind; but I have never forgotten that both my mother and sister, God bless them! are women; and, having feelings for them, I have some for the whole sex, and would not knowingly see them wronged. If there is aught in this world that should be considered above all else it is a woman; and, thank heaven, that is my opinion, and I am not ashamed of it. I do not wish to intrude upon you, far from it; but when you talk without any justification for ruining another, I thought it best to remind you that there exists one who said once, 'You shall live to know that you have a wife, and yet have none.'"

"I don't want any more recitations of that piece. She will never turn up here; and if she did she would, if I were married, be too pleased at obtaining her own freedom to say a word that would injure me. For the less she said the better in this case, as you know."

"So far so good," answered Fixer. "I don't think she would bother herself about you; for you know there is such a thing as revenge, and were she to arrive here just about the time you were being married it would be awkward for both of us, to say the least of it."

"I am not, so far as I know, going to get married. I have not any such wish, so we will drop the subject, and turn to others."

"Conditionally, Hobart, conditionally."

"What do you mean by that remark?"

"First, that you do not try to make Miss Parks or any other page 174young lady fall in love with you; and, secondly, that if they should do so you will not think of injuring them in any way, nor of injuring myself by matrimony. Strange that women always prefer the worst of men, but so it is."

"You are always complimentary, and anyone who heard you talk to me would certainly think I were a big schoolboy."

"But for the fact that they do little or no wrong, while you do nothing else, the comparison would not be amiss."

"Thanks; but let us turn to business, for you will only provoke me if we talk on thus."

"Not unless you do such acts that require comment, and in that case I should take what measures I chose. As you suggest, we will now turn to business, and until you err again we will let that matter rest. What is the business you would speak of?"

"Well, Fixer, I am most anxious for the spec we were speaking of the other day, and I wish to hear your views."

"The spec you spoke of, you mean. I only heard and objected, but you talked."

"Well, never mind, Fixer; be more as you were, and talk only of the subject, and leave sarcasms out. Perhaps you would like a cigar and some whisky, and then you will be better."

With this Hobart rung, and asked for the required whisky, &c., of which Fixer partook.

"Well," said Fixer, "perhaps I do feel no worse; but still I must say I do not view your proposal in a favourable light."

"Look here, Fixer, the land is a gift at £20,000, and the terms are exceptionally easy. We can easily double on it before the last bills fall due, and then you will be as pleased as I. Come, be a little more venturesome."

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"Look you, Hobart, I don't like the spec. First, the bills all fall due under six months, a very short time, and if the land does not sell, we are literally coopered; but if this is your pet scheme we will go into it and sink or swim together. If the land sells at all we are right; if the other way, we shall have to start business somewhere else, as this climate will, for a certainty, grow rapidly hot."

"No fear of that," said Hobart, elated, "I will refer Mr Lenny to you to-morrow, and so settle the matter up; and if it does not go well, I will, in any case, try and put you right at least."

"Promises, my boy—you know the rest. However, there is no need to say more; simply try and keep what promises you have made, and I shall be content. I will leave you now; give my fondest regards to Clara; fine girl, by Jove." And Mr Fixer took his departure.

John Hobart sat a long time alone, thinking first of one thing and then another. "Yes, I would marry Miss Parks were it not for him," he says to himself," for she is worth money; and I could then defy them all. If I could bring myself to think less of Clara, which no doubt I should be able to do in the event of this, she could be given a couple of hundred and let go to search for her father, and then they would, for a certainty, never find each other"; and he laughed at the joke. "Still, I do love Clara, and she keeps me at a distance, more especially since the party. Fixer, too, he often is in the way; but if I were married I could make some arrangements with him, and so have all to myself. Fool that I ever was to marry when and as I did. She has indeed been a stone around my neck; but I will cast it off, and another shall take its place. I feel now that I like Amelia Parks, and I will see more of her. The more I care for her, the easier it will be for me to wean myself from Clara, and then I shall have more peace of mind. By the way, Clara is very late. This is something new, but I must find out what is the meaning of it; page 176she never did this before. Since that infernal party everything seems upside down, but all will soon be well again. If nothing else, the land can be sold, and then I can draw from Fixer the money to pay the bills; or once more forget, and let Mr Frank Perryman pay. Then you too, Mr Fixer, will have to look for someone else whom you can exasperate about their 'defective memory.' Yes, a little more patience, and then—"; and Hobart swallows another glass of whisky, lights a cigar, and continues his self-communings.

"Ha, ha! What a splendid thing to sell Fixer, if I can do it. That will be the best move of all. But Clara, ah, Clara! No, you shall not have her, Frank Perryman. No, never, not if I know it. She shall yet be mine; aye, before Amelia, Mary, or, for the matter of that, a legion of Maries." So he talked on until at last he fell to sleep, muttering; and in this state Clara found him on her return with Frank Perryman, for it was to his house she had been to spend the evening, but more to talk over, and give particulars for the finding of her father.

And so for the present things drift gently on; to some they bring peace and happiness, and to others misery and privation; but some must, in this battle of life, lose as others win; and each must accept, and if not satisfied, at least, do their best to appear so. The land, as desired by Hobart, was purchased on the following terms:—cash, £1000; and bills drawn by Messrs Fixer and Co., and endorsed by Perryman and Hobart for £19,000, bearing interest at 7 per cent. Thus was Frank Perryman's name placed to paper in this transaction alone for nineteen thousand pounds; and there is more paper afloat also bearing his name. But how true is the old adage, 'When ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise"; for he knew it not, and so he was, at least so far as money matters were concerned, in blissful ignorance.