The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, 1 June 1911, Page 987

The Storyteller

A MAN’S OPPORTUNITY Hesketh put her into the brougham very carefully, his clean shaven, strong young 1 face showing a tenderness pleasant to see. She was driving the short distance" alone. From beneath the folds of her evening cloak Nan’s bars left hand stole out and touched his own. In the midst of the light and noise and movement they seemed to be absolutely alone. ■ • r . He smiled down at her, then stood back on the pavement. ‘ To-morrow,’ he said. ‘To-morrow,’ she replied, as the carriage moved on to make way for the next in the long line.' ‘ To-morrow.’ There was little space between the two houses, and the electric brougham soon slowed down again before Marsha 1 ! Balamaine’s big house. A flood of light flashed out across the pavement. ,-Nan, who in the few minutes’ drive had never stirred, gathered her cloak about her and passed slowly up the steps. In the hall she paused, one little satin shoe upon the stair. The light shone down on her uncovered fair head and the young beauty of her face. She passed up another stair, the shimmering length of her cloak flowing behind her; then she hesitated again. ‘ I can’t talk about it to-night,’ she said to herself, tremulous with the wonder of it v all, ‘ and yet— ’ She turned to question the man servant, and at the same moment saw her father coming along the side hall from his study. ‘Still up?’ she asked, leaning over the balustrade. ‘ltis so late that I imagined even you might be tired of waiting.’ ; ‘ He smiled, the keen, hard lines of his face softening as they never failed to soften at 'the sight of her. ‘ Come along and tell me all about it,’ he said, preparing to lead the way back to the study. ‘ Five minutes more or less will make no difference.’ For an instant she hesitated, looking down at him as if about to refuse. From beneath his heavy brows he shot a look at her, realising in her a barely perceptible difference, a radiance and vivid beauty that enfolded her as a garment. His heart contracted sharply as he looked, warning him that something had come into her life in which he had no part. She caught his glance and coloured softly; but she followed him into his own room and passed over to the hearth, her cloak slipping from her shoulders as she went. He picked it up and threw it across a chair. She was all in white to-night, like a bride, with a string of pearls round her throat and a creamy rose in the lace at her breast. A little, slender thing, inexpressibly dear to himhis one ewe lamb, whom, father and mother both, he had guarded jealously for nineteen years. For some reason he now thought of the night she had come to him, and how in the shabby little parlor of those days he had waited alone with arms outflung across the table, his fingers stopping his ears. . . . He came back to his surrounding, to find Nan’s hand through his arm, her cheek pressed close to his shoulder. His eyes were dark with memories as he looked down at her. She was extraordinarily like the mother she had never known, as he had first seen her— a little cotton frock, her fair head framed in the pink and white apple blossoms of the orchard. His hand shook a little as he smoothed Nan’s hair. She raised her face to look at him. She, in her turn, felt a subtle difference in him tonight. ‘You are worried about business ’ ‘ Not a bit.’ : Her glance fell again. The red glow from the fire irradiated her, converting her white gown into rose. In her eyes was a dreamy happiness which again sent that sharp pain through his heart. The clock on the mantel shelf chimed softly, then struck two sonorous strokes. ‘ You must get to bed, Nan. It is later than I thought.’ ' She stood on tiptoe to kiss him and moved toward the door. Then suddenN 7 she turned and came back again to where he stood watching her. 1 Father, there’s something I want to tell you, and it’s so difficult to tell.’ ‘ Not really, Nan ?’ She nodded, staring into the heart of the fire as if she saw fairy visions there. ‘lt won’t make any difference between us,’ she said,in a moment. ‘What could make any difference?’ queried Balamaine, his doubts becoming certainties. Then, as she still hesitated, he framed her face in his big hands and held her so, searching it with eyes in which jealousy struggled with tenderness. She grew 7 very pale and her eyes darkened; but she looked back at him steadfastly, without a trace of doubt. He let her go, and she gave a low, happy laugh, half sob. ‘ It’s Neil Hesketh, father, and I can hardly talk about it yet, even to you. But I promisedhen I really cared—to tell you. It is all so different ! Those others who anted to marry me —’ She waved her hand, smiling mistily up into his face. ‘ Two of them were good men,’ Balamaine said slowly, hard workers, steady going; the third—l thanked God you never gave him a thought!’

‘ Not one of them was Neil,’ said Nan, that happy note still in her voice. ‘lt never could have been anybody but Neil. ' He is going;' to the ‘office, 'to-morrow morning, father, just to settle things with you,’ ‘To settle things with me?’ Balamaine’s lips took qn a firmer line. {‘ Just'to settle things with me, eh P’ Nan, absorbed ; in her happiness, did not notice the grimness of his tone. She nodded, and put up her face to be kissed. ‘ I’m so perfectly wide awake and happy that it’s hardly worth while going to bed,’ she said. Then, struck through all her self absorption by something in his eyes, she clung to him a moment. ‘Father, you will like Neil? You’re glad?’ V: ‘I haven’t met him yet, Nan, and how can I be glad? But the man you love has got to prove himself worth while, just because of that, just because you love him and will have to spend your life with him. I’ll be quite reasonable, my dear, trust your old father.’ ‘ I do,’ Nan spoke wistfully. ‘Of course I do, just as I trust Neil from the bottom of my heart, though a week ago I hadn’t met him. He’s the one man I could ever love like that.’ She reached the door, and there turned, her cloak a shimmering heap in her arms. Throwing it away from her, she ran impulsively back again, putting a hand on his coat sleeve. ‘Father, you’re not one of those ridiculous people who imagine love can’t come quickly, that just a short time isn’t enough to make one care for always? Looking back, I see now that with Neil and myself love came at once — a flash.’ ‘ I fell in love with your mother at first sight,’ said Balamaine quietly, staring into the fire. It was with us no thing of days or weeks or months, Nan, and therefore I am not likely to make matters too hard for ycTu and Hesketh. I have no doubt he will readily prove himself.’ ‘He will do anything in reason,’ said Nan, ‘ just as I will, father.’ There was another sound in her voice, a trace of apprehension. Balamaine watched her pick up her cloak and pass slowly through the door-way. He dropped into his chair, and there sat with tightly clenched hands until the last red embers faded intq gray, and dawn framed the windows. ‘lt’s bound to make a difference!’ he said, getting up stiffly from his chair. ‘All the difference in the world!’ He looked about him drearily and, stooping, picked up the rose she had dropped a few hours before. For a moment he stood with it in his hand, then walked across the room to his writing table. There he unlocked a drawer in which were the few birthday letters she had written to him in childhood, and one or two trifles that had belonged to his, girl-wife. He dropped the rose in with theeni, and locked the drawer again. ‘lt’s bound to make a difference!’ he said slowly, and went up to his room. After one of the few sleepless nights of his healthy young existence, Hesketh sat waiting, his eyes on the clock. He was not troubled with any doubts of his acceptance as a son-in-law by the self-made man who controlled so many business interests and whose life story differed so enormously from his own. Nan loved hira—nothing else mattered I He fell into a reverie now, as he thought of her face last night, of the wonder of her beauty, the warmth of her lips as his own touched them for a moment behind the friendly shade of a palm in the conservatory. She loved him, and he loved her! From the first moment he had seen her, love had come to him with a force, an ecstasy, a maze of feeling, that left him very humble and very glad. He had endured a torture of doubt where she was concerned : but he had none at all about, her father. He was glad to be rich, that he need not be accused of fortune hunting, glad that his family was unimpeachable enough to stand with the best. But now he thanked God that he had no ugly door in his past to keep closed against Nan. In no way a vain man, his life had conspired to give him assurance and a sane belief in himself. He was young, rich, strong, and popular with a large circle of friends. The more serious side of life had only lately come his way. He contributed to deserving charities when asked, he flung largesse to a tramp if he encountered one. He was good natured, easy going, and since his college days’ when his abilities had enabled him to take a good place in spite of himself % he had travelled, , gone in for sport and amusement with a zest worthy, perhaps, of a better cause. Hasty tempered, he was generous, and possessed of a sense of humor which kept him from being in the least small \ minded. ;* There was an eagerness now in his eyes and upon his tanned face with its clean cut lips that Nan would have liked to see. He presently sprang to his feet and shook his clenched hand at the clock. Hurry, can’t you? If I hadn’t my watch to confirm you, I’d swear you were working backward! Eleven o’clock, she said, as then his letters would be read and his secretaries seen, and there would be a few minutes’ breathing space to bestow on me before other affairs claimed his attention. He’s a perfect fiend for work, they say, and not the pleasantest man in creation to deal with.’ He walked over to a table littered with papers, and took up a magazine. When he came to the page he sought, he propped it open, and thoughtfully considered the somewhat harsh lineaments of the iron-master.

Marshall Balamaine's life story often figured in the press. People apparently never tired of 1 hearing how the great man made his money.,, It pleased the ; multitude of workers to know that once he was in a more humble position even than themselves; that some day, by a stroke of the magician's wand, they too might be millionaires. They forgot that, together with an enormous faculty for work, he had unusual business acumen, and that, above all, he had done what is not given to all men to • do—seized his opportunity, taken the tide at the flood,- with the result that in comparatively few years he ranked high among the richest men of his time. . *

All this Hesketh might, have read in the words surrounding the great man's portrait; but he knew the details by heart. Among them there was not the faintest, hint as to how he would be likely to treat suitors for his only child's hand, and, as this was the sole : subject of interest at the moment, Hesketh presently flung the magazine aside and prepared for his interview. ~ Balamaine's offices were in town, away from the great works he owned but not so far but that from the topmost windows could be seen V the huge chimneys" that belched forth flames and smoke and noisome smells. Balamaine went there nearly every day of his life. The works were his pride; next to his daughter, the most desirable thing 111 existence. It was a thousand pities, people said,:' that he had no son to follow in his steps. -* ■-■ Arrived at the offices, Hesketh sent in his card. Balamaine kept him waiting hardly a moment. But during that moment the clerks behind their desks had time to dart envious glances at him. Tall, wiry, and brown, a young giant, immaculately dressed, this brought to mind the fashionable world where sport and enjoyment seemed the/only business worth while. In his turn, Hesketh looked about him with - frank interest, as was natural, considering this was the environment of her father. There was no shadow of doubt in his eyes as he followed the clerk into Marshall Balamaine's private room, but only a desire to be free to go to Nan as her lover and future husband. He wondered how soon he might marry her. In six weeks, perhaps, at longest. It was Austria they had planned—a little town among the mountains—

The door closed behind him. He found himself confronting the man he had come to ask for his daughter. It was a grim face that he saw, set in hard, inflexible lines. Balamaine's business face. Balamaine had risen and now stood facing him. Both were tall men, almost of a height, and as they measured glances the doubt in Hesketh s mind gave way to another sensation, a tingling of the nerves that meant effort, fight, a something that braced the mental faculties as the ring of crossed steel tautens the muscle of a swordsman. # As Balamaine's eyes swept over the visitor, his expression changed. He held out his hand, and Hesketh grasped it, then sat clown in the chair placed for him opposite the window.

Balamaine was a silent man who ordinarily seemed to weigh every word. Now he spoke slowly, ponderously. You wished to see me Before replying, Hesketh deliberately placed his hat and stick on an adjacent chair. A close observer might have found characteristics oddly alike in the two men. Then he looked full at Balamaine. 'I have come on no business matter, Mr. Balamaine but on a personal one. I love Nan, and she—thank God —loves me. He spoke with an undercurrent of fervor May I conclude that you will not withhold your-consent to our marriage? It was hardly a query. The quiet self-confidence of the words brought Balamaine's heavy brows together in ft frown Upon the writing table stood a small bronze statuette of a workman leaning on his pickaxe. He lifted the thing up and put it down again, as if weighing it in Lin hand . Ihen he gave his attention again to Hesketh. You seem very certain of my consent,' he remarked dryly. The young man's tanned face took on a degree more color. 'Why not?' he said. 'Nan loves me; there is nothing mmy life to my discredit. You will want to put me through my facings, and you naturally want to know kind of man your daughter is marrying. She has told me all that you are and have been to each other, and of course ' ' He broke off, some of his self-confidence torn away bv the older man s expression. He half rose; but Balamaine's great hand waved him back. ' Come, that's better,' he said. ' I like you to be frank with me. I m not the man to beat about the bush myself You re outspoken with me; I'm going to speak my mind to you; and if you get a few hard knocks— I guess my little girls worth 'em.' . J He rose and took a leisurely turn round the room then came back to his chair and, leaning forward, faced Hesketh. Nan seems to have taken a fancy to you, and you seem to think you've _ fallen in love with Nan. No waitdon t begin interrupting me—you shall have your say later *ouve known each other for a week, she tells me, and last night at a ball matters came to a head. ' ■ f It was all hideously commonplace put that way. Fortunately Hesketh's sense of humor came to his aid Ho folded his,arms, set his lips firmly, and made no comment. Marshall Balamaine, fidgetting again with the bronze statu ette, nodded to himself, s tttL '

■ / And where did you meet before that ? At another ball, "she told me. And' before that?’ He paused. * Hesketh, f imperturbable, again " made no sign. " " ‘At another ball.’ ’ \ Hesketh’s eyes came back to him from f the ’ bronze figure. ‘Forgive me for, interrupting; but you evidently like to be accurate. It was at a theatre supper given by the Craw leys.’ •/;*'■> «-4 Balamaine waved hisi hand in acknowledgment 'of the correction. ‘ What: I want to point out is the fact that never once have you and she met when either was at a disadvantage. You have both been on your very best behaviour, well dressed, pleased with your company, surrounded by all the glamor of wealth, and beauty. What can you know of my daughter? She, apparently, has the most exalted notions of your worth.’ He glanced across to Hesfceth, His last words had brought a glow to’ the young man’s eyes; but still he made no comment. - 1 Balls, theatre suppers, dinners, concerts ’ —each word touched upon gained a firmer note of scorn ‘ all very well for ’Remen, perhaps, but as a man’s chief object in life bah I'* - k H§ pushed away the. bronze, then grasped it again, using it as an object lesson with which to point his words. ‘l’ll give my girl to no wastrel of life! No man shall have her who can’t do an honest day’s work, whatever it may be, mental or physical! Amusements are all very well; but as the chief aim of existence they lead to nothing hire disaster. There are too many of your kind going, Mr.* Hesketh.’ He thrust between himself and his listener the bronze figure of the man with the pickaxe. The light fell clearly/ on the seamed face and hard, sinewy hands. Hesketh made no movement. He sat with folded arms, | his eyes alternately on the bronze figure that personified labor, and on its living exponent opposite. There was a dominating magnetism about Balamaine that attracted him. He had never met a man in the least like, him, -and some ■undeveloped force in his own nature responded to that which Balamaine exemplified. The latter & d risen now and was pacing the floor in slow, ponderous strides which made no sound on the carpet. A marble presentation clock on the mantel shelf ticked off the moments, arid from the street outside came the dull roar of traffic. All his life the ironmaster had worked in turmoil. When he spoke again, his voice held another note. The jarring strife of it had died out. With an instinctive desire to respect his emotion, Hesketh fixed his eyes on the bronze figure of Labor. ‘ After seven ' days’ acquaintance, Mr. Hesketh, you come easily enough to ask me for my only child. I have watched over her and guarded her for nineteen years. We have hardly ever been separated. Her birth cost me my wife, and at first I refused to see the child. I went away from it-all with a burning sense of resentment to mourn my/ loss sullenly alone. And one night ’ —-his voice grew hoarse * ‘ across v; the awful loneliness I seemed to hear the baby,: hers and mine, crying to me—and I came back. We have been all in all to each other for nineteen years, until,’ his strongly marked features contracted and hardened again until you —you who haven’t a notion of what life really means, ,who. have just skated- airily over the surface, blind .to rill that lies beneath, who have never done a day’s work in your life, or taken an interest in those who work. I hoped she had enough of her father in her to care for a witlpsome ideas beyond sport and entertainments.’ He pulled up short in front of Hesketh and eyed him up and down with grudging glance. ‘And the pity of it is that you re strong, well built, manly, with the looks that women set store by. And you’re nothing but a well-bred loafer, after all!’ . i • Hesketh had reached the end of his tether. He sprang Up, passionately angry, his control, flying to the winds. You .have, had your say, in all conscience, and for Nail’s sake Iye borne'it. Now it is my turn! I know you to b 0 a hard man—it’s the outcome, I suppose, of your life but I looked for some kind of tolerance at least from one who has an army of men under him. But no, you are narrow,;i-like many of your kind. You’ve -■'risen- to’ power J by ! '|tramplmg on other people ! you have set up Labor as a god, and, those who won’t fall down and worship with you,, you ; have no call for. ,' You have the great incentive, Need;] to spurn you on. There’s nothing like it for nerving a got to work, or he’s got to go under. 4 If you d been a rich man’s son, you might have been different probably much pleasanter to deal with. You grind your you interfere with the existence of those under you. You want to^ spoil the happiness of the daughter you profess to love. - She takes a secondary place. This with a passionate forefinger he indicated the bronze figure ’ ‘ this is your fetish, not Nan !’ , ’ M ' Triken., out of •: himself, Hesketh walked over to the f,He had momentarily forgotten his errand. Now the face of the girl he. loved rose before him and checked his words— eyes, the soft curve of the lips his own had tbuched last night. .He had failed her! Balamaine was not the man to forgive such plain speaking/ He ought to have tried diplomatic means. He stood' erect and went over to the chair that held his hat and stick. His face looked suddenly older, more determined. He hated the inflexible adversary : with whom he had just measured steel' He would have Nan in spite of him ! " : ’ w<i+J! a ri a i?- ailie ’ G f, i ) V l i hi i leather revolving chair, Watched him. - Suddenly he leaned nearer, his eyes gleam* i

mg under shaggy brows. 'That's the plainest speaking I ve heard for ■ many a day,' he remarked, and there was that in his deep voice which - made Hesketh pause. - ' You've a temper of your own, young man, that's certain. Now you've worked it off, you're probably ready to apologise.' S Hesketh gave a short laugh. ' Apologise Why should I? There's not a word of it 1 want to take, back. t- In spite of vour whole hearted denunciation, "' you don't : * know me yet" **:*■ *'--""" ; _ "; '7 • --• He turned on his heel again. At that moment, before Marshall Balamaine's ..eyes ; rose Nan's face, pleading, tremulous, happy. He, too, in the joy of fight had forgotten Nan. He brought his great fist on the table with an "energy that made the contents rattle. suddenly it shot out toward Hesketh. , . ~ t< , 'Shake!' he said abruptly. 'I like your spirit, young man, and your worst enemy couldn't accuse you of inconsistency. If you'd taken all I said lying down, just to curry favor on account Jof my little girl, I shouldn't have wanted to exchange another word with you. So shake and sit down! ; We must have, the .thing right out ; here and now.' '"'~--< ■■'-' \ ' "-' ' ■.-,- •--.-',••..' t-KJi-ik

And after a momentary pause Hesketh shook hands. Balamaine-drew a long breath. Nan, after all, occupied a wide territory in his heart, and Nan would have been hard to face if Hesketh there and then had walked out of the office. Instead, he sat down again.. In the eyes of both the fire of argument had died out; yet each-looked determined. ■'■: : ; -. , ~.t ;.-..... Balmaine had always wished for a son. His glance rested on the younger man, and then ruminatively shook his head.

'The pity of it!' he said half aloud. 'You'll have to prove your mettle for work before you marry my little girl. You've got your good points, I allow; but no wastrel of time shall have Nan!' . 7 ; Hesketh squared his shoulders and his mouth twitched. ,You seem mightily determined that lam a wastrel. v- Why, I wonder ? Because I. am careful in matter of dress ? So are you, in spite of your sledge hammer theories on labor. Because I go to an occasional ball, or concert, or theatre, and because 111 my travels I have brought down my share of big game?' Then, as Balamaine made no reply, he went on with apparent irrelevance, 'Do you recollect that sometime ago Verrameed's Bank stopped payment? 1 --It-was a one-man show, if you remember, and the high rate of interest paid had attracted a number of small depositors—those of us with more to lose are warier.' ■ ?=•. ■ Balamaine nodded.,. His attention was arrested by something in the speaker's hearing. Hesketh's face had altered, he looked suddenly alert, capable, a man with a purpose'After the announcement and the panic that ensued, the depositors were told that -they would be paid in full;' • He paused. Balamaine nodded again, and filled no the pause. ' • • - • - , ' Many of my workmen had m'onev in Verrameed's. Interest was too high. ■•: Some misguided fool came to the rescue, they say,, and took over the whole of the liabilities. They were discharged, sure enough, to the tune of considerably over a million, and, what's more, the. depositors had the.fatuous folly to put their money back into Verrameed's, instead of thanking their stars for a lucky escape from ruin.' ;.Hesketh shrugged'his shoulders. 'After all, the misguided fool stood to lose very little. He knew Verrameed. It was all a chapter of accidents—a run on the bank, money tied up, no cheating of any kind. The misguided fool happened to hear some pathetic tales of the depositors and went into affairs, with Verrameed, and knew what he was about —and,,. anyhow, it was . worth while risking something to send those poor creatures to bed with, easy minds. The fool stood to lose very little. He had been looking about him for an opportunity, and he got it—at Verrameed's. Verrameed s is going: stronger than ever, and though the interest is not so high, there will be greater security. Verrameed s has a good, hard-working staff, too. It was just that misguided fool's opportunity/and he hung on to it tor all he was worth.' "■'• 0 -Y>;.aa«a Hesketh ceased { speaking: and reached over for his hat and; stick J again. Then as he turned to go, he met the older man s glance. ; i '. usual; but it was a fine thing to do. Quixotic, I grant you, but fine.' '■>.< &% fi ■■■ -^■- : c ■. ■ ~ 1 ,-■■-=..., , ; 4 fo Hesketh shrugged his shoulders again.; 'lt was nothing of the kind. The fool wanted to do something, practicalhe was a bit tired of mooning around without a definite object in life. He ran no risks; he just found himself and his own possibilities—at Verrameed's. Bank hours, fortunately, are not long; though at Verrameed's, as in other places, we occasionally work overtime.' - He glanced at the clock and then at Balamaine, who stood motionless beside the table, the little bronze figure overturned near at hand. to 'Nan has been waiting a long time,' Hasketh said in a moment. ' I promised to co to her ' when ' : I had seen you, Mr. Balamaine. May I tell her that I—that you— In his 'eyes was an anxiety that had not been there On his entrance. " n

_.: .'Balamaine strode forward and held out his hand This time it T r n s , the close grip of; men standing on ari b even plane. Tell her,' he began and his deep voice was a degree hoarse-'tell her-' he broke off abruptly and gave a short laugh—'why ,tell her just what every woman Tikes best to hear from the man she Exchange