The Lord of the Sea | Page 6

"Oh, far from that, I'm afraid. But I haven't got any time--and, oh my, I
don't know how to say it,--but to be frank with you--could you lend
Richard two pounds--?"

Loveday coloured to the roots of his hair.
He could not tell her: "Open that envelope in your hand", for that
would have meant that it was he who had sent the £50 it contained; and
he had now only one sixpence in Priddlestone.
"That is", she said--"if it is not an inconvenience to you--"
He could find no words. Some fifteen minutes before, having enclosed
the notes, he had descended to the bar to get mine host to find him a
messenger, and direct the envelope--for Hogarth knew his

handwriting. Mine host was not there--his wife could not write: but she
had pointed out the Jewish park-keeper sipping beer; so Loveday had
had the man upstairs, had made him write the address, and had bribed
him to deliver the envelope with a mum tongue.
"I'm afraid I've taken a great liberty--" she said, shrinking at his silence.
Then he spoke: "Oh, liberty!--but--really--I'm quite broke myself--!"
"Then, good-afternoon to you", said she: "I am very sorry--but you will
excuse the liberty, won't you--?"
In the forest she began to cry, covering her eyes, moaning: "Why, how
could he be so mean? And I who loved that young man with all my
heart, God knows--!"
Her eyes searched the ground for two sovereigns. Then she happened to
look at the envelope: and instantly was interested. "Why, it is the Jew's
hand!" she thought, for the letters were angular in the German manner,
making a general similarity with Frankl's writing.
Curiosity overcame her: she opened, and saw...
"Oh, well, this is generous though, after all!" she exclaimed.
And now she ran, coming out from mossy path upon wide forest-road:
and there, taking promenade, was Frankl, quite near, with


phylacteried left arm.
"Why, sweetheart..." said he.
She stopped before him. "Well, you can call me what you like for the
time being", said she, laughing rather hysterically; "for I am most
grateful to you for your generous present to my brother, Mr. Frankl!"
She had still no suspicion of Richard's visit of chastisement to the Hall!
"Now, what do you mean?" said Frankl.
"Why, you might guess that I know your handwriting by this time!" she
said coquettishly, and held out the notes and the envelope.
His eyes twinkled; he meditated; he had, more than ever, need of her;
and he said: "Well, you are as 'cute as they make them!"
"But instead of sending us this, which I am not at all sure that Richard
will touch, why couldn't you pay it to yourself, and not turn us out--"
"I let business take its course: and afterwards I do my charity. But it
wasn't for your brother, you know, that I sent it--but for you".
"I must be running--"
When she reached the farm, she gave the carman a secret glimpse of
the notes, while Hogarth, who was now there, went to seek the old
Hogarth, for whom a nest had been made among the furniture in the
cart.
He was found above-stairs in an empty room, searching the floor for
something.
"Come, sir", said Hogarth, and led him step by step.
But as the old man passed the threshold, he fell flat on the slabs of the
porch, striking his forehead, printing a stain there.

And the next day, the day of the sale, he still lay in the old chamber, on
the ancient bed, dead.
VI
"PEARSON'S WEEKLY"
"Rose Cottage" was without roses: but had a good-sized "garden" at the
back; and here Hogarth soon had a shed nailed together, with bellows,
anvil, sledges, rasps, setts, drifts, and so on, making a little smithy.
He engaged a boy; and soon John Loveday would be leaning all a
forenoon at the shed door, watching the lithe ply of Hogarth's hips, and
the white-hot iron gushing flushes; while Margaret, peeping, could see
Loveday's slovenly ease of pose, his numberless
cigarettes, and hear
the rhymes of the sledges chiming.
As to Loveday's £50, she had dared to say nothing to Richard, but kept
them, intending to make up the amount already spent, and give them to
Frankl. Loveday, meantime, she avoided with constant care.
So two weeks passed, till, one day, Loveday, leaning at the forgedoor,
happened to say: "Are you interested in current politics? The East
Norfolk division is being contested, one of the candidates, Sir Bennett
Beaumont, is a friend of mine, and I was thinking that I might go to the
meeting to-night, if you could come--"
"I invite you to supper here instead".
"Not interested?" queried Loveday.
"Not at all. Stop--I'll show you something in which I am
interested".
He ran to a corner,