A Civil Contract Read online

  Mr Wimmering looked rather struck. He said: ‘I must own that one would have supposed –’ He stopped, as a thought occurred to him, and asked hopefully: ‘Have you, perhaps, received news from Belgium, my lord?’

  ‘I’ve received a good deal of news during the past weeks,’ Adam replied coolly. ‘I won’t deceive you, however: I haven’t any secret source of information, and I’ve heard nothing that confirms or refutes my father-in-law’s story.’ He paused; the disturbing smile grew more marked. ‘Have there been moments in your life, Wimmering, when you have felt, within yourself, a strong – oh, an overwhelming compulsion to do something that perhaps your reason tells you is imprudent – even dangerous? When you don’t hesitate to stake your last groat, because you know the dice are going to fall your way?’ He saw the look of horror in Wimmering’s face, and laughed. ‘No, you don’t understand, do you? Well, never mind!’

  But Mr Wimmering was unable to follow this advice. In a flash of enlightenment he had recognized his late patron in the present Viscount, and his heart sank like a plummet. He shuddered to recall the number of times the Fifth Viscount had yielded to the compulsion of an inner and too often lying voice, how many times he had been confident that his luck had changed. He sank into despair, knowing from bitter experience how useless it would be to attempt to bring his lordship to reason. There was nothing he could do to restrain him, but he did utter an anguished protest when Adam, enumerating his tangible assets, said: ‘Then there’s Fontley. You know as well as I do how much land I have left unmortgaged – unsettled too! My father blamed himself for that, didn’t he? I wish he could know how thankful I am today that the estate never was resettled!’

  Mr Wimmering was obliged to draw what comfort he could from the hope that my lord’s intangible asset would rescue him from penury. It would certainly weigh more heavily in his favour in the mind of Mr Drummond than any security he could offer – provided the banker did not discover that he was acting in defiance of Mr Chawleigh’s advice.

  ‘He won’t,’ said Adam. ‘My father-in-law banks with Hoare’s.’

  ‘My lord!’ said Wimmering desperately, ‘have you thought – have you considered – what would be your position if this – this gamble of yours should fail?’

  ‘It won’t fail,’ replied Adam, with so much calm confidence that Wimmering was impressed in spite of himself.

  But he begged Adam not to command him to carry to Drummond’s proposals of which he wholly disapproved. A very faint hope that these words might give his lordship pause was of brief duration.

  ‘Not I!’ said Adam, impish laughter in his eyes. ‘If Drummond were to catch sight of that Friday-face you’re wearing, my tale would be told! He wouldn’t lend me as much as a coach-wheel!’ Laughter faded; he looked at Wimmering for a minute without speaking, and then said perfectly seriously: ‘I don’t think Providence holds out chance upon chance to one. I think – if I were to refuse this – I should never be offered another. It means a great deal to me. Can’t you understand?’

  Mr Wimmering nodded, and answered mournfully: ‘Yes, my lord. I have for long been aware, alas –’ He left the sentence unfinished, only sighing heavily.

  ‘Don’t mistake me!’ Adam said quickly. ‘It’s some quirk in me – an odd kick in my gallop, my father would have said! – no fault of Mr Chawleigh’s! I’ve received nothing but kindness from him. Indeed, I hold him in considerable affection!’

  Mr Wimmering knew that there was no more to be said. He was well enough acquainted with Mr Chawleigh to feel a profound sympathy for anyone who lay within his power; but he still could not repress a hope that Mr Drummond would prove less accommodating than my lord anticipated. But no sooner did he entertain this hope than it was shattered by a macabre vision of my lord caught in the toils of some blood-sucking moneylender, which so much appalled him that when he presently climbed into a hack the jarvey had to ask him twice where he wanted to go before he could collect himself sufficiently to utter the address of his office in the City.

  He had offered to await the result of his client’s visit to the bank at Fenton’s, but Adam (looking alarmingly like a school-boy bent on mischief) said that he was not going to return to the hotel until late at night, because he meant to take good care to keep out of his father-in-law’s way, and it was well within the bounds of probability that Mr Chawleigh might call there to make certain that his advice was being followed. ‘I should be obliged to tell him the truth, and that wouldn’t do at all,’ Adam said. ‘I’ll come to your place of business, and very likely remain there. I shouldn’t think he would call there, would you? He will suppose you to be running all about the City, trying to dispose of my stock. In any event, we will warn your clerk! Is there a cupboard I can slip into, in case of need?’

  Jolting over the cobbles in the aged and malodorous hack, Mr Wimmering reflected that with all his faults the Fifth Viscount had never demanded of his man of business a cupboard in which he could hide.

  Arrived at his office, he had some time to wait before he heard Adam’s halting step on the dusty stairs. He got up from behind his desk, as Adam was ushered into his room, but he had no need to ask how my lord had fared: the answer was plain to see in his smile. Wimmering had had time to recover his usual composure, and he said, in a tone of mere respectful enquiry: ‘Your lordship has prospered in your errand?’

  Adam nodded. ‘Yes, of course! Did you think I should not? Fifty thousand – can you buy up to that figure?’

  ‘Fifty thousand?’ echoed Wimmering. ‘Drummond will lend you fifty-thousand-pounds, my lord?’

  ‘But why not? Consider! I’ve something in the region of twenty thousand invested in the Funds already; I have Fontley, with the demesne lands; and besides that there are the three farms which –’

  ‘Did he know for what purpose you wanted such a sum, my lord?’

  ‘Certainly! He doesn’t think I’ve run mad! Nor is he shaking like a blancmanger because we may have suffered a reverse. We had a long talk together: he’s a sensible man – really a great gun!’ He regarded Wimmering with a decided twinkle, and said reproachfully: ‘No, no, you are quite mistaken!’

  ‘My lord?’ said Wimmering, startled.

  ‘I told him, at the outset, that I wished to impress upon him most particularly that what I had to propose to him had nothing whatsoever to do with my father-in-law.’

  Wimmering opened his mouth, and shut it again. He could well imagine what the effect of this warning must have been. He began to suspect that he had underrated his lordship, but all he said was: ‘Just so, my lord. Very proper!’

  Adam laughed. ‘Well, he can’t say I didn’t tell him the exact truth, at all events! Now, listen, Wimmering! Mr Chawleigh assured me that you would know how to sell my stock, so I trust you may know how to buy more for me.’

  ‘There will be no difficulty about that, my lord,’ replied Wimmering, at his dryest.

  ‘Good! I don’t know how low the price may sink, but I think I ought not to run any risks, so buy now, if you please!’

  Mr Wimmering closed his eyes for an anguished moment. ‘Run any risks…!’ he repeated faintly.

  ‘If I delayed, in the hope of buying cheaper still, I might miss my tip. At any moment now we may expect to get news from Headquarters, which will put an end to the panic in the City. Drummond warns me not to look for any startling rise immediately. He considers that it’s unlikely that the price will go beyond what it was when the books were closed, so do the best you can for me, Wimmering! I know you will.’

  ‘I should prefer to say that I shall obey your orders, my lord,’ Wimmering replied.

  Though he set about his task with extreme reluctance, he performed it to his patron’s entire satisfaction. ‘As low as that!’ Adam exclaimed, still in that mood of alarming elation. ‘You’re a wizard, Wimmering! how the devil did you contrive to do it? I wish you will try to look a little more cheerful!’

  ‘My lord,’ said Wimmering, ‘had I found it impossible