Books: Madame Midas
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Fergus Hume >> Madame Midas
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At six o'clock everything was ready for dinner, and having seen that
all was in good order, Kitty walked outside to watch for Gaston.
There was a faint, warm, light outside, and the sky was of a pale
opaline tint, while the breeze blowing across the garden brought the
perfume of the flowers to her, putting Kitty in mind of Mrs
Villiers' garden at Ballarat. Oh, those innocent days! would they
never come again? Alas! she knew that they would not--the subtle
feeling of youth had left her for ever; and this girl, leaning up
against the house with her golden head resting on her arm, knew that
the change had come over her which turns all from youth to age.
Suddenly she heard the rattle of wheels, and rousing herself from
her reverie, she saw a hansom cab at the gate, and M. Vandeloup
standing on the pavement paying the driver. She also heard her lover
tell the cabman to call for him at eight o'clock, and her heart sank
within her as she thought that he would be gone again in two hours.
The cab drove off, and she stood cold and silent on the verandah
waiting for Gaston, who sauntered slowly up the walk with one hand
in the pocket of his trousers. He was in evening dress, and the
night being warm he did not wear an overcoat, so looked tall and
slim in his dark clothes as he came up the path swinging his cane
gaily to and fro.
'Well, Bebe,' he said, brightly, as he bent down and kissed her,
'here I am, you see; I hope you've got a nice dinner for me?'
'Oh, yes,' answered Kitty, trying to smile, and walking before him
into the house; 'I told Mrs Pulchop, and she has made special
preparations.'
'How is that walking hospital?' asked Vandeloup, carelessly taking
off his hat; 'I suppose she is ill as usual.'
'So she says,' replied Kitty, with a laugh, as he put his arm in
hers and walked into the room; 'she is always ill.'
'Why, Bebe, how charming you look tonight,' said Vandeloup, holding
her at arm's length; 'quite like your old self.'
And indeed she looked very pretty, for the excitement of seeing him
had brightened her eyes and flushed her cheeks, and standing in the
warm light of the lamp, with her golden hair floating round her
head, she looked like a lovely picture.
'You are not going away very soon?' she whispered to Gaston, coming
close to him, and putting her hand on his shoulder; 'I see so little
of you now.'
'My dear child, I can't help it,' he said, carelessly removing her
hand and walking over to the dinner table; 'I have an engagement in
town tonight.'
'Ah, you no longer care for me,' said Kitty, with a stifled sob.
Vandeloup shrugged his shoulders.
'If you are going to make a scene,' he said, coldly, 'please
postpone it. I don't want my appetite taken away; would you kindly
see if the dinner is ready?'
Kitty dried her eyes and rang the bell, upon which Mrs Pulchop
glided into the room, still wrapped in her heavy shawl.
'It ain't quite ready yet, sir,' she said, in answer to Gaston's
question; 'Topsy 'aving been bad with the toothache, which you can't
expect people to cook dinners as is ill!'
'Why don't you send her to the hospital?' said Vandeloup, with a
yawn, looking at his watch.
'Never,' retorted Mrs Pulchop, in a decisively shrill voice; 'their
medicines ain't pure, and they leaves you at the mercy of doctors to
be practised on like a pianer. Topsy may go to the cemetery like her
poor dear father, but never to an inquisition of a hospital;' and
with this Mrs Pulchop faded out of the room, for her peculiar mode
of egress could hardly be called walking out.
At last dinner made its appearance, and Kitty recovering her
spirits, they had a very pleasant meal together, and then Gaston sat
over his coffee with a cigarette, talking to Kitty.
He never was without a cigarette in his mouth, and his fingers were
all stained a yellowish brown by the nicotine. Kitty lay back in a
big arm-chair listening to his idle talk and admiring him as he sat
at the dinner table.
'Can't you stay tonight?' she said, looking imploringly at him.
Vandeloup shook his head gently.
'I have an engagement, as I told you before,' he said, lazily;
'besides, evenings at home are so dreary.'
'I will be here,' said Kitty, reproachfully.
'That will, of course, make a difference,' answered Gaston, with a
faint sneer; 'but you know,' shrugging his shoulders, 'I do not
cultivate the domestic virtues.'
'What will you do when we are married?' said Kitty, with an uneasy
laugh.
'Enough for the day is the evil thereof,' replied M. Vandeloup, with
a gay smile.
'What do you mean?' asked the girl, with a sudden start.
Vandeloup arose from his seat, and lighting another cigarette he
lounged over to the fireplace, and leaned against the mantelpiece
with his hands in his pockets.
'I mean that when we are married it will be time enough to talk
about such things,' he answered, looking at her through his
eyelashes.
'Then we will talk about them very shortly,' said Kitty, with an
angry laugh, as her hands clenched the arms of the chair tightly;
'for the year is nearly up, and you promised to marry me at the end
of it.'
'How many things do we intend to do that are never carried out?'
said Gaston, gently. 'Do you mean that you will break your promise?'
she asked, with a scared face.
Vandeloup removed the cigarette from his mouth, and, leaning one
elbow on the mantelpiece, looked at her with a smile.
'My dear,' he said, quietly, 'things are not going well with me at
present, and I want money badly.'
'Well?' asked Kitty in a whisper, her heart beating loudly.
'You are not rich,' said her lover, 'so why should we two paupers
get married, only to plunge ourselves into misery?'
'Then you refuse to marry me?' she said, rising to her feet.
He bowed his head gently.
'At present, yes,' he answered, and replaced the cigarette between
his lips.
Kitty stood for a moment as if turned to stone, and then throwing up
her hands with a gesture of despair, fell back into the chair, and
burst into a flood of tears. Vandeloup shrugged his shoulders in a
resigned sort of manner, and glanced at his watch to see when it
would be time for him to go. Meanwhile he smoked quietly on, and
Kitty, after sobbing for some time, dried her eyes, and sat up in
the chair again.
'How long is this going to last?' she asked, in a hard voice.
'Till I get rich!'
'That may be a long time?'
'It may.'
'Perhaps never?'
'Perhaps!'
'And then I will never be your wife?'
'Unfortunately, no.'
'You coward!' burst forth Kitty, rising from her seat, and crossing
over to him; 'you made me leave my home with your false promises,
and now you refuse to make me the only reparation that is in your
power.'
'Circumstances are against any virtuous intentions I may entertain,'
retorted Vandeloup, coolly.
Kitty looked at him for a moment, then ran over to a desk near the
window, and took from thence a small bottle of white glass with two
red bands round it. She let the lid of the desk fall with a bang,
then crossed to Vandeloup, holding the bottle up before him.
'Do you know what this is?' she asked, in a harsh voice.
'The poison I made in Ballarat,' he answered, coolly, blowing a
wreath of smoke; 'how did you get hold of it?'
'I found it in your private desk,' she said, coldly.
'That was wrong, my dear,' he answered, gently, 'you should never
betray confidences--I left the desk in your charge, and it should
have been sacred to you.'
'Out of your own mouth are you condemned,' said the girl, quickly;
'you have betrayed my confidence and ruined me, so if you do not fix
a day for our marriage, I swear I will drink this and die at your
feet.'
'How melodramatic you are, Bebe,' said Vandeloup, coolly; 'you put
me in mind of Croisette in "Le Sphinx".'
'You don't believe I will do it.'
'No! I do not.'
'Then see.' She took the stopper out of the bottle and held it to
her lips. Vandeloup did not stir, but, still smoking, stood looking
at her with a smile. His utter callousness was too much for her, and
replacing the stopper again, she slipped the bottle into her pocket
and let her hands fall idly by her side.
'I thought you would not do it,' replied Gaston, smoothly, looking
at his watch; 'you must really excuse me, I hear the cab wheels
outside.'
Kitty, however, placed herself in front of him as he moved towards
the door.
'Listen to me,' she said, in a harsh voice, with white face and
flaming eyes; 'to-night I leave this house for ever.'
He bowed his head.
'As it pleases you,' he replied, simply.
'My God!' she cried, 'have you no love for me now?'
'No,' he answered, coldly and brutally, 'I am tired of you.'
She fell on her knees and clutched his hand.
'Dear Gaston! dear Gaston!' she cried, covering it with kisses,
'think how young I am, how my life is ruined, and by you. I gave up
everything for your sake--home, father, and friends--you will not
cast me off like this after all I have sacrificed for you? Oh, for
God's sake, speak--speak!'
'My dear,' said Vandeloup, gravely, looking down at the kneeling
figure with the streaming eyes and clenched hands, 'as long as you
choose to stay here I will be your friend--I cannot afford to marry
you, but while you are with me our lives will be as they have been;
good-bye at present,' touching her forehead coldly with his lips, 'I
will call to-morrow afternoon to see how you are, and I trust this
will be the last of such scenes.'
He drew his hand away from hers, and she sat on the floor dull and
silent, with her eyes fixed on the ground and an aching in her
heart. Vandeloup went into the hall, put on his hat, then lighting
another cigarette and taking his stick, walked gaily out of the
house, humming an air from 'La Belle Helene'. The cab was waiting
for him at the door, and telling the man to drive to the Bachelors'
Club, he entered the cab and rattled away down the street without a
thought for the broken-hearted woman he left behind.
Kitty sat on the floor with her folded hands lying carelessly on her
lap and her eyes staring idly at the carpet. This, then, was the end
of all her hopes and joys--she was cast aside carelessly by this man
now that he wearied of her. Love's young dream had been sweet
indeed; but, ah! how bitter was the awakening. Her castles in the
air had all melted into clouds, and here in the very flower of her
youth she felt that her life was ruined, and she was as one
wandering in a sterile waste, with a black and starless sky
overhead. She clasped her hands with a sensation of pain, and a rose
at her breast fell down withered and dead. She took it up with
listless fingers, and with the quiver of her hand the leaves fell
off and were scattered over her white dress in a pink shower. It was
an allegory of her life, she thought. Once it had been as fresh and
full of fragrance as this dead rose; then it had withered, and now
she saw all her hopes and beliefs falling off one by one like the
faded petals. Ah, there is no despair like that of youth; and Kitty,
sitting on the floor with hot dry eyes and a pain in her heart, felt
that the sun of her life had set for ever.
**
So still the night was. No moon as yet, but an innumerable blaze of
stars set like diamonds in the dark blue sky. A smoky yellowish haze
hung over the city, but down in the garden amid the flowers all was
cool and fragrant. The house was quite dark, and a tall mulberry
tree on one side of it was black against the clear sky. Suddenly the
door opened, and a figure came out and closed the door softly after
it. Down the path it came, and standing in the middle of the garden,
raised a white tear-stained face to the dark sky. A dog barked in
the distance, and then a fresh cold breeze came sweeping through the
trees and stirring the still perfumes of the flowers. The figure
threw its hands out towards the house with a gesture of despair,
then gliding down the path it went out of the gate and stole quietly
down the lonely street.
CHAPTER III
M. VANDELOUP HEARS SOMETHING TO HIS ADVANTAGE
As he drove rapidly into town Gaston's thoughts were anything but
pleasant. Not that he was thinking about Kitty, for he regarded the
scene he had with her as merely an outburst of hysterical passion,
and did not dream she would take any serious step. He forgot all
about her when he left the house, and, lying back in the cab smoking
one of his everlasting cigarettes, pondered about his position. The
fact was he was very hard up for money, and did not know where to
turn for more. His luck at cards was so great that even the
Bachelors, used as they were to losing large sums, began to murmur
among themselves that M. Vandeloup was too clever, and as that young
gentleman by no means desired to lose his popularity he stopped
playing cards altogether, and so effectually silenced everyone. So
this mode of making money was gone, and until Madame Midas arrived
in town Vandeloup did not see how he was going to keep on living in
his former style. But as he never denied himself anything while he
had the money, he ordered the cabman to drive to Paton's, the
florist in Swanston Street, and there purchased a dainty bunch of
flowers for his button hole. From thence he drove to his club, and
there found a number of young fellows, including Mr Barty Jarper,
all going to the Princess Theatre to see 'The Mikado'. Barty rushed
forward when Vandeloup appeared and noisily insisted he should come
with them. The men had been dining, and were exhilarated with wine,
so Vandeloup, not caring to appear at the theatre with such a noisy
lot, excused himself. Barty and his friends, therefore, went off by
themselves, and left Vandeloup alone. He picked up the evening paper
and glanced over it with a yawn, when a name caught his eye which he
had frequently noticed before.
'I say,' he said to a tall, fair young fellow who had just entered,
'who is this Meddlechip the paper is full of?'
'Don't you know?' said the other, in surprise; 'he's one of our
richest men, and very generous with his money.'
'Oh, I see! buys popularity,' replied Vandeloup, coolly; 'how is it
I've never met him?'
'He's been to China or Chile--or--something commencing with a C,'
returned the young man, vaguely; 'he only came back to Melbourne
last week; you are sure to meet him sooner or later.'
'Thanks, I'm not very anxious,' replied Vandeloup, with a yawn;
'money in my eyes does not compensate for being bored; where are you
going to-night?'
'"Mikado",' answered the other, whose name was Bellthorp; 'Jarper
asked me to go up there; he's got a box.'
'How does he manage to pay for all these things?' asked Vandeloup,
rising; 'he's only in a bank, and does not get much money.'
'My dear fellow,' said Bellthorp, putting his arm in that of
Vandeloup's, 'wherever he gets it, he always has it, so as long as
he pays his way it's none of our business; come and have a drink.'
Vandeloup assented with a laugh, and they went to the bar.
'I've got a cab at the door,' he said to Bellthorp, after they had
finished their drinks, and were going downstairs; 'come with me, and
I'll go up to the Princess also; Jarper asked me and I refused, but
men as well as women are entitled to change their minds.'
They got into the cab and drove up Collins Street to the Princess
Theatre. After dismissing the cab, they went up stairs and found the
first act was just over, and the bar was filled with a crowd of
gentlemen, among whom Barty and his friends were conspicuous. On the
one side the doors opened on to the wide stone balcony, where a
number of ladies were seated, and on the other balcony a lot of men
were smoking. Leaving Bellthorp with Jarper, Vandeloup ordered a
brandy and soda and went out on the balcony to smoke.
The bell rang to indicate the curtain was going to rise on the
second act, and the bar and balconies gradually emptied themselves
into the theatre. M. Vandeloup, however, still sat smoking, and
occasionally drinking his brandy and soda, while he thought over his
difficulties, and wondered how he could get out of them. It was a
wonderfully hot night, and not even the dark blue of the moonless
sky, studded with stars, could give any sensation of coolness. Round
the balcony were several windows belonging to the dressing-rooms of
the theatre, and the lights within shone through the vivid red of
the blinds with which they were covered. The door leading into the
bar was wide open, and within everything seemed hot, even under the
cool, white glare of the electric lights, which shone in large oval-
shaped globes hanging from the brass supports in clusters like those
grapes known as ladies' fingers. In front stretched the high
balustrade of the balcony, and as Vandeloup leaned back in his chair
he could see the white blaze of the electric lights rising above
this, and then the luminous darkness of the summer's night. Beyond a
cluster of trees, with a path, lit by gas lamps, going through it,
the lights of which shone like dull yellow stars. On the right arose
the great block of Parliament-buildings, with the confused mass of
the scaffolding, standing up black and dense against the sky. A
pleasant murmur arose from the crowded pavement below, and through
the incessant rattle of cabs and sharp, clear cries of the street
boys, Gaston could hear the shrill tones of a violin playing the
dreamy melody of the 'One Summer's Night in Munich' valse, about
which all Melbourne was then raving.
He was so occupied with his own thoughts that he did not notice two
gentlemen who came in from the bar, and taking seats a little
distant from him, ordered drinks from the waiter who came to attend
to them. They were both in evening dress, and had apparently left
the opera in order to talk business, for they kept conversing
eagerly, and their voices striking on Vandeloup's ear he glanced
round at them and then relapsed into his former inattentive
position. Now, however, though apparently absorbed in his own
thoughts, he was listening to every word they said, for he had
caught the name of The Magpie Reef, a quartz mine, which had lately
been floated on the market, the shares of which had run up to a
pound, and then, as bad reports were circulated about it, dropped
suddenly to four shillings. Vandeloup recognised one as Barraclough,
a well-known stockbroker, but the other was a dark, wiry-looking man
of medium height, whom he had never seen before.
'I tell you it's a good thing,' said Barraclough, vehemently laying
his hand on the table; 'Tollerby is the manager, and knows
everything about it.'
'Gad, he ought to,' retorted the other with a laugh, 'if he's the
manager; but I don't believe in it, dear boy, I never did; it
started with a big splash, and was going to be a second Long Tunnel
according to the prospectus; now the shares are only four shillings-
-pshaw!'
'Yes, but you forget the shares ran up to a pound,' replied
Barraclough, quickly; 'and now they are so cheap we can snap them up
all over the market, and then--'
'Well?' asked the other, with interest.
'They will run up, old fellow--see?' and the Broker rubbed his hands
gleefully.
'How are you going to get up a "Boom" on them?' asked the wiry man,
sceptically; 'the public won't buy blindly, they must see
something.'
'And so they shall,' said Barraclough, eagerly; 'Tollerby is sending
down some of the stone.'
'From the Magpie Reef?' asked the other, suspiciously.
'Of course,' retorted the Broker, indignantly; 'you did not think it
was salted, did you? There is gold in the reef, but it is patchy.
See,' pulling out a pocket-book, 'I got this telegram from Tollerby
at four o'clock to-day;' he took a telegram from the pocket-book and
handed it to his companion.
'Struck it rich--evidently pocket--thirty ounces to machine,' read
the other slowly; 'gad! that looks well, why don't you put it in the
papers?'
'Because I don't hold enough shares,' replied the other,
impatiently; 'don't you understand? To-morrow I go on 'Change and
buy up all the shares at four shillings I can lay my hands on, then
at the end of the week the samples of stone--very rich--come down. I
publish this telegram from the manager, and the "Boom" starts.'
'How high do you think the shares will go?' asked the wiry man,
thoughtfully.
Barraclough shrugged his shoulders, and replaced the telegram in his
pocket-book.
'Two or three pounds, perhaps more,' he replied, rising. 'At all
events, it's a good thing, and if you go in with me, we'll clear a
good few thousand out of it.'
'Come and see me to-morrow morning,' said the wiry man, also rising.
'I think I'll stand in.'
Barraclough rubbed his hands gleefully, and then slipping his arm in
that of his companion they left the balcony and went back to the
theatre.
Vandeloup felt every nerve in his body tingling. Here was a chance
to make money. If he only had a few hundreds he could buy up all the
Magpie shares he could get and reap the benefit of the rise. Five
hundred pounds! If he could obtain that sum he could buy two
thousand five hundred shares, and if they went to three pounds, he
could clear nearly eight thousand. What an idea! It was ripe fruit
tumbling off the tree without the trouble of plucking it. But five
hundred pounds! He had not as many pence, and he did not know where
to get it. If he could only borrow it from someone--but then he
could offer no security. A sense of his own helplessness came on him
as he saw this golden tide flowing past his door, and yet was unable
to take advantage of it. Five hundred pounds! The sum kept buzzing
in his head like a swarm of bees, and he threw himself down again in
his chair to try and think where he could get it.
A noise disturbed him, and he saw that the opera was over, and a
crowd of gentlemen were thronging into the bar. Jarper was among
them, and he thought he would speak to him on the subject. Yes,
Barty was a clever little fellow, and seemed always able to get
money. Perhaps he would be able to assist him. He stepped out of the
balcony into the light and touched Barty on the shoulder as he stood
amid his friends.
'Hullo! it's you!' cried Barty, turning round. 'Where have you been,
old chap?'
'Out on the balcony,' answered Vandeloup, curtly.
'Come and have supper with us,' said Barty, hospitably. 'We are
going to have some at Leslie's.'
'Yes, do come,' urged Bellthorp, putting his arm in that of
Vandeloup's; 'we'll have no end of fun.'
Vandeloup was just going to accept, as he thought on the way he
could speak privately to Barty about this scheme he had, when he saw
a stout gentleman at the end of the room taking a cup of coffee at
the counter, and talking to another gentleman who was very tall and
thin. The figure of the stout gentleman seemed familiar to
Vandeloup, and at this moment he turned slowly round and looked down
the room. Gaston gave a start when he saw his face, and then smiled
in a gratified manner to himself.
'Who is that gentleman with the coffee?' he asked Barty.
'Those stout and lean kine,' said Barty, airily, 'puts one in mind
of Pharaoh's dream, doesn't it?'
'Yes, yes!' retorted Gaston, impatiently; 'but who are they?'
'The long one is Fell, the railway contractor,' said Barty, glancing
with some surprise at Vandeloup, 'and the other is old Meddlechip,
the millionaire.'
'Meddlechip,' echoed Vandeloup, as if to himself; 'my faith!'
'Yes,' broke in Bellthorp, quickly; 'the one we were speaking of at
the club--do you know him?'
'I fancy I do,' said Vandeloup, with a strange smile. 'You must
excuse me to your supper to-night.'
'No, we won't,' said Barty, firmly; 'you must come.'
'Then I'll look in later,' said Vandeloup, who had not the slightest
intention of going. 'Will that do?'
'I suppose it will have to,' said Bellthorp, in an injured tone;
'but why can't you come now?'
'I've got to see about some business,' said Vandeloup.
'What, at this hour of the night?' cried Jarper, in a voice of
disgust.
Vandeloup nodded, and lit a cigarette.
'Well, mind you come in later,' said Barty, and then he and his
friends left the bar, after making Vandeloup promise faithfully he
would come.
Gaston sauntered slowly up to the coffee bar, and asked for a cup in
his usual musical voice, but when the stout gentleman heard him
speak he turned pale and looked up. The thin one had gone off to
talk to someone else, so when Vandeloup got his coffee he turned
slowly round and looked straight at Meddlechip seated in the chair.
'Good evening, M. Kestrike,' he said, quietly.
Meddlechip, whose face was usually red and florid-looking, turned
ghastly pale, and sprang to his feet.
'Octave Braulard!' he gasped, placing his coffee cup on the counter.
'At your service,' said Vandeloup, looking rapidly round to see that
no one overheard the name, 'but here I am Gaston Vandeloup.'
Meddlechip passed his handkerchief over his face and moistened his
dry lips with his tongue.
'How did you get here?' he asked, in a strangled voice.
'It's a long story,' said M. Vandeloup, putting his coffee cup down
and wiping his lips with his handkerchief; 'suppose we go and have
supper somewhere, and I'll tell you all about it.'
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