Toilers of Babylon: A Novel

"No, no, of course not. And yet-but I can say no more at present. Have you the portrait with you?"

"Yes, I brought it, expecting you to ask to see it."

He handed it to Mr. Hollingworth, who, the moment he saw it, gave utterance to a cry of joyful surprise. It was the cry of a man who had been suddenly and unexpectedly released from unendurable torture.

"You are not mistaken?" he exclaimed. "This is the picture you found in your daughter's box?"

"It is," replied Mr. Parkinson, gazing suspiciously at Mr. Hollingworth. "Your son's name is written on the back."

"I see it, in your daughter's handwriting." Mr. Parkinson could not understand the meaning of another strange expression in Mr. Hollingworth's face as that gentleman raised his eyes from the picture and partly turned to the contractor. "You are satisfied that this is the portrait of the-the gentleman who has wronged your daughter?"

"She told me it was, and I am satisfied."

"You lift a weight from my heart. Mr. Parkinson, this is not the portrait of my son, nor of any member of my family."

"I'll not take your word for it," cried Mr. Parkinson, taking, with some roughness, the picture from Mr. Hollingworth. "Tell me, sir, you," he said, addressing Mr. Manners, "whether he speaks the truth."

Before Mr. Hollingworth could prevent him he thrust the picture into Mr. Manners's hand, who, gazing upon it, recognized the likeness of his nephew, Mark Inglefield. Mr. Manners and Mr. Hollingworth exchanged meaning glances.

"My friend speaks truly," said Mr. Manners, "and you might have believed him without appealing to me. This is not his son."

"What infamous plot is here?" cried Mr. Parkinson.

"None of our making, Mr. Parkinson," said Mr. Hollingworth. "With all my heart I sympathize with you."

"I want none of your sympathy," said Mr. Parkinson, "I want justice, and I will have it. Whoever this man is, I will drag him into the light." In his passion he turned from one to the other with furious looks.

"You cannot blame the innocent," said Mr. Hollingworth, pointing to a picture on the wall. "That is my son, Mr. Parkinson. You can trace no resemblance between the portraits."

"No, they are not the same men. What is the meaning of this mystery? It shall not remain a mystery long-I swear it!"

"Is there any reason why this interview should be prolonged?" said Mr. Hollingworth. "If you doubt my word, and that of my friend, you can set your doubt at rest by looking at the illustrated papers this week, in which the portrait of my son, a newly elected member of Parliament, will appear. It would be the height of folly on my part to attempt to deceive you. I make this promise to you, Mr. Parkinson. If you prove the portrait to be that of my son-who is as dear to me as your daughter is to you-and if he has done your child wrong, he shall make her the only reparation in the power of an honorable man."

"I hold you to your word, sir," said Mr. Parkinson, "and if I have been mistaken, I ask your pardon. There is, however, something more for me to say. I am not blind; I have watched the faces of you gentlemen, and I believe you know who this person is. I may be mistaken in this belief, as I am in the other, according to you. Will you tell me if I am right or wrong?"

Mr. Hollingworth made a deprecatory motion with his hand which the injured father construed into a refusal. Mr. Manners was motionless.

"Very well, gentlemen," said Mr. Parkinson, with a gesture, half despairing, half scornful, "I will take your silence for what it is worth. But listen to me. There appears to be a double villainy in this affair, and it shall be brought to light. In my daughter's belief, the name of the man who betrayed her is Richard Hollingworth; and if your son's name has been so used it has been used for a vile purpose, and your honor is concerned as well as my own-if you will excuse a common working-man for speaking of his honor."

"Nay, nay, Mr. Parkinson," said Mr. Hollingworth, gently, "surely you will not do me a further injustice!"

"It is far from my wish, sir; but it is natural-perhaps you will admit it-that words should escape me for which I ought not to be held strictly accountable. Again I ask your pardon. You have met me fairly, and I thank you for it. That is all, I think."

"Good-night, Mr. Parkinson," said Mr. Hollingworth, holding out his hand. "There are reasons why I should say nothing further at present. I will make a point of calling upon you and your daughter, with my son, if you will permit me. And if I can in any way befriend you-"

"You can in one way," interrupted Mr. Parkinson, "and in one way only; by helping me unmask this villain and bringing him to justice. He has ruined my daughter's life, and I will ruin his if it is in my power-ay, I will, though it cost me the last drop of my blood. Good-night, sir."

He turned to go, but stopped at the instance of Mr. Manners.

"One moment," said that gentleman; "your visit here is at an end, and mine is nearly so. Would you have any objection to waiting for me below for two or three minutes? I wish to speak privately with you."

"Will it serve any good purpose?" demanded Mr. Parkinson.

"It may," replied Mr. Manners. "There are other wrongs than yours."

"I don't dispute it. But I am concerned only in my own. Excuse me for speaking roughly."

"I excuse you readily, and may perhaps have cause to be grateful to you. Other persons whom you honor may also have cause to be grateful that what you had to say to this gentleman was said in my presence. Let this assurance content you, and give me the favor of your company when you leave this house."

"I'll do so, sir. I seem to be struggling in a net. A little mystery more or less won't matter much."

With a rough bow-in which there was some native grace of manner which well became him in his grief and perplexity-he left the room. The two gentlemen, being alone, waited each for the other to speak; but the silence was soon broken.

"The man's tale is true," said Mr. Hollingworth; "of that there can be no doubt. But I will not rashly commit myself to what may be an act of injustice. It remains for your nephew, Mr. Inglefield, to clear himself from the foul charge. If he cannot do so, he has played the part of an infamous scoundrel in the use he has made of my son's name; it is conduct which cannot be forgiven. Why, he might have ruined my lad at the very outset of his public career! If you were in my place, with an only son, upon whom all your hopes were set-for, although he has a sister, a girl counts for very little-would you overlook an act so base?"

"No," replied Mr. Manners. A sharp pang had passed through him at Mr. Hollingworth's reference to an only son. He thought of Kingsley, with his bright, ingenuous face, with his eager voice, and simple, loving ways, with his clear ideas of duty and honor. Yes, even duty, which, in the years that were gone, he had accused Kingsley of forgetting and neglecting, crept into his mind side by side with honor. A rash act to marry without a father's consent, against a father's wishes; but Kingsley was ever rash and impulsive, but never in a dishonorable direction-never! And the step being taken, he did not flinch from its consequences. He had thrown in his hard fortune with the woman to whom he had pledged his faith, and had not for one instant wavered in the course he had believed it was right to follow. Would his nephew, Mark Inglefield, have stood so unflinchingly firm; would he have withstood temptation as Kingsley had done? Mentally he surveyed the two men, and a sound like a groan escaped his lips.

"Have I pained you by my decision V asked Mr. Hollingworth, in a solicitous tone.

"No; it is just. My thoughts were upon another matter."

The sadness of his voice impressed Mr. Hollingworth, and he remembered that Mr. Manners had an only son, whom he had cast off for disobedience. This remembrance came to him now with strange significance. Mr. Parkinson had mentioned the name of Mrs. Manners, and had described her as an angel of goodness. Was it possible that some close relation existed between these two who bore the same name?

"You had a son," he ventured to say.

"Yes, I had a son," said Mr. Manners, "who disappointed and disobeyed me."

"Children have no appreciation of the sacrifices parents make for them. I am sorry for you. I should not have spoken of him but for a reference made by the man who has just left us.

"Yes; he spoke of a Mrs. Manners. The name is not a common one, and it may be-" He broke off here. "Mr. Hollingworth, it is not correct for me to say that my son disobeyed me, and you must not suppose that he was guilty of a dishonorable action. He was incapable of it."

"Is he living still?" asked Mr. Hollingworth, laying his hand sympathizingly on his guest's shoulder.

"I do not know. I have heard nothing of him for years. We will not pursue the subject; it is too painful, and I am waited for below. With respect to Mr. Inglefield, your best course will be to see or write to him. There need be no disguise. I myself shall speak to him, and shall mention names plainly."

"I will write to him to-night; he must know at once that his visits here are at an end, unless he has been maligned."

Mr. Manners found Mr. Parkinson waiting for him in the street.

"I could not stop in the house," he said, "there is something about it that suffocates me."

"I intended to ask you to walk with me to mine," said Mr. Manners.

"I will walk with you, but I refuse to enter it," rejoined Mr. Parkinson, roughly. "You are, of course, a rich man."

"Yes, I am rich."

"I am poor, and I will keep my place. It would be better for all of us if every man did the same. We can talk in the streets. It will serve some good purpose, you said. I ask nothing for myself, mind, nothing but justice."

"In the sad story you have told," said Mr. Manners, "you spoke of a woman who was kind to your daughter."

"I did, and what I said of her is true. She is an angel of goodness, and she saved my daughter, body and soul. See here, sir. I am not a church-going man, and I hate sanctimonious people, but I am not a heathen either. There's some kind of a power that made the world and sent us into it for some purpose. I often wonder what, when I think of things. And there's a hereafter, and I'm glad to know it. I'll tell you why I'm glad. Because, if that scoundrel who ruined my daughter escapes his punishment here-and I'll do my best that he sha'n't-but if he does escape it here, he'll meet it there! That's a satisfaction to me, and the thought of it will make me religious. I'll go to church next Sunday."

"My object in speaking to you now," said Mr. Manners, "is to obtain information of Mrs. Manners. I gathered from what you said that she is poor."

"Very poor," said Mr. Parkinson, "and that stands to her credit here, and 'll stand to her credit in the next world-if there's any justice there."

"In what way does it stand to her credit?"

Mr. Parkinson stopped suddenly to look at Mr. Manners's face, upon which the light of a street lamp was shining.

"You are asking close questions," he said, "and I'm getting suspicious of people."

"You are suspicious of me?"

"Put it as you like. You don't know me, and never heard of me before to-night, and I don't suppose you care a brass farthing whether you ever hear of me again. I never saw you before to-night, and I don't know your name even; so you have the advantage of me. You're in the light, you see, and I'm in the dark, and here we are talking together confidentially, with the difference that you know what you're talking about, and I don't. Stop a bit. I see you want to speak; but I must work off my reel first. I don't care for interruptions. You've heard me tell my story; you've got in your mind my name, and my girl's name and shame, likewise the name of the man I'd take by the throat if he stood before me now and I knew it. Likewise the name of the angel woman who saved her, and who'd stand by her-I'll take my oath on it-if all the rest of the world was hounding her and throwing mud at her. Likely as not you're a friend of the scoundrel that's brought this upon us. I saw something in your face that makes me sure now he's not a stranger to you. He was a gentleman, so-called; you're another. I've only got your word for it that the talk you're having with me is for a good purpose. It may be for a bad one. I've no call to trust you that I can see. Give me a reason."

"I find no fault with you for your suspicion of me. My name is Manners."

"Oh! And is the woman I'd die to serve a connection of yours?"

"She may be. It is to ascertain whether she is that I am questioning you now."

"For a good purpose, you said?"

"What I said I mean."

"Let me have another look at you."

Again they stopped, and again Mr. Parkinson's eyes fixed themselves on Mr. Manners's face. He was to some extent apparently satisfied.

"Go ahead," he said.

"You said," resumed Mr. Manners, steadily, "that her being poor, very poor, stands to her credit here, and will stand to her credit in another world, and I asked in what way."

"All right. You've got a clear head on you. In this way. She's got nothing to gain by it. What she does is done out of pure goodness-not only what she's done for me and my girl, but what she does for every one who's in trouble. There isn't a face that don't light up when she comes by; there isn't a lodging, the commonest you can think of, that isn't brightened when she opens the door. If she was to die to-morrow-the good Lord forbid that she should! but I'm putting it that way to make it plain to you-if she was to die to-morrow, there'd be hundreds of us, men, women, and children, who'd follow her to the grave, and know that they'd lost a friend that could never be replaced. There would be no money to pay for a stone, but she'd have one in our hearts. God Almighty bless her and hers!"