 Chapter 80 of It is Never Too Late to Mend. Mr. Meadows did not visit Grasmere for some days. The cruel one distressed his own firmness. When he did come, he came with a distinct purpose. He found Merton alone. Susan sees no one. You have heard what? Her sweet heart. He is dead. Why? How can that be? And who says so? That is the news. Well, it is a falsehood, said Mr. Meadows coolly. I wish to heaven it might, whispered old Merton, for she won't live long after him. Mr. Meadows then told Merton that he had spoken with a man who had got news of George Fielding, not four months old, and he was in very good health. Will you tell Susan this? Certainly. Susan was called down. Meadows started at the sight of her. She was pale and hollow-eyed, and in these few days seemed ten years older. She was dressed all in black. I am a murderer, thought he. And remorse without one grain of honest repentance pierced his heart. Speak out, John, said the father. The girl is not a fool. She is born ill-news. She can bear good. Can't you, Susan? Yes, dear father, if it is God's will, any good news should come to me. And she never took her eyes off Mr. Meadows, but belied her assumed firmness by quivering, like an aspen leaf. Do you know Mr. Griffin, asked Meadows? Yes, replied Susan, still trembling gently, but all over. He has got a letter from Sidney, from a little rogue-age attorney called Crowley. I heard him say with my own ears that Crowley tells him he had just seen George Fielding in the streets of Sidney, well and hearty. You are deceiving me out of kindness. Her eyes fixed on his. I am not. I wish I may die if the man is not as well as I am. Her eyes were never off his face, and at this moment she read for a certain that it was true. She uttered her cry of joy, so keen it was painful to hear, and then she laughed and cried and sank into a chair, laughing and crying in strong hysterics that lasted till the poor girl almost fainted from exhaustion. Her joy was more violent and even terrible than her grief had been. The female servants were called to assist her, and all Merton and Meadows left her in their hands feeble but calm and thankful. She even smiled her adieu to Meadows. The next day Meadows called upon Griffin. Let me look at that letter, said he. I want to copy a part of it. There has been one here before you, said Griffin. Who? She did not give her name, but I think it must have been Miss Merton. She begged me hard to let her see the letter. I told her she might take it home with her. Poor thing, she gave me a look as if she could have eaten me. What else? Miss Meadows anxiously, his success had run ahead of his plot. She put it in her bosom. In her bosom, I impressed her little white hands upon it as if she had got a treasure. I doubt it will be more like the ass in the Bible. Story A, sir. There I don't want your reflection, said Meadows fiercely, but his voice quavered. The murmur down was silenced. Susan made her escape into a field called the kind craft, belonging to the citizens, and there she read the letter. It was a long, tiresome one, all about matters of business, which she did not understand. It was only at the last page that she caught sight of the name she longed to see. She hurried down to it, and when she got to it with beating heart, it was the fate of this innocent, loving woman to read these words. What luck some have there is George Fielding of the Grove Farm has made his fortune at the gold and married yesterday to one of the prettiest girls in Sydney. I met them walking in the street today. She would not have looked at him but for the gold. Susan uttered a faint moan and sank down slowly on her knees like some tender tree fell by a rude stroke. Her eyes seemed to swim in a mist. She tried to read the cruel words again, but could not. She put her hands before her eyes. He is alive, she said. Thank God he is alive. And at last tears forced their way through her fingers. She took her handkerchief and dried her eyes. Why do I cry for another woman's husband and the hot color of shame and of wounded pride burst even through her tears? I will not cry, said she proudly. He is alive. I will not cry. He has forgotten me. From this moment I will never shed another tear for one that is alive and unworthy of a tear. I will go home. She went home crying all the way, and now a partial success attended the deep mother's policy. It was no common stroke of unscrupulous cunning to plunge her into the very depths of woe in order to take her out of them. The effects were manifold and all tended his way. First she was less sorrowful than she had been before that deadly blow, for now the heart had realized a greater woe and had the miserable comfort of the comparison, but above all new and strong passions had risen and battled fiercely with grief, anger, and wounded pride. Susan had self-respect and pride too, perhaps a shade too much, though less small vanity than have most persons of her moderate caliber. What had she wept inside all these months for a man who did not care for her? What had she defied sneers and despised affection at hints and gloried openly in her love to be openly insulted and betrayed? What had she shed herself from the world and put on mourning and been seen in mourning for one who was not dead but well and happy and married to another? An agony of shame rushed over the wronged, insulted, humiliated beauty. She longed to fly from the world. She asked her father to leave Grasmere and go to some other farm a hundred miles away. She asked him suddenly, nervously, and so impetuously that the old man looked up in dismay. What, leave the farm where your mother lived with me and where you were born? I should feel strange, girl, but. And he gave a strange sign, may have, I shall have to leave it, whether I will or know. Susan misunderstood him and called it a self-reproach. She said hastily, no, no, father, you shan't leave it for me, forgive me, I am a wayward girl. And the strong nerves gave way, and tears gushed over the hot cheeks as she clung to her father and tried to turn the current of her despised love and bestow it all on that selfish old noodle. The great treasure went a-begging in Grasmere farmhouse. Mr. Meadows called, but much to his chagrin Susan was never visible. Would he excuse her? She was indisposed. The next evening he came, he found her entertaining for her five other farmer's daughters and a couple of young men. She was playing the piano to them and talking and laughing louder and faster than ever he had heard her in his life. He sat moody a little while and watched her uneasily but soon took his line and exerting his excellent social powers became the life of the party. But as he warmed Susan froze, as much as to say, somebody must play the fool to amuse these trifles. If you undertake it, I need not. For all that the very attempt at society indicated what was passing in Susan's mind and the deep Meadows invited all present to meet at his house in two days' time. Meadows was now living in Isaac Levi's old house. He had examined it, found it a much nicer house for him than his new one. It was like himself full of ins and outs and it was more in the heart of business and yet quiet. For though it stood in a row yet it was as good as detached because the houses on each side were unoccupied. They belonged to Jews probably dependents on Isaac for they had left the town about 12 months after his departure and had never returned, though a large quantity of goods had been deposited in one of the houses. Meadows contrived that this little party should lead to another. His game was to draw Susan into the world and moreover have her seen in his company. She made no resistance for her wounded pride said, Don't let people know you are breaking your heart for one who does not care for you. She used to come to these parties radiant and playing her part with consummate resolution and success and go home and spend the night in tears. Meadows did not see the tears that followed these unusual efforts. Perhaps he suspected them enough for him that Susan's pride and shame and indignation were set against her love and above all against her grief and that she was forming habits whose tendency at least was favorable to his views. Another four months and Susan exhausted by conflicting passions had settled down into a pensive langer broken by gusts of bitter grief which became rarer and rarer. Her health recovered itself all but its elasticity. Her pride would not let her pine away but her heart scarcely beat at all and perhaps it was a good thing for her that her trouble of another kind came to gently stir it. Her father who had for some months been moody and depressed confessed to her that he had been speculating and was on the verge of ruin. This dreadful disclosure gave little more pain to Susan than if he had told her his headache but she put down her work and came and kissed him and tried to console him. I must work harder that as all father I am often asked to give a lesson on the piano forte. I will do that for your sake and don't you fret for me. What with the trifle my mother settled on me and my industry I am above poverty and you shall never see me repine. In short, poor Susan took her father for a woman, adopted a line of consolation addressed to his affection instead of his selfishness. It was not for her he was afflicted it was for himself. It was at this conjuncture that Meadow spoke out there was no longer anything to be gained by delay. In fact, he could not but observe that since the fatal letter he appeared to be rather losing ground in his old character. There was nothing left him but to attack her in a new one. He removed the barrier from his patient impatience. He found her alone one evening. He begged her to walk in the garden. She complied with an unsuspecting smile. Then he told her all he had suffered for her sake, how he had loved her this three years with all his soul, how he had never thought to tell her this, how hard he had struggled against it, how he had run away from it and after that how he had subdued it or thought he had subdued it to esteem and how he had been rewarded by seeing that his visits and his talk had done her some good. But now, said he, that you are free, I have no longer the force to hide my love, now that the man I dare not interfere with has thrown away the jewel it is not in nature that I should not beg to be allowed to take it up and wear it in my heart. Susan listened first with surprise, then with confusion and pain, then with terror at the violence of the man's passion for the long restraint removed, it overwhelmed him like a flood. Her bosom heaved with modest agitation and soon the tears streamed down her cheeks at his picture of what he had gone through for her sake. She made shift to gasp out my poor friend, but she ended almost fiercely, let no man ever hope for affection from me, for my heart is in the grave. Oh, that I was there too, and she ran sobbing away from him in spite of his entreaties. Another man, and not George, had made a confession of love to her. His voice had trembled, his heart quivered with love for her, and it was not George. So then another link was snapped, others saw they had a right to love her now and acted on it. Meadows was at a loss, but he stayed away a week in silence and thought and thought, and then he wrote a line begging permission to visit her as usual. I've been so long used to hide my feelings because they were unlawful that I can surely hide them if I see they make you more unhappy than you would be without. Susan replied that her advice to him was to avoid her as he would a pestilence. He came as usual and told her he would take her commands, but could not take her advice. He would run all risks to his own heart. He was cheerful, chatty, and never said a word of love, and this relieved Susan so that the evening passed pleasantly. Susan, listless and indifferent to present events and never accustomed, like Meadows to act upon a preconceived plan, did not even observe what Meadows had gained by the sacrifice of his topic for a single night, these, that after declaring himself her lover, he was still admitted to the house. The next visit, he was not quite so forbearing, yet still forbearing, and so on by sly gradations. It was every way an unequal contest, a great man, against an average woman, a man of 40 against a woman of 22, a man all love and selfishness against a woman all affection and unselfishness. But I think his chief ally was a firm belief on Susan's part, that he was the best of men, that from first to last of this affair, his conduct had been perfection, that while George was true, all his thought had been to console her grief at his absence, that he never would have spoken but for the unexpected treason of George, and then seeing her insulted and despised, he had taken that moment to show her she was loved and honored. Oh, what an ungrateful girl she was, that she could not love such a man. Then her father was on the same side, John Meadows seems down like, Susan, do try and cheer him up a bit. I'm sure he has often cheered thee, that he has father. Susan pitted Meadows, pitting him, she forced herself at times to be gracious, and when she did, he was so happy that she was alarmed at her power and drew in. Oh, Merton saw now how the land lay and he clung to a marriage between these two as his only hope. John Meadows will pull me through if he marries my Susan, and so the two selfish ones had got the unselfish one, between them, one pulling gently, the other pushing quietly, but both without intermission, thus days and days rolled on. Meadows now came four times a week instead of two and courted her openly and beamed so with happiness that she had not always the heart to rob him of this satisfaction, and he overwhelmed her with kindness and attention of every sort, and if anyone else was present, she was sure to see how much he was respected, and this man whom others courted was her slave. This soothed the pride another had wounded. One day he poured out his love to her with such passion that he terrified her, and the next time he came, she avoided him. Her father, a monstrated girl, you will break that man's heart if you are so unkind to him. He could not say a word because you shunned him like, why your heart must be made of stone. A burst of tears was all the reply. At last two things presented themselves to this poor girl's understanding that for her there was no chance of earthly happiness do what she would, and that strangely enough, she, the wretched one, had it in her power to make two other beings happy, her father and good mister Meadows. Now a true woman lives to make others happy. She rarely takes the self-contained views of life men are apt to do. It passed through Susan's mind. If I refuse to make these happy, why do I live? What am I on the earth for at all? It seemed cruel to her to refuse happiness when she could bestow it without making herself two shades more miserable than she was. Despair and unselfishness are evil counselors in a scheming selfish world. The lifeblood had been drained out of her heart by so many cruel blows by the long waiting, the misgivings, the deep woe when she believed George dead, the bitter grief and mortification, and sensed wrong when she found he was married to another. Many of those male and female treated as Susan imagined her self-treated have taken another lover out of peak. Susan did not so. She was bitterly peaked, but she did not make that use of her peak. Despair of happiness, pity and pure unselfishness, these stood John Meadows friends with this unhappy dupe, and perhaps my male readers will be incredulous as well as shocked when I relate the manner in which at last this young creature, lovely as an angel in the spring of life, loving another still and deluding herself to think she hated and despised him, was one afternoon surprised into giving her a hand to a man for whom she did not really care a button. It was as if she had said, is it really true? Your happiness depends on me, then take me quick before my courage fails. Are you happy now? My poor soul. On the other side, there were the passionate pleadings of a lover, the deep manly voice, broken with supplication, the male eyes glistening, the diabolical mixture of fraud and cunning with sincerity. At the first symptom of yielding, the man seized her as the hawk the dove. He did not wait for a second hint. He poured out gratitude and protestations. He thanked her and blessed her, and in his manly order caught her to his bosom. She shut her eyes and submitted to the caress as to an executioner. Pray, let me go to my father, she whispered. She came to her father and told him what she had done and kissed him. And when he kissed her in return, that rare embrace seemed to her her reward. Mothers went home on wings. He was in a whirlwind of joy and triumph. Aha! What will not a strong will do? He had no fears, no misgivings. He saw she did not really like him even, but he would make her love him. Let him once get her into his house and into his arms. By degrees, she should love him. I, she should adore him. He held that a young and virtuous woman cannot resist the husband who remains a lover unless he is a fool as well as a lover. She could resist a man but hardly the heart, the marriage bed, the sacred domestic ties, and a man whose love should be always present, always ardent, yet his temper always cool and his determination to be loved unflinching. With this conviction, Mothers had committed crimes of the deepest dye to possess Susan. Villain, as he was, it may be doubted whether he would have committed these felonies, had he doubted for an instant her ultimate happiness. The unconquerable dog said to himself, the day will come that I will tell her how I have risked my soul for her, how I have played the villain for her, and she shall throw her arms round my neck and bless me for committing all those crimes to make her so happy against her will. It remained to clench the nail. He came to Grasmere every day and one night that the old man was telling Susan and him how badly things were going with him, he said, with a cheerful laugh, I wonder at you, Father-in-law, taking on that way, do you think Susan will let you be uncomfortable for want of a thousand pounds or two? Now this remark was slightly made while Susan was at the other end of the room so that she could hear it, but was not supposed to. He did not look at her for some time and then her face was scarlet. The next day he said privately to old Merton, the day Susan and I go to church together, you must let me take your engagements and do the best I can with them. Ah, John, you are a friend, but it will take a pretty deal to set me straight again, how much, two thousand, more I am afraid and too much, too much for me to take out of my pocket for a stranger, but not for my wife's father, not if it was ten times that. From that hour, Meadows had an ally at Grasmere, working heart and soul to hasten the wedding day. Meadows longed for this day for he could not hide from himself, that as a lover he made no advances. Susan's heart was like a globe of ice, he could get no hold of it anywhere. He burned with rage when the bitter truth was forced on him that with the topic of George feeling, he had lost those bright animated looks of affection she used to bestow on him, and now could only command her polite attention, not always that. Once he ventured on her amonstrance, only once. She answered coldly that she could not feign indifferent she was to everything on earth indifferent she always should be, but for that indifferent she should never have consented to marry him, let him pause then and think what he was doing or better still give up this folly and not tie an icicle like her to an honest and warm heart like his. The deep Meadows never ventured on that ground again, he feared she wanted to be off the marriage and he determined to hurry it on. He pressed her to name the day she would not. Would she let him name it? No. Her father came to Meadows' assistance, I'll name it, said he, Father no no, O'Merton then made a pretense of selecting a day, rejected one day for one reason, another for another, and pitched on a day only six weeks distant. The next day Meadows bought the license, I thought you would like that better than being cried in church, Susan thanked him and said, oh yes. That evening he had a note from her in which she humbly asked his pardon, but she could not marry him, he must excuse her, she trusted to his generosity to let them out of drop and forgive a poor broken hearted girl who had behaved ill from weakness of judgment, not likeness of heart. Two days after this, which remained unanswered, her father came to her in great agitation and said to her, have you in mind to have a man's death upon your conscience? Father, I have seen John Meadows and he is going to kill himself. What sort of a letter was that to write to the poor man? Says he, it has come on me like a thunderclap. I saw a pistol on his table and he told me he wouldn't give a button to live. You ought to be ashamed of yourself trifling with folks hearts so. I trifle with folks hearts. Oh, what shall I do? cried Susan. Think of others as well as yourself, replied the old man. In a rage, think of me. Have you, dear father, does not your Susan think of you? No, what will become of me if the man kills himself is all I have to look to to save me from ruin. What then? cried Susan, coloring scholar. It is not his life you care for. It is his means of being useful to us. Poor Mr. Meadows. He has no friend but me. I will give you a line to him. The line contained these words. Forgive me. Half an hour after receipt of it Meadows was at the farm. Susan was going to make some faint apology. He stopped and said, I know you like to make folk happy. I have got a job for you. A gentleman, a friend of mine in Chasture. Once a bailiff. He has written to me. A word from me will do the business. Now is there anyone you would like to oblige? The place is worth 500 a year. Susan was grateful to him for waving disagreeable topics. She reflected and said, Ah, but he is no friend of yours. What does that matter if he is yours? Wheel fielding with all my heart. Only my name must not be mentioned. You are right. He can marry on this. They would both have starved in the grove. Thus he made the benevolent girl taste the sweets of power. You will be asked to do many a kind action like this when you are Mrs. Meadows. So he bribed father and daughter each after their kind. The offer came informed from the gentleman to wheel fielding. He and Miss Holiday had already been cried in church. They were married and went off to Cheshire. So Meadows got rid of wheel fielding at a crisis when it suited his strategy. He made his enemies fortunate with as little compunction as he would have ruined him. A man of iron, cold iron, hot iron, whatever iron was wanted. Mr. and Mrs. Fielding gone off to Cheshire and Mrs. Holiday after them on a visit of domestic instruction Meadows publicly announced his approaching marriage with Miss Merton. The coast being clear, he clinched the last nail. From this day, there were gusts of repugnance but not a shadow of resistance on Susan's side. It was to be. The weather was fine and every evening, this man and woman walked together. The woman envied by all the women, the man by all the men, yet they walked side by side like the ghosts of lovers. And since he was her betrothed, one or two iron gray hairs in the man's head had turned white and lines deepened in his face. The victim had unwittingly revenged herself. He had stabbed her heart again and again and drained it. He had battered this poor heart till it had become more like leather than flesh and blood. And now he wanted to nestle in it and be warmed by it to kill the affections and revive them at will. No. She tried to give happiness and to avoid giving pain but her heart, hearts was inaccessible. The town had capitulated but the citadel was empty yet impregnable. And there were moments when flashes of hate mingled with a steady flame of this unhappy man's love and he was tempted to kill her and himself. But these weaknesses passed like air. The iron purpose stood firm. This day week they were to be married. Meadows counted the days and exalted. He had faith in the magic ring. It was on this Monday evening. Then they walked arm in arm in the field and it so happened that Meadows was not speaking of love but of a scheme for making all the poor people in grass mere comfortable. Especially of keeping the rain out of their roofs and the wind out of what they vulgarly but not unreasonably call their windies and Susan's color was rising and her eyes brightening at this the one interesting side marriage offered to make people happy near her and round about her and she cast a look of gratitude upon her companion. A look that coming from so lovely a face might very well pass the law. While thus pleasantly employed the pair suddenly encountered a form in a long bristled beard who peered into their faces with a singular expression of strange and wild curiosity and anxiety but did not stop. He was making toward foreign borough. Susan was a little startled. Who is that? I don't know. He looked as if he knew us. A traveler I think dearest the folk hereabouts have not got to wear those long beards yet. Why did you start when he passed us? Did I start Susan? Your arm twitched me. You must have fancied it replied Meadows with a sickly smile but come Susan the dew is falling you'd better make toward home. He saw her safe home then instead of waiting to supper as usual got his horse out and rode to the town full gallant. Anyone been here for me? Yes a stranger with a long beard why yes he had. He will come again in half an hour show him into my room when he comes and admit no one else. Meadows was hardly seated in his study and his candles lighted when the servant ushered in his visitor shut both the doors and you can go to bed. I will let Mr. Ridges out. Well well we have done the trick between us a what made you come home without orders asked Meadows somewhat sternly why you know as well as me sir you have seen them who George Fielding and his mate Meadows started how should I see them? Sir why they have come home they gave me the slip and got away before me I followed them they are here they must be here Crawley not noticing Meadows face went on sir when I found they have slipped out of the camp on horseback and down to Sydney and saw them with my own eyes go out of the harbor for England I thought I should have died on the spot I thought I should never have the courage to face you but when I met you arm in arm her eye smiling on you I knew it was all right then when did the event come off? What event? The marriage sir you and the lady she is worth all the trouble she has given us you fool Lord Meadows we are not married the wedding is to be this day we Crawley started in gas we are ruined we are undone hold your ball and cry Meadows fiercely and let me think he buried his face in his hands when he removed them he was gloomy but self possessed they are not in England Crawley or we should have seen them they are on the road you sailed faster than they passed them at night perhaps they will soon be here my own heart tells me they won't be here before Monday well I will beat them still I won't be married Thursday next the iron man then turned to Crawley and sternly demanded how he had let the man slip Crawley related all and as he told his tale the tone of Meadows altered he no longer doubted the zeal of his hireling he laid his hand on his brow and more than once he groaned and muttered half articulate expressions of repugnance at the conclusion he said mootily Crawley you have served me well too well all the women upon earth were not worth the murder and we have been on the brink of several you went beyond your instructions no I did not reply Crawley I've got them in my pocket I will read them to you see there is no discretion allowed me I was to brought them to Rob where do I countenance the use of deadly weapons where is there a word against deadly weapons as Crawley sharply be just to me sir he added in a more whining tone you know you are a man that must and will be obeyed you sent me to Australia to do a certain thing and you would have flung me to a perdition if I had stuck at anything to do it well sir I tried skill without force look here and he placed a small substance like white sugar on the table what is that put that in a man's glass he will never taste it and in half an hour he will sleep you might take the clothes off his back three of us watched months and months for a chance but it was no go those two were tea total or next door it I wish I'd never sent you out why reply Crawley there is no harm done no blood has been spilled except on ours side George Fielding is coming home all right give him up the lady and he will never know you were his enemy what cried matters wade through all these crimes for nothing lying feign and intercept letters and rob and all but assassinate and fail wade in crime up to my middle and then wade back again without the prize do you see this pistol it has two barrels if she and I are ever parted it shall be this way I'll send her to heaven with one barrel and myself to hell with the other there was a dead silence Crawley returned to their old relation and was cowed by the natural ascendancy of the greater spirit you need not look like a girl at me said matters most likely it won't come to that it is not easy to beat me and I shall try every move man's wit can devise this last said he in a voice of iron touching the pistol as it lay on the table there was another pause then matters rose and said calmly you look tired you shall have a bottle of my old port and my own heart is staggered but it is only for a moment he struck his hand upon his breast and walked slowly from the room and Crawley heard his step descend to the hall and then to the cellar and the indomitable character of the man rang in his solid tread Crawley was uneasy Mr. Meadows is getting wildish it frightens me to see such a man as him burst out like that he is not to be trusted with a loaded pistol ah and I am in his secrets deep in his secrets great men sweep away little folk that know too much and never saw him with a pistol before all this passing rapidly through his head Crawley pounced on the pistol took off the caps whipped out a little bottle and poured some strong stuff into the caps that loosened the detonating powder directly then with a steel pen he picked it all out and replaced the caps their virtue gone before Mr. Meadows returned with two bottles and the confederate sat in close conclave till the gray a morning broke into the room the great man gave but few orders to his subordinate for this simple reason that the game had fallen into his own hands still there was something for Crawley to do he was to have an officer watching to arrest Will Fielding on the old judgment should he which was hardly to be expected come to kick up a row and interrupt the wedding and tomorrow he was to take out a writ against his father-in-law Mr. Meadows played a close game he knew that things are not to be got when they are wanted his plan was to have everything ready that might be wanted long before it was wanted but most of the night passed in relation of what had already taken place and Crawley was the chief speaker and magnified his services he related from his own point of view all but I have told and Meadows listened with all his soul and intelligence at the attack on Mr. Levi Meadows chuckled the old even said he contemptuously I've beat him anyway by the way sir have you seen anything of him as Crawley no he's not come home then not that I know of have you any reason to think he has no only he left the mine directly after they pelted him but he would not leave the country any the more for that and money to be made in it by handfuls now Crawley go and get some sleep a cold bath for me and then on horseback I must breakfast at Grassmear great man sir great man you will beat them yet sir you have beat Mr. Levi here we are in his house and he driven away to lay his slight old bones at the antipodes ha ha the sun came in at the window and the long conference broke up and strange to say it broke into three Crawley home to sleep matters to Grassmear Isaac Levi to smoke an eastern pipe and so meditate with more tranquil pulse how to strike with deadliest effect these two is insolent enemies sistae we are tore and guess that riddle in the chapter 80 chapter 81 of it is never too late to mend this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Maria Fatima de Silva it is never too late to mend by Charles Reed chapter 81 Isaac Levi rescued by George Fielding reached his tent smarting with pain and bitter insult he sat on the floor pale and dusty and anathematized his adversaries in the Hebrew Tongue wrath still boiling in his heart he drew out his letters and read them then grief mingled with his anger old Cohen his friend an agent and co-evil was dead another self-dead besides the hint that this gave him to set his house in order a distinct consideration drew Isaac now to England he had trusted much large interests toward Cohen then he was at all disposed to leave in the hands of Cohen's successors men of another generation progenium vitiosiorum he sincerely believed another letter gave him some information about meadows that added another uneasiness to those he already felt on George's account hence his bitter disappointment when he found George gone from the mine the date of his return uncertain hence to the purchase of Moore's horses and the imploring letter to George measures that proved invaluable to that young man whose primitive simplicity and wise humility led him not to question the advice of his elder but obey it and so it was that although the old Jew sailed home upon his own interests yet during the voyage George Fieldings assumed a great importance direct and incidental direct because the old man was warm with gratitude to him indirect because he boiled over with hate of George's most dangerous enemy and as he neared the English coast the thought that though he was coming to Farnborough he could not come home grew bitterer and bitterer and then that he should find his enemy and his insultor in the very house sacred by the shadows of the beloved and dead finding in Nathan a youth of no common fidelity and shrewdness Isaac confided in him and that Nathan proud beyond description of the confidence bestowed on him by one so honored in his tribe enlisted in his cause with all the order of youth tempered by Jewish address often they sat together on the deck and the young Jewish brain and the old Jewish brain mingled and digested a course of conduct to meet every imaginable contingency for the facts they at present possessed were only general and vague the first result of all this was that these two crept into the town of Farnborough at three o'clock one morning the taizak took out a key and unlocked the house the stood next to meadows on the left hand the taizak took secret possession of the first floor and Nathan open but not ostentatious possession of the ground floor with the tail skillfully concocted to excite no suspicion whatever the taizak was in any way connected with his presence in the town Nathan it is to be observed had never been in Farnborough before the next morning they worked Nathan went out locking the door after him to execute two commissions he was to find out what the young coheans were doing and how far they were likely to prove worthy of the trust reposed in their father and what Susan Merton was doing and whether meadows was courting her or not the latter part of Nathan's task was terribly easy the young man came home late at night locked the door made a concerted signal and was admitted to the senior presence he found him smoking his eastern pipe Nathan with dejected air told him that he had good news that the coheans not only thought themselves wiser than their father which was permissible but openly declared it which he though young had observed to be a trait confined to very great fools it is well said my son quote Isaac smoking calmly and the other business oh master said Nathan I bring still worse tidings over her she is a true Nazarite a creature without faith she is betrothed to the man you hate and whom I for your sake hate even to death they spoke in an eastern dialect which I am paraphrasing here and translating there according to the measure of my humble abilities Isaac sucked his pipe very fast this news was a double blow to his feelings if she be indeed a Nazarite without faith let her go but judge not the simple hastily first let me know how far woman's frailty is to blame how far man's guile for not for nothing was cruelly sent out to the mine by meadows let me consider and he smoked calmly again after a long silence which Nathan was too respectful to break the old man gave him his commission for tomorrow he was to try and discover why Susan Merton had written no letters for many months to George and why she had betrothed herself to the foal but to reveal nothing in return said Isaac neither ask more than three questions of any one person lest they say who is this that being a Jew asks many questions about a Nazarite maiden and why asks he them at night Nathan returned full of intelligence she loved the young man fielding she wrote letters to him and received letters from him until gold was found in Australia but after this he wrote to her no more letters wherefore her heart was troubled ah and did she write to him yes but received no answer nor any letter for many months ah then came a rumor that she was dead and she mourned for him after the manner of her people many days verily mass I am vexed for the Nazarite maiden for her daily sad then came a letter from Australia that said he is not dead but married to a stranger then the maiden said behold now this 12 months he writes not to me this then is true and she bowed her head and the color left her cheek then this meadows visited her and consoled her day by day and there are those who confidently affirm that her father said often to her behold now I am a man stricken in ears and the man meadows is rich so the maiden gave her hand to the man but whether to please the old man her father or out of the folly and weakness of females thou o Isaac's son of Shadorak shalt determine seeing that I am young and little versed in the ways of women knowing this only by universal report that they are fair to the eye but often bitter to the taste aha cried Isaac but I am old oh Nathan son of Eli and with the thorns of old age comes one good fruit experience no letters came to him yet she wrote many none came to her yet he wrote many all this is transparent as glass here has been fraud as well as guile Nathan's eyes sparkled what is the fraud master nay that I know not but I will know but how master by help of thine ears or my own Nathan looked puzzled so long as Mr. Levi shot himself up a close prisoner on the first floor what could he hear for himself Isaac read the look and smiled he then rose and putting his finger to his lips led the way to his own apartments at the staircase door which even Nathan had not yet passed he bathed the young man take off his shoes he himself was in slippers he took Nathan into a room the floor of which was entirely covered with mattresses a staircase the steps of which were covered with horse hair went by a tolerably easy slope and spiral movement nearly up to the cornice of this cornice a portion about a foot square swung back on a well-oiled hinge and Isaac drew out from the wall with the utmost caution a piece of gutter percha piping to this he screwed on another piece open at the end and applied it to his ear Nathan comprehended it all in a moment his master could overhear every word uttered in Meadows study if I explain to him that here he left his old house he had put a new cornice in the room he thought Meadows would sit in a cornice so deeply ornamented that no one could see the year he left in it and had taken out bricks in the wall of the adjoining house and made the other arrangements they were inspecting together Mr Levi further explained that his object was simply to overhear and counteract every scheme Meadows should form he added that he never intended to leave Farnborough for long his intention had been to establish certain relations in that country buy some land and return immediately but the gold discovery had detained him but master said Nathan suppose the man had taken his business to the other side of his house foolish youth replied Isaac am I not on both sides of him ah what is there another on the other Isaac nodded thus while Nathan was collecting facts Isaac had been watching patient as a cat keen as a links at his ear hole and heard nothing now the next day Nathan came in hastily long before the usual hour master no the enemies come the man crawly I saw him from the window he saw not me what shall I do keep the household day I would not have him see you he would say aha the old Jew is here too Nathan's countenance fell he was a prisoner now as well as his master the next morning rising early to prepare their food he was surprised to find the old man smoking his pipe down below all is well my son my turn has come I have had great patience and great is the reward he then told him with natural exaltation the long conference he had been secretly present at between crawly and meadows a conference in which the enemy had laid bare not his guilt only but the secret crevice in his coat of mail she loves him not cried Levi with exaltation she is his dupe with a word I can separate them and confound him utterly oh master cry the youth eagerly speak that word today and let me be there and hear it spoken if I have favor in your eyes speak it today cry Levi with a look of intense surprise at Nathan's simplicity go to foolish youth said he what after I have waited months and months for vengeance would you have me fritter it away for want of waiting a day or two longer no I will strike not the empty cup from his hand but the full cup from his lips haha you have seen the Jew insulted and despised in many lands have patience now and you shall see how he can give blow for blow I old and feeble and without weapon can strike his adversary to the heart Nathan's black eye flushed you are the master I the scholar said he all I ask is to be permitted to share the watching for your enemy's words since I may not go abroad while it is day thus the old and young links lay in ambush all day and that night the young links proud but warily less crawly should see him and every night brought home some scrap of intelligence to change the metaphor it was as though while the western spider wove his artful web round the innocent fly the oriental spider wove another web around him the threads of which were so subtle as to be altogether invisible both east and west leaned with sublime faith on their respective gossamas nor remembered the jur disposed end of chapter 81 chapter 82 of it is never too late to mend this is a liver box recording all of the box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liver box dot org it is never too late to mend by Charles read chapter 82 meadows wrote to grass mere to try and prevail with susan to be married on thursday next instead of monday as he wrote he revolved every argument he could think of to gain her compliance he felt sure she was more inclined to postpone the day than to advance it but something told him his fate hung on this these two men will come home on monday i am sure of it i monday morning before we can wed i will not throw a chance away the game is too close then he remembered with this may that susan had been irritable and snappish just before parting yester eve a trait she had never exhibited to him before when he arrived his heart almost failed him but after some little circumlocution and excuse he revealed the favor the great favor he was come to ask he asked it she granted it without the shade of a demur he was no less surprised than delighted but the truth is that very irritation and snappishness of yesterday was the cause of her consenting her conscience told her she had been unkind and he had been too wise to snap in return so now he benefited by the reaction a little bit of self-reproach for do but abstain from reproaching a good girl who has been unjust or unkind to you and tender one if she does not make you the um by word or deed most likely the latter for so she can soothe her tender conscience without grazing her equally sensitive pride poor susan little knew the importance of the concession she made so easily meadows galloped home triumphant but two whole days now between him and his bliss and that day passed and tuesday passed the man lived three days and nights in a state of tension that would have killed some of us or driven us mad but his intrepid spirit rode the billers of hope and fear like a petrol and the day before the wedding it did seem as if his adverse fate got suddenly alarmed and made a desperate effort and hurled against him every assailant that could be found in the morning came his mother and implored him errant was too late to give up this marriage i have kept silence yet even from good words said the age of woman but at last i must speak john she does not love you i am a woman and can read a woman's heart and you fancied her long before george fielding was false to her if false he ever was john the old woman said the whole of this last sentence with so much meaning that her son was stung to rage and interrupted her fiercely i looked to find all the world against me but not my own mother no matter so be it the whole world shan't turn me and those i don't care to fight i'll fly and he turned savagely on his heel and left the old woman there shocked and terrified by his vehemence she did not stay there long soon the scarlet cloak and black bonnet might have been seen wending their way slowly back to the little cottage the poor old tidy bonnet drooping lower than it was want meadows came back to dinner he had a mutton chop in his study for it was a busy day while thus employed there came almost bursting into the room a man struck with remorse jefferies the requerent postmaster mr meadows i can carry on this game no longer and i won't for any man living he then in a wild loud and excited way went on to say how the poor girl had come a hundred times for a letter and looked in his face so wistfully and once she had said oh mr jefferies do have a letter for me and how he saw her pale face in his dreams and little he thought when he became meadows too the length the game was to be carried meadows heard him out then simply reminded him of his theft and assured him with an oath that if he dared to confess his villainy my villainy shriek the astonished postmaster whose else you have intercepted letters not i you have abused the public confidence not i so if you are such a fool and sneak has to cut your throat by preaching on yourself i'll cry louder than you and i'll show you have emptied letters as well as stop them go home to your wife and keep quiet or i'll smash both you and her oh i know you are without mercy and i dare not open my heart while i live but i will beat you yet you cruel monster i will leave a note for miss merton confessing all and blow out my brains tonight in the office the man's manner was wild and despairing meadows hide him sternly he said with affected coolness jefferies you are not game to take your own life ain't i was the reply at least i think not tonight will show i must know that before night cried meadows and with the word he sprang on jefferies and seized him in a grasp of iron and put a pistol to his head ah no mr meadows mercy mercy shriek the man in an agony of fear all right said meadows coolly putting up the pistol you have imposed on me and that is something for you to brag of you won't kill yourself jefferies you are not the stuff give over shaking like an aspen and look in listen you are in debt i've bought up two drafts of yours here they are come to me tomorrow after the wedding and i will give you them to light your pipe with oh mr meadows that would be one load off my mind you are short of cash to come to me after the wedding and i'll give you 50 pounds cash you are very liberal sir i wish it was in a better cause now go home and don't be a sneak in a fool till after the wedding or i will sell the bed from under your wife's back and send you to the stone jug be off jefferies crept away paralyzed in heart and meadows standing up called out in a rage are there any more of you that hope to turn john meadows then come on come a thousand strong with the devil at your back and then i'll beat you and for a moment the respectable man was almost grand a man rock standing braving earth and heaven hissed mr meadows he turned and there was crawly a word sir will fielding is in the town in such a passion come to stop the wedding he was taking a glass of ale at the toad and pickaxe and you might hear him all over the yard what is he going to do sir he has bought an uncommon heavy whip he was showing it in the yard this is for john meadows back said he and i will give it him before the girl he has stolen from my brother if she takes a dog instead of a man it shall be a beaten dog says he meadows rang the bell harness the mare to the four wheeled shez you know what to do crawly well i can guess but first get him told that i'm always at grass mirror at six o'clock but you won't go there this evening of course why not aren't you afraid he afraid of will fielding why you've never looked at me i do notice your eyes are always on the ground crawly when i was 18 one evening it was harvest home and all the folk had drunk their wit and manners out i found a farmer's wife in a lane hemmed in by three great ignorant brutes that were full kissing her or some nonsense and she crying help and murder and ready to faint with fright it was a decent woman and a neighbor so i interfered as thus i knocked the first fellow senseless on his back with a blow before they knew of me and then three were two i fought the two giving and taking for four ten minutes and then i got a chance and one went down i put my foot on his neck and kept him down for all he could do and over his body i fought the best man of the lot and thrashed him so that his whole mug was like a ball of beetroot when he was quite sick he ran one way and tether got uproaring and ran another and they had to send a hurdle for number one game feeling gave me ever own a court what all the row was about and more than one and hardy ones too i assure you and had me into supper and told a man and he shook my hand a good one why sir you don't mean to say the woman you fought for was mrs. Fielding but i tell you it was and i had those two boys on my knee two chubby toads pulling up my curly hair why do i talk of these things oh i remember it was to show you i'm not a man that can be bullied i'm a much better man than i was at 18 i won't be married in a black eye if i can help it but when i am once married here i stand against all comers and if you hear them grumble or threaten you tell them that any sunday afternoon when there is nothing better to be done i'll throw my cap into the ring and fight all the feelings that ever were puffed one down another come on then turning quite cool and contemptuous all in a moment he said these are words and we have work on hand and even as he spoke he stirred from the room patterned after by quality at six o'clock metters and susan were walking arm and arm in the garden presently they saw a man advancing toward them with his right hand behind him why it is real fielding cried susan come to thank you i think not by the look of him replied matters coolly susan will you be so good as to take your hand from that man's arm i have got a word to say to him susan did more than requested seeing at once that mischief was coming she clung to william's right arm and while he ground his teeth with ineffectual rage for she was strong as her sex are strong for half a minute and to throw her off he must have been much rougher with her than he chose to be three men came behind unobserved by all but meadows and captured him on the old judgment and crawly having represented him as a violent man they literally laid the grasp of the law on him but i've got the money to pay it remonstrated william pay it then but my money is at home give me two days i'll write to my wife and she will send it me the officers with a coarse laugh told him he must come with them meantime meadows whispered susan i'll pay it for him tomorrow they took off william fielding in meadows four-wheeled shez where are they taking him john to the county jail oh don't let them take him there can you not trust him yes then why not pay for him but i don't carry money in my pocket and the bank is closed how unfortunate very but i'll send it over tomorrow early and we will have him out oh yes poor fellow the very first thing in the morning yes the first thing after we are married soon after this meadows bought susan affectionately farewell and wrote off to new borrow to buy his gloves and some presents for his bride on the road he overtook william fielding going to jail leaned over his saddle as he countered by and said mrs meadows will send the money in to free you in the morning then on again as cool as a cucumber and countered into the town before sunset put up black rachel at the king's head made his purchases and back to the end as he sat in the bar parlor drinking a glass of ale and chatting with the landlady two travelers came into the passage they did not stop in it long for one of them knew the house and led his companion into the coffee room but in that moment by a flash of recognition despite of their bronze color and long beards meadows had seen who they were george fielding and thomas robinson words could not paint in many pages what meadows passed through in a few seconds his very body was one moment cold as ice the next burning the coffee room door was open he dragged himself into the passage though each foot in turn seemed glued to the ground and listened he came back and sat down in the bar are they going to stay said the mistress to the waiter yes to be called at five o'clock the bell rang the waiter went and immediately returned hot with demanded the waiter in a sharp mechanical tone here take my keys for the lump sugar said the landlady and she poured first the brandy and then the hot water into a tumbler then went upstairs to see about the travelers beds meadows was left alone a few moments with the liquor a seven flash came to meadows eye he put his hand hastily to his waistcoat pocket and then his eye brightened still more yes it was there he thought he had had the curiosity to keep it by him he drew out the white lump crawly had left on his table that night and flung it into the glass just as the waiter returned with the sugar the waiter took the brandy and water into the coffee room meadows sat still as a mouse his brain boiling and bubbling all struck it what he had done yet meditating worse the next time the waiter came in waiter said he one glass among two that is short allowance oh the big one is teetotal replied the waiter mrs. whites and meadows if you have got a bed for me i'll sleep here for my nag is tired and the night is dark each always a bed for you mr. meadows was the gracious reply soon the two friends rang for bed candles robinson staggered with drowsiness meadows eyed them from behind the newspaper half an hour later mr. meadows went to bed too but not to sleep end of chapter 82 chapter 83 of it is never too late to mend this is a libly vox recording all libly vox recordings are in the public domain for more information not to volunteer please visit libly vox.org recording by maria fatima the silver it is never too late to mend by charles reid chapter 83 at seven o'clock in the morning crawly was at meadows house by appointment to his great surprise the servant told him master had not slept at home while he was talking to her meadows galloped up to the door jumped off and almost pulled crawly upstairs with him locked the door crawly crawly obeyed but with some reluctance for meadows the iron meadows was ghastly and shaken as he had never been shaken before he sank into a chair perdition sees the ally first saw her as for crawly he was paralyzed by the terrible agitation of a spirit so much greater than his own crawly said meadows with a certain unnatural calm when the devil buys a soul for money how much does he give a good lump I hear he values our soul's eye we don't sum of us mr meadows sir now count those yelled meadows bursting out again and he flung a roll of notes furiously on the ground at crawly's feet count and tell me what my soul has gone for oh crawly sees them and counted them as fast as his trembling fingers would let him so now an eye all remorse and another eye all greed were bent upon the same thing why they are all hundred pound notes brighter silver from the bank of england oh dear how new and crimp they are where do they come from sir from australia ah oh impossible no nothing is impossible to such a man as you 20 they are at new bra slept a king's head whispered meadows good heavens think of that 30 so did I ah 40 4 000 pounds the lump of stuff you left here hocused one it was a toss up luck was on my side that one carried them slept like death long while hunting found them under his pillow at last well done and we fools were always beat at it 60 1 2 5 7 7 000 pounds 7 000 pounds who would have thought it this is a dear job to me say a dear job to them and a glorious whole to you but you deserve it all ah ah why you fool cried meadows do you think i am going to keep the men's money keep it why of course what am i a thief i john meadows the never wronged a man of a penny i take his sweet heart i can't live without her but i can live without his money i have crimes enough on my head but not theft there i say hold then why in the name of heaven did you take them at such a risk crawly put this question roughly for he was losing his respect for his idol you are as blind as a mole crawly was the disdainful answer don't you see that i have made george fielding penniless and that now old merton won't let him have his daughter why should he he said if you come back with one thousand pounds and don't you see that when the reedy served on old merton he will be a strongest fire for me and against him he can't marry her at all now i shall soon or later and the day i marry susan that same afternoon seven thousand pounds will be put in george fielding's hand he won't know by whom but you and i shall know i am a sinner but not a villain crawly gave it this satisfied grunt meadows struck a lucifer match and lighted a candle he placed the candle in the grate it was warm weather come now said he coolly burn them then they will tell no tales crawly gave a shriek like a mother whose child is falling out of window and threw himself on his knees with the notes in his hand behind his back no no sir or don't think of it talk of crime what are all the sins we have done together compared with this you would not burn a wheat rick no not your greatest enemies i know you would not you are too good a man this is as bad the good money that the bountiful heaven has given us for for the good of man come said meadows sternly no more of this folly and he laid his iron grasp on crawly mercy mercy think of me of your faithful servant who has risked his life and stuck at nothing for you how ungrateful great men are are ungrateful crawly can you look me in the face and say that never till now but now i can and crawly rose to his feet and face the great man the price he was fighting for gave him supernatural courage to whom do you owe them to me you could never have had them but for my drug and yet you would burn them before my eyes a fortune to pour me to you yes what does it matter to you what becomes of them so that he never sees them again but it matters all to me give them to me and in 12 hours i will be in france with them you won't miss me sir i have done my work and it will be more prudent for since i have left you i can't help drinking and i might talk you know sir i might and let out what we should both be sorry for send me away to foreign countries where i can keep traveling and make it always summer i hate the long nights when it is dark i see such curious things pray pray let me go and take these with me and never trouble you again the words though half nonsense were the other half cunning and the tones and looks were pictures meadows hesitated crawly knew too much to get rid of him was a bait and after all to annihilate the thing he had been all his life accumulating went against his heart he rang the bell hide the notes crawly bring me two shirts raised on the comb crawly these are the terms that you don't go near that woman crawly with a brutal phrase expressed his delight at the idea of getting rid of her forever that you go at once to the railway station opens today first train starts in an hour up to london over to france this evening i will say hurrah hurrah then crawly burst into protestations of gratitude which meadows got short he rang for breakfast fed his accomplice gave him a great code for his journey and took the precaution of going with him to the station there he shook hands with him and returned to the principal street and entered the bank crawly kept faith he hugged his treasure to his bosom and sat down waiting for the train luck is on our side thought he if this had been open yesterday those two would have come on from new bra he watched the preparations they were decorating the locomotive with bouquets and branches they did not start punctually some swathies on great people had not arrived i will have a drum thought crawly he went and had three then he came back and as he was standing inspecting the carriages a hand was laid on his shoulder he looked around it was mr wood a functionary with whom he had often done business ah wood had you do going to make the first trip no sir i have business detains me in town what a capia say chuckled crawly something of the sort there is a friend of yours hard buy wants to speak a word to you come along then where is he this way sir crawly followed wood to the waiting room and there on a bench sat isaac levi crawly stopped dead short and would have drawn back but Levi beckoned to a seat near him crawly came walking like an automaton from whose joints the oil had suddenly dried with infinite repugnance it took the seat not liking to refuse before several persons who saw the invitation mr wood sat on the other side of him what does it all mean thought crawly but his cue was to seem indifferent or flattered you have shaved your beard mr crawly said isaac in a low tone my beard i never had one replied crawly in the same key yes you had when last i saw you in the gold mine you set ruffians to abuse me sir don't you believe that mr levi i i saw it and felt it the peculiarity of this situation was that the room being full of people both parties wished each for his own reason not to excite general attention and therefore delivered scarce above a whisper the sort of matter that is generally uttered very loud and excitedly it is my turn now whispered Levi a knife for an eye a tooth for a tooth you must look sharp then whispered crawly tomorrow perhaps you may not have the chance i never postponed vengeance when it is ripe don't you sir dear me you have seven thousand pounds about you mr crawly crawly started and trembled stolen whispered isaac in his very ear give it up to the officer crawly rose instinctively a firm hand was laid on each of his arms he sat down again what whatever money i have is trusted to me by the wealthiest and most respectable man in the county and stolen by him received by you give it to wood unless you prefer a public search you can't search me without a warrant here is a warrant from the mayor take the notes out of your left breast and give them to the officer or we must do it by force and publicity i want without mr meadows authority send for mr meadows if you there is a reflected well we will take you to mr meadows keep the money till you see him but we must secure you put his coat over his hands first the great coat was put over his hands and the next moment under the coat was heard a little sharp click let us go to the carriage sadly by in a brisk cheerful tone those present heard the friendly invitation and saw a little string of acquaintances three in number break up a conversation and go and get into a fly one carried a great coat and bundled before him with both hands end of chapter 83 chapter 84 of it is never too late to mend this is a liberal box recording all liberal box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liberal box dot org it is never too late to mend by charles read chapter 84 mr meadows went to the bank into the parlor and said he must draw seven thousand pounds of cash and securities the partners look blank i know said meadows i should cripple you well i'm not going to nor let anyone else it would not suit my book just hand me the securities and let me make over that sum to george fielding and thomas robinson there now for some months to come those two men are not to know how rich they are in fact not till i tell them a very ready consent to this was given by both partners i'm afraid i might say an eager consent there now i feel another man that is off me anyways and meadows strode home double the man soon his new top boots were on and his new dark blue coat with flat double gilt buttons and his hat broadish in the brim and he looked the model of a british yeoman he reached grass me before 11 o'clock he was to be a very quiet wedding but the bridesmaids etc were there and susan all in white pale but very lovely father-in-law cracking jokes susan writhing under them now then is it to be a wedding without bells for i hear none that it shall not cried one of the young men and off they ran to the church meantime meadows was the life and soul of the mirthful scene he was in a violent excitement that passed with the rustics for gaiety natural to the occasion they did not notice his anxious glances up the hill that led to newboro his eager and repeated looks at his watch the sigh of relief when the church bells peeled out the tremors of impatience the struggle to appear cool as he sent one to hurry the clerk another to tell the clergyman the bride was ready the stamp of the foot when one of the bridesmaids took 10 minutes to tie on a bonnet he walked on an arm with susan waiting for this girl at last she was ready then came one running to say that the person was not come home yet but it cost him not to swear that the person with susan on his arm and the church in sight while it was thus fuming inwardly a handsome dark-eyed youth came up and inquired which was the bride she was pointed out to him a letter for you miss merton for me who from she glanced at the handwriting and meadows looked keenly in the boy's face a jew said he to himself susan you've got your gloves on and in a moment he took the letter from her but quietly and opened it as if to return it to her to read he glanced down it saw jeffrey's postmaster and at the bottom isaac lee by with wonderful presence of mind he tore it in pieces an insult susan he cried i mean malignant result to set you against me a wife against her husband air the words were out of his mouth he sees the young jew and world him like a feather into the hands of his friends duck him cried he and in a moment spite of his remonstrances and attempts at explanation nathan was flying into the horse pond he struggled out on the other side and stood on the bank in a stupor of rage and terror while the bridegroom menaced him with another dose should he venture to return i will tell you all about it tomorrow susan calm yourself replied susan i know you have enemies but why punish a messenger for the letter he only carries you are an angel susan boys let him alone do you hear in b he had been ducked and now a loud hurrah was heard from behind the church the person at last cried matters exultingly susan lowered her eyes and hated herself for the shiver that passed through her to her the person was the executioner it was not the person the next moment two figures came around in sight meadows turned away with a groan george fielding said he the words dropped as it were out of his mouth susan misunderstood this she thought he read her heart and described her repugnance to her lingering attachment to george she was angry with herself for letting this worthy man see her want of pride why do you mention that name to me what do i care for him who has deceived me i wish he stood at the church door that he might see how i would look at him and pass him leaning on your faithful arm susan cried a well known voice behind her she trembled and almost crouched there she turned but the moment she turned round she gave a scream that brought all the company running and the bride forgot everything at the sight of george's handsome honest face beaming truth and love and threw herself into his arms george kissed the bride oh cried the bridesmaids awakened from their stupor and remembering this was her old lover oh oh oh on an ascending scale these exclamations brought susan to her senses she sprang from george as though an adder had stung her and read his fire her eyes like bascalus she turned on him at a safe distance how dare you embrace me how dare you come where i am father asked this man why he comes here now to make me expose myself and insult the honest man who honors me with his respect oh father come to me and take me away from here susan what on earth is this what have i done what have you done you are false to me you never wrote me a letter for 12 months and you are married to a lady in bathurst oh george if he is cried robinson he must be slyer than i give him credit for for i have never left his side neither nor day and i never saw him say three several words to a woman mr robinson yes mr robinson mr robinson somebody has been making a fool of you miss merton why all his cry night and day has been susan susan when we found the great nugget he kisses it and says he there that is not because you are gold but because you take me to susan hold your tongue tom said george sternly who puts me on my defense is there any man here who has been telling her i've ever had a thought of any girl but her if there is let him stand out now and say it to my face if he dares there was a dead silence there is a lie without a backer it seems and he looked around on all the company with his calm superior eye and now susan what were you doing on that man's arm oh miss merton and i are to be married today said matters that is why i gave her my arm george gasped for breath but he controlled himself by a mighty effort she thought me false and now she knows i'm true susan faulted he i say nothing about the promises that have passed between us two and the ring you gave here it is he has kept my ring i was there before you mr matters but i won't stand upon that i don't believe there is a man in the world loves a woman in the world better than i love susan but still i would not give a snap of the finger to have her if her will was toward another so please yourself my last and don't cry like that only this must end i won't live in doubt a moment no nor half a moment speak your pleasure and nothing else choose between john matters and george fielding that is fair cried one of the bridegrooms the women secretly admired george this is a man thought they won't stand our nonsense susan looked up in mute astonishment what choice can there be the moment i saw your face and truth still shining in it i forgot there was a john matters in the world with these words susan cast a terrified look all around and losing every other feeling in a paroxysm of shame he had her burning face in her hands and made a sudden bolt into the house and upstairs to her room where she was followed and discovered by one of her bridesmaids tearing off her wedding clothes and laughing and crying all in a breath first bridegroom well josh what do you think second bridegroom why i think there won't be a wedding today first bridegroom no nor tomorrow neither sal put on your bonnet and lets you and i go home i came to matters wedding mustn't stay to anybody's else's these remarks were delivered openly pro bono and dissolved the wedding party four principal parties remained matters old merton and the two friends well uncle susan has spoken her mind now you speak yours george i have been an imprudent fool i am on the brink of ruin i owe more than 2000 pounds we heard you had changed your mind and matters came forward like a man and said he would your word uncle your promise i crossed the seas on the faith of it an upper window was gently opened and a blushing face listened and the hand that they were all discussing and disposing of drew back a little curtain and clutched it convulsively you did george said the old farmer says you bring back a thousand pounds to show me you are not a fool and you shall have my daughter and she was to have your blessing am i right mr meadows you were present those were the words replied matters well and have you brought back the thousand pounds i have john i must stand to my word and i will it is justice take the girl and be as happy as you can with her and her father in the workhouse i take her and that is as much as to say that neither her father nor anyone she respects shall go to the workhouse how much is my share tom four thousand pounds no not so much yes it is jackie gave you his share of the great nugget and you gave him sheep in return here they are lads and lasses seventy of them bearing from one five six not two one six two nine and all as crimp as a muslim gown new starched why i never put this and he took pieces of newspaper out of his pocketbook and looked stupidly at each as it came out why tom robbed robbed tom robbed oh i put the book under my pillow and there i found it this morning robbed robbed kill me george i have ruined you i can't speak gasp george oh what is the meaning of this but i can speak don't tell me about london thief being robbed george fielding if you are a man at all go and leave me and my daughter in peace if you would come home with money to keep her i was ready to give you susan to my own ruin now it is your turn to show yourself the right stuff my daughter has given her hand to a man who can make out lady of her and set me on my legs again you can only beggar us don't stand in the poor girl's light for pity's sake george leave us in peace you were right oh man my head is confused and george put his hand feebly to his brow but i seem to see it is my duty to go and i'll go george staggered robinson made toward him to support him there don't make a fuss with me there's nothing to matter with me only my heart is dead let me sit on this bench and draw my breath a minute and then i'll go give me your hand tom never heed their jibes i trust you with more gold than the best of them was ever worth robinson began to blubber the moment george took his hand spite of the money lost we worked hard for it to good folks and risked our lives as well as our toil and george and robinson sat hand in hand upon the bench and turned their heads away that it was pitiful to see but still the pair held one another by the hand and george said faltering i've got this left me still i i've heard say that friendship was better than love and i dare say so it is as if to plead against this verdict susan came timidly to her lover in his sorrow and sat on his other side and laid her head gently on his shoulder what signifies money to us too she murmured oh i have been robbed of what was dearer than life this bitter year and now you are downhearted at loss of money how foolish to grieve for such nonsense when i am so happy happy and again the lovely face rested light as down on george's shoulder weeping deliciously it is hard tom gasped george it is bitter hard but i shall find a little bit of manhood by and by to do my duty give me breath only give me breath we will go back again where we came from tom only i shall have nothing to work for now whereas william if you please has he forgotten me too william is in prison for debt said old merton gravely no he is not put in matters for i sent the money to let him out an hour ago you sent the money to let my brother out of jail that sounds queer to me i suppose i ought to thank you but i can't i don't ask your thanks young man you see george said old merton ours is a poor family and it will be a great thing for us all to have such a man as mr metters in it if you will only let us oh father you make me blush cried susan beginning to get her first glimpse of his character he doesn't make me blush cried george but he makes me sick this old man would make me walk out of heaven if he was in it come let us go back to australia i that is the best thing you can do cried old merton if he does i should go with him said susan with sudden calmness she added dropping her voice if he thinks me worthy to go anywhere with him you are worthy of better than that and better shall be your luck and george sat down on the bench with one bitter sod that seemed to tear his manly heart in two there was a time that us would have melted at the sad site but now it enraged him he whispered fiercely to old merton touch him on his pride get rid of him and your debt shall all be paid that hour if not he then turned to that heart-stricken trio touched his heart good day all the company said he and strode away with rage in his heart you set the law in motion against old merton and so drive matters to a point but before he had taken a dozen steps he was met by two men who planted themselves right before him you can't pass sir motors looked at them with humorous surprise they had hooked noses he did not like that so well why not said he quietly but with that wicked look one of the men whistled the man popped out of the churchyard and joined the two he had a hooked nose another came through the gate from the lane another from behind the house the scene kept quietly filling with hooked noses till it seemed as if the ten tribes were reassembling from the four winds are they going to pitch into me thought matters and he felt in his pocket to see if his pistol was there meantime george and susan and tom rose to their feet in some astonishment there is a gentleman coming to put a question or two so the first speaker and in fact an old acquaintance of ours mr. reams came writing up and hooking his horse to the gate came and saying oh here you are mr. matters there is a ridiculous charge brought against you but i'm obliged to hear it before dismissing it give me a seat oh here is a bench it is very hot i'm informed that two men belonging to this place have been robbed of seven thousand pounds at the king's head the king's heads in new borough it is true sir cried robinson but how did you know i'm here to ask questions was the sharp answer who are you thomas robinson which is george fielding i'm george fielding sir have you been robbed we have sir of how much seven thousand pounds come that tallies with the old gentleman's account hum where did you sleep last night mr. matters at the king's head in new borough sir replied matters without any visible hesitation well that is curious but i need not say i don't believe it is more than coincidence where is the old gentleman i'll give way there and let him come here now all this was inexplicable to matters but still it brought a deadly chill of vague apprehension over him he felt as if a huge gossip and net was closing around him another moment the only spider capable of spinning it stood in front of him i thought sir dropped from his lips as isaac leva and he stood once more face to face i accused that man of the theft nathan and i heard him tell quali that he had drugged the young man's liquor and stolen the notes then we heard quali begged for the notes and after much and treated he gave them him it is true grad rovinson in violent agitation it must be true you know what a light sleeper i am and how often you had to shake me this morning i was hocus and no mistake silence yes your worship where were you mr. levi to hear all this in the east room of my house and where was he in the west room of his house it is impossible say not so sir i will show you it is true meantime i will explain it he explained his contrivance at full matters hung his head he saw how terribly the subtle oriental had outwitted him yet his presence of mind never for a moment deserted him sir said he i've had the misfortune to offend mr. levi and he is my sworn enemy if you really mean to go into this ridiculous affair allow me to bring witnesses and i will prove to you he has been threatening vengeance against me these two years and you know a lie is not much to a jew does this appear likely i'm worth 60 000 pounds why should i steal why indeed said mr. reams i stole these notes to give them away that is your story is it now you stole them to beggar your rival whose letters to the maiden he loved jew had intercepted by fraud at the post office in farneboro susan and george uttered an exclamation at the same moment but having stole them you gave them to crawly how generous sneered matters well when you find crawly with seven thousand pounds and he says i gave them him mr. reams will take your word against mine and not till then i think certainly not the most respectable man for miles around so be it retorted isaac coulee nathan bring crawly at that unexpected word matters looked round for a way to escape the hooked nose ones hemmed him in crawly was brought out of the fly quaking with fear sir said levi if in that man's bosom on the left hand side the missing notes are not found let me suffer scorn but if they be found give us justice on the evil doer the constable searched crawly amid the intense anxiety of all present he found a bundle of notes there was a universal cry stopped sir said robinson to make sure i won't describe our property 70 notes of 100 pounds each numbers one five six naught to one six two nine mr. reams examined the bundle and it once handed them over to robinson who shoved them hastily into george's hands and danced for joy mr. reams looked ruefully at nuttos then he hesitated then turning sharply to crawly he said where did you get these nuttos tried to catch his eye and prevail on him to say nothing but crawly he would not heard levi's evidence made sure of saving himself by means of meadows reputation i had them for mr. meadows he cried and what about it it is not the first time he has trusted me with much larger sums than that oh you had them from mr. meadows yes i had mr. meadows i'm sorry to say i must commit to you but i still hope you will clear yourself elsewhere i'm not the least uneasiness about that sir thank you you will admit me to bail of course impossible wood here is a warrant i will sign it while the magistrate was signing the warrant meadows head fell upon his breast he seemed to collapse standing isaac levi i had him scornfully you had no mercy on the old jew you took his house from him not for your need but for hate so we made that house a trap and caught you in your villainy yes you've caught me cried meadows but you will never cage me and in a moment his pistol was at his own temple and he pulled the trigger the cap failed he pulled the other trigger the other cat failed he gave a yell like a wounded tiger and stood at bay gnashing his teeth with rage and despair half a dozen men threw themselves upon him and a struggle ensued that almost baffles description he dragged those six men about up and down some clinging to his legs some to his body he whirled nearly every one of them to the ground in turn and when by pulling at his legs they got him down he fought like a badger on his back seized two by the throat and putting his feet under another drove him into the air doubled up like a ball and he fell on levi and sent the old man into mr reams arms who sat down with a jew in his lap to the derangement of his magisterial dignity at last he was mastered and his hands tied behind him with two handkerchiefs take the rascal to jail cried williams in a passion meadows groaned i take me said he you can't make me live there i've lived respected all these years and now i shall be called a felon take me where i may hide my head and die and the wretched man moved away with feeble steps his strength and spirit crushed now his hands were tied then quality bothered him abusing and reviving him so this is the end of all your maneuvering but what a fool i was to side with such a bonger as you against mr levi here i am an innocent man ruined through knowing a thief uh you don't like that word but what else are you but a thief and so he followed his late idol and he approaches an insults on him till at last meadows turned round and cast a vague look of mute despair as much as to say how am i fallen when this can trample me one of the company saw this look and understood it yielding to an impulse he took three steps and laid his hand on quality he little snakes that he let the man alone and he sent quality spinning like a tea totem then turned on his own heel and came away looking a little red and ashamed of what he had done my reader shall guess which of the company this was halfway to the county jail meadows and quality met williams fielding coming back it took hours and hours to realize all the happiness that had fallen on two loving hearts first had to pass away many espasm of terror at the wrongs they had suffered the danger they had escaped the long misery they had grazed they remained rooted to the narrow spot of ground where such great and strange events had passed in a few minutes and their destinies had fluctuated so violently and all ended in joy unspeakable and everybody put questions to everybody and all compared notes and the hours fled while they unraveled their own strange story and susan and george almost worshiped isik levi and susan kissed him and called him her father and hung upon his neck all gratitude and he passed his hand over her chestnut hair and said go to foolish child but his deep rich voice trembled a little and wonderful tenderness and benevolence glistened in that fiery eye he would now have left them but nobody there would part with him behooved him to stay and eat fish and putting with them the meat they would excuse him if he would be good and not talk about going again and after dinner george and tom must tell their whole story and as they told their eventful lives it was observed that the heroes were far more agitated than the narrators the latter had been in a gold mine had stepped so full of adventures and crimes and horrors that nothing astonished them and they were made sensible of the tremendous scenes they had been through by the loud ejaculations the power of the excitement of their heroes as for susan again and again during the men's narratives the tears streamed down her face and once she was taken faint at george's peril and the story had to be interrupted and water sprinkled on her and the men in their innocence were for not going on with their part but she peremptorily insisted and sneered at them for being so foolish as to take any notice of her foolishness she would have every word after all was he not there alive and well sent back to her safe after so many perils never never to leave england again oh jarner felice a day to be imagined or described by a pen a thousand times greater and subtler than mine but of this be sure it was a day such as neither to susan nor george nor to you nor me nor to any man or woman upon earth has ever come twice between the cradle and the gray end of chapter eighty four