Lucius looked at the clerk, and felt that there would be great difficulty in talking about his mother before such a witness. “We wish to see you in private, Mr. Dockwrath, for a few minutes—if it be convenient.”
“Is not this private enough?” said Dockwrath. “There is no one here but my confidential clerk.”
“If you could make it convenient—” began Lucius.
“Well, then, Mr. Mason, I cannot make it convenient, and there is the long and the short of it. You have brought Mr. Orme with you to hear what you’ve got to say, and I choose that my clerk shall remain by to hear it also. Seeing the position in which you stand there is no knowing what may come of such an interview as this.”
“In what position do I stand, sir?”
“If you don’t know, Mr. Mason, I am not going to tell you. I feel for you, I do upon my word. I feel for you, and I pity you.” Mr. Dockwrath as he thus expressed his commiseration was sitting with his high chair tilted back, with his knees against the edge of his desk, with his hat almost down upon his nose as he looked at his visitors from under it, and he amused himself by cutting up a quill pen into small pieces with his penknife. It was not pleasant to be pitied by such a man as that, and so Peregrine Orme conceived.
“Sir, that is nonsense,” said Lucius. “I require no pity from you or from any man.”
“I don’t suppose there is one in all Hamworth that does not feel for you,” said Dockwrath.
“He means to be impudent,” said Peregrine. “You had better come to the point with him at once.”
“No, I don’t mean to be impudent, young gentleman. A man may speak his own mind in his own house I suppose without any impudence. You wouldn’t stand cap in hand to me if I were to go down to you at The Cleeve.”
“I have come here to ask of you,” said Lucius, “whether it be true that you are spreading these reports about the town with reference to Lady Mason. If you are a man you will tell me the truth.”
“Well; I rather think I am a man.”
“It is necessary that Lady Mason should be protected from such infamous falsehoods, and it may be necessary to bring the matter into a court of law—”
“You may be quite easy about that, Mr. Mason. It will be necessary.”
“As it may be necessary, I wish to know whether you will acknowledge that these reports have come from you?”
“You want me to give evidence against myself. Well, for once in a way I don’t mind if I do. The reports have come from me. Now, is that manly?” And Mr. Dockwrath, as he spoke, pushed his hat somewhat off his nose, and looked steadily across into the face of his opponent.
Lucius Mason was too young for the task which he had undertaken, and allowed himself to be disconcerted. He had expected that the lawyer would deny the charge, and was prepared for what he would say and do in such a case; but now he was not prepared.
“How on earth could you bring yourself to be guilty of such villainy?” said young Orme.
“Highty-tighty! What are you talking about, young man? The fact is, you do not know what you are talking about. But as I have a respect for your grandfather and for your mother I will give you and them a piece of advice, gratis. Don’t let them be too thick with Lady Mason till they see how this matter goes.”
“Mr. Dockwrath,” said Lucius, “you are a mean, low, vile scoundrel.”
“Very well, sir. Adams, just take a note of that. Don’t mind what Mr. Orme said. I can easily excuse him. He’ll know the truth before long, and then he’ll beg my pardon.”
“I’ll take my oath I look upon you as the greatest miscreant that ever I met,” said Peregrine, who was of course bound to support his friend.
“You’ll change your mind, Mr. Orme, before long, and then you’ll find that you have met a worse miscreant than I am. Did you put down those words, Adams?”
“Them as Mr. Mason spoke? Yes; I’ve got them down.”
“Read them,” said the master.
And the clerk read them, “Mr. Dockwrath, you are a mean, low, vile scoundrel.”
“And now, young gentlemen, if you have got nothing else to observe, as I am rather busy, perhaps you will allow me to wish you good morning.”
“Very well, Mr. Dockwrath,” said Mason; “you may be sure that you will hear further from me.”
“We shall be sure to hear of each other. There is no doubt in the world about that,” said the attorney. And then the two young men withdrew with an unexpressed feeling in the mind of each of them, that they had not so completely got the better of their antagonist as the justice of their case demanded.
They then remounted their horses, and Orme accompanied his friend as far as Orley Farm, from whence he got into the Alston road through The Cleeve grounds. “And what do you intend to do now?” said Peregrine as soon as they were mounted.
“I shall employ a lawyer,” said he, “on my own footing; not my mother’s lawyer, but someone else. Then I suppose I shall be guided by his advice.” Had he done this before he made his visit to Mr. Dockwrath, perhaps it might have been better. All this sat very heavily on poor Peregrine’s mind; and therefore as the company were talking about Lady Mason after dinner, he remained silent, listening, but not joining in the conversation.
The whole of that evening Lucius and his mother sat together, saying nothing. There was not absolutely any quarrel between them, but on this terrible subject there was an utter want of accordance, and almost of sympathy. It was not
