The Vicar of Bullhampton

morning for his letters as soon as the club was open. He did not eat his breakfast in the house, nor, as far as the porter’s memory went, did he even enter the club. Fenwick had lodged himself at an hotel in the immediate neighbourhood of Pall-Mall, and he made up his mind that his only chance of catching his friend was to be at the steps of the club door when it was opened at nine o’clock. So he eat his dinner⁠—very much in solitude, for on the 28th of August it is not often that the coffee rooms of clubs are full⁠—and in the evening took himself to one of the theatres which was still open. His club had been deserted, and it had seemed to him that the streets also were empty. One old gentleman, who, together with himself, had employed the forces of the establishment that evening, had told him that there wasn’t a single soul left in London. He had gone to his tailor’s and had found that both the tailor and the foreman were out of town. His publisher⁠—for our Vicar did a little in the way of light literature on social subjects, and had brought out a pretty volume in green and gold on the half-profit system, intending to give his share to a certain county hospital⁠—his publisher had been in the north since the 12th, and would not be back for three weeks. He found, however, a confidential young man who was able to tell him that the hospital need not increase the number of its wards on this occasion. He had dropped down to Dean’s Yard to see a clerical friend⁠—but the house was shut up and he could not even get an answer. He sauntered into the Abbey, and found them mending the organ. He got into a cab and was driven hither and thither because all the streets were pulled up. He called at the War-Office to see a young clerk, and found one old messenger fast asleep in his armchair. “Gone for his holiday, sir,” said the man in the armchair, speaking amidst his dreams, without waiting to hear the particular name of the young clerk who was wanted. And yet, when he got to the theatre, it was so full that he could hardly find a seat on which to sit. In all the world around us there is nothing more singular than the emptiness and the fullness of London.

He was up early the next morning and breakfasted before he went out, thinking that even should he succeed in catching the Squire, he would not be able to persuade the unhappy man to come and breakfast with him. At a little before nine he was in Pall-Mall, walking up and down before the club, and as the clocks struck the hour he began to be impatient. The porter had said that Gilmore always came exactly at nine, and within two minutes after that hour the Vicar began to feel that his friend was breaking an engagement and behaving badly to him. By ten minutes past, the idea had got into his head that all the people in Pall-Mall were watching him, and at the quarter he was angry and unhappy. He had just counted the seconds up to twenty minutes, and had begun to consider that it would be absurd for him to walk there all the day, when he saw the Squire coming slowly along the street. He had been afraid to make himself comfortable within the club, and there to wait for his friend’s coming, lest Gilmore should have escaped him, not choosing to be thus caught by anyone;⁠—and even now he had his fear lest his quarry should slip through his fingers. He waited till the Squire had gone up to the porter and returned to the street, and then he crossed over and seized him by the arm. “Harry,” he said, “you didn’t expect to see me in London;⁠—did you?”

“Certainly not,” said the other, implying very plainly by his looks that the meeting had given him no special pleasure.

“I came up yesterday afternoon, and I was at Cutcote’s the tailor’s, and at Messrs. Bringémout and Neversell’s. Bringémout has retired, but it’s Neversell that does the business. And then I went down to see old Drybird, and I called on young Dozey at his office. But everybody is out of town. I never saw anything like it. I vote that we take to having holidays in the country, and all come to London, and live in the empty houses.”

“I suppose you came up to look after me?” said Gilmore, with a brow as black as a thundercloud.

Fenwick perceived that he need not carry on any further his lame pretences. “Well, I did. Come, old fellow, this won’t do, you know. Everything is not to be thrown overboard because a girl doesn’t know her own mind. Aren’t your anchors better than that?”

“I haven’t an anchor left,” said Gilmore.

“How can you be so weak and so wicked as to say so? Come, Harry, take a turn with me in the park. You may be quite sure I shan’t let you go now I’ve got you.”

“You’ll have to let me go,” said the other.

“Not till I’ve told you my mind. Everybody is out of town, so I suppose even a parson may light a cigar down here. Harry, you must come back with me.”

“No;⁠—I cannot.”

“Do you mean to say that you will yield up all your strength, all your duty, all your life, and throw over every purpose of your existence because you have been ill-used by a wench? Is that your idea of manhood⁠—of that manhood you have so often preached?”

“After what I have suffered there I cannot bear the place.”

“You must force yourself to bear it. Do you mean to say that because you are unhappy you will not pay your debts?”

“I owe no man a shilling;⁠—or, if I do, I will pay it