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Chapter 4 · Idols

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Chapter four of Idols by William John Locke. This LibriVox recording is in the
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public domain recording by Simon of Verus, Chapter four. Minner Hart was an
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only child. She had lost her mother early in life, and had been
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left to the casual care of a series of governesses, with none of whom
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save one, had she contracted a warmer bond than that of mutual indifference.
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For this exceptional one, she had conceived a girdish passion. But as the
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young lady had disappeared one night, carrying with her some of her pupil's most
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valuable jewelry, Miner's love had been turned to hatred, which faded itself afterwards
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upon all succeeding governesses. As soon as it was practicable, she declared her
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education to be finished, and herself to have done with instructors for ever.
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Whereupon, her father, who had as vague a notion of rearing a daughter
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as a fighting a line of battleship, brought into the house as Duenna,
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his only sister, an elderly, stue rubicund, black haired Jewish of the
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most Orthodox faith. As Minna had never been accustomed to pay regard to Judaic
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observancies, and only went to synagogue now and then in order to show off
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her new dresses. Her aunt Leah's interfering piety maddened her past insurance. Moreover,
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the good lady in the streets with blousy face, red roses, gold
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chain, and approach to the size of a dessert plate was a site for
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gods and men with which Minna shrank from being associated. So when aunt Leah
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died suddenly, Minna was inexpressibly relieved. She issued forthwith another domestic manifesto,
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in which she announced her intention of leading thenceforward a perfectly untrammeled and independent life.
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Accordingly, she reigned supreme in her father's house, obeying all her caprices,
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bending her servants to her will or summarily dismissing the recalcitrant, surrounding herself
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with all the bodily luxuries that money can buy, and eat out her young
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heart in loneliness, beyond the strong Hebrew sense of parentage Israel heart and little
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sympathy with his daughter. She despised his race and loathed his profession. He
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felt it instinctively. Her company was an embarrassment. He could not talk of
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gowns and laces of music, picture galleries, and light literature. The engrossing
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pursuit of money making interested her not in the least. Outside relatives, whose
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foibles and disagreeablenesses form so harmonious a household bond them were not by the wives
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and daughters of his city co religionous friends his daughter passed with a sniff of
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her delicate nose, she would have none of them. Israel shrugged his shoulders,
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and, beyond insisting on her cooperating with him in the interchange of a
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few formal courtesies or deals worse than Sabbath observances, under Antleer's dispensation, left
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her entirely to her own devices in the house. They rarely met except at
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dinner. Afterwards, if the humor seized her, she would play to him
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for half an hour in the drawing room, and then he would go down
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to his study. Her comings and goings were of little concern to him.
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He would have given her a staff of lady companions had she desired it.
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But as she refused to be interfered with, Israel with many wonderings as to
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the strange and hidden ways of womankind, sagaciously refrained from interference on one point,
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however, he stood firm when the question of her marriage came up for
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discussion. His voice should have considerable weight. But Minna scoffed at the idea
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of marriage with such hooked noses and shiny crowns and puffed cheeks as ventured to
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come a wooing. And she sat in stead at her window and sighed,
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poor child, for the prince that never could come. She lived an aimless,
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lonely life, wasting her young and splendid womanhood in a vicious circle of
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unsatisfied longings. The society of our own folk she would not. The alien
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society that she craved would not her. She was a social leper, the
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due moneylender's daughter. Yet on looking inward, she knew that the leprosy of
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her wealth was in her heart's blood. She could not cleanse herself from it.
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Bathe in the Jordan of renunciation, go forth into the world and work
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out her freedom. She had the Syrian repugnances of Nayman. Sometimes the palatial
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loneliness of her home weighed too awfully upon her spirit. The torture of unsatisfied
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cravings, said all her nerves jangling. Then she would fly from town without
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her maid and visit to Brighton her old Syrian nurse, Anna Cassaba, who
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gave up to her the best rooms in our house, petted and soothed and
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uttered comfortable prophecies concerning the prince. Perhaps Anna was the only creature in the
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world. She cared for. The old woman worshiped her with an oriental passion
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of devotion. At Brighton, in the intoxication of her liberty and the vain
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glory of her beauty, the girls sought at ventures, played recklessly with far
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She learned the languorous witchery of her voice, and it became a wild pastime
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to exercise it upon the chance met man. Once a young guardsman fell in
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with her upon the parade, carried her off to dinner. At the end,
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she sitted upon paying half the bill. He demurred, She rose and
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declared she would walk straight out of the place if he did not accept.
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With good grace, he yielded the point. They went to the theater together,
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and then for a long wounded drive along the coast. It was audacious
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bliss. She arrived home at two o'clock in the morning. Anna was sleepless
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with terror in spite of a warning telegram, Minna explained lightly. The old
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woman lifted up her young cheeks with tremulous fingers. Oh God, my child,
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you've come to no harm. Minner broke into merry laughter only when the
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prince came wol there be that danger she would no hear in a moment,
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and she cut the young guardsmen dead in the street. The next day,
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having wiped off his kisses forever. But at last came Hugh. Oddly enough,
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she met him first in the Merriam's drawing room, with that she had
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gone with her father in anything but an adventurous spirit. Some shrewd remark of
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Hughes had caught Israel's fancy. With the parting handshake, he ventured to express
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the pleasure it would give him to see mister Coleman at the Lindens. The
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young man sought for a non committal phrase of courtesy, but atlance from swimming
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eyes, half proud, half appealing, brought a quick acceptance to his lips.
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And that was the beginning of things that menor Hart and herself came to.
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Beyond visiting terms was, of course Irene's doing. Her revolted social cruelties
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had been fired by the scant courtesy paid to the due financier's daughter at a
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large political garden party, and her impulsive scorner convention there her to walk the
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next day to the Lindens and call upon the innocent pariah. It was,
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like many other of Irene's impetuous deeds of knight errantry. Gerard had expostulated veigning
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profound distaste under tones of pleasantry. Men who lent money at the God of
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Jacob alone knew how much percent were not welcome in a society belonging virtually,
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if not actually, to the race of borrowers. It was putting the leopard
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to lie down with the kid, setting the calf and the lahn and the
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fatling together without any reasonable hope of millennial advantages. But the dawning dismay in
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Irene's eyes and the quiver of protest about her lips had checked further expressions of
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cynicism. He had given way, even assumed a magnanimous air of enthusiasm,
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and with his approbation for a glance and his visiting card for butler, Irene,
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a modern Britamart, had set forth on her quest. It was on
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Minna and Israel's return visit that Hugh had first met them at the outset.
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Minner had received Irene's offer of friendship with unfeigned gladness. It was the opening
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to her of that charmed circle of gentile society at whose bounds she had stood
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so long disconsolate. Indeed, if she had given to Irene a breath of
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the warmth of her southern nature, Irene would have taken her to her heart,
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championed her triumphantly through the ordeal of prejudice, and the girl's own beauty
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would have done the rest. But to Minner she was indefinite discomfort, a
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recrudescence of Jewish pride, gained strength from vague, instinctive feminine jealousies. And
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then came Hugh. His coming disarranged her universe. Amongst other phenomena, it
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froze up whatever kindly feelings she entertained towards Irene. This time it was no
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wilful playing with fire. She flung herself like a mad moth into the flame.
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She wrote wild letters to old Anna Cassaba. The princes come. I
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knew him at advance. My heart is full of glowing happiness. I must
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tell you to prevent myself crying it aloud. I cannot sleep. How soon
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I will bring my prince to you. The old woman's eyes grew dim as
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she read, as only old eyes can that looked backward and inward upon tumulchous
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passion of long ago. But in her wisdom she burned these letters. It
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might not be the true prince, after all, she thought, But Minner
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doubted not. She agained her victory, gained it. It is true,
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at a price, But her ungoverned passion did not pause now to consider it.
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She saw Hugh nearly every day. Sometimes it is chambers, sometimes in
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quiet meeting places in the West End. Now and then that the Lindons.
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She was happy. Her daily hour of sweetness gave retrospective and anticipatory joy to
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the other three and twenty. The elaboration of a distinctive attire for each interview
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was in itself an absorbing occupation. The undecided aspect of their relations afforded her
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also tremendous amusement. It is rather sweet this pretending, isn't it? She
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once remarked to him, what pretending? He asked, somewhat taken aback this
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long engagement as if you are going to make your fortune in two years,
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it is quite enchanting. And at the end I suppose orange blossoms and rice
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and all things nice. Eh. She raised her eyes to his in lazy
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mockery. They were walking through the courts of the temple, and stiid her
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hand through his arm. What would you have? Said Hugh? With a
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sigh, She brought his ear down to her lips and whispered you. I
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am not going to wait two years, for you will be goon pretending a
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little longer. But I am in grim, earnest my Vivian, so am
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I, she replied with a smile. After this, he realized the impracticability
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of his scheme. Minner was not one of those sweet future house fires for
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whom a man works and weights. There was too much contagion of the blood
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in the matter. Yet he swore to himself that should be no irregular union
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between them, and that he would not marry her until he had freed himself
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from her father's lutches. But how he raised the money was beyond his power
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of scheming. At this stage of embarrassment came the announcement that a son and
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heir had been borne to his uncle. As far as the value of security
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went, the bond in Israel, Heart's possession was so much waste paper.
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A post or two brought a comforting letter from his sisters, two maiden ladies
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many years his senior, who lived a gentle life in a little Hertfordshire timelet.
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They sympathized with him over this final theft of his inheritance. The good
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ladies considered it nothing less, but assured him that his uncle Jeffrey would leave
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him something when he died. He had hinted as much some months before when
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apologizing to them for his senile folly. It was the very least he could
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do under the circumstances. Whilst reading this letter, Hugh was suddenly startled by
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an inspired flash. His difficulties melted. He rose from his breakfast and walked
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about the room, settling the details of the scheme. He would borrow the
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five thousand pounds from his sisters on the security of the reversion, such as
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it worth, pay off heart forthwith reduced the rate of interest he was paying,
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a natural thing for his sisters would not accept user's interest. Devote as
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much of his yearly income as he could spare to a reserve fund in the
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event of the legacy not covering the debt, and marry Minner forthwith. In
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the event of his own death. He would leave many directions to pay his
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sisters, so that only in this constituency would Israel be virtually repaid out of
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his own pocket. In any case, his sisters would not be losers.
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The brilliancy of the prospect blinded him to at least one fallacy and two unsound
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premises. The following afternoon he was at Selwood. His sisters Alicia and Dora,
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warned by telegram of his coming, met him at the station and walked
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with him, one on either side through the town. The broad quiet street,
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its breadth odvidly exaggerated by the lowness of the straggling rows of old fashioned
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houses, terminated at a common on the further side of which it stood the
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church. Amidst a clump of trees. Near the red tree glowed the red
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brick of the house where the two sisters lived. It was a peaceful and
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gentle spot, and it seemed to harmonize with their faces, which bore no
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marks of greater stress and strain than those occasioned by their disappointment in a housemaid,
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and their mild, vague regrets for the fuller wedded life that had not
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come to them. Hugh looked around, drew in great drafts of the sweet
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air, and then glanced affectionately at his sisters. They walked beside him,
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proudly, holding their heads high. They had gentle but enlarged ideas of the
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importance of their family and Hugh in their eyes. With the incarnation of its
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distinction. The town was not honored by a man every day in the week,
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they felt the admiring and respectful eyes of Selwood upon them. We were
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just going to write you when your telegram came, said Dora. We better
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wait until we get indoors, said Alysia, reprovingly. As she was five
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years older than Dora, who herself was ten years older than Hugh, she
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considered her sister's experience of the world somewhat immature. Hugh laughed, Being familiar
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with Elysia's habits, they were doubtless about to ask his advice concerning the finances
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of the village, goose club, or some such solemn matter which could not
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be discussed save with closed doors. It was only after he allowed them to
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refresh him with tea in their comfortable drawing room that he alluded to the tabooed
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subject. He lit a cigarette he could omit the queen's pipe, had,
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he said, chosen for. They indulged him greatly and inquired in what way
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he could serve them. They looked puzzled for a moment. Then Dora's countenance
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tleeered, Oh, the letter we were going to write to you. No,
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it wasn't to ask you for anything it She looked across at Alysia,
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who glanced back at her with an air of intelligence and readiness. The fact
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is, dear Hugh, said the older, we have rather unfortunate news to
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give you. Your uncle Geoffrey is not very well. Though he expressed his
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sorrow, he smiled at the anticlimax the dear fussy sisters. In fact,
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his heart is seriously affected, continued Alicia gravely, and he can't possibly live
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very long. The deuce, he can't, said Hugh, who began to
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lose sight of the humorous aspect of things. How do you know we received
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a long letter from him this morning, in which he refers to other things.
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Besides, you'd better let be sier, it said Hugh, would you
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get it, Dora, said Alicia, and then, while the younger sister
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was fetching the document from a secretaire by the window. I don't bear malice.
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I am grieved to hear of Geoffrey Coleman's affliction, and I hope he
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is prepared to meet his end like a Christian and a gentleman. But I
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consider his conduct towards you has been simply shameful. Hugh took the letter from
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Dora's hand and read it through. I can get on without his money,
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my DearS, he said, bravely. Of course you can, said Alysia,
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proudly. A Coleman need not be beholden to any man. But that
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does not contain anything in your uncle's behavior. He rose with a laugh,
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curled his mustache to a fiercer angle, and put his arm round Dora's shoulder,
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who was standing, and addressed Alicia. What does it matter? Don't
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trouble your dear kind hearts about it. I'm sorry for the poor old chap
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he was kind to me when a boy has done more for me than I
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ever did for him. I came to see how you two were getting on,
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and to comfort my heart with a bottle of grandfather's old madeira. So
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let us be happy. What a dear noble fellow you are to take it
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like that, said Dora, kissing him. My dear child, He replied,
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with a laugh, how oft am am I to tell you that I
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am not a graven image? He did not feel at all noble. On
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the contrary, very ignominiously disappointed. His iridescent scheme had vanished like a soap
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bubble. Jeffrey Coleman had intimated in his letter, with much deprecatory circumlocution,
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that on looking lately into his affairs he found them, by no means as
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prosperous as he had imagined. There were depreciations in lands, unlucky investments,
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mortgages in fine much as he desired it, he would be able to do
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nothing at all for Hugh, And then he was practically more about. Hugh
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shrugged off the disappointment to ask his sisters for a loan out of their comparative
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dismall fortune upon no security more tangible than the promise of his brotherly efforts to
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repay them was absolutely impossible. One comfort remained, for which he thanked the
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God of chance. The opportune arrival of the letter had effectually precluded his proposal.
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He returned to London, where a sudden stress of work awaited him.
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But the briefs of a criminal advocates chiefly engaged in small cases are not marked
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very high. Moreover, ill luck attended him. After three of his clients
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were convicted. He made desperate efforts to secure a favorable verdict for a fourth,
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and his failure roused his exasperation. His book of poems came out just
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at this time, to be less glowingly received by literary journals than the two
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previous ones. They complained of tenuity of thought over elaboration, advised finally a
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robust view of Franker acceptance of the emotional facts of life. He threw his
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press cuttings angrily into the waste paper basket. What did the fools know about
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it? It was the only sphere in which he could divest himself of his
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accursed emotionality. He turned to Irene It even her tribute fell short of its
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customary wholeness. She noticed a tendency towards the symbolism of the modern French school
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in his new volume. She quoted a line said it suggested Stefan Malaramy.
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Hugh broke out tempestuously, why don't you call me a decadent at once?
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And artifice of Fraser and an exhausted ironist. That's what your criticism comes to.
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You feel as I am on the downgrade, and you don't like to
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tell me. Oh no, Hugh, She postulated, much of it is
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as exquisite as ever, But I love all your work to be exquisite.
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It's only here and there that the meaning is not quite clear and the language
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appears forced. She exerted herself to heal his wounded susceptibilities, but her criticism
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had sunk deep. It was true he was on the down grade in every
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sphere Happaba's debts. Loosing his hold on the sympathies of Jeury is his poetical
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vein worked out. He saw exaggerated ruins staring him in the face. He
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had sowed the wind was about to reap the inevitable harvest. A high spirited
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man, half ashamed of his life often loses sense of proportion akivata or concentration
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of bad weathers, as the Germans appropriably name A storm had temporarily gathered about
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him, and he mistook it for the destroying whirlwind. Meanwhile, Minna came
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to his chambers, wove her Morganesque spells about his senses, provoking, seductive,
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tempting, sympathetic, instinctively bringing him to the brink of the false depths
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in her nature, cunningly clinking her money bags in his ear. One afternoon,
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he met Gerard at the club in Sir James's Street, to which both
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Sill belonged. They were to dine together later with some friends. The talk
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had turned to domestic affairs. Not being able as yet to find a suitable
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home for her rescued wife, was keeping her in the house. In fact,
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was growing attached to the child. That's the devil of it, said
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Gerard. When once Irene attaches herself to a thing, nothing can make her
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let go. Why should she? Asked Hugh. Shortly, Gerard day back
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in his chair and watched the blue wreaths riving from his pipe. Then he
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said, slowly, there are occasions when it's awkward. Sometimes I wish I
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rely were not so strenuous. A confounded man cried, Hugh, How could
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you, of all men disparage her. Irenea's husband looked at him, queerly
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out of the corner of his eye. I rene it didn't quite step ready
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made out of heaven. It's a precious good thing. She didn't. Otherwise
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you would not have looked upon you and me. You're a poet, my
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friend, and I'm a philosopher. You're a married man, I suppose you
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mean, and I am a damned fool. You ought to be separated from
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my worry me for a year or two, then you would appreciate her.
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There is no necessity, I assure you, retorted Gerard coolly. And as
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for your being a damned fool, well, I have known you too long
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not to have my own ideas about it. Anyhow, you're growing gunpowdery,
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not yourself. What's wrong? My bliver's out of order, said Hugh.
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An acquaintance came up and they discussed other matters, but it was only afterwards
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since Hugh recognized how near to a quarrel he had come with his best friend.
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Unless equable temper than Gerard's might have flared up in resentment at his angry
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speeches. As it was, Gerard seemed to forget the incident, but it
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aided Hugh to realize his own irritability. Shortly before Whitston Tide, Minna went
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to Brighton. Her excuse to Hugh was the prospect of a colossal male dinner
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party given to half the Hebrew bucket jock keepers in London. If she remained
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in town, she would have to play Herodias's door at this orgy. As
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the only condition on which she would consent to do this, that she should
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receive Goldberg's head on a charger was incapable of fulfillment. She was withdrawing from
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the scene altogether, but she did not go without Hugh's promise to join her
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during the Whitsun Tide recess. As soon as the courts rose, he went
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down. It was lovely weather. Minn A looked radiant with youth and happiness.
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On the evening of his arrival, she sat with him on the same
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seat on the parade as a witness the beginning of her escapade with the young
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guardsman. She thought thrillingly of the difference between the two experiences. The dusk
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of the warm evening was closing round them. From the head of the pier
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came the faint, languorous strains of a waltz. She edged nearer to him,
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laid her hand on his knee. Are you happy that you are here?
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The touch and the voice, the perfume of her hair so close to
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his face, the distant musing, the charm of the evening produced their intoxication.
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Minna, he whispered. Yes. The girl's heart throbbed tumultuously. She
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had waited weeks and weeks in patience for that note of passion. She hung
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breathlessly on his lips, for the next utterance. I give up the waiting.
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I might strive till doomsday. I don't care anything you wish. Only
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soon, Yes, very soon, she murmured, with an adorable catch in
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her voice at her registrars. Almost at once, I'll give notice to morrow.
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Tuesday will be the day he had yielded. There was only one Irene
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in the world. She was beyond his reach, the only other woman he
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desired lay ready to his arms. And she had money, money, money,
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the only talisman for happiness in this world. Yet it was a hateful
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thought. Even at this moment, he the temptation fiercely fooled himself into the
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conviction that it did not enter into his plans. He loved her, It
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was a love match, pure and simple. Would you be winning, Minna?
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He asked, in a low voice, to let the marriage be a
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secret until I could put my affairs in order. This bramble seemed to catch
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his honor on its slippery path downhill. He made the proposal, however,
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diffidently, lest it might hurt the sensitive susceptibilities of race and social station.
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But she broke into deep cooing laughter. You dear wise, stupid, she
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said, that's the very plan I've been dreaming over night and day for weeks,
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and I wouldn't tell you until I felt you would agree. I have
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worked out every little detail. She brushed his ear quickly with her lips.
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On Tuesday, she whispered. Then she raised quickly from the seat and turned
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gaily facing him. Let us walk about and be proud of ourselves. End
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of chapter four