Chapter XLVI

[The Reverend Arthur Warrington receives the news and makes some complaint of it.]

The Red Farm, Beldon, Suffolk,
December 5th, 1905.

James Frogg, Esq.

Dear Mr. Frogg,--God’s will be done--though this, indeed, is dreadful news. That the cup should be dashed from my lips at the last moment! I can hardly believe my eyes while I read.

Of course, this alleged contract is nothing but a trick. Would anyone pay seven hundred pounds a year to a youth who has lived a worthless life? Why, even I cannot earn a hundred pounds a year by my writings, and you know how voluminous they have been.

I must tell you plainly that if I cannot derive some benefit under this Will, my affairs will be in a very bad way. The debts incurred by my wife at the time of that miserable and insensate pageant at Lowestoft still press heavily upon me and interfere with my work among the poor. I owe some two hundred pounds beside, chiefly to my publishers, who brought out my last volumes upon Athanasius and St. John Chrysostom. They have the indelicacy to say that there is no money in the Apostles. I must pay their account immediately, and also your own charges.

Would it be possible, do you think, to find some wealthy person who would lend me money upon note of hand alone? I should not object to a reasonable rate of interest--though perhaps they would lend it to the Lord at a lower figure? How can a clergyman do his duty when harassed by debt?

This is a dreadful misfortune, and I cannot contemplate it with equanimity. What will Henry do with his vast fortune? Oh, it is deplorable to think that it may be spent chiefly upon this dancing girl, who, I have reason to believe, is the natural daughter of a dissolute French nobleman. My own position is rendered more difficult by the fact that I have already entered into considerable engagements upon the supposition that nothing could deprive me of the money. And now Henry so far forgets his birth and tradition as to write for a common newspaper.

Will you please to let me know what I shall have to pay by way of interest for a loan, say of five hundred pounds? Would fifteen per cent. satisfy the lender? I have some hopes of being chosen for one of the new canonries at Bury St. Edmunds, which is about to become a cathedral city. This would mean eight hundred pounds a year and a house, I suppose. I could pay off the money in three years.

Kindly write to me without delay.

Yours truly,
Arthur Warrington.

P.S.--Should you see Mrs. Warrington, I beg you will not mention to her the fact that I am trying to borrow money. My loss, I regret to say, causes her some amusement. She is going to London this week to support the meeting of the Society for the Suppression of the Human Emotions--but I have not the heart to accompany her. She would have gone to the Charing Cross Hotel, but she hears by accident that a very objectionable Irishman, who is her particular aversion, happens to be staying there; so she will be at the Grand. She may call upon you. Be discreet, I pray.