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They all exchanged adieux, Stanway and his cronies effusively, the opposing and outraged faction with a certain fine acrimony. 'Good-night, Fred, said John, throwing a backward patronising glance at Ryley, who had strolled uneasily into the room. The young man paused before replying.
Once upon a time, Ryley, the despised poor relation, the offspring of an outcast from the family, was to have been put off with two hundred and fifty pounds, and the bulk of the Myatt joint fortune was to have passed in any case to John.
'A week last night I heard Fred Ryley talking to you at your window. And I have said nothing. Ethel flushed hotly at this disclosure. 'Then why say anything now? she murmured, half daunted and half daring. 'Your father must know. I ought to have told him before. But I have been wondering how best to act. 'What's the matter with Fred, mother? Ethel demanded, with a catch in her throat.
'Shall I look? Ryley suggested quietly, approaching the safe, of which the key was in the lock. 'Never mind, now! Never mind, now! Stanway stopped him. 'I don't want to be bothered now. Later on in the afternoon, before Mr. Twemlow comes.... Did you write and ask him to call at four thirty? 'Yes, said Ryley, departing without a sign on his face, the model clerk. 'Fool! whispered Stanway.
'The business is right enough! Fred Ryley had said positively, with an emphasis on the word 'business, when he met Leonora and Uncle Meshach in family council, during the first week of the disaster; and Meshach had replied: 'Thou shalt prove it, lad! The next morning Mr.
Months ago she had meant by force of some initiative to regularise this idyll which by its stealthiness wounded the self-respect of all concerned. Vain aspiration! And now the fact that Fred Ryley had begun to call at Church Street appeared to indicate between him and Uncle Meshach a closer understanding which could only be detrimental to the interests of John.
And she foresaw how he would reason diplomatically with Rose, and watch between Milly and Mr. Louis Lewis, and perhaps assist Fred Ryley, and do in the best way everything that ought to be done; and how she would reward him with the consolations of her grace and charm, her feminine arts, and her sweet acquiescence.
It would have been impossible for Ryley to breathe without irritating his employer, and the fact that his plebeian cousin's son was probably the most reliable underling to be got in the Five Towns did not in the slightest degree lessen Stanway's dislike of him; it increased it.
She tried to look grave and sympathetic, to use all her tact. 'But won't that make difficulties with Uncle Meshach? And people might say you had dismissed him because Uncle Meshach had altered his will. 'D n Fred Ryley! he swore, unable to reply to this. 'D n him! He walked to and fro in the room, and all his secret, profound resentment against Ryley surged up, loose and uncontrolled.
As an act of charity John Stanway had given Fred Ryley a stool in the office of his manufactory; but, though Fred's mother was John's first cousin, John never acknowledged the fact. John argued that Fred's mother and Fred's grandfather had made fools of themselves, and that the consequences were irremediable save by Fred's unaided effort.
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