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Balderby had returned to London upon the previous evening, but Arthur Lovell still remained with the Anglo-Indian. Henry Dunbar was a good deal the worse for the close confinement which he had suffered since his arrival in the cathedral city. Everybody who looked at him saw the change which the last ten days had made in his appearance.
Dunbar smiled. "If he was too ill to go on to Southampton, he would, of course, be too ill to return to London," he said, with supreme indifference. Mr. Balderby, who was a good-hearted man, was distressed at the idea of Sampson Wilmot's desolation; an old man, stricken with sudden illness, and abandoned to strangers.
Balderby sat with the letter open in his hands, staring at the lines before him as if he was scarcely able to comprehend their purport. "Do you mean this, Austin?" he said at last. "Yes, sir. Circumstances over which I have no control compel me to offer you my resignation." "Have you quarrelled with anybody in the office? Has anything occurred in the house that has made you uncomfortable?"
Balderby went to the office to procure the three tickets. Henry Dunbar and Arthur Lovell walked arm-in-arm up and down the platform. As the bell for the up-train was ringing, a man came suddenly upon the platform and looked about him. He recognized the banker, walked straight up to him, and, taking off his hat, addressed Mr. Dunbar respectfully.
Even the Turkey carpet was in the very stage of dusky dinginess that had distinguished the carpet on which Henry Dunbar had stood five-and-thirty years before. "I received your letter announcing your journey to London, and your desire for a private interview, on Saturday afternoon," Mr. Balderby said, after a pause.
Now, as you know him, Sampson, and as you are an excellent man of business, and as active as a boy, I should like you to meet him. Have you any objection to do this?" "No, sir," answered the clerk; "I have no great love for Mr. Henry Dunbar, for I can never cease to look upon him as the cause of my poor brother Joseph's ruin; but I am ready to do what you wish, Mr. Balderby.
The poor girl is very anxious to see him, as she has not set eyes upon him since she was a child of two years old. Strange, isn't it, the effect of these long separations? Laura Dunbar might pass her father in the street without recognizing him, and yet her affection for him has been unchanged in all these years." Mr. Balderby gave the old clerk a pocket-book containing six five-pound notes.
He is a prisoner at Maudesley Abbey, laid up by the effect of his accident the other day, but not too ill to see people, Balderby says; therefore I should think we may be able to plan an interview between you and him. You still hold to your original purpose? You wish to see Henry Dunbar?" "Yes," answered Margaret, thoughtfully; "I want to see him.
'I shall get the bills back into my own hands before they fall due, Joe, he said; 'it's only a little dodge to keep matters sweet for the time being. Well, gentlemen, the poor foolish boy was very fond of his master, and he consented to do this wicked thing." "Do you believe this to be the first time your brother ever Committed forgery?" "I do, Mr. Balderby.
Was it possible to remain in that house when he believed the principal member of it to be one of the most infamous of men? No; it was quite impossible for him to remain in his present situation. So long as he took a salary from Dunbar, Dunbar and Balderby, he was in a manner under obligation to Henry Dunbar.
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