XIV

THE PRIEST

A year pa.s.sed, during which John Loveday exhausted the resources of civilization, (1)in seeking Margaret, and (2)in investigating the innocence of Richard.

He had, however, a sprightly, adventurous nerve in the mind, and would pull his velvet sleeves busily up--such was his little way. He began to plot.

About the same time the ex-priest, in that far-off world of Colmoor, said one day to Hogarth: "_You_ won't be here long!"

"You jest," Hogarth answered; "if I had the chance of escape, I should never take it. I am here by due legal process".

"Tut, if I say that you will escape, it is not because I am a prophet, but a man of the world, and know what happens in it".

Converse with this deep, world-wise, and fluent man had now become to Hogarth like manna, or rather a vice, like opium: for in those grey eyes of the cleric was hinted anon the baleful glint of the cobra's.

That day, a Sat.u.r.day, outdoor gangs were recalled early, to "clean up"

for Sunday, and out across the heath rang the great bell, Colmoor being famous for its bell, its tone and great size, larger than even the eight-ton "Mighty Tom" of Christ Church, for though its thickness was only six inches, it weighed, bell and clapper, ten tons, and was seven feet high and seven in diameter.

A busy Sat.u.r.day afternoon ensued, and whatsoever Hogarth's hand found to do he did it with his might, though his face now seemed all eyes--brown, bloodshot, imperially large, morbidly staring.

He was giving the finishing touches of order to his wooden spoon and salt-cellar, his tin knife, plate, and pint cup for gruel, when a Warder Jennings peeped in with, "No. 76--you are to follow the a.s.sistant warder at once", and Hogarth descended to an ante-room where an official handed him a letter, which had been read and initialed by governor and chaplain.

An event!--a letter in Colmoor, like a shark's fin on the voyages of old sailing ships.

It was from Loveday, and concluded with a reference to Hogarth's "poor old grandmother".

So Hogarth, who had no "grandmother", propped his forehead to ponder that thing; and presently said: "Oh, it is a cypher".

And by noting little peculiarities in the shapes of the letters, a double cross to a t, a q like a g, etc., he soon had "flemecops-leftquary"--which he took to mean: "flee to me in the copse to the left of the quarry".

He smiled with tenderness at the dear heart planning and daring so very much for him. But in his smile was a touch of disdain also, he not intending to "flee".

XV

MONSIGNOR

Hogarth's first thought, as getting-up bell clattered reveille through the gallery, was of Loveday's cypher, and by the time the warder came to ask if he would see governor or doctor, a thought of Monsignor O'Hara had somehow mixed itself with the thought of the cypher; when an orderly handed in the day's brown loaf, he was thinking, "Strange that he never told me what he has done"; eating his pint of gruel, he thought: "If I will not escape myself, I might perhaps let another."

"What!" said O'Hara on the march out, "you still here?"

"Where should I be?" answered Hogarth, dull and sullen.

"Where palaces stand open for you, and bank-notes--have you ever realized something very charming in the Helen pallor of a bank-note, Hogarth? And gold-yellow, sparkling gold! Hogarth, I--_love_ gold! It is a confession--"

"Is it that love which brought you here?" Hogarth asked with his sideward stare.

Whereupon the priest turned a cold gaze upon him--had regarded Hogarth as a well-bred man, or would hardly have conversed with him.

"I had a motive for asking", said Hogarth, eyeing the face of the prelate--a man of very coa.r.s.e feature; a small head, made to receive the tonsure, with a low brow; a stern bottom lip, and long upper; a fat neck held majestically erect; and up stuck his double chin. In profile, the part between the sharp edge of the bottom lip and the chin-tip was divided, down near the chin tip, by an angle and crease; and the lower face seemed too ma.s.sive for the size of the head.

Nothing could be more exquisite than the contrast between his air of force, authority and importance, and the knickerbockers, the coa.r.s.e cap, the canvas slop-jacket, which he wore.

Outwardly calm, he was yet very excited by that "I had a motive"; he said to himself: "Suppose this man has some plan! He could invent ten, if he only knew it. And suppose he would tell me it, if I make him believe me innocent! It would be like him!"

When the eleven o'clock dinner-bell rang, and they two were again together, O'Hara said: "Hogarth, I have for some time been intending to give you my story. Have I in your eyes the air of a guilty man?"

"G.o.d knows," answered Hogarth, with a shrug; "you talk nicely, and you know much".

"So much for the hollowness of friendship!"

"Don't be sentimental", said Hogarth: "I never pretended to be any friend of yours; but I do respect your talents, do pity your misery: and if I knew the solid facts of, as you have said, your 'innocence', I might--"

"_What_?" whispered O'Hara with a thievish, fierce glance.

"Help you".

"_In G.o.d's truth?_"

"I might".

O'Hara said: "I don't find it so cold as it was this morning. You must have observed a certain peculiarity of moorland climates--the same being true of the Roman Campagna, and of Irish peat-lands--that they are colder than elsewhere in the absence of the sun, and warmer in its presence. This afternoon--_I will tell you_--"

They had reached the great gates, and were marched to parade-ground for the second of the four daily searches; then, after three ounces of fat mutton and forty minutes' rest, the third search, the second march-out.

And immediately beyond the gates O'Hara began: "In order to paint you my life, Hogarth, I must give you at once to understand what has been its mainspring and secret: my pa.s.sion for my Church--"

He paused, while his lips moved in prayer, and he crossed himself.

"From boyhood my dream was to see my Church supreme in the warfare of the world, I being a King's College and Maynooth man, at twenty-three was Senior Chancellor's Medallist, and seven years later, sent to Rome was quickly received into the Vatican household. It was recognized that I had a future: both gifts and graces; piety; a versatile tongue; a powerful voice; some learning; could dine, I could look august; above all, I knew my man and could talk him over. My great day came when, one morning, in St. Gregory the Great on Mount Coelius, I was consecrated Bishop Coadjutor to his Eminence the Archbishop of Westminster. Now I was on the heights. My life during the next ten years was a life of bustling action--and was led always with one unselfish object. No man ever spoke a greater number of words than I, Hogarth. I have breakfasted with the Prime Minister, lunched with a President of the Conference, and dined with the Bishop of London: between the three meals I have written a hundred letters and pitched into ten cabs. Such a life is very exhilarating, in comparison, for example, with quarrying. Oh, my G.o.d what am I fallen! Most of that time I was running over Europe: from Madrid to Vienna, from Rouen to Rome. It happened that the Archbishop of Paris was organizing a scheme of Church-workhouses in France, in the absence of munic.i.p.al ones, such as we have here.... Well, it was a grand thing, but was falling through for lack of funds: so I, on my way to Rome, undertook the mission to plead the cause before his Holiness, and succeeded to this extent that, on my return, I had with me a casket from the good old man containing seven diamonds, which I might either dispose of personally, or hand over to the Paris fund. Now, it was during my stay at Rome that that series of events, culminating in the Jewish exodus from Europe, occurred; and on my journey home I was seized with the mighty thought that, since many of the Jews were perishing of want, _that_ was the moment to reach their spirit through the body, and add their race to the trophies of the Church. Was it not a thought? You yourself, who are a Jew--"

Hogarth's eyes opened in surprise."_I_ am not a Jew ".

"No? I should have said that there was a hint of expression somewhere--But to resume. I retained those seven diamonds, and disposed of them".

"Honest behaviour!"

"Perfectly honest! I acquainted the Pope--he sanctioned it! And now, I, single-handed almost, threw myself into that task. I hired, I built, I begged, I borrowed, I formed committees, I haunted Religious Houses, I sweated, I ran, I wept, I visited dens, I smoked opium, I drank gin, I framed memorials, I learned Yiddish, I read the Mishna and Gemara, I interviewed Rabbonim, I wrote tracts: I was busy. In the midst of it, I had to visit Rome ceremoniously, to a.s.sist at an interview between the Duke of York and his Holiness--arrived on the Monday, and on the Wednesday, I remember, attended a Court Ball in the suite of his Royal Highness. That night, when I returned to the Vatican, I found all the Piazza di San Pietro crowded. I do not know if you were free at the time when my friend, M. Tissot, startled everybody by predicting the collision of an asteroid with the earth? Tut, the silly being--he should have known from the body's response to the spectroscope that its condition was too friable to resist our atmosphere. But I never yet knew an astronomer not imbued with sensationalism they acquire a certain megalomania from their intercourse with s.p.a.ce. But, at all events, the people, dreading the destruction of everything, had crowded toward the Vatican. The Duke of Genoa, I, and some of the College of Cardinals, stood watching from a balcony; and very imposing, I remember, was the moment when a glare appeared--I must stop--"

They were at the face of the rock, and the "halt" and "set to work"

parted them.

But again on the final march back at 5.15 when nightshades were falling fast like snow, and the arm now felt the pick a load, O'Hara began his muttering: