Thomas G.o.dolphin received him kindly, his manner and words had all the repose of quiet confidence. He believed Mr. Hurde to be completely mistaken, to have erred through zeal, and he intimated as much to Mr.

Layton. He might not have personally entered on the topic with him, but that Layton had heard that he had been accused to him.

Layton's heart opened to his master. He was a well-disposed man when not exasperated. He frankly volunteered to Mr. G.o.dolphin the amount of his wife's income and its source; he stated that he was not living up to one penny more than he could afford; and he distinctly denied being a betting man, either by practice or inclination--except for the one bet of a pound, which he had made incidentally. Altogether, his explanation was perfectly satisfactory to Mr. G.o.dolphin.

"Understand me, Mr. Layton, I did not, myself, cast the slightest doubt upon you. To do so, never occurred to me."

"I hope not, sir," was Layton's reply. "Mr. Hurde has his crotchets, and we, who are under him, must put up with them. His bark is worse than his bite: that much may be said for him."

"Yes," said Thomas G.o.dolphin. "You might fare worse, in that respect, than you do under Mr. Hurde. What was the meaning of the words you spoke relative to Mr. George G.o.dolphin?"

Layton felt that his face was on fire. He muttered, in his confusion, something to the effect that it was a "slip of the tongue."

"But you must be aware that such slips are quite unjustifiable.

Something must have induced you to say it. What may it have been?"

"The truth is, I was in a pa.s.sion when I said it," replied Layton, compelled to speak. "I am very sorry."

"You are evading my question," quietly replied Thomas G.o.dolphin. "I ask you what could have induced you to say it? There must have been something to lead to the remark."

"I did not mean anything, I declare, sir, Mr. Hurde vexed me by casting suspicion upon me; and in the moment's anger, I retorted that he might as well cast it upon Mr. George G.o.dolphin."

Thomas G.o.dolphin pressed the question. In Layton's voice when he had uttered it, distorted though it was with pa.s.sion, his ears had detected a strange meaning. "But why upon Mr. George G.o.dolphin? Why more upon him than any other?--upon myself, for instance; or Mr. Hurde?"

Layton was silent. Thomas G.o.dolphin waited, his serene countenance fixed upon, the clerk's.

"I suppose I must have had in my head a remark I heard yesterday, sir,"

he slowly rejoined. "Heaven knows, though, I gave no heed to it; and how I came to forget myself in my anger, I don't know. I am sure I thought nothing of it, afterwards, until Mr. Hurde spoke to me this morning."

"What was the remark?" asked Mr. G.o.dolphin.

"Sir, it was that sporting man, Jolly, who said it. He fastened himself on me last evening in going from here, and I could not get rid of him until ten at night. We were talking about different things: the great discount houses in London and one thing or another; and he said, incidentally, that Mr. George G.o.dolphin had a good deal of paper in the market."

Thomas G.o.dolphin paused. "Did he a.s.sert that he knew this?"

"He pretended to a.s.sert many things, as of his own knowledge. I asked him how he knew it, and he replied a friend of his had seen it--meaning the paper. It was all he said; and how I came to repeat such a thing after him, I cannot tell. I hope you will excuse it, sir."

"I cannot help excusing it," replied Mr. G.o.dolphin. "You said the thing, and you cannot unsay it. It was very wrong. Take care that you do not give utterance to it again."

Layton withdrew, inwardly vowing that he never would. In point of fact, he had not attached much weight to the information; and could now have bitten his tongue out for repeating it. He wondered whether they could prosecute him for slander: or whether, if it came to the ears of Mr.

George, _he_ would. Mr. G.o.dolphin had met it with the considerate generosity ever characteristic of him; but Mr. George was different from his brother. If ever a man in this world lived up to the Divine command, "Do as ye would be done by," that man was Thomas G.o.dolphin.

But the words, nevertheless, grated on Thomas G.o.dolphin's ears. That George was needlessly lavish in expenditure, he knew: but not more so than his income allowed, if he chose to spend it all--unless he had secret sources of expense. A change came over Thomas G.o.dolphin's face as the idea suggested itself to his mind. Once in the train of thought he could not stop it. _Had_ George private channels for expenditure, of which the world knew nothing? Could he have been using the Bank's money?--could it be he who had taken Lord Averil's deeds? Like unto Isaac Hastings, the red flush of shame dyed Thomas's brow at the thought--shame for his own obtrusive imagination that could conjure up such a fancy against his brother. Thomas had never conjured it up, but for the suggestion gratuitously imparted to him by Layton.

But he could not drive it down. No; like the vision which had been gratuitously presented to the Reverend Mr. Hastings, and which he had been unable to dismiss, Thomas G.o.dolphin could not drive it away. In a sort of panic--a panic caused by his own thoughts--he called for certain of the books to be brought to him.

Some of those wanted were in George G.o.dolphin's room. It was Isaac Hastings who was sent in there for them.

"The books!" exclaimed George, looking at Isaac.

"Mr. G.o.dolphin wants them, sir."

It was quite out of the usual order for these books to come under the inspection (unless at stated times) of Mr. G.o.dolphin. The very asking for them implied a doubt on George--at least, it sounded so to that gentleman's all-conscious ears. He pointed out the books to Isaac in silence, with the end of his pen.

Isaac Hastings, carried them to Mr. G.o.dolphin, and left them with him.

Mr. G.o.dolphin turned them rapidly over and over: they appeared, so far as he could see at a cursory glance, to be all right; the balance on the credit side weighty, the available funds next door to inexhaustible, the Bank altogether flourishing. Thomas took greater shame to himself for having doubted his brother. While thus engaged, an observation suddenly struck him--that all the entries were in George's handwriting. A few minutes later, George came into the room.

"George," he exclaimed, "how industrious you have become!"

"Industrious!" repeated George, looking round for an explanation.

"All these entries are yours. Formerly you would not have done as much in a year."

George laughed. "I used to be incorrigibly idle. It was well to turn over a new leaf."

He--George--was going out of the room again, but his brother stopped him. "Stay here, George. I want you."

Mr. G.o.dolphin pointed to a chair as he spoke, and George sat down.

George, who seemed rather inclined to have the fidgets, took out his penknife and began cutting at an offending nail.

"Are you in any embarra.s.sment, George?"

"In embarra.s.sment? I! Oh dear, no."

Thomas paused. Dropping his voice, he resumed in a lower tone, only just removed from a whisper:

"Have you paper flying about the discount markets?"

George G.o.dolphin's fair face grew scarlet. Was it with conscious emotion?--or with virtuous indignation? Thomas a.s.sumed it to be the latter. How could he give it an opposite meaning from the indignant words which accompanied it. A burst of indignation which Thomas stopped.

"Stay, George. There is no necessity to put yourself out. I never supposed it to be anything but false when a rumour of it reached my ear.

Only tell me the truth quietly."

Possibly George would have been glad to tell the truth, and get so much of the burden off his mind. But he did not dare. He might have shrunk from the terrible confession at any time to his kind, his good, his upright brother: but things had become too bad to be told to him now. If the expose did come, why, it must, and there would be no help for it: tell him voluntarily he could not. By some giant strokes of luck and policy, it might yet be averted: how necessary, then, to keep it from Thomas G.o.dolphin!

"The truth is," said George, "that I don't know what you mean. To what rumour are you alluding?"

"It has been said that you have a good deal of paper in the market. The report was spoken, and it reached my ears."

"It's not true. It's all an invention," cried George vehemently. "Should I be such a fool? There are some people who live, it's my belief, by trying to work ill to others. Mr. Hastings was with me this morning. He had heard a rumour that something was wrong with the Bank."

"With the Bank! In what way?"

"Oh, of course, people must have gathered a version of the loss here, and put their own charitable constructions upon it," replied George, returning to his usual careless mode of speech. "The only thing to do is, to laugh at them."

"As you can laugh at the rumour regarding yourself and the bills?"

remarked Thomas.

"As I can and do," answered easy George. Never more easy, more apparently free from care than at that moment. Thomas G.o.dolphin, truthful himself, open as the day, not glancing to the possibility that George could be deliberately otherwise, felt all his confidence return to him. George went out, and Thomas turned to the books again.