A KNIGHT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, Edward Payson Roe [top young adult novels TXT] 📗
- Author: Edward Payson Roe
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Plan By Which He Might Best Recover His Lost Position. As He Recalled
All That Had Occurred he Began To Understand The Extreme Difficulty Of
His Task, And He Even Queried whether It Were Possible For Him To
Succeed. If The Respectable Would Not Even Give Him Shelter, How Could
He Hope That They Would Employ And Trust Him?
After He Had Partaken Of Quite A Hearty Breakfast, However, His Fortunes
Began To Wear A Less Forbidding aspect. Endowed with Youth, Health, And,
As He Believed, With More Than Usual Ability, He Felt That There Was
Scarcely Occasion For Despair. Some One Would Employ Him--Some One Would
Give Him Another Chance. He Would Take Any Respectable Work That Would
Give Him A Foothold, And By Some Vague, Fortunate Means, Which The
Imagination Of The Young Always Supplies, He Would Achieve Success That
Would Obliterate The Memory Of The Past. Therefore, With Flashes Of Hope
In His Heart, He Started out To Seek His Fortune, And Commenced applying
At The Various Stores And Offices Of The City.
So Far From Giving any Encouragement, People Were Much Surprised that He
Had The Assurance To Ask To Be Employed and Trusted again. The Majority
Dismissed him Coldly And Curtly. A Few Mongrel Natures, True To
Themselves, Gave A Snarling Refusal. Then There Were Jovial Spirits Who
Must Have Their Jest, Even Though The Sensitive Subject Of It Was
Tortured thereby--Men Who Enjoyed quizzing Haldane Before Sending Him
On, As Much As The Old Inquisitors Relished a Little Recreation With Hot
Pincers And Thumb-Screws. There Were Also Conscientious People, Whose
Worldly Prudence Prevented them From Giving Employment To One So Damaged
In Character, And Yet Who Felt Constrained to Give Some Good Advice. To
This, It Must Be Confessed, Haldane Listened with Very Poor Grace, Thus
Extending The Impression That He Was A Rather Hopeless Subject.
"Good God!" He Exclaimed, Interrupting an Old Gentleman Who Was
Indulging In some Platitudes To The Effect That The "Way Of The
Transgressor Is Hard"--"I Would Rather Black Your Boots Than Listen To
Such Talk. What I Want Is Work--A Chance To Live Honestly. What'S The
Use Of Telling a Fellow Not To Go To The Devil, And Then Practically
Send Him To The Devil?"
The Old Gentleman Was Somewhat Shocked and Offended, And Coldly
Intimated that He Had No Need of The Young Man'S Services.
A Few Spoke Kindly And Seemed truly Sorry For Him, But They Either Had
No Employment To Give, Or, On Business Principles, Felt That They Could
Not Introduce Among Their Other Assistants One Under Bonds To Appear And
Be Tried for A State-Prison Offence That Was Already The Same As Proved.
After Receiving Rebuffs, And Often What He Regarded as Insults, For
Hours, The Young Man'S Hope Began To Fail Him Utterly. His Face Grew
Pale And Haggard, Not Only From Fatigue, But From That Which Tells
Disastrously Almost As Soon Upon The Body As Upon The Mind--Discouragement.
He Saw That He Had Not Yet Fully Realized the Consequences Of His Folly.
The Deep And Seemingly Implacable Resentment Of Society Was A Continued
Surprise. He Was Not Conscious Of Being a Monster Of Wickedness, And It
Seemed to Him That After His Bitter Experience He Would Rather Starve
Than Again Touch What Was Not His Own.
But The Trouble Is, The World Does Not Give Us Much Credit For What We
Think, Feel, And Imagine, Even If Aware Of Our Thoughts. It Is What We
_Do_ That Forms Public Opinion; And It Was Both Natural And Just That
The Public Should Have A Very Decided opinion Of One Who Had Recently
Shown Himself Capable Of Gambling, Drunkenness, And Practical Theft.
And Yet The Probabilities Were That If Some Kind, Just Man Had Bestowed
Upon Haldane Both Employment And Trust, With A Chance To Rise, His
Bitter Lesson Would Have Made Him Scrupulously Careful To Shun His
Peculiar Temptations From That Time Forward. But The World Usually
Regards One Who Has Committed a Crime As A Criminal, And Treats Him As
Such. It Cannot, If It Would, Nicely Calculate The Hidden Moral State
And Future Chances. It Acts On Sound Generalities, Regardless Of The
Exceptions; And Thus It Often Happens That Men And Women Who At First
Can Scarcely Understand The World'S Adverse Opinion, Are Disheartened by
It, And At Last Come To Merit The Worst That Can Be Said Or Thought.
As, At The Time Of His First Arrest, Haldane Had Found His Eyes Drawn By
A Strange, Cruel Fascination To Every Scornful Or Curious Face Upon The
Street, So Now He Began To Feel A Morbid Desire To Know Just What People
Were Saying and Thinking Of Him. He Purchased both That Day'S Papers And
Those Of The Previous Day, And, Finding a Little Out-Of-The-Way
Restaurant Kept By A Foreigner, He "Supped full With"--What Were To Him
Emphatically--"Horrors"; The Dinner And Supper Combined, Which He Had
Ordered, Growing Cold, In the Meantime, And As Uninviting as The Place
In Which It Was Served.
His Eyes Dwelt Longest Upon Those Sentences Which Were The Most
Unmercifully Severe, And They Seemed to Burn Their Way Into His Very
Soul. Was He In truth Such A Miscreant As The "Courier" Described? Mrs.
Arnot Had Not Shrunk From Him As From Contamination; But She Was
Different From All Other People That He Had Known; And He Now
Remembered, Also, That Even She Always Referred to His Act In a Grave,
Troubled way, As If Both Its Character And Consequences Were Serious
Indeed.
There Was Such A Cold, Leaden Despondency Burdening His Heart That He
Felt That He Must Have Relief Of Some Kind. Although Remembering His
Rash Invocation Of Fatal Consequences To Himself Should He Touch Again
That Which Had Brought Him So Much Evil, He Now, With A Reckless Oath,
Muttered that He "Needed some Liquor, And Would Have It."
Having Finished a Repast From Which He Would Have Turned in disgust
Before His Fortunes Had So Greatly Altered, And Having Gained a Little
Temporary Courage From The More Than Doubtful Brandy Served in such A
Place, He Obtained permission To Sit By The Fire And Smoke Away The
Blustering Evening, For He Felt No Disposition To Face The World Again
That Day. The German Proprietor And His Beer-Drinking Patrons Paid No
Attention To The Stranger, And As He Sat Off On One Side By Himself At A
Table, With A Mug Of Lager Before Him, He Was Practically As Much Alone,
And As Lonely, As If In a Desert.
In A Dull, Vague Way It Occurred to Him That It Was Very Fitting That
Those Present Should Speak In a Foreign And Unknown Tongue, And Act And
Look Differently From All Classes Of People Formerly Known To Him. He
Was In a Different World, And It Was Appropriate That Everything Should
Appear Strange And Unfamiliar.
Finding That He Could Have A Room In this Same Little, Dingy
Restaurant-Hotel, Where He Had Obtained his Supper, He Resolved that He
Would Torture Himself No More That Night With Thoughts Of The Past Or
Future, But Slowly Stupefy Himself Into Sleep.
Chapter XIX (The World'S Best Offer--A Prison)
After A Walk In the Sweet April Sunshine The Following Morning, A Hearty
Breakfast, And A General Rallying Of The Elastic Forces Of Youth,
Haldane Felt That He Had Not Yet Reached the "Brink Of Dark Despair."
Indeed, He Had An Odd Sense Of Pride That He Had Survived the Ordeal Of
The Last Two Days, And Still Felt As Well As He Did. Although It Was But
An Arab'S Life, In which Every Man'S Hand Seemed against Him, Yet He
Still Lived, And Concluded that He Could Continue To Live Indefinitely.
He Did Not Go Out Again, As On The Previous Day, To Seek Employment, But
Sat Down And Tried to Think His Way Into The Future Somewhat.
The First Question That Presented itself Was, Should He In any
Contingency Return Home To His Mother?
He Was Not Long In deciding adversely, For It Seemed to Him To Involve
Such A Bitter Mortification That He Felt He Would Rather Starve.
Should He Send To Her For Money?
That Would Be Scarcely Less Humiliating, For It Was Equivalent To A
Confession That He Could Not Even Take Care Of Himself, Much Less
Achieve All The Brave Things He Had Intimated. He Was Still More Averse
To Going To Mrs. Arnot For What Would Seem Charity To Her Husband And To
Every One Else Who Might Hear Of It. The Probability, Also, That Laura
Would Learn Of Such An Appeal For Aid Made Him Scout The Very Thought.
Should He Go Away Among Strangers, Change His Name, And Commence Life
Anew, Unburdened by The Weight Which Now Dragged him Down?
The Thought Of Cutting Himself Off Utterly From All Whom He Knew, Or Who
Cared for Him, Caused a Cold, Shivering Sense Of Dread. It Would, Also,
Be A Confession Of Defeat, An Acknowledgment That He Could Not
Accomplish What He Had Promised to Himself And To Others. He Had,
Moreover, Sufficient Forethought To Perceive That Any Success Which He
Might Achieve Elsewhere, And Under Another Name, Would Be Such A Slight
And Baseless Fabric That A Breath From One Who Now Knew Him Could
Overturn It. He Might Lead An Honorable Life For Years, And Yet No One
Would Believe Him Honorable After Discovering That He Was Living Under
An _Alias_ And Concealing a Crime. If He Could Build Himself Up In
Hillaton He Would Be Founded on The Rock Of Truth, And Need fear No
Disastrous Reverses From Causes Against Which He Could Not Guard.
Few Can Be More Miserable Than Those Who Hold Their Fortunes And Good
Name On Sufferance--Safe Only In the Power And Disposition Of Others To
Keep Some Wretched secret; And He Is But Little Better Off Who Fears
That Every Stranger Arriving In town May Recognize In his Face The
Features Of One That, Years Before, By Reason Of Some Disgraceful Act,
Fled from Himself And All Who Knew Him. The More Haldane Thought Upon
The Scheme Of Losing His Identity, And Of Becoming That Vague, And, As
Yet, Unnamed stranger, Who After Years Of Exile Would Still Be Himself,
Though To The World Not Himself, The Less Attractive It Became.
He Finally Concluded that, As He Had Resolved to Remain In hillaton, He
Would Keep His Resolution, And That, As He Had Plainly Stated his
Purpose To Lift Himself Up By His Own Unaided efforts, He Would Do So If
It Were Possible; And If It Were Not, He Would Live The Life Of A
Laborer--A Tramp, Even--Rather Than "Skulk Back," As He Expressed it, To
Those Who Were Once Kindred and Companions.
"If I Cannot Walk Erect To Their Front Doors, I Will Never Crawl Around
To The Back Entrances. If I Ever Must Take To Keep From Starving, It
Will Be From Strangers. I Shall Never Inflict Myself As A Dead Weight
And A Painfully Tolerated infamy On Any One. I Was Able To Get Myself
Into This Disgusting Slough, And If I Haven'T Brains And Pluck Enough To
Get Myself Out, I Will Remain At This, My Level, To Which I Have
Fallen."
Thus Pride Still Counselled and Controlled, And Yet It Was A Kind Of
Pride That Inspires Something Like Respect. It Proved that There Was
Much Good Metal In the Crude, Misshapen Ore Of His Nature.
But The Necessity Of Doing Something Was Urgent, For The Sum He Had Been
Willing To Receive From His Mother Was Small, And Rapidly Diminishing.
Among The Possible Activities In which He Might Engage, That Of Writing
For Papers And Magazines Occurred to Him, And The Thought At Once Caught
And Fired his Imagination. The Mysteries Of The Literary World Were The
Least Known To Him, And Therefore It Offered the Greatest Amount Of
Vague Promise And Indefinite Hope. Here A Path Might Open To Both Fame
And Fortune. The More He Dwelt On The Possibility The More It Seemed to
Take The Aspect Of Probability. Under The Signature Of E. H. He Would
Write
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