Colonel Quaritch, V.C.: Chapter 7
Chapter 7
EDWARD COSSEY, ESQUIRE
After George had drunk his glass of wine and given his opinion as to
the best way to deal with the dangerous pinnacle on the Boisingham
Church, he took the note, untied the fat pony, and ambled off to
Honham, leaving the lawyer alone. As soon as he was gone, Mr. Quest
threw himself back in his chair--an old oak one, by-the-way, for he
had a very pretty taste in old oak and a positive mania for collecting
it--and plunged into a brown study.
Presently he leant forward, unlocked the top drawer of his writing
table, and extracted from it a letter addressed to himself which he
had received that very morning. It was from the principals of the
great banking firm of Cossey and Son, and dated from their head office
in Mincing lane. This letter ran as follows:
"Private and confidential.
"Dear Sir,--
"We have considered your report as to the extensive mortgages which
we hold upon the Honham Castle estates, and have allowed due
weight to your arguments as to the advisability of allowing Mr. de
la Molle time to give things a chance of righting. But we must
tell you that we can see no prospect of any such solution of the
matter, at any rate for some years to come. All the information
that we are able to gather points to a further decrease in the
value of the land rather than to a recovery. The interest on the
mortgages in question is moreover a year in arrear, probably owing
to the non-receipt of rents by Mr. de la Molle. Under these
circumstances, much as it grieves us to take action against Mr. de
la Molle, with whose family we have had dealings for five
generations, we can see no alternative to foreclosure, and hereby
instruct you to take the necessary preliminary steps to bring it
about in the usual manner. We are, presuming that Mr. de la Molle
is not in a position to pay off the mortgages, quite aware of the
risks of a forced sale, and shall not be astonished if, in the
present unprecedented condition of the land market, such a sale
should result in a loss, although the sum recoverable does not
amount to half the valuation of the estates, which was undertaken
at our instance about twenty years ago on the occasion of the
first advance. The only alternative, however, would be for us to
enter into possession of the property or to buy it in. But this
would be a course totally inconsistent with the usual practice of
the bank, and what is more, our confidence in the stability of
landed property is so utterly shattered by our recent experiences,
that we cannot burden ourselves by such a course, preferring to
run the risk of an immediate loss. This, however, we hope that the
historical character of the property and its great natural
advantages as a residential estate will avert, or at the least
minimise."Be so good as to advise us by an early post of the steps you take
in pursuance of these instructions."We are, dear sir,
"Your obedient servants,
"Cossey & Son."W. Quest, Esq.
"P.S.--We have thought it better to address you direct in this
matter, but of course you will communicate the contents of this
letter to Mr. Edward Cossey, and, subject to our instructions,
which are final, act in consultation with him."
"Well," said Mr. Quest to himself, as he folded up the sheet of paper,
"that is about as straight as it can be put. And this is the time that
the old gentleman chooses to ask for another four thousand. He may
ask, but the answer will be more than he bargains for."
He rose from the chair and began to walk up and down the room in
evident perplexity. "If only," he said, "I had twenty-five thousand, I
would take up the mortgages myself and foreclose at my leisure. It
would be a good investment at that figure, even as things are, and
besides, I should like to have that place. Twenty-five thousand, only
twenty-five thousand, and now when I want it I have not got it. And I
should have had it if it had not been for that tiger, that devil
Edith. She has had more than that out of me in the last ten years, and
still she is threatening and crying for more, more, more. Tiger; yes,
that is the name for her, her own name, too. She would coin one's
vitals into money if she could. All Belle's fortune she has had, or
nearly all, and now she wants another five hundred, and she will have
it too.
"Here we are," and he drew a letter from his pocket written in a bold,
but somewhat uneducated, woman's hand.
"Dear Bill," it ran, "I've been unlucky again and dropped a pot. Shall
want 500 pounds by the 1st October. No shuffling, mind; money down;
but I think that you know me too well to play any more larx. When can
you tear yourself away, and come and give your E---- a look? Bring
some tin when you come, and we will have times.--Thine, The Tiger."
"The Tiger, yes, the Tiger," he gasped, his face working with passion
and his grey eyes glinting as he tore the epistle to fragments, threw
them down and stamped on them. "Well, be careful that I don't one day
cut your claws and paint your stripes. By heaven, if ever a man felt
like murder, I do now. Five hundred more, and I haven't five thousand
clear in the world. Truly we pay for the follies of our youth! It
makes me mad to think of those fools Cossey and Son forcing that place
into the market just now. There's a fortune in it at the price. In
another year or two I might have recovered myself--that devil of a
woman might be dead--and I have several irons in the fire, some of
which are sure to turn up trumps. Surely there must be a way out of it
somehow. There's a way out of everything except Death if only one
thinks enough, but the thing is to find it," and he stopped in his
walk opposite to the window that looked upon the street, and put his
hand to his head.
As he did so he caught sight of the figure of a tall gentleman
strolling idly towards the office door. For a moment he stared at him
blankly, as a man does when he is trying to catch the vague clue to a
new idea. Then, as the figure passed out of his view, he brought his
fist down heavily upon the sill.
"Edward Cossey, by George!" he said aloud. "There's the way out of it,
if only I can work him, and unless I have made a strange mistake, I
think I know the road."
A couple of minutes afterwards a tall, shapely young man, of about
twenty-four or five years of age, came strolling into the office where
Mr. Quest was sitting, to all appearance hard at work at his
correspondence. He was dark in complexion and decidedly distinguished-
looking in feature, with large dark eyes, dark moustachios, and a
pale, somewhat Spanish-looking skin. Young as the face was, it had, if
observed closely, a somewhat worn and worried air, such as one would
scarcely expect to see upon the countenance of a gentleman born to
such brilliant fortunes, and so well fitted by nature to do them
justice, as was Mr. Edward Cossey. For it is not every young man with
dark eyes and a good figure who is destined to be the future head of
one of the most wealthy private banks in England, and to inherit in
due course a sum of money in hard cash variously estimated at from
half a million to a million sterling. This, however, was the prospect
in life that opened out before Mr. Edward Cossey, who was now supposed
by his old and eminently business-like father to be in process of
acquiring a sound knowledge of the provincial affairs of the house by
attending to the working of their branch establishments in the Eastern
counties.
"How do you do, Quest?" said Edward Cossey, nodding somewhat coldly to
the lawyer and sitting down. "Any business?"
"Well, yes, Mr. Cossey," answered the lawyer, rising respectfully,
"there is some business, some very serious business."
"Indeed," said Edward indifferently, "what is it?"
"Well, it is this, the house has ordered a foreclosure on the Honham
Castle estates--at least it comes to that----"
On hearing this intelligence Edward Cossey's whole demeanour underwent
the most startling transformation--his languor vanished, his eye
brightened, and his form became instinct with active life and beauty.
"What the deuce," he said, and then paused. "I won't have it," he went
on, jumping up, "I won't have it. I am not particularly fond of old de
la Molle, perhaps because he is not particularly fond of me," he added
rather drolly, "but it would be an infernal shame to break up that
family and sell the house over them. Why they would be ruined! And
then there's Ida--Miss de la Molle, I mean--what would become of her?
And the old place too. After being in the family for all these
centuries I suppose that it would be sold to some confounded counter-
skipper or some retired thief of a lawyer. It must be prevented at any
price--do you hear, Quest?"
The lawyer winced a little at his chief's contemptuous allusion, and
then remarked with a smile, "I had no idea that you were so
sentimental, Mr. Cossey, or that you took such a lively interest in
Miss de la Molle," and he glanced up to observe the effect of his
shot.
Edward Cossey coloured. "I did not mean that I took any particular
interest in Miss de la Molle," he said, "I was referring to the
family."
"Oh, quite so, though I'm sure I don't know why you shouldn't. Miss de
la Molle is one of the most charming women that I ever met, I think
the most charming except my own wife Belle," and he again looked up
suddenly at Edward Cossey who, for his part, coloured for the second
time.
"It seems to me," went on the lawyer, "that a man in your position has
a most splendid opportunity of playing knight errant to the lovely
damsel in distress. Here is the lady with her aged father about to be
sold up and turned out of the estates which have belonged to her
family for generations--why don't you do the generous and graceful
thing, like the hero in a novel, and take up the mortgages?"
Edward Cossey did not reject this suggestion with the contempt that
might have been expected; on the contrary he appeared to be turning
the matter over in his mind, for he drummed a little tune with his
knuckles and stared out of the window.
"What is the sum?" he said presently.
"Five-and-twenty thousand, and he wants four more, say thirty
thousand."
"And where am I going to find thirty thousand pounds to take up a
bundle of mortgages which will probably never pay a farthing of
interest? Why, I have not got three thousand that I can come at.
Besides," he added, recollecting himself, "why should I interfere?"
"I do not think," answered Mr. Quest, ignoring the latter part of the
question, "that with your prospects you would find it difficult to get
thirty thousand pounds. I know several who would consider it an honour
to lend the money to a Cossey, if only for the sake of the
introduction--that is, of course, provided the security was of a legal
nature."
"Let me see the letter," said Edward.
Mr. Quest handed him the document conveying the commands of Cossey and
Son, and he read it through twice.
"The old man means business," he said, as he returned it; "that letter
was written by him, and when he has once made up his mind it is
useless to try and stir him. Did you say that you were going to see
the Squire to-day?"
"No, I did not say so, but as a matter of fact I am. His man, George--
a shrewd fellow, by the way, for one of these bumpkins--came with a
letter asking me to go up to the Castle, so I shall get round there to
lunch. It is about this fresh loan that the old gentleman wishes to
negotiate. Of course I shall be obliged to tell him that instead of
giving a fresh loan we have orders to serve a notice on him."
"Don't do that just yet," said Edward with decision. "Write to the
house and say that their instructions shall be attended to. There is
no hurry about the notice, though I don't see how I am to help in the
matter. Indeed there is no call upon me."
"Very well, Mr. Cossey. And now, by the way, are you going to the
Castle this afternoon?"
"Yes, I believe so. Why?"
"Well, I want to get up there to luncheon, and I am in a fix. Mrs.
Quest will want the trap to go there this afternoon. Can you lend me
your dogcart to drive up in? and then perhaps you would not mind if
she gave you a lift this afternoon."
"Very well," answered Edward, "that is if it suits Mrs. Quest. Perhaps
she may object to carting me about the country."
"I have not observed any such reluctance on her part," said the lawyer
dryly, "but we can easily settle the question. I must go home and get
some plans before I attend the vestry meeting about that pinnacle.
Will you step across with me and we can ask her?"
"Oh yes," he answered. "I have nothing particular to do."
And accordingly, so soon as Mr. Quest had made some small arrangements
and given particular directions to his clerks as to his whereabouts
for the day, they set off together for the lawyer's private house.
Back to chapter list of: Colonel Quaritch, V.C.