""Ere are these people--what"s their names? Leadbitter and Gandy (who I take it are in the gas-fitting and decorating line)--writing to say in the same breath that they can"t come and see to your bells, and they don"t want to marry your daughter. Who asked them?--you ain"t come down so low in the world to go and offer Trixie to a gas-fitter, I should "ope, Matthew!--and yet what else _does_ it mean--tell me that, and I"ll thank you."

"Don"t ask _me_," said the unhappy father; "they"re perfect strangers."

"Trixie, you know nothing about it, I hope?" said Mrs. Ashburn, rather suspiciously.

"No, ma dear," said Trixie; "but I don"t want to marry either Mr.

Leadbitter or Mr. Gandy."

The situation had become too much for Mark; at first he had hoped that by holding his tongue he might escape being detected, while the rejection of both the novels from which he had hoped so much was a heavy blow which he felt he could scarcely bear in public; but they seemed so determined to sift the matter to the end that he decided to enlighten them at once, since it must be only a question of time.

But his voice was choked and his face crimson as he said, "I think perhaps I can explain it."

"You!" they all cried, while Uncle Solomon added something about "young men having grown cleverer since his young days."

"Yes, that letter is addressed to me--M. Ashburn, you see, stands for Mark, not Matthew. It"s from--from a firm of publishers," said the unlucky Mark, speaking very hoa.r.s.ely; "I sent them two novels of mine--one was called "One Fair Daughter," and the other "Sweet Bells Jangled"--and they, they won"t take them--that"s all."

There was a "sensation," as reporters say, at this announcement: Martha gave a sour little laugh of disgust; Cuthbert looked as if he thought a good deal which brotherly feeling forbade him to put in words; but Trixie tried to take Mark"s hand under the table--he shrank from all sympathy, however, at such a moment, and shook her off impatiently, and all she could do was to keep her eyes in pity from his face.

Mrs. Ashburn gave a tragic groan and shook her head: to her a young man who was capable of writing novels was lost; she had a wholesome horror of all fiction, having come from a race of Dissenters of the strict old-fashioned cla.s.s, whose prejudices her hard dull nature had retained in all their strength. Her husband, without any very clear views of his own, thought as she did as soon as he knew her opinions, and they all left it to Mr. Lightowler to interpret the "evident sense of the house."

He expanded himself imposingly, calling up his bitterest powers of satire to do justice to the occasion: "So _that"s_ all, is it?" he said; "ah, and quite enough, too, _I_ should think; so it was the bells on _your_ cap that were jingling all the time?"

"Since you put it in that pleasant way," said Mark, "I suppose it was."

"And that"s how you"ve been studying for the Bar of evenings, this is the way you"ve overcome your fondness for scribbling nonsense? I"ve spent all the money I"ve laid out on you" (it was a way of his to talk as if Mark had been a building estate), "I"ve given you a good education, all to "ave you writing novels and get "em "returned with thanks!"--you might have done that much without going to College!"

"Every writer of any note has had novels declined at some time," said Mark.

"Well," said Uncle Solomon, ponderously, "if that"s all, you"ve made a capital start. You can set up as a big littery pot at once, _you_ can, with a brace of "em. I "ope you"re satisfied with all this, Jane, I"m sure?"

"It"s no use saying anything," she said; "but it"s a bad return after all your kindness to him."

"A return with thanks," put in Cuthbert, who was not without some enjoyment of Mark"s discomfiture; he had long had a certain contempt for his elder brother as a much overrated man, and he felt, with perfect justice, that had Fortune made him his uncle"s favourite, he had brains which would have enabled him to succeed where Mark had failed; but he had been obliged to leave school early for a City office, which had gone some way towards souring him.

"There"s an old Latin proverb," said Mr. Ashburn, with a feeling that it was his turn--"an old Latin proverb, "_Nec suetonius ultra crepitam_.""

"No, excuse me, you "aven"t _quite_ got it, Matthew," said his brother-in-law, patronisingly; "you"re very near it, though. It runs, if I don"t make a mistake, "Ne plus ultra sutorius (not _suetonius_--_he_ was a Roman emperor)--crepitam," a favourite remark of the poet Cicero--"Cobbler stick to your last," as _we_ have it more neatly. But your father"s right on the main point, Mark. I don"t say you need stick to the schoolmastering, unless you choose. I"ll see you started at the Bar; I came this very evening to "ave a talk with you on that. But what do you want to go and lower yourself by literature for? There"s a littery man down at our place, a poor feller that writes for the "Chigbourne and Lamford Gazette," and gets my gardener to let him take the measure of my gooseberries; he"s got a hat on him my scarecrow wouldn"t be seen in. That"s what you"ll come to!"

"There"s some difference," said Mark, getting roused, "between the reporter of a country paper and a novelist."

"There"s a difference between you and him," retorted his uncle; "he gets what he writes put in and paid so much a line for--_you_ don"t.

That"s all the difference _I_ can see."

"But when the books are accepted, they will be paid for," said Mark, "and well paid for too."

"I always thought that dog and the shadow must ha" been a puppy, and now I know it," said his uncle, irritably. "Now look here, Mark, let"s have no more nonsense about it. I said I came here to have a little talk with you, and though things are not what I expected, "ave it I will. When I saw you last, I thought you were trying to raise yourself by your own efforts and studying law, and I said to myself, "I"ll give him another chance." It seems now that was all talk; but I"ll give you the chance for all that. If you like to take it, well and good; if not, I"ve done with you this time once for all. You go on and work "ard at this Law till you"ve served your time out, or kept your terms, or whatever they call it, and when you get called you can give "em notice to quit at your school. _I"ll_ pay your fees and see you started in chambers till you"re able to run alone. Only, and mind this, no more of your scribbling--drop that littery rubbish once for all, and I stand by you; go on at it, and I leave you to go to the dogs your own way. That"s my offer, and I mean it."

There are few things so unpleasantly corrective to one"s self-esteem as a letter of rejection such as had come to Mark--the refusal of the school committee was insignificant in comparison; only those who have yielded to the subtle temptation to submit ma.n.u.script to an editor or a publisher"s reader, and have seen it return in dishonour, can quite realise the dull anguish of it, the wild, impotent rebellion that follows, and the stunned sense that all one"s ideas will have somehow to be readjusted; perhaps an artist whose pictures are not hung feels something of it, but there one"s wounded vanity can more easily find salves.

Mark felt the blow very keenly; for weeks he had been building hopes on these unfortunate ma.n.u.scripts of his; he had sent both to a firm under whose auspices he was particularly anxious to come before the world, in the hope that one at least would find favour with them, and now the two had been unequivocally declined; for a moment his confidence in himself was shaken, and he almost accepted the verdict.

And yet he hesitated still: the publisher might be wrong; he had heard of books riding out several such storms and sailing in triumphantly at last. There was Carlyle, there was Charlotte Bronte, and other instances occurred to him. And he longed for speedy fame, and the law was a long avenue to it.

"You hear what your uncle says?" said his mother. "Surely you won"t refuse a chance like this."

"Yes, he will," said Martha. "Mark would rather write novels than work, wouldn"t you, Mark? It must be so amusing to write things which will never be read, I"m sure."

"Leave Mark alone, Martha," said Trixie. "It"s a shame--it is."

"I don"t know why you should all be down on me like this," said Mark; "there"s nothing positively immoral in writing books--at least when it never goes any further. But I daresay you"re right, and I believe _you_ mean to be kind at any rate, uncle. I"ll take your offer. I"ll read steadily, and get called, and see if I"m good for anything at the Bar, since it seems I"m good for nothing else."

"And you"ll give up the writing, hey?" said his uncle.

"Oh, yes," said Mark, irritably, "anything you please. I"m a reformed character; I"ll take the pledge to abstain from ink in all forms if you like." It was not a very gracious way of accepting what was by no means an unhandsome offer; but he was jarred and worried, and scarcely knew what he said.

Mr. Lightowler was not sensitive, and was too satisfied at having gained his object to cavil at Mark"s manner of yielding. "Very well; that"s settled," he said. "I"m glad you"ve come to your senses, I"m sure. We"ll have you on the Woolsack yet, and we"ll say no more about the other business."

"And now," said Mark, with a forced smile, "I think I"ll say good night. I"ll go and attack the law-books while I"m in the humour for them."

Upstairs in his room he got out his few elementary text-books, and began to read with a sort of sullen determination; but he had not gone very far in the "descent of an estate-tail," before he shut the book up in a pa.s.sion: "I can"t read to-night," he said savagely; "it isn"t easy to hug my chains all at once; it will be a long time before I come out strong on estates-tail. If Holroyd (who says he _likes_ the jargon) can"t get a living by it, there"s not much hope for me. I loathe it! I"m sure I had a chance with those books of mine, too; but that"s all over. I must burn them, I suppose---- Who"s there?" for there was a tap at the door.

"It"s me, Mark--Trixie--let me in." Mark rose and opened the door to Trixie, in a loose morning wrapper. "Mark, I"m so sorry, dear," she said softly.

"Sorry! you ought to rejoice, Trixie," said Mark, with a bitter laugh.

"I"m a brand from the burning--a repentant novelist, I"ve seen my errors and am going to turn Lord Chancellor."

"You mustn"t be angry with them," said Trixie. "Dear ma is very strict; but then she is so anxious to see you making a living, Mark, and you know they don"t give you very much at St. Peter"s. And Martha and Cuthbert can"t help saying disagreeable things. Don"t you think, perhaps," she added timidly, "that it"s better for you to give up thinking about writing any more?"

"Well, I"ve done it, Trixie, at any rate. I"m not so bad as that fellow Delobelle, in "Fromont Jeune," with his "Je n"ai pas le droit de renoncer au theatre!" am I? I"ve renounced _my_ stage. I"m a good little boy, and won"t make a mess with nasty ink and pens any more.

When I get those confounded books back they shall go into the fire--by Jove they shall!"

"No, Mark, don"t, it would be such a pity," cried Trixie. "I"m sure they were beautifully written; quite as well as some that get printed.

I wish you could write novels and be Lord Chancellor too, Mark."

"Bring out Acts in three volumes, and edit Judicature Rules in fancy covers for railway reading? It would be very nice, Trixie, wouldn"t it? But I"m afraid it wouldn"t do, even if I wrote them in secret, under the Woolsack. If I write anything now, it must be a smart spicy quarto on Bankruptcy, or a rattling digest on the Law of Settlement and Highways. My fictions will be all legal ones."

"I know you will do your best," said Trixie, simply.

Mark dreamed that night--much as other disappointed literary aspirants have dreamed before him--that a second letter had come from the publishers, stating that they had reconsidered their decision, and offering repentantly to publish both novels on fabulous terms. He was just rushing to call Trixie, and tell her the good news, when the dream faded, and he awoke to the consciousness of his very different circ.u.mstances.

Literature had jilted him. The Law was to be his mistress henceforth: a bony and parchment-faced _innamorata_, with a horsehair wig; and he thought of the task of wooing her with a shudder.

CHAPTER V.

NEIGHBOURS.