He buttoned his coat, and went away with loud and resounding footsteps, as he had come, the furniture cracking, the picture-frames rattling. So far, Leonard has not received the promised explanation of the Mystery of Barlow Brothers; nor has that check been returned. There remained one more credit to the Family. It was Christopher, the eminent and learned counsel.
He, too, called half an hour after the departure of his brother.
“I came,” he said, “first of all to warn you against giving or lending any more money to that fraud--my brother Fred.”
“You are too late, then. I have paid his hotel bill. You have paid his passage out----”
“No, I paid his hotel bill; you paid his passage out.”
“I paid his hotel bill because he threatened to go into the City and expose my real name.”
“Go into the City? What could he do in the City? Whom does he know in the City? Your brother is just a mass of lies and impostures. What does it matter if he is really going?”
“He must go. Nobody except you and me will lend or give him any money. He goes as he came--the wealthy Australian. He has promised my people to make them rich by his will: he hinted at an incurable disorder: and he bade farewell for ever--with my cheque in his pocket!”
“Let him go. You had something else to say?”
“Yes. It was about my own affairs. They know all, Leonard.”
“I’ve had a terrible time with the wife and daughter. But they know all. That vindictive little Beast called at the house, went upstairs, and told them everything. Then he went away grinning. There was a terrible scene.”
“Yes. It’s all right, though, at last. I persuaded them, with a good deal of trouble, that the profession was rather more holy than the Church. I set forth the facts--the honour and glory--the secret diffusion and cultivation of a better taste--higher standards--a Mission--nobler æsthetics--and the income--especially the income.”
“That would be a serious factor in the case.”
“Yes. And I pointed out the educational side--the advance of oratory. So they came round, little by little. And I clinched the thing by offering to go back to the Bar; in which case, I told them, we should have to live at Shepherd’s Bush, in a £40 a year semi-detached, while Algernon went into the City as a clerk at fifteen shillings a week, which is more than his true value.”