Tibby was now approaching his last year at Oxford.He had moved out of college,and was contemplating the Universe,or such portions of it as concerned him,from his comfortable lodgings in Long Wall.He was not concerned with much.When a young man is untroubled by passions and sincerely indifferent to public opinion,his outlook is necessarily limited.Tibby neither wished to strengthen the position of the rich nor to improve that of the poor,and so was well content to watch the elms nodding behind the mildly embattled parapets of Magdalen.There are worse lives.Though selfish,he was never cruel;though affected in manner,he never posed.Like Margaret,he disdained the heroic equipment,and it was only after many visits that men discovered Schlegel to possess a character and a brain.He had done well in Mods,much to the surprise of those who attended lectures and took proper exercise,and was now glancing disdainfully at Chinese in case he should some day consent to qualify as a Student Interpreter.To him thus employed Helen entered.A telegram had preceded her.
He noticed,in a distant way,that his sister had altered.As a rule he found her too pronounced,and had never come across this look of appeal,pathetic yet dignified--the look of a sailor who has lost everything at sea.
"I have come from Oniton,"she began."There has been a great deal of trouble there.""Who's for lunch?"said Tibby,picking up the claret,which was warming in the hearth.Helen sat down submissively at the table."Why such an early start?"he asked.
"Sunrise or something--when I could get away.""So I surmise.Why?"
"I don't know what's to be done,Tibby.I
am very much upset at a piece of news that concerns Meg,and do not want to face her,and I am not going back to Wickham Place.I stopped here to tell you this."The landlady came in with the cutlets.Tibby put a marker in the leaves of his Chinese Grammar and helped them.
Oxford--the Oxford of the vacation--dreamed and rustled outside,and indoors the little fire was coated with grey where the sunshine touched it.
Helen continued her odd story.
"Give Meg my love and say that I want to be alone.
I mean to go to Munich or else Bonn."
"Such a message is easily given,"said her brother.
"As regards Wickham Place and my share of the furniture,you and she are to do exactly as you like.My own feeling is that everything may just as well be sold.What does one want with dusty economic,books,which have made the world no better,or with mother's hideous chiffoniers?I have also another commission for you.
I want you to deliver a letter."She got up."I haven't written it yet.Why shouldn't I post it,though?"She sat down again.
"My head is rather wretched.I hope that none of your friends are likely to come in."Tibby locked the door.His friends often found it in this condition.Then he asked whether anything had gone wrong at Evie's wedding.
"Not there,"said Helen,and burst into tears.
He had known her hysterical--it was one of her aspects with which he had no concern--and yet these tears touched him as something unusual.They were nearer the things that did concern him,such as music.He laid down his knife and looked at her curiously.
Then,as she continued to sob,he went on with his lunch.
The time came for the second course,and she was still crying.Apple Charlotte was to follow,which spoils by waiting.
"Do you mind Mrs.Martlett coming in?"he asked,"or shall I take it from her at the door?""Could I bathe my eyes,Tibby?"
He took her to his bedroom,and introduced the pudding in her absence.Having helped himself,he put it down to warm in the hearth.His hand stretched towards the Grammar,and soon he was turning over the pages,raising his eyebrows scornfully,perhaps at human nature,perhaps at Chinese.To him thus employed Helen returned.
She had pulled herself together,but the grave appeal had not vanished from her eyes.
"Now for the explanation,"she said."Why didn't I begin with it?I have found out something about Mr.Wilcox.
He has behaved very wrongly indeed,and ruined two people's lives.
It all came on me very suddenly last night;I am very much upset,and Ido not know what to do.Mrs.Bast--"
"Oh,those people!"
Helen seemed silenced.
"Shall I lock the door again?"
"No,thanks,Tibbikins.You're being very good to me.I want to tell you the story before I go abroad.
You must do exactly what you like--treat it as part of the furniture.
Meg cannot have heard it yet,I think.But I cannot face her and tell her that the man she is going to marry has misconducted himself.
I don't even know whether she ought to be told.Knowing as she does that I dislike him,she will suspect me,and think that I want to ruin her match.I simply don't know what to make of such a thing.
I trust your judgment.What would you do?"
"I gather he has had a mistress,"said Tibby.
Helen flushed with shame and anger."And ruined two people's lives.And goes about saying that personal actions count for nothing,and there always will be rich and poor.He met her when he was trying to get rich out in Cyprus--I don't wish to make him worse than he is,and no doubt she was ready enough to meet him.But there it is.They met.He goes his way and she goes hers.What do you suppose is the end of such women?"He conceded that it was a bad business.
"They end in two ways:Either they sink till the lunatic asylums and the workhouses are full of them,and cause Mr.Wilcox to write letters to the papers complaining of our national degeneracy,or else they entrap a boy into marriage before it is too late.She--Ican't blame her.
"But this isn't all,"she continued after a long pause,during which the landlady served them with coffee."I come now to the business that took us to Oniton.We went all three.
