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DIGITAL MARKETING
‘A rich, highly-accessible resource for students and professionals looking for theory and
practice, with detailed case studies and real world examples. Old models are converted to
the world of cyberspace and new models for digital marketing are introduced.’
Peter Broeder, Department of Business Communication, Tilburg University, Co-founder of
Alphawolf Technology International (China)
‘Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick’s book has stood the test of time. As the digital field has
changed so has the book, reflecting best practice. It is the leading textbook because it
appeals to the three key audiences: students, academics and practitioners. It combines
theoretical depth with the practical examples that are needed to understand the field.’
Dr Des Laffey, Senior Lecturer in E-commerce, University of Kent
Seventh Edition
Digital Marketing provides the most comprehensive guide to all aspects of using the Internet,
digital media and marketing technology to achieve the goals of integrated multichannel
DIGITAL
MARKETING
marketing. This streamlined seventh edition provides comprehensive, practical guidance on how
companies can get the most out of digital media and technology to meet their marketing goals.
Digital Marketing links marketing theory with practical business experience through case studies
from cutting edge companies such as ASOS, Spotify, Zalando and Zappos, to help students
understand digital marketing in the real world. To support this, new ‘Essential Digital Skills’
boxes give students guidance on how to develop key skills they will need in the workplace.
Readers will learn best practice frameworks for developing a digital marketing strategy. They
wil also be introduced to the success factors needed to master digital techniques such as search Seventh STRATEGY, IMPLEMENTATION
marketing, conversion optimisation and digital communications. Edition AND PRACTICE
Dave Chaffey is a digital marketing consultant and co-founder of the marketing education
Dave Chaffey
The challenge of customer engagement 243 Initiation of a digital experience project 298
Benefits of using CRM to support customer Domain name selection and registration 298
engagement 244 Uniform resource locators (URLs) 299
Marketing applications of CRM 247 Selecting a hosting provider 299
CRM technologies and data management 247 Website performance optimisation 300
Using ‘Big Data’ and Artificial Intelligence to The availability of the website 301
support data-driven marketing 248 Defining site or app requirements 302
Artificial Intelligence for marketing 249 Business requirements 303
Customer lifecycle management strategy 253 Usability requirements 304
Permission marketing 254 Web accessibility requirements 306
Personalisation and mass customisation 261 Personalisation requirements 307
Using digital media to increase customer loyalty Localisation and cultural customisation 310
and value 262 Reviewing competitors’ websites 313
Determining what customers value 263 Designing the information architecture 314
The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty 263 Card sorting 314
Measuring the voice of the customer in Blueprints 316
digital media 264 Wireframes 316
Differentiating customers by value and engagement 265 Landing pages 318
Lifetime value modelling 267 Designing the user experience 320
Product recommendations and propensity Evaluating designs 321
modelling 274 Elements of site design 321
Case study 6 Dell gets closer to its customers Mobile design requirements and
through its social media strategy 275 techniques 323
Summary 278 Mobile app development and personalisation
Exercises 278 requirements 327
Self-assessment exercises 278 How IoT, VR and AR experiences will integrate
Essay and discussion questions 278 with M2M interactions 328
Examination questions 279 Virtual reality and augmented reality 329
References 279 Site navigation schemes 329
Weblinks 281 Digital marketing insight 7.3
Taking the mobile site vs app decision 331
Managing and testing content 335
Part 3 Criteria for selecting a content
Digital marketing: management system 335
implementation and practice 282 Testing the experience 336
Online retail merchandising 337
Site promotion or ‘traffic building’ 338
7 Delivering the digital customer The impact of service quality on e-loyalty 339
experience 284 Tangibles 341
Learning objectives / Questions for marketers / Reliability and responsiveness 341
Links to other chapters 285 Assurance 341
Introduction 285 Multichannel communications preferences 342
Creating effective digital experiences 287 Empathy 342
Structure of this chapter 290 The relationship between service quality,
Planning website, app design and redesign customer satisfaction and loyalty 344
projects 290 Case study 7 Refining the online customer
Who should be involved in a digital experience experience at i-to-i.com 344
project? 293 Summary 346
Digital marketing insight 7.1 Exercises 347
Improving site effectiveness 293 Self-assessment exercises 347
Prototyping 295 Essay and discussion questions 347
Agile software development 295 Examination questions 347
Digital marketing insight 7.2 References 347
Success factors for delivery 297 Weblinks 350
8 Campaign planning for digital Case study 8 Facebook – a Titan of the digital age 388
media 352 Summary 391
Exercises 392
Learning objectives / Questions for marketers /
Self-assessment exercises 392
Links to other chapters 353
Essay and discussion questions 392
Introduction 353
Examination questions 392
The structure of this chapter 354
References 392
The characteristics of digital media 355
Weblinks 394
1 From push to pull 355
2 Interactive dialogues 356
3 From one-to-many to one-to-some and 9 Marketing communications
one-to-one 356 using digital media channels 396
4 From one-to-many to many-to-many Learning objectives / Questions for marketers /
communications 356 Links to other chapters 397
5 From ‘lean-back’ to ‘lean-forward’ 357 Introduction 397
6 The medium changes the nature of standard marketing How is this chapter structured? 397
communications tools such as advertising 357 Digital marketing insight 9.1
7 Increase in communications intermediaries 359 How balanced is your referrer mix? 399
8 Integration 359 Search engine marketing 400
9 Timing of campaign communications have What is SEO? 403
additional ‘always-on’ and real-time marketing Advantages and disadvantages of SEO 406
components 359 Best practice in planning and managing SEO 406
Digital marketing insight 8.1 Digital marketing insight 9.2
#OpenYourWorld shares individual's views 360 Is SEO a zoo of Pandas and Penguins? 408
Step 1. Goal setting and tracking for interactive Digital marketing insight 9.3
marketing communications 361 Reviewing the links into a site 413
Terminology for measuring digital campaigns 361 Paid search marketing 414
Examples of digital campaign measures 364 Advantages and disadvantages of paid search
Campaign response mechanisms 367 marketing 415
Online response mechanism 367 Best practice in planning and managing paid
Digital marketing insight 8.2 search marketing 417
Chatbots help you to cook 369 Online public relations and influencer
Digital marketing insight 8.3 relationship management 419
What’s in a hashtag – #!? 369 What is online public relations? 419
Step 2. Campaign insight 370 Advantages and disadvantages of online
Customer insight for digital marketing campaigns 370 public relations 421
Step 3. Segmentation and targeting 371 Best practice for online public relations and IRM 422
Step 4. Offer, message development and Online partnerships including affiliate
creative 374 marketing 427
Content marketing 375 Affiliate marketing 427
Step 5. Budgeting and selecting the digital Advantages and disadvantages of affiliate
media mix 377 marketing 429
1 Level of investment in digital media techniques in Best practice in planning and managing affiliate
comparison to offline promotion 377 marketing 430
2 Selecting the right mix of digital media Online sponsorship 431
communications tools 379 Interactive display advertising 432
Digital marketing insight 8.4 What is display advertising? 432
Campaign tracking in Google Analytics 381 Advantages and disadvantages of display
3 Level of investment in digital assets 383 advertising 434
Step 6. Integration into overall media schedule Best practice in planning and managing display
or plan 385 ad campaigns 436
Key activities in media selection and planning 386 Opt-in email marketing and mobile messaging 439
Digital marketing insight 8.6 What is email marketing? 439
Different forms of campaign integration 386 Opt-in email options for customer acquisition 440
Opt-in email options for prospect conversion and Performance management for digital channels 464
customer retention (house list) 440 Stage 1: Creating a performance management
Digital marketing insight 9.4 system 464
SEAT combines email with display advertising Stage 2: Defining the performance metrics
to increase awareness 440 framework 465
Advantages and disadvantages of email marketing 441 Stage 3: Tools and techniques for collecting
Best practice in planning and managing email insight, running processes and summarising
marketing 442 results 470
Mobile text messaging and mobile push notifications 444 Digital marketing insight 10.1
Social media and viral marketing 445 Focus on measuring social media
Viral marketing 446 marketing 474
Advantages and disadvantages of social media Content management process 483
and viral marketing 449 How often should content be updated? 484
Best practice in planning and managing viral Responsibilities for customer experience
marketing 449 and site management 485
Digital marketing insight 9.5 Who owns the process? 486
Is social media ‘mostly a waste of time’ and an Who owns the content? 487
‘infantile delusion’? 450 Who owns the format? 489
Offline promotion techniques 451 Who owns the technology? 491
Advantages and disadvantages of using offline Content management systems 491
communications to support e-commerce 452 Case study 9 Learning from Amazon’s culture
Incidental and specific advertising of the online of metrics 492
presence 453 Summary 498
Public relations 454 Exercises 499
Direct marketing 454 Self-assessment exercises 499
Other physical reminders 454 Essay and discussion questions 499
Word-of-mouth marketing 454 Examination questions 499
Summary 455 References 500
Exercises 456 Weblinks 501
Self-assessment exercises 456
Essay and discussion questions 457
Glossary 503
Examination questions 457
Index 531
References 457
Weblinks 459
Digital marketing has transformed how businesses and other organisations communicate
with their audiences. The 5Ds of digital marketing we introduce in Chapter 1 (digital
devices, digital platforms, digital media, digital data and digital technology) can be used,
alongside traditional marketing techniques, to get closer to audiences than ever before.
Consumers now have access to a much wider choice of entertainment, products, services
and prices from different suppliers and a more convenient way to select and purchase items.
Organisations have the opportunity to expand into new markets, offer new services, interact
with audiences in new ways and compete on a more equal footing with larger businesses.
Marketers working within these organisations have the opportunity to develop new skills
and to use these new tools to improve the competitiveness of the company.
At the same time, the Internet and related digital technology platforms give rise to many
threats to organisations. For example, online companies such as ASOS.com and Zalando
(clothing), Amazon.com (books and retail), iTunes and Spotify (music) and Booking.com and
Expedia (travel) have captured a significant part of their market and struck fear into the
existing players. Many consumers now regularly use social networks such as Facebook,
Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Twitter as part of their daily lives, with the majority of
access via smartphones. Engaging these consumers is an ongoing challenge but, as we will
see, companies like those above have taken advantage of these opportunities to interact with
customers and this has helped them develop as worldwide brands.
With the success stories of companies capturing market share following the rapidly increas-
ing adoption of the Internet by consumers and business buyers, it is a prerequisite that all
organisations must have an effective online presence to prosper, or possibly even survive!
What Michael Porter said in 2001 is still valid today:
The key question is not whether to deploy Internet technology – companies have no choice
if they want to stay competitive – but how to deploy it.
What are the marketing communications techniques that businesses need to master to make
effective use of digital marketing? The proliferation of new media channels, digital technolo-
gies and interaction options has given a challenge of understanding, prioritising and manag-
ing many new digital communications techniques. To help summarise these at a top level of
the customer lifecycle or classic marketing funnel, Chaffey (2010) defined the RACE plan-
ning framework shown in Table P.1. RACE planning defines a structure of 5 × 5 = 25 key
digital marketing techniques that need to be harnessed in most organisations to fully exploit
digital marketing to reach, interact with, convert and engage online audiences across the
customer lifecycle from generating awareness, conversion to sale (online and offline) and
retention and growth of customers. RACE also emphasises the need to plan to create a
coordinated, integrated approach to digital marketing, which is integrated with other com-
munications activities.
Table P.1 The RACE planning framework for managing key activities for integrated digital marketing across the
customer lifecycle
Create a digital Increase awareness, Generate interactions Achieve sales online Encourage customer
marketing strategy or drive website, mobile and leads or offline loyalty and advocacy
transformation plan and social media
visits
1.1 Situation review 2.1 Media 3.1 Customer 4.1 Retargeting 5.1 Customer
(Chapters 2 and 3) effectiveness review journey effectiveness (Chapter 9) onboarding
(Chapters 8 and 10) (Chapter 7) (Chapters 6 and 7)
1.2 Set vision and 2.2 Search marketing 3.2 Data profiling 4.2 Personalisation 5.2 Customer
objectives, evaluate (Chapter 9) (Chapter 6) (Chapter 7) experience
(Chapters 4 and 10) (Chapter 7)
1.3 Strategy 2.3 Earned and 3.3 Content marketing 4.3 Mobile 5.3 Customer service
(Chapters 4–8) Owned media (Chapter 8) experiences (Chapter 7)
(Chapters 6–9) (Chapter 7)
1.4 Segmentation 2.4 Paid media 3.4 Landing pages 4.4 Multichannel 5.4 Email marketing
(Chapters 4 and 6) (Chapter 9) (Chapter 9) selling (Chapters 6 and 9)
(Chapter 4)
1.5 Value 2.5 Acquisition plan 3.5 Content strategy 4.5 Conversion rate 5.5 Social media
Proposition and Brand (Chapters 8 and 9) and campaign plan optimisation marketing
(Chapters 4 and 5) (Chapter 8) (Chapters 7 and 10) (Chapters 6 and 9)
Smart Insights (2010) Introducing RACE: a practical framework to improve your digital marketing. Blog post by Dave Chaffey, 15 July 2010,
smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/race-a-practical-framework-to-improve-your-digital-marketing
The table shows the range of different marketing activities or operating processes needed
to support acquiring new customers through communicating with them on third-party
websites and social media, attracting them to a company website, mobile app or social
network and converting interest into leads and sales and then using online media to encour-
age further purchases and advocacy. You can see that applying social media and content
marketing is a part of RACE that can be deployed to support many activities, and therefore
is one of the key management challenges in digital marketing, so we consider approaches
to managing social media marketing throughout the text, with a focus in Chapters 6, 8
and 9. Applying digital platforms as part of multichannel marketing to integrate customer
journeys between traditional and ‘new’ media is also a major challenge and a theme through-
out this text. Management processes related to governance of digital marketing include
planning how digital marketing can be best resourced to contribute to the organisation and
integrating with other marketing activities. The increased adoption of digital marketing also
implies a significant programme of change that needs to be managed. New objectives need
to be set, new communications strategies developed and staff developed through new
responsibilities and skills.
The aim of this text is to provide you with a comprehensive guide to the concepts, techniques
and best practice to support all the digital marketing processes shown in Table P.1. This text
(the structure of which is shown in Figure P.1) is based on emerging academic models
together with best practice from leading adopters of digital media. The practical knowledge
developed through reviewing these concepts and best practice is intended to enable gradu-
ates entering employment and marketing professionals to exploit the opportunities of digital
marketing while minimising the risks.
Part 1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION Introducing
Digital
marketing
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Online market
Internet macro-
place analysis:
environment
micro-environment
Part 2 Chapter 4
STRATEGY Digital
marketing
strategy
Chapter 5 Chapter 6
The Internet Relationship
and the marketing using
marketing mix digital platforms
Part 3 Chapter 7
IMPLEMENTATION Delivering the
AND PRACTICE online customer
experience
• There is a need to know to what extent digital technology and media changes existing
marketing models and whether new models and strategies can be applied to exploit the
medium effectively.
• Marketing practitioners need practical digital marketing skills to market their products
effectively. Knowledge of the new jargon – terms such as ‘marketing automation’, ‘click-
through’, ‘cookie’, ‘uniques’ and ‘page impressions’ – and of effective methods of site
design and promotion such as search engine marketing will be necessary, either for direct
‘hands-on’ development of a site or to enable communication with other staff or agencies
that are implementing and maintaining the site.
• Given the rapidly changing market characteristics and best practices of digital marketing,
web-based information sources are needed to update knowledge regularly. This text and
the supporting companion website contain extensive links to websites to achieve this.
The text assumes some existing knowledge of marketing in the reader, perhaps developed
through experience or by students studying introductory modules in marketing fundamen-
tals, marketing communications or buyer behaviour. However, basic concepts of marketing,
communications theory, buyer behaviour and the marketing mix are outlined.
The acclaimed structure of previous editions has been retained since this provides a clear
sequence to the stages of strategy development and implementation that are required to plan
successfully for digital marketing in existing and start-up companies.
The main changes made for the seventh edition, based on feedback from reviews and our
close monitoring of the trends and latest developments are:
• An Essential Digital Skills feature has been added near the start of each chapter that
recommends skills required by employers that are relevant to the chapter and practical
ideas to boost employability by showcasing students’ interests and experiences.
• Chapters 10 and 11 have been removed, and examples of B2C and B2B marketing
applications have now been integrated into the context of relevant chapters.
• The ‘5Ds of managing digital marketing’ are introduced in Chapter 1 to help
summarise which digital marketing activities businesses need to manage to exploit the
potential of digital marketing.
The main innovations included in the chapters are as follows.
• The 5Ds of digital marketing are added at the start to introduce the elements of digital
marketing and customer interactions that need to be managed.
• New Figure 1.1 is a customer lifecycle visual that gives examples of digital marketing
touchpoints across different channels and platforms.
• The concept of digital disruption related to technologies such as the Internet of Things
(IoT) and platforms is covered in this chapter.
• This chapter is updated to include the latest customer research tools and sources for
students to use in their assignments.
• Case studies have been updated to include intelligent home assistants and multichannel
examples.
• The consumer behaviour section is updated to include more reference to social media.
• The concept and reasons for digital transformation programmes are explained.
• A new section, ‘Digital marketing insight 4.3’, has been added that covers consumer
profiles and digital targeting options.
• The mnemonic VQVC has been introduced to test that businesses are using the right type
of goals and measures.
• The chapter has been simplified and shortened.
• New examples have been introduced and the Spotify case study has been updated.
• This chapter has been simplified and updated.
• In line with reviewers’ comments, this chapter now focuses less on CRM and more on
encouraging audience engagement using interactions on social media, mobile and mar-
keting automations.
• There is an expanded section on strategy and practice for organic social media for
customer loyalty, PR and advocacy, with the section on social media in Chapter 8 limited
to paid social media. Chapter 6 has the main section on social media in the text as often
social media is most effective for relationship marketing.
• The Big Data section has been extended and given more prominence to explain and
give examples of marketing applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine
Learning.
• The coverage of search engine marketing, influencer marketing and programmatic adver-
tising is updated to reference latest best practices and tools – particularly those related
to smartphones, e.g. Accelerated Mobile Pages.
• The dated section on Web 2.0 has been deleted and replaced by a section on approaches
to influencer relationship management (IRM).
• New social media content and activities include an example of Facebook viral
campaigns.
• The concept of a marketing technology (martech) stack is explained and the challenges
of selecting martech are explored.
1 Digital marketing eBay thrives in the global Business and revenue model,
fundamentals marketplace proposition, competition,
objectives and strategies, risk
management
4 Digital marketing strategy ASOS shifts the focus of high- Business models, proposition
street retailing and online product range,
target market strategy
6 Relationship marketing Dell gets closer to its custom- Influence of website design on
ers through its social media conversion, retention market-
strategy ing, personalisation, e-CRM,
RFM analysis
7 Digital customer experience Refining the online customer Strategy, proposition, site
experience at i-to-i.com design, on-site search
capabilities
The text is divided into three parts, each covering a different aspect of how organisations
use the Internet for marketing to help them achieve competitive advantage. Table P.3 shows
how the text is related to established marketing topics.
Part 1 relates the use of the Internet to traditional marketing theories and concepts, and ques-
tions the validity of existing models given the differences between the Internet and other media.
• Chapter 1 Introducing Digital marketing considers using the Internet as part of customer-
centric, multichannel marketing; it also reviews the relationship between Internet marketing,
digital marketing, e-commerce and e-business, and the benefits the Internet can bring to
adopters, and outlines differences from other media and briefly introduces the technology.
• Chapter 2 Online marketplace analysis: micro-environment reviews how digital media
and technology changes the immediate environment of an organisation, including the
marketplace and channel structure. It describes the type of situation analysis needed to
support digital strategy by examining how customers, competitors and intermediaries,
and the interplay between them, can be evaluated.
Topic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Advertising ✓ ✓
Branding ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Consumer behaviour ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Communications mix ✓ ✓ ✓
Communications theory ✓ ✓ ✓
Direct marketing ✓ ✓ ✓
International marketing ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Marketing mix ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Marketing research ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Pricing strategy ✓ ✓ ✓
Promotion ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Public relations ✓ ✓
Relationship marketing ✓ ✓
Segmentation ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Services marketing ✓ ✓
Technology background ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Part 2 describes the emerging models for developing strategy and provides examples of the
approaches companies have used to integrate the Internet into their marketing strategy.
• Chapter 4 Digital marketing strategy considers how the digital strategy can be aligned
with business and marketing strategies and describes a generic strategic approach with
phases of situation review, goal setting, strategy formulation and resource allocation and
monitoring.
• Chapter 5 Digital media and the marketing mix assesses how the different elements of
the marketing mix can be varied in the online environment as part of strategy
formulation.
• Chapter 6 Relationship marketing using digital platforms details strategies and tactics
for using the Internet to build and sustain ‘one-to-one’ relationships with customers.
Part 3 of the text explains practical approaches to implementing a digital marketing strategy.
Techniques for communicating with customers, building relationships and facilitating elec-
tronic commerce are all reviewed in some detail. Knowledge of these practical techniques is
essential for undergraduates on work placements involving a website, and for marketing
managers who are dealing with suppliers such as design agencies.
• Chapter 7 Delivering the digital customer experience explains how an online presence is
developed to support branding and customer service quality objectives. The stages analy-
sis of customer needs, design of the site structure and layout and creating the site are
covered, together with key techniques such as user-centred design, usability and acces-
sibility design. It also covers different service quality models used to assess experience.
• Chapter 8 Campaign planning for digital media describes the novel characteristics of
digital media, and then considers different aspects of marketing communications that
are important for developing a successful online campaign.
• Chapter 9 Marketing communications using digital media channels covers techniques
such as banner advertising, affiliate networks, promotion in search engines, co-branding
and sponsorship, email, online PR, viral and word-of-mouth marketing with particular
reference to social networks.
• Chapter 10 Evaluation and improvement of digital channel performance reviews methods
for assessing and improving the effectiveness of a site, and communications in delivering busi-
ness and marketing benefits. The chapter briefly covers process and tools for updating sites.
Students
This text has been created primarily as the main student text for undergraduate and post-
graduate students taking specialist marketing courses or modules that cover e-marketing,
Internet and digital marketing, electronic commerce and e-business. The text is relevant to
students who are:
W
ithin a close, narrow, scantily-furnished chamber, upon
a miserable bed, sparely provided with bedclothes, lay a
young girl, weak and wasted, struggling in the deadly
grip of a fierce fever.
The room—a back attic—bore evidence of the humble position of
the householder, and, in addition to its native foul atmosphere, was
impregnated with the sickly odour prevalent in chambers in which
there is sickness.
A truckle bed, a table, a chair, comprised the furniture; a soiled
and ragged curtain at the diamond-paned window comprehended all
the room possessed in the shape of drapery or hangings; the walls
were bare, and washed with the odious salmon-hued distemper
colour so prevalent in debtors’ prisons and apartments in poor
neighbourhoods; the floor-boards with wide interstices between
them, and large knot-holes here and there, where mice looked up,
and unspareable halfpence sometimes rolled down, had not even a
show of comfort in the way of a small bit of old stair-carpet by the
bedside. All within and around bespoke poverty of the grimmest
school.
The girl, who lay upon the bed moaning in a disturbed slumber,
with flushed cheeks, and pale and transparent lips, was no other
than Lotte Clinton.
Upon the night of the fire, when landed safely by the conductor of
the fire-escape, she found herself in her thin night-dress, exposed to
the cold night air, which struck chill to her unprotected bosom, while
her naked tender feet were upon the hard stones, ankle deep in
rushing water.
The shock she had experienced on being awakened out of a deep
slumber by the startling, horrifying cry of fire, the terror which all
but paralysed her when, half-blinded and nearly suffocated, she
discovered her room filled with smoke, the excitement which
followed the rushing from her chamber, the roaring of the flames,
the crackling and sputtering of the burning wood, the hoarse cries of
the mob, the perilous descent to the ground, the sudden exposure
to the eager gaze of a multitude of faces, red in the glaring,
unnatural light, the whirl, the turmoil, mingled with a species of
hysterical joy and gratefulness at her deliverance, created a
combination of emotions beyond her physical powers of endurance.
It is not wonderful that—affrighted, unknowing where to turn,
whither to go, what to do, chilled to the marrow by the piercing
coldness of the water rushing over her unprotected, delicate feet,
utterly overwhelmed by what had happened, by the incidents
surrounding her, and in which she was yet an actor—she should
succumb; and find, that as some person hastily and roughly seized
her about the waist, she should have a dim consciousness that the
whole scene was fading from her as some expiring terrible vision,
and that, when it disappeared from her eyes, she should be lifeless
in the arms of the person who had caught hold of her.
The man who had taken her in his arms was a small tradesman,
dealing in coals and potatoes, and a little—a very little—
greengrocery. He lived in a neighbouring street, in a small house,
and was blessed with a wife and nine children, who were “dragged”
up somehow. He was one of the first on the spot when the alarm of
fire was given. He saw Lotte landed from the fire-escape; he
observed the agonized expression upon the poor girl’s face—heard
her low, hysteric sobbing, and saw her totter as though she would
fall upon her face in the muddy, eddying pool in which, barefooted,
she was standing. It was enough for him. He drew off instantly his
heavy coat of “fashionable cable cord,” and, flinging it over her
shoulders, caught her up in his arms, and raced off to his old ’oman
with his burden, followed by a small train of women and boys.
His wife was no little astonished at this sudden accession to her
household; but her womanly sympathy was roused immediately she
beheld the condition of the poor girl, and learned that she had been
rescued from the raging fire, which her husband had so short a time
previously run off to see, and she at once busied herself by applying
those restoratives, known to most women, which, though simple,
are efficacious in restoring to consciousness those of the sex who fall
into swoons.
Lotte Clinton, being a girl of strong feelings, was not, however,
easily brought to a calm sense of her great affliction; on the
contrary, she recovered from one fainting fit only to fall into another,
worse than its predecessor; and when, by the aid of the parish
doctor, who had been called in, she was relieved from successive
swoons and thrown into a sleep, it was only to awake in a paroxysm
of fever and delirium.
Two days she lay thus: on the third, late at night, when the hard-
worked parish doctor made his appearance, in order that he might
see his patient the last thing, he stood with the woman of the
house, at the bed-side of the poor girl.
Two or three anxious questions were put to him, but he shook his
head, as the woman thought, ominously.
“She is rapidly approaching a crisis,” he said. “By the dawn her
fate will be decided. She has in her favour youth and a good
constitution; but it is impossible to tell what may result from the
ravages of so fierce a fever as that under which she is suffering. We
must hope for the best, and leave the rest in the hands of God! I
think it would be proper to make her friends acquainted with her
condition, and the sooner they are here at her bed-side the better
will be their chance of taking their last farewell of her.”
Those were dread words: ill-omened shadows did they cast. The
woman raised her apron to her eyes, and gulped audibly, once or
twice.
“I don’t know where to find her friends, if she has any, poor child!”
she said, huskily. “My Jem picked her up, out o’ the fire, and brought
her here; nobody’s been to ax after her; and we don’t know where
to go. She’s never been in her senses since she was here, else I
should have got her to tell me; but, lawk! lawk! it is a sad thing for a
poor girl like this to die away from home, and ne’er a friend or
relation to close her poor dear eyes. I’m a mother myself, sir! an’
God knows, I should be dreadful wretched if one of my babbies was
to die away from me in this lonesome way.”
The poor woman sobbed unaffectedly as she concluded. The
doctor, with a glittering tear in the corner of his eye, laid his hand
gently upon her shoulder—
“While there is life there is hope, Mrs. Bantom,” he said, kindly. “It
is too early to despair yet. Had the young woman nothing about her
when your husband saved her?—no letter?”
“Lord bless you, nothing on but those night things you see on her;
not a blessed rag else. My Jem has been a trying if he could learn
anything about her, but lor! he goes about such matters in sech a
bladderheaded sort o’ way, that I don’t wonder at his making a bad
out on it. He lurches and prowls about when he goes to ax for his
own in sech a way that people are afear’d on him. It was only the
other day he went for a little bill, which it was a long time a owin’
an’ we wanted the money badly—when he explained what he’d
come for in sech an in and out round about sort a way that the
people sent for a policeman believin’ he’d come on the sneak to prig
the ’ats and mats in the ’all.”
The doctor could hardly forbear a smile. He turned his eyes,
however, on Lotte’s face, and bent his head down closely to listen to
her breathing, he felt her pulse, timing its rapid beats by his watch;
then he laid down the unresisting hand, and addressed himself to
Mrs. Ban tom.
“Poor thing!” he said, “she is very, very ill. If she wakes shortly,
give to her a dose of the medicine I have brought with me—she
must have it, especially if she be violent, incoherent, and resists your
attempts to administer it. Should it not have the effect of pacifying
her, send for me at once. Good night, Mrs. Bantom. Pray to God to
spare her, for she is on the threshold of death,” he concluded, with
much solemnity in his tone. He made his way out of the room. She
lighted him down the stairs, and when she heard the street-door
close she returned to the sick room to watch by the side of her
friendless patient.
Her husband and her children were in bed; he had his long hard
day’s work to perform on the morrow, and rest was essential to him.
The little colony of children were better where they were than
anywhere else; Mrs. Bantom, too, had her share of hard work cut
out for her for the next day and required sleep, but she did not heed
it. She thought only of the poor young creature who she believed to
be rapidly quitting her brief earthly career for one that would have
no limit.
By the feeble rays of the miserable rushlight burning, she watched
the flushed face of Lotte, perceiving it become each minute more
crimson and inflamed-She saw her bosom heave and fall, and she
listened with a beating heart to her stertorous breathing. She saw
her head roll from side to side, her burning hands open and shut,
and clutch at the bed-clothes. She heard with an aching heart the
low moan of pain which oozed as it were with prolonged mournful
cadence from the lips of the poor girl, and she prepared for the
sudden and violent awakening to which the doctor had alluded.
But Lotte became silent and motionless again; the only change in
her was, that her tongue, white and rigid, protruded from her half-
opened mouth. The heart of good Mrs. Bantom smote her as she
observed it, and she feared that the fatal moment was indeed at
hand. She, however, performed her duty as a nurse with watchful
perseverance, and with some grapes which the doctor had brought,
she moistened the dry and parched tongue of poor Lotte.
This gentle attention, persevered in, passed not unrewarded. She
could see it had a grateful influence; though, as it seemed to her,
Lotte was dying in an unconscious state, and would breathe her last
without making any sign.
So, though she knew only the prayers taught to her in childhood,
and seldom now-a-days went to a place of worship, she
remembered the words of the doctor, and she knelt down by the
bedside. She was unacquainted with the subtleties of contending
faiths. She had a faith which went deeper: she believed implicitly in
the supreme power of God, in His ability to give and to take away. In
that spirit she appealed to Him.
She prayed to Him, in earnest sincerity, to grant to the motionless,
friendless girl, stretched on the bed before her, a longer term, if
that, by a more extended sojourn on earth, she might know a
greater happiness than had, perhaps, yet been her lot; but that, if it
was the Divine will to remove her hence, she implored Him with
earnest heart, though with all humility and reverence, to take her to
His bosom, that the shadow of sorrow or affliction might fall upon
her never more.
When her prayer was ended, she turned her eyes, suffused with
tears, upon her unconscious patient.
She started. The hectic crimson of the girl’s cheek had paled
down, and was fast changing to a pallid hue. It seemed even that on
her brow a moisture had appeared. The heavy breathing had
abated, as had the moaning and uneasy movement of head and
hands.
Suddenly, Lotte’s eyes opened, and she gazed feebly around her.
She looked intently at the bare walls, the scanty furniture, and then
earnestly upon Mrs. Bantom, who was watching her every motion
with absorbing eagerness.
At length, in a low voice, she murmured, wonderingly—
“Where—where am I? Who are you? What strange place is this?”
Mrs. Bantom’s own common sense told her that the crisis was
over; and, so far, the girl’s life was saved.
With a burst of gratitude, she exclaimed, clasping her hands
together—
“Oh, my God, you have listened to my prayer! you have heard me,
a sinner! you have spared her!”
Tears checked her voice, and she buried her face once more in the
bed-clothes.
Lotte regarded her with surprise—as, indeed, she did the whole
situation. She felt strangely weak and powerless. Had she been ill?
What did it all mean? She repeated the question, in a low voice, and
then Mrs. Bantom jumped up, and hurried to the medicine bottle.
She poured out a dose, and said, as tenderly as if Lotte was her own
child—
“There, drink that, like a good girl, and don’t ask a single question
until you are stronger; it will be quite time enough to know all then.”
Lotte would have persisted, but Mrs. Bantom was peremptory, and
she was obliged to succumb. Within ten minutes after the medicine
had been administered, she was asleep.
The battle had been fought. Youth, constitution, and judicious
treatment had won the victory. The abatement of the symptoms was
as rapid as had been the attack of the fever, and in two days more
Lotte was able to sit up in bed, and communing with herself, come
to a full knowledge of the peculiarity and the distressing nature of
her situation.
She had, in the interval between the crisis and the present
moment, followed the directions of the doctor, obeyed his
instructions, and swallowed his medicine with the intrepidity of a
martyr. The result had been all that could be desired in her progress
to health: fresh air was only needed to complete the rest.
How was that to be got at? How, at present, could she obtain
more than came in at her window? She had no clothes; all had been
destroyed at the fire, everything had been consumed, including the
very little money she had. Her very first impulse had been, on
coming to a sense of her position, to send for her brother Charley;
but, alas! a fellow-clerk had embezzled upwards of a thousand
pounds from the firm to which they both belonged, and had
absconded. Charley had been at once charged to accompany a
detective, engaged to pursue him, to America, and he had started
on the very night of the fire. He was already on the Atlantic, leaving
the shores of England at the rate of three hundred miles per day. He
had despatched a hasty note to Lotte, informing her of the mission
upon which he had been despatched, and directing her, should she
require a little pecuniary assistance during his absence, to apply in
his name to his firm, and it would be readily afforded her.
This letter she never got. Charley had slipped it into the letter-box
of a post-office, on his way to the Euston station, and it was
conveyed to its destination by the postman on the following
morning. But as he was not able to deliver it, he returned to the
Dead Letter Office, first carefully writing upon it, “House burnt
down; gone away, not known where.”
Mr. Bantom was, however, employed by Lotte as a messenger to
her brother, to inform him of her sad misfortune, but he pursued his
inquiries for Charley in a manner so mysterious, that he raised in the
mind, of the Clerk whom he addressed a strong impression that
Charley Clinton was deeply his debtor, for coals and greengrocery.
Now, Charley’s fellow-clerk was never out of debt, and had an
intense loathing for all creditors; they were, he used to say, so
offensively pertinacious even when they had got an answer,
therefore he replied to Mr. Bantom’s questions with curt brevity. All
Mr. Bantom could gather was, that Charles Clinton had sailed for
America, and his return was a question involved in obscurity. And the
clerk facetiously added, “It might not be for years, and it might not
be for never.”
This intelligence was a sad blow to Lotte; what to do she could
not tell. The honest people who had taken her in to their humble
house lived too closely from hand to mouth to aid her; indeed, she
was already a burden to them; they could ill—nay, could not—afford
to keep her; this she was at no loss to comprehend by what she
heard and saw.
After her passion of bitter, bitter tears on learning that Charley had
gone to another quarter of the globe, had passed away, she
consulted with Mrs. Bantom as to what was to be done.
“I cannot lie here,” she exclaimed; “I shall worry myself to death.
If I could get out, I could get work. I could in some way repay you
for your kindness, Mrs. Bantom, but to be kept thus—oh, I had
better died— better have died.”
She wrung her hands, and sobbed violently.
“It ain’t o’ no use your taking on in this way,” said Mrs. Bantom to
her, ready to mingle her tears with her, for to say truth, the poor
creature was easily moved to weep. “Somethin’ ’ll turn up, I’ll be
bound. My things is too big for you—and too poor—besides, I ain’t
got much more’n I stand upright in, but I dare say I shall hit on a
way to dress you afore long, so don’t worrit yourself. As for the bit
you eats—lor! what’s that among so many on us? there, there, hold
your tongue, gal, and keep your spirits up; I’ll find a way to help
you.”
And so she did. She went among her neighbours to make up the
different articles that constitute the dress of a woman, and poor, as
nearly all of whom she begged were, none, when they heard Lotte’s
frightful story, refused her appeal. The poor never refuse to help the
poor, if they have any means.
Her last application, however, should have been her first, for it
was to a young girl about Lotte’s own age and figure. She was an
artificial florist, a worker, too, of eighteen hours out of the twenty-
four—a diligent, unmurmuring, white slave. She was able to
sympathise with poor Lotte, and she generously offered to lend her
all the clothes she would require, until she obtained work, and would
be able to return them.
With delight Mrs. Bantom accepted her offer, and conveyed the
clothes to Lotte. With yet greater delight did the poor girl attire
herself in them, and hurry to the house for which she had worked
before the fire had rendered her homeless. She revealed her
unhappy position to the individual who had employed her (there are
few like him, thank Heaven!) He listened coldly to her statement,
and finding that six dozen cap fronts, his property, had been
consumed in the fire, instead of commiserating her, abruptly
informed her that she must pay for the blonde and flowers before
she had any more work, and if in two days she did not bring to him
the amount, he would pay her a visit accompanied by a policeman.
Sickened and affrighted, Lotte hurried from the house, her hopes
once more dashed to the ground, her heart bursting with agony, no
one to go to for counsel or assistance. What was to be done?
Almost frantic, she wandered about without an aim, feeling that
she could not go back to the kind people who had sheltered her,
unless she had some prospect of lifting herself out of her desolate
destitution, and recompensing them, at least, for her board,
although she could never repay the service and the attention they
had rendered to her.
She wandered through the streets, growing weak and faint from
an exertion to which she was not equal, and from being many hours
without food, gradually becoming desperate, as hopeless. She
thought of the coming night and the dark waters that swept silently
beneath the frowning arches of the bridges which spanned their
breadth, and an ever-recurring thought kept ringing in her ears—
"Anywhere, anywhere—
Out of the world,”
suddenly her eyes fell upon a printed bill; it said: “One thousand
cap-front hands wanted!” Not a second elapsed between her
discovery of that bill and the resting of her trembling hand upon the
knocker of the door. Her timid summons was responded to, and her
application for work met with success.
She was requested to enter a room and to sit down, and “make a
pattern.” She was furnished with materials, and it was not long
before she produced a “front,” which gave great satisfaction to the
employer. The answers to inquiries put to her being deemed
satisfactory, materials for twelve dozen fronts were given to her, in a
box, which she was to return with her work.
With a light heart and a heavy parcel she returned to Mrs.
Bantom. Constant work was promised to her, provided she was
punctual, and her work was approved of. She had no fears about
that. She promised the work on the following Friday night. The task
could only be accomplished by incessant toil, but she resolved to
accomplish it, and she did.
In the little squalid bedroom she sat to her exacting toil; few were
the hours of sleep she obtained during the time between the
commencement and the close of her labours, but she was rewarded
by completing the last front within an hour of the time specified.
More fit for bed than for a journey through the crowded streets, she
staggered rather than walked to the house of her new employer.
Her work was given in, and it was commended. She was told to
come the following evening, at six, the time when the workers were
paid, and bring her book, when she would receive the money due to
her, and more work would be given to her.
Elated, she returned to her poor abode, and slept happily that
night at least. She had in five days and nights—there was not much
to be taken out for sleep—earned ten shillings. She hoped the next
week to earn a like sum, and by self-sacrifices, assisted by the kind
forbearance of the Bantoms, to gradually clear off her debt, and to
get herself clothes, which she should wear with the satisfaction that
they were her own.
Ah! she raised up wonderful and glittering fabrics, but they were
based upon most intangible foundations. However, she slumbered
lightly, and rose refreshed, busying herself the whole of the day in
lightening Mrs. Bantom’s labours by assisting her in attending to her
small regiment of blessings.
At six o’clock the next evening punctually, and with anxious hopes,
she stood before the house of her new employer. She looked up
wistfully at it. It wore a peculiar air of silence and dulness which she
had not before observed. She did not pause to think upon the
impression thus suddenly raised, but knocked at the door. A pang
smote her breast as it occurred to her that a hollow sound echoed
through the house on the fall of the knocker, as though it was
empty. She instinctively again cast her eyes upwards; the windows
were all closed; there were no blinds, but all was dark within the
house, and so still—so dreadfully still.
She waited: her summons remained unanswered. She knocked
again. The same hollow sound reverberated through the building,
and her heart began to sink and die within her.
A young girl now came up, stopped at the door, and knocked. She
was bound upon the same errand as Lotte, save that a fortnight’s
work was due to her. She had scrambled and starved over the past
week, she scarcely knew how. Wan and weak, but full of hope, she
was here for the miserable sum for which she had bartered health,
exhausted her strength, and perilled her young life.
There was no answer to her knock at the door, save the same
hollow mocking echo, as before.
Another girl made her appearance; a third, a fourth, a fifth, a
sixth; all here upon one errand—to claim the scanty sum for which
they had worked, almost from dawn to dawn. They spoke to each
other, questioningly: they looked into each other’s eyes with dread
apprehension, and they conversed in low excited tones. The wages
they had come to receive had been earned with a death-sweat. It
was to them of vital consequence.
One or two had homes and parents upon whom to fall back for
assistance; but the loss of the money to the others left them only a
choice between the streets and the river.
Lotte grasped at a railing near her for support. A throng of sharp
ringing sounds rushed through her brain. She took no part in the
conversation. She could not have uttered a sound, her tongue clave
to the roof of her mouth, her throat swelled and contracted as
though it would stifle her.
She began to lose her perception of what was going on around
her. Everything seemed to be absorbed in a harrowing consciousness
that her beggary, her loneliness, and desolation had assumed
proportions of more terrible magnitude than they had ever yet done
—that they surpassed her power to endure them longer.
She had a dim impression that a person residing next door told
them all that their employer had fled with his goods ere daybreak,
no one knew whither.
Sickened, heart-broken, Lotte quitted her hold of the railing which
had sustained her, and staggered away.
It was not difficult to find her way to the black and murky river,
careering swiftly and noiselessly through the heart of the vast
metropolis down to the sea.
“The river! the river!”
Those were the only words she muttered.
These words of such terrible significance seemed to be shrieked
by demons in her ears She saw them in fiery characters dancing
ignis-fatuus like, before her, leading her on to her doom. She
followed unresistingly.
How she found her way—what route she chose to the river-side—
she knew not, cared not. She reached a bridge that spanned the
dark waters, ere she was conscious of her proximity to that grave
which could be self-made by one desperate plunge.
And now the fearful act she contemplated presented itself in its
most awful guise before her despairing eyes, but not to deter her
from her frantic purpose. No! If she remained on earth, her future
was all black and unshapen. There was rest and immunity from the
horrors of want and destitution in the grave.
She knelt down and prayed.
She compressed her hands tightly together; a wild hysteric groan,
forced from her by the intense anguish created by her unutterable
thoughts, burst from her lips, and she hurried on to the bridge, to
end, by one fearful plunge, her sorrows and her young life.
As she swept on to a recess, blinded by her misery, maddened by
a despair devoid of one glimmering of hope, the glare from one of
the lamps fell upon her ghastly face.
At that instant a strong hand caught her by the wrist, and a
friendly voice exclaimed—
“Miss Clinton! Miss Clinton!”
She fell back against the parapet of the bridge, and the voice
changed its tone for one of horror and surprise, and it said—
“Good heaven! what is the matter with you? how deadly white you
are! What has happened?—where are you going?”
“To die!—to die!”—she murmured, hoarsely, but faintly.
“Hush! hush! my dear friend,” said he who stayed her, in a soft
and slightly reproving tone, and added—“calm yourself, I entreat
you; do not speak for a minute or so; collect your thoughts, and
then turn your eyes on me. I am a friend. I have a right to that title,
and you will acknowledge it presently. I claim to aid you in affliction
or trial. You will not, I am sure, Miss Clinton, refuse consolation or
help in need from Harry Vivian.”
Lotte uttered a faint, hysteric cry; she clutched his arm, and
bowed her head upon his breast. She knew he had the power to
help her; she knew he would. As she clung to him, he felt her frame
tremble and quiver as though she had been smitten with an ague,
and her hot tears fell fast upon the hand which held hers, and
pressed it re-assuringly. He let her weep.
In a few minutes, he whispered—
“We will not stay here, Lotte. It is chill and cold, and we excite
attention from the passers-by.”
He conducted her from the bridge but a few steps only, for she
was nearly powerless, and unable longer to continue the struggle
without fatigue. He quickly perceived it, and had some notion of the
cause; so he said—
“I am so glad I have found you at last. I have made many efforts,
since the night of the fire, to discover you, but in vain. Not alone to
satisfy my own anxiety respecting you, but to allay the
apprehensions of your friend. Miss Wilton, to whom you were so
kind in her hour of bitter trial. Ah, Lotte! her misery is all past, her
future life promises to be one of supreme happiness, if wealth and
station can ensure it. Come to her now: she so wishes to see you
again. It is not so far: a cab will quickly take us to her. You will have,
at least, a kindly sympathetic ear in which to pour your sorrows, and
—who knows?—the meeting between you may be the termination of
all your trials and sufferings.”
Lotte tried to reply. An inarticulate murmur was all that escaped
her lips. Her deep emotion did not so easily admit of suppression.
A cab opportunely approached, and Hal engaged it. He lifted Lotte
in: she had not power to help herself. He followed her into the
vehicle, and gave his directions to the driver.
The man whipped his horse, and the cab rattled away from the
bridge.
Lotte thought of the sombre river, whirling on grimly, and she
shuddered violently.
Hal pressed her hand.
“The gloomiest lane, Lotte,” he whispered, “sometimes leads us to
the brightest land.”
CHAPTER XIII.—THE FORGED DEED.
The same self-love in all becomes the cause
Of what restrains him, government and laws.
For what one likes, if others like as well,
What serves one will, when many wills rebel?
How shall he keep what, sleeping or awake,
A weaker may surprise, a stronger take?
—Pope.
M
r. Grahame’s dissertation upon the improvement of land
and the general economy and management of estates had
been abruptly interrupted by the entrance of his daughter
into the room where the guests and family were assembled. His
apathetic and somewhat drowsy auditor, the young Duke,
immediately on observing the approach of Helen Grahame, with a
slight excuse to his host, emancipated himself from the dull topic
droned into his ears, and advanced hastily to meet her.
Almost at the same moment, Whelks entered the apartment, with
a printed card upon a silver salver. It was not an elegant production
—the typography was bold and in effect smudgy, and the general
get-up smacked rather loudly of the Seven Dials’ press.
It was dingy, too, and nibbled at the corners, indicating cogitation
on the part of the person whom it represented, the pasteboard
having been used unconsciously instead of the grimy thumb-nail.
The quick eye of Mr. Grahame caught sight of it almost the instant
Whelks crossed the threshold of the door, carrying it very much with
the air of one who had a huge slug on a plate, which he was seeking
the earliest opportunity to dispose of.
Mr. Grahame’s eyes flashed fire. What could the idiot mean by
bringing to him such a dun, drabby bit of card at such a moment. He
glared at Whelks, who remained unaffected; his gaze was upon the
soiled article he carried, and his reflections far away into the future,
resting upon the rosy hour when, liberated from flunkeydom, he
should, with Sarah the cook, unite hands and savings, and go into
business. It was not, he thought, with such “a hinfamous fustian
smelling objek” as that which rested on the silver salver, as though it
had no business there, that he should make his business
announcement to a British public, bursting with a desire to deal with
him. And as he dreamed thus, he reached his master.
Mrs. Grahame and Margaret Claverhouse, both with an
astonishment and indignation which their indomitable pride could
barely repress, saw upon the silver salver, in the hands of Whelks,
the offensively dusky, shabby card, and if glances could slay, Whelks’
remains would have been spread over the magnificently “Sang"-
decorated walls. Hewas, however, as we have said, all unconscious
of the effect he was creating upon the members of the household,
and he reached Mr. Gra-hame only to perceive him glowering upon
him like a tiger, inflamed with most sanguinary intentions.
With a low, guttural growl, he was about to make known to
Whelks the nature of his convictions in having, at such an
inopportune moment, thrust upon him so foul a communication,
when his eye caught sight of the name—printed, according to the
trade term, in fat-faced Egyptian—of Chewkle. He felt as if some one
had suddenly smote him on the head with a club, and he broke into
a cold sweat.
This man was in possession of his horrid secret; he was in his
power; at any time he could blazon forth to the world that a
Grahame, the proudest of a proud family, had committed a base act
of forgery. He was now amenable to the law of transportation—liable
to be torn from his present high position, and compelled to work and
toil with thieves and scoundrels in a penal colony.
These reflections, none the less vivid for presenting themselves in
that brilliantly lighted room, and in the presence of guests of high
birth, made his face grow white, and his knees tremble.
He whipped up the card and thrust it into his pocket, hoping that
it had escaped the eyes of all but himself.
Whelks delivered, then, an urgent message from Chewkle, and Mr.
Grahame said, in a low tone—
“Where is he?”
“In the ’orl, sir,” returned the footman, with a perked-up nose.
“Show him into the library; I will come to him immediately,”
exclaimed Mr. Grahame, in the same tone as before.
Whelks bowed, and departed to obey the instructions he had
received, and then to discuss with Sarah the nature of the business
of a “Kermission Agent,” as he styled Chewkle’s occupation, and
wherefore it should, as it appeared to him that it most certainly did,
obtain so great an influence over such a man as Mr. Grahame.
Mr. Grahame perceiving that Helen had absorbed the attention of
the Duke and Lester Vane, glided out of the room into the library. As
he entered it he became conscious of a strong smell of the “fragrant
weed,” which, however, to his olfactory nerves had not “the scent of
the rose,” and he saw Mr. Chewkle, with part of a truly British
cheroot in his hand, standing near to the lamp upon the table,
harassed by doubts as to the propriety of relighting it or the
propriety of doing nothing of the sort.
Mr. Grahame bowed patronisingly, but said hastily—
“Not smoking, I hope, Mr. Chewkle!”
“No,” returned Chewkle; “it was out afore I came in, but I thought
if you didn’t mind, you know——”
“But, indeed, I do mind!” responded Mr. Grahame, quickly, and
then added most fiercely, as he perceived the red and begrimed face
of his visitor, his dirty collar, his necktie and his hair disordered, all
indicating the frequent quaffing and replenishment of “the glass
which cheers” and does inebriate—“Pray tell me, Mr. Chewkle, to
what circumstance I am to attribute your visit at, to me, a most
inconvenient time?”
“Well, sir, things happens without particularly caring for our
convenience,” answered Chewkle, with a hiccup, which left a strong
odour of some beverage—not green tea—behind it. “We would all
like things to fall out jest as we would wish ‘em, but they don’t, an’ it
seems as if the more you wish ’em the more they won’t.”
“Well,” said Mr. Grahame, not liking this preface.
“Well,” continued Chewkle, “an’ when things run cross, we must, if
we wants to right ’em, go to work at once, without caring about
convenience. At least, them’s my sentiments, an’ that’s my way o’
doing business.”
“A very proper way, no doubt, my good friend,” exclaimed Mr.
Grahame, growing yet more anxious, “but pray tell me what has
happened.”
“Well, a very orkurd matter, as things stand,” replied Mr. Chewkle.
“What is it?—what is it?” cried Mr. Grahame, feverishly.
“Why, just this—old Wilton’s out.”
“Out?”
“Yes, out o’ quod.”
“Out—out—out of prison?” gasped Mr. Grahame, clutching at a
chair for support.
“Nothing else,” replied Chewkle, placing his hands behind him, and
rocking himself backwards and forwards on his toes and heels, in a
very dangerous fashion for one in his state.
“Escaped—escaped?” inquired Mr. Grahame, his eyes almost
starting out of their sockets.
“No such luck!” answered Chewkle, “if he had, he’d a’ soon been
nabbed agen, and taken back to ha’ been kept closer than ever.”
“What do you mean?—speak out, man! you are inflicting upon me
indescribable torture!” exclaimed Grahame, excitedly. “Is he—is he
dead?”
“Dead! no; he’s got more lives than a cat, he has. No, sir; he’s out
of quod because he’s been and paid all the money.”
“Paid the money!” echoed Mr. Grahame, incredulously.
“Every mag of it, sir—every farthing. He has wiped off the detainer
lodged at the gate agen’ him, and he is free to roam about agen.”
Mr. Grahame stood as if thunder-stricken.
“Impossible!” he ejaculated, like one in a dream.
“Fact, sir, all the same for that. I saw Scathe, the managing clerk
to your solicitor, and he told me all about it. The debts and costs is
paid, and Wilton is out. The money has been paid under protest, sir;
so you can’t touch a penny on it until you’ve proved your right to it
by a haction-at-law. Scathe says he don’t think anything o’ that,
because the firm holds a dockyment, which Wilton has signed in
your favour, as ’ll put him out o’ court slap. Now, what I wants to
know is this—is the dockyment he spoke of the same as——”
Mr. Grahame clutched his wrist, looked around him with
trepidation, and raised his finger warningly. Mr. Chewkle hiccuped
again, and lowered his tone, and added—
“Is it the same as—as—as you signed for him?”
Mr. Grahame drew a deep breath, but made no reply. Chewkle was
a shrewd reader of physiognomy, and obtained the information he
sought from the distorted workings of Mr. Grahame’s haggard
features. He gave vent to his sensations on learning what he sought
to know, in a low, prolonged whistle.
“Things is wuss than I took them to be,” he murmured. Then he
addressed Mr. Grahame. “Who do you think?” he asked, “it is as has
been making himself so very hactive in getting old Wilton out o’
Hudson’s Hotel * —you won’t guess. Why it’s that little saffron-jawed
imidge, who dropped in so unexpected when you jest finished that
bit o’ writing for the hobstinate Wilton.”
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