. It was not that he was
paralysed as he had been on the previous occasion, when he sat as now
and heard Phoebe go away after her first visit, and when the wind blowing
in from the open door playfully carried to his feet the scribbled note
with Tozer's name. He was not stupefied as then, nor was he miserable.
The threatened withdrawal of Clarence Copperhead was more to him than
the impending ruin meant by that bill which was so nearly due. He was
occupied by that to the exclusion of the other. It would be a most
serious change to him in every way. He had calculated on the continuance
of this additional income for at least a year, and short of the year it
would have done him no good, but had simply plunged him into additional
expense. It was this he was thinking of, and which kept him in his study
after the young people had assembled. Cotsdean had come again while Mr.
May was at dinner, which by some curious unconscious aggravation on his
part was the time he especially chose as most convenient for him; and he
had again sent a dirty note by Bobby, imploring his principal to think
of the impending fate, and not to desert him. Mr. May was angry at this
perpetual appeal. "Why should I desert him, the idiot?" he said to
himself; and moved by the man's persistence, he took out his pocket-book
again, and made out beyond all chance of mistake, that it was the 18th.
Why should the fool insist upon its being the 15th with such perpetual
iteration? There were the figures as plain as possible, 18th April. Mr.
May wrote a peremptory note announcing this fact to Cotsdean, and then
returned to his own thoughts. Sir Robert had asked him to go over that
morning and spend the day at the Hall with the Copperheads, not knowing
of any breach between them. He thought he had better do this. If
Clarence determined to stay, that would be a great thing in his favour,
and he had seen that the young man's dull spirit was roused; and if that
hope failed, there might still be advantage even in this sudden breaking
of the bond. Part of the second quarter was gone, and the father had
offered three months additional pay. These two payments would make up
the hundred and fifty pounds at once, and settle the business. Thus, in
either way, he should be safe, for if Clarence went away the money would
be paid; and if he stayed, Mr. May himself had made up his mind to risk
the bold step of going to the bank and asking an advance on this
inalienable security. Al