Erewhon Revisited

CHAPTER XII:  GEORGE FAILS TO FIND MY FATHER, WHEREON YRAM CAUTIONS THE PROFESSORS

On the morning after the interview with her son described in a foregoing chapter, Yram told her husband what she had gathered from the Professors, and said that she was expecting Higgs every moment, inasmuch as she was confident that George would soon find him.

"Do what you like, my dear," said the Mayor.  "I shall keep out of the way, for you will manage him better without me.  You know what I think of you."

He then went unconcernedly to his breakfast, at which the Professors found him somewhat taciturn.  Indeed they set him down as one of the dullest and most uninteresting people they had ever met.

When George returned and told his mother that though he had at last found the inn at which my father had slept, my father had left and could not be traced, she was disconcerted, but after a few minutes she said -

"He will come back here for the dedication, but there will be such crowds that we may not see him till he is inside the temple, and it will save trouble if we can lay hold on him sooner.  Therefore, ride either to Clearwater or Fairmead, and see if you can find him. Try Fairmead first; it is more out of the way.  If you cannot hear of him there, come back, get another horse, and try Clearwater.  If you fail here too, we must give him up, and look out for him in the temple to-morrow morning."

"Are you going to say anything to the Professors?"

"Not if you can bring Higgs here before night-fall.  If you cannot do this I must talk it over with my husband; I shall have some hours in which to make up my mind.  Now go--the sooner the better."

It was nearly eleven, and in a few minutes George was on his way. By noon he was at Fairmead, where he tried all the inns in vain for news of a person answering the description of my father--for not knowing what name my father might choose to give, he could trust only to description.  He concluded that since my father could not be heard of in Fairmead by one o'clock (as it nearly was by the time he had been round all the inns) he must have gone somewhere else; he therefore rode back to Sunch'ston, made a hasty lunch, got a fresh horse, and rode to Clearwater, where he met with no better success.  At all the inns both at Fairmead and Clearwater he left word that if the person he had described came later in the day, he was to be told that the Mayoress particularly begged him to return at once to Sunch'ston, and come to the Mayor's house.

Now all the time that George was at Fairmead my father was inside the Musical Bank, which he had entered before going to any inn. Here he had been sitting for nearly a couple of hours, resting, dreaming, and reading Bishop Gurgoyle's pamphlet.  If he had left the Bank five minutes earlier, he would probably have been seen by George in the main street of Fairmead--as he found out on reaching the inn which he selected and ordering dinner.

He had hardly got inside the house before the waiter told him that young Mr. Strong, the Ranger from Sunch'ston, had been enquiring for him and had left a message for him, which was duly delivered.

My father, though in reality somewhat disquieted, showed no uneasiness, and said how sorry he was to have missed seeing Mr. Strong.  "But," he added, "it does not much matter; I need not go back this afternoon, for I shall be at Sunch'ston to-morrow morning and will go straight to the Mayor's."

He had no suspicion that he was discovered, but he was a good deal puzzled.  Presently he inclined to the opinion that George, still believing him to be Professor Panky, had wanted to invite him to the banquet on the following day--for he had no idea that Hanky and Panky were staying with the Mayor and Mayoress.  Or perhaps the Mayor and his wife did not like so distinguished a man's having been unable to find a lodging in Sunch'ston, and wanted him to stay with them.  Ill satisfied as he was with any theory he could form, he nevertheless reflected that he could not do better than stay where he was for the night, inasmuch as no one would be likely to look for him a second time at Fairmead.  He therefore ordered his room at once.

It was nearly seven before George got back to Sunch'ston.  In the meantime Yram and the Mayor had considered the question whether anything was to be said to the Professors or no.  They were confident that my father would not commit himself--why, indeed, should he have dyed his hair and otherwise disguised himself, if he had not intended to remain undiscovered?  Oh no; the probability was that if nothing was said to the Professors now, nothing need ever be said, for my father might be escorted back to the statues by George on the Sunday evening and be told that he was not to return.  Moreover, even though something untoward were to happen after all, the Professors would have no reason for thinking that their hostess had known of the Sunchild's being in Sunch'ston.

On the other hand, they were her guests, and it would not be handsome to keep Hanky, at any rate, in the dark, when the knowledge that the Sunchild was listening to every word he said might make him modify his sermon not a little.  It might or it might not, but that was a matter for him, not her.  The only question for her was whether or no it would be sharp practice to know what she knew and say nothing about it.  Her husband hated finesse as much as she did, and they settled it that though the question was a nice one, the more proper thing to do would be to tell the Professors what it might so possibly concern one or both of them to know.

On George's return without news of my father, they found he thought just as they did; so it was arranged that they should let the Professors dine in peace, but tell them about the Sunchild's being again in Erewhon as soon as dinner was over.

"Happily," said George, "they will do no harm.  They will wish Higgs's presence to remain unknown as much as we do, and they will be glad that he should be got out of the country immediately."

"Not so, my dear," said Yram.  "'Out of the country' will not do for those people.  Nothing short of 'out of the world' will satisfy them."

"That," said George promptly, "must not be."

"Certainly not, my dear, but that is what they will want.  I do not like having to tell them, but I am afraid we must."

"Never mind," said the Mayor, laughing.  "Tell them, and let us see what happens."

They then dressed for dinner, where Hanky and Panky were the only guests.  When dinner was over Yram sent away her other children, George alone remaining.  He sat opposite the Professors, while the Mayor and Yram were at the two ends of the table.

"I am afraid, dear Professor Hanky," said Yram, "that I was not quite open with you last night, but I wanted time to think things over, and I know you will forgive me when you remember what a number of guests I had to attend to."  She then referred to what Hanky had told her about the supposed ranger, and shewed him how obvious it was that this man was a foreigner, who had been for some time in Erewhon more than seventeen years ago, but had had no communication with it since then.  Having pointed sufficiently, as she thought, to the Sunchild, she said, "You see who I believe this man to have been.  Have I said enough, or shall I say more?"

"I understand you," said Hanky, "and I agree with you that the Sunchild will be in the temple to-morrow.  It is a serious business, but I shall not alter my sermon.  He must listen to what I may choose to say, and I wish I could tell him what a fool he was for coming here.  If he behaves himself, well and good:  your son will arrest him quietly after service, and by night he will be in the Blue Pool.  Your son is bound to throw him there as a foreign devil, without the formality of a trial.  It would be a most painful duty to me, but unless I am satisfied that that man has been thrown into the Blue Pool, I shall have no option but to report the matter at headquarters.  If, on the other hand, the poor wretch makes a disturbance, I can set the crowd on to tear him in pieces."

George was furious, but he remained quite calm, and left everything to his mother.

"I have nothing to do with the Blue Pool," said Yram drily.  "My son, I doubt not, will know how to do his duty; but if you let the people kill this man, his body will remain, and an inquest must be held, for the matter will have been too notorious to be hushed up. All Higgs's measurements and all marks on his body were recorded, and these alone would identify him.  My father, too, who is still master of the gaol, and many another, could swear to him.  Should the body prove, as no doubt it would, to be that of the Sunchild, what is to become of Sunchildism?"

Hanky smiled.  "It would not be proved.  The measurements of a man of twenty or thereabouts would not correspond with this man's.  All we Professors should attend the inquest, and half Bridgeford is now in...