Chance Encounters, page 28
In an assay office downtown, Chance converted a modest amount of gold to cash. At the bank, he deposited a letter of credit from an American bank, and opened an account. Walking out of the place, Chance felt rich, never having had so much in his pocket or in the bank. On York Street he found a tailor and had himself measured for five quality suits. At the nearby shoe store he bought some shoes, and in fine linens some shirts and underthings. Hat, coat, gloves and neckties soon joined his purchases. He’d never spent so much on clothes before, not at any one time. It made him uneasy and he had to remind himself that he was now rich, and more gold was coming as soon as Jeremiah could arrange it.
It took a week for his suits to be fitted and ready. In the week he researched the city, finding his way around, visiting theaters, the library, and the finer restaurants. He wrote a long letter to the Neelys and sent along a generous money draft. He’d not heard how they and the boys were doing but was sure that the money wouldn’t be unwelcome.
Jeremiah sent a draft for $15,000 which Chance deposited in his account. Jeremiah wrote that the mine was producing on average an astonishing 115 ounces a week. He also advised that a bank in Vancouver had over $45,000 credited to Chance’s name, an amount he could arrange to transfer to his Toronto bank at any time. These were astronomical numbers and Chance felt burdened by them: what was he going to do with so much cash?
Jeremiah also confessed to missing his partner and hoped that Chance had found what he was looking for. In any case, he would be welcomed back any time. The district was inundated with prospectors, claims sprouting up everywhere. The Morning Wish Company was holding its own, its claim secure as the Mining Commission had sent a small army to guarantee security. In the next valley, some gold was discovered, but only about half as rich. Brooks and Ormond sent their greetings, and that they were getting rich on company performance bonuses. By now, the Carmodys must have been reaping the benefit of the expanded profits.
Lying on a comfortable bed in his hotel room reading his friend’s letter, Chance felt nostalgic for the gold fields. Life there was real, in a funny way. Everything he’d done there took effort, skin off his knuckles and plenty of sweat. But gold, not having it, working for it, finding it, was such a transcendental experience. The only thing that made gold so valuable was that everyone craved it.
Chance had researched the Carmodys through the newspapers. As it turned out, there were seventeen families of that name in town. It took a while to pinpoint the one he wanted. Not much was known about them; the social columns had, by and large, ignored their existence. The record showed that they were originally from England and had come to Toronto after an extended stay in Boston. They were interested in mining and were partners in a chain of flour mills in southern Ontario. And that was that, not much to go on.
Chance was procrastinating and he knew it. He’d been chasing a vision, the phantom of an ideal, just by intuition, and he was afraid to find it might not measure up. What if it was and what if it wasn’t? warred in his thoughts.
On Tuesday, he got up early and had breakfast in the hotel dining room. Returning upstairs, he ordered a bath, soaked himself, shaved, and combed his newly cut hair. He dressed in his smartest suit and tie, putting on hat, coat, scarf and gloves. He checked himself in the mirror critically, noting a touch of silver at the temples. No matter, he told himself, you look distinguished. He saluted his image in the mirror with a tip of his hat.
It had been decided. Today was the day. To find out if he’d arrived or if he had to go on wandering again. He looked like a gentleman as he descended the central staircase, went through the lobby and the door, and had the door man hail him a cab. As a gentleman he climbed into the Hansom cab, telling the coachman, “28 Wessex Court.”
The cab rattled up the main street, passing a procession of store fronts and intersections. There was much traffic to slow their progress, and with each mile Chance found his heart beating faster.
The cab turned off the busy thoroughfare into a residential area. Here, fine homes lined the wide streets, under the brace of finely shaped trees. They passed carriages and cabs, the horses snorting to each other. The cab turned right, then a hundred yards later, left. Halfway up, the cab stopped and the coachman set the brakes. “Here we are, Sir. Number 28.”
Chance paid the man, including a modest tip. He stood in front of the place, inspecting it. The house was a fine piece of architecture, Edwardian in style, that would fit quite nicely anywhere in the better parts of London. Taking a deep breath, he opened the wrought iron gate, walked up the steps to the door and rapped with the ornamental brass knocker.
A butler opened and voiced a nasal, “Good morning, Sir. How may I help you?”
“I would like to see Mr. and Mrs. Carmody.”
“Are you expected?”
“Yes, I am.” Chance allowed a little authority to show in his tone.
“This way, Sir.” He led the way into a sitting room, then waited a moment expectantly. “Card, Sir?”
“Haven’t any with me,” he said, a bit chagrined that he hadn’t thought of it.
“Then your name please, Sir.” The tone remained scrupulously civil.
“Chance...er, Percy Fraser,” he said, remembering Emily’s name for him. The butler disappeared inside the large house. The room was filled by the loud ticking of the mantle clock as Chance waited.
Suddenly the door burst open and Emily Carmody flew through it. “Percy, is it really you? It is!” And she threw her arms around his neck, knocking his hat off. Then a little embarrassed, she stepped back. She was flushed and her eyes glowed with excitement. “It’s so good to see you. How long are you staying? Where are you lodged? You must stay for lunch... for supper. Who would’ve thought...”
Chance laughed, all the tension freed by her exuberant reception. Just then Nathan came boiling through the door, still trying to tie his cravat. “Percy! I couldn’t believe it when Charles brought the news of a visitor. Who? I asked. He had to repeat himself. But I said that’s impossible, we left you back in British Columbia...” He grabbed Chance’s hand and shook it energetically.
“Come, come. To the morning salon.” Emily finally remembered her manners as a hostess. “Charles please take the gentleman’s coat.” Chance let the butler take everything, hat, coat, gloves and scarf.
Once comfortably seated in the salon, she asked again, “Shall we have tea or would you like something stronger? I still remember the strong black coffee we drank in British Columbia. It took a bit of getting used to, but now I miss it. Would you like breakfast instead?”
“Ease up, Emily dear. Let the man speak,” Nathan suggested.
Chance smiled. “As you know Jeremiah and I struck it rich and partnered with your company to work the find. No doubt you heard about this from your agent there.”
“Yes. What exciting news,” Nathan said, his voice animated. “It even hit the Toronto Stock Exchange with quite a bang. In the field the miners go crazy with gold fever; on the trading floor the traders turn such news into a riot of buying and selling.”
“And we received our first profit transfer,” Emily hurried to add. “It’s not that we were poor before, but it is nice to have fresh money to add to the old.”
“Yes, indeed. You see, this house, our servants and our way of life consumes a fair amount every year. Without the gold find we would’ve had to cut back...”
“Don’t forget about mama...”
“I’m not forgetting about your mother. I know she’s generous and would see us well provided, but don’t forget, she also has your brother to... to assist.” There was a trace of tension in his voice. “I’d much rather have our gold pay our expenses.”
“Yes, yes, Dear.” Emily played the dutiful wife. She’d been much freer in the wilderness. Both had been. “What are your plans, Percy?”
“Haven’t made any. Other than to visit. See more of the world perhaps. Maybe go back to England or America.”
“Why not stay in Toronto? We’d love to have you here,” both said simultaneously. Everyone laughed again, liberated. They talked for two hours, remembering. The West had made a deep impression on the couple; they were no longer the carefree socialites that knew or cared little for real life, for struggling and effort, for trying and failing. Success was a pleasant surprise.
“You know you could’ve knocked me over with a feather when Brooks wrote of the find and mailed us a copy of the contract. Couldn’t believe it. That is, until the first transfer arrived. And that it was you who turned on the tap of riches guaranteeing our future. You saved us from the bears and now from a so-so middle class existence.”
“We owe you big again,” Emily added. “You should move in with us. We have plenty of room.”
“Yes, do,” Nathan echoed his wife.
“I haven’t made up my mind what to do next...”
The maid entered. “Lunch will be served in half an hour, Madam. Mr. Charles assumed that the gentleman would be staying.” Emily nodded her head. “And your mother should be arriving soon.”
“Oh, yes. In all this excitement I’ve nearly forgotten. Percy, you’ll enjoy meeting her, she’s a remarkable woman.”
“Remarkable,” her husband said flatly.
“She’s been the world over, has had many adventures and is afraid of nothing. She’s as active as she ever was.”
“A little hard of hearing, perhaps, somewhat intolerant―”
“What was that, Dear?”
“She’s truly remarkable,” her husband answered.
Then everyone went to clean up. Chance was shown a bathroom where he washed his hands and combed his hair. In spite of the age difference he felt fully at ease with the young couple; their enthusiasm was infectious, and Chance smiled at himself in the mirror. He eased the tightness of his collar, not used to being so confined. It reminded him of the starched outfits he wore as Chief Engineer. He wondered where the Orion was and his thoughts led him to think of the beginning, the Hardcastle Rose.
He left the bathroom and the maid showed him into the dining room.
The rest was already at the table: Nathan, Emily and her mother. Heart beating fast, Chance’s eyes narrowed, fixed on the mother, taking in the slim figure sitting so straight, no nonsense etched into every inch of her posture. Her hair was lighter, her eyes unfocused in that shortsighted way. Her glasses hung on a silver chain around her neck.
Barely daring to breathe, Chance sat down heavily on the chair Nathan indicated.
Emily started in a bright voice, “Mother I’d like you to meet our very dear friend, Percy Chance Fraser.” Her mother froze, a glass of water halfway to her lips. She squinted at the shape opposite her. “He saved our lives and found us a hoard of gold...” The glass fell from nerveless fingers, and the hand dropped powerless to the table smashing plate and scattering cutlery. “Mother! Are you all right? You’re pale as a ghost. Mother...??!” Emily sprang up, Nathan beside her.
“Chan..ce...?” she mumbled, her hands fumbling for her glasses. “Chance? Fraser Chance?” Awkwardly she set her glasses on, and her eyes jumped into focus. With mouth half open, she looked at him and he looked back. She started trembling. Chance just couldn’t move, even to open his mouth. It was her, Emily or April. Dubineau, Bethune, Cameron or whatever she now called herself. It was her! It was that picture in the Boston paper that had been the bridge, that had awakened his first suspicions, but he hadn’t been sure. Now he was. It was her.
“Mother! Speak to me, are you all right? You’re trembling. Charles send for a doctor immediately!”
“Percy?” Nathan first noticed his guest’s ashen features. “My God, what’s happening here?”
Forcing to speak from behind a wall of sand, Chance stammered, “We... a...are old...friends.”
“What?!!” Astonishment momentarily paralyzed the room.
“Then it is you!” she spoke for the first time, her voice breathless.
“Yes it’s me and I see it’s you.”
“How?” The daughter turned from one to the other.
“Come.” Her husband pulled her back. “I think these people need to be alone.” Emily tried to resist, but he remained firm and dragged her from the room
For a moment there was silence in the room. A chime struck the hour, rousing them.
“By what name do you go now?”
“Emily. Still Emily.”
“But your daughter...?”
“When I needed to hide my identity I used my mother’s name April. In jest, aping me, my daughter Beverly used my name for herself. She met Nathan as Emily and the name’s stuck ever since.” This bit of information allowed her to speak, but she was still in shock and lapsed into silence.
“You know I looked for you for years,” he said.
“And I for you...”
“When and where?” If they’d both been looking why hadn’t they ever found each other?
“After Andersonville, I went back to Elmira but you were already gone,” she said. “I next travelled to Washington and tracked you to Payette and then Baton Rouge. I was just a month behind. Didn’t the Neelys tell you about me?”
“I was never in one place long enough to have a forwarding address.”
There was a long silence again.
“I went to Andersonville looking for you. Then to New York, Washington, and Boston. Couldn’t find a trace. I was thinking of going back to England...”
“It’s unbelievable that you saved Emily and Nat, they talk about it all the time, but always called you Percy. Percy Fraser. Do you know how many Frasers there are? Every city I asked about Frasers, hoping to run across you. Nothing. But you ... just fell over each other... and you saved them... I always thought there was something very strange that a Fraser should play such an important part in our lives... I’m not making any sense.”
“I missed you,” he said simply. “From the first day that I kidnapped you.”
“Then why did you not say so? Then or in Tunis, in Egypt?”
“You were married.” Again silence. “Why did you leave me in Elmira?”
“We had to pack and be gone within an hour and you were still sick. I thought it was only for a couple of days. I wrote you twice through Rebecca.”
“I only got one letter. No address, nothing to follow up.”
“I didn’t know where I would be. What could I tell you?”
“I don’t know. We lost so much time.”
“All the more to appreciate what is yet ahead of us,” Emily said, and Chance recognized where the daughter got that bright positive outlook.
“I sometimes think that I can’t forgive you,” Chance blurted out.
“Why, for God’s sake?”
“For... blinding me... so that I couldn’t find any pleasure in anyone else...”
“And that’s exactly how I felt... and feel today. From the first day you came into my life, my life changed and not always for the better...”
“And there were wasted years of longing, wishing, wanting...”
“You think it was easy for me? I was trapped in a marriage without feelings and then you never told me who you were. It broke my heart to see you walk away. When my husband died I went to the Crimea thinking you might be there. I looked for you in the face of every wounded, fearing and hoping. Then in Elmira that was a surprise, I treated you not knowing who you were. The hospital listed you as Frazier. A stupid clerical error. Then the last day I recognized you, it was too late, we were on our way to Andersonville. What a horrible place.”
“I can’t believe we missed each other, crisscrossing each other’s path so often.” Chance pulled the shirt collar away. “Look, do you recognize this?”
“Of course, the chain my mother gave me that I gave to you and you gave back, and I gave to you again.”
“You called it Lament, remember?”
“I’d almost forgotten that.”
“Lament. I sometimes thought that the ruby was my own heart bleeding. Was that not a stupid thought for a young man to be thinking?”
“No. You were alone. I don’t think anybody taught you to feel.”
“Oh, I felt plenty. Clawing my way up from the sewers, I felt every insult society visited on me. By rights I had no call even to talk to you.” Chance’s mouth turned down and a bitterness swept over him, but then he remembered today was a day of triumph. A day of redemption. “You know I ought to also thank you. You kindled a fire in me, an ambition to better myself. I don’t know where I would be now without the dream you’ve started in me. Probably still on the canals.”
The door opened a crack. “Mother, are you all right?”
“Of course, Dear. We’re just talking.” Emily’s voice was strong again, her self-possession back.
“Do you think we can have lunch now? The food’s getting cold.” It was a child’s voice that filtered through the door.
“By all means. Lets’ eat.”
Everyone took their seats again. They ate quietly. Emily the younger looked befuddled from her mother to Chance, trying to read the mood. How could her mother and Chance know each other? It was incomprehensible. Somehow she was afraid to unravel this ball of yarn.
Her husband did it for her. “How is it that you two know each other?”
Chance and Emily exchanged looks. How to start?
“I was Chief Engineer on a cruise ship, and your mother’s cabin had no heat...”
“And he came in to fix it, then he rescued me when I was arrested for spying...”
“That was him...?”
A few more details filled in the gaps, but by unspoken agreement not the whole story. In the telling the tension eased, drop by drop like an icicle melting. Soon, they were even laughing. But as they conversed, Chance and Emily had a secret dialogue going.
“Do you remember, in Gibraltar...” as if using code words.
“But of course...” and the two of them smiled at each other.
