Part 8 (1/2)

”But it isn't midnight, anywhere else; so it can't be changing from one day to another anywhere else. And yet, if Ireland and America and so on call it Wednesday, and Germany and Russia and so on call it Thursday, there _must_ be some place--not Chelsea--that has different days on the two sides of it. And the worst of it is, the people _there_ get their days in the wrong order: they've got Wednesday _east_ of them, and Thursday _west_--just as if their day had changed from Thursday to Wednesday!”

”I've heard that puzzle before!” cried Lambert. ”And I'll tell you the explanation. When a s.h.i.+p goes round the world from east to west, we know that it loses a day in its reckoning: so that when it gets home, and calls its day Wednesday, it finds people here calling it Thursday, because we've had one more midnight than the s.h.i.+p has had. And when you go the other way round you gain a day.”

”I know all that,” said Hugh, in reply to this not very lucid explanation: ”but it doesn't help me, because the s.h.i.+p hasn't proper days. One way round, you get more than twenty-four hours to the day, and the other way you get less: so of course the names get wrong: but people that live on in one place always get twenty-four hours to the day.”

”I suppose there _is_ such a place,” Balbus said, meditatively, ”though I never heard of it. And the people must find it very queer, as Hugh says, to have the old day _east_ of them, and the new one _west_: because, when midnight comes round to them, with the new day in front of it and the old one behind it, one doesn't see exactly what happens. I must think it over.”

So they had entered the house in the state I have described--Balbus puzzled, and Lambert buried in gloomy thought.

”Yes, m'm, Master _is_ at home, m'm,” said the stately old butler.

(N.B.--It is only a butler of experience who can manage a series of three M's together, without any interjacent vowels.) ”And the _ole_ party is a-waiting for you in the libery.”

”I don't like his calling your father an _old_ party,” Mad Mathesis whispered to her niece, as they crossed the hall. And Clara had only just time to whisper in reply ”he meant the _whole_ party,” before they were ushered into the library, and the sight of the five solemn faces there a.s.sembled chilled her into silence.

Her father sat at the head of the table, and mutely signed to the ladies to take the two vacant chairs, one on each side of him. His three sons and Balbus completed the party. Writing materials had been arranged round the table, after the fas.h.i.+on of a ghostly banquet: the butler had evidently bestowed much thought on the grim device. Sheets of quarto paper, each flanked by a pen on one side and a pencil on the other, represented the plates--penwipers did duty for rolls of bread--while ink-bottles stood in the places usually occupied by wine-gla.s.ses. The _piece de resistance_ was a large green baize bag, which gave forth, as the old man restlessly lifted it from side to side, a charming jingle, as of innumerable golden guineas.

”Sister, daughter, sons--and Balbus--,” the old man began, so nervously, that Balbus put in a gentle ”Hear, hear!” while Hugh drummed on the table with his fists. This disconcerted the unpractised orator.

”Sister--” he began again, then paused a moment, moved the bag to the other side, and went on with a rush, ”I mean--this being--a critical occasion--more or less--being the year when one of my sons comes of age--” he paused again in some confusion, having evidently got into the middle of his speech sooner than he intended: but it was too late to go back. ”Hear, hear!” cried Balbus. ”Quite so,” said the old gentleman, recovering his self-possession a little: ”when first I began this annual custom--my friend Balbus will correct me if I am wrong--” (Hugh whispered ”with a strap!” but n.o.body heard him except Lambert, who only frowned and shook his head at him) ”--this annual custom of giving each of my sons as many guineas as would represent his age--it was a critical time--so Balbus informed me--as the ages of two of you were together equal to that of the third--so on that occasion I made a speech----” He paused so long that Balbus thought it well to come to the rescue with the words ”It was a most----” but the old man checked him with a warning look: ”yes, made a speech,” he repeated. ”A few years after that, Balbus pointed out--I say pointed out--” (”Hear, hear”! cried Balbus. ”Quite so,” said the grateful old man.) ”--that it was _another_ critical occasion. The ages of two of you were together _double_ that of the third. So I made another speech--another speech. And now again it's a critical occasion--so Balbus says--and I am making----” (Here Mad Mathesis pointedly referred to her watch) ”all the haste I can!” the old man cried, with wonderful presence of mind. ”Indeed, sister, I'm coming to the point now! The number of years that have pa.s.sed since that first occasion is just two-thirds of the number of guineas I then gave you.

Now, my boys, calculate your ages from the _data_, and you shall have the money!”

”But we _know_ our ages!” cried Hugh.

”Silence, sir!” thundered the old man, rising to his full height (he was exactly five-foot five) in his indignation. ”I say you must use the _data_ only! You mustn't even a.s.sume _which_ it is that comes of age!”

He clutched the bag as he spoke, and with tottering steps (it was about as much as he could do to carry it) he left the room.

”And _you_ shall have a similar _cadeau_,” the old lady whispered to her niece, ”when you've calculated that percentage!” And she followed her brother.

Nothing could exceed the solemnity with which the old couple had risen from the table, and yet was it--was it a _grin_ with which the father turned away from his unhappy sons? Could it be--could it be a _wink_ with which the aunt abandoned her despairing niece? And were those--were those sounds of suppressed _chuckling_ which floated into the room, just before Balbus (who had followed them out) closed the door? Surely not: and yet the butler told the cook--but no, that was merely idle gossip, and I will not repeat it.

The shades of evening granted their unuttered pet.i.tion, and ”closed not o'er” them (for the butler brought in the lamp): the same obliging shades left them a ”lonely bark” (the wail of a dog, in the back-yard, baying the moon) for ”awhile”: but neither ”morn, alas,” (nor any other epoch) seemed likely to ”restore” them--to that peace of mind which had once been theirs ere ever these problems had swooped upon them, and crushed them with a load of unfathomable mystery!

”It's hardly fair,” muttered Hugh, ”to give us such a jumble as this to work out!”

”Fair?” Clara echoed, bitterly. ”Well!”

And to all my readers I can but repeat the last words of gentle Clara--

FARE-WELL!

APPENDIX.

”A knot!” said Alice. ”Oh, do let me help to undo it!”

ANSWERS TO KNOT I.

_Problem._--”Two travellers spend from 3 o'clock till 9 in walking along a level road, up a hill, and home again: their pace on the level being 4 miles an hour, up hill 3, and down hill 6. Find distance walked: also (within half an hour) time of reaching top of hill.”