Half-a-Sovereign

by Arnold Bennett

　　

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The scene was the up-platform of Knype railway station on a summerafternoon, and, more particularly, that part of the platform round aboutthe bookstall. There were three persons in the neighbourhood of thebookstall. The first was the principal bookstall clerk, who was foldingwith extraordinary rapidity copies of the special edition of theStaffordshire Signal; the second was Mr Sandbach, an earthenwaremanufacturer, famous throughout the Five Towns for his ingeniousinvention of teapots that will pour the tea into the cup instead of allover the table; and a very shabby man, whom Mr Sandbach did not know.This very shabby man was quite close to the bookstall, while Mr Sandbachstood quite ten yards away. Mr Sandbach gazed steadily at the man, butthe man, ignoring Mr Sandbach, allowed dreamy and abstracted eyes torest on the far distance, where a locomotive or so was impatientlypushing and pulling waggons as an excitable mother will drag and shovean inoffensive child. The platform as a whole was sparsely peopled; theLondon train had recently departed, and the station was suffering fromthe usual reaction; only a local train was signalled.Mr Gale, a friend of Mr Sandbach's, came briskly on to the platform fromthe booking-office, caught sight of Mr Sandbach, and accosted him."Hello, Sandbach!""How do, Gale?"To a slight extent they were rivals in the field of invention. But bothhad succeeded in life, and both had the alert and prosperous air ofsuccess. Born about the same time, they stood nearly equal after fortyyears of earthly endeavour."What are you doing here?" asked Gale, casually."I've come to meet someone off the Crewe train.""And I'm going by it--to Derby," said Mr Gale. "They say it's thirteenminutes late.""Look here," said Mr Sandbach, taking no notice of this remark, "you seethat man there?""Which one--by the bookstall?""Yes.""Well, what about him?""I bet you you can't make him move from where he is--no physical force,of course."Mr Gale hesitated an instant, and then his eye glistened with responseto the challenge, and he replied:"I bet you I can.""Well, try," said Mr Sandbach.Mr Sandbach and Mr Gale frequently threw down the glove to each other inthis agreeable way. Either they asked conundrums, or they set testquestions, or they suggested feats. When Mr Sandbach discovered at aChristmas party that you cannot stand with your left side close againsta wall and then lift your right leg, his first impulse was to confrontMr Gale with the trick. When Mr Gale read in a facetious paper anarticle on the lack of accurate observation in the average man,entitled, "Do 'bus horses wear blinkers?" his opening remark to MrSandbach at their next meeting was: "I say, Sandbach, do 'bus horseswear blinkers? Answer quick!" And a phrase constantly in their mouthswas, "I'll try that on Gale;" or, "I wonder whether Sandbach knowsthat?" All that was required to make their relations artisticallycomplete was an official referee for counting the scores. Such a basisof friendship may seem bizarre, but it is by no means uncommon in theFive Towns, and perhaps elsewhere.So that when Mr Sandbach defied Mr Gale to induce the shabby man tomove from where he stood, the nostrils of the combatants twitched withthe scent of battle.Mr Gale conceived his tactics instantly and put them into execution. Hewalked along the platform some little distance, then turned, and takinga handful of silver from his pocket, began to count it. He passed slowlyby the shabby man, almost brushing his shoulder; and, just as he passed,he left fall half-a-crown. The half-crown rolled round in a circle andlay down within a yard and a half of the shabby man. The shabby mancalmly glanced at the half-crown and then at Mr Gale, who, strolling on,magnificently pretended to be unaware of his loss; and then the shabbyman resumed his dreamy stare into the distance."Hi!" cried Mr Sandbach after Mr Gale. "You've dropped something."It was a great triumph for Mr Sandbach."I told you you wouldn't get him to move!" said Mr Sandbach, proudly,having rejoined his friend at another part of the platform."What's the game?" demanded Mr Gale, frankly acknowledging by tone andgesture that he was defeated."Perfectly simple," answered Mr Sandbach, condescendingly, "when youknow. I'll tell you--it's really very funny. Just as everyone wasrushing to get into the London express I heard a coin drop on theplatform, and I saw it rolling. It was half-a-sovereign. I couldn't besure who dropped it, but I think it was a lady. Anyhow, no one claimedit. I was just going to pick it up when that chap came by. He saw it,and he put his foot on it as quick as lightning, and stood still. Hedidn't notice that I was after it too. So I drew back. I thought I'dwait and see what happens.""He looks as if he could do with half-a-sovereign," said Mr Gale."Yes; he's only a station loafer.""Then why doesn't he pick up his half-sovereign and hook it?""Can't you see why?" said Mr Sandbach, patronizingly. "He's afraid ofthe bookstall clerk catching him at it. He's afraid it's the bookstallclerk that has dropped that half-sovereign. You wait till the bookstallclerk finishes those papers and goes inside, and you'll see."At this point Mr Gale made the happy involuntary movement of a man whohas suddenly thought of something really brilliant."Look here," said he. "You said you'd bet. But you didn't bet. I'll betyou a level half-crown I get him to shift this time.""But you mustn't say anything to him.""No--of course not.""Very well, I'll bet you."Mr Gale walked straight up to the shabby man, drew half-a-sovereign fromhis waistcoat pocket, and held it out. At the same time he pointed tothe shabby man's boots, and then in the most unmistakable way he pointedto the exit of the platform. He said nothing, but his gestures wereexpressive, and what they clearly expressed was: "I know you've got ahalf-sovereign under your foot; here's another half-sovereign for you toclear off and ask no questions."Meanwhile the ingenious offerer of the half-sovereign was meditatingthus: "I give half-a-sovereign, but I shall gather up the otherhalf-sovereign, and I shall also win my bet. Net result: Half-a-crown tothe good."The shabby man, who could not have been a fool, comprehended at once,accepted the half-sovereign, and moved leisurely away--not, however,without glancing at the ground which his feet had covered. The resultof the scrutiny evidently much surprised him, as it surprised, in adegree equally violent, both Mr Gale and Mr Sandbach. For there was nosign of half-a-sovereign under the feet of the shabby man. There was noteven nine and elevenpence there.Mr Gale looked up very angry and Mr Sandbach looked very foolish."This is all very well," Mr Gale exploded in tones low and fierce. "ButI call it a swindle." And he walked, with an undecided, longing,shrinking air, in the wake of the shabby man who had pocketed hishalf-sovereign."I'm sure I saw him put his foot on it," said Mr Sandbach in defence ofhimself (meaning, of course, the other half-sovereign), "and I've nevertaken my eyes off him.""Well, then, how do you explain it?""I don't explain it," said Mr Sandbach."I think some explanation is due to me," said Mr Gale, with a peculiarand dangerous intonation. "If this is your notion of a practical joke.""There was no practical joke about it at all," Mr Sandbach protested."If the half-sovereign has disappeared it's not my fault. I made a betwith you, and I've lost it. Here's your half-crown."He produced two-and-six, which Mr Gale accepted, though he had a strangeimpulse to decline it with an air of offended pride."I'm still seven-and-six out," said Mr Gale."And if you are!" snapped Mr Sandbach, "you thought you'd do me down bya trick. Offering the man ten shillings to go wasn't at all a fair wayof winning the bet, and you knew it, my boy. However, I've paid up; sothat's all right.""All I say is," Mr Gale obstinately repeated, "if this is your notion ofa practical joke--""Didn't I tell you--" Mr Sandbach became icily furious.The friendship hitherto existing between these two excellentindividuals might have been ruined and annihilated for a comparativetrifle, had not a surprising and indeed almost miraculous thinghappened, by some kind of freak of destiny, in the nick of time. MrSandbach was sticking close to Mr Gale, and Mr Gale was following in theleisurely footsteps of the very shabby man, possibly debating withinhimself whether he should boldly demand the return of hishalf-sovereign, when lo! a golden coin seemed to slip from the boot ofthe very shabby man. It took the stone-flags of the platform withscarcely a sound, and Mr Sandbach and Mr Gale made a simultaneous,superb and undignified rush for it. Mr Sandbach got it. The very shabbyman passed on, passed eternally out of the lives of the other two. Itmay be said that he was of too oblivious and dreamy a nature for thisworld. But one must not forget that he had made a solid gain of tenshillings."The soles of the fellow's boots must have been all cracks, and it musthave got lodged in one of them," cheerfully explained Mr Sandbach as hegazed with pleasure at the coin. "I hope you believe me now. You thoughtit was a plant. I hope you believe me now."Mr Gale made no response to this remark. What Mr Gale said was:"Don't you think that in fairness that half-sovereign belongs to me?""Why?" asked Mr Sandbach, bluntly."Well," Mr Gale began, searching about for a reason."You didn't find it," Mr Sandbach proceeded firmly. "You didn't see itfirst. You didn't pick it up. Where do you come in?""I'm seven and sixpence out," said Mr Gale."And if I give you the coin, which I certainly shall not do, I should behalf-a-crown out."Friendship was again jeopardized, when a second interference of fateoccurred, in the shape of a young and pretty woman who was coming fromthe opposite direction and who astonished both men considerably bystepping in front of them and barring their progress."Excuse me," said she, in a charming voice, but with a severe air. "Butmay I ask if you have just picked up that coin?"Mr Sandbach, after looking vaguely, as if for inspiration, at Mr Gale,was obliged to admit that he had."Well," said the young lady, "if it's dated 1898, and if there's an 'A'scratched on it, it's mine. I've lost it off my watch-chain." MrSandbach examined the coin, and then handed it to her, raising his hat.Mr Gale also raised his hat. The young lady's grateful smile wasenchanting. Both men were bachelors and invariably ready to beinterested."It was the first money my husband ever earned," the young ladyexplained, with her thanks.The interest of the bachelors evaporated."Not a profitable afternoon," said Mr Sandbach, as the train came in andthey parted."I think we ought to share the loss equally," said Mr Gale."Do you?" said Mr Sandbach. "That's like you."

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