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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Heir, by G. A. Henty
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Lost Heir
+
+Author: G. A. Henty
+
+Release Date: August 5, 2011 [EBook #36975]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST HEIR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                            THE LOST HEIR
+
+                            BY G. A. HENTY
+
+AUTHOR OF "STURDY AND STRONG," "RUJUB, THE JUGGLER," "BY ENGLAND'S AID,"
+ETC., ETC.
+
+
+    THE MERSHON COMPANY
+    RAHWAY, N. J.
+    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+       I. A BRAVE ACTION                      1
+
+      II. IN THE SOUTH SEAS                  14
+
+     III. A DEAF GIRL                        27
+
+      IV. THE GYPSY                          40
+
+       V. A GAMBLING DEN                     52
+
+      VI. JOHN SIMCOE                        65
+
+     VII. JOHN SIMCOE'S FRIEND               77
+
+    VIII. GENERAL MATHIESON'S SEIZURE        90
+
+      IX. A STRANGE ILLNESS                 102
+
+       X. TWO HEAVY BLOWS                   112
+
+      XI. A STARTLING WILL                  124
+
+     XII. DR. LEEDS SPEAKS                  137
+
+    XIII. NETTA VISITS STOWMARKET           150
+
+     XIV. AN ADVERTISEMENT                  164
+
+      XV. VERY BAD NEWS                     176
+
+     XVI. A FRESH CLEW                      193
+
+    XVII. NETTA ACTS INDEPENDENTLY          206
+
+   XVIII. DOWN IN THE MARSHES               220
+
+     XIX. A PARTIAL SUCCESS                 233
+
+      XX. A DINNER PARTY                    247
+
+     XXI. A BOX AT THE OPERA                262
+
+    XXII. NEARING THE GOAL                  274
+
+   XXIII. WALTER                            287
+
+    XXIV. A NEW BARGE                       301
+
+     XXV. A CRUSHING EXPOSURE               316
+
+    XXVI. A LETTER FROM ABROAD              329
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: SIMCOE RAN IN WITH HIS KNIFE AND ATTACKED THE TIGER.
+_--Page 4._]
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LOST HEIR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A BRAVE ACTION.
+
+
+A number of soldiers were standing in the road near the bungalow of
+Brigadier-General Mathieson, the officer in command of the force in the
+cantonments of Benares and the surrounding district.
+
+"They are coming now, I think," one sergeant said to another. "It is a
+bad business. They say the General is terribly hurt, and it was thought
+better to bring him and the other fellow who was mixed up in it down in
+doolies. I heard Captain Harvey say in the orderly-room that they have
+arranged relays of bearers every five miles all the way down. He is a
+good fellow is the General, and we should all miss him. He is not one of
+the sort who has everything comfortable himself and don't care a rap how
+the soldiers get on: he sees to the comfort of everyone and spends his
+money freely, too. He don't seem to care what he lays out in making the
+quarters of the married men comfortable, and in getting any amount of
+ice for the hospital, and extra punkawallahs in the barrack rooms during
+the hot season. He goes out and sees to everything himself. Why, on the
+march I have known him, when all the doolies were full, give up his own
+horse to a man who had fallen out. He has had bad luck too; lost his
+wife years ago by cholera, and he has got no one to care for but his
+girl. She was only a few months old when her mother died. Of course she
+was sent off to England, and has been there ever since. He must be a
+rich man, besides his pay and allowances; but it aint every rich man who
+spends his money as he does. There won't be a dry eye in the cantonment
+if he goes under."
+
+"How was it the other man got hurt?"
+
+"Well, I hear that the tiger sprang on to the General's elephant and
+seized him by the leg. They both went off together, and the brute
+shifted its hold to the shoulder, and carried him into the jungle; then
+the other fellow slipped off his elephant and ran after the tiger. He
+got badly mauled too; but he killed the brute and saved the General's
+life."
+
+"By Jove! that was a plucky thing. Who was he?"
+
+"Why, he was the chap who was walking backwards and forwards with the
+General when the band was playing yesterday evening. Several of the men
+remarked how like he was to you, Sanderson. I noticed it, too. There
+certainly was a strong likeness."
+
+"Yes, some of the fellows were saying so," Sanderson replied. "He passed
+close to me, and I saw that he was about my height and build, but of
+course I did not notice the likeness; a man does not know his own face
+much. Anyhow, he only sees his full face, and doesn't know how he looks
+sideways. He is a civilian, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes, I believe so; I know that the General is putting him up at his
+quarters. He has been here about a week. I think he is some man from
+England, traveling, I suppose, to see the world. I heard the Adjutant
+speak of him as Mr. Simcoe when he was talking about the affair."
+
+"Of course they will take him to the General's bungalow?"
+
+"No; he is going to the next. Major Walker is away on leave, and the
+doctor says that it is better that they should be in different
+bungalows, because then if one gets delirious and noisy he won't disturb
+the other. Dr. Hunter is going to take up his quarters there to look
+after him, with his own servants and a couple of hospital orderlies."
+
+By this time several officers were gathered at the entrance to the
+General's bungalow, two mounted troopers having brought in the news a
+few minutes before that the doolies were within a mile.
+
+They came along now, each carried by four men, maintaining a swift but
+smooth and steady pace, and abstaining from the monotonous chant usually
+kept up. A doctor was riding by the side of the doolies, and two mounted
+orderlies with baskets containing ice and surgical dressings rode fifty
+paces in the rear. The curtains of the doolies had been removed to allow
+of a free passage of air, and mosquito curtains hung round to prevent
+insects annoying the sufferers.
+
+There was a low murmur of sympathy from the soldiers as the doolies
+passed them, and many a muttered "God bless you, sir, and bring you
+through it all right." Then, as the injured men were carried into the
+two bungalows, most of the soldiers strolled off, some, however,
+remaining near in hopes of getting a favorable report from an orderly or
+servant. A group of officers remained under the shade of a tree near
+until the surgeon who had ridden in with the doolies came out.
+
+"What is the report, McManus?" one of them asked, as he approached.
+
+"There is no change since I sent off my report last night," he said.
+"The General is very badly hurt; I certainly should not like to give an
+opinion at present whether he will get over it or not. If he does it
+will be a very narrow shave. He was insensible till we lifted him into
+the doolie at eight o'clock yesterday evening, when the motion seemed to
+rouse him a little, and he just opened his eyes; and each time we
+changed bearers he has had a little ice between his lips, and a drink of
+lime juice and water with a dash of brandy in it. He has known me each
+time, and whispered a word or two, asking after the other."
+
+"And how is he?"
+
+"I have no doubt that he will do; that is, of course, if fever does not
+set in badly. His wounds are not so severe as the General's, and he is a
+much younger man, and, as I should say, with a good constitution. If
+there is no complication he ought to be about again in a month's time.
+He is perfectly sensible. Let him lie quiet for a day or two; after that
+it would be as well if some of you who have met him at the General's
+would drop in occasionally for a short chat with him; but of course we
+must wait to see if there is going to be much fever."
+
+"And did it happen as they say, doctor? The dispatch told us very little
+beyond the fact that the General was thrown from his elephant, just as
+the tiger sprang, and that it seized him and carried him into the
+jungle; that Simcoe slipped off his pad and ran in and attacked the
+tiger; that he saved the General's life and killed the animal, but is
+sadly hurt himself."
+
+"That is about it, except that he did not kill the tiger. Metcalf,
+Colvin, and Smith all ran in, and firing together knocked it over stone
+dead. It was an extraordinarily plucky action of Simcoe, for he had
+emptied his rifle, and had nothing but it and a knife when he ran in."
+
+"You don't say so! By Jove! that was an extraordinary act of pluck; one
+would almost say of madness, if he hadn't succeeded in drawing the brute
+off Mathieson, and so gaining time for the others to come up. It was a
+miracle that he wasn't killed. Well, we shall not have quite so easy a
+time of it for a bit. Of course Murdock, as senior officer, will take
+command of the brigade, but he won't be half as considerate for our
+comfort as Mathieson has been. He is rather a scoffer at what he calls
+new-fangled ways, and he will be as likely to march the men out in the
+heat of the day as at five in the morning."
+
+The two sergeants who had been talking walked back together to their
+quarters. Both of them were on the brigade staff. Sanderson was the
+Paymaster's clerk, Nichol worked in the orderly-room. At the sergeants'
+mess the conversation naturally turned on the tiger hunt and its
+consequences.
+
+"I have been in some tough fights," one of the older men said, "and I
+don't know that I ever felt badly scared--one hasn't time to think of
+that when one is at work--but to rush in against a wounded tiger with
+nothing but an empty gun and a hunting-knife is not the sort of job
+that I should like to tackle. It makes one's blood run cold to think of
+it. I consider that everyone in the brigade ought to subscribe a day's
+pay to get something to give that man, as a token of our admiration for
+his pluck and of our gratitude for his having saved General Mathieson's
+life."
+
+There was a general expression of approval at the idea. Then Sanderson
+said:
+
+"I think it is a thing that ought to be done, but it is not for us to
+begin it. If we hear of anything of that sort done by the officers, two
+or three of us might go up and say that it was the general wish among
+the non-coms. and men to take a share in it; but it would never do for
+us to begin."
+
+"That is right enough; the officers certainly would not like such a
+thing to begin from below. We had better wait and see whether there is
+any movement that way. I dare say that it will depend a great deal on
+whether the General gets over it or not."
+
+The opportunity did not come. At the end of five weeks Mr. Simcoe was
+well enough to travel by easy stages down to the coast, acting upon the
+advice that he should, for the present, give up all idea of making a
+tour through India, and had better take a sea voyage to Australia or the
+Cape, or, better still, take his passage home at once. Had the day and
+hour of his leaving been known, there was not a white soldier in the
+cantonments who would not have turned out to give him a hearty cheer,
+but although going on well the doctor said that all excitement should be
+avoided. It would be quite enough for him to have to say good-by to the
+friends who had been in the habit of coming in to talk with him daily,
+but anything like a public greeting by the men would be likely to upset
+him. It was not, therefore, until Simcoe was some way down the river
+that his departure became known to the troops.
+
+Six weeks later there was a sensation in the cantonments. General
+Mathieson had so far recovered that he was able to be carried up to the
+hills, and the camp was still growling at the irritating orders and
+regulations of his temporary successor in command, when the news spread
+that Staff Pay-Sergeant Sanderson had deserted. He had obtained a
+fortnight's furlough, saying that he wanted to pay a visit to some old
+comrades at Allahabad; at the end of the fortnight he had not returned,
+and the Staff Paymaster had gone strictly into his accounts and found
+that there was a deficiency of over £300, which he himself would of
+course be called upon to make good. He had, indeed, helped to bring
+about the deficiency by placing entire confidence in the sergeant and by
+neglecting to check his accounts regularly.
+
+Letters were at once written to the heads of the police at Calcutta and
+Bombay, and to all the principal places on the roads to those ports; but
+it was felt that, with such a start as he had got, the chances were all
+in his favor.
+
+It was soon ascertained at Allahabad that he had not been there.
+Inquiries at the various dak-bungalows satisfied the authorities that he
+had not traveled by land. If he had gone down to Calcutta he had gone by
+boat; but he might have started on the long land journey across to
+Bombay, or have even made for Madras. No distinct clew, however, could
+be obtained.
+
+The Paymaster obtained leave and went down to Calcutta and inspected all
+the lists of passengers and made inquiries as to them; but there were
+then but few white men in the country, save those holding civil or
+military positions and the merchants at the large ports, therefore there
+was not much difficulty in ascertaining the identity of everyone who had
+left Calcutta during the past month, unless, indeed, he had taken a
+passage in some native craft to Rangoon or possibly Singapore.
+
+On his arrival at Calcutta he heard of an event which caused deep and
+general regret when known at Benares, and for a time threw even the
+desertion of Sergeant Sanderson into the shade. The _Nepaul_, in which
+John Simcoe had sailed, had been lost in a typhoon in the Bay of Bengal
+when but six days out. There was no possible doubt as to his fate, for a
+vessel half a mile distant had seen her founder, but could render no
+assistance, being herself dismasted and unmanageable and the sea so
+tremendous that no boat could have lived in it for a moment. As both
+ships belonged to the East India Company, and were well known to each
+other, the captain and officials of the _Ceylon_ had no doubt whatever
+as to her identity, and, indeed, the remains of a boat bearing the
+_Nepaul's_ name were picked up a few days later near the spot where she
+had gone down.
+
+"It's hard luck, that is what I call it," Sergeant Nichol said with
+great emphasis when the matter was talked over in the sergeants' mess.
+"Here is a man who faces a wounded tiger with nothing but a
+hunting-knife, and recovers from his wounds; here is the General, whose
+life he saved, going on first-rate, and yet he loses his life himself,
+drowned at sea. I call that about as hard luck as anything I have heard
+of."
+
+"Hard luck indeed!" another said. "If he had died of his wounds it would
+have been only what might have been expected; but to get over them and
+then to get drowned almost as soon as he had started is, as you say,
+Nichol, very hard luck. I am sure the General will be terribly cut up
+about it. I heard Major Butler tell Captain Thompson that he had heard
+from Dr. Hunter that when the General began to get round and heard that
+Simcoe had gone, while he was lying there too ill to know anything about
+it, he regularly broke down and cried like a child; and I am sure the
+fact that he will never have the chance of thanking him now will hurt
+him as bad as those tiger's claws."
+
+"And so there is no news of Sanderson?"
+
+"Not that I have heard. Maybe he has got clean away; but I should say
+it's more likely that he is lying low in some sailors' haunt until the
+matter blows over. Then, like enough, he will put on sea-togs and ship
+under another name before the mast in some trader knocking about among
+the islands, and by the time she comes back he could take a passage home
+without questions being asked. He is a sharp fellow is Sanderson. I
+never quite liked him myself, but I never thought he was a rogue. It
+will teach Captain Smalley to be more careful in future. I heard that he
+was going home on his long leave in the spring, but I suppose he will
+not be able to do so now for a year or so; three hundred pounds is a big
+sum to have to fork out."
+
+The news of the loss of the _Nepaul_, with all hands, did indeed hit
+General Mathieson very heavily, and for a time seriously delayed the
+progress that he was making towards recovery.
+
+"It's bad enough to think," he said, "that I shall never have an
+opportunity of thanking that gallant fellow for my life; but it is even
+worse to know that my rescue has brought about his death, for had it not
+been for that he would have by this time been up at Delhi or in Oude
+instead of lying at the bottom of the sea. I would give half my fortune
+to grasp his hand again and tell him what I feel."
+
+General Mathieson's ill luck stuck to him. He gained strength so slowly
+that he was ordered home, and it was three years before he rejoined.
+Four years later his daughter came out to him, and for a time his home
+in Delhi, where he was now stationed, was a happy one. The girl showed
+no desire to marry, and refused several very favorable offers; but after
+she had been out four years she married a rising young civilian who was
+also stationed at Delhi. The union was a happy one, except that the
+first two children born to them died in infancy. They were girls. The
+third was a boy, who at the age of eight months was sent home under the
+charge of an officer's wife returning with her children to England. When
+they arrived there he was placed in charge of Mrs. Covington, a niece of
+the General's. But before he reached the shores of England he was an
+orphan. An epidemic of cholera broke out at the station at which his
+father, who was now a deputy collector, was living, and he and his wife
+were among the first victims of the scourge.
+
+General Mathieson was now a major-general, and in command of the troops
+in the Calcutta district. This blow decided him to resign his command
+and return to England. He was now sixty; the climate of India had suited
+him, and he was still a hale, active man. Being generally popular he was
+soon at home in London, where he took a house in Hyde Park Gardens and
+became a regular frequenter of the Oriental and East Indian United
+Service Clubs, of which he had been for years a member, went a good deal
+into society, and when at home took a lively interest in his grandson,
+often running down to his niece's place, near Warwick, to see how he was
+getting on.
+
+The ayah who had come with the child from India had been sent back a few
+months after they arrived, for his mother had written to Mrs. Covington
+requesting that he should have a white nurse. "The native servants," she
+wrote, "spoil the children dreadfully, and let them have entirely their
+own way, and the consequence is that they grow up domineering,
+bad-tempered, and irritable. I have seen so many cases of it here that
+Herbert and I have quite decided that our child shall not be spoilt in
+this way, but shall be brought up in England as English children are, to
+obey their nurses and to do as they are ordered."
+
+As Mrs. Covington's was a large country house the child was no trouble;
+an excellent nurse was obtained, and the boy throve under her care.
+
+The General now much regretted having remained so many years in India,
+and if an old comrade remarked, "I never could make out why you stuck to
+it so long, Mathieson; it was ridiculous for a man with a large private
+fortune, such as you have," he would reply, "I can only suppose it was
+because I was an old fool. But, you see, I had no particular reason for
+coming home. I lost my only sister three years after I went out, and had
+never seen her only daughter, my niece Mary Covington. Of course I hoped
+for another bout of active service, and when the chance came at last up
+in the north, there was I stuck down in Calcutta. If it hadn't been for
+Jane I should certainly have given it up in disgust when I found I was
+practically shelved. But she always used to come down and stay with me
+for a month or two in the cool season, and as she was the only person
+in the world I cared for, I held on from year to year, grumbling of
+course, as pretty well every Anglo-Indian does, but without having
+sufficient resolution to throw it up. I ought to have stayed at home for
+good after that mauling I got from the tiger; but, you see, I was never
+really myself while I was at home. I did not feel up to going to clubs,
+and could not enter into London life at all, but spent most of my time
+at my own place, which was within a drive of Mary Covington's, who had
+then just married.
+
+"Well, you see, I got deucedly tired of life down there. I knew nothing
+whatever of farming, and though I tried to get up an interest in it I
+failed altogether. Of course there was a certain amount of society of a
+sort, and everyone called, and one had to go out to dinner-parties. But
+such dinner-parties! Why, a dinner in India was worth a score of them.
+Most of them were very stiff and formal, and after the women had gone
+upstairs, the men talked of nothing but hunting and shooting and crops
+and cattle; so at last I could stand it no longer, but threw up six
+months of my furlough and went out again. Yes, of course I had Jane, but
+at that time she was but fourteen, and was a girl at school; and when I
+talked of bringing her home and having a governess, everyone seemed to
+think that it would be the worst thing possible for her, and no doubt
+they were right, for the life would have been as dull for her as it was
+for me.
+
+"Of course now it is different. I feel as young and as well as I did
+twenty years ago, and can thoroughly enjoy my life in London, though I
+still fight very shy of the country. It is a satisfaction to me to know
+that things are pretty quiet in India at present, so that I am losing
+nothing that way, and if I were out there I should be only holding
+inspections at Barrakpoor, Dumdum, or on the Maidan at Calcutta. Of
+course it was pleasant enough in its way, for I never felt the heat; but
+as a man gets on in life he doesn't have quite so much enjoyment out of
+it as he used to do. The men around him are a good deal younger than
+himself. He knows all the old messroom jokes, and one bit of scandal is
+like scores of others he has heard in his time.
+
+"I am heartily glad that I have come home. Many of you here are about my
+own standing, and there is plenty to talk about of old friends and old
+days. You were a young ensign when I was a captain, but Bulstrode and I
+got our companies within a few days of each other. Of course he is only
+a lieutenant-colonel, while I am a major-general, but that is because he
+had the good sense to quit the service years ago. There are scores of
+others in the club just about my own standing, and one gets one's rubber
+of whist in the afternoon, and we dine together and run down the cooking
+and wines, although every one of us knows at heart that they are both
+infinitely better than we got in India, except at the clubs in the
+Presidency towns.
+
+"Then, of course, we all agree that the service is going to the dogs,
+that the Sepoys are over-indulged and will some day give us a lot of
+trouble. I keep my liver all right by taking a long ride every morning,
+and altogether I think I can say that I thoroughly enjoy myself."
+
+The General, on his first visit to England, had endeavored, but in vain,
+to find out the family of John Simcoe. He had advertised largely, but
+without effect.
+
+"I want to find them out," he said to his niece; "I owe that man a debt
+of gratitude I can never repay, but doubtless there are some of his
+family who may be in circumstances where I could give them a helping
+hand. There may be young brothers--of course I could get them cadetships
+in the Indian army--maybe portionless sisters."
+
+"But if he was traveling in India for pleasure he must have been a
+well-to-do young fellow. Men cannot wander about in the East without
+having a pretty full purse."
+
+"Yes, no doubt; but I don't fancy it was so in his case, and he said
+casually that he had come in for some money, and, as he had always had a
+great desire to travel, he thought that he could do nothing better than
+spend a year or two in the East, but that he hoped before it was gone
+he should fall on his legs and obtain some sort of employment. He did
+not care much what it was, so that it was not quill-driving. He thought
+that he could turn his hands to most things. I laughed at the time, for
+I was by no means sure that he was in earnest, but I have felt since
+that he must have been. If it had not been so, my advertisements would
+surely have caught the eye of someone who knew his family. A family
+wealthy enough for one of the sons to start on two years' travel must be
+in a fair position, whether in town or country. Had it been so I should
+have heard of it, and therefore I think that what he said must have had
+some foundation in fact. He was certainly a gentleman in manner, and my
+idea now is that he belonged to a middle-class family, probably in some
+provincial town, and that, having come into some money at the death of
+his father or some other relative, he followed his natural bent and
+started on a sort of roving expedition, thinking, as many people do
+think, that India is a land where you have only to stretch out your
+hands and shake the pagoda tree.
+
+"He would have found out his mistake, poor fellow, if he had lived. The
+days are long past when any dashing young adventurer can obtain a post
+of honor in the pay of an Indian Rajah. Still, of course, after what he
+did for me, had he remained in India, and I found that he really wanted
+a berth, I might have done something for him. I know numbers of these
+Indian princes, some of them intimately, and to some I have been of very
+considerable service; and I fancy that I might have got him a berth of
+some kind or other without much difficulty. Or had he made up his mind
+to return to England I would have set him up in any business he had a
+fancy for. He has gone now, and I wish I could pay someone he cared for
+a little of the debt of gratitude I owe him. Well, I have done my best
+and have failed, from no fault of my own; but remember that if ever you
+hear of a family of the name of Simcoe, I want you to make inquiries
+about them, and to give me full particulars concerning them."
+
+But no news ever reached the General on this head, and it was a frequent
+cause of lamentation to him, when he finally settled in town, that
+although he had again advertised he had heard nothing whatever of the
+family of which he was in search.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+IN THE SOUTH SEAS.
+
+
+An island in the Pacific. The sun was shining down from a cloudless sky,
+the sea was breaking on the white beach, there was just sufficient
+breeze to move the leaves of the cocoanut trees that formed a dark band
+behind the sands. A small brig of about a hundred tons' burden lay
+anchored a short distance from the shore. The paint was off in many
+places, and everywhere blistered by the sun. Her sails hung loosely in
+the gaskets, and the slackness of her ropes and her general air of
+untidiness alike showed the absence of any sort of discipline on board.
+
+In front of a rough shanty, built just within the line of shade of the
+cocoanuts, sat three men. Two drunken sailors lay asleep some fifty
+yards away. On the stump of a tree in front of the bench on which the
+three men were sitting were placed several black bottles and three tin
+pannikins, while two gourds filled with water and covered with broad
+banana leaves stood erect in holes dug in the sand.
+
+"I tell you what it is, Atkins, your men are carrying it on too far.
+Bill here, and I, were good friends with the natives; the chief gave us
+wives, and we got on well enough with them. What with the cocoanuts,
+which are free to us all, and the patches of ground to cultivate, we had
+all we wanted, and with the store of beads and bright cotton we brought
+here with us we paid the natives to fish for pearls for us, and have
+collected enough copra to trade for rum and whatever else we want. You
+have got all our copra on board, and a good stock of native trumperies,
+and I should recommend you to be off, both for your own sake and ours.
+Your men have been more or less drunk ever since they came here. I don't
+mind a drinking bout myself now and again, but it does not do to keep
+it up. However, it would be no odds to us whether your men were drunk
+all the time or not if they would but get drunk on board, but they will
+bring the liquor on shore, and then they get quarrelsome, use their
+fists on the natives, and meddle with the women. Now, these fellows are
+quiet and gentle enough if they are left alone and treated fairly, but I
+don't blame them for getting riled up when they are ill-treated, and I
+tell you they are riled up pretty badly now. My woman has spoken to me
+more than once, and from what she says there is likely to be trouble,
+not only for you but for us."
+
+"Well, Sim," the man that he was addressing said, "there is reason
+enough in what you say. I don't care myself a snap for these black
+fellows; a couple of musket-shots would send them all flying. But, you
+see, though I am skipper, the men all have shares and do pretty much as
+they like. At present they like to stay here, and I suppose they will
+stay here till they are tired of it."
+
+"Well, Atkins, if I were in your place I should very soon make a change,
+and if you like, Bill and I will help you. You have got six men; well,
+if you shot three of them the other three would think better of it; and
+if they didn't I would settle them too."
+
+"It is all very well talking like that, Sim. How could I sail the brig
+without hands? If I only kept three of them I should be very
+short-handed, and if I ever did manage to get to port they would lay a
+complaint against me for shooting the others. It is all very well for
+you to talk; you have lived here long enough to know that one can only
+get the very worst class of fellows to sail with one in craft like this
+and for this sort of trade. It pays well if one gets back safely, but
+what with the risk of being cast ashore or being killed by the natives,
+who are savage enough in some of the islands, it stands to reason that a
+man who can get a berth in any other sort of craft won't sail with us.
+But it is just the sort of life to suit chaps like these; it means easy
+work, plenty of loafing about, and if things turn out well a good lump
+of money at the end of the voyage. However, they ought to have had
+enough of it this job; the rum is nearly gone, and if you will come off
+to-morrow I will let you have what remains, though if they are sober I
+doubt if they will let you take it away."
+
+"We will risk that," the third man said. "We are not nice about using
+our pistols, if you are. I was saying to Simcoe here, things are going a
+lot too far. Enough mischief has been done already, and I am by no means
+sure that when you have gone they won't make it hot for us. We are very
+comfortable here, and we are not doing badly, and I don't care about
+being turned out of it."
+
+"The pearl fishing is turning out well?" Atkins asked quietly.
+
+"It might be worse and it might be better. Anyhow, we are content to
+remain here for a bit.
+
+"I don't like it, Jack," he said, as the skipper, having in vain tried
+to rouse the two drunken men, rowed himself off to the brig. "My woman
+told me this morning that there had been a big talk among the natives,
+and that though they did not tell her anything, she thought that they
+had made up their minds to wipe the whites out altogether. They said
+that if we hadn't been here, the brig would not have come; which is like
+enough, for Atkins only put in because he was an old chum of ours, and
+thought that we should have got copra enough to make it worth his while
+to come round. Well, if the niggers only wiped out the crew, and burned
+the ship, I should say nothing against it, as long as they let Atkins
+alone. He has stood by me in more than one rough-and-tumble business,
+and I am bound to stand by him. But there aint no discrimination among
+the niggers. Besides, I am not saying but that he has been pretty rough
+with them himself.
+
+"It makes all the difference whether you settle down and go in for
+making a pile, or if you only stop to water and take in fruit; we agreed
+as to that when we landed here. When we stopped here before and found
+them friendly and pleasant, and we says to each other, 'If we can but
+get on smooth with them and set them fishing for us we might make a good
+thing out of it.' You see, we had bought some oysters one of them
+brought up after a dive, and had found two or three pearls in them.
+
+"Well, we have been here nine months, and I don't say I am not getting
+tired of it; but it is worth stopping for. You know we reckoned last
+week that the pearls we have got ought to be worth two or three thousand
+pounds, and we agreed that we would stay here till we have two bags the
+size of the one we have got; but unless Atkins gets those fellows off, I
+doubt if we shan't have to go before that. There is no reasoning with
+these niggers; if they had any sense they would see that we can't help
+these things."
+
+"Perhaps what the women tell us is untrue," the other suggested.
+
+"Don't you think that," Simcoe said; "these black women are always true
+to their white men when they are decently treated. Besides, none of the
+natives have been near us to-day. That, of course, might be because they
+are afraid of these chaps; but from this shanty we can see the canoes,
+and not one has gone out to-day. Who is to blame them, when one of their
+chiefs was shot yesterday without a shadow of excuse? I don't say that I
+think so much of a nigger's life one way or another; and having been in
+some stiff fights together, as you know, I have always taken my share.
+But I am dead against shooting without some reason; it spoils trade, and
+makes it unsafe even to land for water. I have half a mind, Bill, to go
+on board and ask Atkins to take us away with him; we could mighty soon
+settle matters with the crew, and if there was a fight and we had to
+shoot them all, we could take the brig into port well enough."
+
+"No, no," said Bill, "it has not come to that yet. Don't let us give up
+a good thing until we are sure that the game is up."
+
+"Well, just as you like; I am ready to run the risk if you are. It would
+be hard, if the worst came to the worst, if we couldn't fight our way
+down to our canoe, and once on board that we could laugh at them; for
+as we have proved over and over again, they have not one that can touch
+her."
+
+"Well, I will be off to my hut; the sun is just setting and my supper
+will be ready for me." He strolled off to his shanty, which lay back
+some distance in the wood. Simcoe entered the hut, where a native woman
+was cooking.
+
+"Nothing fresh, I suppose?" he asked in her language.
+
+She shook her head. "None of our people have been near us to-day."
+
+"Well, Polly,"--for so her white master had christened her, her native
+appellation being too long for ordinary conversation,--"it is a bad
+business, and I am sorry for it; but when these fellows have sailed away
+it will soon come all right again."
+
+"Polly hopes so," she said. "Polly very much afraid."
+
+"Well, you had better go to-morrow and see them, and tell them, as I
+have told them already, we are very sorry for the goings on of these
+people, but it is not our fault. You have no fear that they will hurt
+you, have you? Because if so, don't you go."
+
+"They no hurt Polly now," she said; "they know that if I do not come
+back you be on guard."
+
+"Well, I don't think there is any danger at present, but it is as well
+to be ready. Do you take down to the canoe three or four dozen cocoanuts
+and four or five big bunches of plantains, and you may as well take
+three or four gourds of water. If we have to take to the boat, will you
+go with me or stay here?"
+
+"Polly will go with her master," the woman said; "if she stay here they
+will kill her."
+
+"I am glad enough for you to go with me, Polly," he said. "You have been
+a good little woman, and I don't know how I should get on without you
+now; though why they should kill you I don't know, seeing that your head
+chief gave you to me himself."
+
+"Kill everything belonging to white man," she said quietly; and the man
+knew in his heart that it would probably be so. She put his supper on
+the table and then made several journeys backwards and forwards to the
+canoe, which lay afloat in a little cove a couple of hundred yards away.
+When she had done she stood at the table and ate the remains of the
+supper.
+
+An hour later the man was sitting on the bench outside smoking his pipe,
+when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps among the trees. He knew this
+was no native tread.
+
+"What is it, Bill?" he asked, as the man came up.
+
+"Well, I came to tell you that there is a big row going on among the
+natives. I can hear their tom-tom things beating furiously, and
+occasionally they set up a tremendous yell. I tell you I don't like it,
+Simcoe; I don't like it a bit. I sent my woman to see what it was all
+about, but though she had been away three hours, she hadn't come back
+when I started out to talk it over with you."
+
+"There has been a biggish row going on on board the brig too," the other
+said. "I have heard Atkins storming, and a good deal of shouting among
+the men. I suppose you have got your pearls all right in your belt?
+Things begin to have an awkward look, and we may have to bolt at short
+notice."
+
+"You trust me for that, Simcoe; I have had them on me ever since the
+brig came in. I had no fear of the natives stealing them out of my hut,
+but if one of those fellows were to drop in and see them he would think
+nothing of knifing the woman and carrying them off."
+
+"I see you have brought your gun with you."
+
+"Yes, and my pistols too. I suppose you are loaded, and ready to catch
+up at a moment's notice?"
+
+"Yes; my girl has been carrying down cocoanuts and plantains to the
+canoe, so, if we have to make a bolt, we can hold on comfortably enough
+until we get to the next island, which is not above three days' sail,
+and lies dead to leeward, as the wind is at present. Still, Bill, I hope
+it is not coming to that. I think it is likely enough they may attack
+the brig in their canoes, but they have always been so friendly with us
+that I really don't think they can turn against us now; they must know
+that we cannot help these people's doings."
+
+"That is all very well," the other said, "but you and I know half a
+dozen cases in which the niggers have attacked a ship, and in every case
+beachcombers were killed too."
+
+Simcoe made no answer; he knew that it was so, and could hardly hope
+that there would be an exception in their case. After thinking for a
+minute he said, "Well, Bill, in that case I think the safest plan will
+be to take to the canoe at once. We can stay away a few weeks and then
+come back here and see how matters stand."
+
+"But how about Atkins?"
+
+"Well, we will shout and get him ashore and tell him what we think of
+it, and give him the choice of either stopping or going with us. Nothing
+can be fairer than that. If he chooses to stop and harm comes of it we
+cannot blame ourselves. If we come back in a few weeks of course we
+should not land until we had overhauled one of their canoes and found
+out what the feeling of the people was. They will have got over their
+fit of rage, and like enough they will have said to each other, 'We were
+better off when the two white men were here. They paid us for our
+fishing and our copra, and never did us any harm. I wish they were back
+again.'"
+
+"That is reasonable enough," the other agreed. "What about the trade
+things?"
+
+"Well, we have only got some beads and small knick-knacks left. Polly
+shall carry them down to the canoe; we shall want them for trading till
+we come back here again."
+
+He said a few words to the woman, who at once began to carry the things
+down to the canoe. Then he went down to the beach and shouted, "Atkins!"
+
+"Hullo!" came back from the brig.
+
+"Come ashore; we want to talk to you about something particular." They
+saw the dinghy pulled up to the ship's side, then Atkins rowed ashore.
+
+"I have been having a row with the crew," he said. "I thought it was
+coming to fighting. Two or three of them took up handspikes, but I drew
+my pistols and things calmed down. What do you want me for?"
+
+"Bill here has brought news that there is a row among the natives. They
+are beating their drums and yelling like fiends, and we expect it means
+mischief. At any rate it comes to this: we are so convinced that there
+is going to be trouble that we mean to cut and run at once. We have got
+enough grub put on board our canoe to take us to the next island, but we
+did not want to leave you in the lurch, to be speared by the niggers, so
+we have called you to offer you a seat in the canoe."
+
+"That is friendly," Atkins said, "but I should lose the ship and cargo;
+and pretty near all that I have got is in her. Why should not you two
+bring your canoe off alongside and hoist her up? Then we could get up
+anchor and be off. Three of the fellows are dead-drunk and the other
+three half stupid. I would give you each a share in the profits of the
+voyage."
+
+"Well, what do you think of that, Simcoe?" Bill said.
+
+"I tell you straight I don't care for it. You and I are both good
+paddlers, and the canoe sails like a witch in a light wind. Once afloat
+in her and we are safe, but you can't say as much for the brig. I have
+sailed in her before now, and I know that she is slow, unless it is
+blowing half a gale. It is like enough that the natives may be watching
+her now, and if they saw us get under way they would be after her, and
+would go six feet to her one. As to fighting, what could we three do?
+The others would be of no use whatever. No, I like our plan best by
+far."
+
+"Well, I don't know what to say," Atkins said. "It is hard to make a
+choice. Of course if I were sure that the natives really meant mischief
+I would go with you, but we cannot be sure of that."
+
+"I feel pretty sure of it anyhow," Bill said. "My girl would be safe to
+follow me here when she got back and found the hut empty, but I am
+mightily afraid that some harm has come to her, or she would have been
+back long before this. It wasn't half a mile to go, and she might have
+been there and back in half an hour, and she has been gone now over
+three hours, and I feel nasty about it, I can tell you. I wish your crew
+were all sober, Atkins, and that we had a score of men that I could put
+my hand on among the islands. I should not be talking about taking to a
+canoe then, but I would just go in and give it them so hot that they
+would never try their pranks on again."
+
+"Have you got all the things in, Polly?" Simcoe asked the woman, as she
+crouched down by the door of the hut.
+
+"Got all in," she said. "Why not go? Very bad wait here."
+
+"Well, I think you are about right. At any rate, we will go and get on
+board and wait a spear's-throw off the shore for an hour or so. If
+Bill's Susan comes here and finds we have gone she is pretty safe to
+guess that we shall be on board the canoe and waiting for her. What do
+you say to that, Bill?"
+
+"That suits me; nothing can be fairer. If she comes we can take her on
+board, if she doesn't I shall know that they have killed her, and I will
+jot it down against them and come back here some day before long and
+take it out of them. And you, Atkins?"
+
+"I will go straight on board. Like enough it is all a false alarm, and I
+aint going to lose the brig and all that she has got on board till I am
+downright certain that they----"
+
+He stopped suddenly, and the others leaped to their feet as a burst of
+savage yells broke out across the water.
+
+"By Heavens, they are attacking the ship!" Simcoe cried; "they will be
+here in a moment. Come on, Polly! come on, Atkins! we have no choice
+now." Taking up his arms, he started to run. "Quick, quick!" he cried;
+"I can hear them."
+
+They had gone but some thirty yards when a number of natives burst from
+the wood. Had they arrived a minute sooner at the hut none of its
+occupants would have lived to tell the tale, but the impatience of those
+in the canoes lying round the brig had caused the alarm to be given
+before they had placed themselves in readiness for a simultaneous rush
+on the hut. There was no further occasion for silence; a wild yell burst
+out as they caught sight of the flying figures, and a dozen spears flew
+through the air.
+
+"Don't stop to fire!" Simcoe shouted; "we shall have to make a stand at
+the boat and shall want every barrel."
+
+They were three-quarters of the way to the boat and the natives were
+still some twenty yards behind them. Suddenly Bill stumbled; then with a
+savage oath he turned and emptied both barrels of his fowling-piece into
+the natives, and the two leading men fell forward on their faces, and
+some shouts and yells told that some of the shots had taken effect on
+those behind.
+
+"Are you wounded, Bill?" Simcoe asked.
+
+"Yes, I am hit hard. Run on, man; I think I am done for."
+
+"Nonsense!" Simcoe exclaimed. "Catch hold of my arm; I will help you
+along."
+
+One native was in advance of the rest. He raised his arm to hurl his
+spear, but the native woman, who had all along been running behind
+Simcoe, threw herself forward, and the spear pierced her through the
+body. With an exclamation of fury Simcoe leveled his musket and shot the
+native through the head.
+
+"Throw your arms round my neck, Bill; the poor girl is done for, curse
+them. Can you hold on?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," he replied.
+
+Simcoe was a very powerful man, and with his comrade on his back he ran
+on almost as swiftly as before.
+
+"Now, Atkins, give them every barrel that you have got, then lift Bill
+into the boat, and I will keep them back. I am not going until I have
+paid some of them out for poor Polly."
+
+Atkins fired his pistols, and with so steady an aim that each shot
+brought down a savage; then he lifted Bill from Simcoe's shoulders and
+laid him in the canoe.
+
+"Get up the sail!" Simcoe shouted. "They will riddle us with spears if
+we paddle." He shot down four of the natives with his double-barreled
+pistols, and then clubbing his gun threw himself with a hoarse shout
+upon them. The loss of seven of their leaders had caused their followers
+to hesitate, and the fury of Simcoe's attack and the tremendous blows he
+dealt completed their discomfiture, and they turned and fled in dismay.
+
+"Now is your time!" Atkins shouted; "I have cut the cord and got the
+sail up." Turning, Simcoe was in a moment knee-deep in the water;
+pushing the boat off, he threw himself into it.
+
+"Lie down, man, lie down!" he shouted to Atkins. But the warning was too
+late; the moment Simcoe turned the natives had turned also, and as they
+reached the water's edge half a dozen spears were flung. Two of them
+struck Atkins full in the body, and with a cry he threw up his arms and
+fell over the side of the canoe. Then came several splashes in the
+water. Simcoe drew the pistols from his companion's belt, and, raising
+himself high enough to look over the stern, shot two of the savages who
+were wading out waist deep, and were but a few paces behind.
+
+The sail was now doing its work, and the boat was beginning to glide
+through the water at a rate that even the best swimmers could not hope
+to emulate. As soon as he was out of reach of the spears Simcoe threw
+the boat up into the wind, reloaded his pistols and those of his
+comrade, and opened fire upon the group of natives clustered at the
+water's edge. Like most men of his class, he was a first-rate shot.
+Three of the natives fell and the rest fled. Then with a stroke of the
+paddle he put the boat before the wind again, and soon left the island
+far behind.
+
+"This has been a pretty night's work," he muttered. "Poor little Polly
+killed! She gave her life to save me, and there is no doubt she did save
+me too, for that fellow's spear must have gone right through me. I am
+afraid that they have done for Bill too." He stooped over his comrade.
+The shaft of the spear had broken off, but the jagged piece with the
+head attached stuck out just over the hip. "I am afraid it is all up
+with him; however, I must take it out and bandage him as well as I
+can."
+
+A groan burst from the wounded man as Simcoe with some effort drew the
+jagged spear from the wound. Then he took off his own shirt and tore
+some strips off it and tightly bandaged the wound.
+
+"I can do nothing else until the morning," he said. "Well, Polly, I have
+paid them out for you. I have shot seven or eight and smashed the skulls
+of as many more. Of course they have done for those drunkards on board
+the brig. I did not hear a single pistol fired, and I expect that they
+knocked them on the head in their drunken sleep. The brutes! if they had
+had their senses about them we might have made a fair fight; though I
+expect that they would have been too many for us."
+
+Just as daylight was breaking Bill opened his eyes.
+
+"How do you feel, old man?"
+
+"I am going, Simcoe. You stood by me like a man; I heard it all till
+Atkins laid me in the boat. Where is he?"
+
+"He is gone, Bill. Instead of throwing himself down in the boat, as I
+shouted to him directly he got up the sail, he stood there watching, I
+suppose, until I was in. He got two spears in his body and fell
+overboard dead, I have no doubt."
+
+"Look here, Sim!" The latter had to bend down his ear to listen. The
+words came faintly and slowly. "If you ever go back home again, you look
+up my brother. He is no more on the square than I was, but he is a
+clever fellow. He lives respectable--Rose Cottage, Pentonville Hill.
+Don't forget it. He goes by the name of Harrison. I wrote to him every
+two or three years, and got an answer about the same. Tell him how his
+brother Bill died, and how you carried him off when the blacks were
+yelling round. We were fond of each other, Tom and I. You keep the
+pearls, Sim; he don't want them. He is a top-sawyer in his way, he is,
+and has offered again and again that if I would come home he would set
+me up in any line I liked. I thought perhaps I should go home some day.
+Tom and I were great friends. I remember----" His eyelids drooped, his
+lips moved, and in another minute no sounds came from them. He gave one
+deep sigh, and then all was over.
+
+"A good partner and a good chum," Simcoe muttered as he looked down into
+the man's face. "Well, well, I have lost a good many chums in the last
+ten years, but not one I missed as I shall miss Bill. It is hard, he and
+Polly going at the same time. There are not many fellows that I would
+have lain down to sleep with, with fifteen hundred pounds' or so worth
+of pearls in my belt, not out in these islands. But I never had any fear
+with him. Well, well," he went on, as he took the bag of pearls from his
+comrade's belt and placed it in his own, "There is a consolation
+everywhere, though we might have doubled and trebled this lot if we had
+stopped three months longer, which we should have done if Atkins had not
+brought that brig of his in. I can't think why he did it. He might have
+been sure that with that drunken lot of villains trouble would come of
+it sooner or later. He wasn't a bad fellow either, but too fond of
+liquor."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A DEAF GIRL.
+
+
+"Yes, Lady Moulton, I will undertake the gypsy tent business at your
+fête; that is to say, I will see to the getting up of the tent, provide
+a gypsy for you, and someone to stand at the door and let in one visitor
+at a time and receive the money. Do you mean to make it a fixed charge,
+or leave it to each to pay the gypsy?"
+
+"Which do you think will be best, Hilda? Of course the great thing is to
+get as much money for the decayed ladies as possible."
+
+"I should say that it would be best to let them give what they like to
+the gypsy, Lady Moulton."
+
+"But she might keep some of it herself."
+
+"I think I can guarantee that she won't do that; I will get a dependable
+gypsy. You see, you could not charge above a shilling entrance, and very
+likely she would get a good deal more than that given to her."
+
+"Well, my dear, I leave it all to you. Spare no expense about the tent
+and its fitting up. I have set my heart upon the affair being a success,
+and I think everything else has been most satisfactorily arranged. It is
+a very happy thought of yours about the gypsy; I hope that you will find
+a clever one. But you must mind and impress upon her that we don't want
+any evil predictions. Nothing could be in worse taste. It is all very
+well when a girl is promised a rich husband and everything to match, but
+if she were told that she would never get married, or would die young,
+or something of that sort, it would be a most unpleasant business."
+
+"I quite agree with you, and will see that everything shall be 'couleur
+de rose' as to the future, and that she shall confine herself as much as
+possible to the past and present."
+
+"I leave it in your hands, and I am sure that it will be done nicely."
+
+Lady Moulton was a leading member of society, a charming woman with a
+rich and indulgent husband. Her home was a pleasant one, and her balls
+were among the most popular of the season. She had, as her friends said,
+but one failing, namely, her ardor for "The Society for Affording Aid to
+Decayed Ladies." It was on behalf of this institution that she was now
+organizing a fête in the grounds of her residence at Richmond. Hilda
+Covington was an orphan and an heiress, and was the ward of her uncle,
+an old Indian officer, who had been a great friend of Lady Moulton's
+father. She had been ushered into society under her ladyship's auspices.
+She had, however, rather forfeited that lady's favorable opinion by
+refusing two or three unexceptionable offers.
+
+"My dear," she remonstrated, "no girl can afford to throw away such
+chances, even if she is, as you are, well endowed, pretty, and clever."
+
+The girl laughed.
+
+"I am not aware that I am clever at all, Lady Moulton. I speak German
+and French perfectly, because I have been four or five years in Hanover;
+but beyond that I am not aware of possessing any special
+accomplishments."
+
+"But you are clever, my dear," the other said decidedly. "The way you
+seem to understand people's characters astonishes me. Sometimes it seems
+to me that you are almost a witch."
+
+"You are arguing against yourself," the girl laughed. "If I am such a
+good judge of character I am not likely to make a mistake in such an
+important matter as choosing a husband for myself."
+
+Lady Moulton was silenced, but not convinced; however, she had good
+sense enough to drop the subject. General Mathieson had already told her
+that although he should not interfere in any way with any choice Hilda
+might make, he should make it an absolute condition that she should not
+marry until she came of age; and as she was at present but eighteen,
+many things might occur in the three years' interval.
+
+On her return home, after arranging to provide a gypsy for Lady
+Moulton's fête, Hilda related what had occurred to a girl friend who was
+staying with her.
+
+"Of course, Netta, I mean to be the gypsy myself; but you must help me.
+It would never do for me to be suspected of being the sorceress, and so
+you must be my double, so that I can, from time to time, go out and mix
+with the crowd. A few minutes at a time will do."
+
+The other laughed. "But what should I say to them, Hilda?"
+
+"Oh, it is as easy as A B C. All that you will have to do is to speak
+ambiguously, hint at coming changes, foresee a few troubles in the way,
+and prophesy a happy solution of the difficulties. I will take upon
+myself the business of surprising them, and I fancy that I shall be able
+to astonish a few of them so much that even if some do get only
+commonplaces we shall make a general sensation. Of course, we must get
+two disguises. I shall have a small tent behind the other where I can
+change. It won't take a moment--a skirt, and a shawl to go over my head
+and partly hide my face, can be slipped on and off in an instant. Of
+course I shall have a black wig and some sort of yellow wash that can be
+taken off with a damp towel. I shall place the tent so that I can leave
+from behind without being noticed. As we shall have the tent a good deal
+darkened there will be no fear of the differences between the two
+gypsies being discovered, and, indeed, people are not likely to compare
+notes very closely."
+
+"Well, I suppose you will have your way as usual, Hilda."
+
+"I like that!" the other said, with a laugh. "You were my guide and
+counselor for five years, and now you pretend that I always have my own
+way. Why, I cannot even get my own way in persuading you to come and
+settle over here. I am quite sure that you would get lots of pupils,
+when people understand the system and its advantages."
+
+"That is all very well, Hilda, but, you see, in the first place I have
+no friends here except yourself, and in the second it requires a good
+deal of money to get up an establishment and to wait until one gets
+pupils. My aunt would, I know, put in the money she saved when you were
+with us if I were to ask her, but I wouldn't do so. To begin with, she
+regards that as my fortune at her death. She has said over and over
+again how happy the knowledge makes her that I shall not be left
+absolutely penniless, except, of course, what I can get for the house
+and furniture, and I would do anything rather than sell that. She admits
+that I might keep myself by teaching deaf children, but, as she says, no
+one can answer for their health. I might have a long illness that would
+throw me out. I might suddenly lose a situation, say, from the death of
+a pupil, and might be a long time before I could hear of another. She
+said to me once, 'I do hope, Netta, you will never embark one penny of
+the little money that will come to you in any sort of enterprise or
+speculation, however promising it may look.' We had been talking of
+exactly the plan that you are now speaking of. 'The mere furnishing of a
+house in England large enough to take a dozen children would swallow up
+a considerable sum. At first you might have to wait some time till you
+could obtain more than two or three children, and there would be the
+rent and expenses going on, and you might find yourself without money
+and in debt before it began to pay its way; therefore I do hope that you
+will keep the money untouched except to meet your expenses in times of
+illness or of necessity of some kind. If you can save up money
+sufficient to start an establishment, it will, I think, be a good thing,
+especially if you could secure the promise of four or five pupils to
+come to you at once. If in a few years you should see your way to insure
+starting with enough pupils to pay your way, and I am alive at the time,
+I would draw out enough to furnish the house and will look after it for
+you.' That was a great concession on her part, but I certainly would
+not let her do it, for she is so happy in her home now, and I know that
+she would worry herself to death."
+
+"Well, Netta, you know I am still ready to become the capitalist."
+
+Both girls laughed merrily.
+
+"Why not, Netta?" the speaker went on. "I know you said that you would
+not accept money as a loan even from me, which, as I told you, was very
+stupid and very disagreeable, but there is no reason why we should not
+do it in a business way. Other women go into business, why shouldn't I?
+As you know, I can't absolutely touch my money until I come of age, and
+it is nearly three years before that; still, I feel sure that the
+General would let me have some money, and we could start the Institute.
+It would be great fun. Of course, in the first place, you would be
+principal, or lady superintendent, or whatever you like to call
+yourself, and you would draw, say, five hundred pounds a year. After
+that we could divide the profits."
+
+Again both girls laughed.
+
+"And that is what you call a business transaction?" the other said. "I
+know that your guardian is very kind, and indeed spoils you altogether,
+but I don't think that you would get him to advance you money for such a
+scheme."
+
+"I am really in earnest, Netta."
+
+"Oh, I don't say that you would not do it, if you could. However, I
+think, anyhow, we had better wait until you come of age. There is plenty
+of time. I am only twenty yet, and even in three years' time I doubt
+whether I should quite look the character of professor or lady
+superintendent."
+
+"Well, directly I get of age I shall carry out my part of the plan,"
+Hilda said positively, "and if you are disagreeable and won't do as I
+want you, I shall write to the professor and ask him to recommend a
+superintendent."
+
+The other laughed again.
+
+"You would have a difficulty, Hilda. You and I are, so far, the only
+two English girls who have learned the system, and either your
+superintendent would have to learn English or all her pupils would have
+to learn German."
+
+"We will not discuss it further at present, Miss Purcell," Hilda said
+with dignity. "Oh, dear, those were happy days we had in that dear old
+house, with its pretty garden, when you were thirteen and I was eleven.
+I have got a great deal of fun from it since. One gets such curious
+little scraps of conversation."
+
+"Then the people do not know what you learned over with us?"
+
+"No, indeed; as you know, it was not for a year after I came back that I
+became altogether the General's ward, and my dear mother said to me just
+before she died, 'It would be better for you, dear, not to say anything
+about that curious accomplishment of yours. I know that you would never
+use it to any harm, but if people knew it they would be rather afraid of
+you.' Uncle said the same thing directly I got here. So of course I have
+kept it to myself, and indeed if they had not said so I should never
+have mentioned it, for it gives me a great deal of amusement."
+
+When Hilda Covington was ten years old, she had, after a severe attack
+of scarlet fever, lost her hearing, and though her parents consulted the
+best specialists of the time, their remedies proved of no avail, and at
+last they could only express a hope, rather than an opinion, that in
+time, with added health and strength, nature might repair the damage. A
+year after her illness Mr. Covington heard of an aurist in Germany who
+had a European reputation, and he and Mrs. Covington took Hilda over to
+him. After examining her he said, "The mischief is serious, but not, I
+think, irreparable. It is a case requiring great care both as to
+dieting, exercise, and clothing. If it could be managed I should like to
+examine her ears once a fortnight, or once a month at the least. I have
+a house here where my patients live when under treatment, but I should
+not for a moment advise her being placed there. A child, to keep in
+good health, requires cheerful companions. If you will call again
+to-morrow I will think the matter over and let you know what I
+recommend."
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Covington retired much depressed. His opinion was, perhaps,
+a little more favorable than any that they had received, but the thought
+that their only child must either make this considerable journey once a
+month or live there altogether was very painful to them. However, on
+talking it over, they agreed that it was far better that she should
+reside in Hanover for a time, with the hope of coming back cured, than
+that she should grow up hopelessly deaf.
+
+"It will only be as if she were at school here," Mr. Covington said.
+"She will no doubt be taught to talk German and French, and even if she
+is never able to converse in these languages, it will add to her
+pleasures if she can read them."
+
+The next day when they called upon the doctor he said, "If you can bring
+yourself to part with the child, I have, I think, found the very thing
+to suit her. In the first place you must know that there is in the town
+an establishment, conducted by a Professor Menzel, for the instruction
+of deaf mutes. It is quite a new system, and consists in teaching them
+to read from the lips of persons speaking to them the words that they
+are saying. The system is by no means difficult for those who have
+still, like your daughter, the power of speech, and who have lost only
+their hearing. But even those born deaf and dumb have learned to be able
+to converse to a certain degree, though their voices are never quite
+natural, for in nine cases out of ten deaf mutes are mutes only because
+they have never learned to use their tongue. However, happily that is
+beside the question in your daughter's case. I hope that she will regain
+her hearing; but should this unfortunately not be the case, it will at
+least be a great mitigation to her position to be able to read from the
+lips of those who address her what is said, and therefore to converse
+like an ordinary person. I can assure you that many of Herr Menzel's
+pupils can converse so easily and rapidly that no one would have the
+least idea of the misfortune from which they suffer, as in fact they
+feel no inconvenience beyond the fact that they are not aware of being
+addressed by anyone standing behind them, or whose face they do not
+happen to be watching."
+
+"That would indeed be a blessing!" Mrs. Covington exclaimed. "I never
+heard of such a system."
+
+"No, it is quite new, but as to its success there can be no question. I
+called upon Professor Menzel last evening. He said that as your daughter
+did not understand German the difficulties of her tuition would be very
+great. He has, however, among his pupils a young English girl two years
+older than your daughter. She lives with a maiden aunt, who has
+established herself here in order that her niece might have the benefit
+of learning the new system. Here is her name and address. The professor
+has reason to believe that her income is a small one, and imagines that
+she would gladly receive your daughter as a boarder. Her niece, who is a
+bright girl, would be a pleasant companion, and, moreover, having in the
+two years that she has been here made very great progress, she would be
+able to commence your daughter's education by conversing with her in
+English, and could act as her teacher in German also; and so soon as the
+language was fairly mastered your daughter could then become a pupil of
+the professor himself."
+
+"That would be an excellent plan indeed," Mrs. Covington said, and her
+husband fully agreed with her. The doctor handed her a slip of paper
+with the name, "Miss Purcell, 2nd Etage, 5 Koenigstrasse."
+
+Hilda had already been informed by the finger alphabet, which had been
+her means of communication since her illness, of the result of the
+conversation with the doctor on the previous day, and although she had
+cried at the thought of being separated from her father and mother, she
+had said that she would willingly bear anything if there was a hope of
+her regaining her hearing. She had watched earnestly the conversation
+between the doctor and her parents, and when the former had left and
+they explained what was proposed, her face brightened up.
+
+"That will be very nice," she exclaimed, "and if I could but learn to
+understand in that way what people say, instead of watching their
+fingers (and some of them don't know the alphabet, and some who do are
+so slow that one loses all patience), it would be delightful."
+
+Before going to see Miss Purcell, Mr. and Mrs. Covington talked the
+matter over together, and they agreed that, if Miss Purcell were the
+sort of person with whom Hilda could be happy, no plan could be better
+than that proposed.
+
+"It certainly would not be nice for her," Mrs. Covington said, "to be
+living on a second floor in a street; she has always been accustomed to
+be so much in the open air, and as the doctors all agree that much
+depends upon her general health, I am sure it will be quite essential
+that she should be so now. I think that we should arrange to take some
+pretty little house with a good garden, just outside the town, and
+furnish it, and that Miss Purcell and her niece should move in there. Of
+course we should pay a liberal sum for board, and if she would agree, I
+should say that it would be best that we should treat the house as ours
+and should pay the expenses of keeping it up altogether. I don't suppose
+she keeps a servant at present, and there are many little luxuries that
+Hilda has been accustomed to. Then, of course, we would pay so much to
+the niece for teaching Hilda German and beginning to teach her this
+system. I don't suppose the whole thing would cost more than three
+hundred pounds a year."
+
+"The expense is nothing," Mr. Covington said. "We could afford it if it
+were five times the amount. I think your idea is a very good one, and we
+could arrange for her to have the use of a pony-carriage for two or
+three hours a day whenever she was disposed. The great thing is for her
+to be healthy and happy."
+
+Ten minutes after they started with Hilda to see Miss Purcell, after
+having explained to her the plan they proposed. At this she was greatly
+pleased. The thought of a little house all to themselves and a girl
+friend was a great relief to her, and she looked brighter and happier
+than she had done since she had lost her hearing. When they knocked at
+the door of the apartment on the second floor, it was opened by a
+bright-faced girl of thirteen.
+
+"This is Miss Purcell's, is it not?" Mrs. Covington asked.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," the girl replied, with a slight expression of surprise
+which showed that visitors were very rare.
+
+"Will you give my card to her and say that we shall be glad if she will
+allow us a few minutes' conversation with her?"
+
+The girl went into the room and returned in a minute or two. "Will you
+come in?" she said. "My aunt will be glad to see you."
+
+Miss Purcell was a woman of some fifty years old, with a pleasant,
+kindly face. The room was somewhat poorly furnished, but everything was
+scrupulously neat and tidy, and there was an air of comfort pervading
+it.
+
+"We have called, Miss Purcell," Mrs. Covington began, "in consequence of
+what we have learned from Dr. Hartwig, whom we have come over to
+consult, and who has been good enough to see Professor Menzel. He has
+learned from him that your niece here is acquiring the system of
+learning to understand what is said by watching the lips of speakers.
+The doctor is of opinion that our daughter may in time outgrow the
+deafness that came on a year ago, after scarlet fever, but he wishes her
+to remain under his eye, and he suggested that it would be well that she
+should learn the new system, so that in case she does not recover her
+hearing she would still be able to mingle with other people. Hilda is
+delicate, and it is necessary that she should have a cheerful home;
+besides which she could not begin to learn the system until she had
+become familiar with German. The doctor suggested that if we could
+persuade you to do us the great kindness of taking her under your charge
+it would be the best possible arrangement."
+
+"I should be glad to do so, madam, but I fear that I could not
+accommodate her, for it is a mere closet that my niece sleeps in, and
+the other apartments on this floor are all occupied. Were it not for
+that I should certainly be glad to consider the matter. It would be
+pleasant to Netta to have a companion, for it is but dull work for her
+alone with me. We have few acquaintances. I do not mind saying frankly
+that my means are straitened, and that I cannot indulge her with many
+pleasures. She is a grandniece of mine; her father died some years ago,
+her mother three years since, and naturally she came to me. Shortly
+after, she lost her hearing through measles. Just at that time I
+happened to hear from a German workman of the institution which had been
+started in this town, of which he was a native. I had no ties in
+England, and as I heard that living was cheap there, and that the fees
+were not large, I decided to come over and have her taught this new
+system, which would not only add greatly to her own happiness, but would
+give her the means of earning her livelihood when she grew up; for
+although I have a small pension, as my father was an Excise officer,
+this, of course, will expire at my death."
+
+"Happily, Miss Purcell, we are in a position to say that money is no
+object to us. Hilda is our only child. We have talked it over, of
+course, and will tell you exactly what we propose, and I hope that you
+will fall in with the arrangement."
+
+She then stated the plan that she and her husband had discussed.
+
+"You see," she went on, "you would, in fact, be mistress of the house,
+and would have the entire management of everything as if it was your
+own. We are entirely ignorant of the cost of living here, or we might
+have proposed a fixed monthly payment for the expenses of servants and
+outgoings, and would still do that if you would prefer it, though we
+thought that it would be better that you should, at the end of each
+month, send us a line saying what the disbursements had been. We would
+wish everything done on a liberal scale. Hilda has little appetite, and
+it will, for a time, want tempting. However, that matter we could leave
+to you. We propose to pay a hundred a year to you for your personal
+services as mistress of the house, and fifty pounds to your niece as
+Hilda's companion and instructor in German and in the system, until she
+understands the language well enough to attend Professor Menzel's
+classes. If the house we take has a stable we should keep a pony and a
+light carriage, and a big lad or young man to look after it and drive,
+and to keep the garden in order in his spare time. I do hope, Miss
+Purcell, that you will oblige us by falling in with our plans. If you
+like we can give you a day to consider them."
+
+"I do not require a minute," she replied; "my only hesitation is because
+the terms that you offer are altogether too liberal."
+
+"That is our affair," Mrs. Covington said. "We want a comfortable, happy
+home for our child, and shall always feel under a deep obligation to you
+if you will consent."
+
+"I do consent most willingly and gratefully. The arrangement will be a
+delightful one for me, and I am sure for Netta."
+
+Netta, who had been standing where she could watch the lips of both
+speakers, clapped her hands joyously. "Oh, auntie, it will be splendid!
+Fancy having a house, and a garden, and a pony-chaise!"
+
+"You understand all we have been saying then, Netta?"
+
+"I understand it all," the girl replied. "I did not catch every word,
+but quite enough to know all that you were saying."
+
+"That certainly is a proof of the goodness of the system," Mr. Covington
+said, speaking for the first time. "How long have you been learning?"
+
+"Eighteen months, sir. We have been here two years, but I was six months
+learning German before I knew enough to begin, and for the next six
+months I could not get on very fast, as there were so many words that I
+did not know, so that really I have only been a year at it. The
+professor says that in another year I shall be nearly perfect and fit to
+begin to teach; and he has no doubt that he will be able to find me a
+situation where I can teach in the daytime and still live with my aunt."
+
+In a week the necessary arrangements were all made. A pretty, furnished
+house, a quarter of a mile out of town, with a large garden and stables,
+had been taken, and Netta and Hilda had already become friends, for as
+the former had learned to talk with her fingers before she came out she
+was able to keep up her share of the conversation by that means while
+Hilda talked in reply.
+
+"The fingers are useful as a help at first," Netta said, "but Professor
+Menzel will not allow any of his pupils to use their fingers, because
+they come to rely upon them instead of watching the lips."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE GYPSY.
+
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Covington remained for a week after Hilda was installed
+with the Purcells in their new home. To her the house with its garden
+and pretty pony-carriage and pony were nothing remarkable, but Netta's
+enjoyment in all these things amused her, and the thought that she, too,
+would some day be able to talk and enjoy life as her companion did,
+greatly raised her spirits. Her father and mother were delighted at
+hearing her merry laugh mingled with that of Netta as they walked
+together in the garden, and they went home with lighter hearts and more
+hopeful spirits than they had felt since the child's illness began.
+
+Every three or four months--for a journey to Hanover was a longer and
+more serious business in 1843 than it is at present--they went over to
+spend a week there. There could be no doubt from the first that the
+change was most beneficial to Hilda. Her cheeks regained their color and
+her limbs their firmness. She lost the dull look and the apathy to
+whatever was going on around her that had before distressed them. She
+progressed very rapidly in her study of German, and at the end of six
+months her conversations with Netta were entirely carried on in that
+language. She had made some little progress in reading from her
+companion's lips and had just entered at Herr Menzel's academy. She
+could now take long walks with Netta, and every afternoon, or, as summer
+came on, every evening, they drove together in the pony-chaise. With
+renewed health and strength there had been some slight improvement in
+her hearing. She could now faintly distinguish any loud sounds, such as
+those of the band of a regiment marching past her or a sudden peal of
+bells.
+
+"I think that we shall make an eventual cure," Dr. Hartwig said. "It
+will be slow, and possibly her hearing may never be absolutely good; but
+at least we may hope that she may be able to eventually hear as well as
+nine people out of ten."
+
+In another year she could, indeed, though with difficulty, hear voices,
+and when she had been at Hanover three years her cure was almost
+complete, and she now went every morning to school to learn French and
+music. She herself was quite content to remain there. She was very happy
+in her life and surroundings, and could now read with the greatest
+facility from the lips, and indeed preferred watching a speaker's mouth
+to listening to the voice. It was a source of endless amusement to her
+that she could, as she and Netta walked through the streets, read scraps
+of conversation between persons on the other side of the street or
+passing in carriages.
+
+Another six months and both the doctor and Professor Menzel said that
+they could do nothing more for her. She was still somewhat hard of
+hearing; but not enough so to be noticeable; while she could with her
+eyes follow the most rapid speaker, and the Professor expressed his
+regret that so excellent an example of the benefit of his system should
+not be in circumstances that would compel her to make a living by
+becoming a teacher in it. Netta was now a paid assistant at the
+institution.
+
+The end of what had been a very happy time to Hilda came abruptly and
+sadly, for three weeks before the date when her parents were to come
+over to take her home, Miss Purcell, on opening a letter that came just
+as they had finished breakfast, said, after sitting silent for a few
+minutes, "You need not put on your things, Hilda; you cannot go to
+school this morning; I have some bad news, dear--very bad news."
+
+The tone of voice in which she spoke, even more than the words, sent a
+chill into the girl's heart.
+
+"What is it, aunt?" she said, for she had from the first used the same
+term as Netta in addressing her.
+
+"Your father has had a serious illness, my dear--a very, very serious
+and sudden illness, and your mother wishes you to go home at once."
+
+Hilda looked at her with frightened, questioning eyes, while every
+vestige of color left her cheeks. "Is he--is he----" she asked.
+
+"Here is an inclosure for you," Miss Purcell said, as she got up, and
+taking Hilda's hand in one of hers drew her with the other arm close to
+her; "your mother wrote to me that I might prepare you a little before
+giving it to you. A terrible misfortune has happened. Your dear father
+is dead. He died suddenly of an affection of the heart."
+
+"Oh, no, no; it cannot be!" Hilda cried.
+
+"It is true, my dear. God has taken him. You must be strong and brave,
+dear, for your mother's sake."
+
+"Oh, my poor mother, my poor mother!" Hilda cried, bursting into a
+sudden flood of tears, "what will she do!"
+
+It was not until some time afterwards that she was sufficiently composed
+to read her mother's letter, which caused her tears to flow afresh.
+After giving the details of her father's death, it went on:
+
+"I have written to your uncle, General Mathieson, who is, I know,
+appointed one of the trustees, and is joined with me as your guardian. I
+have asked him to find and send over a courier to fetch you home, and no
+doubt he will arrive a day or two after you receive this letter. So
+please get everything ready to start at once, when he comes."
+
+Two days later General Mathieson himself arrived, accompanied by a
+courier. It was a great comfort to Hilda that her uncle had come for her
+instead of a stranger.
+
+"It is very kind of you to come yourself, uncle," she said as she threw
+herself crying into his arms.
+
+"Of course I should come, dear," he said. "Who should fetch you except
+your uncle? I had to bring a courier with me, for I don't understand any
+of their languages, and he will take all trouble off my hands. Now let
+me look at your face." It was a pale, sad little face that was lifted
+up, but two days of sorrow had not obliterated the signs of health and
+well-being.
+
+"Whiter than it ought to be," he said, "but clear and healthy, and very
+different from what it was when I saw you before you came out. You have
+grown wonderfully, child. Really, I should hardly have known you again."
+
+And so he kept on for two or three minutes, to allow her to recover
+herself.
+
+"Now, dear, you must take me in and introduce me to your kind friends
+here."
+
+Hilda led the way into the sitting room.
+
+"I have heard so much of you and your niece, Miss Purcell," he said as
+he shook hands with her, "that I do do not feel that you are a stranger.
+You certainly seem to have worked wonders between you for my niece, and
+I must own that in the first place I thought it a mistake her being here
+by herself, for I had no belief that either her hearing would be
+restored or that she would ever be able to follow what people were
+saying by only staring at their lips."
+
+"Yes, indeed, Hanover has agreed with her, sir, and it is only a small
+part of the credit that is due to us."
+
+"I must differ from you entirely, madam. If she had not been perfectly
+happy here with you, she would never have got on as she has done."
+
+"Have you any luggage, sir? Of course you will stay with us to-night."
+
+"No, thank you, Miss Purcell. We have already been to the Kaiserhof, and
+long before this my courier will have taken rooms and made every
+preparation for me. You see, I am accustomed to smoke at all times, and
+could not think of scenting a house, solely inhabited by ladies, with
+tobacco. Now, if you will excuse me, I will ask Hilda to put on her
+bonnet and take a stroll with me."
+
+"I shall be very glad for her to do so. It is just getting cool and
+pleasant for walking, and half an hour in the fresh air will do her
+good."
+
+It was an hour before they returned. General Mathieson had gently told
+her all there was to tell of her father's death, and turning from that
+he spoke of her mother, and how nobly she was bearing her troubles, and
+erelong her tears, which had burst out anew, flowed more quietly, and
+she felt comforted. Presently she said suddenly:
+
+"What is going to be done here, uncle? I have been thinking over that
+ever since it was settled that I was to come home next month, and I am
+sure that, although she has said nothing about it, Miss Purcell has felt
+the change that is coming. She said the other day, 'I shall not go back
+to the apartments where you found us, Hilda. You see, we are a great
+deal better off than we were before. In the first place I have had
+nothing whatever to spend, and during the four years the ridiculously
+liberal sum paid to Netta and myself has been all laid aside and has
+mounted up to six hundred pounds. My pension of eighty pounds a year has
+also accumulated, with the exception of a small sum required for our
+clothes, so that in fact I have nearly a thousand pounds laid by. Netta
+is earning thirty pounds a year at the Institute; with that and my
+pension and the interest on money saved we shall get on very
+comfortably.' I should not like, uncle, to think of them in a little
+stuffy place in the town. Having a nice garden and everything
+comfortable has done a great deal for Miss Purcell. Netta told me that
+she was very delicate before, and that she is quite a different woman
+since she came out here from the town. You cannot tell how kind she has
+always been. If I had been her own child, she could not have been more
+loving. In fact, no one could have told by her manner that she was not
+my mother and Netta my sister."
+
+"Yes, dear, I ran down to your mother before starting to fetch you to
+help in the arrangements, and she spoke about Miss Purcell. Under
+ordinary circumstances, of course, at the end of the four years that you
+have been here the house would be given up and she would, as you say, go
+into a much smaller place; but your mother does not consider that these
+are ordinary circumstances, and thinks that her care and kindness have
+had quite as much to do with the improvement in your health as has the
+doctor. Of course we had no time to come to any definite plan, but she
+has settled that things are to go on here exactly as at present, except
+that your friend Netta will not be paid for acting as companion to you.
+I am to tell Miss Purcell that with that exception everything is to go
+on as before, and that your mother will need a change, and will probably
+come out here in a month or so for some time."
+
+"Does she really mean that, uncle?"
+
+"Certainly, and the idea is an excellent one. After such a shock as she
+has had an entire change of scene will be most valuable; and as she
+knows Miss Purcell well, and you like the place very much, I don't think
+that any better plan could be hit upon. I dare say she will stay here
+two or three months, and you can continue your studies. At the end of
+that time I have no doubt some plan that will give satisfaction to all
+parties will be hit upon."
+
+Hilda returned to Hanover with her mother a month later. At the end of
+three months Mrs. Covington bought the house and presented the deeds to
+Miss Purcell, who had known nothing whatever of her intentions.
+
+"I could not think of accepting it," she exclaimed.
+
+"But you cannot help accepting it, dear Miss Purcell; here are the deeds
+in your name. The house will be rather large for you at present, but in
+a few years, indeed in two or three years, Netta could begin to take a
+few pupils. As soon as she is ready to do so I shall, of course, mention
+it among my friends, and be able to send a few children, whose parents
+would be ready to pay well to have them taught this wonderful method of
+brightening their lives, which is at present quite unknown in England."
+
+So it was arranged; but a few months after her return to England Mrs.
+Covington, who had never altogether recovered from the shock of her
+husband's death, died after a short illness, and Hilda became an inmate
+of her uncle's house. Since that time three years had elapsed, and Hilda
+was now eighteen, and Netta was over for a two months' visit.
+
+The scene in the grounds of Lady Moulton's charming villa at Richmond, a
+fortnight after the conversation between that lady and Hilda, was a gay
+one. Everyone in society had been invited and there were but few
+refusals; the weather was lovely, and all agreed that even at Ascot the
+costumes were not brighter or more varied.
+
+Although the fête was especially on behalf of a charity, no admission
+fees were charged to guests, but everyone understood that it would be
+his duty to lay out money at the various picturesque tents scattered
+about under the trees. In these were all the most popular entertainers
+of the day. In one pavilion John Parry gave a short entertainment every
+half-hour. In a larger one Mario, Grisi, Jenny Lind, and Alboni gave
+short concerts, and high as were the prices of admission, there was
+never a seat vacant. Conjurers had a tent, electro-biologists--then the
+latest rage from the United States--held their séances, and at some
+distance from the others Richardson's booth was in full swing. The
+Grenadiers' band and a string band played alternately.
+
+Not the least attraction to many was the gypsy tent erected at the edge
+of a thick shrubbery, for it soon became rumored that the old gypsy
+woman there was no ordinary impostor, but really possessed of
+extraordinary powers of palmistry. Everything had been done to add to
+the air of mystery pervading the place. Externally it was but a long,
+narrow marquee. On entering, the inquirer was shown by an attendant to a
+seat in an apartment carpeted in red, with black hangings and black
+cloth lining the roof. From this hung a lamp, all other light being
+excluded. As each visitor came out from the inner apartment the next in
+order was shown in, and the heavy curtains shut off all sound of what
+was passing. Here sat an apparently aged gypsy on an old stump of a
+tree. A fire burned on the ground and a pot was suspended by a tripod
+over it; a hood above this carried the smoke out of the tent. The
+curtains here were red; the roof, as in the other compartment, black,
+but sprinkled with gold and silver stars. A stool was placed for the
+visitor close enough to the gypsy for the latter to examine her hand by
+the light of two torches, which were fastened to a rough sapling stuck
+in the ground.
+
+Hilda possessed every advantage for making the most of the situation.
+Owing to her intimacy with Lady Moulton, and her experience for a year
+in the best London society, she knew all its gossip, while she had
+gathered much more than others knew from the conversations both of the
+dancers and the lookers-on.
+
+The first to enter was a young man who had been laughingly challenged by
+the lady he was walking with to go in and have his fortune told.
+
+"Be seated, my son," the old woman said; "give me your hand and a piece
+of money."
+
+With a smile he handed her half a sovereign. She crossed his palm with
+it and then proceeded attentively to examine the lines.
+
+"A fair beginning," she said, "and then troubles and difficulties. Here
+I see that, some three years back, there is the mark of blood; you won
+distinction in war. Then there is a cross-mark which would show a
+change. Some good fortune befell you. Then the lines darken. Things go
+from bad to worse as they proceed. You took to a vice--cards or
+horse-racing. Here are evil associates, but there is a white line that
+runs through them. There is a girl somewhere, with fair hair and blue
+eyes, who loves you, and whom you love, and whose happiness is imperiled
+by this vice and these associates. Beyond, there is another cross-line
+and signs of a conflict. What happens after will depend upon yourself.
+Either the white line and the true love will prove too powerful for the
+bad influences or these will end in ruin and--ah! sudden and violent
+death. Your future, therefore, depends upon yourself, and it is for you
+to say which influence must triumph. That is all."
+
+Without a word he went out.
+
+"You look pale, Mr. Desmond," the lady said when he rejoined her. "What
+has she told you?"
+
+"I would rather not tell you, Mrs. Markham," he said seriously. "I
+thought it was going to be a joke, but it is very far from being one.
+Either the woman is a witch or she knew all about me personally, which
+is barely within the limits of possibility. At any rate she has given me
+something to think of."
+
+"I will try myself," the lady said; "it is very interesting."
+
+"I should advise you not to," he said earnestly.
+
+"Nonsense!" she laughed; "I have no superstitions. I will go in and hear
+what she has to say." And leaving him, she entered the tent.
+
+The gypsy examined her hand in silence. "I would rather not tell you
+what I see," she said as she dropped the hand. "Oh, ridiculous!" the
+lady exclaimed. "I have crossed your palm with gold, and I expect to get
+my money's worth," and she held out her hand again.
+
+The gypsy again examined it.
+
+"You stand at the crossing of the ways. There are two men--one dark,
+quiet, and earnest, who loves you. You love him, but not as he loves
+you; but your line of life runs smoothly until the other line, that of a
+brown man, becomes mixed up in it. He loves you too, with a hot,
+passionate love that would soon fade. You had a letter from him a day or
+two back. Last night, as he passed you in a dance, he whispered, 'I have
+not had an answer,' and the next time he passed you, you replied, 'You
+must give me another day or two.' Upon the answer you give the future of
+your life will depend. Here is a broad, fair line, and here is a short,
+jagged one, telling of terrible troubles and misery. It is for you to
+decide which course is to be yours."
+
+As she released her hold of the hand it dropped nerveless. The gypsy
+poured out a glass of water from a jug by her side, but her visitor
+waved it aside, and with a great effort rose to her feet, her face as
+pale as death.
+
+"My God!" she murmured to herself, "this woman is really a witch."
+
+"They do not burn witches now," the gypsy said; "I only read what I see
+on the palm. You cannot deny that what I have said is true. Stay a
+moment and drink a glass of wine; you need it before you go out."
+
+She took a bottle of wine from behind her seat, emptied the water on to
+the earth, half filled a tumbler, and held it out. The frightened woman
+felt that indeed she needed it before going out into the gay scene, and
+tossed it off.
+
+"Thank you!" she said. "Whoever you are, I thank you. You have read my
+fate truly, and have helped me to decide it."
+
+Desmond was waiting for her when she came out, but she passed him with a
+gesture.
+
+"You are right!" she said. "She is a witch indeed!"
+
+Few other stories told were as tragic, but in nearly every case the
+visitors retired puzzled at the knowledge the gypsy possessed of their
+life and surroundings, and it soon became rumored that the old woman's
+powers were something extraordinary, and the little ante-room was kept
+filled with visitors waiting their turn for an audience. No one noticed
+the long and frequent absences of Hilda Covington from the grounds. The
+tent had been placed with its back hiding a small path through the
+shrubbery. Through a peep-hole arranged in the curtain she was able to
+see who was waiting, and each time before leaving said a few words as to
+their lives which enabled Netta to support the character fairly. When
+the last guest had departed and she joined Lady Moulton, she handed over
+a bag containing nearly a hundred pounds.
+
+"I have deducted five pounds for the gypsy," she said, "and eight pounds
+for the hire of the tent and its fittings."
+
+"That is at least five times as much as I expected, Hilda. I have heard
+all sorts of marvelous stories of the power of your old woman. Several
+people told me that she seemed to know all about them, and told them
+things that they believed were only known to themselves. But how did she
+get so much money?"
+
+Hilda laughed. "I hear that they began with half-sovereigns, but as soon
+as they heard of her real powers, they did not venture to present her
+with anything less than a sovereign, and in a good many cases they gave
+more--no doubt to propitiate her into giving them good fortunes. You
+see, each visitor only had two or three minutes' interview, so that she
+got through from twenty to thirty an hour; and as it lasted four hours
+she did exceedingly well."
+
+"But who is the gypsy, and where did you find her?"
+
+"The gypsy has gone, and is doubtless by this time in some caravan or
+gypsy tent. I do not think that you will ever find her again."
+
+"I should have suspected that you played the gypsy yourself, Hilda, were
+it not that I saw you half a dozen times."
+
+"I have no skill in palmistry," the girl laughed, "and certainly have
+not been in two places at once. I did my duty and heard Jenny Lind sing
+and Parry play, though I own that I did not patronize Richardson's
+booth."
+
+"Well, it is extraordinary that this old woman should know the history
+of such a number of people as went into her tent, few of whom she could
+ever have heard of even by name, to say nothing of knowing them by
+sight."
+
+Several ladies called within the next few days, specially to inquire
+from Lady Moulton about the gypsy.
+
+"Everyone is talking about her," one said. "Certainly she told me
+several things about the past that it was hardly possible that a woman
+in her position could know. I have often heard that gypsies pick up
+information from servants, or in the country from village gossip; but at
+least a hundred people visited this woman's tent, and from what I hear
+everyone was as astonished as I was myself at her knowledge of their
+family matters. It is said that in some cases she went farther than
+this, and told them things about the present known only to themselves
+and two or three intimate friends. Some of them seemed to have been
+quite seriously affected. I saw Mrs. Markham just after she had left the
+tent, and she was as white as a sheet, and I know she drove away a few
+minutes afterwards."
+
+To all inquiries Lady Moulton simply replied:
+
+"I know no more about the gypsy than you do. Miss Covington took the
+entire management of the gypsy tent off my hands, saw to the tent being
+erected, and engaged the gypsy. Where she picked her up I have no idea,
+but I fancy that she must have got her from their encampment on Ham
+Common. She turned the matter off when I asked her point-blank, and I
+imagine that she must have given the old crone a promise not to let it
+be known who she was. They are curious people, the gypsies, and for
+aught I know may have an objection to any of the tribe going to a
+gathering like ours to tell fortunes."
+
+Some appeals were made to Hilda personally; but Lady Moulton had told
+her the answer she had given, and taking her cue from it she was able to
+so shape her replies that her questioners left her convinced that she
+had really, while carrying out Lady Moulton's instructions, lighted on a
+gypsy possessing some of the secrets of the almost forgotten science of
+palmistry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A GAMBLING DEN.
+
+
+In a corner of one of the winding courts that lie behind Fleet Street
+stood a dingy-looking house, the lamp over the door bearing the words,
+"Billiards and Pool." During the daytime no one would be seen to enter
+save between the hours of twelve and two, when perhaps a dozen young
+fellows, after eating a frugal lunch, would resort there to pass their
+hour out of office in smoking and a game of billiards. Of an evening,
+however, there were lights in every window, and the click of balls could
+be heard from the ground floor and that above it. In each of these there
+were two tables, and the play continued uninterruptedly from seven until
+eleven or half-past.
+
+The lights on the second floor, however, often burned until two or three
+o'clock in the morning, and it was here that the proprietor reaped by
+far the larger proportion of his profits. While the billiard-room
+windows generally stood open, those of the large room on the second
+floor were never raised, and when the lights below were extinguished,
+heavy curtains were dropped across the windows to keep both the light
+and the sounds within from being seen or heard in the court below. Here
+was a large roulette table, while along the sides of the room were
+smaller tables for those who preferred other games. Here almost every
+evening some thirty or forty men assembled. Of these, perhaps a third
+were clerks or shop assistants, the remainder foreigners of almost every
+nationality. Betting lists were exposed at one end of the room.
+Underneath these a bookmaker had a small table, and carried on his
+trade.
+
+In 1851 there were a score of such places in the neighborhood of the
+Strand and Fleet Street, but few did a larger business than this. It was
+generally understood that Wilkinson, the proprietor, had been a soldier;
+but the belief originated rather from his upright carriage and a certain
+soldierly walk than from anything he had himself said, and he was not
+the sort of man whom even the most regular of the frequenters of his
+establishment cared to question. He was a tall man, some five-and-forty
+years of age, taciturn in speech, but firm in manner while business was
+going on. He kept admirable order in the place. He was generally to be
+found in the room on the second floor, but when a whistle blew, and one
+of the markers whispered up a speaking-tube that there was a dispute
+going on between the players or lookers-on, he was at once upon the
+spot.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," he would say, interposing between them, "you know the
+rules of this establishment; the marker's decision on all points
+connected with the game is final, and must be accepted by both parties.
+I will have no quarrels or disputes here, and anyone making a row goes
+straight out into the street, and never comes in here again."
+
+In the vast majority of cases this settled the matter; but when the men
+were flushed with liquor, and inclined to continue the dispute, they
+were seized by the collar by Wilkinson's strong arm and were summarily
+ejected from the house. In the inner room he preserved order as
+strictly, but had much more difficulty in doing so among the foreign
+element. Here quarrels were not uncommon, and knives occasionally drawn;
+but Wilkinson was a powerful man and a good boxer, and a flush hit from
+the shoulder always settled the business.
+
+But though stern in the management of his establishment, Wilkinson was
+popular among its frequenters. He was acquainted with most of their
+callings and business. Indeed, none were admitted to the upper room
+unless well introduced by _habitués_, or until he had made private
+inquiries concerning them. Thus he knew among the foreigners whom he
+could trust, and how far, when, after a run of ill luck, they came to
+him and asked him for a loan, he could venture to go.
+
+With the English portion of his customers he was still more liberal. He
+knew that he should not be a loser from transactions with them; they
+must repay him, for were it known to their employers that they were in
+the habit of gambling, it would mean instant dismissal. There were among
+them several lawyers' clerks, some of whom were, in comparison with
+their means, deeply in debt to him. One or other of those he would often
+invite up to his private room on the floor above, where a bottle of good
+wine would be on the table, a box of excellent cigars beside it, and
+here they would chat more or less comfortably until the roulette room
+opened.
+
+Mr. Wilkinson made no pretense that these meetings were simply for the
+purpose of drinking his wine and smoking his cigars. "I am a
+straightforward man," he would say, "and business is business. I oblige
+you, and I expect you to oblige me. I have always had a fancy that there
+is money to be made in connection with lawyers' businesses. There are
+missing heirs to be hunted up; there are provisos in deeds, of whose
+existence some one or other would give a good deal to know. Now, I am
+sure that you are not in a position to pay me the amount I have lent
+you, and for which I hold your I. O. U.'s. I have no idea of pressing
+you for the money, and shall be content to let it run on so long as you
+will let me know what is being done at your office. The arrangement is
+that you will tell me anything that you think can be used to advantage,
+and if money is made out of any information you may give me, I will
+engage to pay you a third of what it brings in. Now, I call that a fair
+bargain. What do you say?"
+
+In some cases the offer was closed with at once; in others it was only
+agreed to after threats that the debt must be at once paid or an
+application would be made forthwith. So far the gambling-house keeper's
+expectations had not met with the success he had looked for. He had
+spent a good deal of time in endeavoring to find the descendants of
+persons who stood in the direct line of succession to properties, but of
+whom all clew had been lost. He had indeed obtained an insight into
+various family differences that had enabled him to successfully extort
+blackmail, but his gains in this way had not, so far, recouped him for
+the sums he had, as he considered, invested in the speculation.
+
+He was, however, a patient man, and felt, no doubt, that sooner or later
+he should be able to make a coup that would set him up for life. Still
+he was disappointed; his idea had been the one held by many ignorant
+persons, that lawyers are as a class ready to resort to tricks of all
+kinds, in the interests of their clients or themselves. He had found
+that he had been altogether wrong, and that although there were a few
+firms which, working in connection with money-lenders, financial agents,
+and the lowest class of bill discounters, were mixed up in transactions
+of a more or less shady character, these were the black sheep of the
+profession, and that in the vast majority of cases the business
+transacted was purely technical and connected with the property of their
+clients. Nevertheless, he took copious notes of all he learned,
+contending that there was no saying what might come in useful some day.
+
+"Well, Dawkins," he said one day to a dark-haired young fellow with a
+handsome face that already showed traces of the effect of late hours and
+dissipation, "I suppose it is the usual thing; the lawsuit as to the
+right of way at Brownsgrove is still going on, the settlements in Mr.
+Cochrane's marriage to Lady Gertrude Ivory are being drawn up, and other
+business of the same sort. You never give me a scrap of information that
+is of the slightest use. I am afraid that your firm is altogether too
+eminently respectable to have anything to do with doubtful
+transactions."
+
+"I told you so from the first, Wilkinson; that whatever your game might
+be, there would be nothing in our office that could be of the least use
+to you, even if you had copies of every deed drawn up in it. Ours is
+what you might call a family business. Our clients have for the most
+part dealt with the firm for the last hundred years; that is to say,
+their families have. We have drawn their wills, their marriage
+settlements, their leases, and done everything relating to their
+property for years and years. My own work for the last two or three days
+has been drafting and engrossing the will of a General Mathieson, whose
+father and grandfather were our clients before him."
+
+"Mathieson--he is an old Indian officer, isn't he, if it is the man I
+mean? He was in command at Benares twenty years ago. He was a handsome
+man, then, about my height and build."
+
+"Yes, I have no doubt that is the man--John Le Marchand Mathieson."
+
+"That is him. He was very popular with the troops. He used to spend a
+good deal of money in improving their rations and making them
+comfortable. Had a first-rate stable, and they used to say he was a rich
+man. Anyhow, he spent a good deal more than his pay."
+
+"Yes, he was a second son, but his elder brother died, and he came into
+the property; but instead of coming home to enjoy it he stopped out in
+India for years after he came into it."
+
+"He had a daughter, quite a little girl, in those days; her mother died
+out there. I suppose she inherits his property?"
+
+"Well, no; she married some time back; she and her husband are both
+dead, and their son, a boy, six or seven years old, lives with the old
+man."
+
+"How much does he leave?"
+
+"Something over a hundred thousand pounds. At least I know that that is
+about the value of the estates, for we have always acted as his agents,
+collected the rents, and so on."
+
+"I should like to see a copy of his will," Wilkinson said, after sitting
+for some time silent. "I don't want all the legal jargon, but just the
+list of the legacies."
+
+"I can easily jot those down for you. The property goes to the grandson,
+and if he dies before coming of age, to a niece, Hilda Covington, who is
+his ward and lives with him. He leaves her beside only five hundred
+pounds, because she is herself an heiress. There are a score of small
+legacies, to old servants, soldiers, widows, and people of that sort."
+
+"Well, you may as well give me the list entire."
+
+Dawkins shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Just as you like," he said; "the will was signed yesterday, but I have
+the note of instructions still by me, and will bring round the list
+to-morrow evening; though, upon my word, I don't see what interest it
+can possibly have for you."
+
+"I don't know myself," the other said shortly, "but there is never any
+saying."
+
+After talking for a few minutes on other subjects he said, "The room is
+open downstairs now, Dawkins, and as we have finished the bottle I will
+not keep you any longer. In fact, the name of that old General has
+called up some queer memories of old times, and I should like to think
+them over."
+
+When the clerk had left, Wilkinson sat for a long time in thought.
+
+"It is a great idea," he murmured to himself at last; "it will want a
+tremendous lot of planning to arrange it all, and of course it is
+tremendously risky. Still, it can be done, and the stake is worth trying
+for, even if it would be seven years' transportation if anything went
+wrong. In the first place I have to get some proofs of my identity. I
+own that I have neglected my family scandalously," and his face, which
+had been stern and hard, softened into a smile. "Then, of course, I must
+establish myself in chambers in the West End, and as I have three or
+four thousand pounds in hand I can carry on for two or three years, if
+necessary. At the worst the General is likely to add me to his list of
+legatees, but of course that would scarcely be worth playing for alone.
+The will is the thing. I don't see my way to that, but it is hard if it
+can't be managed somehow. The child is, of course, an obstacle, but that
+can certainly be got over, and as I don't suppose the old man is going
+to die at present I have time to make my plans. When I see how matters
+go I can put my hand on a man who could be relied on to help me carry
+out anything I might put in his way. Well, I always thought that I
+should hit on something good through these young scamps who come here,
+but this is a bigger thing than I ever dreamed of. It will certainly be
+a difficult game to play, but, knocking about all over the world as I
+have been for fifteen years before I came back and set up this show, I
+think that I have learned enough to pass muster anywhere."
+
+Somewhat to the surprise of the _habitués_ of the room below it was
+nearly eleven o'clock before the proprietor made his appearance there,
+and even when he did so he took little interest in what was going on,
+but moved restlessly from one room to another, smoking cigar after cigar
+without intermission, and acknowledging but briefly the greetings of
+those who were the most regular frequenters of his establishment.
+
+Two days later the following advertisement appeared, not only in the
+London papers, but in a large number of country journals:
+
+     "JOHN SIMCOE: Any relatives of John Simcoe, who left England about
+     the year 1830 or 1831, and is supposed to have been lost at sea in
+     the Bay of Bengal, in the ship _Nepaul_, in December, 1832, are
+     requested to communicate with J. W. Thompson & Co., Newspaper
+     Agents, Fleet Street, when they will hear of something to their
+     advantage."
+
+Only one reply was received. It was dated "Myrtle Cottage, Stowmarket,"
+and was as follows:
+
+     "SIR: A friend has shown me the advertisement in the Ipswich paper,
+     which must, I think, refer to my nephew, who left here twenty years
+     ago. I received a letter from him dated December 2, 1832, from
+     Calcutta, saying that he was about to sail for China in the
+     _Nepaul_. I never heard from him again, but the Rector here kindly
+     made some inquiries for me some months afterwards, and learned
+     that the vessel had never been heard of after sailing, but was
+     believed to have foundered with all hands in a great gale that took
+     place a few days after she sailed. So far as I know I am his only
+     relative. Awaiting a further communication from you,
+
+     "I remain,
+     "Your obedient servant,
+     "MARTHA SIMCOE."
+
+Great was the excitement caused by the advertisement at Myrtle Cottage.
+Miss Simcoe, who with a tiny servant was the sole inmate of the cottage,
+had called together all her female acquaintances, and consulted them as
+to what the advertisement could mean, and as to the way in which she
+should answer it.
+
+"Do you think it would be safe to reply at all?" she inquired anxiously.
+"You see, my nephew John was a very wild young fellow. I do not mean as
+to his conduct here; no one could say anything against that. He was a
+clerk in the bank, you know, and, I believe, was very well thought of;
+but when his father died, and he came into two thousand pounds, it
+seemed to turn his head. I know that he never liked the bank; he had
+always wanted to be either a soldier or a sailor, and directly he got
+the money he gave up his situation at the bank, and nothing would do but
+that he must travel. Everyone told him that it was madness; his Aunt
+Maria--poor soul, you all knew her--and I cried over it, but nothing
+would move him. A fine-looking fellow he was, as some of you will
+remember, standing six feet high, and, as everyone said, looking more
+like a soldier officer than a clerk at a bank.
+
+"We asked him what he would do when his money was gone, but he laughed
+it off, and said that there were plenty of things for a man to do with a
+pair of strong arms. He said that he might enter the service of some
+Indian prince, or marry the daughter of a black king, or discover a
+diamond mine, and all sorts of nonsense of that sort. He bought such an
+outfit as you never did see--guns and pistols and all sorts of things;
+and as for clothes, why, a prince could not have wanted more. Shirts by
+the dozen, my dear; and I should say eight or ten suits of white
+clothes, which I told him would make him look like a cricketer or a
+baker. Why, it took three big trunks to hold all his things. But I will
+say for him that he wrote regular, either to me or to my sister Maria.
+Last time he wrote he said that he had been attacked by a tiger, but had
+got well again and was going to China, though what he wanted to go there
+for I am sure I don't know. He could not want to buy teacups and
+saucers; they would only get broken sending home. Well, his death was a
+great blow to us."
+
+"I don't know whether I should answer the advertisement, Miss Simcoe,"
+one of her friends said. "There is no saying what it might mean. Perhaps
+he got into debt in India, and the people think that they might get paid
+if they can find out his relations here."
+
+The idea came like a douche of cold water upon the little gathering.
+
+"But the advertisement says, 'will hear of something to their
+advantage,' Mrs. Maberley," Miss Simcoe urged timidly.
+
+"Oh, that is nothing, my dear. That may be only a lawyer's trick; they
+are capable of anything, I have heard."
+
+"But they could not make Miss Simcoe pay," another urged; "it seems to
+me much more likely that her nephew may have left some of his money in
+the hands of a banker at Calcutta, and now that it has been so many
+years unclaimed they are making inquiries to see who is his heir. That
+seems much more likely."
+
+A murmur of assent ran round the circle, and after much discussion the
+answer was drafted, and Miss Simcoe, in a fever of anxiety, awaited the
+reply.
+
+Two days later a tall, well-dressed man knocked at the door of Myrtle
+Cottage. It was a loud, authoritative knock, such as none of Miss
+Simcoe's usual visitors gave.
+
+"It must be about the advertisement," she exclaimed.
+
+The little servant had been enjoined to wear her Sunday clothes in case
+a visitor should come, and after a hasty glance to see if she was tidy,
+Miss Simcoe sat down in her little parlor, and tried to assume an
+appearance of calmness. The front door opened, and a man's voice
+inquired, "Is Miss Simcoe in?" Then the parlor door opened and the
+visitor entered, pushing past the girl, who had been instructed how to
+announce him in proper form, and exclaiming, "My dear Aunt Martha,"
+fairly lifted the astonished old lady from her seat and kissed her.
+
+"Dear me! Dear me!" she gasped, as he put her on her feet again, "can it
+be that you are my nephew John?"
+
+"Why, don't you know me, aunt? Twenty years of knocking about have
+changed me sadly, I am afraid, but surely you must remember me."
+
+"Ye--es," she said doubtfully, "yes, I think that I remember you. But,
+you see, we all thought that you were dead; and I have only got that
+likeness of you that was cut out in black paper by a man who came round
+when you were only eighteen, and somehow I have always thought of you as
+like that."
+
+"Yes, I remember," he laughed. "Well, aunt, I have changed since then,
+there is no doubt. So you see I was not drowned, after all. I was picked
+up by a passing ship, clinging to a spar, but I lost all my money in the
+wreck of the _Nepaul_. I shipped before the mast. We traded among the
+islands for some months, then I had a row with the captain and ran away,
+and threw in my lot with the natives, and I have been knocking about in
+the East ever since, and have come back with enough to live on
+comfortably, and to help you, if you need it."
+
+"Poor Maria died four years ago," she said tearfully. "It would have
+been a happiness to her indeed, poor creature, if you had come back
+before."
+
+"I am sorry indeed to hear that," he replied. "Then you are living here
+all alone, aunt?"
+
+"Yes, except for my little maid. You see, John, Maria and I laid out the
+money our father left us in life annuities, and as long as we lived
+together we did very comfortably. Since then, of course, I have had to
+draw in a little, but I manage very nicely."
+
+"Well, well, aunt, there will be no occasion for you to stint yourself
+any more. As I said, I have come home with my purse warmly lined, and I
+shall make you an allowance of fifty pounds a year. You were always very
+kind to me as a boy, and I can very well afford it, and I dare say it
+will make all the difference to you."
+
+"My dear John, I could not think of taking such a sum from you."
+
+"Pooh, pooh, aunt! What is the use of money if one cannot use it to make
+one's friends comfortable? So that is settled, and I won't have anything
+more said about it."
+
+The old lady wiped her eyes. "It is good of you, John, and it will
+indeed make all the difference to me. It will almost double my income,
+and I shan't have to look at every halfpenny before I spend it."
+
+"That is all right, aunt; now let us sit down comfortably to chat about
+old times. You don't mind my smoking, I hope?"
+
+Miss Simcoe, for almost the first time in her life, told a lie. "Not at
+all, John; not at all. Now, how was it that you did not come down
+yourself instead of putting in an advertisement, which I should never
+have seen if my friend Mrs. Maberley had not happened to notice it in
+the paper which she takes in regularly, and brought it in to show me?"
+
+"Well, I could not bring myself to come down, aunt. Twenty years make
+great changes, and it would have been horrible to have come down here
+and found that you had all gone, and that I was friendless in the place
+where I had been brought up as a boy. I thought that, by my putting it
+into a local paper, someone who had known me would be sure to see it.
+Now let me hear about all the people that I knew."
+
+John Simcoe stayed for three days quietly at the cottage. The news of
+his return spread rapidly, and soon many of the friends that had known
+him came to welcome him. His aunt had told her own circle of her
+nephew's wealth and liberality, and through them the news that John
+Simcoe had returned home a wealthy man was imparted to all their
+acquaintances. Some of his old friends declared that they should have
+known him anywhere; others said frankly that now they knew who he was
+they saw the likeness, but that if they had met him anywhere else they
+did not think they should have recognized him.
+
+John Simcoe's memory had been greatly refreshed by his aunt's incessant
+talk about his early days and doings, and as his visitors were more
+anxious to hear of his adventures abroad than to talk of the days long
+past, he had no difficulty whatever in satisfying all as to his
+identity, even had not the question been settled by his liberality to
+his aunt, from whom no return whatever could possibly be expected. When
+he left he handed her fifty pounds in gold.
+
+"I may as well give you a year's money at once," he said; "I am a
+careless man, and might forget to send it quarterly."
+
+"Where can I write to you, John?" she asked.
+
+"I cannot give you an address at present," he said; "I have only been
+stopping at a hotel until I could find chambers to suit me. Directly I
+do so I will drop you a line. I shall always be glad to hear of you, and
+will run down occasionally to see you and have a chat again with some of
+my old friends."
+
+The return of John Simcoe served Stowmarket as a subject for
+conversation for some time. He had spent his money generously while
+there, and had given a dinner at the principal hotel to a score of those
+with whom he had been most intimate when a boy. Champagne had flowed in
+unstinted abundance, and it was generally voted that he was a capital
+fellow, and well deserved the good fortune that had attended him. In the
+quiet Suffolk town the tales of the adventures that he had gone through
+created quite a sensation, and when repeated by their fathers set half
+the boys of the place wild with a desire to imitate his example, and to
+embark in a life which was at once delightful, and ended in acquiring
+untold wealth. On leaving he pressed several of them, especially one who
+had been a fellow-clerk with him at the bank, and was now its manager,
+to pay him a visit whenever they came to town.
+
+"I expect to be in diggings of my own in a week or two," he said, "and
+shall make a point of having a spare bed, to put up a friend at any
+time."
+
+[Illustration: "YOU DON'T REMEMBER ME, GENERAL?"--_Page 65._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+JOHN SIMCOE.
+
+
+General Mathieson was on the point of going out for a drive with his
+niece, who was buttoning her glove, when a servant entered the drawing
+room and said that a gentleman wished to speak to him.
+
+"Who is he? Did he give you his name or say what was his business?"
+
+"No, sir. I have not seen him before. He merely asked me to give you his
+message."
+
+"I suppose I had better see him, Hilda."
+
+"Well, uncle, I will get out of the way and go downstairs when he has
+come in. Don't let him keep you, for you know that when I have put you
+down at your club I have an engagement to take Lina Crossley to do some
+shopping first, and then for a drive in the park."
+
+"I don't suppose that he will be five minutes, whoever he is."
+
+Hilda slipped away just in time to avoid the visitor. As the manservant
+opened the door the General looked with some interest at the stranger,
+for such it seemed to him his visitor was. He was a tall man, well
+dressed, and yet without the precision that would mark him as being a
+member of a good club or an _habitué_ of the Row.
+
+"You don't remember me, General?" he said, with a slight smile.
+
+"I cannot say that I do," the General replied. "Your face does not seem
+unfamiliar to me, though I cannot at the present moment place it."
+
+"It is rather an uncommon name," the visitor said; "but I am not
+surprised that you do not remember it or me, for it is some twenty years
+since we met. My name is Simcoe."
+
+"Twenty years!" the General repeated. "Then it must have been in India,
+for twenty years ago I was in command of the Benares district. Simcoe!"
+he broke off excitedly. "Of course I knew a gentleman of that name who
+did me an inestimable service; in fact, he saved my life."
+
+"I don't know that it was as much as that, but at least I saved you from
+being mauled by a tiger."
+
+"Bless me!" the General exclaimed, taking a step forward, "and you are
+the man. I recognize you now, and had I not believed that you had been
+lost at sea within a month after you had saved my life I should have
+known you at once, though, of course, twenty years have changed you a
+good deal. My dear sir, I am happy indeed to know that the report was a
+false one, and to meet you again." And he shook hands with his visitor
+with the greatest warmth.
+
+"I am not surprised that you did not recognize me," the latter said; "I
+was but twenty-five then, and have been knocking about the world ever
+since, and have gone through some very rough times and done some very
+hard work. Of course you saw my name among the list of the passengers on
+board the _Nepaul_, which went down with, as was supposed, all hands in
+that tremendous storm in the Bay of Bengal. Happily, I escaped. I was
+washed overboard just as the wreck of the mainmast had been cut away. A
+wave carried me close to it; I climbed upon it and lashed myself to
+leeward of the top, which sheltered me a good deal. Five days later I
+was picked up insensible and was carried to Singapore. I was in hospital
+there for some weeks. When I quite recovered, being penniless, without
+references or friends, I shipped on board a vessel that was going on a
+trading voyage among the islands. I had come out to see the world, and
+thought that I might as well see it that way as another. It would take a
+long time to relate my after-adventures; suffice it that at last, after
+numerous wanderings, I became chief adviser of a powerful chief in
+Burmah, and finally have returned home, not exactly a rich man, but with
+enough to live upon in more than comfort for the rest of my life."
+
+"How long have you been in London?"
+
+"I have been here but a fortnight; I ran down home to see if I had
+relatives living, but found that an old lady was the sole survivor of my
+family. I need scarcely say that my first business on reaching London
+was to rig myself out in a presentable sort of way, and I may say that
+at present I feel very uncomfortable in these garments after being
+twenty years without putting on a black coat. I happened the other day
+to see your name among those who attended the _levée_, and I said to
+myself at once, 'I will call upon the General and see if he has any
+remembrances of me.'"
+
+At this moment a servant entered the room with a little note.
+
+     "MY DEAR UNCLE: It is very naughty of you to be so long. I am
+     taking the carriage, and have told them to put the other horse into
+     the brougham and bring it round for you at once."
+
+For more than an hour the two men sat talking together, and Simcoe, on
+leaving, accepted a cordial invitation from the General to dinner on the
+following day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well, uncle, who was it?" Hilda asked, when they met in the drawing
+room a few minutes before the dinner hour. "You said you would not be
+five minutes, and I waited for a quarter of an hour and then lost
+patience. I asked when I came in how long he had stayed, and heard that
+he did not leave until five o'clock."
+
+"He was a man who had saved my life in India, child."
+
+"Dear me! And have you never heard of him since, uncle?"
+
+"No, dear. I did my best to find out his family, but had no idea of ever
+seeing the man himself, for the simple reason that I believed that he
+died twenty years ago. He had sailed in a vessel that was reported as
+lost with all hands, so you may well imagine my surprise when he told me
+who he was."
+
+"Did you recognize him at once, uncle?"
+
+"Not at first. Twenty years is a long time; and he was only about
+five-and-twenty when I knew him, and of course he has changed greatly.
+However, even before he told me who he was I was able to recall his
+face. He was a tall, active young fellow then, and I could certainly
+trace the likeness."
+
+"I suppose he was in the army, uncle?"
+
+"No; he was a young Englishman who was making a tour through India. I
+was in command at Benares at the time, and he brought me letters of
+introduction from a man who had come out in the same ship with him, and
+also from a friend of mine in Calcutta. A few days after he arrived I
+was on the point of going up with a party to do some tiger-shooting in
+the Terai, and I invited him to come with us. He was a pleasant fellow
+and soon made himself popular. He never said much about himself, but as
+far as I understood him he was not a rich man, but he was spending his
+money in seeing the world, with a sort of happy confidence that
+something would turn up when his money was gone.
+
+"We were out a week and had fair sport. As you have often heard me say,
+I was passionately fond of big-game shooting, and I had had many narrow
+escapes in the course of my life, but I never had so narrow a one as
+happened to me on that occasion. We had wounded a tiger and had lost
+him. We had spent a couple of hours in beating the jungle, but without
+success, and had agreed that the brute could not have been hit as hard
+as we had believed, but must have made off altogether. We were within
+fifty yards of the edge of the jungle, when there was a sudden roar, and
+before I could use my rifle the tiger sprang. I was not in a howdah, but
+on a pad; and the tiger struck one of its forepaws on my knee. With the
+other he clung for a moment to the pad, and then we went down together.
+The brute seized me by the shoulder and sprang into the jungle again,
+carried me a dozen yards or so, and then lay down, still holding me by
+the shoulder.
+
+"I was perfectly sensible, but felt somewhat dazed and stupid; I found
+myself vaguely thinking that he must, after all, have been very badly
+hit, and, instead of making off, had hid up within a short distance of
+the spot where we saw him. I was unable to move hand or foot, for he was
+lying on me, and his weight was pressing the life out of me. I know that
+I vaguely hoped I should die before he took a bite at my shoulder. I
+suppose that the whole thing did not last a minute, though to me it
+seemed an interminable time. Suddenly there was a rustling in the bush.
+With a deep growl the tiger loosed his hold of my shoulder, and, rising
+to his feet, faced half round. What happened after that I only know from
+hearsay.
+
+"Simcoe, it seems, was riding in the howdah on an elephant behind mine.
+As the tiger sprang at my elephant he fired and hit the beast on the
+shoulder. It was that, no doubt, that caused its hold to relax, and
+brought us to the ground together. As the tiger sprang with me into the
+jungle Simcoe leaped down from the howdah and followed. He had only his
+empty rifle and a large hunting-knife. It was no easy work pushing his
+way through the jungle, but in a minute he came upon us. Clubbing his
+gun, he brought it down on the left side of the tiger's head before the
+brute, who was hampered by his broken shoulder, and weak from his
+previous wound, could spring. Had it not been that it was the right
+shoulder that was broken, the blow, heavy as it was, would have had
+little effect upon the brute; as it was, having no support on that side,
+it reeled half over and then, with a snarling growl, sprang upon its
+assailant. Simcoe partly leaped aside, and striking again with the
+barrel of his gun,--the butt had splintered with the first blow,--so far
+turned it aside that instead of receiving the blow direct, which would
+certainly have broken in his skull, it fell in a slanting direction on
+his left shoulder.
+
+"The force was sufficient to knock him down, but, as he fell, he drew
+his knife. The tiger had leaped partly beyond him, so that he lay under
+its stomach, and it could not for the moment use either its teeth or
+claws. The pressure was terrible, but with his last remaining strength
+he drove the knife to the full length of its blade twice into the
+tiger's body. The animal rolled over for a moment, but there was still
+life in it, and it again sprang to its feet, when a couple of balls
+struck it in the head, and it fell dead. Three officers had slipped down
+from their howdahs when they saw Simcoe rushing into the jungle, and
+coming up just in time, they fired, and so finished the conflict.
+
+"There was not much to choose between Simcoe and myself, though I had
+certainly got the worst of it. The flesh of his arm had been pretty well
+stripped off from the shoulder to the elbow; my shoulder had been
+broken, and the flesh torn by the brute's teeth, but as it had not
+shifted its hold from the time it first grasped me till it let go to
+face Simcoe, it was not so bad as it might have been. But the wound on
+the leg was more serious; its claws had struck just above the knee-cap
+and had completely torn it off. We were both insensible when we were
+lifted up and carried down to the camp. In a fortnight Simcoe was about;
+but it was some months before I could walk again, and, as you know, my
+right leg is still stiff. I had a very narrow escape of my life; fever
+set in, and when Simcoe went down country, a month after the affair, I
+was still lying between life and death, and never had an opportunity of
+thanking him for the manner in which, practically unarmed, he went in to
+face a wounded tiger in order to save my life. You may imagine, then, my
+regret when a month later we got the news that the _Nepaul_, in which he
+had sailed, had been lost with all hands."
+
+"It was a gallant action indeed, uncle. You told me something about it
+soon after I came here, when I happened to ask you how it was that you
+walked so stiffly, but you did not tell it so fully. And what is he
+going to do now?"
+
+"He is going to settle in London. He has been, as he says, knocking
+about in the East ever since, being engaged in all sorts of adventures;
+he has been for some time in the service of a native chief some way up
+near the borders of Burmah, Siam, and China, and somehow got possession
+of a large number of rubies and other precious stones, which he has
+turned into money, and now intends to take chambers and settle down to a
+quiet life, join a club, and so on. Of course I promised to do all in my
+power to further his object, and to introduce him into as much society
+as he cared for."
+
+"What is he like, uncle?"
+
+"He is about my height, and I suppose about five-and-forty--though he
+looks rather older. No wonder, after such a life as he has led. He
+carries himself well, and he is altogether much more presentable than
+you would expect under the circumstances. Indeed, had I not known that
+he had never served, I should unhesitatingly have put him down as having
+been in the army. There is something about the way he carries his
+shoulders that you seldom see except among men who have been drilled. He
+is coming here to dine to-morrow, so you will see him."
+
+"That relieves me of anxiety, uncle; for you know you had a letter this
+morning from Colonel Fitzhugh, saying that he had been unexpectedly
+called out of town, and you said that you would ask somebody at the club
+to fill his place, but you know you very often forget things that you
+ought to remember."
+
+"I certainly had forgotten that when I asked him to come, and as I came
+home I blamed myself for not having asked someone else, so as to make up
+an even number."
+
+A month later Mr. Simcoe had become an intimate of General Mathieson's
+house. It had always been a matter of deep regret to the General that he
+had been unable to thank the man who at terrible risk to his life had
+saved him from death, and that feeling was heightened when the news came
+that his preserver had been drowned, and that the opportunity of doing
+so was forever lost. He now spared no pains to further his wishes. He
+constantly invited him to lunch or dinner at his club, introduced him to
+all his friends in terms of the highest eulogium, and repeated over and
+over again the story of his heroic action. As his own club was a
+military one he could not propose him there, but he had no difficulty
+in getting friends to propose and support him for two other clubs of
+good standing.
+
+Several of the officers to whom he introduced Simcoe had been at Benares
+at the time he was hurt. These he recognized at once, and was able to
+chat with them of their mutual acquaintances, and indeed surprised them
+by his knowledge of matters at the station that they would hardly have
+thought would be known to one who had made but a short stay there. One
+of them said as much, but Simcoe said, laughing, "You forget that I was
+laid up for a month. Everyone was very good to me, and I had generally
+one or two men sitting with me, and the amount of gossip I picked up
+about the station was wonderful. Of course there was nothing else to
+talk about; and as I have a good memory, I think I could tell you
+something about the private affairs of pretty nearly every civilian and
+military man on the station."
+
+Everyone agreed that Simcoe was a very pleasant and amusing companion.
+He was full of anecdotes of the wild people that he had lived among and
+of the adventures and escapes he had gone through. Although none of the
+Benares friends of the General recognized Simcoe when they first met
+him, they speedily recalled his features. His instant recognition of
+them, his acquaintance with persons and scenes at and around Benares was
+such that they never for a moment doubted his identity, and as their
+remembrance of the General's visitor returned they even wondered that
+their recognition of him had not been as instant as his of them. As to
+his means, not even to the General had Simcoe explained his exact
+position. He had taken good apartments in Jermyn Street, gave excellent
+little dinners there, kept undeniably good wine and equally excellent
+cigars, dressed well, and was regarded as being a thoroughly good
+fellow.
+
+The General was not a close observer. Had he been so, he would speedily
+have noticed that his niece, although always polite and courteous to Mr.
+Simcoe, did not receive him with the warmth and pleasure with which she
+greeted those who were her favorites. On his part the visitor spared no
+pains to make himself agreeable to her; he would at once volunteer to
+execute any commission for her if she happened to mention in his
+presence anything that she wanted. One evening when she was going to a
+ball he sent her an expensive bouquet of flowers. The next day when she
+saw him she said:
+
+"I am very much obliged to you for those lovely flowers, and I carried
+the bouquet last night, but please do not send any more. I don't think
+that it is quite nice to accept presents from anyone except very near
+relations. It was very kind of you to think of it, but I would really
+rather that you did not do it again. Uncle gives me carte blanche in the
+way of flowers, but I do not avail myself of it very largely, for the
+scent is apt to make me feel faint, and beyond the smallest spray I
+seldom carry any. I made an exception last night, for those you sent me
+were most lovely. You don't mind my saying that, do you?"
+
+"Not at all, Miss Covington; and I quite understand what you mean. It
+seemed natural to me to send you some flowers. Out in the Pacific
+Islands, especially at Samoa and Tahiti, and, indeed, more or less
+everywhere, women wear a profusion of flowers in their hair, and no
+present is so acceptable to them."
+
+"I fancy flowers do not cost so much there as they do here, Mr. Simcoe?"
+
+"No," the latter laughed; "for half a dollar one can get enough to
+render a girl the envy of all others."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I think you were right to ask Mr. Simcoe not to repeat his present,
+Hilda," the General said. "I particularly noticed the bouquet that you
+carried last night."
+
+"Yes, uncle, there was nothing equal to it in the room; it must have
+cost three or four guineas."
+
+"I don't think that you quite like him; do you, Hilda?"
+
+"I like him, uncle, because he saved your life; but in other respects I
+do not know that I do like him particularly. He is very pleasant and
+very amusing, but I don't feel that I quite understand him."
+
+"How do you mean that you don't understand him?"
+
+"I cannot quite explain, uncle. To begin with, I don't seem to get any
+nearer to him--I mean to what he really is. I know more of his
+adventures and his life than I did, but I know no more of him himself
+than I did three months ago when I first met him at dinner."
+
+"At any rate you know that he is brave," the General said, somewhat
+gravely.
+
+"Yes, I know that, of course; but a man can be brave, exceptionally
+brave, and yet not possess all other good qualities. He did behave like
+a hero in your case, and I need not say that I feel deeply grateful to
+him for the service that he rendered you; still, that is the only side
+of his nature that I feel certain about."
+
+"Pooh! pooh! Hilda," the General said, with some irritation. "What do
+you know about nine-tenths of the men you meet? You cannot even tell
+that they are brave."
+
+"No, uncle; I know only the side they choose to present to me, which is
+a pleasant side, and I do not care to know more. But it is different in
+this case. Mr. Simcoe is here nearly every day; he has become one of our
+inner circle; you are naturally deeply interested in him, and I am,
+therefore, interested in him also, and want to know more of him than I
+have got to know. He is brave and pleasant; is he also honest and
+honorable? Is he a man of thoroughly good principles? We know what he
+tells us of his life and his adventures, but he only tells us what he
+chooses."
+
+The General shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"My dear child, you may say the same thing of pretty nearly every
+unmarried man you meet. When a man marries and sets up a household one
+does get to know something about him. There are his wife's relations,
+who, as a rule, speak with much frankness concerning a man who has
+married their daughter, sister, or cousin. But as to bachelors, as a
+rule one has to take them at their own valuation. Of course, I know no
+more than you do as to whether Simcoe is in all respects an honorable
+gentleman. It is quite sufficient that he saved my life, almost at the
+sacrifice of his own, and whatever the life he may have led since is no
+business of mine. He is distinctly popular among those I have introduced
+him to, and is not likely in any way to discredit that introduction."
+
+That Hilda was not entirely satisfied was evident by the letter she
+wrote when her uncle had, as usual, gone up one afternoon to his club.
+
+     "MY DEAR NETTA: I have told you several times about the Mr. Simcoe
+     who saved uncle's life out in India, and who is so intimate at the
+     house. I can't say that either my acquaintance with or my liking
+     for him increases. He does not stand the test of the system, and
+     the more I watch his lips the less I understand him. He talks
+     fluently and quickly, and yet somehow I feel that there is a
+     hesitation in his speech, and that his lips are repeating what they
+     have learned, and not speaking spontaneously. You know that we have
+     noticed the same thing among those who have learned to speak by the
+     system but are not yet perfect in it, so I need not explain further
+     what I mean, as you will understand it. For example, I can always
+     tell at a public meeting, or when listening to a preacher, whether
+     he is speaking absolutely extemporarily or whether he has learned
+     his speech by heart beforehand.
+
+     "I really strongly misdoubt the man. Of course I know that he saved
+     my uncle's life; beyond that I know nothing of him, and it is this
+     very feeling that I do know nothing that disquiets me. I can no
+     more see into him than I can into a stone wall. I can quite
+     understand that it is of very great importance to him to stand well
+     with the General. He came here a stranger with a queer history. He
+     knew no one; he had money and wanted to get into society. Through
+     my uncle he has done so; he has been elected to two clubs, has made
+     a great number of acquaintances, goes to the Row, the Royal
+     Academy, the theaters, and so on, and is, at any rate, on nodding
+     terms with a very large number of people. All this he owes to my
+     uncle, and I fail to see what else he can wish for. It would be
+     natural with so many other engagements that he should not come to
+     us so often as he used to do, but there is no falling off in that
+     respect. He is the tame cat of the establishment. I dare say you
+     think me silly to worry over such a thing, but I can't help
+     worrying. I hate things I don't understand, and I don't understand
+     this man.
+
+     "Another thing is, Walter does not like him. He constantly brings
+     the child toys, but Walter does not take to him, refuses absolutely
+     to sit upon his knee, or to be petted by him in any way. I always
+     think that it is a bad sign when a child won't take to a man.
+     However, I will not bother you more about it now; I will keep him
+     out of my letters as much as I can. I wish I could keep him out of
+     my mind also. As I tell myself over and over again, he is nothing
+     to me, and whether he possesses all the virtues or none of them is,
+     or at any rate should be, a matter of indifference to me. I can't
+     help wishing that you had come over here two months later, then I
+     should have had the benefit of your advice and opinion, for you
+     know, Netta, how accustomed I was for years to consider you almost,
+     if not quite, infallible."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+JOHN SIMCOE'S FRIEND.
+
+
+There was a great sensation among the frequenters of the house in
+Elephant Court when they were told that Wilkinson had sold the business,
+and the new proprietor would come in at once. The feeling among those
+who were in his debt was one of absolute dismay, for it seemed to them
+certain the amounts would be at once called in. To their surprise and
+relief Wilkinson went round among the foreigners, whose debts in no case
+exceeded five pounds, and handed to them their notes of hand.
+
+"I am going out of the business," he said, "and shall be leaving for
+abroad in a day or so. I might, of course, have arranged with the new
+man for him to take over these papers, but he might not be as easy as I
+have been, and I should not like any of you to get into trouble. I have
+never pressed anyone since I have been here, still less taken anyone
+into court, and I should like to leave on friendly terms with all. So
+here are your papers; tear them up, and don't be fools enough to borrow
+again."
+
+Towards his English clients, whose debts were generally from ten to
+twenty pounds, he took the same course, adding a little good advice as
+to dropping billiards and play altogether and making a fresh start.
+
+"You have had a sharp lesson," he said, "and I know that you have been
+on thorns for the last year. I wanted to show you what folly it was to
+place yourself in the power of anyone to ruin you, and I fancy I have
+succeeded very well. There is no harm in a game of billiards now and
+then, but if you cannot play without betting you had better cut it
+altogether. As for the tables, it is simply madness. You must lose in
+the long run, and I am quite sure that I have got out of you several
+times the amount of the I. O. U.'s that I hold."
+
+Never were men more surprised and more relieved. They could hardly
+believe that they were once more free men, and until a fresh set of
+players had succeeded them the billiard rooms were frequently almost
+deserted. To Dawkins Wilkinson was somewhat more explicit.
+
+"You know," he said, "the interest I took in that will of General
+Mathieson. It was not the will so much as the man that I was so
+interested in. It showed me that he was most liberally disposed to those
+who had done him a service. Now, it happens that years ago, when he was
+at Benares, I saved his life from a tiger, and got mauled myself in
+doing so. I had not thought of the matter for many years, but your
+mention of his name recalled it to me. I had another name in those
+days--men often change their names when they knock about in queer
+places, as I have done. However, I called upon him, and he expressed
+himself most grateful. I need not say that I did not mention the
+billiard room to him. He naturally supposed that I had just arrived from
+abroad, and he has offered to introduce me to many of his friends; and I
+think that I have a good chance of being put down in his will for a
+decent sum. I brought money home with me from abroad and have made a
+goodish sum here, so I shall resume my proper name and go West, and drop
+this affair altogether. I am not likely to come against any of the crew
+here, and, as you see," and he removed a false beard and whiskers from
+his face, "I have shaved, though I got this hair to wear until I had
+finally cut the court. So you see you have unintentionally done me a
+considerable service, and in return I shall say nothing about that fifty
+pounds you owe me. Now, lad, try and keep yourself straight in future.
+You may not get out of another scrape as you have out of this. All I ask
+is that you will not mention what I have told you to anyone else. There
+is no fear of my being recognized, with a clean-shaven face and
+different toggery altogether, but at any rate it is as well that
+everyone but yourself should believe that, as I have given out, I have
+gone abroad again. I shall keep your I. O. U.'s, but I promise you that
+you shall hear no more of them as long as you hold your tongue as to
+what I have just told you. Possibly I may some day need your assistance,
+and in that case shall know where to write to you."
+
+It was not until after a great deal of thought that John Simcoe had
+determined thus far to take Dawkins into his confidence, but he
+concluded at last that it was the safest thing to do. He was, as he
+knew, often sent by the firm with any communications that they might
+have to make to their clients, and should he meet him at the General's
+he might recognize him and give him some trouble. He had made no secret
+that he had turned his hand to many callings, and that his doings in the
+southern seas would not always bear close investigation, and the fact
+that he had once kept a billiard room could do him no special harm. As
+to the will, Dawkins certainly would not venture to own that he had
+repeated outside what had been done in the office. The man might be
+useful to him in the future. It was more than probable he would again
+involve himself in debt, and was just the weak and empty-headed young
+fellow who might be made a convenient tool should he require one.
+
+So Elephant Court knew Mr. Wilkinson no more, and certainly none of the
+_habitués_ could have recognized him in the smooth-shaven and
+faultlessly dressed man whom they might meet coming out of a West End
+club. Dawkins often turned the matter over in his mind, after his first
+relief had passed at finding the debt that had weighed so heavily upon
+him perfectly wiped out.
+
+"There ought to be money in it," he said to himself, "but I don't see
+where it comes in. In the first place I could not say he had kept a
+gambling place without acknowledging that I had often been there, and I
+could not say that it was a conversation of mine about the General's
+will that put it into his head to call upon him, and lastly, he has me
+on the hip with those I. O. U.'s. Possibly if the General does leave him
+money, I may manage to get some out of him, though I am by no means
+sure of that. He is not a safe man to meddle with, and he might
+certainly do me more harm than I could do him."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The matter had dropped somewhat from his mind when, three months later,
+General Mathieson came into the office to have an interview with his
+principals.
+
+After he had left the managing clerk was called in. On returning, he
+handed Dawkins a sheet of paper.
+
+"You will prepare a fresh will for General Mathieson; it is to run
+exactly as at present, but this legacy is to be inserted after that to
+Miss Covington. It might just as well have been put in a codicil, but
+the General preferred to have it in the body of the will."
+
+Dawkins looked at the instruction. It contained the words: "To John
+Simcoe, at present residing at 132 Jermyn Street, I bequeath the sum of
+ten thousand pounds, as a token of my gratitude for his heroic conduct
+in saving my life at the cost of great personal injury to himself from
+the grip of a tiger, in the year 1831."
+
+"By Jove, he has done well for himself!" Dawkins muttered, as he sat
+down to his desk after the managing clerk had handed him the General's
+will from the iron box containing papers and documents relating to his
+affairs. "Ten thousand pounds! I wish I could light upon a general in a
+fix of some sort, though I don't know that I should care about a tiger.
+It is wonderful what luck some men have. I ought to get something out of
+this, if I could but see my way to it. Fancy the keeper of a billiard
+room and gaming house coming in for such a haul as this! It is
+disgusting!"
+
+He set about preparing a draft of the will, but he found it difficult to
+keep his attention fixed upon his work, and when the chief clerk ran his
+eye over it he looked up in indignant surprise.
+
+"What on earth is the matter with you, Mr. Dawkins? The thing is full of
+the most disgraceful blunders. In several cases it is not even sense.
+During all the time that I have been in this office I have never had
+such a disgraceful piece of work come into my hands before. Why, if the
+office boy had been told to make a copy of the will, he would have done
+it vastly better. What does it mean?"
+
+"I am very sorry, sir," Dawkins said, "but I don't feel very well
+to-day, and I have got such a headache that I can scarcely see what I am
+writing."
+
+"Well, well," his superior said, somewhat mollified, "that will account
+for it. I thought at first that you must have been drinking. You had
+better take your hat and be off. Go to the nearest chemist and take a
+dose, and then go home and lie down. You are worse than of no use in the
+state that you are. I hope that you will be all right in the morning,
+for we are, as you know, very busy at present, and cannot spare a hand.
+Tear up that draft and hand the will and instructions to Mr. Macleod.
+The General will be down here at ten o'clock to-morrow to see it; he is
+like most military men, sharp and prompt, and when he wants a thing done
+he expects to have it done at once."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"You are feeling better, I hope, this morning?" he said, when Dawkins
+came into the office at the usual hour next day, "though I must say that
+you look far from well. Do you think that you are capable of work?"
+
+"I think so, sir; at any rate my head is better."
+
+It was true that the clerk did not look well, for he had had no sleep
+all night, but had tossed restlessly in bed, endeavoring, but in vain,
+to hit on some manner of extracting a portion of the legacy from the
+ex-proprietor of the gambling house. The more he thought, the more
+hopeless seemed the prospect. John Simcoe was eminently a man whom it
+would be unsafe to anger. The promptness and decision of his methods had
+gained him at least the respect of all the frequenters of his
+establishment, and just as he had sternly kept order there, so he would
+deal with any individual who crossed his path. He held the best cards,
+too; and while a disclosure of the past could hardly injure him
+seriously, he had the means of causing the ruin and disgrace of Dawkins
+himself, if he ventured to attack him.
+
+The clerk was himself shrewd in his own way, but he had the sense to
+feel that he was no match for John Simcoe, and the conclusion that he
+finally came to was that he must wait and watch events, and that, so far
+as he could see, his only chance of obtaining a penny of the legacy was
+to follow implicitly the instructions Simcoe had given him, in which
+case possibly he might receive a present when the money was paid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About a fortnight after he knew the will had been signed by General
+Mathieson, Simcoe went down to a small house on Pentonville Hill, where
+one of the ablest criminals in London resided, passing unsuspected under
+the eyes of the police in the character of a man engaged in business in
+the City. A peculiar knock brought him to the door.
+
+"Ah, is it you, Simcoe?" he said; "why, I have not seen you for months.
+I did not know you for the moment, for you have taken all the hair off
+your face."
+
+"I have made a change, Harrison. I have given up the billiard rooms, and
+am now a swell with lodgings in Jermyn Street."
+
+"That is a change! I thought you said the billiards and cards paid well;
+but I suppose you have got something better in view?"
+
+"They did pay well, but I have a very big thing in hand."
+
+"That is the right line to take up," the other said. "You were sure to
+get into trouble with the police about the card-playing before long, and
+then the place would have been shut up, and you might have got three
+months; and when you got out the peelers would have kept their eyes upon
+you, and your chances would have been at an end. No, I have never had
+anything to do with small affairs; I go in, as you know, for big things.
+They take time to work out, it is true; and after all one's trouble,
+something may go wrong at the last moment, and the thing has to be
+given up. Some girl who has been got at makes a fool of herself, and
+gets discharged a week before it comes off; or a lady takes it into her
+head to send her jewels to a banker's, and go on to the Continent a week
+earlier than she intended to do. Then there is a great loss in getting
+rid of the stuff. Those sharps at Amsterdam don't give more than a fifth
+of the value for diamonds. It is a heart-rending game, on the whole; but
+there is such excitement about the life that when one has once taken it
+up it is seldom indeed that one changes it, though one knows that,
+sooner or later, one is sure to make a slip and get caught. Now, what
+will you take? Champagne or brandy?"
+
+"I know that your brandy is first-rate, Harrison, and I will sample it
+again."
+
+"I have often thought," went on the other, after the glasses had been
+filled and cigars lighted, "what a rum thing it was that you should come
+across my brother Bill out among the islands. He had not written to me
+for a long time, and I had never expected to hear of him again. I
+thought that he had gone down somehow, and had either been eaten by
+sharks or killed by the natives, or shot in some row with his mates. He
+was two years older than I was, and, as I have told you, we were sons of
+a well-to-do auctioneer in the country; but he was a hard man, and we
+could not stand it after a time, so we made a bolt for it. We were
+decently dressed when we got to London. As we had been at a good school
+at home, and were both pretty sharp, we thought that we should have no
+difficulty in getting work of some sort.
+
+"We had a hard time of it. No one would take us without a character, so
+we got lower and lower, till we got to know some boys who took us to
+what was called a thieves' kitchen--a place where boys were trained as
+pick-pockets. The old fellow who kept it saw that we were fit for higher
+game than was usual, and instead of being sent out to pick up what we
+could get in the streets we were dressed as we had been before, and sent
+to picture-galleries and museums and cricket matches, and we soon
+became first-rate hands, and did well. In a short time we didn't see why
+we should work for another man, and we left him without saying good-by.
+
+"It was not long before he paid us out. He knew that we should go on at
+the same work, and dressed up two or three of his boys and sent them to
+these places, and one day when Bill was just pocketing a watch at Lord's
+one of these boys shouted out, 'Thief! thief! That boy has stolen your
+watch, sir,' and Bill got three months, though the boy could not appear
+against him, for I followed him after they had nabbed Bill, and pretty
+nearly killed him.
+
+"Then I went on my travels, and was away two or three years from London.
+Bill had been out and in again twice; he was too rash altogether. I took
+him away with me, but I soon found that it would not do, and that it
+would soon end in our both being shut up. So I put it fairly to him.
+
+"'We are good friends, you know, Bill,' I said, 'but it is plain to me
+that we can't work together with advantage. You are twenty and I am
+eighteen, but, as you have often said yourself, I have got the best head
+of the two. I am tired of this sort of work. When we get a gold ticker,
+worth perhaps twenty pounds, we can't get above two for it, and it is
+the same with everything else. It is not good enough. We have been away
+from London so long that old Isaacs must have forgotten all about us. I
+have not been copped yet, and as I have got about twenty pounds in my
+pocket I can take lodgings as a young chap who has come up to walk the
+hospitals, or something of that sort. If you like to live with me,
+quiet, we will work together; if not, it is best that we should each go
+our own way--always being friends, you know.'
+
+"Bill said that was fair enough, but that he liked a little life and to
+spend his money freely when he got it. So we separated. Bill got two
+more convictions, and the last time it was a case of transportation. We
+had agreed between ourselves that if either of us got into trouble the
+other should call once a month at the house of a woman we knew to ask
+for letters, and I did that regularly after he was sent out. I got a
+few letters from him. The first was written after he had made his
+escape. He told me that he intended to stay out there--it was a jolly
+life, and a free one, I expect. Pens and paper were not common where he
+was; anyhow he only wrote once a year or so, and it was two years since
+I had heard from him when you wrote and said you had brought me a
+message from Bill.
+
+"Ever since we parted I have gone on the same line, only I have worked
+carefully. I was not a bad-looking chap, and hadn't much difficulty in
+getting over servant girls and finding out where things were to be had,
+so I gradually got on. For years now I have only carried on big affairs,
+working the thing up and always employing other hands to carry the job
+out. None of them know me here. I meet them at quiet pubs and arrange
+things there, and I need hardly say that I am so disguised that none of
+the fellows who follow my orders would know me again if they met me in
+the street. I could retire if I liked, and live in a villa and keep my
+carriage. Why, I made five thousand pounds as my share of that bullion
+robbery between London and Brussels. But I know that I should be
+miserable without anything to do; as it is, I unite amusement with
+business. I sometimes take a stall at the Opera, and occasionally I find
+a diamond necklace in my pocket when I get home. I know well enough that
+it is foolish, but when I see a thing that I need only put out my hand
+to have, my old habit is too strong for me. Then I often walk into swell
+entertainments. You have only to be well got up, and to go rather late,
+so that the hostess has given up expecting arrivals and is occupied with
+her guests, and the flunky takes your hat without question, and you go
+upstairs and mix with the people. In that way you get to know as to the
+women who have the finest jewels, and have no difficulty in finding out
+their names. I have got hold of some very good things that way, but
+though there would have been no difficulty in taking some of them at the
+time, I never yielded to that temptation. In a crowded room one never
+can say whose eyes may happen to be looking in your direction.
+
+"I wonder that you never turned your thoughts that way. From what you
+have told me of your doings abroad, I know that you are not squeamish in
+your ideas, and with your appearance you ought to be able to go anywhere
+without suspicion."
+
+"I am certainly not squeamish," Simcoe said, "but I have not had the
+training. One wants a little practice and to begin young, as you did, to
+try that game on. However, just at present I have a matter in hand that
+will set me up for life if it turns out well, but I shall want a little
+assistance. In the first place I want to get hold of a man who could
+make one up well, and who, if I gave him a portrait, could turn me out
+so like the original that anyone who had only seen him casually would
+take me for him."
+
+"There is a man down in Whitechapel who is the best hand in London at
+that sort of thing. He is a downright artist. Several times when I have
+had particular jobs in hand, inquiries I could not trust anyone else to
+make, I have been to him, and when he has done with me and I have looked
+in the glass there was not the slightest resemblance to my own face in
+it. I suppose the man you want to represent is somewhere about your own
+height?"
+
+"Yes, I should say that he is as nearly as may be the same. He is an
+older man than I am."
+
+"Oh, that is nothing! He could make you look eighty if you wanted it.
+Here is the man's address; his usual fee is a guinea, but, as you want
+to be got up to resemble someone else, he might charge you double."
+
+"The fee is nothing," Simcoe said. "Then again, I may want to get hold
+of a man who is a good hand at imitating handwriting."
+
+"That is easy enough. Here is the address of a man who does little jobs
+for me sometimes, and is, I think, the best hand at it in England. You
+see, sometimes there is in a house where you intend to operate some
+confoundedly active and officious fellow--a butler or a footman--who
+might interrupt proceedings. His master is in London, and he receives a
+note from him ordering him to come up to town with a dressing case,
+portmanteau, guns, or something of that kind, as may be suitable to the
+case. I got a countess out of the way once by a messenger arriving on
+horseback with a line from her husband, saying that he had met with an
+accident in the hunting-field, and begging her to come to him. Of course
+I have always previously managed to get specimens of handwriting, and my
+man imitates them so well that they have never once failed in their
+action. I will give you a line to him, saying that you are a friend of
+mine. He knows me under the name of Sinclair. As a stranger you would
+hardly get him to act."
+
+"Of course, he is thoroughly trustworthy?" Simcoe asked.
+
+"I should not employ him if he were not," the other said. "He was a
+writing-master at one time, but took to drink, and went altogether to
+the bad. He is always more or less drunk now, and you had better go to
+him before ten o'clock in the morning. I don't say that he will be quite
+sober, but he will be less drunk than he will be later. As soon as he
+begins to write he pulls himself together. He puts a watchmaker's glass
+in his eye and closely examines the writing that he has to imitate,
+writes a few lines to accustom himself to it, and then writes what he is
+told to do as quickly and as easily as if it were his own handwriting.
+He hands it over, takes his fee, which is two guineas, and then goes out
+to a public-house, and I don't believe that the next day he has the
+slightest remembrance of what he has written."
+
+"Thank you very much, Harrison; I think that, with the assistance of
+these two men, I shall be able to work the matter I have in hand without
+fear of a hitch."
+
+"Anything else I can do for you? You know that you can rely upon me,
+Simcoe. You were with poor Bill for six years, and you stood by him to
+the last, when the natives rose and massacred the whites, and you got
+Bill off, and if he did die afterwards of his wounds, anyhow you did
+your best to save him. So if I can help you I will do it, whatever it
+is, short of murder, and there is my hand on it. You know in any case I
+could not round on you."
+
+"I will tell you the whole business, Harrison. I have thought the matter
+pretty well out, but I shall be very glad to have your opinion on it,
+and with your head you are like to see the thing in a clearer light than
+I can, and may suggest a way out of some difficulties."
+
+He then unfolded the details of his scheme.
+
+"Very good!" the other said admiringly, when he had finished. "It does
+credit to you, Simcoe. You risked your life, and, as you say, very
+nearly lost it to save the General's, and have some sort of a right to
+have his money when he has done with it. Your plan of impersonating the
+General and getting another lawyer to draw out a fresh will is a capital
+one; and as you have a list of the bequests he made in his old one, you
+will not only be able to strengthen the last will, but will disarm the
+opposition of those who would have benefited by the first, as no one
+will suffer by the change. But how about the boy?"
+
+"The boy must be got out of the way somehow."
+
+"Not by foul play, I hope, Simcoe. I could not go with you there."
+
+"Certainly not. That idea never entered my mind; but surely there can be
+no difficulty in carrying off a child of that age. It only wants two to
+do that: one to engage the nurse in talk, the other to entice the child
+away, pop him into a cab waiting hard by, and drive off with him."
+
+"I doubt whether the courts would hand over the property unless they had
+some absolute proof that the child was dead."
+
+"They would not do so for some time, no doubt, but evidence might be
+manufactured. At any rate I could wait. They would probably carry out
+all the other provisions of the will, and with the ten thousand pounds
+and the three or four thousand I have saved I could hold on for a good
+many years."
+
+"How about the signature to the will?"
+
+"I can manage that much," Simcoe said. "I had some work in that way
+years ago, and I have been for the last three months practicing the
+General's, and I think now that I can defy any expert to detect the
+difference. Of course, it is a very different thing learning to imitate
+a signature and writing a long letter."
+
+The other agreed, and added, "I should be careful to employ a firm of
+lawyers of long standing. If you were to go to shady people it would in
+itself cause suspicion."
+
+"Yes, I quite feel that, and I want, if possible, to get hold of people
+who just know the General by sight, so as to have a fairly good idea of
+his face without knowing him too well. I think I know of one. At the
+club the other day Colonel Bulstrode, a friend of the General's, said to
+him, 'I wish you would drive round with me to my lawyers'; their place
+is in the Temple. I want someone to sign as a witness to a deed, and as
+it is rather important, I would rather have it witnessed by a friend
+than by one of the clerks. It won't take you a minute.'"
+
+"I should think that would do very well; they would not be likely to
+notice him very particularly, and probably the General would not have
+spoken at all. He would just have seen his friend sign the deed, and
+then have affixed his own signature as a witness. Well, everything seems
+in your favor, and should you need any help you can rely upon me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+GENERAL MATHIESON'S SEIZURE.
+
+
+Three months later John Simcoe called for a letter directed to "Mr.
+Jackson, care of William Scriven, Tobacconist, Fetter Lane." The address
+was in his own handwriting. He carried it home before opening it. The
+writing was rough and the spelling villainous.
+
+     "SAMOA.
+
+     "MY DEAR JACK: I was mitely glad when the old brig came in and
+     Captain Jephson handed me a letter from you, and as you may guess
+     still more pleased to find with it an order for fifty pounds. It
+     was good and harty of you, but you allus was the right sort. I have
+     dun as you asked me; I went to the wich man and for twelve bottles
+     of rum he gave me the packet inclosed of the stuff he uses. There
+     aint much of it, but it is mitely strong. About as much as will lie
+     on the end of a knife will make a man foam at the mouth and fall
+     into convulsions, three times as much as that will kill him
+     outrite. He says there aint no taste in it. I hope this will suit
+     your purpus. You will be sorry to hear that Long Peter has been
+     wiped out; he was spered by a native, who thort Pete wanted to run
+     away with his wife, wich I don't believe he did for she wernt no
+     way a beuty. Vigors is in a bad way; he has had the shakes bad
+     twice and I don't think that he can last much longer. Trade is bad
+     here, but now I have got the rino I shall buy another cocoanut
+     plantation and two or three more wives to work it, and shall be
+     comfortible. I am a pore hand with the pen, so no more from your
+     friend,
+
+     "BEN STOKES."
+
+A week later Hilda wrote to her friend:
+
+     "MY DEAR NETTA: I am writing in great distress. Three days ago
+     uncle had a terrible fit. He was seized with it at the club, and I
+     hear that his struggles were dreadful. It was a sort of convulsion.
+     He was sensible when he was brought home, but very weak; he does
+     not remember anything about it. Fortunately, Dr. Pearson, who
+     always attends us, was one of the party, and he sent off cabs for
+     two others. Dr. Pearson came home with him. Of course I asked him
+     what it was, and he said that it was a very unusual case, and that
+     he and the other doctors had not yet come to any decision upon it,
+     as none of them had ever seen one precisely like it. He said that
+     some of the symptoms were those of an epileptic fit, but the
+     convulsions were so violent that they rather resembled tetanus than
+     an ordinary fit. Altogether he seemed greatly puzzled, and he would
+     give no opinion as to whether it was likely to recur. Uncle is
+     better to-day; he told me that he, Mr. Simcoe, and four others had
+     been dining together. He had just drunk his coffee when the room
+     seemed to swim round, and he remembered nothing more until he found
+     himself in bed at home. Mr. Simcoe came home with him, and the
+     doctor said, I must acknowledge, that no one could have been kinder
+     than he was. He looked quite ill from the shock that he had had.
+     But still I don't like him, Netta; in fact, I think I dislike him
+     more and more every day. I often tell myself that I have not a
+     shadow of reason for doing so, but I can't help it. You may call it
+     prejudice: I call it instinct.
+
+     "You can well imagine how all this has shocked me. Uncle seemed so
+     strong and well that I have always thought he would live to a great
+     age. He is sixty-eight, but I am sure he looks ten years
+     younger--at least he did so; at present he might be ninety. But I
+     can only hope that the change is temporary, and that he will soon
+     be his dear self again. The three doctors are going to have a
+     meeting here to-morrow. I shall be anxious, indeed, to hear the
+     result. I hope that they will order him a change, and that we can
+     go down together, either to his place or mine; then I can always be
+     with him, whereas here he goes his way and I go mine, and except at
+     meal-times we scarcely meet. If he does go I shall try and persuade
+     him to engage a medical man to go with us. Of course, I do not know
+     whether a doctor could be of any actual use in case of another
+     attack, but it would be a great comfort to have one always at
+     hand."
+
+The letter stopped here, and was continued on the following evening.
+
+     "The consultation is over; Dr. Pearson had a long talk with me
+     afterwards. He said that it was without doubt an epileptic fit, but
+     that it differed in many respects from the general type of that
+     malady, and that all of them were to some extent puzzled. They had
+     brought with them a fourth doctor, Sir Henry Havercourt, who is the
+     greatest authority on such maladies. He had seen uncle, and asked
+     him a few questions, and had a talk with Dr. Pearson, and had from
+     him a minute account of the seizure. He pronounced it a most
+     interesting and, as far as he knew, a unique case, and expressed a
+     wish to come as a friend to see how the General was getting on. Of
+     course he inquired about his habits, asked what he had had for
+     dinner, and so on.
+
+     "'The great point, Dr. Pearson,' I said, after the consultation was
+     over, 'is, of course, whether there is likely to be any recurrence
+     of the attack.' 'That is more than I can say,' he answered gravely;
+     'at present he can hardly be said to have recovered altogether from
+     the effects of this one, which is in itself an unusual feature in
+     the case. As a rule, when a person recovers from an epileptic fit
+     he recovers altogether--that is to say, he is able to walk and talk
+     as before, and his face shows little or no sign of the struggle
+     that he has undergone. In this case the recovery is not altogether
+     complete. You may have noticed that his voice is not only weak, but
+     there is a certain hesitation in it. His face has not altogether
+     recovered its natural expression, and is slightly, very slightly,
+     drawn on one side, which would seem to point to paralysis; while in
+     other respects the attack was as unlike a paralytic stroke as it
+     could well have been. Thus, you see, it is difficult in the extreme
+     for us to give any positive opinion concerning a case which is so
+     entirely an exceptional one. We can only hope for the best, and
+     trust to the strength of his constitution. At any rate, we all
+     agree that he needs absolute quiet and very simple and plain diet.
+     You see, he has been a great diner-out; and though an abstemious
+     man in the way of drinking, he thoroughly appreciates a good
+     dinner. All this must be given up, at any rate for a time. I should
+     say that as soon as he is a little stronger, you had better take
+     him down into the country. Let him see as few visitors as possible,
+     and only very intimate friends. I do not mean that he should be
+     lonely or left to himself; on the contrary, quiet companionship and
+     talk are desirable.'
+
+     "I said that though the country might be best for him, there was no
+     medical man within three miles of his place, and it would be
+     terrible were we to have an attack, and not know what to do for it.
+     He said that he doubted if anything could be done when he was in
+     such a state as he was the other night, beyond sprinkling his face
+     with water, and that he himself felt powerless in the case of an
+     attack that was altogether beyond his experience. Of course he said
+     it was out of the question that I should be down there alone with
+     him, but that I must take down an experienced nurse. He strongly
+     recommended that she should not wear hospital uniform, as this
+     would be a constant reminder of his illness.
+
+     "I said that I should very much like to have a medical man in the
+     house. Money was no object, and it seemed to me from what he said
+     that it would also be desirable that, besides being a skillful
+     doctor, he should be also a pleasant and agreeable man, who would
+     be a cheerful companion to him as well as a medical attendant.
+
+     "He agreed that this would certainly be very desirable, and that he
+     and the others were all anxious that the case should be watched
+     very carefully. He said that he would think the matter over, and
+     that if he could not find just the man that would suit, he would
+     ask Sir Henry Havercourt to recommend us one.
+
+     "He said there were many clever young men to whom such an
+     engagement for a few months would be a godsend. He intended to run
+     down himself once a fortnight, from Saturday until Monday, which he
+     could do, as his practice was to a large extent a consulting one. I
+     could see plainly enough that though he evidently put as good a
+     face upon it as he could, he and the other doctors took by no means
+     a hopeful view of the case.
+
+     "It is all most dreadful, Netta, and I can hardly realize that only
+     three days ago everything was bright and happy, while now it seems
+     that everything is uncertain and dark. There was one thing the
+     doctor said that pleased me, and that was, 'Don't let any of his
+     town friends in to see him; and I think that it would be as well
+     that none of them should go down to visit him in the country. Let
+     him be kept altogether free from anything that would in the
+     smallest degree excite him or set his brain working.' I told him
+     that no one had seen him yet, and that I would take good care that
+     no one should see him; and I need hardly tell you that Mr. Simcoe
+     will be the first person to be informed of the doctor's orders."
+
+A week later General Mathieson came downstairs for the first time. The
+change in him was even greater than it had seemed to be when he was
+lying on the sofa in his room; and Tom Roberts, who had been the
+General's soldier-servant years before, and had been in his service
+since he left the army, had difficulty in restraining his tears as he
+entered, with his master leaning heavily on his arm.
+
+"I am shaky, my dear Hilda, very shaky," the General said. "I feel just
+as I did when I was laid up with a bad attack of jungle fever in India.
+However, no doubt I shall pick up soon, just I did then. Pearson tells
+me that he and the others agree that I must go down into the country,
+and I suppose I must obey orders. Where is it we are to go?"
+
+"To your own place, uncle."
+
+"My own place?" he repeated doubtfully, and then after a pause, "Oh,
+yes, of course! Oh, yes!"
+
+There was a troubled look in his face, as if he was trying to recall
+memories that had somehow escaped him, and Hilda, resolutely repressing
+the impulse to burst into a flood of tears, said cheerfully:
+
+"Yes, I shall be very glad to be back at Holmwood. We won't go down by
+train, uncle. Dr. Pearson does not think that you are strong enough for
+that yet. He is going to arrange for a comfortable carriage in which you
+can lie down and rest. We shall make an early start. He will arrange for
+horses to be sent down so that we can change every ten or twelve miles,
+and arrive there early in the afternoon. It is only seventy miles, you
+know."
+
+"Yes, I have driven up from there by the coach many a time when I was a
+boy, and sometimes since; have I not, Tom?"
+
+"Yes, General. The railway was not made till six or seven years ago."
+
+"No, the railway wasn't made, Hilda; at least, not all the way."
+
+Hilda made signs to Tom not to leave the room, and he stood by his
+master's shoulder, prompting him occasionally when his memory failed
+him.
+
+"You must get strong very fast, uncle, for Dr. Pearson said that you
+cannot go until you are more fit to bear the fatigue."
+
+"I shall soon get strong, my dear. What is to-day?"
+
+"To-day is Friday, uncle."
+
+"Somehow I have lost count of days," he said. "Well, I should think that
+I shall be fit to go early next week; it is not as if we were going to
+ride down. I was always fond of riding, and I hope I shall soon be after
+the hounds again. Let me see, what month is this?"
+
+"It is early in June, uncle; and the country will be looking its best."
+
+"Yes, yes; I shall have plenty of time to get strong before cub-hunting
+begins."
+
+So the conversation dragged on for another half hour, the General's
+words coming slower and slower, and at the end of that time he dropped
+asleep. Hilda made a sign to Roberts to stay with him, and then ran up
+to her own room, closed the door behind her, and burst into a passion of
+tears. Presently there was a tap at the door, and her maid came in.
+
+"Tom has just slipped out from the dining room, miss, and told me to
+tell you that the General was sleeping as peacefully as a child, and he
+thought it was like enough that he would not wake for hours. He said
+that when he woke he and William would get him up to his own room."
+
+"Thank you, Lucy." The door closed again. Hilda got up from the bed on
+which she had lain down, and buried herself in the depths of a large
+cushioned chair. There she sat thinking. For the first time she realized
+how immense was the change in her uncle. She had seen him several times
+each day, but he had spoken but a few words, and it only seemed to her
+that he was drowsy and disinclined to talk. Now she saw how great was
+the mental as well as the physical weakness.
+
+"It is terrible!" she repeated over and over again to herself. "What a
+wreck--oh, what a dreadful wreck! Will he ever get over it?"
+
+She seemed absolutely unable to think. Sometimes she burst into sobs,
+sometimes she sat with her eyes fixed before her, but seeing nothing,
+and her fingers twining restlessly round each other. Presently the door
+opened very gently, and a voice said, "May I come in?" She sprang to her
+feet as if electrified, while a glad cry of "Netta!" broke from her
+lips. A moment later the two girls were clasped in a close embrace.
+
+"Oh, Netta, how good of you!" Hilda said, after she had sobbed for some
+time on her friend's shoulder. "Oh, what a relief it is to me!"
+
+"Of course I have come, you foolish girl. You did not suppose I was
+going to remain away after your letter? Aunt is with me; she is
+downstairs, tidying herself up. We shut up the house and left the
+gardener in charge, and here we are, as long as you want us."
+
+"But your pupils, Netta?"
+
+"I handed them all over to another of the Professor's assistants, so we
+need not bother about them. I told aunt that I should not be down for an
+hour. Mrs. Brown is looking after her, and getting her a cup of tea, and
+I asked her to bring two cups up here. I thought that you would prefer
+for us to have a chat by ourselves. Now tell me all about it, dear; that
+is, if there is anything fresh since you wrote."
+
+Hilda told her the doctor's opinion and the plans that had been formed.
+
+"Dr. Pearson brought a Dr. Leeds here with him this morning. He says he
+is very clever. His term as house surgeon at Guy's or St. Bartholomew's,
+I forget which, has just expired, and as he had not made any definite
+plans he was glad to accept the doctor's offer to take charge of my
+uncle. He seemed, from what little I saw of him, a pleasant man, and
+spoke in a cheerful voice, which will be a great thing for uncle. I
+should think that he is six or seven and twenty. Dr. Pearson said he was
+likely to become a very distinguished man in his profession some day. He
+is going to begin at once. He will not sleep here, but will spend most
+of his time here, partly because he wants to study the case, and partly
+because he wants uncle to get accustomed to him. He will travel down
+with us, which will be a great comfort to me, for there is no saying how
+uncle may stand the journey. I suggested that we should have another
+carriage, as the invalid carriage has room for only one inside besides
+the patient, but he laughed, and said that he would ride on the box with
+Tom Roberts; there will be room for two there, as we are going to post
+down. Of course, you and your aunt will go down by train, and be there
+to meet us; it will make it so much brighter and more cheerful having
+you to receive us than if we had to arrive all alone, with no one to say
+welcome."
+
+"And is your uncle so very weak?"
+
+"Terribly weak--weak both mentally and physically," and she gave an
+account of the interview that afternoon.
+
+"That is bad indeed, Hilda; worse than I had expected. But with country
+air, and you and me to amuse him, to say nothing of the doctor, we may
+hope that he will soon be a very different man."
+
+"Well, I will not stay talking here any longer, Netta; we have left your
+aunt half an hour alone, and if she were not the kindest soul in the
+world, she would feel hurt at being so neglected, after coming all this
+way for my sake. You don't know what good your coming has effected.
+Before you opened the door I was in the depth of despair; everything
+seemed shaken, everything looked hopeless. There seemed to have been a
+sort of moral earthquake that had turned everything in my life
+topsy-turvy, but now I feel hopeful again. With you by my side I think
+that I can bear even the worst."
+
+They went down to the drawing room, where they found Mrs. Brown, the
+housekeeper, having a long gossip over what had taken place with Miss
+Purcell, whom, although a stranger, she was unaffectedly glad to see, as
+it seemed to take some of her responsibilities off her shoulders, and
+she knew that Netta's society would be invaluable to Hilda.
+
+It was not until a week later that, after another consultation, the
+doctors agreed that it was as well that the General should be moved down
+to his country place. Dr. Pearson was opinion that there was some
+improvement, but that it was very slight; the others could see no change
+since they had seen him ten days before. However, they agreed with their
+colleague that although there might be a certain amount of danger in
+moving him to the country, it was best to risk that, as the change might
+possibly benefit him materially.
+
+"Have you formed any opinion of the case, Dr. Leeds?" Sir Henry asked.
+
+"I can scarcely be said to have any distinct opinion, Sir Henry. The
+symptoms do not tally with those one would expect to find after any
+ordinary sort of seizure, although certainly they would point to
+paralysis rather than epilepsy. I should, had the case come before me in
+the ordinary way in the ward of a hospital, have come to the conclusion
+that the seizure itself and the after-effects pointed rather to the
+administration of some drug than to any other cause. I admit that I am
+not acquainted with any drug whose administration would lead to any such
+results; but then I know of no other manner in which they could be
+brought about save by some lesion of a blood vessel in the brain of so
+unusual a character that no such case has hitherto been reported in any
+work with which I am acquainted. This, I say, would be my first theory
+in the case of a patient of whose previous history I was entirely
+unaware, and who came under my charge in a hospital ward; but I admit
+that in the present case it cannot be entertained for a moment, and I
+must, during my attendance upon General Mathieson, watch closely for
+symptoms that would aid me in localizing brain lesion or other cause."
+
+He spoke modestly and quietly in the presence, as he was, of some of the
+leading men of his profession. The theory he had enunciated had not
+occurred to any of them, but, as he spoke, they all recognized that the
+symptoms might under other circumstances have led them to a similar
+conclusion. They were silent for a minute when he ceased speaking, then
+Sir Henry said gravely:
+
+"I admit, Dr. Leeds, that some of the symptoms, indeed the fit itself,
+might in the case of a patient of whose history we were ignorant seem to
+point to some obscure form of poisoning, since they do not accord with
+what one would expect in ordinary forms of brain seizures of this kind.
+However, there is no doubt that we are all somewhat prone, when we meet
+with a case possessing unusual or altogether exceptional features, to
+fall back upon the theory of poisoning. In this case, fortunately, the
+circumstances are such as to preclude the possibility of entertaining
+the idea for a moment; and, as you say, you must endeavor to find,
+watching him as you will do, some other cause of what I admit is a
+mysterious and obscure case; and knowing you as I do, I am sure that you
+will mention this theory, even as a theory, to no one.
+
+"We are all aware that there are many cases which come before us where
+we may entertain suspicions, and strong suspicions, that the patient has
+been poisoned, and yet we dare not take any steps because, in the first
+place, we have no clew as to how or by whom he or she has been poisoned,
+and because, if after death an autopsy should prove that we were
+mistaken, it would be nothing short of professional ruin. Here, as you
+said, the theory is happily irreconcilable with the circumstances of the
+case, and no drug known to European science would produce so strange a
+seizure or the after-effects. Of course, as we all know, on the west
+coast of Africa, and it is believed in India, the natives are acquainted
+with poisons which are wholly unknown, and will probably remain unknown,
+since medical men who have endeavored to investigate the matter have
+almost always fallen victims themselves to poisons administered by the
+people whose secrets they were endeavoring to discover.
+
+"However, we can happily put that altogether aside. Dr. Pearson tells us
+that he intends to go down once a fortnight, and has promised to furnish
+us with the results of his own observations, and his own reports of this
+very interesting case. If General Mathieson had, in the course of his
+military career, ever been struck in the head by a bullet, I should say
+unhesitatingly that some splinter, possibly very minute, had obtruded
+into the brain matter; but this has, I learn, not been the case. The
+only serious injury that he has ever received was when he was terribly
+torn and nearly killed by a tiger some twenty years ago in India. It may
+be useful to you, Dr. Leeds, to keep this in your mind. There can be no
+doubt that scratches and bites, even of the domestic cat, occasionally
+give rise to violent inflammations, and probably, indeed I believe it to
+be the case, those of the great cats of India are still more poisonous.
+As is the case with the bite of a mad dog, the poison may in some cases
+remain latent for a considerable time, until some circumstance may
+arouse it into activity. I would suggest that should any scars caused at
+that time remain, you should examine them carefully, and ascertain
+whether there is any sign of inflammatory action there. I grant the
+improbability of any consequences arising so many years after the event,
+but at the same time in a case of this kind, where we are perfectly at a
+loss to explain what we see, it is as well to look for the cause in
+every direction, however improbable it may appear."
+
+"Thank you, Sir Henry; I will certainly do so. I was not aware before of
+the General having suffered such an injury, and I will go this afternoon
+and spend a few hours in looking through the medical works at the
+library of the India Office to see if there are any records of serious
+disturbance caused in the system by wounds inflicted by tigers a
+considerable time after they have apparently healed."
+
+The meeting then broke up, and two days later General Mathieson was
+taken down to his seat in Warwickshire. Post horses were in readiness
+all along the road, and the journey was accomplished quickly and without
+fatigue to the patient, who slept the greater part of the distance. At
+each change Dr. Leeds got down and had two or three minutes' talk with
+Hilda, and when the General was awake gave him a spoonful of restorative
+medicine. His presence close at hand was a great comfort to Hilda, upon
+whom the strain of watching her uncle was very great, and she was
+thankful indeed when they arrived at the end of the journey, and found
+Netta and her aunt, who had gone down by that morning's train together
+with the housekeeper and her own maid, waiting on the steps to receive
+them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A STRANGE ILLNESS.
+
+
+For three months General Mathieson remained in the country. His
+improvement was very gradual--so gradual, indeed, that from week to week
+it was scarce noticeable, and it was only by looking back that it was
+perceptible. At the end of that time he could walk unaided, there was
+less hesitation in his speech, and his memory was distinctly clearer. He
+passed much of his time on a sofa placed in the shade in the garden,
+with Hilda and Netta sitting by him, working and talking.
+
+Netta had always been a favorite of his from the time that he first met
+her in Hanover; and he had, when she was staying with his niece the year
+before, offered her a very handsome salary if she would remain with her
+as her companion. The girl, however, was reluctant to give up her
+occupation, of which she was very fond, still less would she leave her
+aunt; and although the General would willingly have engaged the latter
+also as an inmate of the house, to act as a sort of chaperon to Hilda
+when she drove out alone shopping, Netta refused in both their names.
+
+"You would not have left the army, General, whatever temptations might
+have been held out to you. I am happy in thinking that I am doing good
+and useful work, and I don't think that any offer, even one so kind and
+liberal as yours, would induce me to relinquish it."
+
+Her presence now was not only an inestimable comfort to Hilda, but of
+great advantage to the General himself. Alone Hilda would have found it
+next to impossible to keep the invalid interested and amused. He liked
+to talk and be talked to, but it was like the work of entertaining a
+child. Netta, however, had an inexhaustible fund of good spirits. After
+her long intercourse with children who needed entertainment with
+instruction, and whose attention it was absolutely necessary to keep
+fixed, she had no difficulty in keeping the conversation going, and her
+anecdotes, connected with her life in Germany and the children she had
+taught, were just suited to the General's mental condition.
+
+Little Walter was of great assistance to her. He had come down with his
+nurse as soon as they were fairly settled at Holmwood, and his prattle
+and play were a great amusement to his grandfather. Whenever the
+conversation flagged Netta offered to tell him a story, which not only
+kept him quiet, but was listened to with as much interest by the General
+as by the child. Dr. Leeds was often a member of the party, and his
+cheery talk always had its effect in soothing the General when, as was
+sometimes the case, he was inclined to be petulant and irritable.
+
+They had been a fortnight at Holmwood before the doctor discovered
+Netta's infirmity. She happened to be standing at a window with her back
+to him when he asked her a question. Receiving no reply, he repeated it
+in a louder tone, but he was still unanswered. Somewhat surprised, he
+went up to her and touched her; she faced round immediately.
+
+"Were you speaking to me, Dr. Leeds?"
+
+"Yes, I spoke to you twice, Miss Purcell, but you did not hear me."
+
+"I have been perfectly deaf from childhood," she said; "I cannot hear
+any sound whatever. I never talk about it; people ask questions and
+wonder, and then, forgetting that I do not hear, they persist in
+addressing me in loud tones."
+
+"Is it possible that you are deaf?"
+
+"It is a melancholy fact," she said with a smile, and then added more
+seriously, "It came on after measles. When I was eight years old my good
+aunt, who had taken me to some of the best aurists in London, happened
+to hear that a Professor Menzel had opened an establishment in Hanover
+for teaching deaf mutes to speak by a new system of watching people's
+lips. She took me over there, and, as you see, the result was an
+undoubted success, and I now earn my living by acting as one of the
+professor's assistants, and by teaching two or three little girls who
+board at my aunt's."
+
+"The system must be an admirable one indeed," the doctor said. "I have,
+of course, heard of it, but could not have believed that the results
+were so excellent. It never entered my mind for a moment that you were
+in any way deficient in hearing, still less that you were perfectly
+deaf. I have noticed that, more than is common, you always kept your
+eyes fixed on my face when I was speaking to you."
+
+"You would have noticed it earlier had we been often alone together,"
+she said, "for unless I had kept my eyes always upon you I should not
+have known when you were speaking; but when, as here, there are always
+several of us together, my eyes are at once directed to your face when
+you speak, by seeing the others look at you."
+
+"Is it necessary to be quite close to you when one speaks?"
+
+"Oh, not at all! Of course I must be near enough to be able to see
+distinctly the motion of the lips, say at twenty yards. It is a great
+amusement to me as I walk about, for I can see what is being said by
+people on the other side of the road, or passing by in a vehicle. Of
+course one only gets scraps of conversations, but sometimes they are
+very funny."
+
+"You must be quite a dangerous person, Miss Purcell."
+
+"I am," she laughed; "and you must be careful not to say things that you
+don't want to be overheard when you are within reach of my eyes.
+Yesterday, for instance, you said to Hilda that my aunt seemed a
+wonderfully kind and intelligent old lady; and you were good enough to
+add some complimentary remarks about myself."
+
+Dr. Leeds flushed.
+
+"Well, I should not have said them in your hearing, Miss Purcell; but,
+as they were complimentary, no harm was done. I think I said that you
+were invaluable here, which is certainly the case, for I really do not
+know how we should be able to amuse our patient if it were not for your
+assistance."
+
+"Hilda and I had a laugh about it," Netta said; "and she said, too, that
+it was not fair your being kept in the dark as to our accomplishment."
+
+"'Our accomplishment!'" he repeated in surprise. "Do you mean to say
+that Miss Covington is deaf also? But no, that is impossible; for I
+called to her yesterday, when her back was turned, and the General
+wanted her, and she answered immediately."
+
+"My tongue has run too fast," the girl said, "but I don't suppose she
+would mind your knowing what she never speaks of herself. She was, as
+you know, living with us in Hanover for more than four years. She
+temporarily lost her hearing after an attack of scarlet fever, and the
+doctors who were consulted here feared that it might be permanent. Her
+father and mother, hearing of Dr. Hartwig as having the reputation of
+being the first aurist in Europe, took her out to him. He held out hopes
+that she could be cured, and recommended that she should be placed in
+Professor Menzel's institution as soon as she could understand German,
+so that, in case a cure was not effected, she might be able to hear with
+her eyes. By great good fortune he recommended that she should live with
+my aunt, partly because she spoke English, and partly because, as I was
+already able to talk, I could act as her companion and instructor both
+in the system and in German.
+
+"In three years she could get on as well as I could, but the need for it
+happily passed away, as her hearing was gradually restored. Still, she
+continued to live with us while her education went on at the best school
+in the town, but of course she always talked with me as I talked with
+her, and so she kept up the accomplishment and has done so ever since.
+But her mother advised her very strongly to keep the knowledge of her
+ability to read people's words from their lips a profound secret, as it
+might tend to her disadvantage; for people might be afraid of a girl
+possessed of the faculty of overhearing their conversation at a
+distance."
+
+"That explains what rather puzzled me the other day," the doctor said.
+"When I came out into the garden you were sitting together and were
+laughing and talking. You did not notice me, and it struck me as strange
+that, while I heard the laughing, I did not hear the sound of your
+voices until I was within a few paces of you. When Miss Covington
+noticed me I at once heard your voices."
+
+"Yes, you gave us both quite a start, and Hilda said we must either give
+up talking silently or let you into our secret; so I don't think that
+she will be vexed when I tell her that I have let it out."
+
+"I am glad to have the matter explained," he said, "for really I asked
+myself whether I must not have been temporarily deaf, and should have
+thought it was so had I not heard the laughing as distinctly as usual. I
+came to the conclusion that you must, for some reason or other, have
+dropped your voices to a whisper, and that one or the other was telling
+some important secret that you did not wish even the winds to hear."
+
+"I think that this is the only secret that we have," Netta laughed.
+
+"Seriously, this is most interesting to me as a doctor, and it is a
+thousand pities that a system that acts so admirably should not be
+introduced into this country. You should set up a similar institution
+here, Miss Purcell."
+
+"I have been thinking of doing so some day. Hilda is always urging me to
+it, but I feel that I am too young yet to take the head of an
+establishment, but in another four or five years' time I shall think
+seriously about it."
+
+"I can introduce you to all the aurists in London, Miss Purcell, and I
+am sure that you will soon get as many inmates as you may choose to
+take. In cases where their own skill fails altogether, they would be
+delighted to comfort parents by telling them how their children may
+learn to dispense altogether with the sense of hearing."
+
+"Not quite altogether," she said. "It has happened very often, as it did
+just now, that I have been addressed by someone at whom I did not
+happen to be looking, and then I have to explain my apparent rudeness by
+owning myself to be entirely deaf. Unfortunately, I have not always been
+able to make people believe it, and I have several times been soundly
+rated by strangers for endeavoring to excuse my rudeness by a palpable
+falsehood."
+
+"Really, I am hardly surprised," Dr. Leeds said, "for I should myself
+have found it difficult to believe that one altogether deaf could have
+been taught to join in conversation as you do. Well, I must be very
+careful what I say in future while in the society of two young ladies
+possessed of such dangerous and exceptional powers."
+
+"You need not be afraid, doctor; I feel sure that there is no one here
+to whom you would venture to give us a bad character."
+
+"I think," he went on more seriously, "that Miss Covington's mother was
+very wise in warning her against her letting anyone know that she could
+read conversations at a distance. People would certainly be afraid of
+her, for gossipmongers would be convinced that she was overhearing, if I
+may use the word, what was said, if she happened to look at them only
+casually."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the end of three months the General became restless, and was
+constantly expressing a wish to be brought back to London.
+
+"What do you think yourself, Dr. Leeds?" Dr. Pearson said, when he paid
+one of his usual visits.
+
+"He is, of course, a great deal better than he was when he first came
+down," the former replied, "but there is still that curious hesitation
+in his speech, as if he was suffering from partial paralysis. I am not
+surprised at his wanting to get up to town again. As he improves in
+health he naturally feels more and more the loss of his usual course of
+life. I should certainly have advised his remaining here until he had
+made a good deal further advancement, but as he has set his mind upon
+it, I believe that more harm would be done by refusing than by his
+going. In fact, I think that he has, if anything, gone back in the last
+fortnight, and above all things it is necessary to avoid any course that
+might cause irritation, and so set up fresh brain disturbances."
+
+"I am quite of your opinion, Leeds. I have noticed myself that he
+hesitates more than he did a short time since, and sometimes, instead of
+joining in the conversation, he sits moody and silent; and he is
+beginning to resent being looked after and checked."
+
+"Yes; he said to me the other day quite angrily, 'I don't want to be
+treated as a child or a helpless invalid, doctor. I took a mile walk
+yesterday. I am beginning to feel quite myself again; it will do me a
+world of good to be back in London, and to drive down to the club and to
+have a chat with my old friends again.'"
+
+"Well, I think it best that he should not be thwarted. You have looked
+at the scars from time to time, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes; there has been no change in them, they are very red, but he tells
+me--and what is more to the point, his man tells me--that they have
+always been so."
+
+"What do you think, Leeds? Will he ever be himself again? Watching the
+case from day to day as you have done, your opinion is worth a good deal
+more than mine."
+
+"I have not the slightest hope of it," the young doctor replied quietly.
+"I have seen as complete wrecks as he is gradually pull themselves round
+again, but they have been cases where they have been the victims of
+drink or of some malady from which they had been restored by a
+successful operation. In his case we have failed altogether to determine
+the cause of his attack, or the nature of it. We have been feeling in
+the dark, and hitherto have failed to discover a clew that we could
+follow up. So far there has been no recurrence of his first seizure,
+but, with returning strength and returning brain work, it is in my
+opinion more than likely that we shall have another recurrence of it.
+The shock has been a tremendous one to the system. Were he a younger man
+he might have rallied from it, but I doubt whether at his age he will
+ever get over it. Actually he is, I believe, under seventy; physically
+and mentally, he is ninety."
+
+"That is so, and between ourselves I cannot but think that a long
+continuance of his life is not to be desired. I believe with you that he
+will be a confirmed invalid, requiring nursing and humoring like a
+child, and for the sake of Miss Covington and all around him one cannot
+wish that his life should be prolonged."
+
+"I trust that, when the end comes, Dr. Pearson, it will be gradual and
+painless, and that there will be no recurrence of that dreadful
+seizure."
+
+"I hope so indeed. I have seen many men in bad fits, but I never saw
+anything to equal that. I can assure you that several of the men who
+were present--men who had gone through a dozen battles--were completely
+prostrated by it. At least half a dozen of them, men whom I had never
+attended before, knowing that I had been present, called upon me within
+the next two or three days for advice, and were so evidently completely
+unstrung that I ordered them an entire change of scene at once, and
+recommended them to go to Homburg, take the waters, and play at the
+tables; to do anything, in fact, that would distract their minds from
+dwelling upon the painful scene that they had witnessed. Had it not been
+for that, one would have had no hesitation in assigning his illness to
+some obscure form of paralysis; as it is, it is unaccountable. Except,"
+he added, with a smile, "by your theory of poison."
+
+The younger doctor did not smile in return. "It is the only cause that I
+can assign for it," he said gravely. "The more I study the case, the
+more I investigate the writings of medical men in India and on the East
+and West Coast of Africa, the more it seems to me that the attack was
+the work of a drug altogether unknown to European science, but known to
+Obi women, fetich men, and others of that class in Africa. In some of
+the accounts of people accused of crime by fetich men, and given liquor
+to drink, which they are told will not affect them if innocent, but will
+kill them if guilty, I find reports of their being seized with instant
+and violent convulsions similar to those that you witnessed. These
+convulsions often end in death; sometimes, where, I suppose, the dose
+was larger than usual, the man drops dead in his tracks while drinking
+it. Sometimes he dies in convulsions; at other times he recovers
+partially and lingers on, a mere wreck, for some months. In other cases,
+where, I suppose, the dose was a light one, and the man's relatives were
+ready to pay the fetich man handsomely, the recovery was speedy and
+complete; that is to say, if, as is usually the case, the man was not
+put to death at once upon the supposed proof of his guilt. By what
+possible means such poison could have found its way to England, for
+there is no instance of its nature being divulged to Europeans, I know
+not, nor how it could have been administered; but I own that it is still
+the only theory by which I can account for the General's state. I need
+not say that I should never think of giving the slightest hint to anyone
+but yourself as to my opinion in the matter, and trust most sincerely
+that I am mistaken; but although I have tried my utmost I cannot
+overcome the conviction that the theory is a correct one, and I think,
+Dr. Pearson, that if you were to look into the accounts of the various
+ways in which the poisons are sold by old negro women to those anxious
+to get rid of enemies or persons whose existence is inconvenient to
+them, and by the fetich men in these ordeals, you will admit at least
+that had you been practicing on the West Coast, and any white man there
+had such an attack as that through which the General has passed, you
+would without hesitation have put it down to poison by some negro who
+had a grudge against him."
+
+"No doubt, no doubt," the other doctor admitted; "but, you see, we are
+not on the West Coast. These poisons are, as you admit, absolutely
+unobtainable by white men from the men and women who prepare them. If
+obtainable, when would they have been brought here, and by whom? And
+lastly, by whom administered, and from what motive? I admit all that you
+say about the African poisons. I lately had a long talk about them with
+a medical man who had been on the coast for four or five years, but
+until these other questions can be answered I must refuse to believe
+that this similarity is more than accidental, and in any possible way
+due to the same cause."
+
+"That is what I have told myself scores of times, and it would be a
+relief to me indeed could I find some other explanation of the matter.
+Then, you think that he had better come up to London?"
+
+"I leave the matter in your hands, Dr. Leeds. I would give him a few
+days longer and try the effect of a slight sedative; possibly his desire
+to get up to town may die out. If so, he is without doubt better here.
+If, however, you see that his irritation increases, and he becomes more
+and more set upon it, by all means take him up. How would you do so? By
+rail or road?"
+
+"Certainly by rail. I have been trying to make him feel that he is a
+free agent, and encouraged him in the belief that he is stronger and
+better. If then I say to him, 'My dear General, you are, of course, free
+to do as you like, and it may be that the change will be beneficial to
+you; if the ladies can be ready to-morrow, let us start without further
+delay,' I consider it quite possible that this ready and cheerful
+acquiescence may result in his no longer desiring it. One knows that in
+this respect sick people are very like fractious children. They set
+their minds on some special article of food, as a child does on a toy,
+and when it comes they will refuse to touch it, as the child will throw
+the coveted toy down."
+
+It turned out so in this case. The moment the General found that the
+doctor was willing that he should go up to town, and the ladies quite
+ready to accompany him at once, he himself began to raise objections.
+
+"Perhaps it would be as well that we should wait another month," he
+replied. A little pretended opposition strengthened this view, and the
+return was postponed. At the end of the month he had made so much
+progress that, when the longing for London was again expressed, Dr.
+Leeds offered no opposition, and two days later the whole party went
+up.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+TWO HEAVY BLOWS.
+
+
+During the four months that General Mathieson had remained at Holmwood
+no one had been more constant in his inquiries as to his health than Mr.
+Simcoe. He had seen Hilda before she started, and had begged her to let
+him have a line once a week, saying how her uncle was going on.
+
+"I will get Dr. Leeds to write," she said. "My own opinion will be worth
+nothing, but his will be valuable. I am afraid that he will find time
+hang heavily on his hands, and he will not mind writing. I do not like
+writing letters at the best of times, but in the trouble we are in now I
+am sure that I shall not be equal to it."
+
+Dr. Leeds willingly undertook the duty of sending a short weekly
+bulletin, not only to Mr. Simcoe, but to a dozen other intimate friends.
+
+"It is not half an hour's work," he said, when Netta offered to relieve
+him by addressing the envelopes or copying out his report; "very few
+words will be sufficient. 'The General has made some slight progress
+this week,' or 'The General remains in very much the same state,' or 'I
+am glad to be able to record some slight improvement.' That, with my
+signature, will be quite sufficient, and when I said that half an hour
+would be enough I exaggerated: I fancy that it will be all done in five
+minutes."
+
+Mr. Simcoe occasionally wrote a few lines of thanks, but scarcely a day
+passed that he did not send some little present for the invalid--a bunch
+of the finest grapes, a few choice peaches, and other fruit from abroad.
+Of flowers they had plenty in their own conservatories at Holmwood,
+while game was abundant, for both from neighbors and from club friends
+they received so large a quantity that a considerable proportion was
+sent back in hampers to the London hospitals.
+
+Some of Mr. Simcoe's presents were of a different description. Among
+them was a machine that would hold a book at any angle desired, while at
+the same time there was a shelf upon which a cup or tumbler, a spare
+book or newspaper, could be placed.
+
+"At any rate, Hilda, this Mr. Simcoe of yours is very thoughtful and
+kind towards your uncle," Netta said.
+
+"Yes," Hilda admitted reluctantly, "he certainly is very thoughtful, but
+I would much rather he did not send things. We can get anything we want
+from Warwick or Leamington, or indeed from London, merely by sending a
+line or a telegram. One hates being under obligations to a man one does
+not like."
+
+"It seems to me at present that you are unjust, Hilda; and I certainly
+look forward to seeing him in London and drawing my own conclusions."
+
+"Yes, no doubt you will see him, and often enough too," Hilda said
+pettishly. "Of course, if uncle means to go to his club, it will be
+impossible to say that he is unfit to see his friends at home."
+
+Netta, however, did not see Mr. Simcoe on their return, for Dr. Leeds,
+on the suggestion of Hilda, stated in his last report that the General
+would be going up to town in a day or two, but that he strongly
+deprecated any visits until he could see how the invalid stood the
+journey.
+
+There was no doubt that he stood it badly. Just at first the excitement
+seemed to inspire him with strength, but this soon died away, and he had
+to be helped from the railway carriage to the brougham, and lifted out
+when he arrived at home. Dr. Leeds saw to his being carried upstairs,
+undressed, and put to bed.
+
+"He is weaker than I thought," he said in reply to Hilda's anxious look
+when he joined the party downstairs. "I cannot say that it is want of
+physical strength, for he has walked over a mile several times without
+apparent fatigue. It seems to me that it is rather failure of will
+power, or brain power, if you like. I noticed that he very frequently
+sat looking out of the window, and it is possible that the succession of
+objects passing rapidly before the eye has had the same effect of
+inducing giddiness that waltzing has to one unaccustomed to it. I trust
+that to-morrow the effect will have passed off. I had, as you know,
+intended to sleep at a friend's chambers to-night; but I should not
+think of doing so now, but will sit up with him. I will get Roberts to
+take watch and watch with me. I can lie down on the sofa, and he can
+wake me should there be any change. I sent him off in a cab, as soon as
+we got your uncle into bed, to fetch Dr. Pearson; if he is at home, he
+will be here in a few minutes."
+
+It was, however, half an hour before Dr. Pearson came, as he was out
+when the cab arrived. He had on the way learned from Tom Roberts the
+state in which the General had arrived, and he hurried upstairs at once
+to his room.
+
+"So he has broken down badly, Leeds?"
+
+"Very badly."
+
+"I did not expect it. When I saw him last Sunday he seemed to have made
+so much progress that I thought there could be no harm in his being
+brought up to London, though, as I said to you, I thought it would be
+better to dissuade him from going to his club. He might see a few of his
+friends and have a quiet chat with them here. His pulse is still much
+fuller than I should have expected from the account his man gave of him.
+There is a good deal of irregularity, but that has been the case ever
+since the attack."
+
+"I think that it is mental rather than bodily collapse," the younger man
+said. "A sudden failure of brain power. He was absolutely unable to make
+any effort to walk, or indeed to move his limbs at all. It was a sort of
+mental paralysis."
+
+"And to some slight extent bodily also," Dr. Pearson said, leaning over
+the bed and examining the patient closely. "Do you see there is a
+slight, but distinct, contortion of the face, just as there was after
+that fit?"
+
+"I see there is. He has not spoken since we lifted him from the railway
+carriage, and I am afraid that to-morrow we shall find that he has
+lost, partially or entirely, the power of speech. I fear that this is
+the beginning of the end."
+
+Dr. Pearson nodded.
+
+"There can be little doubt of it, nor could we wish it to be otherwise.
+Still, he may linger for weeks or even months."
+
+Hilda read the doctor's opinion in his face when he went downstairs.
+
+"Oh, doctor, don't say he is going to die!" she cried.
+
+"I do not say that he is going to die at once, my dear. He may live for
+some time yet, but it is of no use concealing from you that neither Dr.
+Leeds nor myself have the slightest hope of his ultimate recovery. There
+can be no doubt that paralysis is creeping over him, and that it is most
+unlikely that he will ever leave his bed again.
+
+"Yes, I know it is hard, dear," he said soothingly, as she burst into
+tears, "but much as you will regret his loss you cannot but feel that it
+is best so. He could never have been himself again, never have enjoyed
+his life. There would have been an ever-present anxiety and a dread of a
+recurrence of that fit. You will see in time that it is better for him
+and for you that it should be as it is, although, of course, you can
+hardly see that just at present. And now I must leave you to your kind
+friends here."
+
+Miss Purcell knew well enough that just at present words of consolation
+would be thrown away, and that it was a time only for silent sympathy,
+and her gentle words and the warm pressure of Netta's hand did more to
+restore Hilda's composure than any repetition of the doctor's well-meant
+assurance that all was for the best could do.
+
+"Would you like me to write a line in your name to Colonel Bulstrode?"
+she asked.
+
+"No, no!" Hilda cried; "it would look as if we had made up your minds
+that uncle was going to die. If he were conscious it would be different;
+for I know that Colonel Bulstrode is his greatest friend and is named
+one of his trustees, and uncle might want to talk to him. Oh, how one
+wishes at a time like this that one had a brother, or that he had a son
+alive, or that there was someone who would naturally step in and take
+everything into his hands!"
+
+"There are his lawyers," Miss Purcell suggested.
+
+"Yes, I did not think of them. Mr. Pettigrew is the other trustee, and
+is, I know, joint guardian with me of Walter. I am sorry now that we did
+not leave the dear little fellow down at Holmwood, it will be so sad and
+dull for him here, and he would have been very happy in the country. But
+perhaps it is best as it is; if my uncle recovers consciousness he is
+sure to ask for him. He had come to be very fond of him, and Walter has
+been so much with him lately."
+
+"Yes, his eyes always used to follow the child about in his play," Miss
+Purcell said. "I think it is best that he should be here, and as the
+nursery is at the top of the house he will not be in anyone's way."
+
+There was but little change in General Mathieson's condition next
+morning, although a slight movement, when Hilda spoke to him, showed
+that he was dimly conscious of her presence, and when she brought the
+child down and he laid his hand on that of the General, and said
+"Good-morning, grandfather," according to his custom, he opened his eyes
+for a moment, and there was a slight movement of the lips, as if he were
+trying to speak.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Covington," Dr. Leeds said; "the experiment was worth
+making, and it proves that his state of unconsciousness is not
+complete."
+
+Walter always took his dinner with the others when they lunched.
+
+"Where is the child?" Hilda asked the footman; "have you sent him up to
+tell nurse that lunch is ready?"
+
+"I have not sent up, miss, because nurse has not come back with him from
+his walk."
+
+"No doubt she will be back in a few minutes," Hilda said. "She is very
+punctual; I never knew her late before."
+
+[Illustration: THE NURSE WAS SITTING ON A CHAIR, SOBBING BITTERLY.
+_--Page 117._]
+
+Lunch was half over when Tom Roberts came in with a scared expression on
+his usually somewhat stolid face.
+
+"If you please, miss, nurse wishes to speak to you."
+
+"What is the matter, Roberts?" Hilda exclaimed, starting up. "Has Walter
+met with an accident?"
+
+"Well, no, miss, not as I know of, but nurse has come home, and she is
+just like a wild thing; somehow or other Master Walter has got lost."
+
+Hilda, followed by Netta and Miss Purcell, ran out into the hall. The
+nurse, a woman of two or three and thirty, the daughter of one of the
+General's tenants, and who had been in charge of the child since he
+arrived a baby from India, was sitting on a chair, sobbing bitterly. Her
+bonnet hung down at the back of her head, her hair was unloosed, and she
+had evidently been running wildly to and fro. Her appearance at once
+disarmed Hilda, who said soothingly:
+
+"How has it happened, nurse? Stop crying and tell us. I am sure that it
+could not have been your fault, for you are always so careful with him.
+There is no occasion to be so terribly upset. Of course he will soon be
+found. The first policeman who sees him will be sure to take him to the
+station. Now how did it happen?"
+
+"I was walking along Queen's Road, miss," the woman said between her
+sobs, "and Master Walter was close beside me. I know that special,
+because we had just passed a crossing, and I took hold of his hand as we
+went over--when a man--he looked like a respectable working-man--came up
+to me and said, 'I see you are a mother, ma'am.' 'Not at all,' said I;
+'how dare you say such a thing? I am a nurse; I am in charge of this
+young gentleman.' 'Well,' said he, 'I can see that you have a kind
+heart, anyhow; that is what made me speak to you. I am a carpenter, I
+am, and I have been out of work for months, and I have a child at home
+just about this one's age. He is starving, and I haven't a bit to put in
+his mouth. The parish buried my wife three weeks ago, and I am well-nigh
+mad. Would you give me the money to buy him a loaf of bread?' The man
+was in such distress, miss, that I took out my purse and gave him a
+shilling, and thankful he was; he was all but crying, and could not say
+enough to thank me. Then I turned to take hold of Walter's hand, and
+found that the child had gone. I could not have been more than two or
+three minutes talking; though it always does take me a long time to take
+my purse out of my pocket, still I know that it could not have been
+three minutes altogether.
+
+"First of all, I went back to the crossing, and looked up and down the
+street, but he wasn't there; then I thought that perhaps he had walked
+on, and was hiding for fun in a shop doorway. When I could not see him
+up or down I got regular frighted, and ran up and down like a mad thing.
+Once I came back as far as the house, but there were no signs of him,
+and I knew that he could not have got as far as this, even if he had run
+all the way. Then I thought of the mews, and I ran back there. Master
+Walter was very fond of horses, and he generally stopped when we got to
+the entrance of the mews, and stood looking for a minute or two at the
+grooms cleaning the horses, and I thought that he might have gone in
+there. There were two or three men about, but none had seen the child.
+Still I ran on, and looked into several stables, a-calling for him all
+the time. When he wasn't there, I went well-nigh stark mad, and I ran up
+and down the streets asking everyone I met had they seen a child. Then I
+came back here to tell you."
+
+"We shall soon hear of him, nurse. Roberts, do you and William start out
+at once. Go first to the police station and give notice that the child
+is missing--he cannot have wandered far--and then do you and James go
+all round the neighborhood and tell every policeman that you meet what
+has happened. You can ask in all the shops in Queen's Road and the
+streets near; he may have wandered into one of them, and as he was
+alone, they may have kept him until someone came to inquire after him.
+Now, Netta, will you put on your bonnet and come out with me?"
+
+"Shall I come with you too, Hilda?"
+
+"No, thank you, Miss Purcell. In the first place we shall walk too fast
+for you, and in the second it would be as well for you to be here to
+comfort him if he is brought back while we are out. We will come every
+half-hour to hear if there is news of him. You had better go upstairs
+and make yourself tidy, nurse, and then you can come out and join in the
+hunt. But you look so utterly worn out and exhausted that I think
+perhaps you had better sit quiet for a time; you may be sure that it
+will not be long before some of us bring him back.
+
+"I could not sit still, Miss Covington," the woman said. "I will just
+run upstairs and put myself straight, and then go out again."
+
+"Try and calm yourself, nurse, or you will be taken for a madwoman; you
+certainly looked like one when you came in."
+
+Two minutes later Hilda and her friend started.
+
+"Let us go first into Kensington Gardens, Netta; he often went there to
+play, and if he came down into the main road, he would very likely
+wander in. It is probable that nurse may have been longer speaking to
+that man than she thinks, and that he had time to get a good way before
+she missed him."
+
+The gardens were thoroughly searched, and the park-keepers questioned,
+but there were no signs of Walter. Then they called at the house to see
+whether there was any news of him. Finding that there was not, they
+again went out. They had no real hopes of finding him now, for Hilda was
+convinced that he was not in any of the streets near. Had he been,
+either the nurse or the men would have found him.
+
+"He has, no doubt, been either taken by some kind-hearted person who has
+found him lost," she said, "and who has either given notice to the
+police, or he has been taken by them to the police station. Still, it
+relieves one to walk about; it would be impossible to sit quiet, doing
+nothing. The others will have searched all the streets near, and we had
+better go up the Edgware Road, search in that direction, and give notice
+to any policemen we find."
+
+But the afternoon went on and no news was received of the missing child.
+It was a relief to them when Dr. Leeds, who had gone off watch for a few
+hours at twelve o'clock, returned. He looked grave for a moment when he
+heard the news, but said cheerfully, "It is very annoying, Miss
+Covington, but you need not alarm yourself; Walter is bound to turn up."
+
+"But he ought to have been sent to the police station long before this,"
+Hilda said tearfully.
+
+"Of course he ought, if all people possessed common-sense;
+unfortunately, they don't. I expect that at the present moment he is
+eating bread and jam, or something of that sort in the house of some
+kind-hearted old lady who has taken him in, and the idea of informing
+the police has never occurred to her for a moment, and, unfortunately,
+may not occur for some little time. However, if you will give me the
+details of his dress, I will go at once with it to the printer's and get
+two or three hundred notices struck off and sent round, to be placed in
+tradesmen's windows and stuck up on walls, saying that whoever will
+bring the child here will be handsomely rewarded. This is sure to fetch
+him before long."
+
+There was but little sleep that night at General Mathieson's. The master
+of the house still lay unconscious, and from time to time Dr. Leeds came
+down to say a few cheering words to the anxious girls. Tom Roberts
+walked the streets all night with the faint idea of finding the child
+asleep on a doorstep, and went three times to the police station to ask
+if there was any news. The first thing in the morning Hilda went with
+Dr. Leeds to Scotland Yard, and the description of the child was at once
+sent to every station in London; then she drove by herself to the office
+of Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew, and waited there until the latter
+gentleman arrived. Mr. Pettigrew, who was a very old friend of the
+family, looked very grave over the news.
+
+"I will not conceal from you, Miss Covington," he said, when she had
+finished her story, "that the affair looks to me somewhat serious; and I
+am afraid that you will have to make up your mind that you may not see
+the little fellow as soon as you expect. Had he been merely lost, you
+should certainly have heard of him in a few hours after the various and,
+I may say, judicious steps that you have taken. A child who loses
+himself in the streets of London is morally certain to come into the
+hands of the police in a very few hours."
+
+"Then what can have become of him, Mr. Pettigrew?"
+
+"It may be that, as not unfrequently happens, the child has been stolen
+for the sake of his clothes. In that case he will probably be heard of
+before very long. Or it may be a case of blackmail. Someone, possibly an
+acquaintance of one of the servants, may have known that the child, as
+the grandson and heir of General Mathieson, would be a valuable prize,
+and that, if he could be carried off, his friends might finally be
+forced to pay a considerable sum to recover him. I must say that it
+looks to me like a planned thing. One of the confederates engages the
+silly woman, his nurse, in a long rambling talk; the other picks the
+child quietly up or entices him away to the next corner, where he has a
+cab in waiting, and drives off with him at once. However, in neither
+case need you fear that the child will come to serious harm. If he has
+been stolen for the sake of his clothes the woman will very speedily
+turn him adrift, and he will be brought home to you by the police in
+rags. If, on the other hand, he has been taken for the purpose of
+blackmail, you may be sure that he will be well cared for, for he will,
+in the eyes of those who have taken him, be a most valuable possession.
+In that case you may not hear from the abductors for some little time.
+They will know that, as the search continues and no news is obtained,
+his friends will grow more and more anxious, and more ready to pay
+handsomely for his return. Of course it is a most annoying and
+unfortunate business, but I really do not think that you have any
+occasion to feel anxious about his safety, and it is morally certain
+that in time you will have him back, safe and sound. Now how is your
+uncle? I hope that he shows signs of rallying?"
+
+"I am sorry to say there was no sign whatever of his doing so up to
+eight o'clock this morning, and, indeed, Dr. Pearson told me that he has
+but little hope of his doing so. He thinks that there has been a slight
+shock of paralysis. Dr. Leeds speaks a little more hopefully than Dr.
+Pearson, but that is his way, and I think that he too considers that the
+end is not far off."
+
+"Your friends, Miss Purcell and her niece, are still with you, I hope?"
+
+"Yes; they will not leave me as long as I am in trouble. I don't know
+what I should do without them, especially now this new blow has fallen
+upon me."
+
+"Well, my dear, if you receive any communication respecting this boy
+send it straight to me. I do not know whether you are aware that you and
+I have been appointed his guardians?"
+
+"Yes; uncle told me so months ago. But I never thought then that he
+would not live till Walter came of age, and I thought that it was a mere
+form."
+
+"Doubtless it seemed so at the time," Mr. Pettigrew agreed; "your
+uncle's was apparently an excellent life, and he was as likely as anyone
+I know to have attained a great age."
+
+"There is nothing you can advise me to do at present?"
+
+"Nothing whatever, besides what you have done. The police all over
+London will be on the lookout for a lost child; they will probably
+assume at once that he has been stolen for his clothes, and will expect
+to see the child they are in search of in rags. They will know, too, the
+quarter in which he is most likely to be found. If it is for this
+purpose that he has been stolen you can confidently expect to have him
+back by to-morrow at latest; the woman would be anxious to get rid of
+him without loss of time. If the other hypothesis is correct you may not
+hear for a fortnight or three weeks; the fellows in that case will be
+content to bide their time."
+
+Hilda drove back with a heavy heart. Netta herself opened the door, and
+her swollen eyes at once told the truth.
+
+"Uncle is dead?" Hilda exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, dear; he passed away half an hour ago, a few minutes after Dr.
+Leeds returned. The doctor ran down himself for a moment, almost
+directly he had gone up, and said that the General was sinking fast, and
+that the end might come at any moment. Ten minutes later he came down
+and told us that all was over."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A STARTLING WILL.
+
+
+Mr. Pettigrew at once took the management of affairs at the house in
+Hyde Park Gardens into his hands, as one of the trustees, as joint
+guardian of the heir, and as family solicitor. Hilda was completely
+prostrated by the two blows that had so suddenly fallen, and was glad
+indeed that all necessity for attending to business was taken off her
+hands.
+
+"We need not talk about the future at present," Mr. Pettigrew said to
+her; "that is a matter that can be considered afterwards. You are most
+fortunate in having the lady with whom you so long lived here with you,
+and I trust that some permanent arrangement may be made. In any case you
+could not, of course, well remain here alone."
+
+"I have not thought anything about it yet," she said wearily. "Oh, I
+wish I were a man, Mr. Pettigrew; then I could do something myself
+towards searching for Walter, instead of being obliged to sit here
+uselessly."
+
+"If you were a man, Miss Covington, you could do nothing more at present
+than is being done. The police are keeping up a most vigilant search. I
+have offered a reward of five hundred pounds for any news that may lead
+to the child's discovery, and notices have even been sent to the
+constabularies of all the home counties, requesting them to make
+inquiries if any tramp or tramps, accompanied by a child of about the
+age of our young ward, have been seen passing along the roads. But, as I
+told you when you called upon me, I have little doubt but that it is a
+case of blackmail, and that it will not be long before we hear of him.
+It is probable that the General's death has somewhat disconcerted them,
+and it is likely that they may wait to see how matters go and who is the
+person with whom they had best open negotiations. I have no doubt that
+they are in some way or other keeping themselves well informed of what
+is taking place here."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The funeral was over, the General being followed to the grave by a
+number of his military friends and comrades, and the blinds at the house
+in Hyde Park Gardens were drawn up again. On the following morning Mr.
+Pettigrew came to the house early. He was a man who was methodical in
+all his doings, and very rarely ruffled. As soon as he entered, however,
+Hilda saw that something unusual had happened.
+
+"Have you heard of Walter?" she exclaimed.
+
+"No, my dear, but I have some strange and unpleasant news to give you.
+Yesterday afternoon I received an intimation from Messrs. Halstead &
+James, saying that they had in their possession the will of the late
+General Mathieson bearing date the 16th of May of the present year. I
+need not say that I was almost stupefied at the news. The firm is one of
+high standing, and it is impossible to suppose that any mistake has
+arisen; at the same time it seemed incredible that the General should
+thus have gone behind our backs, especially as it was only three months
+before that we had at his request drawn out a fresh will for him. Still,
+I am bound to say that such cases are by no means rare. A man wants to
+make a fresh disposition of his property, in a direction of which he
+feels that his own solicitors, especially when they are old family
+solicitors, will not approve, and, therefore, he gets it done by some
+other firm, with the result that, at his death, it comes like a
+bombshell to all concerned. I can hardly doubt that it is so in this
+case, although what dispositions the General may have made of his
+property, other than those contained in the last will we drew up, I am
+unable to say. At any rate one of the firm will come round to our office
+at twelve o'clock with this precious document, and I think that it is
+right that you should be present when it is opened. You will be
+punctual, will you not?"
+
+"You can rely upon my being there a few minutes before twelve, Mr.
+Pettigrew. It all seems very strange. I knew what was the general
+purport of my uncle's last will, for he spoke of it to me. It was, he
+said, the same as the one before it, with the exception that he had left
+a handsome legacy to the man who had saved his life from a tiger. I was
+not surprised at this at all. He had taken a very great fancy to this
+Mr. Simcoe, who was constantly here, and it seemed to me only natural
+that he should leave some of his money to a man who had done him so
+great a service, and who, as he told me, had nearly lost his own life in
+doing it."
+
+"Quite so," the lawyer agreed; "it seemed natural to us all. His
+property was large enough to permit of his doing so without making any
+material difference to his grandchild, who will come into a fine estate
+with large accumulations during his long minority. Now I must be off."
+
+There was a little council held after the lawyer had left.
+
+"They say troubles never comes singly," Hilda remarked, "and certainly
+the adage is verified in my case."
+
+"But we must hope that this will not be so, my dear," Miss Purcell said.
+
+"It cannot be any personal trouble, aunt," for Hilda had fallen back
+into her old habit of so addressing her, "because uncle told me that, as
+I was so well off, he had only put me down for a small sum in his will,
+just to show that he had not forgotten me. I feel sure that he will have
+made no change in that respect, and that whatever alteration he may have
+made cannot affect me in the least; except, of course, he may have come
+to the conclusion that it would be better to appoint two men as
+guardians to Walter, but I hardly think that he would have done that.
+However, there must be something strange about it, or he would not have
+gone to another firm of solicitors. No, I feel convinced that there is
+some fresh trouble at hand."
+
+The carriage drew up at the office in Lincoln's Inn at five minutes to
+twelve. Mr. Pettigrew had not included Miss Purcell and Netta in the
+invitation, but Hilda insisted upon their coming with her. They were
+shown at once into his private room, where some extra chairs had been
+placed. Colonel Bulstrode was already there, and Mr. Farmer joined his
+partner as soon as they were seated.
+
+"This is a most singular affair, Miss Covington," he said, "and I need
+hardly say that it is a matter of great annoyance as well as surprise to
+Pettigrew and myself. Of course General Mathieson was perfectly free to
+go to any other firm of solicitors, but as we have made the wills for
+his family and yours for the last hundred years, as well as conducted
+all their legal business, it is an unpleasant shock to find that he has
+gone elsewhere, and I must say that I am awaiting the reading of this
+will with great curiosity, as its contents will doubtless furnish us
+with the reason why he had it thus prepared."
+
+Just at the stroke of twelve Mr. Halstead and Mr. James were announced.
+
+"We thought it as well," the former said, "for us both to come, Mr.
+Farmer, for we can understand your surprise at finding that a later will
+than that which is doubtless in your possession is in existence, and we
+are ready to explain the whole circumstances under which it was drawn
+out by us. General Mathieson came one day to our office. He brought with
+him the card of Colonel Bulstrode; but this was unnecessary, for some
+months ago the General was at our office with the Colonel. He was only
+there for the purpose of fixing his name as a witness to the colonel's
+signature, as our client, like many others, preferred having a personal
+friend to witness his signature instead of this being done by one of our
+clerks."
+
+"That was so," the Colonel interjected.
+
+"General Mathieson," Mr. Halstead went on, "was only in our office a
+minute or two on that occasion, but of course that was sufficient for us
+to recognize him when he called again. He told us that he desired us to
+draw out a will, and that as he had determined to appoint Mr. Pettigrew
+one of his trustees and guardian to his heir, he thought it as well to
+employ another firm to draw up the will.
+
+"We pointed out that such a precaution was altogether needless when
+dealing with a firm like yours, and he then said, 'I have another
+reason. I am making a change in one of the provisions of the will, and I
+fancy that Farmer & Pettigrew might raise an argument upon it. Here are
+the instructions,' I said, 'You will permit me to read them through,
+General, before giving you a decided answer.' Had the will contained any
+provision that we considered unjust we should have declined to have had
+anything to do with the matter; but as it in no way diverted the
+property from the natural heir, and was, as far as we could see, a just
+and reasonable one, we saw no cause for refusing to carry out his
+instructions; for we have known, as doubtless you have known, many
+similar instances, in which men, for some reason or other, have chosen
+to go outside their family solicitors in matters which they desired
+should remain entirely a secret until after their death. Had General
+Mathieson come to us as an altogether unknown person we should have
+point-blank refused to have had anything to do with the business; but as
+an intimate friend of our client Colonel Bulstrode, and as being known
+to us to some extent personally, we decided to follow the instructions
+given us in writing. I will now, with your permission, read the will."
+
+"First let me introduce Miss Covington to you," Mr. Farmer said. "She is
+the General's nearest relative, with the exception of his grandson.
+These ladies are here with her as her friends."
+
+Mr. Halstead bowed, then broke the seals on a large envelope, drew out a
+parchment, and proceeded to read it. Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew listened
+with increasing surprise as he went on. The legacies were absolutely
+identical with those in the will that they had last prepared. The same
+trustees and guardians for the child were appointed, and they were
+unable to understand what had induced General Mathieson to have what
+was almost a duplicate of his previous will prepared so secretly. The
+last paragraph, however, enlightened them. Instead of Hilda Covington,
+John Simcoe was named as heir to the bulk of the property in the event
+of the decease of Walter Rivington, his grandson, before coming of age.
+
+Hilda gave an involuntary start as the change was announced, and the two
+lawyers looked at each other in dismay. Mr. Halstead, to whom the
+General had explained his reasons for gratitude to John Simcoe, saw
+nothing unusual in the provision, which indeed was heralded with the
+words, "as my only near relative, Hilda Covington, is well endowed, I
+hereby appoint my dear friend, John Simcoe, my sole heir in the event of
+the decease of my grandson, Walter Rivington, before coming of age, in
+token of my appreciation of his heroic rescue of myself from the jaws of
+a tiger, in the course of which rescue he was most seriously wounded."
+
+When he had finished he laid down the will and looked round.
+
+"I hope," he said, "that this will be satisfactory to all parties."
+
+"By gad, sir," Colonel Bulstrode said hotly, "I should call this last
+part as unsatisfactory as possible."
+
+"The will is identical," Mr. Farmer said, without heeding the Colonel's
+interjection, "with the one that General Mathieson last executed. The
+persons benefited and the amounts left to them are in every case the
+same, but you will understand the dismay with which we have heard the
+concluding paragraph when I tell you that General Mathieson's heir,
+Walter Rivington, now a child of six or seven years old, disappeared--I
+think I may say was kidnaped--on the day preceding General Mathieson's
+death, and that all efforts to discover his whereabouts have so far been
+unsuccessful."
+
+Mr. Halstead and his partner looked at each other with dismay, even
+greater than that exhibited by the other lawyers.
+
+"God bless me!" Mr. Halstead exclaimed. "This is a bad business
+indeed--and a very strange one. Do you think that this Mr. Simcoe can
+have been aware of this provision in his favor?"
+
+"It is likely enough that he was aware of it," Mr. Pettigrew said; "he
+was constantly in the company of General Mathieson, and the latter, who
+was one of the frankest of men, may very well have informed him; but
+whether he actually did do so or not of course I cannot say. Would you
+have any objection to my looking at the written instructions?"
+
+"Certainly not. I brought them with me in order that they may be
+referred to as to any question that might arise."
+
+"It is certainly in the General's own handwriting," Mr. Pettigrew said,
+after looking at the paper. "But, indeed, the identity of the legacies
+given to some twenty or thirty persons, and of all the other provisions
+of the will, including the appointment of trustees and guardians, with
+those of the will in our possession, would seem in itself to set the
+matter at rest. Were you present yourself when the General signed it?"
+
+"Certainly. Both Mr. James and myself were present. I can now only
+express my deep regret that we acceded to the General's request to draw
+up the will."
+
+"It is unfortunate, certainly," Mr. Farmer said. "I do not see that
+under the circumstances of his introduction by an old client, and the
+fact that you had seen him before, anyone could blame you for
+undertaking the matter. Such cases are, as you said, by no means
+unusual, and I am quite sure that you would not have undertaken it, had
+you considered for a moment that any injustice was being done by its
+provisions."
+
+"May I ask to whom the property was to go to by the first will?"
+
+"It was to go to Miss Covington. I am sure that I can say, in her name,
+that under other circumstances she would not feel in any way aggrieved
+at the loss of a property she can well dispense with, especially as the
+chances of that provision coming into effect were but small, as the
+child was a healthy little fellow, and in all respects likely to live to
+come of age."
+
+"I do not care in the least for myself," Hilda said impetuously. "On the
+contrary, I would much rather that it had gone to someone else. I should
+not have at all liked the thought that I might benefit by Walter's
+death, but I would rather that it had been left to anyone but this man,
+whom I have always disliked, and whom Walter also disliked. I cannot
+give any reason why. I suppose it was an instinct, and now the instinct
+is justified, for I feel sure that he is at the bottom of Walter's
+disappearance."
+
+"Hush! hush! my dear young lady," Mr. Farmer said, holding up his hand
+in dismay, "you must not say such things; they are libelous in the
+extreme. Whatever suspicions you may have--and I own that at present
+things look awkward--you must not mention those suspicions until you
+obtain some evidence in their support. The disappearance of the child at
+this moment may be a mere coincidence--a singular one, if you like--and
+we shall, of course, examine the matter to the utmost and sift it to the
+bottom, but nothing must be said until we have something to go on."
+
+Hilda sat silent, with her lips pressed tightly together and an
+expression of determination upon her face. The other solicitors speedily
+left, after more expressions of regret.
+
+"What are we going to do next, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda asked abruptly, as
+the door closed behind them.
+
+"That is too difficult a matter to decide off-hand, but after going into
+the whole matter with my co-trustee, Colonel Bulstrode, with the
+assistance of my partner, we shall come to some agreement as to the best
+course to take. Of course we could oppose the probate of this new will,
+but it does not seem to me that we have a leg to stand upon in that
+respect. I have no doubt that Halstead & James will retire altogether
+from the matter, and refuse to act further. In that case it will be my
+duty, of course, to acquaint Simcoe with the provisions of the will,
+and to inform him that we, as trustees, shall not proceed to take any
+further steps in the matter until the fate of Walter Rivington is
+ascertained, but shall until then administer the estate in his behalf.
+It will then be for him to take the next step, and he certainly will not
+move for some months. After a time he will, of course, apply to the
+court to have it declared that Walter Rivington, having disappeared for
+a long time, there is reasonable presumption of his death. I shall then,
+in your name and mine, as the child's guardians, be heard in opposition,
+and I feel sure that the court will refuse to grant the petition,
+especially under the serious and most suspicious circumstances of the
+case. In time Simcoe will repeat the application, and we shall of course
+oppose it. In fact, I think it likely that it will be a good many years
+before the court will take the step asked, and all that time we shall be
+quietly making inquiries about this man and his antecedents, and we
+shall, of course, keep up a search for the child. It may be that his
+disappearance is only a coincidence, and that he has, as we at first
+supposed, been stolen for the purpose of making a heavy claim for his
+return."
+
+"You may be sure that I shall not rest until I find him, Mr. Pettigrew,"
+Hilda said. "I shall devote my life to it. I love the child dearly; but
+even were he a perfect stranger to me I would do everything in my power,
+if only to prevent this man from obtaining the proceeds of his
+villainy."
+
+Mr. Farmer again interposed.
+
+"My dear Miss Covington," he said, "you really must not speak like this.
+Of course, with us it is perfectly safe. I admit that you have good
+reason for your indignation, but you must really moderate your
+expressions, which might cause infinite mischief were you to use them
+before other people. In the eye of the law a man is innocent until he is
+proved guilty, and we have not a shadow of proof that this man has
+anything to do with the child's abduction. Moreover, it might do harm in
+other ways. To begin with, it might render the discovery of the child
+more difficult; for if his abductors were aware or even suspected that
+you were searching in all directions for him, they would take all the
+greater pains to conceal his hiding-place."
+
+"I will be careful, Mr. Farmer, but I shall proceed to have a search
+made at every workhouse and night refuge and place of that sort in
+London, and within twenty miles round, and issue more placards of your
+offer of a reward of five hundred pounds for information. There is no
+harm in that."
+
+"Certainly not. Those are the measures that one would naturally take in
+any case. Indeed, I should already have pushed my inquiries in that
+direction, but I have hitherto felt sure that had he been merely taken
+for his clothes, the police would have traced him before now; but as
+they have not been able to do so, that it was a case of blackmail, and
+that we should hear very shortly from the people that had stolen him. I
+sincerely trust that this may the case, and that it will turn out that
+this man Simcoe has nothing whatever to do with it. I will come down and
+let you know what steps we are taking from time to time, and learn the
+directions in which you are pushing your inquiries."
+
+Neither Miss Purcell nor Netta had spoken from the time they had entered
+the room, but as soon as they took their places in the carriage waiting
+for them, they burst out.
+
+"What an extraordinary thing, Hilda! And yet," Miss Purcell added, "the
+search for Walter may do good in one way; it will prevent you from
+turning your thoughts constantly to the past and to the loss that you
+have suffered."
+
+"If it had not been for Walter being missing, aunt, I should have
+thought nothing of uncle's appointing Mr. Simcoe as heir to his property
+if anything should happen to him. This man had obtained an extraordinary
+influence over him, and there can be no doubt from uncle's statement to
+me that he owed his life solely to him, and that Simcoe indeed was
+seriously injured in saving him. He knew that I had no occasion for the
+money, and have already more than is good for a girl to have at her
+absolute disposal; therefore I am in no way surprised that he should
+have left him his estate in the event of Walter's death. All that is
+quite right, and I have nothing to say against it, except that I have
+always disliked the man. It is only the extraordinary disappearance of
+Walter, just at this moment, that seems to me to render it certain that
+Simcoe is at the bottom of it. No one else could have had any motive for
+stealing Walter, more than any other rich man's child. His interest in
+his disappearance is immense. I have no doubt uncle had told him what he
+had done, and the man must have seen that his chance of getting the
+estate was very small unless the child could be put out of the way."
+
+"You don't think," Netta began, "that any harm can have happened to
+him?"
+
+"No, I don't think that. Whether this man would have shrunk from it if
+there were no other way, I need not ask myself; but there could have
+been no occasion for it. Walter is so young that he will very soon
+forget the past; he might be handed over to a gypsy and grow up a little
+vagrant, and as there is no mark on him by which he might be identified,
+he would be lost to us forever. You see the man can afford to wait. He
+has doubtless means of his own--how large I do not know, but I have
+heard my uncle say that he had handsome chambers, and certainly he lived
+in good style. Now he will have this legacy of ten thousand pounds, and
+if the court keeps him waiting ten or fifteen years before pronouncing
+Walter dead, he can afford to wait. Anyhow, I shall have plenty of time
+in which to act, and it will require a lot of thinking over before I
+decide what I had best do."
+
+She lost no time, however, in beginning to work. Posters offering the
+reward of five hundred pounds for information of the missing boy were at
+once issued, and stuck up not only in London, but in every town and
+village within thirty miles. Then she obtained from Mr. Pettigrew the
+name of a firm of trustworthy private detectives and set them to make
+inquiries, in the first place at all the institutions where a lost child
+would be likely to be taken if found, or where it might have been left
+by a tramp. Two days after the reading of the will she received the
+following letter from John Simcoe:
+
+     "DEAR MISS COVINGTON: I have learned from Messrs. Farmer &
+     Pettigrew the liberal and I may say extraordinary generosity shown
+     towards myself by the late General Mathieson, whose loss I most
+     deeply deplore. My feelings of gratitude are at the present moment
+     overwhelmed by the very painful position in which I find myself. I
+     had, of course, heard, upon calling at your door to make inquiries,
+     that little Walter was missing, and was deeply grieved at the news,
+     though not at the time dreaming that it could affect me personally.
+     Now, however, the circumstances of the case are completely changed,
+     for, by the provisions of the will, I should benefit pecuniarily by
+     the poor child's death. I will not for a moment permit myself to
+     believe that he is not alive and well, and do not doubt that you
+     will speedily recover him; but, until this occurs, I feel that some
+     sort of suspicion must attach to me, who am the only person having
+     an interest in his disappearance. The thought that this may be so
+     is distressing to me in the extreme. Since I heard of his
+     disappearance I have spent the greater part of my time in
+     traversing the slums of London in hopes of lighting upon him. I
+     shall now undertake wider researches, and shall to-day insert
+     advertisements in all the daily papers, offering one thousand
+     pounds for his recovery. I feel sure that you at least will not for
+     a moment entertain unjust suspicions concerning me, but those who
+     do not know me well may do so, and although at present none of the
+     facts have been made public, I feel as if I were already under a
+     cloud, and that men in the club look askance at me, and unless the
+     child is found my position will speedily become intolerable. My
+     only support in this trial is my consciousness of innocence. You
+     will excuse me for intruding upon your sorrow at the present
+     moment, but I felt compelled to write as I have done, and to assure
+     you that I will use every effort in my power to discover the child,
+     not only for his own sake and yours, but because I feel that until
+     he is discovered I must continue to rest under the terrible, if
+     unspoken, suspicion of being concerned in his disappearance.
+
+     "Believe me, yours very truly,
+     "JOHN SIMCOE."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+DR. LEEDS SPEAKS.
+
+
+After reading John Simcoe's letter, Hilda threw it down with an
+exclamation of contempt.
+
+"Read it!" she said to Netta, who was alone with her.
+
+"The letter is good enough as it stands," Netta remarked, as she
+finished it.
+
+"Good enough, if coming from anyone else," Hilda said scornfully,
+"perhaps better than most men would write, but I think that a rogue can
+generally express himself better than an honest man."
+
+"Now you are getting cynical--a new and unpleasant phase in your
+character, Hilda. I have heard you say that you do not like this man,
+but you have never given me any particular reason for it, beyond, in one
+of your letters, saying that it was an instinct. Now do try to give me a
+more palpable reason than that. At present it seems to be only a case of
+Dr. Fell. You don't like him because you don't."
+
+"I don't like him because from the first I distrusted him. Personally, I
+had no reason to complain; on the contrary, he has been extremely civil,
+and indeed willing to put himself out in any way to do me small
+services. Then, as I told you, Walter disliked him, too, although he was
+always bringing chocolates and toys for him; so that the child's dislike
+must have been also a sort of instinct. He felt, as I did, that the man
+was not true and honest. He always gave me the impression of acting a
+part, and I have never been able to understand how a man of his class
+could have performed so noble and heroic an act as rushing in almost
+unarmed to save another, who was almost a stranger to him, from the
+grip of a tiger. So absolutely did I feel this that I have at times
+even doubted whether he could be the John Simcoe who had performed this
+gallant action."
+
+"My dear Hilda, you are getting fanciful! Do you think that your uncle
+was likely to be deceived in such a matter, and that he would not have a
+vivid remembrance of his preserver, even after twenty years?"
+
+"That depends on how much he saw of him. My uncle told me that Mr.
+Simcoe brought some good introductions from a friend of his at Calcutta
+who came out in the same ship with him. No doubt he dined at my uncle's
+two or three times--he may even have stayed a few days in the
+house--possibly more; but as commanding the district my uncle must have
+been fully occupied during the day, and can have seen little of him
+until, I suppose, a week or so after his arrival, when he invited him to
+join in the hunt for a tiger. Although much hurt on that occasion,
+Simcoe was much less injured than my uncle, who lay between life and
+death for some time, and Simcoe had left before he was well enough to
+see him. If he had dined with my uncle a few times after this affair,
+undoubtedly his features would have been so impressed on him that he
+would have recognized him, even after twenty years; but, as it was, he
+could have no particular interest in this gentleman, and can have
+entertained but a hazy recollection of his features. In fact, the
+General did not recognize him when he first called upon him, until he
+had related certain details of the affair. It had always been a sore
+point with my uncle that he had never had an opportunity of thanking his
+preserver, who had, as he believed, lost his life at sea before he
+himself was off his sick bed, and when he heard the man's story he was
+naturally anxious to welcome him with open arms, and to do all in his
+power for him. I admit that this man must either have been in Benares
+then, or shortly afterwards, for he remembered various officers who were
+there and little incidents of cantonment life that could, one would
+think, be only known to one who had been there at the time."
+
+"But you say he was only there a week, Hilda?"
+
+"Only a week before this tiger business; but it was a month before he
+was able to travel. No doubt all the officers there would make a good
+deal of a man who had performed such a deed, and would go and sit with
+him and chat to while away the hours; so that he would, in that time,
+pick up a great deal of the gossip of the station."
+
+"Well, then, what is your theory, Hilda? The real man, as you say, no
+doubt made a great many acquaintances there; this man seems to have been
+behind the scenes also."
+
+"He unquestionably knew many of the officers, for uncle told me that he
+recognized several men who had been out there when he met them at the
+club, and went up and addressed them by name."
+
+"Did they know him also?"
+
+"No; at first none of them had any idea who he was. But that is not
+surprising, for they had seen him principally when he was greatly pulled
+down; and believing him to be drowned, it would have been strange indeed
+if they had recalled his face until he had mentioned who he was."
+
+"Well, it seems to me that you are arguing against yourself, Hilda.
+Everything you say points to the fact that this man is the John Simcoe
+he claims to be. If he is not Simcoe, who can he be?"
+
+"Ah! There you ask a question that I cannot answer."
+
+"In fact, Hilda, you have nothing beyond the fact that you do not like
+the man, and believe that he is not the sort of man to perform an heroic
+and self-sacrificing action, on behalf of this curious theory of yours."
+
+"That is all at present, but I mean to set myself to work to find out
+more about him. If I can find out that this man is an impostor we shall
+recover Walter; if not, I doubt whether we shall ever hear of him
+again."
+
+Netta lifted her eyebrows.
+
+"Well, at any rate, you have plenty of time before you, Hilda."
+
+The next morning Dr. Leeds, who had not called for the last three or
+four days, came in to say that he was arranging a partnership with a
+doctor of considerable eminence, but who was beginning to find the
+pressure of work too much for him, and wanted the aid of a younger and
+more active man.
+
+"It is a chance in a thousand," he said. "I owe it largely to the kind
+manner in which both Sir Henry Havercourt and Dr. Pearson spoke to him
+as to my ability. You will excuse me," he went on, after Hilda had
+warmly congratulated him, "for talking of myself before I have asked any
+questions, but I know that, had you obtained any news of Walter, you
+would have let me know at once."
+
+"Certainly I should; but I have some news, and really important news, to
+give you." And she related the production of the new will and gave him
+the details of its provisions.
+
+He looked very serious.
+
+"It is certainly an ugly outlook," he said. "I have never seen this
+Simcoe, but I know from the tone in which you have spoken of him, at
+least two or three times, that he is by no means a favorite of yours.
+Can you tell me anything about him?"
+
+"Not beyond the fact that he saved the General's life from a tiger a
+great many years ago. Shortly after that he was supposed to be lost at
+sea. Certainly the vessel in which he sailed went down in a hurricane
+with, as was reported, all hands. He says that he was picked up clinging
+to a spar. Of his life for the twenty years following he has never given
+a very connected account, at least as far as I know; but some of the
+stories that I have heard him tell show that he led a very wild sort of
+life. Sometimes he was working in a small trader among the islands of
+the Pacific, and I believe he had a share in some of these enterprises.
+Then he claims to have been in the service of a native prince somewhere
+up beyond Burmah, and according to his account took quite an active
+part in many sanguinary wars and adventures of all sorts."
+
+The doctor's face grew more and more serious as she proceeded.
+
+"Do I gather, Miss Covington, that you do not believe that this man is
+what he claims to be?"
+
+"Frankly that is my opinion, doctor. I own that I have no ground
+whatever for my disbelief, except that I have naturally studied the man
+closely. I have watched his lips as he spoke. When he has been talking
+about these adventures with savages he spoke without effort, and I have
+no doubt whatever that he did take part in such adventures; but when he
+was speaking of India, and especially when at some of the bachelor
+dinners uncle gave there were officers who had known him out there, it
+was clear to me that he did not speak with the same freedom. He weighed
+his words, as if afraid of making a mistake. I believe that the man was
+playing a part. His tone was genial and sometimes a little boisterous,
+as it might well be on the part of a man who had been years away from
+civilization; but I always thought from his manner that all this was
+false. I am convinced that he is a double-faced man. When he spoke I
+observed that he watched in a furtive sort of way the person to whom he
+was speaking, to see the effect of his words; but, above all, I formed
+my opinion upon the fact that I am absolutely convinced that this man
+could never have performed the splendid action of facing a wounded tiger
+unarmed for the sake of one who was, in fact, but a casual
+acquaintance."
+
+"You will excuse me if I make no comment on what you have told me, Miss
+Covington. It is a matter far too serious for any man to form a hasty
+opinion upon. I myself have never seen this man, but I am content to
+take your estimate of his character. One trained, as you were for years,
+in the habit of closely watching faces cannot but be a far better judge
+of character than those who have not had such training. I will take two
+or three days to think the matter over; and now will you tell me what
+steps you are taking at present to discover Walter?"
+
+She told him of what was being done.
+
+"Can you suggest anything else, Dr. Leeds?"
+
+"Nothing. It seems to me that the key to the mystery is in the hands of
+this man, and that it is there it must be sought, though at present I
+can see no way in which the matter can be set about. When one enters
+into a struggle with a man like this, one must be armed at all points,
+prepared to meet craft with craft, and above all to have a
+well-marked-out plan of campaign. Now I will say good-morning. I suppose
+Miss Purcell and her niece will stay on with you, at any rate for a
+time?"
+
+"For a long time, I hope," she said.
+
+"May I ask if you have stated the view that you have given me to Miss
+Netta Purcell?"
+
+"Yes, I have told her. She is disposed to treat it as an absurd fancy on
+my part, but if I can get anything to go upon which will convince her
+that there is even a faint possibility of my being right, she will go
+through fire and water to assist me."
+
+"I can well believe that," the doctor said. "I am sure that she has a
+strong character, although so lively and full of fun. Of course, having
+been thrown with her for four months, I am able to form a very fair
+opinion of her disposition."
+
+After Dr. Leeds had left, Hilda began to build castles for her friend.
+
+"It would be a splendid thing for her," she said. "He is certainly not a
+man to speak in the way he did unless he thoroughly meant it. I should
+think that they were just suited to each other; though it would be
+really a pity that the scheme I had set my mind upon for getting her
+over here as head of an institution for teaching deaf and dumb children
+on Professor Menzel's plan should come to nothing. Perhaps, though, he
+might be willing that she should act as the head of such an
+establishment, getting trained assistants from those she knows in
+Hanover and giving a few hours a day herself to the general supervision,
+if only for the sake of the good that such an institution would do
+among, perhaps the most unfortunate of all beings. I am quite sure that,
+so far, she has no thought of such a thing. However, perhaps I am
+running on too fast, and that he only means what he said, that he
+admired her character. I suppose there is no reason that because a man
+admires a girl's character he should fall in love with her, and yet
+Netta is so bright and cheerful, and at the same time so kind and
+thoughtful, I can hardly imagine that any man, thrown with her as he has
+been, could help falling in love with her."
+
+Netta was surprised when Hilda told her that Dr. Leeds had been inclined
+to view her theory seriously.
+
+"Really, Hilda? Certainly he is not the sort of man to be carried away
+by your enthusiasm, so please consider all that I have said upon the
+subject as unspoken, and I will stand neutral until I hear further what
+he says."
+
+"He did not say very much, I admit, Netta; but he said that he would
+take the matter seriously into consideration and let me know what he
+thinks in two or three days."
+
+"I am afraid that he wants to let you down gently," Netta said. "Well,
+well, don't looked vexed! I will say no more about it until this solemn
+judgment is delivered."
+
+Netta was in the room when Dr. Leeds called, two days later.
+
+"Netta is in all my counsels, Dr. Leeds," Hilda said, "and she is, as a
+rule, a capital hand at keeping a secret, though she did let mine slip
+out to you."
+
+There was no smile on the doctor's face, and both girls felt at once
+that the interview was to be a serious one.
+
+"I am well aware that I can speak before Miss Purcell," he said,
+"although there are very few people before whom I would repeat what I am
+going to say. I have two questions to ask you, Miss Covington. What is
+the date of this last will of your uncle's?"
+
+"It is dated the 16th of May."
+
+"About a fortnight before the General's alarming seizure?"
+
+Hilda bowed her head in assent. The next question took her quite by
+surprise.
+
+"Do you know whether this man Simcoe was one of the party when the
+seizure took place?"
+
+"He was, doctor. My uncle told me that he was going to dine with him,
+and Dr. Pearson mentioned to me that he was next to the General and
+caught him as he fell from his chair."
+
+Dr. Leeds got up and walked up and down the room two or three minutes.
+
+"I think that now things have come to the present pass you ought to know
+what was the opinion that I originally formed of General Mathieson's
+illness. Dr. Pearson and Sir Henry Havercourt both differed from me and
+treated my theory as a fanciful one, and without foundation; and of
+course I yielded to such superior authority, and henceforth kept my
+ideas to myself. Nevertheless, during the time the General was under my
+charge I failed altogether to find any theory or explanation for his
+strange attack and subsequent state, except that which I had first
+formed. It was a theory that a medical man is always most reluctant to
+declare unless he is in a position to prove it, or at least to give some
+very strong reason in its favor, for a mistake would not only cost him
+his reputation, but might involve him in litigation and ruin his career
+altogether. But I think that I ought to tell you what my opinion is,
+Miss Covington. You must not take it for more than it is worth, namely
+as a theory; but it may possibly set you on a new track and aid you in
+your endeavor to discover the missing child."
+
+The surprise of the two girls increased as he continued, after a pause:
+
+"Ever since the day when I was first requested to act as the General's
+resident medical man I have devoted a considerable time to the study of
+books in which, here and there, could be found accounts of the action of
+the herbs in use among the Obi women, fetich men, and so-called wizards
+on the West Coast of Africa, also in India, and among the savage tribes
+of the Malay Archipelago and the Pacific Islands. What drugs they use
+has never been discovered, although many efforts have been made to
+obtain a knowledge of them, both in India and on the West Coast; but
+doctors have found it necessary to abandon the attempt, several of them
+having fallen victims of the jealousy of these people because of the
+researches they were making. But at the least the effects of the
+administration of these drugs have been frequently described, and in
+some respects these correspond so closely to those noticeable in the
+General's case that I say now, as I said at first, I believe the
+General's illness was caused by the administration of some drug
+absolutely unknown to European science."
+
+"You think that my uncle was poisoned?" Hilda exclaimed in a tone of
+horror, while Netta started to her feet with clenched hands and flushed
+face.
+
+"I have not used the word 'poisoned,' Miss Covington, though in fact it
+comes to that. It may not have been administered with the intention of
+killing; it may have been intended only to bring on a fit, which, in due
+time, might have been attended by others; but the dose may have been
+stronger than its administrator intended."
+
+"And you think, Dr. Leeds--you think that it was administered by----"
+
+"No, Miss Covington; I accuse no one. I have no shadow of proof against
+anyone; but taking this illness, with the abduction of the child, it
+cannot be denied that one's suspicions must, in the first case, fall
+upon the man who has profited by the crime, if crime it was. On May 16
+this will was drawn up, bequeathing the property to a certain person.
+The circumstances of the will were curious, but from what I learned from
+you of the explanation given by the lawyers who drew it up, it seems
+fair and above-board enough. The General was certainly greatly under the
+influence of this man, who had rendered him the greatest service one man
+can render another, and that at the risk of his own life. Therefore I do
+not consider that this will, which was, so to speak, sprung upon you, is
+in itself an important link in the chain. But when we find that twelve
+or fourteen days afterwards the General was, when at table, seized with
+a terrible fit of an extraordinary and mysterious nature, and that the
+man who had an interest in his death was sitting next to him, the
+coincidence is at least a strange one. When, however, the General's heir
+is abducted, when the General is at the point of death, the matter for
+the first time assumes a position of the most extreme gravity.
+
+"At first, like you, I thought that Walter had either been stolen by
+some woman for the sake of his clothes, or that he had been carried off
+by someone aware that he was the General's heir, with a view to
+obtaining a large sum of money as his ransom. Such things have been done
+before, and will, no doubt, be done again. The first hypothesis appears
+to have failed altogether; no woman who had robbed a child of his
+clothes would desire to detain him for an hour longer than was
+necessary. The inquiries of the police have failed altogether; the
+people you have employed have ascertained that neither at the workhouses
+of London nor in the adjacent counties has any child at all answering to
+Walter's description been left by a tramp or brought in by the police or
+by someone who had found him wandering about. It cannot be said that the
+second hypothesis is also proved to be a mistaken one; the men who took
+him away would be obliged to exercise the greatest caution when opening
+negotiations for his release, and it might be a month or more before you
+heard from them.
+
+"Therefore, it would be unfair to this man Simcoe to assume that he is
+the author of the plot until so long a period has passed that it is
+morally certain that the boy was not stolen for the purpose of
+blackmail. However, we have the following suspicious circumstances:
+first, that, as I believe, the General was drugged by some poison of
+whose nature we are ignorant beyond that we read of very similar cases
+occurring among natives races in Africa and elsewhere. Then we have the
+point that no one would have had any interest in the General's death,
+with the exception of the man he had named as his heir in the event of
+the child's death. We know by the man's statement that he was for many
+years living among tribes where poisons of this kind are used by the
+wizards and fetich men to support their authority and to remove persons
+against whom they have a grudge. Lastly, we have the crowning fact of
+the abduction of the child, who stood between this man and the estates.
+All this is at best mere circumstantial evidence. We do not know for
+certain what caused the General's fit, we have no proof that Simcoe had
+any hand in the abduction, and whatever our opinion may be, it is
+absolutely necessary that we do not breathe a hint to anyone."
+
+Hilda did not speak; the shock and the horror of the matter were too
+much for her. She sat with open lips and blanched face, looking at Dr.
+Leeds. Netta, however, leaped to her feet again.
+
+"It must be so, Dr. Leeds. It does not seem to me that there can be a
+shadow of doubt in the matter, and anything that I can do to bring the
+truth to light I will do, however long a time it takes me."
+
+"Thank you, Netta," Hilda said, holding out her hand to her friend; "as
+for me, I will devote my life to clearing up this mystery."
+
+"I am afraid, Miss Covington, that my engagements henceforth will
+prevent my joining actively in your search, but my advice will always be
+at your service, and it may be that I shall be able to point out methods
+that have not occurred to you."
+
+"But, oh, Dr. Leeds!" Hilda exclaimed suddenly; "if this villain
+poisoned my uncle, surely he will not hesitate to put Walter out of his
+path."
+
+"I have been thinking of that," Dr. Leeds exclaimed, "but I have come to
+the conclusion that it is very unlikely that he will do so. In the first
+place, he must have had accomplices. The man who spoke to the nurse and
+the cabman who drove the child away must both have been employed by him,
+and I have no doubt whatever that the child has been placed with some
+persons who are probably altogether ignorant of his identity. Walter was
+a lovable child, and as soon as he got over his first grief he would no
+doubt become attached to the people he was with, and although these
+might be willing to take a child who, they were told, had lost its
+parents, and was homeless and friendless, without inquiring too closely
+into the circumstances, it is unlikely in the extreme that they would
+connive at any acts of violence. It is by no means easy to murder and
+then to dispose of the body of a child of seven, and I should doubt
+whether this man would attempt such a thing. He would be perfectly
+content that the boy would be out of his way, that all traces of him
+should be lost, and that it would be beyond the range of probability
+that he could ever be identified, and, lastly, even the most hardened
+villains do not like putting their necks in a noose. Moreover, if in the
+last extremity his confederates, believing that he had made away with
+the child, tried to blackmail him, or some unforeseen circumstance
+brought home to him the guilt of this abduction, he would be in a
+position to produce the child, and even to make good terms for himself
+for doing so. You yourself, whatever your feelings might be as to the
+man whom you believe to be the murderer of your uncle, would still be
+willing to pay a considerable sum and allow him to leave the country, on
+condition of his restoring Walter. Therefore I think that you may make
+your mind easy on that score, and believe that whatever has happened to
+him, or wherever he may be, there is no risk of actual harm befalling
+him."
+
+"Thank you very much, doctor. That is indeed a relief. And now have you
+thought of any plan upon which we had best set to work?"
+
+"Not at present, beyond the fact that I see that the power you both
+possess of reading what men say, when, as they believe, out of earshot,
+ought to be of material advantage to you. As Miss Purcell has promised
+to associate herself with you in the search, I should say that she would
+be of more use in this direction than you would. You have told me that
+he must be perfectly aware of your dislike for him, and would certainly
+be most careful, were you in his presence, although he might not dream
+of this power that you possess. But he has never seen your friend, and
+would not be on his guard with her. I have at present not thought over
+any plan by which she could watch him--that must be for after
+consideration--but it seems to me that this offers some chance of
+obtaining a clew."
+
+"I am ready to do anything, Dr. Leeds," Netta said firmly. "You only
+have to find out a way, and I will follow out your instructions to the
+letter. First we must find out whether Hilda's theory about this man,
+which I scoffed at when she first spoke of it to me, is correct."
+
+"You mean the theory that this man is not John Simcoe at all, but
+someone who, knowing the facts of the rescue from the tiger, and being
+also well acquainted with people and things in Benares, has personated
+him? I will not discuss that now. I have an appointment to meet a
+colleague for consultation in a difficult case, and have already run the
+time very close. You shall see me again shortly, when I have had time to
+think the whole matter over quietly."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+NETTA VISITS STOWMARKET.
+
+
+"Well, Netta," Hilda said, after Dr. Leeds had left them, "I suppose you
+will not in future laugh at my instincts. I only wish that they had been
+stronger. I wish I had told my dear uncle that I disliked the man so
+thoroughly that I was sure there was something wrong with him, and
+implored him not to become very intimate with him. If I had told him how
+strongly I felt on the subject, although, of course, he could have left
+or given him any sum that he chose, I do think it would have had some
+influence with him. No doubt he would have laughed at what he would have
+called my suspicious nature, but I think he would not have become so
+friendly with the man; but, of course, I never thought of this. Oh,
+Netta! my heart seems broken at the thought that my dear uncle, the
+kindest of men, should have been murdered by a man towards whom his
+thoughts were so kindly that he appointed him his heir in the event of
+Walter's death. If he had left him double the sum he did, and had
+directed that in case of Walter's death the property should go to
+hospitals, the child might now have been safe in the house. It is
+heartbreaking to think of."
+
+"Well, dear," Netta said, "we have our work before us. I say 'we'
+because, although he was no relation to me, I loved him from the first,
+when he came over with the news of your father's death. Had I been his
+niece as well as you, he could not have treated me more kindly than he
+did when I was staying with you last year, and during the last four
+months that I have been with you. One could see, even in the state he
+was in, how kind his nature was, and his very helplessness added to
+one's affection for him. I quite meant what I said, for until this
+matter is cleared up, and until this crime, if crime it really is, is
+brought to light, I will stay here, and be your helper, however the long
+the time may be. There are two of us, and I do not think that either of
+us are fools, and we ought to be a match for one man. There is one thing
+we have, that is a man on whom we can rely. I do not mean Dr. Leeds; I
+regard him as our director. I mean Tom Roberts; he would have given his
+life, I am sure, for his master, and I feel confident that he will carry
+out any instructions we may give him to the letter."
+
+"I am sure he will, Netta. Do you think we ought to tell him our
+suspicions?"
+
+"I should do so unhesitatingly, Hilda. I am sure he will be ready to go
+through fire and water to avenge his master's death. As aunt is out I
+think it will be as well to take him into our confidence at once."
+
+Hilda said nothing, but got up and rang the bell. When the footman
+entered she said, "Tell Roberts that I want to speak to him." When the
+man came up she went on, "We are quite sure, Tom, that you were most
+thoroughly devoted to your master, and that you would do anything in
+your power to get to the bottom of the events that have brought about
+his death and the carrying off of his grandson."
+
+"That I would, miss; there is not anything that I would not do if you
+would only set me about it."
+
+"Well, Roberts, I am about to take you into our confidence, relying
+implicitly upon your silence and on your aid."
+
+"You can do that, miss, safely enough. There is nothing now that I can
+do for my master; but as for Master Walter, I would walk to China if I
+thought that there was a chance of finding him there."
+
+"In the first place you must remember, Roberts, that we are acting only
+upon suspicion; we have only that to go upon, and our object must be to
+find some proofs to justify those suspicions."
+
+"I understand, miss; you have got an idea, and you want to see if it is
+right?"
+
+"We ourselves have little doubt of it, Roberts. Now please sit down and
+listen to me, and don't interrupt me till I have finished."
+
+Then she related the grounds that she had for suspicion that the
+General's death and Walter's abduction were both the work of John
+Simcoe, and also her own theory that this man was not the person who had
+saved the General's life. In spite of her warning not to interrupt, Tom
+Roberts' exclamations of fury were frequent and strongly worded.
+
+"Well, miss!" he exclaimed, when she had finished and his tongue was
+untied, "I did not think that there was such a villain upon the face of
+the earth. Why, if I had suspected this I would have killed him, if I
+had been hung for it a week after. And to think that he regular took me
+in! He had always a cheerful word for me, if I happened to open the door
+for him. 'How are you, Tom?' he would say, 'hearty as usual?' and he
+would slip a crown into my hand to drink his health. I always keep an
+account of tips that I receive, and the first thing I do will be to add
+them up and see how much I have had from him, and I will hand it over to
+a charity. One don't like setting out to help to bring a man to the
+gallus when you have got his money in your pocket. I must have been a
+fool, miss, not to have kept a better watch, but I never thought ill of
+the man. It seemed to me that he had been a soldier. Sometimes when he
+was talking with me he would come out with barrack-room sayings, and
+though he never said that he had served, nor the General neither, I
+thought that he must have done so. He had a sort of way of carrying his
+shoulders which you don't often see among men who have not learned the
+goose-step. I will wait, miss, with your permission, until I have got
+rid of that money, and then if you say to me, 'Go to that man's rooms
+and take him by the throat and squeeze the truth out of him,' I am ready
+to do it."
+
+"We shall not require such prompt measures as that, Tom; we must go
+about our work carefully and quietly, and I fear that it will be a very
+long time before we are able to collect facts that we can act upon. We
+have not decided yet how to begin. I may tell you that the only other
+person who shares our suspicions is Dr. Leeds. We think it best that
+even Miss Purcell should know nothing about them. It would only cause
+her great anxiety, and the matter will, therefore, be kept a close
+secret among our four selves. In a few days our plans will probably be
+complete, and I think that your share in the business will be to watch
+every movement of this man and to ascertain who are his associates; many
+of them, no doubt, are club men, who, of course, will be above
+suspicion, but it is certain that he must have had accomplices in the
+abduction of the child. Whether he visits them or they visit him, is a
+point to find out. There is little chance of their calling during
+daylight, and it is in the evening that you will have to keep a close
+eye on him and ascertain who his visitors are."
+
+"All right, miss, I wish he did not know me by sight; but I expect that
+I can get some sort of a disguise so that he won't recognize me."
+
+"I don't think that there will be any difficulty about that. Of course
+we are not going to rely only upon you; Miss Purcell and myself are both
+going to devote ourselves to the search."
+
+"We will run him down between us, miss, never fear. It cannot be meant
+that such a fellow as this should not be found out in his villainy. I
+wish that there was something more for me to do. I know several old
+soldiers like myself, who would join me willingly enough, and we might
+between us carry him off and keep him shut up somewhere, just as he is
+doing Master Walter, until he makes a clean breast of it. It is
+wonderful what the cells and bread and water will do to take a fellow's
+spirit down. It is bad enough when one knows how long one has got to
+bear it; but to know that there is no end to it until you choose to
+speak would get the truth out of Old Nick, begging your pardon for
+naming him."
+
+"Well, we shall see, Roberts. That would certainly be a last resource,
+and I fear that it would not be so effectual as you think. If he told us
+that if he did not pay his usual visit to the boy it would be absolutely
+certain we should never see him alive again, we should not dare retain
+him."
+
+"Well, miss, whatever you decide on I will do. I have lost as a good
+master as ever a man had, and there is nothing that I would not do to
+bring that fellow to justice."
+
+The girls waited impatiently for the next visit of Dr. Leeds. It was
+four days before he came.
+
+"I hoped to have been here before," he said, "but I have been so busy
+that it has not been possible for me to manage it. Of course this
+business has always been in my mind, and it seems to me that the first
+step to be taken is to endeavor to ascertain whether this fellow is
+really, as you believe, Miss Covington, an impostor. Have you ever heard
+him say in what part of the country he formerly resided?"
+
+"Yes; he lived at Stowmarket. I know that some months ago he introduced
+to uncle a gentleman who was manager at a bank there, and had known him
+from boyhood. He was up for a few days staying with him."
+
+"That is certainly rather against your surmise, Miss Covington; however,
+it is as well to clear that matter up before we attempt anything else."
+
+"I will go down and make inquiries, doctor," Netta said quietly. "I am
+half a head shorter than Hilda, and altogether different in face;
+therefore, if he learns that any inquiries have been made, he will be
+sure that whoever made them was not Hilda."
+
+"We might send down a detective, Miss Purcell."
+
+"No; I want to be useful," she said, "and I flatter myself that I shall
+be able to do quite as well as a detective. We could hardly take a
+detective into our confidence in a matter of this kind, and not knowing
+everything, he might miss points that would give us a clew to the truth.
+I will start to-morrow. I shall tell my aunt that I am going away for a
+day or two to follow up some clew we have obtained that may lead to
+Walter's discovery. In a week you shall know whether this man is really
+what he claims to be."
+
+"Very well, Miss Purcell; then we will leave this matter in your hands."
+
+"By the way, doctor," Hilda Covington said, "we have taken Roberts into
+our confidence. We know that we can rely upon his discretion implicitly,
+and it seemed to us that we must have somebody we can trust absolutely
+to watch this man."
+
+"I don't think that you could have done better," he said. "I was going
+to suggest that it would be well to obtain his assistance. From what I
+have heard, very few of these private detectives can be absolutely
+relied upon. I do not mean that they are necessarily rogues, who would
+take money from both sides, but that, if after trying for some time they
+consider the matter hopeless, they will go on running up expenses and
+making charges when they have in reality given up the search. What do
+you propose that he shall do?"
+
+"I should say that, in the first place, he should watch every evening
+the house where Simcoe lives, and follow up everyone who comes out and
+ascertain who they are. No doubt the great majority of them will be
+clubmen, but it is likely that he will be occasionally visited by some
+of his confederates."
+
+"I think that is an excellent plan. He will, of course, also follow him
+when he goes out, for it is much more likely that he will visit these
+fellows than that they should come to him. In a case like this he would
+assuredly use every precaution, and would scarcely let them know who he
+is and where he resides."
+
+"No doubt that is so, doctor, and it would make Roberts' work all the
+easier, for even if they came to the man's lodgings he might be away,
+following up the track of someone who had called before him."
+
+Netta returned at the end of four days.
+
+"I have not succeeded," she said, in answer to Hilda's inquiring look as
+she came in. "The man is certainly well known at Stowmarket as John
+Simcoe; but that does not prove that he is the man, and just as he
+deceived your uncle he may have deceived the people down there. Now I
+will go upstairs and take off my things, and then give you a full
+account of my proceedings.
+
+"My first step," she began on her return, "was, of course, to find out
+what members of the Simcoe family lived there. After engaging a room at
+the hotel, which I can assure you was the most unpleasant part of the
+business, for they seemed to be altogether unaccustomed to the arrival
+of young ladies unattended, I went into the town. It is not much of a
+place, and after making some little purchases and inquiring at several
+places, I heard of a maiden lady of that name. The woman who told me of
+her was communicative. 'She has just had a great piece of luck,' she
+said. 'About ten months back a nephew, whom everyone had supposed to
+have been lost at sea, came home with a great fortune, and they say that
+he has behaved most handsomely to her. She has always bought her Berlin
+wool and such things here, and she has spent three or four times as much
+since he came home as she did before, and I know from a neighbor, of
+whom she is a customer, that the yards and yards of flannel that she
+buys for making up into petticoats for poor children is wonderful. Do
+you know her, miss?' I said that I did not know her personally, but that
+some friends of mine, knowing that I was going to Stowmarket, had asked
+me to inquire if Miss Simcoe was still alive. I said casually that I
+might call and see her, and so got her address.
+
+"I then went to call upon her. She lives in a little place called Myrtle
+Cottage. I had been a good deal puzzled as to what story I should tell
+her. I thought at first of giving myself out as the sister of the young
+lady to whom her nephew was paying his addresses; and as we knew
+nothing of him except that he was wealthy, and as he had mentioned that
+he had an aunt at Stowmarket, and as I was coming down there, I had been
+asked to make inquiries about him. But I thought this might render her
+so indignant that I should get nothing from her. I thought, therefore, I
+had better get all she knew voluntarily; so I went to the house,
+knocked, and asked whether Miss Simcoe was in. I was shown by a little
+maid into the parlor, a funny, little, old-fashioned room. Presently
+Miss Simcoe herself came in. She was just the sort of woman I had
+pictured--a kindly-looking, little old maid.
+
+"'I do not know whether I have done wrong, Miss Simcoe,' I said, 'but I
+am a stranger here, and having over-worked myself at a picture from
+which I hope great things, I have been recommended country air; and a
+friend told me that Stowmarket was a pretty, quiet, country town, just
+the place for an over-worked Londoner to gain health in, so I came down
+and made some inquiries for a single lady who would perhaps take me in
+and give me a comfortable home for two or three months. Your name has
+been mentioned to me as being just the lady I am seeking."
+
+"'You have been misinformed,' she said, a little primly. 'I do not say
+that a few months back I might not have been willing to have entertained
+such an offer, but my circumstances have changed since then, and now I
+should not think for a moment of doing so.'
+
+"Rising from my seat with a tired air, I said that I was much obliged to
+her, but I was very sorry she could not take me in, as I was sure that I
+should be very comfortable; however, as she could not, of course there
+was an end of it.
+
+"'Sit down, my dear,' the old lady said. 'I see that you are tired and
+worn out; my servant shall get you a cup of tea. You see,' she went on,
+as I murmured my thanks and sat down, 'I cannot very well do what you
+ask. As I said, a few months ago I should certainly have been very glad
+to have had a young lady like yourself to stay with me for a time; I
+think that when a lady gets to my age a little youthful companionship
+does her good. Besides, I do not mind saying that my means were somewhat
+straitened, and that a little additional money would have been a great
+help to me; but everything was changed by the arrival of a nephew of
+mine. Perhaps you may have heard his name; he is a rich man, and I
+believe goes out a great deal, and belongs to clubs and so on.'
+
+"I said that I had not heard of him, for I knew nothing about society,
+nor the sort of men who frequented clubs.
+
+"'No, of course not, my dear,' she said. 'Well, he had been away for
+twenty years, and everyone thought he was dead. He sailed away in some
+ship that was never heard of again, and you may guess my surprise when
+he walked in here and called me aunt.'
+
+"'You must have been indeed surprised, Miss Simcoe,' I said; 'it must
+have been quite a shock to you. And did you know him at once?'
+
+"'Oh, dear, no! He had been traveling about the world, you see, for a
+very long time, and naturally in twenty years he was very much changed;
+but of course I soon knew him when he began to talk.'
+
+"'You recognized his voice, I suppose?' I suggested.
+
+"'No, my dear, no. Of course his voice had changed, just as his
+appearance had done. He had been what he called knocking about, among
+all sorts of horrible savages, eating and drinking all kinds of queer
+things; it made my blood run cold to listen to him. But I never asked
+any questions about these things; I was afraid he might say that when he
+was among the cannibals he used to eat human flesh, and I don't think
+that I could like a man who had done that, even though he was my
+nephew.'
+
+"'Did he go out quite as a boy, Miss Simcoe?' I asked.
+
+"'Oh, no! He was twenty-four, I think, when he went abroad. He had a
+situation in the bank here. I know that the manager thought very highly
+of him, and, indeed, he was everywhere well spoken of. My brother
+Joshua--his father, you know--died, and he came in for two or three
+thousand pounds. He had always had a great fancy for travel, and so,
+instead of looking out for some nice girl and settling down, he threw up
+his situation and started on his travels.'
+
+"'Had his memory been affected by the hot suns and the hardships that he
+had gone through?' I asked.
+
+"'Oh, dear! not at all. He recognized everyone almost whom he had known.
+Of course he was a good deal more changed than they were.'
+
+"'They did not recognize him any more than you did?'
+
+"'Not at first,' she said. 'When a man is believed to have been dead for
+twenty years, his face does not occur to old friends when they meet an
+apparent stranger.'
+
+"'That is quite natural,' I agreed. 'What a pleasure it must have been
+to him to talk over old times and old friends!'
+
+"'Indeed it was, my dear. He enjoyed it so much that for three days he
+would not move out of the house. Dear me! what pleasant talks we had.'
+
+"'And you say, Miss Simcoe, that his coming has quite altered your
+position?'
+
+"'Yes, indeed. The very first thing he said after coming into the house
+was that he had come home resolved to make me and my sister Maria
+thoroughly comfortable. Poor Maria died some years ago, but of course he
+did not know it. Then he said that he should allow me fifty pounds a
+year for life.'
+
+"'That was very kind and nice indeed, Miss Simcoe,' I said.
+
+"By this time, seeing that my sympathy was with her, her heart opened
+altogether to me, and she said that she felt sure that her nephew would
+not like it were she to take in a lodger, and might indeed consider it a
+hint that he might have been more liberal than he was. But she invited
+me to stay three days with her while I was looking about for suitable
+lodgings. I found that her house was a regular rendezvous for the
+tabbies of the neighborhood. Every afternoon there were some four or
+five of them there. Some brought work, others came in undisguisedly to
+gossip. Many of these had known John Simcoe in his younger days, and by
+careless questioning I elicited the fact that no one would have
+recognized him had it not been for Miss Simcoe having told them of his
+arrival.
+
+"The manager of the bank I rather shrank from an encounter with, but I
+managed to obtain from Miss Simcoe a letter her nephew had written to
+her when he was away from home a short time before he left England, and
+also one written by him since his return. So far as I could see, there
+was not the slightest resemblance between them.
+
+"I thought that I might possibly get at someone less likely to be on his
+guard than the bank manager, and she happened to mention as an
+interesting fact that one of the clerks who had entered the bank a lad
+of seventeen, only a month or two before her nephew left, was now
+married to the daughter of one of her gossips. I said that her story had
+so deeply interested me that I should be glad to make his acquaintance.
+
+"He came with his wife the evening before I left. He was very chatty and
+pleasant, and while there was a general conversation going on among the
+others, I said to him that I was a great student of handwriting, and I
+flattered myself that I could tell a man's character from his
+handwriting; but I owned that I had been quite disconcerted by two
+letters which Miss Simcoe was kind enough to show me from her nephew,
+one written before he left the bank, the other dated three or four
+months ago.
+
+"'I cannot see the slightest resemblance between the two,' I said, 'and
+do not remember any instance which has come under my knowledge of the
+handwriting of any man or woman changing so completely in the course of
+twenty years. The one is a methodical, business sort of writing, showing
+marks of steady purpose, regularity of habits, and a kindly disposition.
+I won't give you my opinion of the other, but the impression that was
+left upon my mind was far from favorable.'
+
+"'Yes, there has been an extraordinary change,' he agreed. 'I can
+recollect the former one perfectly, for I saw him sign scores of letters
+and documents, and if he had had an account standing at the bank now I
+should without question honor a check so signed. No doubt the great
+difference is accounted for by the life that Mr. Simcoe has led. He told
+me himself that for years, at one time, he had never taken a pen in
+hand, and that he had almost forgotten how to write; and that his
+fingers had grown so clumsy pulling at ropes, rowing an oar, digging for
+gold, and opening oysters for pearls, that they had become all thumbs,
+and he wrote no better than a schoolboy.'
+
+"'But that is not the case, Mr. Askill,' I said; 'the writing is still
+clerkly in character, and does not at all answer to his own
+description.'
+
+"'I noticed that myself, and so did our chief. He showed me a letter
+that he had received from Simcoe, asking him to run up for a few days to
+stay with him in London. He showed it to me with the remark that in all
+his experience he had never seen so great and complete a change in the
+handwriting of any man as in that of Mr. Simcoe since he left the bank.
+He considered it striking proof how completely a man's handwriting
+depends upon his surroundings. He turned up an old ledger containing
+many entries in Simcoe's handwriting, and we both agreed that we could
+not see a single point of resemblance.'
+
+"'Thank you,' I said; 'I am glad to find that my failure to recognize
+the two handwritings as being those of the same man has been shared by
+two gentlemen who are, like myself in a humble way, experts at
+handwriting.'
+
+"The next morning I got your letter, written after I had sent you the
+address, and told Miss Simcoe that I was unexpectedly called back to
+town, but that it was quite probable that I should ere long be down
+again, when I would arrange with one or other of the people of whom she
+had kindly spoken to me. That is all I have been able to learn, Hilda."
+
+"But it seems to me that you have learned an immense deal, Netta. You
+have managed it most admirably."
+
+"At any rate, I have got as much as I expected, if not more; I have
+learned that no one recognized this man Simcoe on his first arrival in
+his native town, and it was only when this old lady had spread the news
+abroad, and had told the tale of his generosity to her, and so prepared
+the way for him, that he was more or less recognized; she having no
+shadow of doubt but that he was her long-lost nephew. In the three days
+that he stopped with her he had no doubt learned from the dear old
+gossip almost every fact connected with his boyhood, the men he was most
+intimate with, the positions they held, and I doubt not some of the
+escapades in which they might have taken part together; so that he was
+thoroughly well primed before he met them. Besides, no doubt they were
+more anxious to hear tales of adventure than to talk of the past, and
+his course must have been a very easy one.
+
+"Miss Simcoe said that he spent money like a prince, and gave a dinner
+to all his old friends, at which every dainty appeared, and the
+champagne flowed like water. We may take it as certain that none of his
+guests ever entertained the slightest doubt that their host was the man
+he pretended to be. There could seem to them no conceivable reason why a
+stranger should come down, settle an income upon Miss Simcoe, and spend
+his money liberally among all his former acquaintances, if he were any
+other man than John Simcoe.
+
+"Lastly, we have the handwriting. The man seems to have laid his plans
+marvelously well, and to have provided against every unforeseen
+contingency; yet undoubtedly he must have altogether overlooked the
+question of handwriting, although his declaration that he had almost
+forgotten how to use his pen was an ingenious one, and I might have
+accepted it myself if he had written in the rough, scrambling character
+you would expect under the circumstances. But his handwriting, although
+in some places he had evidently tried to write roughly, on the whole is
+certainly that of a man accustomed at one time of his life to clerkly
+work, and yet differing as widely as the poles from the handwriting of
+Simcoe, both in the bank ledger and in the letter to his aunt.
+
+"I think, Hilda, that although the matter cannot be decided, it
+certainly points to your theory that this man is not the John Simcoe who
+left Stowmarket twenty years ago. He attempted, and I think very
+cleverly, to establish his identity by a visit to Stowmarket, and no
+doubt did so to everyone's perfect satisfaction; but when we come to go
+into the thing step by step, we see that everything he did might have
+been done by anyone who happened to have a close resemblance to John
+Simcoe in figure and some slight resemblance in face, after listening
+for three days to Miss Simcoe's gossip."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+AN ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+"I cannot wait for Dr. Leeds to come round," Hilda said the next morning
+at breakfast. "You and I will pay him a visit in Harley Street. I am
+sure that he will not grudge a quarter of an hour to hear what you have
+done."
+
+"What mystery are you two girls engaged in?" Miss Purcell asked, as she
+placidly poured out the tea.
+
+"It is a little plot of our own, aunt," Netta said. "We are trying to
+get on Walter's track in our own way, and to be for a time amateur
+detectives. So far we have not found any decisive clew, but I think that
+we are searching in the right direction. Please trust us entirely, and
+we hope some day we shall have the triumph of bringing Walter back, safe
+and sound."
+
+"I pray God that it may be so, my dear. I know that you are both
+sensible girls, and not likely to get yourselves into any silly scrape."
+
+"I don't think we are, aunt; but I am afraid that neither of us would
+consider any scrape a foolish one that brought us even a little bit
+nearer to the object of our search. At any rate, aunt, it will reassure
+you to know that we are acting in concert with Dr. Leeds, of whom I know
+that you entertain the highest opinion."
+
+"Certainly I do. Of course I am no judge whatever as to whether he is a
+good doctor, but I should think, from what Dr. Pearson says, that he
+must, in the opinion of other medical men, be considered an
+exceptionally clever man for his age; and having seen him for four
+months and lived in close contact with him, I would rather be attended
+by him than by anyone else I have ever met. His kindness to the General
+was unceasing. Had he been his son, he could not have been more patient
+and more attentive. He showed wonderful skill in managing him, and was
+at once sympathetic and cheerful. But, more than that, I admired his
+tact in filling the somewhat difficult position in which he was placed.
+Although he was completely one of the family, and any stranger would
+have supposed that he was a brother, or at least a cousin, there was
+always something in his manner that, even while laughing and chatting
+with us all, placed a little barrier between us and himself; and one
+felt that, although most essentially a friend, he was still there as the
+General's medical attendant.
+
+"It was a difficult position for a man of his age to be placed in. Had
+he been like most of the doctors we knew in Germany, a man filled with
+the idea that he must always be a professor of medicine, and impressing
+people with his learning and gravity, it might have been easy enough.
+But there is nothing of that sort about him at all; he is just as
+high-spirited and is as bright and cheerful as other young men of about
+the same age, and it was only when he was with the General that his
+gentleness of manner recalled the fact that he was a doctor. As I say,
+it was a difficult position, with only an old woman like myself and two
+girls, who looked to him for comfort and hope, who treated him as if he
+had been an old friend, and were constantly appealing to him for his
+opinion on all sorts of subjects.
+
+"I confess that, when he first came here with Dr. Pearson, I thought
+that it was a very rash experiment to introduce a young and evidently
+pleasant man to us under such circumstances, especially as you, Hilda,
+are a rich heiress and your own mistress; and feeling as I did that I
+was in the position of your chaperon, I must say that at first I felt
+very anxious about you, and it was a great relief to me when after a
+time I saw no signs, either on his part or yours, of any feeling
+stronger than friendship springing up."
+
+Hilda laughed merrily.
+
+"The idea never entered into my mind, aunt; it is funny to me that so
+many people should think that a young man and a young woman cannot be
+thrown together without falling in love with each other. At present,
+fortunately, I don't quite understand what falling in love means. I like
+Dr. Leeds better, I think, than any young man I ever met, but I don't
+think that it can be in the least like what people feel when they fall
+in love. Certainly it was always as uncle's doctor, rather than as a
+possible suitor for my hand--that is the proper expression, isn't
+it?--that I thought of him."
+
+"So I was glad to perceive, Hilda; and I was very thankful that it was
+so. Against him personally I had nothing to say, quite the contrary; but
+I saw that he was greatly attached to a profession in which he seems
+likely to make himself a fine position, and nothing could be more
+uncomfortable than that such a man should marry a girl with a fine
+country estate. Either he would have to give up his profession or she
+would have to settle down in London as the wife of a physician, and
+practically forfeit all her advantages."
+
+Hilda again laughed.
+
+"It is wonderful that all these things should never have occurred to me,
+aunt. I see now how fortunate it was that I did not fall in love with
+him. And now, Netta, as we have finished breakfast, we will put on our
+things at once and go and consult our physician in ordinary. We have a
+fair chance of being the first to arrive if we start immediately. I told
+Roberts to have the carriage at the door at half-past nine, and he does
+not begin to see patients until ten."
+
+"Bravo! Miss Purcell," Dr. Leeds exclaimed, when she had given him an
+account of her mission. "Of course there is nothing absolutely proved,
+but at least it shows that his identity is open to doubt, since none of
+the people he had known recognized him at first sight, and of course all
+his knowledge of them may have been picked up from the gossiping old
+lady, his aunt. Something has been gained, but the evidence is rather
+negative than positive. It is possible that he is not the man that he
+pretends to be; though at present, putting aside the question of
+handwriting, we must admit that the balance of probability is very much
+the other way. To begin with, how could this man, supposing him to be an
+impostor, know that John Simcoe was born in Stowmarket, and had
+relatives living there?"
+
+"I forgot to mention that, Dr. Leeds. An advertisement was inserted in
+the county paper, saying that if any relatives of John Simcoe, who left
+England about 1830, would communicate with someone or other in town they
+would hear something to their advantage. I was told this by one of Miss
+Simcoe's friends, who saw it in the paper and brought it in to her. She
+was very proud of having made the discovery, and regarded herself quite
+in the light of a benefactor to Miss Simcoe. I remarked, when she told
+me, that it was curious he should have advertised instead of coming down
+himself to inquire. Miss Simcoe said that she had expressed surprise to
+him, and that he had said he did so because he should have shrunk from
+coming down, had he not learned there was someone to welcome him."
+
+"Curious," Dr. Leeds said thoughtfully. "We may quite put it out of our
+minds that the reason he gave was the real one. A man of this kind would
+not have suffered any very severe shock had he found that Stowmarket and
+all it contained had been swallowed up by an earthquake. No, certainly
+that could not have been the reason; we must think of some other. And
+now, ladies, as this is the third card I have had brought in since you
+arrived, I must leave the matter as it stands. I think that we are
+getting on much better than we could have expected."
+
+"That advertisement is very curious, Netta," Hilda said as they drove
+back. "Why should he have put it in? It would have been so much more
+natural that he should have gone straight down."
+
+"I cannot think, Hilda. It did not strike me particularly when I heard
+of it, and I did not give it a thought afterwards. You see, I did not
+mention it, either to you or Dr. Leeds, until it flashed across my mind
+when we were talking. Of course I did not see the advertisement itself,
+but Miss Simcoe told me that there had been a good deal of discussion
+before she answered it, as some of them had thought that it might be a
+trick."
+
+"When was it he went down?"
+
+"It was in August last year; and it was in the first week in September
+that he came here."
+
+"He went down to get or manufacture proof of his identity," Hilda said.
+"As it turned out, uncle accepted his statement at once, and never had
+the smallest doubt as to his being John Simcoe. The precaution,
+therefore, was unnecessary; but at the same time it certainly helps him
+now that a doubt has arisen. It would have been very strange if a man
+possessing sufficient means to travel in India should have had no
+friends or connections in England. I was present when he told my uncle
+that he had been down to see his aunt at Stowmarket, and in the spring
+he brought a gentleman who, he said, was manager of the Stowmarket Bank,
+in which he had himself been at one time a clerk. So you see he did
+strengthen his position by going down there."
+
+"It strengthens it in one way, Hilda, but in the other it weakens it. As
+long as no close inquiries were made, it was doubtless an advantage to
+him to have an aunt of the same name in Stowmarket, and to be able to
+prove by means of a gentleman in the position of manager of the bank
+that he, John Simcoe, had worked under him three or four and twenty
+years ago. On the other hand, it was useful to us as a starting-point.
+If we had been utterly in the dark as to Simcoe's birthplace or past
+career, we should have had to start entirely in the dark. Now, at any
+rate, we have located the birthplace of the real man, and learned
+something of his position, his family, and how he became possessed of
+money that enabled him to start on a tour round the world. I adhere as
+firmly as before to the belief that this is not the real man, and the
+next step is to discover how he learned that John Simcoe had lived at
+Stowmarket. At any rate it would be as well that we should find the
+advertisement. It might tell us nothing, but at the least we should
+learn the place to which answers were to be sent. How should we set
+about that?"
+
+"I can get a reader's ticket for the British Museum, because the chief
+librarian was a friend of uncle's and dined with him several times,"
+Hilda replied. "If I write to him and say that I want to examine some
+files of newspapers, to determine a question of importance, I am sure
+that he will send me a ticket at once. I may as well ask for one for you
+also. We may want to go there again to decide some other point."
+
+Hilda at once wrote a note and sent Tom Roberts with it to the Museum,
+and he returned two hours later with the tickets.
+
+"There are three Suffolk papers," the chief assistant in the Newspaper
+Department said courteously, on their sending up the usual slip of
+paper. "Which do you want?"
+
+"I do not know. I should like to see them all three, please; the numbers
+for the first two weeks in August last."
+
+In a few minutes three great volumes were placed on the table. These
+contained a year's issue, and on turning to the first week in August
+they found that the advertisement had appeared in all of the papers.
+They carefully copied it out, and were about to leave the library when
+Netta said:
+
+"Let us talk this over for a minute or two before we go. It seems to me
+that there is a curious omission in the advertisement."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Don't you see that he does not mention Stowmarket? He simply inquires
+for relations of John Simcoe, who was supposed to have been lost at sea.
+It would certainly seem to be more natural that he should put it only in
+the paper that was likely to be read in Stowmarket, and surely he would
+have said 'relatives of John Simcoe, who left Stowmarket in the year
+1830.' It looks very much as if, while he knew that Simcoe was a
+Suffolk man, he had no idea in what part of the county he had lived."
+
+"It is very curious, certainly, Netta; and, as you say, it does seem
+that if he had known that it had been Stowmarket he would have said so
+in the advertisement. Possibly!" Hilda exclaimed so sharply that a
+gentleman at an adjoining table murmured "Hush!" "he did did not know
+that it was in Suffolk. Let us look in the London papers. Let us ask for
+the files of the _Times_ and _Standard_."
+
+The papers were brought and the advertisement was found in both of them.
+
+"There, you see," Netta said triumphantly, "he still says nothing about
+Suffolk."
+
+She beckoned to the attendant.
+
+"I am sorry to give you so much trouble, but will you please get us the
+files of three or four country papers of the same date. I should like
+them in different parts of the country--Yorkshire, for instance, and
+Hereford, and Devonshire."
+
+"It is no trouble, miss," he replied; "that is what we are here for."
+
+In a few minutes the three papers were brought, and Netta's triumph was
+great when she found the advertisement in each of them.
+
+"That settles it conclusively," she said. "The man did not know what
+part of the country John Simcoe came from, and he advertised in the
+London papers, and in the provincial papers all over the country."
+
+"That was a splendid idea of yours, Netta. I think that it settles the
+question as to the fact that the theory you all laughed at was correct,
+and that this man is not the real John Simcoe."
+
+When they got back, Hilda wrote a line to Dr. Leeds:
+
+     "DEAR DOCTOR: I do think that we have discovered beyond doubt that
+     the man is an impostor, and that whoever he may be, he is not John
+     Simcoe. When you can spare time, please come round. It is too long
+     to explain."
+
+At nine o'clock that evening Dr. Leeds arrived, and heard of the steps
+that they had taken.
+
+"Really, young ladies," he said, "I must retire at once from my post of
+director of searches. It was an excellent thought to ascertain the exact
+wording of the advertisement, and the fact that the word Stowmarket did
+not appear in it, and that it was inserted in other county papers, was
+very significant as to the advertiser's ignorance of John Simcoe's
+birthplace. But the quickness with which you saw how this could be
+proved up to the hilt shows that you are born detectives, and I shall be
+happy to sit at your feet in future."
+
+"Then you think that it is quite conclusive?"
+
+"Perfectly so. The real John Simcoe would, of course, have put the
+advertisement into the county paper published nearest to Stowmarket, and
+he would naturally have used the word Stowmarket. That omission might,
+however, have been accidental; but the appearance of the advertisement
+in the London papers, and as you have seen, in provincial papers all
+over England, appears to me ample evidence that he did not know from
+what county Simcoe came, and was ready to spend a pretty heavy amount to
+discover it. Now, I think that you should at once communicate with Mr.
+Pettigrew, and inform him of your suspicion and the discovery that you
+have made. It is for him to decide whether any steps should be taken in
+the matter, and, if so, what steps. As one of the trustees he is
+responsible for the proper division of the estates of General Mathieson,
+and the matter is of considerable importance to him.
+
+"I think now, too, that our other suspicions should also be laid before
+him. Of course, these are greatly strengthened by his discovery. John
+Simcoe, who saved your uncle's life at the risk of his own, was scarcely
+the sort of man who would be guilty of murder and abduction; but an
+unknown adventurer, who had passed himself off as being Simcoe, with
+the object of obtaining a large legacy from the General, may fairly be
+assumed capable of taking any steps that would enable him to obtain it.
+If you'd like to write to Mr. Pettigrew and make an appointment to meet
+him at his office at three o'clock to-morrow afternoon, I will be here
+half an hour before and accompany you."
+
+The lawyer was somewhat surprised when Dr. Leeds entered the office with
+the two ladies, but that astonishment became stupefaction when they told
+their story.
+
+"In the whole of my professional career I have never heard a more
+astonishing story. I own that the abduction of the child at that
+critical moment did arouse suspicions in my mind that this Mr. Simcoe,
+the only person that could be benefited by his disappearance, might be
+at the bottom of it, and I was quite prepared to resist until the last
+any demand that might be made on his part for Walter to be declared to
+be dead, and the property handed over to him. But that the man could
+have had any connection whatever with the illness of the General, or
+that he was an impostor, never entered my mind. With regard to the
+first, it is still a matter of suspicion only, and we have not a shadow
+of proof to go upon. You say yourself, Dr. Leeds, that Dr. Pearson, the
+General's own medical attendant, and the other eminent physicians called
+in, refused absolutely to accept your suggestion, because, exceptional
+as the seizure and its effects were, there was nothing that absolutely
+pointed to poison. Unless we can obtain some distinct evidence on that
+point, the matter must not be touched upon; for even you would hardly be
+prepared to swear in court that the General was a victim to poison?"
+
+"No. I could not take my oath to it, but I certainly could declare that
+the symptoms, to my mind, could be attributed to poison only."
+
+"In the case of the abduction of the boy," the lawyer went on, "the only
+absolute ground for our suspicion is that this man and no one else would
+have benefited by it; and this theory certainly appears to be, after
+the discoveries you have made, a very tenable one. It all comes so
+suddenly on me that I cannot think of giving any opinion as to the best
+course to be adopted. I shall, in the first place, consult Mr. Farmer,
+and in the next place shall feel it my duty to take my co-trustee,
+Colonel Bulstrode, into my confidence, because any action that we may
+take must, of course, be in our joint names. He called here the other
+day and stated to me that he regarded the whole matter of Walter's
+abduction to be suspicious in the extreme. He said he was convinced that
+John Simcoe was at the bottom of it, his interest in getting the boy out
+of the way being unquestionable, and that we must move heaven and earth
+to find the child. He agreed that we can do nothing about carrying out
+the will until we have found him. I told him of the steps that we have
+been taking and their want of success. 'By gad, sir,' he said, 'he must
+be found, if we examine every child in the country.' I ventured to
+suggest that this would be a very difficult undertaking, to which he
+only made some remark about the cold-bloodedness of lawyers, and said
+that if there were no other way he would dress himself up as a
+costermonger and go into every slum of London. Whether you would find
+him a judicious assistant in your searches I should scarcely be inclined
+to say, but you would certainly find him ready to give every assistance
+in his power."
+
+The next day, at three o'clock, Colonel Bulstrode was announced. He was
+a short man, of full habit of body. At the present moment his face was
+even redder than usual.
+
+"My dear Miss Covington," he burst out, as he came into the room, "I
+have just heard of all this rascality, and what you and your friend Miss
+Purcell have discovered. By gad, young ladies, I feel ashamed of myself.
+Here am I, Harry Bulstrode, a man of the world, and, as such, considered
+that this affair of the man Simcoe being made heir in case of the
+child's death and the simultaneous disappearance of the boy to have been
+suspicious in the extreme, and yet I have seen no way of doing
+anything, and have been so upset that my temper has, as that rascal
+Andrew, my old servant, had the impudence to tell this morning, become
+absolutely unbearable. And now I find that you two girls and a doctor
+fellow have been quietly working the whole thing out, and that not
+improbably my dear old friend was poisoned, and that the man who did it
+is not the man he pretended to be, but an infernal impostor, who had of
+course carried the child away, and may, for anything we know, have
+murdered him. It has made me feel that I ought to go to school again,
+for I must be getting into my second childhood. Still, young ladies, if,
+as is evident, I have no sense to plan, I can at least do all in my
+power to assist you in your search, and you have only to say to me,
+'Colonel Bulstrode, we want an inquiry made in India,' and I am off by
+the first P. and O."
+
+"Thank you very much, Colonel," Hilda said, trying to repress a smile.
+"I was quite sure that from your friendship for my dear uncle you would
+be ready to give us your assistance, but so far there has been no way in
+which you could have aided us in the inquiries that we have made.
+Indeed, as Dr. Leeds has impressed upon us, the fewer there are engaged
+in the matter the better; for if this man knew that we were making all
+sorts of inquiries about him, he might think it necessary for his safety
+either to put Walter out of the way altogether, or to send him to some
+place so distant that there would be practically no hope whatever of our
+ever discovering him. At present I think that we have fairly satisfied
+ourselves that this man is an impostor, and that the real John Simcoe
+was drowned, as supposed, in the ship in which he sailed from India. Who
+this man is, and how he became acquainted with the fact that John Simcoe
+saved my uncle's life in India, are mysteries that so far we have no
+clew to; but these matters are at present of minor importance to us.
+Before anything else we want to find where Walter is hidden, and to do
+this we are going to have this man watched. He cannot have carried off
+Walter by himself, and, no doubt, he meets occasionally the people who
+helped him, and who are now hiding Walter. It is scarcely probable that
+they come to his lodgings. He is not likely to put himself into anyone's
+power, and no doubt goes by night in some disguise to meet them. As, of
+course, he knows you perfectly well, it would be worse than useless for
+you to try to follow him. That is going to be done by Tom Roberts."
+
+"Well, my man Andrew might help him," the Colonel said. "Simcoe has
+often dined with me at the club, but he never came to my chambers. One
+man cannot be always on the watch, and Andrew can take turns with
+Roberts. He is an impudent rascal, but he has got a fair share of sense;
+so, when you are ready, if you will drop me a line, he shall come here
+and take his instructions from you."
+
+"Thank you very much, Colonel. That certainly would be of assistance. It
+is only of an evening that he would be wanted, for we are quite agreed
+that these meetings are sure to take place after dark."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+VERY BAD NEWS.
+
+
+A month passed. Tom Roberts and Andrew watched together in Jermyn
+Street, the former with a cap pulled well down over his face and very
+tattered clothes, the latter dressed as a groom, but making no attempt
+to disguise his face. During that time everyone who called at the house
+in Jermyn Street was followed, and their names and addresses
+ascertained, one always remaining in Jermyn Street while the other was
+away. The man they were watching had gone out every evening, but it was
+either to one or the other of the clubs to which he belonged, or to the
+theater or opera.
+
+"You will trace him to the right place presently, Roberts," Hilda said
+cheerfully, when she saw that he was beginning to be disheartened at the
+non-success of his search. "You may be sure that he will not go to see
+these men oftener than he can help. Does he generally wear evening
+clothes?"
+
+"Always, miss."
+
+"I don't think there is any occasion to follow him in future when he
+goes out in that dress; I think it certain that when he goes to meet
+these men he will be in disguise. When you see him come out dressed
+altogether differently to usual, follow him closely. Even if we only
+find where he goes it will be a very important step."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the seventh week after the disappearance of Walter, Mr. Pettigrew
+came in one morning at eleven o'clock. His air was very grave.
+
+"Have you heard news, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda asked.
+
+"I have very bad news. Mr. Comfrey, a lawyer of not the highest
+standing, who is, I have learnt, acting for this fellow, called upon
+me. He said, 'I am sorry to say that I have some painful news to give
+you, Mr. Pettigrew. Yesterday the body of a child, a boy some six or
+seven years old, was found in the canal at Paddington. It was taken to
+the lockhouse. The features were entirely unrecognizable, and the police
+surgeon who examined it said that it had been in the water over a month.
+Most of its clothing was gone, partly torn off by barges passing over
+the body; but there still remained a portion of its underclothing, and
+this bore the letters W. R. The police recognized them as those of the
+child who has been so largely advertised for, and, as my client, Mr.
+Simcoe, had offered a thousand pounds reward, and as all information was
+to be sent to me, a policeman came down, just as I was closing the
+office, to inform me of the fact.
+
+"'I at once communicated with my client, who was greatly distressed. He
+went to Paddington the first thing this morning, and he tells me that he
+has no doubt whatever that the remains are those of Walter Rivington,
+although he could not swear to his identity, as the features are
+altogether unrecognizable. As I understand, sir, that you and Miss
+Covington were the guardians of this unfortunate child, I have driven
+here at once in order that you may go up and satisfy yourselves on the
+subject. I understand that an inquest will be held to-morrow.'"
+
+Hilda had not spoken while Mr. Pettigrew was telling his story, but sat
+speechless with horror.
+
+"It cannot be; surely it cannot be!" she murmured. "Oh, Mr. Pettigrew!
+say that you cannot believe it."
+
+"I can hardly say that, my dear; the whole affair is such a terrible one
+that I can place no bounds whatever to the villainy of which this man
+may be capable. This may be the missing child, but, on the other hand,
+it may be only a part of the whole plot."
+
+"But who else can it be if it has Walter's clothes on?"
+
+"As to that I can say nothing; but you must remember that this man is an
+extraordinarily adroit plotter, and would hesitate at nothing to secure
+this inheritance. There would be no very great difficulty in obtaining
+from some rascally undertaker the body of a child of the right age,
+dressing him up in some of our ward's clothes, and dropping the body
+into the canal, which may have been done seven weeks ago, or may have
+been done but a month. Of course I do not mean to say that this was so.
+I only mean to say that it is possible. No. I expressed my opinion, when
+we talked it over before, that no sensible man would put his neck in a
+noose if he could carry out his object without doing so; and murder
+could hardly be perpetrated without running a very great risk, for the
+people with whom the child was placed would, upon missing it suddenly,
+be very likely to suspect that it had been made away with, and would
+either denounce the crime or extort money by holding a threat over his
+head for years."
+
+"Yes, that may be so!" Hilda exclaimed, rising to her feet. "Let us go
+and see at once. I will take Netta with me; she knows him as well as I
+do."
+
+She ran upstairs and in a few words told Netta the news, and in five
+minutes they came down, ready to start.
+
+"I have told Walter's nurse to come with us," Hilda said. "If anyone can
+recognize the child she ought to be able to do so. Fortunately, she is
+still in the house."
+
+"Now, young ladies," the lawyer said before they started, "let me
+caution you, unless you feel a moderate certainty that this child is
+Walter Rivington, make no admission whatever that you see any
+resemblance. If the matter comes to a trial, your evidence and mine
+cannot but weigh with the court as against that of this man who is
+interested in proving its identity with Walter. Of course, if there is
+any sign or mark on the body that you recognize, you will acknowledge it
+as the body of our ward. We shall then have to fight the case on other
+grounds. But unless you detect some unmistakable mark, and it is
+extremely unlikely that you will do so in the state the body must be in,
+confine yourself to simply stating that you fail to recognize it in any
+way."
+
+"There never was any mark on the poor child's body," Hilda said. "I have
+regretted it so much, because, in the absence of any descriptive marks,
+the chance of his ever being found was, of course, much lessened."
+
+The lawyer had come in a four-wheeled cab, and in this the party all
+took their places. Not a word was spoken on the way, except that Hilda
+repeated what Mr. Pettigrew had said to the nurse. It was with very
+white faces that they entered the lockhouse. The little body was lying
+on a board supported by two trestles. It was covered by a piece of
+sailcloth, and the tattered garments that it had had on were placed on a
+chair beside it. Prepared as she was for something dreadful, the room
+swam round, and had Hilda not been leaning on Mr. Pettigrew's arm she
+would have fallen. There was scarce a semblance of humanity in the
+little figure. The features of the face had been entirely obliterated,
+possibly by the passage of barges, possibly by the work of simple decay.
+
+"Courage, my dear!" Mr. Pettigrew said. "It is a painful duty, but it
+must be performed."
+
+The three women stood silent beside the little corpse. Netta was the
+first to speak.
+
+"I cannot identify the body as that of Walter Rivington," she said. "I
+don't think that it would be possible for anyone to do so."
+
+"Is the hair of the same color?" the policeman who was in charge of the
+room asked.
+
+"The hair is rather darker than his," Netta said; "but being so long in
+the water, and in such dirty water, it might have darkened."
+
+"That was never Master Walter's hair!" the nurse exclaimed. "The darling
+had long, soft hair, and unless those who murdered him cut it short, it
+would not be like this. Besides, this hair is stiffer. It is more like
+the hair of a workhouse child than Master Walter's."
+
+"That is so," Hilda said. "I declare that I not only do not recognize
+the body as that of my ward, but that I am convinced it is not his."
+
+"Judging only by the hair," Mr. Pettigrew said, "I am entirely of your
+opinion, Miss Covington. I have stroked the child's head many times, and
+his hair was like silk. I have nothing else to go by, and am convinced
+that the body is not Walter Rivington's."
+
+They then looked at the fragments of clothes. In two places they were
+marked "W. R."
+
+"That is my marking, miss," the nurse said, after closely examining the
+initials. "I could not swear to the bits of clothes, but I can to the
+letters. You see, miss, I always work a line above the letters and
+another below them. I was taught to do it so when I was a girl in our
+village school, and I have always done it since. But I never saw anyone
+else mark them so. You see the letters are worked in red silk, and the
+two lines in white. The old woman who taught us said that it made a
+proper finish to the work. Yes, Miss Covington, I can swear to these
+things being Master Walter's."
+
+"You could not swear to their being those in which he went out the
+morning he was lost, nurse?"
+
+"I can, sir, because there is nothing missing except what he had on. I
+have all his things properly counted, and everything is there."
+
+At this moment there was a little stir outside, and Hilda glanced down
+and whispered to Netta:
+
+"Let down your fall; I do not want this man to recognize you."
+
+Just as she did so John Simcoe entered. He bowed to Hilda.
+
+"I am sorry, indeed, to meet you under such painful circumstances."
+
+"I beg you not to address me, sir," she said haughtily. "I wish to have
+no communication with or from you. Your coming here reminds me of the
+thirty-seventh verse of the nineteenth chapter of St. John. You can look
+it out, sir, if you happen to have a Bible at home. Fortunately it is
+not wholly applicable, for we are all absolutely convinced that this
+poor little body is not that of General Mathieson's grandson."
+
+So saying she stepped out of the little house, followed by the others;
+leaving John Simcoe white with passion.
+
+"You should not have shown your hand so plainly, Miss Covington."
+
+"I could not help it," the girl said. "He has called a dozen times at
+the house and has always received the message, 'Not at home,' and he
+must know that I suspect him of being Walter's abductor."
+
+"What is the verse you referred him to, Hilda?" Netta said. "I confess
+that I do not know any verse in St. John that seems to be at all
+applicable to him."
+
+"The quotation is, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.'"
+
+Netta could not help smiling. Mr. Pettigrew shook his head.
+
+"You are really too outspoken, Miss Covington, and you will get yourself
+into trouble. As it is, you have clearly laid yourself open to an action
+for libel for having practically called the man a murderer. We may think
+what we like, but we are in no position to prove it."
+
+"I am not afraid of that," she said. "I wish that he would do it; then
+we should have all the facts brought out in court, and, even if we could
+not, as you say, prove everything, we could at least let the world know
+what we think. No, there is no chance of his doing that, Mr. Pettigrew."
+
+"It is fortunate for us, Miss Covington, that our clients are for the
+most part men. Your sex are so impetuous and so headstrong that we
+should have a hard time of it indeed if we had to take our instructions
+from them."
+
+"Mr. Pettigrew, you will please remember that there are three of my sex
+in this cab, and if you malign us in this way we will at once get out
+and walk."
+
+The old lawyer smiled indulgently.
+
+"It is quite true, my dear. Women are always passionately certain that
+they are right, and neither counsel nor entreaty can get them to
+believe that there can be any other side to a case than that which they
+take. Talk about men ruining themselves by litigation; the number that
+do so is as nothing to that of the women who would do so, were they to
+get as often involved in lawsuits! When Dickens drew the man who haunted
+the courts he would have been much nearer the mark had he drawn the
+woman who did so. You can persuade a man that when he has been beaten in
+every court his case is a lost one; but a woman simply regards a hostile
+decision as the effect either of great partiality or of incompetence on
+the part of the judge, and even after being beaten in the House of Lords
+will attend the courts and pester the judges with applications for the
+hearing of some new points. It becomes a perfect mania with some of
+them."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Pettigrew. I would certainly carry my case up to the
+highest court, and if I were beaten I would not admit that I was in the
+wrong; still, I do not think that I should pester the poor old judges
+after that. I suppose we shall all have to come up again to-morrow to
+the inquest?"
+
+"Certainly. Nurse has recognized the clothes, and I suppose you all
+recognize the marks, Miss Covington?"
+
+"Yes; I have no doubt whatever that the clothes are Walter's."
+
+"Of course we shall be represented by counsel," Mr. Pettigrew went on.
+"We must not let the jury find that this is Walter's body if we can
+possibly prevent it."
+
+"You think that they will do so?"
+
+"I am afraid of it. They will know nothing of the real circumstances of
+the case; they will only know that the child has been missing for nearly
+two months, and that, in spite of large rewards, no news has been
+obtained of him. They will see that this child is about the same age,
+that the clothes in which it was found are those worn by the missing
+boy. They will themselves have viewed the body and have seen that
+identification is almost impossible. This man will give his evidence to
+the effect that he believes it to be Walter Rivington's body. We shall
+give it as our opinion that it is not; that opinion being founded upon
+the fact that the few patches of hair left on the head are shorter and
+coarser than this was. To us this may appear decisive, but the counsel
+who will, no doubt, appear for Simcoe, will very legitimately say this
+fact has no weight, and will point out that no real judgment can be
+formed upon this. The child was missing--probably stolen for the sake of
+its clothes. Seeing the description in the handbills and placards, the
+first step would be to cut off its hair, which disposes of the question
+of length, and, as he will point out, hair which, when very long, seems
+soft and silky, will stand up and appear almost bristly when cropped
+close to the head. I am afraid that, in the face of all that we can say,
+the coroner's jury will find that the body is Walter's. As to the cause
+of death they will probably give an open verdict, for even if the
+surgeon has found any signs of violence upon the body, these may have
+been inflicted by passing barges long after death."
+
+"Will you have it brought forward that Simcoe has an interest in proving
+the body to be Walter's?"
+
+"I think not. There would be no use in beginning the fight in the
+coroner's court. It will all have to be gone into when he applies to the
+higher courts for an order on the trustees of the will to proceed to
+carry out its provisions. Then our case will be fully gone into. We
+shall plead that in the first place the will was made under undue
+influence. We shall point to the singularity of the General's mysterious
+attack, an attack which one of the doctors who attended him at once put
+down to poison, and that at the moment of the attack Simcoe was sitting
+next to him at dinner. We shall point to the extraordinary coincidence
+that the child who stood between Simcoe and the inheritance disappeared
+on the evening when the General was _in extremis_, and, lastly, we shall
+fire our last shot by declaring that the man is not the John Simcoe
+named in the will, but is an impostor who assumed his name and traded
+upon his brave action on the General's behalf.
+
+"But I do not want the fight to begin until we are in a better position
+than at present to prove what we say. As yet, however satisfactory to
+us, we have not got beyond the point of conjecture and probabilities,
+and I trust that, before we have to fight the case, we shall obtain some
+absolute facts in support of our theory. The man would be able at
+present to put into court a number of highly respectable witnesses from
+Stowmarket, and of officers he has met here, who would all testify to
+his being John Simcoe, and as against their evidence our conjectures
+would literally go for nothing. No doubt you will all receive notices to
+attend this evening. The policeman took your names and addresses, and
+will have told the officer in charge of the case the nature of the
+evidence you will probably give. And please remember that, in giving
+evidence, you must carefully abstain from saying anything that would
+lead the jury to perceive that you have any personal feeling against
+Simcoe, for they would be likely to put down your declaration of
+inability to recognize the body as a result of a bias against him. Do
+not let it be seen that there is any personal feeling in the matter at
+all."
+
+The summonses arrived that evening and the next morning they drove to
+the coroner's court, Miss Purcell accompanying them. They found Mr.
+Pettigrew awaiting them at the door.
+
+"There is another case on before ours," he said, "and I should advise
+you to take a drive for half an hour, and, when you come back, to sit in
+the carriage until I come for you. The waiting room is a stuffy little
+place, and is at present full of witnesses in the case now on, and as
+that case is one of a man killed in a drunken row, they are not of a
+class whom it is pleasant to mix with."
+
+When they returned, he again came out. "I have just spoken to the
+coroner and told him who you are, and he has kindly given permission for
+you to go up to his own room. The case he has now before him may last
+another half hour."
+
+It was just about that time when Mr. Pettigrew came up and said that
+their case was about to commence, and that they must go down and take
+their places in court. This was now almost empty; a few minutes before
+it had been crowded by those interested in the proceedings, which had
+terminated in the finding of manslaughter against four of those
+concerned in the fray. The discovery of a child's body in the canal was
+far too common an event to afford any attraction, and with the exception
+of the witnesses, two counsel seated in the front line facing the
+coroner, and two or three officials, there was no one in court. As soon
+as the little stir caused by the return of the jury from viewing the
+body had ceased, the coroner addressed them.
+
+"We shall now, gentlemen of the jury, proceed to the case of the body of
+the child said to be that of Walter Rivington, which was found under
+very strange and suspicious circumstances near this end of the canal.
+You will hear that the child was missing from his home in Hyde Park
+Gardens on the 23d of October, and for his discovery, as some of you are
+doubtless aware, large sums have been offered. The day before yesterday
+the drags were used for the purpose of discovering whether another
+child, who was lost, and who had been seen going near the bank, had been
+drowned. In the course of that search this body was brought up. You have
+already viewed it, gentlemen. Dr. MacIlvaine will tell you that it has
+certainly been a month in the water, perhaps two or three weeks longer.
+Unfortunately the state of the body is such that it is impossible now to
+ascertain the cause of death, or whether it was alive when it fell in,
+or was placed in, the water. Fortunately some of its clothes still
+remain on the body, and one of the witnesses, the nurse of the missing
+boy, will tell you that the marks upon them were worked by herself, and
+that she can swear to them. Whether any other matters will come before
+you in reference to the case, which, from the fact that the child was
+grandson of the late General Mathieson and heir to his property, has
+attracted much attention, I cannot say. The first witness you will hear
+is the lock-keeper, who was present at the finding of the body."
+
+Before the witness was called, however, one of the counsel rose and
+said:
+
+"I am instructed, sir, to appear to watch the proceedings on behalf of
+Mr. John Simcoe, who, by the death of Walter Rivington, inherits under
+the will of the late General Mathieson."
+
+The coroner bowed. The other counsel then rose.
+
+"And I, sir, have been instructed by Mr. Pettigrew and Colonel
+Bulstrode, the trustees under the will, the former gentleman being also
+joint guardian with Miss Hilda Covington of the missing child, to watch
+the case on their behalf."
+
+There was again an exchange of bows, and the lock-keeper then entered
+the box. His evidence was given in few words. He simply deposed to
+assisting in dragging the canal, and to the finding of the body.
+
+"Have you any questions to ask the witness?" the coroner said, turning
+to the barristers.
+
+The counsel employed by Mr. Pettigrew rose.
+
+"Yes, sir; I have a few questions to ask. Now, Mr. Cousins, you say that
+you took part in dragging the canal. You are in charge of the drags, are
+you not?"
+
+"Yes, sir; they are always kept in readiness at the lockhouse."
+
+"How came you to use the drags? I suppose you don't take them down and
+spend a day or two in dragging the canal unless you have reason for
+supposing that a body is there."
+
+"No, sir. The afternoon before a woman came up crying and said that her
+child had fallen into the water. He had gone out in the morning to play,
+and when dinner-time came and he didn't return she searched everywhere
+for him, and two children had just told her that they were playing with
+him on the bank of the canal, and that he had fallen in. They tried to
+get him out, but he sank, and they were so frightened that they ran home
+without saying anything. But they thought now that they had better tell.
+I said that she had better go to the police station and repeat her
+statement, and they would send a constable to help me. She did that, and
+came back with the policeman. It was getting late then, but we took a
+boat and dragged the canal for two or three hours. The next morning she
+came again, and said that the boys had shown her just where her child
+fell in, and we dragged there and found this body. We brought it ashore,
+and after we had carried it to the lockhouse we set to work again, but
+could not find any other body."
+
+"What became of the woman?"
+
+"She was with us till we fetched up this body. When she saw it she ran
+away crying, and did not come back again."
+
+"You have not seen her since, Mr. Cousins?"
+
+"No, sir; I have not seen her since. I believe the constable made
+inquiries about her."
+
+"Thank you, I have nothing more to ask."
+
+The policeman then entered the box and gave his evidence shortly, as to
+assisting in the operation of dragging and to finding the body.
+
+"About this woman who gave the alarm," the barrister asked. "Have you
+seen her, constable?"
+
+"No, sir; not since the body was found. Thinking it strange that she did
+not come back, I reported it at the station. She had given the name of
+Mary Smith and an address in Old Park. I was told to go round there, but
+no such person was known, and no one had heard of a child being lost. On
+my reporting this, inquiries were made all round the neighborhood; but
+no one had heard of such a woman, nor of a missing child."
+
+"This is a very strange circumstance, sir, and it looks as if the whole
+story of the drowning child was a fabrication. The fact that the body of
+the child whose death we are considering was found close to the spot
+would certainly seem to point to the fact that some person or persons
+who were cognizant of the fact that this body was there were for some
+reasons anxious that it should be found, and so employed this woman to
+get the drags used at that point in order that the body might be brought
+to light."
+
+"It is certainly a very strange business," the coroner said, "and I hope
+that the police will spare no efforts to discover this woman. However,
+as she is not before us, we must proceed with the case."
+
+Then the officer of the court called out the name of Mary Summerford,
+and the nurse went into the witness box.
+
+"I understand, Mary Sommerford, that you were nurse to Walter
+Rivington?"
+
+"I was, sir."
+
+"Will you tell the jury when you last saw him, and how it was that he
+was lost?"
+
+She told the story as she had told it to Hilda on the day that he was
+missing.
+
+"You have seen the clothes found on the body. Do you recognize them as
+those that he was wearing when you last saw him?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"How do you recognize them?"
+
+"Because his initials are worked in two places. I worked them myself,
+and can swear to them."
+
+"You cannot recognize the body, nurse?"
+
+"I do not believe it is the body of my young master," she said; "his
+hair was lovely--long and silky. What hair remains on the body is very
+short, and what I should call stubbly."
+
+"But the hair might have been cut short by the people who stole him,"
+the coroner said. "It is the first precaution they would take to evade
+the search that would at once be set on foot."
+
+"Yes, sir, but I don't think that it would have grown up so stiff."
+
+"My experience of workhouse children," the coroner remarked, "is that
+whatever the hair they may have had when they entered the house, it is
+stiff enough to stand upright when cut close to the head. There is
+nothing else, is there, which leads you to doubt the identity of the
+child?"
+
+"No, sir, I cannot say that there is; but I don't believe that it is
+Master Walter's body."
+
+Hilda, Netta, and Mr. Pettigrew all gave their evidence. The two former
+stated that they identified the clothes, but, upon the same ground as
+the nurse, they failed to recognize the body as that of Walter
+Rivington. All were asked if they could in any way account for the
+finding of the child's body there. The question had been foreseen, and
+they said that, although they had used every means of discovering the
+child, they had obtained no clew whatever as to his whereabouts from the
+time that he was stolen to the time they were summoned to identify the
+body.
+
+"You quite assume that he was stolen, and not that he wandered away, as
+children will do when their nurses are gossiping?"
+
+"We are convinced that he was stolen, sir, because the search was begun
+so momentarily after he was missed that he could hardly have got out of
+sight, had he merely wandered away on foot. Notice was given to the
+police an hour after he disappeared, and every street in this part of
+London was scoured immediately."
+
+"Children of that age, Miss Covington, have often a fancy for hiding
+themselves; and this child may have hidden somewhere close until he saw
+his nurse pass by, and then made off in the opposite direction. The spot
+where the child's body was found is little more than a quarter of a mile
+from the corner where he was missed. He might have wandered up there,
+found himself on the canal bank, and childlike, have begun to play, and
+so slipped into the water."
+
+John Simcoe was the last witness called. He gave his evidence to the
+effect that he had seen the body, and that personally he saw no reason
+to doubt that it was that of Walter Rivington.
+
+His counsel then rose.
+
+"You are, I believe, Mr. Simcoe, owing to the death of this poor child,
+the principal legatee under the will of General Mathieson?"
+
+"I am sorry to say that I am. The whole business has caused me immense
+distress. I have felt that, being the only person that would benefit by
+the child's death, those who did not know me would have a suspicion that
+I might have had a hand in his mysterious disappearance."
+
+"You have taken an active part in the search for him?"
+
+"I offered a reward of one thousand pounds for any information that
+would lead to his discovery, and I believe that I have traveled up and
+down every obscure slum in London in hopes of lighting upon him."
+
+"Even without the provision in the will which made you next heir you
+benefited by it, did you not?"
+
+"I did, most munificently. General Mathieson had himself informed me
+that I should find, by his will, that he had not been ungrateful for a
+service that I rendered him many years ago; but I was not aware of the
+sum that he had left me. As to the distant contingency of inheriting in
+case of the child's death, I was altogether ignorant of it; but had I
+known it, it would in no way have affected me. The little fellow was a
+fine healthy child, and, therefore, the thought that he might not live
+to come of age would never have entered my mind."
+
+As the other counsel had no question to ask, the evidence was now
+concluded.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, you have heard the evidence," the coroner said. "Dr.
+MacIlvaine has told you, as indeed you might judge for yourselves on
+viewing the body, that it is impossible, in its advanced state of
+decomposition, to say whether the child was alive or dead at the time he
+fell, or was placed in the canal. As to who were the guilty persons who
+beguiled the child away, if he was beguiled, we have no shadow of
+evidence, and it may well be that he was stolen for the sake of his
+clothes. The cutting short of his hair certainly points to the truth of
+this theory, as does also the fact that no vestige has been found of his
+upper clothing. It is probable that some woman enticed him away, and
+kept him for some time with her, and then, when she became alarmed by
+the search made for him, carried him in his sleep from the house, and
+perhaps laid him down by the canal, thinking that he would be found
+there in the morning, and that the poor child awoke in the dark,
+wandered about, and fell into the canal.
+
+"However, this is only theory; but it is at least supported by the
+mysterious incident of the unknown woman who, by means of a tale which
+appears beyond doubt to have been wholly fictitious, caused the water at
+that spot to be dragged. The fact that on the second day she pointed out
+almost the exact point where the body was found would seem to show that
+the child could scarcely have fallen in the water, as she suggested, for
+in that case she could not have known the precise spot. It would seem,
+then, more likely that either the child died a natural death, perhaps
+from confinement or bad treatment, or possibly that, terribly alarmed at
+the search that was being maintained, he was put out of the way and then
+thrown into the canal at this spot. In that case we may admit that it is
+certainly strange that she should risk discovery by the course she took,
+and I can only account for it on the ground that she had been, ever
+since his death, suffering from remorse, and possibly she may have
+thought that she might in some sort of way atone for her conduct were
+she to point out where the child was, and so secure for him Christian
+burial. That, however, is not before us at present, and I see no
+advantage in an adjournment for an indefinite time until this mystery is
+solved. The police have taken the matter in hand, and will spare no
+pains to discover the woman. If they do so, undoubtedly proceedings will
+be taken in another court. The point that we have to consider is who
+this child was, and how he came to his death. Unfortunately we are
+absolutely without any evidence of what became of him from the time he
+got lost up to the discovery of his body, and I think that you cannot do
+otherwise than find an open verdict.
+
+"As to the question of identity, there can, I think, be no shadow of
+doubt. The clothes in which he was found prove him beyond question to
+have been Walter Rivington, although the body itself is absolutely
+beyond identification. I do not think that you need give any weight to
+the nurse's failure to recognize him, or to her opinion about the hair.
+She is naturally reluctant to acknowledge, even to herself, that the
+child which was lost by her inadvertence is dead, and the ladies would
+be equally reluctant to admit that all hope was over."
+
+The jury put their heads together, and there was evidently no difference
+of opinion, for in two or three minutes they sat down again and the
+foreman stood up.
+
+"You have decided on your verdict?" the coroner asked.
+
+"We have, sir. We find that the body is that of Walter Rivington, and
+that he was found dead in the canal, but how he came there and by what
+means he came by his death, there is no evidence to show."
+
+"Thank you, gentlemen; that is precisely the verdict that I should
+myself have given."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A FRESH CLEW.
+
+
+"Just the verdict that I expected," Mr. Pettigrew said, as he and the
+ladies issued from the courthouse.
+
+"I suppose that it is for the best, Mr. Pettigrew, but it seems hard,
+when we could have said so much, to be obliged to hold our tongues
+altogether."
+
+"No doubt you will have an opportunity later on, Miss Covington. Our
+tongues are tied until we can obtain some sort of proof to go upon. We
+cannot go into court with merely suspicions; we must get facts. All we
+have done at present is to obtain some sort of foundation on which to
+work; but facts we shall, I hope, get ere long from what we may discover
+of this fellow's movements. He is likely to be less careful now that it
+has been decided that Walter is dead. He is doubtless well aware of the
+fact that trustees have a year given them before proceeding to carry out
+the provisions of a will, and, therefore, for that time he will keep
+quiet. At the end of the year his solicitor will write us a courteous
+letter, asking when we shall be in a position to distribute the estate
+in accordance with the provisions of the will. We shall reply that we
+are not in a position to do so. Then, after a time, will come letters of
+a more and more peremptory character, and at last a notice that they are
+about to apply to the courts for an order for us to act upon the
+provisions of the will. About two years after the General's death the
+matter will probably come on. I may say that I have already sent checks
+to all the small legatees."
+
+"Thank you, I was aware of that, because Tom Roberts came to me
+yesterday with his check for two hundred pounds," and said, "Look here,
+Miss Covington; you said you meant to keep me on just the same as in the
+General's time, so this won't be of any use to me, and I should like to
+spend it in any way that you think best to find out what has become of
+Master Walter.' Of course I told him that the money could not be spent
+in that way, and that the work that he was doing was of far greater use
+than ten times that sum would be."
+
+"I will send you your check to-morrow, Miss Covington. The sum we have
+paid to the people who have been searching, and all other expenses that
+may be incurred, will, of course, come out of the estate. You have not
+as yet settled, I suppose, as to your future plans?"
+
+"No, except that I shall certainly keep on the house in Hyde Park
+Gardens for the present. It is, of course, ridiculously large for me,
+but I don't want the trouble of making a move until I make one
+permanently, and shall therefore stay here until this matter is finally
+cleared up. Miss Purcell has most kindly consented to remain as my
+chaperon, and her plans and those of her niece will depend upon mine."
+
+They had sent away their carriage when they entered the court, and they
+walked quietly home, Mr. Pettigrew returning at once to his office. The
+next morning Tom Roberts accosted Hilda as she entered the breakfast
+room, with a face that showed he had news.
+
+"We have traced him down to one of his places at last, miss. I said to
+Andrew, 'We must keep a special sharp look out to-night, for like
+enough, now that the inquest is over, he will be going to talk over the
+matter with his pals.' Well, miss, last night, at half-past nine, out he
+comes. He wasn't in evening dress, for although, as usual, he had a
+topcoat on, he had light trousers and walking boots. He did not turn the
+usual way, but went up into Piccadilly. We followed him. I kept close
+behind him, and Andrew at a distance, so that he should not notice us
+together. At the Circus he hailed a cab, and as he got in I heard him
+say to the driver, 'King's Cross Station.' As soon as he had gone off
+Andrew and I jumped into another cab, and told the man to drive to the
+same place, and that we would give him a shilling extra if he drove
+sharp.
+
+"He did drive sharp, and I felt sure that we had got there before our
+man. I stopped outside the entrance, Andrew went inside. In five minutes
+he arrived, paid the driver his fare, and went in. I had agreed to wait
+two or three minutes outside, while Andrew was to be at the ticket
+office to see where he booked for. I was just going in when, to my
+surprise, out the man came again and walked briskly away. I ran in and
+fetched Andrew, and off we went after him. He hadn't more than a
+minute's start, and we were nearly up to him by the time he had got down
+to the main road. We kept behind him until we saw him go up Pentonville
+Hill, then Andrew went on ahead of him and I followed. We agreed that if
+he looked back, suspicious, I should drop behind. Andrew, when he once
+got ahead, was to keep about the same distance in front of him, so as to
+be able to drop behind and take it up instead of me, while I was to
+cross over the road if I thought that he had discovered I was following
+him.
+
+"However, it did not seem to strike him that anyone was watching him,
+and he walked on briskly until he came to a small house standing by
+itself, and as he turned in we were in time to see that the door was
+opened to him by a man. Andrew and I consulted. I went in at the gate,
+took my shoes off, and went round the house. There was only a light in
+one room, which looked as if there were no servants. The curtains were
+pulled together inside, and I could see nothing of what was going on. He
+stopped there for an hour and a half, then came out again, hailed a cab
+halfway down the hill, and drove off. Andrew and I had compared watches,
+and he had gone back to Jermyn Street, so that we should be able to know
+by the time the chap arrived whether he had gone anywhere else on his
+way back. When I joined him I found that the man must have driven
+straight to the Circus and then got out, for he walked in just twenty
+minutes after I had seen him start."
+
+"That is good news indeed, Roberts. We will go and see Mr. Pettigrew
+directly after breakfast. Please order the carriage to be round at a
+quarter to ten."
+
+Netta was as pleased as her friend when she heard that a step had been
+made at last.
+
+"I am sick of this inaction," she said, "and want to be doing something
+towards getting to the bottom of the affair. I do hope that we shall
+find some way in which I can be useful."
+
+"I have no doubt at all that you will be very useful when we get fairly
+on the track. I expect that this will lead to something."
+
+After Tom Roberts had repeated his story to Mr. Pettigrew, Hilda said:
+
+"I brought Roberts with me, Mr. Pettigrew, that he might tell the story
+in his own way. It seems to me that the best thing now would be to
+employ a private detective to find out who the man is who lives in Rose
+Cottage. This would be out of the line of Tom Roberts and Colonel
+Bulstrode's servant altogether. They would not know how to set about
+making inquiries, whereas a detective would be at home at such work."
+
+"I quite agree with you," the lawyer said. "To make inquiries without
+exciting suspicion requires training and practice. An injudicious
+question might lead to this man being warned that inquiries were being
+made about him and might ruin the matter altogether. Of course your two
+men will still keep up their watch. It may be that we shall find it is
+of more use to follow the track of this man than the other. But you must
+not be too sanguine; the man at Rose Cottage may be an old acquaintance
+of Simcoe. Well, my dear," he went on, in answer to a decided shake of
+the head on Hilda's part, "you must call the man by the only name that
+he is known by, although it may not belong to him. I grant that the
+manner in which he drove into King's Cross station and then walked out
+on foot would seem to show that he was anxious to throw anyone who
+might be watching him off the scent, and that the visit was, so to
+speak, a clandestine one. But it may relate to an entirely different
+matter; for this man may be, for aught we know, an adept in crime, and
+may be in league with many other doubtful characters."
+
+"It may be so, Mr. Pettigrew, but we will hope not."
+
+"Very well, my dear," the lawyer said. "I will send for a trustworthy
+man at once, and set him to work collecting information regarding the
+occupant of the cottage. And now I have a point upon which I wish to ask
+your opinion. I have this morning received a letter from this man's
+solicitor, asking if we intend to undertake the funeral of the body
+which the coroner's jury have found to be that of Walter Rivington; and
+announcing that, if we do not, his client will himself have it carried
+out."
+
+"What do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda said hesitatingly. "We may be
+wrong, you know, and it may be Walter's body."
+
+"I have been thinking it over," the lawyer replied, "and I must say it
+is my opinion that, as we have all stated our conviction that it is not,
+we should only stultify ourselves if we now undertook the funeral and
+put a stone, with his name on, over the grave. If we should at any time
+become convinced that we have been wrong, we can apply for a faculty to
+remove the coffin to the family vault down in Warwickshire."
+
+"If we could do that I should not mind," Hilda said; "but even the
+possibility of Walter being buried by the man who we firmly believe was
+the cause of his death is terrible."
+
+"Yes, I can quite understand your feelings, but I think that it is
+necessary that the family should make a protest against its being
+supposed that they recognize the child, by declining to undertake the
+funeral. No protest could well be stronger."
+
+"If you think that, Mr. Pettigrew, we certainly had best stand aside
+and let that poor child be buried by this man."
+
+Two days later they were driving in the Row. It was Hilda's first
+appearance there since the General's death, and, after talking it over
+with Netta, she now appeared there in order to show that she was
+perfectly convinced that the child which had been found in the canal was
+not her little cousin. The details of the proceedings of the coroner's
+court had, of course, been read by all her friends, and her appearance
+in the park would be the best proof that she could give that the family
+were absolutely convinced that the body was not that of Walter.
+
+Miss Purcell and Netta were with her. The latter had on, as usual, a
+thick veil. This she always wore when driving through any locality where
+she might meet John Simcoe.
+
+"That is the man," Hilda said to her in a sharp tone; "the farther of
+those two leaning on the rail the other side of the road."
+
+As Hilda fixed her eyes on the man she saw him give a sudden movement.
+Then he said to the man next to him:
+
+"Do you see that girl in deep mourning? It is that little vixen, Hilda
+Covington. Confound her, she is at the bottom of all this trouble, and I
+believe she would give ten thousand out of her own pocket to checkmate
+me."
+
+The carriage was opposite to them now. Hilda looked straight in front of
+her, while Netta, who was sitting with her back to the horses, took up
+the watch.
+
+"She would have to be sharp indeed to do that," the other man said. "So
+far everything has gone without a hitch, and I don't see a single weak
+point in your case. The most troublesome part has been got over."
+
+And now some carriages going the other way cut off the view, and Netta
+could read no further. She drew a long breath as Hilda's eyes turned
+towards her.
+
+"What did you read?" the latter asked.
+
+Netta repeated what she had caught, and then Hilda took up the
+conversation.
+
+"It is quite evident that this man, whoever he is, is an accomplice. He
+is a gentlemanly-looking man, and I fancy that he sat in the stalls near
+to us one evening this spring. However, it is quite clear that he is a
+confederate of Simcoe. Just repeat his words over again. They were in
+answer to his remark that I would give ten thousand pounds to be able to
+checkmate him."
+
+Netta repeated the answer of Simcoe's companion.
+
+"You see, Netta, there is something to find out that would checkmate
+him; that is quite evident. He thinks that I cannot find it out. It must
+be, I should think, that Walter is kept in hiding somewhere. It could
+not mean that he had killed my uncle, for he would hardly tell that to
+anyone, and so put himself in their power."
+
+"It may mean that you cannot find out that he is not John Simcoe," Netta
+suggested.
+
+"Possibly; but he cannot know we suspect that."
+
+"It might be about the last will, Hilda."
+
+The latter shook her head.
+
+"We have never thought that there could be anything wrong about it. The
+will was drawn up by Colonel Bulstrode's lawyers, and they knew my uncle
+by sight; besides, all the legacies were exactly the same as in the
+other will, the signature and the written instructions were in his
+handwriting, and he signed it in the solicitor's office in the presence
+of two of their clerks. No, I don't think he can possibly mean that. It
+must be either Walter's abduction or that he is not John Simcoe, and I
+should say that the former is much the more likely. You see, he had no
+need of an accomplice in the matter of getting evidence as to identity,
+whereas he did need an accomplice in the carrying off of Walter. I
+should say that he is far too clever a man to let anyone into any of his
+secrets, unless he needed his assistance. I wonder who the man with him
+can be. He is dressed in good style, and I have certainly met him
+somewhere. I believe, as I said, it was at the opera. I should have
+thought that a man of that class is the last Simcoe would choose as a
+confederate."
+
+Miss Purcell looked from one to the other as they talked. She had by
+this time been taken completely into their confidence, but had refused
+absolutely to believe that a man could be guilty of such wickedness as
+that which they suspected. On their return home they found a letter
+awaiting them from Mr. Pettigrew:
+
+     "MY DEAR MISS COVINGTON [it ran]: My detective has not yet finished
+     his inquiries, but has at least discovered that the proprietor of
+     Rose Cottage, for they say that the place belongs to him, is
+     somewhat of a mystery to his neighbors. He lives there entirely
+     alone. He goes out regularly in a morning, it is supposed to some
+     occupation in the City. No tradesmen ever call at the door; it is
+     supposed that he brings home something for his breakfast and cooks
+     it for himself, and that he dines in the City and makes himself a
+     cup of tea in the evening, or else that he goes out after dark.
+     Sometimes, of summer evenings, he has been seen to go out just at
+     twilight, dressed in full evening costume--that is to say, it is
+     supposed so, for he wore a light overcoat--but certainly a white
+     necktie, black trousers, and patent leather boots. Of course, in
+     all this there is nothing in itself absolutely suspicious. A man
+     engaged in the City would naturally enough take his meals there,
+     and may prefer to do everything for himself to having the bother of
+     servants. Also, if his means permit it, he may like to go to
+     theaters or places of amusement, or may go out to visit business
+     friends. I have, of course, directed the detective to follow him to
+     town and find out what is his business, and where employed. I will
+     let you know result to-morrow."
+
+The next day brought the letter.
+
+     "The man's name is William Barens. He has a small office on the
+     third floor of a house of business in Great St. Helens, and on the
+     doorway below his name is the word 'accountant,' The housekeeper
+     knows nothing about him, except that he has occupied the room for
+     the last twelve years, and that he is a gentleman who gives no
+     trouble. He always puts his papers away at night in his safe, so
+     that his table can be properly dusted. She knows that he has
+     clients, as several times, when he has been away for his dinner
+     hour, she has been asked when he would return. He is a well-spoken
+     gentleman, though not as particular about his dress as some; but
+     liberal with his money, and gives her as handsome a tip at
+     Christmas as some people who have three or four rooms, and, no
+     doubt, think themselves much finer people. This certainly does not
+     amount to much. By the way, the old woman said that she knew he was
+     employed by several tradesmen in the neighborhood to keep their
+     books for them."
+
+Two days later there was another communication:
+
+     "MY DEAR MISS COVINGTON: My man has taken a step which I should
+     certainly have forbidden, had he told me beforehand of his
+     intention. He watched the man go out, and then, having previously
+     provided himself with instruments for picking locks, he opened the
+     door and went in. On the table were several heavy ledgers and
+     account books, all bearing the names of tradesmen in the
+     neighborhood, with several files of accounts, bills, and invoices.
+     These fully bore out what the woman had told him. Besides the
+     chairs, table, and safe, the only other articles of furniture in
+     the room were an office washing stand and a large closet. In the
+     latter were a dress suit and boots, and a suit of fashionable
+     walking clothes, so that it is evident that he often changed there
+     instead of going home. I am sorry to say that all this throws no
+     further light upon the man's pursuits, and had it not been for
+     Simcoe's visit to him, it would be safe to say that he is a
+     hard-working accountant, in a somewhat humble, but perhaps
+     well-paying line; that he is a trifle eccentric in his habits, and
+     prefers living a cheap, solitary life at home, while spending his
+     money freely in the character of a man about town in the evening. I
+     cannot say that the prospect in this direction seems hopeful. I
+     have told my man that for the present we shall not require his
+     services further."
+
+"It does not seem very satisfactory, certainly," Hilda said with a sigh;
+"I am afraid that we shall have to keep on watching Simcoe. I wish I
+could peep into his room as this detective did into that of the
+Pentonville man."
+
+"I don't suppose that you would find anything there, Hilda; he is not
+the sort of man to keep a memorandum book, jotting down all his own
+doings."
+
+"No," Hilda said with a laugh; "still, one always thinks that one can
+find something."
+
+Had Hilda Covington had her wish and looked into John Simcoe's room that
+morning, she would certainly have derived some satisfaction from the
+sight. He had finished his breakfast before opening a letter that lay
+beside him.
+
+"What a plague the old woman is with her letters! I told her that I
+hated correspondence, but she persists in writing every month or so,
+though she never gets any reply except, 'My dear Aunt: Thanks for your
+letter. I am glad to hear that you are well.--Your affectionate nephew.'
+Well, I suppose I must read it through."
+
+He glanced over the first page, but on turning to the second his eye
+became arrested, and he read carefully, frowning deeply as he did so.
+Then he turned back and read it again. The passage was as follows:
+
+     "I had quite an interesting little episode a day or two after I
+     last wrote. A young lady--she said her name was Barcum, and that
+     she was an artist--came in and asked if I would take her in as a
+     lodger. She was a total stranger to the place, and had come down
+     for her health, and said that some tradesman had recommended her to
+     come here, saying that, as a single lady, I might be glad to
+     accommodate her. Of course I told her that I did not take lodgers.
+     She got up to go, when she nearly fainted, and I could not do less
+     than offer her a cup of tea. Then we got very chatty, and as I saw
+     that she was really too weak to go about town looking for lodgings,
+     I invited her to stay a day or two with me, she being quite a lady
+     and a very pleasant-spoken one. She accepted, and a pleasanter
+     companion I never had. Naturally I mentioned your name, and told
+     her what adventures you had gone through, and how kind you were.
+     She was greatly interested, and often asked questions about you,
+     and I do think that she almost fell in love with you from my
+     description. She left suddenly on receipt of a letter that called
+     her up to town, saying that she would return; but I have not heard
+     from her since, and I am greatly afraid that the poor child must be
+     seriously ill. She was a pretty and intelligent-looking girl, with
+     dark eyes and hair, and I should say that when in good health she
+     must be very bright. Of course, she may have changed her mind about
+     coming down. I am sure she would have written if she had been
+     well."
+
+"Confound the old gossip!" John Simcoe said angrily, as he threw the
+letter down. "I wonder what this means, and who this girl can be? It is
+clear enough that, whoever she is, she was sent down there to make
+inquiries about me. It is that girl Covington's doing, I have no doubt,
+though it was not the minx herself, for the description does not tally
+at all. She has light brown hair and grayish sort of eyes. There is one
+comfort, she would learn nothing to my disadvantage from the old woman,
+nor, I believe, from anyone at Stowmarket. In fact, she would only get
+more and more confirmation of my story. I have no fear upon that score,
+but the thing shows how that girl is working on my track. As for the
+lawyer, he is an old fool; and if it hadn't been for her I would bet a
+hundred to one that he would never have entertained any suspicion that
+all was not right. It is her doing all through, and this is a piece of
+it. Of course she could have no suspicion that I was not John Simcoe,
+but I suppose she wanted to learn if there was any dark spot in my
+history--whether I had ever been suspected of robbing a bank, or had
+been expelled from school for thieving, or something of that sort. I
+begin to be downright afraid of her. She had a way of looking through
+me, when I was telling my best stories to the General, that always put
+me out. She disliked me from the first, though I am sure I tried in
+every way to be pleasant to her. I felt from the day I first saw her
+that she was an enemy, and that if any trouble ever did come it would be
+through her. I have no doubt she is moving heaven and earth to find
+Walter; but that she will never do, for Harrison is as true as steel,
+and he is the only man who could put them on the right track. Moreover,
+I have as much pull over him as he has over me. He has never had a doubt
+about my being John Simcoe; he doesn't know about the other affair, but
+only that Walter stood between me and the estate, and he was quite ready
+to lend me a hand to manage to get him out of the way. So in that
+business he is in it as deep as I am, while I know of a score of schemes
+he has been engaged in, any one of which would send him abroad for life.
+I expect those inquiries were made at Stowmarket to endeavor to find out
+whether any child had been sent down there. If so, Miss Covington is not
+so sharp as I took her to be. Stowmarket would be the very last place
+where a man, having relations and friends there, would send a child whom
+he wished to keep concealed. Still it is annoying, confoundedly
+annoying; and it shows that these people, that is to say Hilda
+Covington, are pushing their inquiries in every direction, likely or
+unlikely.
+
+"The only comfort is, the more closely they search the sooner they will
+come to the conclusion that the boy is not to be found. I believe that,
+though they declared they did not recognize the body, they had no real
+doubt about it, and they only said so because if they had admitted it,
+the trustees would have had no excuse for not carrying out the
+provisions of the will. That text the girl had the impudence to quote
+to me looked as if she believed the body was Walter's, and that I had
+killed him, though it may be that she only said it to drive me to
+bringing the whole business into court, by bringing an action against
+her for libel; but I am not such a fool as to do that. Just at present
+there is a lot of public feeling excited by the circumstances of the
+child's loss and the finding of the body, and even if I got a verdict I
+fancy that the jury would be all on the girl's side, and give me such
+trifling damages that the verdict would do me more harm than good. No,
+our game clearly is to let the matter rest until it has died out of the
+public mind. Then we shall apply formally for the trustees to be called
+upon to act. No doubt they will give us a great deal of trouble, but
+Comfrey says that he thinks that the order must be granted at last,
+though possibly it may be withheld, as far as the estate is concerned,
+for some years. At any rate I ought to get the ten thousand at once, as
+the question whether the boy is alive or dead cannot affect that in the
+slightest."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+NETTA ACTS INDEPENDENTLY.
+
+
+"It seems to me, Hilda, that somehow or other we are wasting our time,"
+Netta said one morning suddenly, as they were sitting together.
+
+"How do you mean, Netta?"
+
+"Well, you see, we relied a great deal on being able to overhear
+conversation from a distance; and, except those few words we gathered in
+the Park, we have absolutely done nothing that way."
+
+"But how can we do more than we are doing?"
+
+"I don't know; that is what is troubling me. You know, dear, that I am
+quite content to give up my own work to help you. At first, of course,
+aunt and I would have stayed here, at any rate for a time, to keep you
+company; but your uncle has been dead now for more than eight months,
+and time is going on. If I were really helping you I would stop, if it
+were five years; but in fact I am not helping you in the way we
+intended."
+
+"You are helping me, Netta!" Hilda exclaimed with tears in her eyes.
+"How should I have got on through all this sad time if you had not been
+here to comfort and cheer me?"
+
+"Yes, but the necessity for that is over. You have your friends, and
+though you don't go out yet, you often go to Lady Moulton's and some of
+your other friends', and they come to see you."
+
+"Yes, and you will never go with me, Netta, nor see them when they
+come."
+
+"No, dear; I have nothing in common with them. I do not know the people
+of whom you talk, and should simply sit there uncomfortably, so I prefer
+to be out of it altogether. Then I really miss my work. Ever since you
+came to us some eight years ago I have been teaching eight or ten hours
+a day. I like the work; it is immensely interesting, and I am happy in
+seeing my pupils improve."
+
+"And all this means," Hilda said sorrowfully, "you are going to say that
+it is time for you to go back."
+
+"No, it does not necessarily mean that--there is an alternative; I must
+either be doing something or go back."
+
+"But, as I said before, Netta, what can we do, more than we have done?"
+
+"That is what I have been thinking, Hilda. Anyhow, I mean to try to do
+something before I give it up and go to Germany again."
+
+"I warn you, Netta, that I shall be furious if you do that. I am my own
+mistress now, for Mr. Pettigrew will let me do as I like now I am
+nineteen, and am quite determined that our old plan shall be carried
+out, and that you shall start an institution like that of Professor
+Menzel somewhere near London. You have been twelve months away, your
+pupils have already taken to other teachers, and there cannot be the
+least occasion for your assistance in an institution that is now well
+stocked with teachers, while here you could do enormous good. Anyhow,
+whether you stay or not, I shall, as soon as all this is settled, take a
+large house standing in its own grounds, in some healthy place near
+London, and obtain teachers."
+
+"Well, we need not talk of that just yet," Netta said quietly; "it will
+be time enough when I have failed in carrying out my plans."
+
+"But what are your plans?"
+
+"I have not quite settled myself; and when I do I mean to work entirely
+in my own way, and shall say nothing about it until I come to you and
+say I have succeeded, or I have failed."
+
+Hilda opened her eyes in surprise.
+
+"But why should I be kept in the dark?"
+
+"Because, dear, you might not approve of my plans," Netta replied
+coolly.
+
+"You are not thinking of doing anything foolish, I hope?" Hilda
+exclaimed.
+
+"If it were foolish it would be excusable where the counsels of wisdom
+have failed," Netta laughed; and then more seriously, "Nothing would be
+foolish if it could possibly lead to the discovery of Walter's hiding
+place."
+
+That afternoon, when Hilda drove out with Miss Purcell to make some
+calls, Netta rang the bell, and when Tom Roberts came in she said:
+
+"I want to have a long talk with you, Roberts. But mind, what I say is
+to be kept a perfect secret between ourselves."
+
+"Yes, miss," he said in surprise.
+
+"Now, sit down," she went on; "we can talk more comfortably so. Now,
+Roberts, there is no doubt that we are not making much headway with our
+search."
+
+"That we are not, Miss Netta," he agreed. "I did think that we had
+gained something when we traced him to that house on Pentonville Hill,
+but it does not seem that anything has come of it, after all."
+
+"Then it is quite time that we took some other steps," she said
+decisively.
+
+"I am ready, miss," he replied eagerly. "You tell me what to do, and I
+am game to do it."
+
+"Well, there are two or three things I have in my mind. First of all, I
+want to be able to watch John Simcoe and this Pentonville man when they
+are talking together."
+
+"Yes, I understand," he said; "but how is it to be done?"
+
+"That is what I want to find out. Now, in the first place, about this
+house. Which way did the window look of the room where there was a
+light?"
+
+"That window was at the side of the house, miss; a little way round the
+corner. We noticed the light there, but there was another window looking
+out on the front. We did not see any light there, as the shutters were
+closed."
+
+"And you say that the curtains of the other window were pulled very
+close?"
+
+"Yes, they crossed each other most of the way down."
+
+"Now, the question in my mind, Roberts, is which would be easier--to cut
+a slit in the curtain, or to bore a hole in the shutter, or to take a
+brick out carefully from the side wall and then to deepen the hole until
+we got to the wall-paper, and then make a slight hole there?"
+
+Roberts looked at her with astonishment. "Do you really mean it, miss?"
+
+"Certainly I mean it; it seems to me that our only chance of ever
+finding Walter is to overhear those men's talk."
+
+"Then, miss, I should say that the simplest way would be to cut a window
+pane out."
+
+"Yes; but, you see, it is pretty certain that that curtain will not be
+drawn until they come in, and they would notice it at once. If we took
+out a pane in the front window the shutter would prevent our seeing or
+hearing, and the man would be sure to notice the pane was missing as he
+walked up from the gate to the house."
+
+"I should say, miss, that the best plan would be for me to manage to get
+into the house some time during the day and to hide in that room, under
+the table or sofa or somewhere, and listen to them."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"In the first place, Roberts, you would certainly be murdered if they
+found you there."
+
+"I would take my chance of that, miss; and you may be sure that I would
+take a brace of the General's pistols with me, and they would not find
+it such easy work to get rid of me."
+
+"That may be so," Netta said, "but if in the struggle you shot them
+both, our last chance of ever hearing of Walter would be gone. You
+yourself might be tried for murder, and it would be assumed, of course,
+that you were a burglar; for the explanation that you had broken into
+the house only to hear a conversation would scarcely be believed.
+Moreover, you must remember that we don't know how often these men
+meet. Simcoe has not been there since you tracked him there six months
+ago, and the only thing we have since found out is that the man I saw
+him with in the park is the man who lives in that house. It would never
+do for you to make an entrance into the house night after night and week
+after week, to run the risk of being detected there, or seized as you
+entered, or caught by the police as a burglar. No, as far as I can see,
+the only safe plan is to get out a brick very carefully in the side wall
+and to make a hole behind it through the paper. It might be necessary to
+make an entry into the house before this was done, so as to decide which
+was the best spot for an opening. A great deal would depend upon the
+paper in the room. If it is a light paper, with only a small amount of
+pattern upon it, any hole large enough to see through might be noticed.
+If it is a dark paper, well covered, a hole might be made without any
+fear of its catching the eye. You see, it must be a rather large hole,
+for, supposing the wall is only nine inches thick, a person standing
+outside could not see what was passing inside unless the hole were a
+good size."
+
+"But I doubt much if you would be able to hear them, Miss Netta."
+
+"No, I don't think that I should; especially as people talking of things
+of that sort, even if they had no great fear of being overheard, would
+speak in a low voice. But that would not matter if I could see their
+faces. I should know what they were saying."
+
+Roberts did not think it right to offer any remark on what appeared to
+him to be impossible, and he confined himself to saying in a respectful
+voice, "Indeed, Miss Netta."
+
+"I am stone-deaf," she said, "but have learned to read what people are
+saying from the movement of their lips."
+
+Although the "Indeed, miss," was as respectful as before, Netta saw that
+he did not in the slightest degree believe her.
+
+"Just go to the other end of the room, Roberts, and make some remark to
+yourself. Move your lips in the same way as if you were talking, but do
+not make any sound."
+
+Roberts, with military obedience, marched to the other end of the room,
+placed himself in a corner, and turned round, facing her. His lips
+moved, and, confident that she could not know what he was saying, he
+expressed his natural sentiments.
+
+The girl at once repeated the words: "Well, I'm jiggered! This is a rum
+start; Miss Netta has gone clean off her head."
+
+Roberts' jaw dropped, and he flushed up to the hair.
+
+"I am sure," he began; but he was stopped by the girl's merry laugh.
+
+"Do not apologize, Roberts; it was natural enough that you should be
+surprised. Well, you see I can do as I say. We will now go on with our
+talk."
+
+Greatly abashed, Tom Roberts returned to the chair, murmuring to himself
+as he sat down, "Well, I'm blowed!" when he was roughly recalled to the
+necessity of keeping his mouth shut by her quiet remark, "Never mind
+about being blowed at present, Roberts; let us talk over another plan.
+Who are the keepers of the house in Jermyn Street?"
+
+"It is kept by a man and his wife, miss. He has been a butler, I
+believe, and his wife was a cook. He waits upon the gentlemen who lodge
+there, and she cooks. They have a girl who sweeps and does the bedrooms
+and the scrubbing and that sort of thing."
+
+"What sort of a girl is she, Roberts?"
+
+"She seems a nice sort of young woman, miss. Andrew has spoken to her
+more than I have, because, you see, my get-up aint likely to take much
+with a young girl."
+
+"I suppose she is not very much attached to her place?"
+
+"Lor', no, miss; she told Andrew that she was only six months up from
+the country, and they don't pay her but eight pounds a year, and pretty
+hard work she has to do for it."
+
+"Well, Roberts, I want to take her place."
+
+"You want----" and Roberts' voice failed him in his astonishment.
+
+"Yes, I want to take her place, Roberts. I should think that if you or
+Andrew were to tell her that you have a friend up from the country who
+wants just such a place, and is ready to pay five pounds to get one, she
+might be ready to take the offer; especially as you might say that you
+knew of a lady who is in want of an under-housemaid and you thought that
+you could get her the place."
+
+"As to that, miss, I have no doubt that she would leave to-morrow, if
+she could get five pounds. She told Andrew that she hated London, and
+should go down home and take a country place as soon as she had saved up
+money to do so."
+
+"All the better, Roberts; then all she would have to do would be to say
+that she had heard of a place near home, and wanted to leave at once.
+She did not wish to inconvenience them, but that she had a cousin who
+was just coming up to London and wanted a place, and that she would jump
+at it. She could say that her cousin had not been in service before, but
+that she was a thorough good cleaner and hard worker."
+
+"And do you mean that you would go as a servant, Miss Netta? Why, it
+would not be right for you to do so."
+
+"Anything would be right that led to the discovery of Walter's hiding
+place, Roberts. I have been accustomed to teaching, and I have helped my
+aunt to look after the house for years, and I do not in the slightest
+degree mind playing the part of a servant for a short time, in order to
+try and get at the bottom of this matter. You think that it can be
+managed?"
+
+"I am sure it can be managed right enough, miss; but what Miss Covington
+would say, if she knew that I had a hand in bringing it about, I can't
+say."
+
+"Well, you won't be drawn into the matter. I shall say enough to my aunt
+to satisfy her that I am acting for the best, and shall simply, when I
+go, leave a note for your mistress, telling her that I have gone to work
+out an idea that I have had in my mind, and that it would be no use for
+her to inquire into the matter until she hears of me again."
+
+"What am I to tell Andrew, miss?"
+
+"Simply tell him that a young woman has been engaged to watch Simcoe in
+his lodgings. Then tell him the story he has to tell the girl. I shall
+want three or four days to get my things ready. I shall have to go to a
+dressmaker's and tell her that I want three or four print gowns for a
+young servant about my own figure, and as soon as they are ready I shall
+be ready, too."
+
+"Well, miss, I will do as you tell me, but I would say, quite
+respectful, I hope that you will bear in mind, if things goes wrong,
+that I was dead against it, and that it was only because you said that
+it was our only chance of finding Master Walter that I agreed to lend a
+hand."
+
+"I will certainly bear that in mind," Netta said with a smile. "Talk it
+over with Andrew to-night; but remember he is only to know that a young
+woman has been engaged to keep a watch on Simcoe."
+
+"He will be glad enough to hear, miss, that someone else is going to do
+something. He says the Colonel is so irritable because he has found out
+so little that there is no bearing with him."
+
+"The Colonel is trying," Netta laughed. "As you know, he comes here two
+or three times a week and puts himself into such rages that, as he
+stamps up and down the room, I expect to hear a crash and to find that
+the dining-room ceiling has fallen down. He is a thoroughly kind-hearted
+man, but is a dreadful specimen of what an English gentleman may come to
+after he has had the command of an Indian regiment for some years, and
+been accustomed to have his will obeyed in everything. It is very bad
+for a man."
+
+"It is a good deal worse for his servant, miss," Tom Roberts said, in a
+tone of deep sympathy for his comrade. "I doubt whether I could have
+stood it myself; but though Andrew expresses his feelings strong
+sometimes, I know that if you offered him a good place, even in
+Buckingham Palace, he would not leave the Colonel."
+
+Two days later Netta heard that the girl in Jermyn Street had joyfully
+accepted the offer, and had that morning told her master that she had
+heard that she was wanted badly at home, and that a cousin of hers would
+be up in a day or two, and would, she was sure, be very glad to take her
+place. The master agreed to give her a trial, if she looked a clean and
+tidy girl.
+
+"I shall be clean and tidy, Roberts; and I am sure I shall do no
+injustice to her recommendation."
+
+Roberts shook his head. The matter was, to his mind, far too serious to
+be joked about, and he almost felt as if he were acting in a treasonable
+sort of way in aiding to carry out such a project.
+
+On the following Monday Hilda, on coming down to breakfast, found a note
+on the table. She opened it in haste, seeing that it was in Netta's
+handwriting, and her eyes opened in surprise and almost dismay as she
+read:
+
+     "MY DARLING HILDA: I told you that I had a plan. Well, I am off to
+     carry it out. It is of no use your asking what it is, or where I am
+     going. You will hear nothing of me until I return to tell you
+     whether I have failed or succeeded. Aunt knows what I am going to
+     do."
+
+Hilda at once ran upstairs to Miss Purcell's room.
+
+"Where has Netta gone?" she exclaimed. "Her letter has given me quite a
+turn. She says that you know; but I feel sure that it is something very
+foolish and rash."
+
+"I thought that you had a better opinion of Netta's common sense," Miss
+Purcell said placidly, smiling a little at Hilda's excitement. "It is
+her arrangement, dear, and not mine, and I am certainly not at liberty
+to give you any information about it. I do not say that I should not
+have opposed it in the first instance, had I known of it, but I
+certainly cannot say that there is anything foolish in it, and I admit
+that it seems to me to offer a better chance of success than any plan
+that has yet been tried. I don't think there is any occasion for anxiety
+about her. Netta has thought over her plans very carefully, and has gone
+to work in a methodical way; she may fail, but if so I don't think that
+it will be her fault."
+
+"But why could she not tell me as well as you?" Hilda asked rather
+indignantly.
+
+"Possibly because she did not wish to raise hopes that might not be
+fulfilled; but principally, I own, because she thought you would raise
+objections to it, and she was bent upon having her own way. She has
+seconded you well, my dear, all through this business."
+
+"Yes, I know, aunt; she has been most kind in every respect."
+
+"Well, my dear, then don't grudge her having a little plan of her own."
+
+"I don't grudge her a bit," Hilda said impetuously, "and, as you are
+quite satisfied, I will try to be quite satisfied too. But, you see, it
+took me by surprise; and I was so afraid that she might do something
+rash and get into trouble somehow. You know really I am quite afraid of
+this man, and would certainly far rather run a risk myself than let her
+do so."
+
+"Of that I have no doubt, Hilda; but I am quite sure that, if the case
+had been reversed, you would have undertaken this little plan that she
+has hit upon, to endeavor to relieve her of a terrible anxiety, just as
+she is doing for you."
+
+"Well, I will be patient, aunt. How long do you think that she will be
+away?"
+
+"That is more than I can tell you; but at any rate she has promised to
+write me a line at least twice a week, and, should I think it right, I
+can recall her."
+
+"That is something, aunt. You cannot guess whether it is likely to be a
+week or a month?"
+
+Miss Purcell shook her head.
+
+"It will all depend upon whether she succeeds in hitting upon a clew as
+to where Walter is. If she finds that she has no chance of so doing she
+will return; if, on the other hand, she thinks that there is a
+probability that with patience she will succeed, she will continue to
+watch and wait."
+
+"Miss Netta is not ill, I hope, miss?" Roberts said, when he came in to
+clear the breakfast things away.
+
+"No she has gone away on a short visit," Hilda replied. Had she been
+watching the old soldier's face, she might have caught a slight
+contortion that would have enlightened her as to the fact that he knew
+more than she did about the matter; but she had avoided looking at him,
+lest he should read in her face that she was in ignorance as to Netta's
+whereabouts. She would have liked to have asked when she went; whether
+she took a box with her, and whether she had gone early that morning or
+late the evening before; but she felt that any questions of the sort
+would show that she was totally in the dark as to her friend's
+movements. In fact Netta had walked out early that morning, having sent
+off a box by the carrier on the previous Saturday when Hilda was out;
+Roberts having himself carried it to the receiving house.
+
+It was four or five days before Dr. Leeds called again.
+
+"Is Miss Purcell out?" he asked carelessly, when some little time had
+elapsed without her making her appearance.
+
+"Is that asked innocently, Dr. Leeds?" Hilda said quickly.
+
+The doctor looked at her in genuine surprise.
+
+"Innocently, Miss Covington? I don't think that I quite understand you."
+
+"I see, doctor, that I have been in error. I suspected you of being an
+accomplice of Netta's in a little scheme in which she is engaged on her
+own account." And she then told him about her disappearance, of the
+letter that she had received, and of the conversation with her aunt.
+Dr. Leeds was seriously disturbed.
+
+"I need hardly say that this comes as a perfect surprise to me, Miss
+Covington, and I say frankly a very unpleasant one. But the only
+satisfactory feature is that the young lady's aunt does not absolutely
+disapprove of the scheme, whatever it is, although it is evident that
+her approval is by no means a warm one. This is a very serious matter. I
+have the highest opinion of your friend's judgment and sense, but I own
+that I feel extremely uneasy at the thought that she has, so to speak,
+pitted herself against one of the most unscrupulous villains I have ever
+met, whose past conduct shows that he would stop at nothing, and who is
+playing for a very big stake. It would be as dangerous to interfere
+between a tiger and his prey as to endeavor to discover the secret on
+which so much depends."
+
+"I feel that myself, doctor, and I own that I'm exceedingly anxious.
+Aunt has had two short letters from her. Both are written in pencil, but
+the envelope is in ink, and in her usual handwriting. I should think it
+probable that she took with her several directed envelopes. The letters
+are very short. The first was: 'I am getting on all right, aunt, and am
+comfortable. Too early to say whether I am likely to discover anything.
+Pray do not fidget about me, nor let Hilda do so. There is nothing to be
+uneasy about.' The second was as nearly as possible in the same words,
+except that she said, 'You and Hilda must be patient. Rome was not built
+in a day, and after so many clever people have failed you cannot expect
+that I can succeed all at once.'"
+
+"That is good as far as it goes," the doctor said, "but you see it does
+not go very far. It is not until success is nearly reached that the
+danger will really begin. I do not mind saying to you that Miss Purcell
+is very dear to me. I have not spoken to her on the subject, as I wished
+to see how my present partnership was likely to turn out. I am wholly
+dependent upon my profession, and until I felt my ground thoroughly I
+determined to remain silent. You can imagine, therefore, how troubled I
+am at your news. Were it not that I have such implicit confidence in her
+judgment I should feel it still more; but even as it is, when I think
+how unscrupulous and how desperate is the man against whom she has,
+single-handed, entered the lists, I cannot but be alarmed."
+
+"I am very glad at what you have told me, doctor. I had a little hope
+that it might be so. It seemed to me impossible that you could be living
+for four months with such a dear girl without being greatly attracted by
+her. Of course I know nothing of her feelings. The subject is one that
+has never been alluded to between us, but I am sure that no girl living
+is more fitted than she is to be the wife of a medical man. I would give
+much to have Netta back again, but Miss Purcell is obdurate. She says
+that, knowing as she does what Netta is doing, she does not think that
+she is running any risk--at any rate, none proportionate to the
+importance of finding a clew to Walter's hiding place."
+
+"Will you ask her if she will write to her niece and urge her to return,
+saying how anxious you are about her? Or, if she will not do that,
+whether she will release her from her promise of secrecy, so that she
+may let us know what she is doing?"
+
+"I will go and ask her now; I will bring her down so that you can add
+your entreaties to mine, doctor."
+
+But Miss Purcell refused to interfere.
+
+"I consider Netta's scheme to be a possible one," she said, "though I am
+certainly doubtful of its success. But she has set her heart upon it,
+and I will do nothing to balk her. I do not say that I am free from
+anxiety myself, but my confidence in Netta's cleverness, and I may say
+prudence, is such that I believe that the risk she is running is very
+slight. It would be cruel, and I think wrong at the present moment, when
+above all things it is necessary that her brain should be clear, to
+distress and trouble her by interfering with her actions."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Miss Purcell," the doctor said thoughtfully.
+"Being totally in the dark in the matter, I am not justified in giving a
+decisive opinion, but I will admit that it would not conduce either to
+her comfort or to the success of her undertaking were we to harass her
+by interfering in any way with her plan, which, I have no doubt, has
+been thoroughly thought out before she undertook it. No one but a madman
+would shout instructions or warnings to a person performing a dangerous
+feat requiring coolness and presence of mind. Such, I take it, is the
+scheme, whatever it is, in which she is engaged; and as you are the only
+one who knows what that scheme is, I must, however reluctantly, abide by
+your decision. When Miss Covington tells you the conversation that we
+have had together you will recognize how deeply I am interested in the
+matter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+DOWN IN THE MARSHES.
+
+
+Comparatively few of those who nowadays run down to Southend for a
+breath of fresh air give a thought to the fact that the wide stretch of
+low country lying between the railroad and the Thames, from Pitsea to
+Leigh, was at one time, and that not so many centuries back, a mud flat,
+a continuation of the great line of sand that still, with but a short
+break here and there, stretches down beyond Yarmouth; still less that,
+were it not for the watchfulness of those who dwell upon it, it would in
+a short time revert to its original condition, the country lying below
+the level of higher water.
+
+Along the whole face of the river run banks--the work, doubtless, of
+engineers brought over by Dutch William--strong, massive, and
+stone-faced, as they need be to withstand the rush and fret of the tide
+and the action of the waves when, as is often the case, the east wind
+knocks up ridges of short, angry water in Sea Reach. Similarly, the
+winding creeks are all embanked, but here dams of earth are sufficient
+to retain within its bounds the sluggish water as it rises and falls.
+Standing on any of these, the farmhouses and little homesteads lie
+below, their eaves for the most part level with the top of the bank,
+though there are a few knolls which rise above the level of the tidal
+water.
+
+The most conspicuous objects are the brown sails of the barges, which
+seem to stand up in the midst of the brownish-green fields, the hulls
+being invisible. This cannot be called marsh land, for the ground is
+intersected by ditches, having sluices through which they discharge
+their water at low tide. Very fertile is the land in some spots,
+notably in Canvey Island, where there are great stretches of wheat and
+broad meadows deep with rich waving grass; but there are other places
+where the grass is brown and coarse, showing that, though the surface
+may be hard and dry, water lies not far below. Here a few cattle gather
+a scanty living, and the little homesteads are few and far between. Most
+of the houses are placed near the banks of the creeks. The barges serve
+as their wagons, and carry their hay up to London and bring down manure
+and other things required, or carry coal and lime to the wharves of
+Pitsea.
+
+A rare place was this in the old smuggling days, and indeed until quite
+lately the trade was carried on, though upon a reduced scale. Vessels
+drifting slowly up the river would show a light as they passed a barge
+at anchor or a bawley hanging to its trawl, a light would be shown in
+answer, and a moment later a boat would row off to the ship, and a score
+of tubs or a dozen bales of tobacco be quickly transferred, and before
+morning the contents would be stowed in underground cellars in some of
+the little farmhouses on the creeks, or be hidden away in the Leigh
+marshes.
+
+"Will Bill be in to-night with the barge?" a child asked a woman, as he
+came down from the bank to a not uncomfortable-looking homestead ten
+yards from its foot.
+
+"I told you that you are to call him uncle," the woman said sharply, but
+not unkindly. "I have told you so over and over again, child."
+
+"I generally do now, but one forgets sometimes."
+
+"There is never any saying"--the woman went on in reply to his
+question--"there is never any saying; it all depends on tide and wind.
+Sometimes they have to anchor and lose a tide, or maybe two. Sometimes
+they get a cargo directly they get into the Pool or at Rochester;
+sometimes they wait two or three days. They have been away four days
+now; they might have been here yesterday, but may not come till
+to-morrow. One thing is certain, whenever he do come he will want
+something to eat, and I hope that they will bring it with them, for
+there is nothing here but bread and bacon."
+
+"And do you think that I shall soon go home again, aunt?"
+
+"There is no saying," the woman said evasively. "You are very
+comfortable here, aint you?"
+
+"Oh, yes! There are the dogs and the ducks and the chickens, and uncle
+says that he will take me sometimes for a sail with him in the barge."
+
+"Yes, I expect it won't be long first. You know, I used to go with him
+regular till, as I have told you, my little Billy fell overboard one
+night, and we knew nothing of it until he was gone, and I have never
+liked the barge since. Besides, I have plenty to do here. But I am going
+across to Rochester very soon. It's a good place for shopping, and I
+want groceries and little things for myself and more things for you. I
+will take you with me, but you will have to promise to be very good and
+careful."
+
+"I will be careful," the child said confidently, "and you know that
+uncle said that when spring comes he will teach me to swim; and I shall
+like that, and if I tumble overboard it won't matter. He says that when
+I get a few years older I shall go with him regularly, and learn to
+steer and to manage the sails. I shall like that; but I should like to
+go back sometimes to see Hilda and Netta and my grandpapa."
+
+"Well, well, my dear, we will see about it; they can't take you at
+present. I think that they have gone away traveling, and may not be back
+for a long time. And mind, you know you are not to talk about them. Just
+when you are here with me I don't care; but you know uncle does not like
+it, and if anyone asks, you must say just what he told you, that your
+father and mother are dead, and that Uncle Bill has took you."
+
+"I shan't forget," the boy said. "I never do talk about it before him;
+it makes him angry. I don't know why, but it does."
+
+"But he is always kind to you, Jack?"
+
+"Oh, yes, he is very kind, and he often brings me things when he comes
+back; he brought me my dear little kitten. Pussy, where have you hidden
+yourself? Puss! puss!" And in answer a little ball of white fur bounded
+out from behind a chair, and the child was soon engaged in a game of
+romps with it.
+
+"It is a shame!" the woman said, as she watched them; "I don't mind the
+other things, but I never liked this. I wonder who the poor little chap
+is. By the way he talked when he first came, about his home and his
+nurse and horses and carriages, his friends must be rich people. Bill
+has never understood why they wanted to get rid of him; but I suppose
+that he was in somebody's way, and, as he never speaks of his father and
+mother, but only of those two girls and his grandfather, who seems to
+have been an invalid, I expect that he must have lost his father and
+mother before he can remember. Well, he will be right enough here; I
+should miss him dreadful if he were to go away; he seems to have taken
+the place of my little Billy. And Bill takes to him, too, wonderfully.
+He said the other day that when the boy grew up he would buy a barge, a
+new one of the best kind, and that some day it should be the boy's own.
+So he won't do so bad, after all."
+
+A stranger would have wondered at the comfort in the interior of the
+little farmhouse. The land round it was very poor. Three horses--which
+seemed as if they had nothing to do but to nibble the coarse grass--and
+a couple of cows wandered about on a few acres of land, inclosed by deep
+water ditches; a score or two of ducks and geese paddled in the mud in
+the bottom of the creek at low tide, or swam about in the water when it
+was up; and a patch of garden ground, attended to chiefly by the woman,
+surrounded the cottage. But all this would have afforded a scanty living
+indeed, were it not that the master, Bill Nibson, was the owner of the
+_Mary Ann_ barge, an old craft with a somewhat dilapidated sail, which
+journeyed up and down the river with more or less regularity, laden, for
+the most part, with manure, hay, lime, bricks, or coal. This he
+navigated with the aid of a lad of fourteen, a waif, whose mother, a
+tramp, had died by the roadside one bitter cold night four years before.
+Bill had been summoned on the coroner's jury and had offered to take the
+boy.
+
+"I can do with him on board the barge," he said; "he is only a little
+nipper now, but in a year or two he will be useful. The boy I have got
+wants to go to sea, and I shan't be sorry to get rid of him; he is
+getting too knowing for me altogether."
+
+As no one else wanted the boy he was handed over to Bill, and was now a
+sharp lad, who, never having been instructed in the niceties of right
+and wrong, and being especially ignorant that there was any harm in
+cheating Her Majesty's Customs, was in all things a useful assistant to
+his master. He had, indeed, very soon imbibed the spirit, not uncommon
+among the dwellers on the marshes, that if managed without detection,
+the smuggling of tobacco and spirits was a meritorious action,
+advantageous to the community at large, and hurting no one except that
+mysterious and unknown entity, the queen's revenue. He was greatly
+attached to Bill, and took an occasional thrashing as a matter of
+course; regarding him as having saved him from the workhouse and having
+put him in a fair way of making a man of himself.
+
+The next day at twelve o'clock the child, playing on the bank, ran in
+and reported that Joshua was coming along the bank, and in a few minutes
+the boy appeared.
+
+"Morning, missis," he said. "Master sent me on to say that the barge got
+into the haven this morning, and that she will come on with the evening
+tide. He sent me on with this lump of meat, and these rokers he got from
+a bawley which came in just as we were getting up sail off Grain Spit.
+He says he has got a barrel of beer on board, that he will land as he
+passes. He will be along about nine o'clock. Well, Jack, how are you?"
+
+"I am all right," the child said, "and so is Kitty. I am glad that you
+are back. How long are you going to stay?"
+
+"I suppose that it will take us a couple of days to unload. Master is
+going as usual to hire a couple of men to get the line out, so I shall
+be over here by breakfast. He says that I may as well do a job of
+digging in the garden, as he wants to get some things in before we get
+frosty nights. Have you any message for him, missis?"
+
+"You can tell him he may as well get a dish of eels from one of the
+Dutchmen there. I suppose there is one in the haven?"
+
+"Two of them, missis; he will be able to get them, for one of them is
+the _Marden_, and the skipper has always let master have some, though he
+won't sell an eel to anyone else."
+
+"Is there any business to be done?" the woman asked significantly.
+
+The boy nodded.
+
+"All right; tell him that I will get the horses in."
+
+The child was put to bed upstairs at seven o'clock, although he in vain
+petitioned to be allowed to stop up until the barge came along. He
+already knew, however, by experience, that his request was not likely to
+be granted, as when the barge came along after dark he was always put to
+bed, the woman telling him that Bill didn't like him to be up when he
+came in, as he wanted to have a talk with her in quiet, and to eat his
+supper in peace.
+
+An hour after dark the woman went out onto the bank and listened. In a
+quarter of an hour she heard the rattle of a block in the distance. She
+went down, stirred up the fire, and put on the kettle, and in twenty
+minutes the barge came along. The boat, instead of towing behind as
+usual, was alongside.
+
+"You take her on, Joshua," its owner said, as he quietly got into the
+boat; "run in where the water is deep alongside, a quarter of a mile
+this side Pitsea. I will come along and get on board there as soon as I
+have finished this job. Keep a sharp lookout on the banks; some of the
+coastguardsmen may be about. If they hail you and ask if I am on board,
+say I landed as we passed here, to have a cup of tea, and that I shall
+not be five minutes."
+
+Then he pushed the boat to shore. "Well, Betsy, how are you? I have got
+twenty kegs here, and five or six hundredweight of tobacco. I will get
+it up the bank, and you had better stow it away at once; I will lend you
+a hand as soon as it is all up."
+
+As fast as he could carry the kegs up the banks she slipped slings round
+them, two at a time, hooked them to a milkmaid's yoke, and went off with
+them to a shed which served as a stable and cowhouse in the winter.
+Against this was a rick of hay. Putting the kegs down she returned for
+more, and by the time that they were all in the stable her husband had
+finished his share of the work and had carried the heavy bales of
+tobacco to the shed. The three horses were already there.
+
+"Are you going to take them out at once?"
+
+"No, not until I come back. I must get on board the barge as soon as
+possible. We will bundle them all in, in case any of those fellows
+should come along."
+
+Three planks were removed from the side of the shed next to the stack,
+and an opening was seen. Some turf was taken up and a trapdoor exposed.
+The kegs and tobacco were speedily carried down into a large cellar, the
+trapdoor was closed, and the boards placed securely in position and
+fastened by six long screws. Then they returned to the house. The teapot
+and cups were on the table, the kettle was boiling, and in two or three
+minutes they were taking tea. Scarcely had they begun their meal when
+there was a knock at the door. Bill got up and opened it, and two
+coastguards entered.
+
+"We saw there was a light burning, and thought that you might be here,
+Bill. The wind is bitter cold."
+
+"Come in and have a cup of tea or a glass of rum, whichever you like
+best. As you say, the wind is bitter cold, and I thought that I would
+land and have a cup of tea. I shall catch the barge up before she gets
+to Pitsea."
+
+The coastguardsmen accepted the offer of a cup of tea, glancing
+furtively round the room as they drank it.
+
+"It is good tea."
+
+"'Tis that," Bill said, "and it has never paid duty. I got it from an
+Indiaman that was on the Nore three weeks ago. She transshipped part of
+her cargo on my barge and floated next tide. It was one of the best jobs
+I've had for some time, and stood me in fifty pounds and a pound or two
+of tea."
+
+"Perhaps a chest of it!" one of the men said with a laugh.
+
+"Well, well, I am not sure that it was not a chest. I like my cup of
+tea, and so does Betsy; and there is no getting tea like this at
+Stanford."
+
+They chatted for about ten minutes, when Bill remarked, "I must be
+going," and they went out together, and taking his place in his boat he
+rowed up the creek, while the coastguards continued their walk along the
+bank.
+
+"He is not a bad 'un, Tom," one of them said. "I guess he is like a good
+many of the others, runs a keg occasionally. However, his place has been
+searched half a dozen times, and nothing has been found. We have drunk
+many a glass of ale with him at the 'Lobster Smack' at Hole Haven, and I
+am sure I don't want to catch him unless there is some information to go
+on. The barge passed us half an hour ago, and I knew that it was no use
+looking in her, but of course when the boatswain said this afternoon,
+'Just follow that barge when she gets under way, and see if she goes on
+to Pitsea,' we had to do it; but the boat was late for us where the
+creek branches off round the island, and before we were across he must
+have got more than half an hour's start of us. And I am not sorry, Tom.
+We have got to do our duty, but we don't want to be at war with every
+good fellow on the marshes."
+
+"Right you are, Dick; besides, they are as slippery as eels. Who can
+tell what they have got under their lime or manure? Short of unloading
+it to the bottom there would be no finding it, if they had anything;
+and it is a job that I should not care for. Besides, there aint no place
+to empty it on; and we could not go and chuck a cargo overboard unless
+we were quite certain that we should find something underneath. As you
+say, I dare say Bill runs a keg or two now and then, but I don't suppose
+that he is worse than his neighbors; I have always suspected that it was
+he who left a keg of whisky at our door last Christmas."
+
+In the meantime Bill had overtaken his barge, and they soon had her
+alongside of the little wharf at Pitsea.
+
+"Tide is just turning. She will be aground in half an hour," he said.
+"As soon as you have got these mooring ropes fastened, you had better
+fry that steak and have your supper. I shall be over by seven o'clock in
+the morning. If Harvey and Wilson come alongside before that, tell them
+they can have the job at the usual price, and can set to work without
+waiting for me. It will be pretty late before I am in bed to-night."
+
+It was over a mile walk back to his cottage. As soon as he arrived he
+sat down to a hearty supper which his wife had prepared for him. He then
+got three pack-saddles out of the cellar, put them on the horses, and
+fastened four kegs on each horse. Tying one behind the other, he
+started, and in an hour the kegs were stowed in the cellars of four
+farmers near Stanford. It was midnight before he returned home. At
+half-past six he was down to breakfast.
+
+"Well, uncle, how are you?" he asked the child, who was already up.
+
+"I am not your uncle," the boy replied; "you are my uncle."
+
+"Ah, well, it's a way of speaking down here. It does not mean that
+anyone is one's uncle; it is just a way of speaking."
+
+The child nodded. He was learning many things.
+
+"Then it is a way of speaking when I call you uncle?"
+
+"No, no! That is different. A child like you would not call anyone
+uncle unless he was uncle; while a man my age calls anyone uncle."
+
+"That is funny, isn't it?"
+
+"Well, I suppose, when you think of it, it is; but, as I said, it is a
+way we have in this part of the country. Well, mother, have you got that
+fish nearly fried?"
+
+"It will be ready in five minutes. This roker is a very thick one. I put
+it on as soon as I heard you stirring, and it is not quite ready yet.
+That was a pretty near escape last night, Bill."
+
+"Yes; but, you see, they can hardly catch us unless they send men down
+in the afternoon. They cannot get along from the station without passing
+two or three creeks; and coming along with the tide, especially when
+there is a breath of wind to help her, we can do it in half the time.
+You see, I always get the things out from under the cargo and into the
+boat as we come along, so that the barge shall not be stopped."
+
+"But they might send down a boat from the Thames Haven station, Bill."
+
+"Yes; but then they don't know when the barge is in, or when it is going
+to start. So we get the best of them in that way. Besides, they have a
+good bit to go along the river face, and they have to cross a dozen deep
+cuts to get there. No, I have no fear of them, nor of the others either,
+as far as that goes. I have more than once had a word dropped, meant to
+put me on my guard, and instead of landing the things here have dropped
+them in a deep hole in the creek, where I could pick them up the next
+night I came in. Things have changed with us for the better, lass. Five
+years ago we had pretty hard work, with the farm and the old boat, to
+live at all comfortable; but since I have got into the swim things have
+changed with us, and I can tell you that I am making money hand over
+fist. I allow that there is a certain risk in it, but, after all, one
+likes it all the better for that. If the worst came to the worst they
+could but confiscate the old barge; if they gave me a heavy fine I could
+pay it, and if they gave me six months I could work it out, and buy a
+new barge and half a dozen farms like this on the day I came out."
+
+"But the other would be more serious, Bill?"
+
+"Well, yes; but I don't see any chance of that being found out. A gent
+comes to me at a spot we have settled on, say on the road halfway
+between Pitsea and Stanford; he hands me a box, sometimes two; I puts
+them on one of the horses, and rides over here with them; then I stows
+them away in that secret place off the store, where there aint a shadow
+of a chance of the sharpest-eyed coastguardsman ever finding them. They
+would be too delighted to light on the spirits and bacca to think of
+digging up the floor underneath. There they lie, till I take them down
+to the _Marden_. They put them into the eel tank, and next morning off
+she sails."
+
+"But you have had heavy cases brought once or twice?"
+
+"Only once--heavy enough to be troublesome. Ten cases there was then,
+each as heavy as a man could lift. It took me three journeys with three
+horses, and I had to dig a big hole in the garden to bury them till the
+_Marden_ had got rid of her eels, and was ready to sail again. Yes, that
+was a heavy job, and I got a couple of hundred pounds for my share of
+the business. I should not mind having such a job twice a week. A few
+months of that, and I could buy the biggest farm on this side of
+Essex--that is to say, if I could make up my mind to cut it and settle
+down as a farmer."
+
+"You will never do that, Bill; but you might settle down in Rochester,
+and buy half a dozen barges, with a tip-top one you would sail yourself.
+You might have a couple of men and a cabin forward, and a nice roomy
+place for yourself and me aft; and you could just steer when you liked,
+or sit down and smoke your pipe and watch her going through the fleet as
+we worked through the swatchway. That would be more your sort, Bill, and
+mine too. I know you have money enough laid by to get such a barge."
+
+"That is so, Betsy. I allow that I could do that. I have been thinking
+of it for some time, but somehow or other one never works one's self up
+to the right point to give it all up of a sudden and cut the old place.
+Well, I suppose one of these days I shall do it, if it is only to please
+you."
+
+"It would please me, you know, Bill. I don't see no harm in running the
+kegs or the bacca--it's what the people about here have been doing for
+hundreds of years--but I don't like this other business. You don't know
+what is in the cases, and you don't ask, but there aint much difficulty
+in guessing. And I don't much like this business of the child. I did not
+like it at all at first; but when I found that he had no father nor
+mother as he knew of, and so it was certain that no one was breaking
+their heart about him, I did not mind it; and I have taken to him, and
+he has pretty nearly forgotten about his home, and is as contented as if
+he had been here all his life. I have nothing more to say about him,
+though it is as certain as eggs is eggs that it has been a bad business.
+The boy has been cheated out of his money, and if his friends ever find
+him it is a nice row that we shall get into."
+
+"You need not bother yourself about that," the man said; "he aint more
+likely to be found here than if he was across the seas in Ameriky. We
+have had him near nine months now, and in another three months, if you
+were to put him down in front of his own house, he would not know it.
+Everyone about here believes as he is my nevvy, the son of a brother of
+yours who died down in the Midlands, and left him motherless. No one
+asks any questions about him now, no more than they does about Joshua.
+No, no; we are all right there, missis; and the hundred pounds that we
+had down with him, and fifty pounds a year till he gets big enough to
+earn his own grub on the barge, all helps. Anyhow, if something should
+happen to me before I have made up my mind to quit this, you know where
+the pot of money is hidden. You can settle in Rochester, and get him
+some schooling, and then apprentice him to a barge-owner and start him
+with a barge of his own as soon as he is out of his time. You bear it in
+mind that is what I should like done."
+
+"I will mind," she said quietly; "but I am as likely to be carried to
+the churchyard as you are, and you remember what I should like, and try,
+Bill, if you give up the water yourself, to see that he is with a man as
+doesn't drink. Most of the things we hears of--of barges being run down,
+and of men falling overboard on a dark night--are just drink, and
+nothing else. You are not a man as drinks yourself; you take your glass
+when the barge is in the creek, but I have never seen you the worse for
+liquor since you courted me fifteen years ago, and I tell you there is
+not a night when you are out on the barge as I don't thank God that it
+is so. I says to myself, when the wind is blowing on a dark night, 'He
+is anchored somewheres under a weather shore, and he is snug asleep in
+his cabin. There is no fear of his driving along through it and carrying
+on sail; there is no fear of his stumbling as he goes forward and
+pitching over'; and no one but myself knows what a comfort it is to me.
+You bring him up in the same way, Bill. You teach him as it is always a
+good thing to keep from liquor, though a pint with an old mate aint
+neither here nor there, but that he might almost as well take poison as
+to drink down in the cabin."
+
+"I will mind, missis; I like the child, and have got it in my mind to
+bring him up straight, so let us have no more words about it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A PARTIAL SUCCESS.
+
+
+Netta had been away three weeks when one morning, just as they were
+sitting down to breakfast, she suddenly came into the room. With a cry
+of joy Hilda ran into her arms.
+
+"You wicked, wicked girl!" she exclaimed. "I know that I ought not to
+speak to you. You don't deserve that I should even look at you, but I
+cannot help it."
+
+Miss Purcell embraced her niece more soberly, but Hilda saw by the
+expression of her face that her niece's return relieved her of a burden
+of anxiety which at times she had had difficulty in concealing.
+
+"In the first place, Netta, before I even give you a cup of tea, tell me
+if this is a final return, or whether you are going to disappear again."
+
+"That we will decide after you have heard my story," Netta said quietly.
+
+"And have you got any news of Walter?"
+
+"I am not sure; I think so. So you have kept my secret, aunt?"
+
+"I promised that I would, dear, and of course I have kept my word,
+though it was very difficult to resist Hilda's pleading. Dr. Leeds, too,
+has been terribly anxious about you, and not a day has passed that he
+has not run in for a few minutes to learn if there was any news."
+
+"I don't see why he should have known that I have been away."
+
+"Why, my dear," Hilda said, "coming here as often as he does, he
+naturally inquired where you were, and as I was uncertain how long you
+would be away, and as he had always been in our counsels, I could hardly
+keep him in the dark, even had I wished to do so. Now, my dear, let us
+know all about it; there can be no possible reason for keeping silent
+any longer."
+
+"Well, Hilda, the whole affair has been very simple, and there was not
+the least occasion for being anxious. I simply wanted to keep it quiet
+because I felt that you would raise all sorts of objections to the plan.
+We had, as you know, thought over a great many methods by which we might
+overhear a conversation between John Simcoe and the man on Pentonville
+Hill. But it seemed next to be impossible that it could be managed
+there. Suddenly the idea came into my brain that, as a servant at
+Simcoe's lodgings in Jermyn Street, I might have an excellent chance."
+
+Hilda gave an exclamation of horror.
+
+"My dear Netta, you never can really have thought of carrying this out?"
+
+"I not only thought of it, but did it. With a little management the girl
+there was got hold of, and as it fortunately happened that she did not
+like London and wanted to take a country situation, there was very
+little difficulty, and she agreed to introduce me as a friend who was
+willing to take her place. Of course, it took a few days to make all the
+arrangements and to get suitable clothes for the place, and these I sent
+by parcel delivery, and on the morning of the day that the girl was to
+leave presented myself at the house. The man and his wife were good
+enough to approve of my appearance. They had, it seemed, three sets of
+lodgers, one on each floor; the man himself waited upon them, and my
+work was to do their rooms and keep the house tidy generally."
+
+Again Hilda gave a gasp.
+
+"There was nothing much in that," Netta went on, without heeding her. "I
+used to do most of the house work when we were in Germany, and I think
+that I gave every satisfaction. Of course the chief difficulty was about
+my deafness. I was obliged to explain to them that I was very hard of
+hearing unless I was directly spoken to. Mr. Johnstone always answered
+the bells himself when he was at home. Of course, when he was out it
+was my duty to do so. When I was downstairs it was simple enough, for I
+only had to go to the door of the room of which I saw the bell in
+motion. At first they seemed to think that the difficulty was
+insuperable; but I believe that in other respects I suited them so well
+that they decided to make the best of it, and when her husband was out
+and I was upstairs Mrs. Johnstone took to answering the door bells, or
+if a lodger rang, which was not very often, for her husband seldom went
+out unless they were all three away, she would come upstairs and tell
+me. Johnstone himself said to me one day that I was the best girl he had
+ever had, and that instead of having to go most carefully over the
+sitting rooms before the gentlemen came in for breakfast, he found that
+everything was so perfectly dusted and tidied up that there was really
+nothing for him to do.
+
+"But oh, Hilda, I never had the slightest idea before how untidy men
+are! The way they spill their tobacco ash all over the room, and put the
+ends of their cigars upon mantelpieces, tables, and everywhere else, you
+would hardly believe it. The ground floor and the second floor were the
+worst, for they very often had men in of an evening, and the state of
+the rooms in the morning was something awful. Our man was on the first
+floor, and did not give anything like so much trouble, for he almost
+always went out in the evening and never had more than one or two
+friends in with him. One of these friends was the man we saw with him in
+the Row, and who, we had no doubt, was an accomplice of his. He came
+oftener than anyone else, very often coming in to fetch him. As he was
+always in evening dress I suppose they went to some club or to the
+theater together. I am bound to say that his appearance is distinctly
+that of a gentleman.
+
+"I had taken with me two or three things that I foresaw I should want.
+Among them was an auger, and some corks of a size that would exactly fit
+the hole that it would make. Simcoe's bedroom communicated with the
+sitting room, and he always used this door in going from one room to the
+other; and it was evident that it was only through that that I could get
+a view of what was going on. I did not see how I could possibly make a
+hole through the door itself. It was on one side, next to that where the
+fireplace was, and there was a window directly opposite, and of course a
+hole would have been noticed immediately. The only place that I could
+see to make it was through the door frame. Its position was a matter of
+much calculation, I can assure you. The auger was half an inch bore. I
+dared not get it larger, and it would have been hopeless to try and see
+anything with a smaller one, especially as the hole would have to be
+four or five inches long. As I sometimes went into the room when they
+were together, either with hot water or grilled bones, or something of
+that sort, I was able to notice exactly where the chairs were generally
+placed. Simcoe sat with his back to the bedroom door, and the other man
+on the other side of the hearthrug, facing him. I, therefore, decided to
+make the hole on the side nearest to the wall, so that I could see the
+other man past Simcoe. Of course I wanted the hole to be as low as
+possible, as it would not be so likely to be noticed as it would were it
+higher up. I chose a point, therefore, that would come level with my eye
+when I was kneeling down.
+
+"At about four o'clock in the afternoon they always went out, and from
+then till six Johnstone also took his airing, and I went upstairs to
+turn down the beds and tidy up generally. It was very seldom that any of
+them dined at home; I, therefore, had that two hours to myself. I got
+the line the hole should go by leaving the door open, fastening a stick
+to the back of a chair till it was, as nearly as I could judge, the
+height of the man's face, tying a piece of string to it and bringing it
+tight to the point where I settled the hole should start, and then
+marking the line the string made across the frame. Then there was a good
+deal more calculation as to the side-slant; but ten days ago I boldly
+set to work and bored the hole. Everything was perfectly right; I could
+see the head of the stick, and the circle was large enough for me to
+get all the man's face in view. Of course I had put a duster on the
+ground to prevent any chips falling onto the carpet.
+
+"I was a little nervous when I set to work to drill that hole; it was
+the only time that I felt nervous at all. I had beforehand drilled
+several holes in the shelves of cupboards, so as to accustom myself to
+use the auger, and it did not take me many minutes before it came
+through on the other side. The corks were of two sizes; one fitted
+tightly into the hole, the other could be drawn in or out with very
+little difficulty. I had gone out one day and bought some tubes of paint
+of the colors that I thought would match the graining of the door frame.
+I also bought a corkscrew that was about an inch and a half shorter than
+the depth of the hole. It was meant to be used by a cross-piece that
+went through a hole at the top. I had got this cross-piece out with some
+trouble, and tied a short loop of string through the hole it had gone
+through. I put the corkscrew into one of the smaller corks and pushed it
+through until it was level with the frame on the sitting-room side, and
+found that by aid of the loop of string I could draw it out easily. Then
+I put one of the larger corks in at the bedroom side of the hole and
+pushed it in until it was level with that side. Then I painted the ends
+of the corks to resemble the graining, and when it was done they could
+hardly be noticed a couple of feet away.
+
+"I had now nothing to do but to wait until the right moment came. It
+came last night. The man arrived about seven o'clock. Johnstone was out,
+and I showed him upstairs. Simcoe was already dressed, and was in the
+sitting room. I lost no time, but went into the bedroom, where the gas
+was burning, turned down the bed on the side nearest to the door, and
+then went round, and with another corkscrew I had ready in my pocket
+took out the inner cork, got hold of the loop, and pulled the other one
+out also. Even had I had my hearing, I could have heard nothing of what
+was said inside, for the doors were of mahogany, and very well fitted,
+and Johnstone had said one day that even if a man shouted in one room he
+would hardly be heard in the next, or on the landing. I pushed a wedge
+under the door so as to prevent its being opened suddenly. That was the
+thing that I was most afraid of. I thought that Simcoe could hardly move
+without coming within my line of sight, and that I should have time to
+jump up and be busy at the bed before he could open the door. But I was
+not sure of this, so I used the wedge. If he tried the door and could
+not open it, he would only suppose that the door had stuck and I could
+snatch out the wedge and kick it under the bed by the time he made a
+second effort.
+
+"Kneeling down, I saw to my delight that my calculations had been
+perfectly right. I could see the man's face well, for the light of the
+candles fell full upon it. They talked for a time about the club and the
+men they were going to dine with, and I began to be afraid that there
+was going to be nothing more, when the man said, 'By the way, Simcoe, I
+went down to Tilbury yesterday.' What Simcoe said, of course, I could
+not hear; but the other answered, 'Oh, yes, he is all right, getting
+quite at home, the man said; and has almost ceased to talk about his
+friends.' Then I saw him rise, and at once jumped up and went on turning
+down the bed, lest Simcoe should have forgotten something and come in
+for it. However, he did not, and two or three minutes later I peeped in
+again. The room was all dark, and I knew that they had gone. Then I put
+my corks in again, saw that the paint was all right, and went
+downstairs. I told Mrs. Johnstone that, if I could be spared, I should
+like to go out for two or three hours this morning to see a friend in
+service. It was the time that I could best be spared. I should have
+finished the sitting rooms by eight o'clock, and as none of the men have
+breakfast until about eleven, there was plenty of time for me to make
+the beds after I got back."
+
+Hilda was crying now. Her relief that hearing that Walter was alive and
+well was unbounded. She had absolutely refused to recognize the body
+found in the canal, but she could not but admit that the probabilities
+were all against her. It was certain that the clothes were his, the
+child's age was about the same, the body must have been in the water the
+right length of time, the only shadow of evidence to support her was the
+hair. She had taken the trouble to go to two or three workhouses, and
+found that the coroner's assertion that soft hair when cut quite close
+will, in a very short time, stand upright, was a correct one. She kept
+on hoping against hope, but her faith had been yielding, especially
+since Netta's absence had deprived her of the support that she obtained
+from her when inclined to look at matters from a dark point of view.
+
+"Oh, Netta," she cried, "how can I thank you enough! How happy the news
+has made me! And to think that I have been blaming you, while you have
+been doing all this. You cannot tell what a relief it is to me. I have
+thought so much of that poor little body, and the dread that it was
+Walter's after all has been growing upon me. I have scarcely slept for a
+long time."
+
+"I know, dear. It was because I saw that though you still kept up an
+appearance of hope, you were really in despair, and could tell from your
+heavy eyes when you came down of a morning that you had hardly slept,
+that I made up my mind something must be done. There was no hardship
+whatever in my acting as a servant for a month or two. I can assure you
+that I regarded it rather as fun, and was quite proud of the credit that
+my master gave me. Now, the question is, shall I go back again?"
+
+"Certainly not, Netta. You might be months there without having such a
+piece of luck again. At any moment you might be caught listening, or
+they might notice the hole that you made so cleverly. Besides, we have
+gained a clew now to Walter's hiding place. But even that is as nothing
+to me in comparison with having learned that he is alive and well, and
+that he has ceased to fret and is becoming contented in his new home. We
+can afford to wait now. Sooner or later we are sure to find him.
+Before, I pictured him, if still alive, as shut up in some horrible
+cellar. Now I can be patient. I think that we are sure to find him
+before long."
+
+"Well, I think, dear," Miss Purcell said quietly, "that we had better
+ring the bell and have some fresh tea made. Everything is perfectly
+cold, for it is three-quarters of an hour since it came up."
+
+Hilda rang the bell and gave the necessary orders.
+
+"Let Janet bring the things up, Roberts, and come back yourself when you
+have given the order. I want to send a line to Dr. Leeds. You will be
+delighted to hear that Miss Purcell has learned, at least, that Walter
+is alive and well; but mind," she went on, as the old soldier was about
+to burst out into exclamations of delight, "you must keep this
+altogether to yourself. It is quite possible that we have been watched
+as closely as we have been watching this man, and that he may in some
+way learn everything that passes here; therefore it must not be
+whispered outside this room that we have obtained any news."
+
+"I understand, miss. I won't say a word about it downstairs."
+
+Hilda scribbled a line in pencil to the doctor, saying that Netta was
+back and that she had obtained some news of a favorable description, and
+that, as she knew that at this hour he could not get away, she would
+come over with Netta at once to tell him what they had learned, and
+would be in Harley Street within half an hour of his getting the
+message.
+
+As soon as they had finished breakfast they drove to the doctor's. They
+were shown up into the drawing room, where Dr. Leeds joined them almost
+immediately.
+
+"We are not going to detain you more than two or three minutes," Hilda
+said, while he shook hands warmly with Netta. "You must come over this
+evening, and then you shall hear the whole story; but I thought that it
+was only fair that Netta should have the satisfaction of telling you
+herself what she had learned."
+
+"It is very little, but so far as it goes it is quite satisfactory, Dr.
+Leeds. I heard, or rather I saw, the man we suspected of being Simcoe's
+accomplice say, 'By the way, I ran down to Tilbury yesterday.' Simcoe
+then said something, but what I could not tell, as his face was hidden
+from me, and the man in reply said, 'Oh, yes, he is all right, and has
+almost ceased to talk about his friends.' Now you must be content with
+that until this evening."
+
+"I will be content with it," the doctor said, "if you will assure me
+that you are not going away again. If you will not, I will stop here and
+hear the whole story, even at the risk of a riot down in my waiting
+room."
+
+"No, she is not going away, doctor; she had not quite settled about it
+when she got back this morning, but I settled it for her. I will take
+care that she does not slip out of my sight till after you have seen her
+and talked it all over."
+
+"Then the matter is finally settled," Netta said, "for unless I go in
+half an hour's time I cannot go at all."
+
+"Then I will be patient until this evening."
+
+"Will you come to dinner, doctor?" Hilda said. "I have sent notes off to
+Mr. Pettigrew and Colonel Bulstrode to ask them to come, as I have news
+of importance to give them."
+
+"What will they do, Netta, when they find that you do not come back?"
+Hilda asked as they drove away.
+
+"That has puzzled me a good deal. I quite saw that if I disappeared
+suddenly they might take it into their heads that something had happened
+to me, and might go to the police office and say I was missing. But that
+would not be the worst. Simcoe might guess, when he heard that I had
+gone without notice and left my things behind me, that I had been put
+there to watch him. He certainly would not suspect that he could have
+been overheard, for he must know that it would be quite impossible for
+any words to be heard through the doors; still, he would be uneasy, and
+might even have the child moved to some other locality. So I have
+written a note, which we can talk over when we get in. Of course they
+may think that I have behaved very badly in throwing them over like
+this, but it is better that they should do that than they should think
+there was anything suspicious about it. My wages are due to-morrow; like
+the girl I succeeded, I was to have eight pounds a year. I have left my
+box open, so that the mistress can see for herself that there is none of
+the lodgers' property in it. There are two or three print dresses--I put
+on my Sunday gown when I came out--and the underclothes are all duly
+marked Jane Clotworthy."
+
+"What a name to take, Netta!"
+
+"Yes, I do not know how I came to choose it. I was thinking what name I
+would take when Clotworthy flashed across my mind. I don't think that I
+ever heard the name before, and how I came to think of it I cannot
+imagine; it seemed to me a sort of inspiration, so I settled on it at
+once."
+
+"Now, let me see the letter," Hilda asked, as soon as they returned
+home.
+
+"I hardly liked to write it," Netta said, "it is such a wicked story;
+but I don't see how a person can act as detective without telling
+stories, and, at any rate, it is perfectly harmless."
+
+"Oh, yes; it is quite certain, Netta, that you could not write and tell
+her that you have been in her house in disguise, and that, having found
+out what you wanted, you have now left her. Of course you must make up a
+story of some sort, or, as you say, Simcoe would at once suspect that
+you had been sent there to watch him. He might feel perfectly sure that
+no conversation could have been heard outside the room, but he could not
+be sure that you might not have been hidden under the table or sofa, or
+behind a curtain. When so much depends upon his thinking that he is
+absolutely safe, one must use what weapons one can. If you have any
+scruples about it, I will write the letter for you."
+
+"No, I do not think the scruples will trouble me," Netta laughed. "Of
+course, I have had to tell stories, and one more or less will not weigh
+on my mind. Here is the letter. If you can think of any better reason
+for running away so suddenly, by all means let me have it."
+
+The letter was written in a sprawling hand, and with many of the words
+misspelt. It began:
+
+     "DEAR MRS. JOHNSTONE: I am afraid you will think very badly of me
+     for leaving you so sudding, after you and Mr. Johnstone have been
+     so kind to me, but who should I meet at my friend's but my young
+     man. We were ingaged to be married, but we had a quarrel, and that
+     is why I came up to town so sudding. We has made it up. He only
+     come up yesterday, and is going down this morning, and nothing
+     would do but that I must go down with him and that we should get
+     married directly. He says that as the banns has been published
+     there aint any occasion to wait, and we might be married at the end
+     of the week, as he has got everything ready and is in good
+     employment. So the long and the short of it is, mam, that I am
+     going down with him home this afternoon. As to the wages that was
+     due to-morrow, of course I forfeit them, and sorry I am to give you
+     troubil, by leaving you without a girl. My box is not locked, plese
+     look in it and you will see that there aint nothing there that
+     isn't my own. In one corner you will find half a crown wrapped up
+     in paper, plese take that to pay for the carriage of the box, the
+     key is in the lock, and I send a labil to tie on."
+
+"What do you think of that, Hilda?"
+
+"I think it will do capitally. I don't think any better excuse could be
+made. But where will you have the box sent?"
+
+"That is what we must settle together. It would not do to send it down
+to some little village, for if the address was unknown it might be sent
+back again."
+
+"Yes; and if John Simcoe had any suspicions that the story was a false
+one he might go down there to make inquiries about Jane Clotworthy, and,
+finding no such name known there, and the box still lying at the
+station, his suspicion that he had been watched would become almost a
+certainty."
+
+"I should think that Reading would be a good place to send to it. 'Jane
+Clotworthy, Luggage Office, Reading.' Then I could go down myself and
+ask for it, and could bring it up by the next train."
+
+"Tom Roberts could do that, Netta; there is no reason why you should
+trouble about it."
+
+"I think that I had better go myself. It is most unlikely that Simcoe
+would send down anyone to watch who took the box away, but if he should
+be very uneasy he might do so. He would be sure to describe me to anyone
+that he sent, so that it would be better that I should go myself."
+
+"I think that your story is so plausible, Netta, that there is no risk
+whatever of his having any doubts about it, but still one cannot be too
+careful."
+
+"Then I will wind up the letter.
+
+     "'Begging your pardon for having left you in the lurch so sudding.
+     I remain, your obedient servant,
+
+     "'Jane Clotworthy.
+
+     "'P.S.--I am very sorry.
+
+     "'P.S.--Plese give my respects to Mr. Johnstone, and excuse
+     blots.'"
+
+Hilda burst into a fit of laughter as she glanced at the postscript.
+
+"That will do admirably, Netta," she said. "Now how had we better send
+it?"
+
+"I should think that your maid had better take it. You might tell her to
+ring at the bell, hand it to the woman, and come away at once, without
+talking, except saying 'I was told to give you this.' Then she would be
+well away before Mrs. Johnstone had mastered the contents of the note.
+It had better be sent off at once, for by this time they will be getting
+in a way."
+
+"I think that I had better send Roberts. No doubt Johnstone himself
+will be in, and will answer the door; and he might ask Lucy where she
+came from, and I don't want to tell her anything. Roberts could say that
+a young woman of his acquaintance, down Chelsea way, asked him to get on
+a 'bus and leave it for her. He can be trusted, if the man does detain
+him and ask him questions, to give sensible answers."
+
+The letter was sealed and Roberts called up.
+
+"Take a cab and go down with this to Jermyn Street," Hilda said. "I want
+it left at that house. If the man who opens the door asks you who you
+have brought it from, say from a young woman, a friend of yours, in a
+place down Chelsea way. I don't suppose that he will ask any other
+questions, and you had best say 'Good-morning,' and saunter off
+carelessly, as if, having done your errand, you had nothing else on
+hand. Of course you won't drive up to the door. Leave the cab round the
+corner, and come straight back here in it."
+
+"All right, miss," he answered.
+
+There was a little look of amusement in the man's face as he glanced at
+Netta that did not this time pass unnoticed by his mistress. She waited
+until the door had closed behind him, and then turned sharply on her
+friend.
+
+"I believe, Netta, you have had Roberts in your confidence all the time,
+and while we have all been working ourselves into a fever as to where
+you could be, he has known it all along."
+
+"One cannot work without accomplices," Netta laughed. "It was necessary
+that someone should make arrangements with the servant there for me to
+take her place, and who could I trust better than Roberts? I think
+Colonel Bulstrode's servant helped in the matter; at any rate, they
+managed it capitally between them. Of course it was Roberts who carried
+my box out that morning. You must not be angry with him, Hilda, for
+keeping it from you. I made him promise most faithfully that nothing
+should induce him to confess."
+
+"I shan't be angry with him, Netta, but you may be sure that I shall
+give him a little lecture and say that I will have no more meddling on
+his part, except by my express orders. It is really annoying, you know,
+to think that all this time we were fretting about you there was Roberts
+going about laughing in his sleeve."
+
+"Well, you know, Hilda, he has the discovery of Walter as much at heart
+as we have, and he has certainly not spared himself in the search for
+him."
+
+"No, that he has not. He is a faithful fellow, and I promise you that I
+won't be too hard on him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A DINNER PARTY.
+
+
+It was the first time that anyone had dined at the house in Hyde Park
+Gardens since General Mathieson's death, and it seemed strange to Hilda
+when Mr. Pettigrew, at her request, faced her at the table. The
+gentlemen had all arrived within a minute or two of each other, and no
+word had been said by Hilda as to the subject about which she had
+specially asked them there. The table was well lighted and bright with
+flowers, and the lawyer and Colonel Bulstrode were both somewhat
+surprised at the cheerful tone in which Hilda began to talk as soon as
+they sat down. It was, however, eight months since the house was first
+shut up, and though all had sincerely regretted the General's death, it
+was an old story now, and they were relieved to find that it was
+evidently not Hilda's intention to recall the past.
+
+During dinner the talk went on as usual, and it was not until the
+servants had left the room that Hilda said:
+
+"Now, Mr. Pettigrew, I have no doubt that both you and Colonel Bulstrode
+are wondering what the matter of importance about which I asked you to
+come here can be. It is rather a long story, so instead of going
+upstairs we will stop here. My news is great news. We have
+discovered--at least my friend Miss Purcell has discovered--that without
+doubt Walter is alive and well."
+
+An exclamation of surprise broke from Mr. Pettigrew and the Colonel.
+
+"By gad, that is great news indeed!" the latter exclaimed; "and I
+congratulate you most heartily. I had quite given up all hope myself,
+and although I would have fought that fellow to the last, I never had
+any real doubt in my mind that the child they fished out of the canal
+was General's Mathieson's grandson."
+
+"You astonish me indeed," Mr. Pettigrew said. "I own that, while I was
+able to swear that I did not recognize him, yet as a reasonable man I
+felt that the evidence was overpowering the other way. Though I would
+not dash your hopes by saying so, it appeared to me certain that, sooner
+or later, the courts would decide that the provisions of the will must
+be carried out. And so you discovered this, Miss Netta? May we ask how
+you did it?"
+
+"Netta wanted her share in the matter to remain a secret, Mr. Pettigrew;
+but I told her that was out of the question, and that it was quite
+necessary that you and Colonel Bulstrode should know the precise facts,
+for that, as a lawyer, you could not take any action or decide upon any
+course to be pursued unless you knew the exact circumstances of the
+case. However, she asked me, as she has given me the whole particulars,
+to tell the story for her. When I have done she will answer any
+questions you may like to ask."
+
+Hilda then repeated, almost word for word, the story Netta had told her.
+Mr. Pettigrew and the Colonel several times broke in with exclamations
+of surprise as she went on. Dr. Leeds sat grave and thoughtful.
+
+"Splendidly done!" Colonel Bulstrode exclaimed when she brought her
+story to an end. "It was a magnificent idea, and it must have needed no
+end of pluck to carry it out as you did. But how, by looking at a
+fellow's mouth through a hole, you knew what he said beats me
+altogether."
+
+"That part was very simple, Colonel Bulstrode," Netta said quietly. "I
+learned it by a new system that they have in Germany, and was myself a
+teacher in the institution. You may not know, perhaps, that I am
+stone-deaf."
+
+"You are not joking, Miss Purcell; are you?" the Colonel said, looking
+at her earnestly. "Why, I have talked to you a dozen times and it never
+struck me that you were in the slightest degree deaf."
+
+"I am absolutely so, as Miss Covington will tell you, and Mr. Pettigrew
+knows it also. Fortunately I did not lose my hearing until I was six
+years old, and I had not altogether lost the habit of speaking when I
+went out to Germany, three years later. Had I been born deaf and dumb I
+could have learned to understand what was said perfectly, but should
+never have spoken in a natural voice."
+
+"Well, it is wonderful altogether, and I should not have believed it if
+a stranger had told me. However, the great thing at present is that you
+have found out that the child is alive. We ought not to be long in
+laying hands on him now, Pettigrew, eh?"
+
+"I hope not, Colonel; but you must not be too sanguine about that; we
+have evidently very crafty scoundrels to deal with. Still, now that we
+feel sure that the child is alive and well, the matter is a
+comparatively straightforward one, and we can afford to work and wait
+patiently. Tilbury is only a bit of a village, but beyond that stretch
+great marshes--in fact, all South Essex as far as the mouths of the
+rivers Crouch, Blackwater, and Coln. He would say, 'I went down to
+Tilbury,' because Tilbury is the terminus of the railway. Possibly he
+may have crossed to Gravesend; possibly he may have gone inland to
+Upminster or some other village lying in that district; or he may have
+driven down as far as Foulness, which, so far as anybody knows anything
+about it, might be the end of the world. Therefore, there is a wide area
+to be searched."
+
+"But he can be followed when he goes down again, Mr. Pettigrew?"
+
+"Of course, my dear, that is what must be done, though there is no
+reason why we should not set about inquiries at once. But, you see, it
+is not so easy to follow a man about country roads as it is in the
+streets of London. No doubt he must drive or ride, unless, indeed,
+Walter is within two or three miles of the station, and you may be sure
+that if he sees a trap coming after him he will not go near the place
+where the child is. Possibly, again, he may not go near the place at
+all, but may meet someone who takes the money for the child's keep. It
+may be a bargeman who sails round to Harwich or somewhere along the
+south coast. It may be the steward of a steamer that goes regularly
+backwards and forwards to France.
+
+"I don't want to dishearten you, my dear," he broke off, as he saw how
+Hilda's face fell as he went on, "but, you see, we have not common
+rogues to deal with; their whole proceedings have shown an exceptional
+amount of coolness and determination. Although I own that I can see
+nothing absolutely suspicious in the way that last will was drawn up and
+signed, still I have never been able to divest my mind of an idea that
+there is something radically wrong about it. But putting aside the
+strange death of your uncle, we have the cunning way in which the boy
+was stolen, the complete success with which our search was baffled, the
+daring attempt to prove his death by what we now know must have been the
+substitution of the body of some other child of the same age dressed in
+his clothes. All this shows how carefully every detail must have been
+thought out, and we must assume that equal care will be shown to prevent
+our recovering the boy. Were they to suspect that they had been traced
+to Tilbury, and were watched there, or that any inquiries were being
+made in the neighborhood, you may be sure that Walter would be at once
+removed some distance away, or possibly sent abroad, perhaps to
+Australia or the States. There could be no difficulty about that. There
+are hundreds of emigrants going out every week with their families, who
+would jump at the offer of a hundred pounds for adopting a child, and
+once away it would be next to impossible ever to come upon his traces.
+So, you see, we shall need to exercise the most extreme caution in our
+searches."
+
+"I see, Mr. Pettigrew," Hilda said quietly, "that the difficulties are
+far greater than I ever dreamt of. It seemed to me that when we had
+found out that Walter was alive and well, and that Tilbury was, so to
+speak, the starting place of our search, it would be an easy matter to
+find him. Now I see that, except for the knowledge that he is alive, we
+are nearly as far off as ever."
+
+"I think Mr. Pettigrew is rather making the worst of things, Miss
+Covington," Dr. Leeds said, speaking for the first time. "No doubt the
+difficulties are considerable, but I think we have good heads on our
+side too, as Miss Purcell has proved, and I feel confident that, now
+that we have learned as much as we have done, we shall be successful in
+the end."
+
+"My opinion," Colonel Bulstrode said, "is that we ought to give these
+two fellows in custody as rogues, vagabonds, and kidnapers. Then the
+police will set to work to find out their antecedents, and at least
+while they are shut up they can do no harm. Gad, sir, we should make
+short work of them in India."
+
+"I am afraid that that would hardly do, Colonel Bulstrode," Mr.
+Pettigrew said mildly. "We have practically nothing to go upon; we have
+no evidence that a magistrate would entertain for a moment. The men
+would be discharged at once, and we should no doubt be served the next
+morning with a writ for at least ten thousand pounds' damages, and, what
+is more, they would get them; and you may be very sure that you would
+never find the child."
+
+"Then it is shameful that it should be so," the Colonel said warmly;
+"why, I served three years as a police officer in India, and when I got
+news that a dacoit, for instance, was hiding in a jungle near a village,
+down I would go, with a couple of dozen of men, surround the place, and
+make every man and woman a prisoner. Then the police would examine them,
+and let me tell you that they have pretty rough ways of finding out a
+secret. Of course I knew nothing about it, and asked no questions, but
+you may be sure that it was not long before they made someone open his
+mouth. Hanging up a man by his thumbs, for instance, freshens his memory
+wonderfully. You may say that this thorough way of getting at things is
+not according to modern ideas. I don't care a fig for modern ideas, and,
+as far as that goes, neither do the natives of India. My object is to
+find out the author of certain crimes; the villagers' object is to
+shield him. If they are obstinate, they bring it on themselves; the
+criminal is caught, and justice is satisfied. What is the use of police
+if they are not to catch criminals? I have no patience with the maudlin
+nonsense that prevails in this country, that a criminal should have
+every chance of escape. He is warned not to say anything that would
+incriminate himself, material evidence is not admitted, his wife mayn't
+be questioned. Why, it is downright sickening, sir. The so-called spirit
+of fairness is all on the side of the criminal, and it seems to me that
+our whole procedure, instead of being directed to punish criminals, is
+calculated to enable them to escape from punishment. The whole thing is
+wrong, sir--radically wrong." And Colonel Bulstrode wiped his heated
+forehead with a huge Indian silk handkerchief. Hilda laughed, Netta
+smiled, and Mr. Pettigrew's eyes twinkled.
+
+"There is a good deal in what you say, Colonel Bulstrode, though I
+cannot go with you in the matter of hanging men up by their thumbs."
+
+"Why, sir," broke in Colonel, "what is it? Their own native princes
+would have stretched them over a charcoal fire until they got the truth
+out of them."
+
+"So, possibly, would our own forefathers, Colonel."
+
+"Humph! They had a lot more common sense in those days than they have
+now, Mr. Pettigrew. There was no sentimentality about them; they were
+short and sharp in their measures. They were men, sir--men. They drank
+like men, and they fought like men; there was sterling stuff in them;
+they didn't weaken their bodies by drinking slops, or their minds by
+reading newspapers."
+
+"Well, Colonel Bulstrode," Hilda said, smiling, "if it is not contrary
+to your convictions, we will go upstairs and have a cup of tea. No doubt
+there is something to be said for the old days, but there is a good deal
+to be said on the other side of the question, too."
+
+When they went upstairs Dr. Leeds sat down by Netta.
+
+"I am afraid that you blame me for what I did, Dr. Leeds," she said
+timidly.
+
+"No, I do not blame you at all for doing it, but I do think that you
+ought to have consulted us all before undertaking it. Your intention was
+a noble one, but the risk that you ran was so great that certainly I
+should not have felt justified in allowing you to undertake it, had I
+had any voice in the matter."
+
+"But I cannot see that it was dangerous," the girl said. "He could not
+have knocked me down and beaten me, even if he had caught me with my eye
+at the peep-hole. He could only have called up Johnstone and denounced
+me as an eavesdropper, and at the worst I should only have been turned
+straight out of the house."
+
+"I do not think that that would have been at all his course of action. I
+believe, on the contrary, that although he would have spoken angrily to
+you, he would have said nothing to the lodging-house keeper. He would
+have at once guessed that you had not taken all this trouble merely to
+gratify a silly curiosity, but would have been sure that you had been
+employed as a spy. What he would have done I do not know, but he would
+certainly have had you watched as you watched him, and he would, in his
+conversation with his confederates, have dropped clews that would have
+sent us all off on wild-goose chases. I don't think that he would have
+ventured on getting you removed, for he would have known that he would
+have been suspected of foul play at once by those who had employed you.
+I hope you will give me a promise that you will never undertake any plan
+without consulting Miss Covington and myself. You can hardly realize
+what anxiety I have suffered while you have been away."
+
+"I will promise willingly, Dr. Leeds. I did not think anything of the
+danger, and do not believe even now there was any; but I do think that
+Hilda would not have heard of my going as a servant, and that you would
+not have approved of it. Still, as I saw no harm in it myself, I thought
+that for once I would act upon my own ideas."
+
+"There are circumstances under which no one need disapprove of a lady
+acting as a servant," he said quietly. "If a family misfortune has
+happened, and she has to earn her own living, I think that there are
+many who would be far happier in the position of a servant in a good
+family, than as an ill-paid and over-worked governess. The one is at
+least her own mistress, to a large extent, as long as she does her work
+properly; the other can never call her time her own. In your case,
+certainly, the kind object with which you undertook the task was a full
+justification of it, had you not been matching yourself against an
+unscrupulous villain, who, had he detected your disguise, would have
+practically hesitated at nothing to rid himself of you. It happened,
+too, in this case you were one of the few persons who could have
+succeeded; for, as you say, it would have been next to impossible for
+anyone unpossessed of your peculiar faculty to have overheard a
+conversation, doubtless conducted in a somewhat low voice, through such
+a hole as you made."
+
+"Then you don't think any worse of me for it?"
+
+"You need not be afraid of that," he said quietly. "My opinion is
+already so fixed on that subject that I doubt if anything you could do
+would shake it."
+
+Then he got up and walked across to where the others were chatting
+together.
+
+"Now, are we to have another council?" Hilda asked.
+
+"I think not," Dr. Leeds said; "it seems to me that the matter requires
+a great deal of thinking over before we decide, and fortunately, as the
+man went down to Tilbury only two days ago, he is not likely to repeat
+his visit for another month at least, possibly for another three months.
+Men like that do not give away chances, and he would probably pay for
+three months' board for the child at a time, so as to avoid having to
+make the journey oftener, however confident he might be that he was not
+watched."
+
+"I agree with you, Dr. Leeds," Mr. Pettigrew said. "It would never do to
+make a false step."
+
+"Still," Hilda urged, "surely there cannot be any need to wait for his
+going down again. A sharp detective might find out a good deal. He could
+inquire whether there was anyone at Tilbury who let out traps. Probably
+nothing beyond a gig or a pony-cart could be obtained there. He would,
+of course, hire it for a drive to some place within three or four miles,
+and while it was got ready would casually ask if it was often let; he
+might possibly hear of someone who came down from town--a bagman,
+perhaps, who hired it occasionally for calling upon his customers in the
+villages round."
+
+"I think that that is a capital suggestion," Mr. Pettigrew said. "I
+don't see why, while we are thinking over the best way to proceed, we
+should not get these inquiries made. They might be of some assistance to
+us. I will send a man down to-morrow or next day. As you say, it may
+give us something to go upon."
+
+Netta went down two days later to Reading. She had the box labeled to
+Oxford, and took a third-class ticket for herself. She had a suspicion
+that a man who was lolling on a seat on the platform looked closely at
+her, and she saw him afterwards saunter away towards the luggage office.
+When the train came in her box was put into the van, and she got out at
+the next station and returned by the first train to London, feeling
+satisfied that she would never hear anything more of the box.
+
+The next day a detective called who had been engaged earlier in the
+search for Walter and had frequently seen Hilda.
+
+"Mr. Pettigrew said, Miss Covington, that I had better come to you and
+tell you exactly what I have done. I went down to Tilbury yesterday. I
+took with me one or two cases made up like a traveler's samples, and I
+presently found that the man at the public house by the water had a
+pony-trap which he let. I went over to him and said that I wanted it for
+the day.
+
+"'How far are you going?' he asked.
+
+"'I am going to Stanford,' I said; 'then by a crossroad by Laindon to
+Hornchurch and back.'
+
+"'It is rather a long round for one day,' he said.
+
+"''Tis a long round,' I said. 'Well, maybe I might sleep at Hornchurch,
+and go on to Upminster.'
+
+"'You will have to pay a deposit of a couple of pounds,' he said,
+'unless you like to take a boy.'
+
+"I said I preferred driving myself, and that it was less weight for the
+pony. 'I suppose you often let it out?' I remarked.
+
+"'Pretty often,' he said; 'you see, there is no way of getting about
+beyond this. It would pay me to keep a better trap if it wasn't that
+commercials generally work this country in their own vehicles, and take
+the road from Barking through Dagenham, or else from Brentwood or
+Chelmsford or one of the other Great Eastern stations. There is one in
+your line comes occasionally; he goes by the same route you are taking,
+and always has the trap to himself. He travels for some spirit firm, I
+think; he always brings down a couple of cases of bottles.'
+
+"'That is my line too,' I said. 'He hasn't been here lately, I hope?'
+
+"'Well, yes, he was here three or four days ago; he is a pretty liberal
+chap with his samples, I should say, for he always comes back with his
+cases empty.' Of course I hired the pony and trap. I drove through New
+Tilbury, Low Street, and Stanford. I put up there for three or four
+hours. At each place I went to all the public houses, and as I marked
+the liquors cheap I got several orders. I asked at every place had
+anyone in my line been round lately, and they all said no, and nobody
+had noticed the pony cart; but of course that did not prove that he
+might not have driven through there."
+
+"You did not make any inquiries about a missing child?"
+
+"No, Miss Covington. Mr. Pettigrew particularly told me that I was not
+to make any inquiries whatever."
+
+"Yes, that is what we agreed upon, Bassett; we don't want to run the
+slightest risk of their suspecting that we are inquiring in that
+direction. My own idea is that you could do no harm if you went round
+several times, just as you did yesterday; and perhaps it would be better
+for you not to start from the same place, but to hire a vehicle and
+drive round the country, stopping at all the villages, and apparently
+trying to get orders for spirits or tobacco. That idea of yours is an
+excellent one, because your inquiry whether another man had been along
+in the same trade would seem natural. You might say everywhere that you
+had heard of his going round there, but that it did not look much like
+business driving a rickety little trap with a pony not worth fifty
+shillings. At any village public houses at which he stopped they could
+hardly help noticing it, and if you heard that he had put up there for
+an hour or two, it would certainly be something to go upon, and a search
+round there might lead to a result. However, do not go until you hear
+again from me. I will talk it over with Mr. Pettigrew, and see what he
+thinks of it."
+
+"It certainly seems to me that we might light upon a clew that way, Miss
+Covington, and if he were to happen to hear that another man in the same
+line had been there asking questions about him, it would seem natural
+enough, because of course a commercial would like to know what line
+another in the same branch was following, and how he was doing. Then I
+will wait your further orders. There would be sure to be traps to be
+hired at Barking or Rainham, and if there are not, I could get one at
+Bromley. Indeed, as I should want it for a day or two, it would be just
+as well to get it there as farther east, and I should be likely to get a
+better-looking turnout. In little places a man with a good turnout is
+more likely to do business than one who looks second-rate altogether. It
+seems a sort of credit to the place; and they would give him orders
+where they would not to a man who made no sort of show. I should say,
+miss, that as I shall be going over the ground more than once, it would
+be best to send on the goods I get orders for; they don't amount to very
+much, and I should get about the same price that I gave for them. I know
+a clerk in the firm whose liquors I took down. I told him that I was
+going down in that part of Essex, and asked if they would give me a
+commission on anything that I could sell. They said 'yes' willingly
+enough, and the clerk said I was a respectable man who could be trusted;
+and so it will cost nothing, and will open the way for my making another
+call. Of course when I am known there I can ask questions more freely,
+sit in the bar-parlor, smoke a cigar with the landlord, and so on."
+
+"I think that is an excellent idea. Well, at any rate you shall hear in
+the course of a day or two."
+
+Miss Purcell had gone on quietly with her knitting and uttered no
+remarks while the man was present. Immediately he had left, she said, "I
+think, Netta, that we shall gradually get at it."
+
+"Yes, I think so; that man seems really a sharp fellow. I had quite lost
+all faith in detectives, but I see that when they have really got
+something to go upon, they know how to follow it up."
+
+Hilda wrote a long letter to Mr. Pettigrew, and received three words in
+answer: "By all means." So Bassett was written to and told to continue
+his career as a commercial traveler, but to abstain altogether, for the
+present, from any questions about the boy.
+
+Ten days later Mr. Pettigrew forwarded a letter that he had received
+from Bassett, which was as follows:
+
+     "SIR: I have to report that I have for the last fortnight been
+     engaged in driving about the country in accordance with Miss
+     Covington's instructions. The only place where I can ascertain that
+     the pony and cart from Tilbury was noticed about that time was at
+     Stanford. My inquiries there before had failed, but after dining at
+     the inn, I went out into the yard behind, and asked the helper
+     whether the same trap that I drove over in from Tilbury had been
+     there since.
+
+     "'Not since you were here last,' he said; 'at least if it was you
+     as drove the pony over somewhere about three weeks ago. I did not
+     see you then, I was doing a job over at the cowhouse. That pony
+     aint been here since then, though he was here two days before. The
+     man put him up for three or four hours, and hired a horse from the
+     landlord to ride over to Billericay. He must have gone cross
+     country, I should say, by the mud on its legs. However, he tipped
+     me a bob, so I cleaned it up and said nothing to master; but the
+     horse was all in a lather and must have been taken along at a
+     hunting pace all the way.' Waiting further orders,
+
+     "I remain,
+     "Yours respectfully,
+     "H. BASSETT."
+
+Mr. Pettigrew came down himself in the evening.
+
+"Well, Miss Covington, I think that the scent is getting warm. Now is
+the time that you must be very cautious. I think we may take it that the
+child is somewhere within ten or twelve miles of Stanford, north or east
+of it. The man was away for over three hours, and he rode fast. It's not
+likely that the horse was anything out of the way. However, allowing for
+half an hour's stay somewhere, I think we may take twelve miles as the
+limit. Still, a circle of twelve miles' radius covers a very large area.
+I have been looking up the map since that man set about inquiring down
+there. Twelve miles would include the whole of the marshes as far as
+Leigh. It goes up to Brentwood, Billericay, Downham, and touches
+Rayleigh; and in that semicircle would be some sixty or seventy
+villages, large and small."
+
+"I have been looking at the map too, Mr. Pettigrew, and it does not seem
+to me at all likely that he would go near the places that you first
+mentioned; they are quite close to the Great Eastern Railway, by which
+he would have traveled, instead of going round such an enormous detour
+by Tilbury and Stanford."
+
+"One would think so, my dear, certainly; but, you see, a man having the
+least idea that he was watched, which I admit we have no reason for
+believing that this fellow has, would naturally choose a very circuitous
+route. However, I think that we need hardly try so far to the north, to
+begin with; I should say that the area of our search need go no farther
+north than Downham, and that between a line running west from that place
+and the river the child is most likely to be hidden."
+
+"I should say, Mr. Pettigrew, that the detective might engage four or
+five fellows who could act separately in villages on each of the roads
+running from Stanford east or northeast. The villages should be at least
+two miles away from Stanford, because he might start by one road and
+then turn off by another. But in two miles he would probably settle down
+on the road he was going to follow and we should, therefore, get the
+general direction of Walter's hiding place. Then, as soon as he passed,
+the watcher should follow him on foot till he met him coming back. If he
+did meet him, he would know that at any rate he had been farther; if he
+did not meet him, he would know that he had turned off somewhere between
+him and the village that he had passed. Netta and I have been talking
+the matter over, and it seems to us that this would be the best plan,
+and that it would be as well, also, to have a man to watch at Tilbury
+Station; because he may possibly choose some entirely different route
+the next time he comes, and the men in the villages, not knowing that he
+had come down at all, might be kept there for a month waiting for his
+next visit."
+
+"You and your friend have certainly put your heads together to good
+purpose," the old lawyer said, "and I do not see any better plan than
+you suggest. You had better have Bassett down here, and give him your
+instructions yourself."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Pettigrew; and I shall be glad if you will write a line to him
+to-night, for in three days it will be a month since this man last went
+down, or at any rate since we know that he went down. Of course, it may
+be three months before he goes again, and if he does not come in four or
+five days the men must be recalled; for although each of them could stop
+in a village for a day or two under the pretense of finding work in the
+neighborhood, they certainly could not stop for a month."
+
+"Very well, I leave you a free hand in the matter, altogether, Miss
+Covington; for frankly I acknowledge that you are vastly more likely to
+ferret the thing out than I am."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+A BOX AT THE OPERA.
+
+
+"I tell you what it is, Simcoe," Harrison said two months later, "this
+affair of yours is getting to be a good deal more troublesome than I
+bargained for. It all looked simple enough; one only had to pick up a
+child, drive him in a cab across London, then down in a trap to Pitsea,
+hand him over to a man I knew would take good care of him, and take the
+payments for him when they became due, which would be no trouble, as I
+had to see the man occasionally on my own business. Of course I expected
+that there would be a big hue and cry for him, but I had no fear
+whatever of his being found. Then I managed through another man to get
+that body from the workhouse undertaker, and you managed the rest easily
+enough; but I tell you that the matter is getting a good deal hotter
+than I ever thought it would.
+
+"I told you that I had been followed several times after leaving your
+place, and one morning when I went out early I saw footmarks, showing
+that someone had been walking round my house and trying to look in at
+the windows. I have a strong suspicion that I have been followed to my
+office, and I know that someone got in there one day at my dinner hour.
+I know, because I always fasten a piece of thread, so that if the door
+is opened it breaks it. There is nothing there that anyone could make
+anything of, but it is just as well to know if anyone has been prying
+about. The woman of the house was sure that she had not been in there,
+nor had she let anyone in; so the lock must have been picked. Of course
+anyone is liable to have his office robbed when he is out and it is
+empty; but nothing was taken, and if a common thief had found nothing
+else he would probably have made off with my dress suit, which would
+have brought him a sov. in a second-hand clothes shop.
+
+"You know I have an excessive objection to being watched. I have had
+nothing on hand lately, at any rate nothing that has come off, but I
+might have had, you know. Well, yesterday I was going down to see my man
+in the marshes, and to tell him that likely enough I should bring
+something down to him next week. I got out of the train at Tilbury, and,
+as you know, there are not a dozen houses anywhere near the station.
+Now, I have a habit of keeping my eyes open, and I saw a man sitting on
+an old boat. What called my attention particularly to him was that he
+was turned half round watching the entrance to the station as I came
+out. You can always tell whether a man is watching for someone, or
+whether he is merely looking generally in that direction, and this man
+was certainly watching for someone. The instant his eye fell upon me he
+turned round and stared at the river. The path to the public house lay
+just behind him. Now, it would be natural that hearing a footstep a man
+doing nothing would look round and perhaps say a word--ask the time, or
+something of that sort. Well, he didn't turn round. Now, it is my habit,
+and a very useful one, always to carry a glass of about the size of a
+folded letter in my pocket. Instead of going on to the public house I
+turned off from the path and walked away from the river. When I had got
+some little distance I took out my glass, and still walking along, I
+held it up so that I could see in it what was going on behind. The man
+was standing up, watching me. I put the glass in my pocket and dropped
+my handkerchief. I stooped down to pick it up, of course partly turning
+as I did so, and saw that he had instantly dropped into a sitting
+position again, with his back to me.
+
+"That was good enough. I turned, cut across the fields, went straight
+back to the station and took the next ferry-boat to Gravesend, and came
+back that way. It is quite clear to me that not only is this girl on
+the track still, but the chase is getting to be a very hot one, and
+that not only are they watching you, but they are watching me, and have
+in some way or other, though how, I cannot guess, found out that I go
+down to Tilbury, and have accordingly sent a man down to follow me. Now,
+I tell you frankly, I will have no more to do with the matter--that is
+to say, as far as going down on your business. As I have told you, I
+have always managed my own affairs so well that the police and I have no
+acquaintance whatever; and I am not going to be spied upon and followed
+and have the 'tecs upon my track about an affair in which I have no
+interest at all, except that, you having stood by my brother, I was glad
+to do you any service I could. But this is getting serious. I don't like
+it. I have told you I have business with the man, and get things off
+abroad through him that I should have great trouble in getting rid of in
+any other way; but unless in quite exceptional cases, these things are
+so small that they could be hidden away for months without much risk of
+their being found, however sharp the hunt after them might be. As I am
+in no way pressed for money I can afford to wait, though I own that I
+like to get the things off my hands as soon as I can, and as I
+considered that I ran practically no risk in going down with them into
+Essex, I never kept them at my house. However, for a time I must do so.
+I must tell you that when I am going down I always write beforehand and
+make an appointment for him to have his barge at the wharf at Pitsea,
+and I send my letter addressed to him: 'Mr. William Nibson, barge _Mary
+Ann_, care of Mr. Scholey, Spotted Horse, Pitsea.' You had better write
+to him in future. You need not put anything inside the envelope except
+notes for twenty-five pounds, and the words, 'For the child's keep for
+six months.' I need not say that you had better disguise your writing,
+both on the envelope and on the inside, and it is best that you should
+get your notes from some bookmaker on a race-course. You tell me you
+often go to races now and do a little betting. They are not the sort of
+men who take the numbers of the notes they pay out, and it would be
+next to impossible for them to be traced to you."
+
+"Thank you, Harrison; you have behaved like a true pal to me, and I am
+ever so much obliged to you. I quite see what you mean, and indeed it is
+as much for my interest as yours that you should not go down there any
+more. Confound that girl Covington! I am sure she is the moving spirit
+of it all. I always felt uneasy about her from the first, and was sure
+that if there was any trouble it would come from her. I wonder how the
+deuce she ever found out that you went down to Tilbury."
+
+"That beats me too, Simcoe. As you may guess, I am always most cautious
+about it, and always take a very roundabout way of going to the
+station."
+
+"I have been uneasy ever since that girl at our place left so suddenly.
+A fortnight afterwards we found that there was a hole bored through the
+doorpost. Of course it might have been bored before I went there; but in
+that case it is curious that it was never noticed before. I cannot help
+thinking that she did it."
+
+"Yes, you told me; but you said that you tried the experiment, and found
+that when your man and his wife were talking there in a loud voice, and
+you had your ear at the hole, you could not catch a single word."
+
+"Yes, that was certainly so. I could hear them talking, but I could not
+make out a word of their conversation. Still it is evident that somebody
+has been trying to hear. I cannot help thinking that it was that girl,
+though both Johnstone and his wife spoke very highly of her. Certainly
+the story she told them was true to a certain extent, for when they sent
+the box down to Reading I sent a man down there to watch, and she called
+to fetch it, and my man found out that she labeled it 'Oxford,' and took
+it away with her on the down train. As he had no directions to follow
+her farther he came back. After we found the hole I sent him down again;
+but he never came upon her traces, though he inquired at every village
+near Oxford."
+
+"She may have been put there as a spy," the other said; "but as it is
+evident that she couldn't hear through that hole, it is clear that she
+could not have done them any good. That is, I suppose, why they called
+her off; so the puzzle still remains how they got on my track at
+Tilbury. I should like to have a good look at this Covington girl. I can
+admire a clever wench, even when she is working against me."
+
+"There is 'The Huguenots' at Her Majesty's to-night, the first time this
+season. She very often goes in Lady Moulton's box, and it is likely
+enough that she will go to-night. It's the third box from the stage, on
+the first tier; I will go down to Bond Street and see if I can get hold
+of a box opposite, on the second or third tier. The money will be well
+laid out, for I should very much like you to study her face, and I won
+enough at pool at the club this afternoon to pay for it."
+
+"Very well, then I will come round to your place. I really am curious to
+see the girl. I only caught a passing glimpse of her in the park that
+day."
+
+Simcoe was not wrong in his conjecture, for Hilda dined at Lady
+Moulton's, and they took their places in the latter's box just as the
+first bar of the overture sounded. She was in half mourning now, and in
+black lace, with white camellias in her hair and breast, was, as Netta
+had told her before starting, looking her best.
+
+"That is the girl," Simcoe exclaimed, as she went forward to the front
+of the box.
+
+"Well, there is no denying that she is good-looking," the other said, as
+he turned his glasses upon her; "there is not a better-looking woman in
+the house. Plenty of self-possession too," he added, as Hilda took her
+seat and at once, in apparent ignorance that any glasses were upon her,
+took her own lorgnettes from their case and proceeded calmly to scan the
+stalls and boxes, to see who among her numerous acquaintances were
+there. As her eyes fell upon the two men sitting nearly opposite to her,
+her glasses steadied, then after a minute she lowered them.
+
+"Lady Moulton, I regard it as a providence that you brought me here
+this evening. Do you see those two men there in the box nearly opposite,
+in the second tier? Well, one of the men is Simcoe, to whom my uncle
+left all his property if Walter should not live to come of age, and who
+I am absolutely convinced carried the child away."
+
+"I see them, my dear; they are staring at you. I suppose they are as
+much interested in you as you in them."
+
+Hilda again put her glasses to her eyes.
+
+"She has just told Lady Moulton who I am," Simcoe said.
+
+"She has a clever face, Simcoe--broad across the chin--any amount of
+determination, I should say. Ah! there, she is getting up to make room
+for somebody else."
+
+"Stay where you are, my dear," Lady Moulton said, putting her hand on
+Hilda's arm; "there is plenty of room for three."
+
+"Plenty," she replied; "but I want to watch those two men, and I cannot
+keep my glasses fixed on them while I am sitting in the front row."
+
+"Hardly, my dear," Lady Moulton said with a smile. "Well, have your own
+way."
+
+A fourth lady came in almost immediately. She took the third chair in
+the front, and Hilda, sitting half in the shade, was able to devote
+herself to her purpose free from general observation. She had already
+heard that Simcoe's companion had apparently suspected that he was
+watched, and had returned to town at once without speaking to anyone at
+Tilbury. She felt that he would probably henceforth choose some other
+route, and the chances of following him would be greatly diminished. The
+opportunity was a fortunate one indeed. For months she had been hoping
+that some day or other she could watch these men talking, and now, as it
+seemed by accident, just at the moment when her hopes had fallen, the
+chance had come to her.
+
+"She has changed her place in order to have a better look at us," John
+Simcoe said, as she moved. "She has got her glasses on us."
+
+"We came to stare at her. It seems to me that she is staring at us,"
+Harrison said.
+
+"Well, I should think that she knows my face pretty well by this time,"
+Simcoe laughed. "I told you she has a way of looking through one that
+has often made me uncomfortable."
+
+"I can quite understand that. I noticed myself that when she looked at
+us, without her glasses, there was a curious intentness in her
+expression, as if she was taking stock of every point about us. She
+cannot be the girl who has been to your lodging."
+
+"Certainly not," the other said; "I know her a great deal too well for
+her to try that on. Besides, beyond the fact that the other was a
+good-looking girl too--and, by the way, that she had the same trick of
+looking full in your face when you spoke--there was no resemblance
+whatever between them."
+
+The curtain now drew up, and silence fell upon the house, and the men
+did not speak again until the end of the first act. They then continued
+their conversation where they had left it off.
+
+"She has moved, and has been attending to the opera," Simcoe said; "but
+she has gone into the shade again, and is taking another look at us."
+
+"I am not given to nervousness, but upon my word those glasses fixed
+upon me make me quite fidgety."
+
+"Pooh, man! she is not looking at you; she is looking at me. I don't
+know whether she thinks that she can read my thoughts, and find out
+where the child is hidden. By the way, I know nothing about this place
+Pitsea. Where is it, and which is the best way to get there?"
+
+"You can drive straight down by road through Upminster and Laindon. The
+place lies about three miles this side of Benfleet. There are only about
+half a dozen houses, at the end of a creek that comes up from Hole
+Haven. But I should not think of going near the house. The latter,
+directed as I told you, is sure to find the man."
+
+"Oh, I am not thinking of going! but I shall get a man to watch the
+fellows they sent down to watch you, and if I find that they seem to be
+getting on the right track, I shall run down at all hazards and take him
+away."
+
+"Your best plan by far will be to go with him, on board Nibson's barge,
+up to Rochester. No doubt he can find some bargeman there who will take
+the boy in. Or, what would perhaps be better, hire a trap there, and
+drive him down to Margate or Ramsgate. There are plenty of schools
+there, and you might get up a yarn about his being a nephew of yours,
+and leave him there for a term or two. That would give you time to
+decide. By this time he will have but a very faint remembrance of his
+life in town, and anything that he may say about it will certainly meet
+with no attention."
+
+"Would it be as well to do it at once, do you think?" Simcoe asked.
+
+"No; we have no idea how many people they may have on the watch, and it
+would be only running unnecessary risks. Stick to the plan that we have
+already agreed on, of communicating only by writing. But I think your
+idea of sending two or three sharp fellows down there to find out what
+the party are doing is really a good one."
+
+Hilda lowered her glasses as the curtain rose again. "Oh, Lady Moulton!"
+she whispered, "I have found out all that I have been so long wanting to
+know. I believe now that in three days I shall have the child home
+again."
+
+Lady Moulton turned half round.
+
+"How on earth have you found that out, Hilda? Are you a wizard indeed,
+who can read men's thoughts in their faces? I always thought that there
+was something uncanny about you, ever since that day of my fête."
+
+To Harrison's relief, Miss Covington did not turn her glass towards him
+again during the evening. When the curtain fell on the next act a
+gentleman, to whom Lady Moulton had nodded in the stalls, came in. After
+shaking hands with her and her friends, he seated himself by the side
+of Hilda.
+
+"Miss Covington," he said, "I have never had an opportunity of speaking
+to you since that fête at Lady Moulton's. I have understood that the
+gypsy on that occasion was engaged by you, and that there was, if you
+will excuse me saying so, some little mystery about it. I don't wish to
+pry into that, but if you should ever see the woman again you will
+oblige me very greatly by telling her that I consider I owe her a deep
+debt of gratitude. She said something to me then that made a tremendous
+impression upon me, and I do not mind telling you it brought me up with
+a round turn. I had been going ahead a great deal too fast, and I see
+now that, had I continued on the same course, I should have brought
+absolute ruin upon myself, and blighted my life in every way. The shock
+she gave me by warning me what would come if I did not give up cards and
+racing showed me my utter folly, and on that day I swore never to touch
+a card or lay a penny upon a horse for the rest of my life. When I tell
+you that I have completely pulled myself round, and that, by the aid of
+an old uncle, to whom I went and made a clean breast of all, I am now
+straight in every way, and, as you may have heard, am going to be
+married to Miss Fortescue in a fortnight, you may guess what deep reason
+I have to be grateful to this gypsy woman of yours, and how I hope that,
+should you come across her again, you will tell her so, and should there
+be any possible way in which I can prove my gratitude, by money or
+otherwise, I shall be delighted to do so."
+
+"I will tell her, Captain Desmond," the girl said in a low voice. "I am
+sure that it will make her happy to know that she did some good that
+evening. I do not think that she is in need of money or assistance of
+any kind, but should she be so I will let you know."
+
+"And do you really mean that you have discovered where General
+Mathieson's grandson is living?" Lady Moulton asked, as they rose to
+leave their seats when the curtain fell.
+
+"I think so; I am almost sure of it."
+
+Lady Moulton had heard a good deal from Hilda as to the situation. Mr.
+Pettigrew had strongly impressed upon both Hilda and Colonel Bulstrode
+that it was very important that the contents of the will should not be
+talked about. "We don't want our private affairs discussed in the press
+and made the subject of general talk," he had said, and it was only to
+Lady Moulton that Hilda had spoken freely of the matter, so far as the
+discovery of the new will, the change that had been made, and the
+singularity of Walter being missing. She had also mentioned her belief
+that Simcoe was at the bottom of this, but had breathed no words of her
+suspicion that the General had come to his death by foul play, or of her
+own conviction that Simcoe was an impostor, although there had been some
+talk in the clubs over the matter, for Colonel Bulstrode was by no means
+so discreet as Hilda, and among his intimate friends spoke his mind with
+great vehemence and strength of language as to General Mathieson having
+made so singular a disposition of his property, and he made no secret of
+his suspicion that Simcoe was at the bottom of Walter's disappearance.
+Thus the matter had gradually gone the round of the clubs; but it was
+not until Simcoe's own counsel had drawn from him the fact that Walter's
+death would put him into possession of the estate that the public in
+general learned the facts.
+
+"It was a clever move," Mr. Pettigrew had said, talking it over with his
+partner. "No doubt he was afraid that the question would be asked by our
+counsel, and he thought that it was better that the fact should come
+voluntarily from himself. His best plan by far was to brazen it out. No
+doubt nine men out of ten will consider that the affair is a very
+suspicious one, and some of them will give him the cold shoulder; but
+whatever their opinions, they dare not express them without laying
+themselves open to an action for libel, while, on the other hand, the
+fact that a man is heir to a good estate will always cause a good many
+to rally round him. Not the best of men, you know, but enough to
+prevent his being a lonely figure in a club.
+
+"Yes, I think he was certainly well advised to declare his heirship
+voluntarily, instead of having it drawn from him. He must have known, of
+course, that sooner or later the matter would be made public, and it is
+better for him to get the talk and gossip over now instead of the matter
+being known for the first time when he begins to take legal steps to
+compel us to put him into possession of the estate."
+
+"What on earth did you mean, Hilda," Lady Moulton said, as the door of
+the carriage was closed and they drove off from Her Majesty's, "by
+saying that you had discovered a clew by which you might in a few days
+find your little cousin?"
+
+"I cannot tell you exactly how I discovered it. At present it is a
+secret that both my mother and uncle charged me to keep, but when these
+troubles are over I will explain it all to you, though I should
+certainly do so to no one else."
+
+"Well, I suppose I must be content with that, Hilda. But it certainly
+does seem extraordinary to me that by merely seeing two men in a box on
+the other side of the house you should have obtained a clew to what you
+have for a year now been trying to get at."
+
+"It does seem extraordinary, Lady Moulton, but it really is not so, and
+I hope to convince you that I am right by producing Walter in a week
+from the present time."
+
+"I hope you will, Hilda. I sincerely hope so, both for the child's sake,
+yours, and my own. Of course, when he is found there will be no possible
+reason for your keeping yourself shut up as you have done. I have missed
+you very much, and shall be very glad to have you under my wing again."
+
+"Thank you for saying so, Lady Moulton; but so far as I have formed my
+plans, they are that Walter's trustees shall either let or sell the
+house in Hyde Park Gardens, and that I shall go down for a time with him
+into the country. I have had a great deal of anxiety this last year,
+and I shall be very glad of complete rest for a time."
+
+"That is reasonable enough, my dear, but I do hope that you are not
+thinking of burying yourself in the country for good. There, I am at
+home. Good-night, Hilda; thanks for the lift. It is not often my horses
+or my coachmen have a night off during the season."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+NEARING THE GOAL.
+
+
+"I suppose Miss Netta is in bed?" Hilda asked, as she entered the house.
+
+"Yes, miss; she and Miss Purcell went to their rooms soon after ten
+o'clock."
+
+Hilda ran upstairs to Netta's room.
+
+"Are you awake, Netta?" she asked, as she opened the door.
+
+"Well, I think I was asleep, Hilda; I didn't intend to go off, for I
+made sure that you would come in for a chat, as usual, when you got
+back; but I think I must have dozed off."
+
+"Well, if you had been so sound asleep that I had had to violently wake
+you up, I should have done so. I have had my chance, Netta. Simcoe and
+his friend were in a box opposite to ours, and I have learned where
+Walter is."
+
+"That is news indeed," Netta exclaimed, leaping up; "that is worth being
+awakened a hundred times for. Please hand me my dressing-gown. Now let
+us sit down and talk it over comfortably."
+
+Hilda then repeated the whole conversation that she had overheard.
+
+"Splendid!" Netta exclaimed, clapping her hands; "and that man was
+right, dear, in feeling uncomfortable when your glasses were fixed on
+his face, though he little guessed what reason he had for the feeling.
+Well, it is worth all the four years you spent with us to have learned
+to read people's words from their lips. I always said that you were my
+best pupil, and you have proved it so now. What is to be done next?"
+
+"We shall need a general council for that!" Hilda laughed. "We must do
+nothing rash now that success seems so close; a false move might spoil
+everything."
+
+"Yes, we shall have to be very careful. This bargeman may not live near
+there at all; though no doubt he goes there pretty often, as letters are
+sent there for him. Besides, Simcoe may have someone stationed there to
+find out whether any inquiries have been made for a missing child."
+
+"Yes, I see that we shall have to be very careful, Netta, and we must
+not spoil our chances by being over hasty."
+
+They talked for upwards of an hour, and then went to their beds. The
+next morning Roberts took a note to Dr. Leeds. It contained only a few
+lines from Hilda:
+
+     "MY DEAR DR. LEEDS: We have found a most important clew, and are
+     going to have a consultation, at which, of course, we want you to
+     be present. Could you manage to be at Mr. Pettigrew's office at
+     three o'clock? If so, on hearing from you, I will send to him to
+     make an appointment."
+
+The answer came back:
+
+     "I congratulate you heartily, and will meet you at three o'clock at
+     Pettigrew's office."
+
+A note was at once sent off to the lawyer's to make the appointment, and
+the girls arrived with Miss Purcell two or three minutes before the
+hour, and were at once shown into Mr. Pettigrew's room, where Mr. Farmer
+immediately joined them.
+
+"I will wait a minute or two before I begin," Hilda said. "I have asked
+Dr. Leeds to join us here. He has been so very kind throughout the whole
+matter that we thought it was only fair that he should be here."
+
+"Certainly, I thoroughly agree with you. I never thought that terrible
+suspicion of his well founded, but he certainly took immense pains in
+collecting information of all sorts about these native poisons, and
+since then has shown the greatest desire to assist in any way."
+
+A minute later Dr. Leeds was shown in.
+
+"Now, Miss Covington," Mr. Farmer said, "we are ready to hear your
+communication."
+
+Hilda then related what she had learned at the opera.
+
+"Really, Miss Covington," Mr. Farmer continued, "it is a thousand pities
+that you and your friend cannot utilize your singular accomplishment in
+the detective line. You ought to make a fortune by it. I have, of
+course, heard from my partner of the education that you had in Germany,
+and of your having acquired some new system by which you can understand
+what people are saying by watching their lips, but I certainly had no
+conception that it could be carried to such an extent as you have just
+proved it can. It is like gaining a new sense. Now I suppose you have
+come to us for advice as to what had best be done next."
+
+"That is it, Mr. Farmer. It is quite evident to us that we must be
+extremely careful, for if these people suspect that we are so far on
+their track, they might remove Walter at once, and we might never be
+able to light upon a clew again."
+
+"Yes, I see that. Of course, if we were absolutely in a position to
+prove that this child has been kept down near Pitsea with their
+cognizance we could arrest them at once; but, unfortunately, in the
+words you heard there was no mention of the child, and at present we
+have nothing but a series of small circumstantial facts to adduce. You
+believe, Mr. Pettigrew tells me, that the man who calls himself John
+Simcoe is an impostor who has no right to the name, and that General
+Mathieson was under a complete delusion when he made that extraordinary
+will. You believe that, or at any rate you have a suspicion that, having
+got the General to make the will, he administered some unknown drug that
+finally caused his death. You believe that, as this child alone stood
+between him and the inheritance, he had him carried off with the
+assistance of the other man. You believe that the body the coroner's
+jury decided to be that of Walter Rivington was not his, and that the
+child himself is being kept out of the way somewhere in Essex, and you
+believe that the conversation that you most singularly overheard related
+to him.
+
+"But, unfortunately, all these beliefs are unsupported by a single legal
+fact, and I doubt very much whether any magistrate would issue a warrant
+for these men's arrest upon your story being laid before him. Even if
+they were arrested, some confederate might hasten down to Pitsea and
+carry the child off; and, indeed, Pitsea may only be the meeting-place
+of these conspirators, and the child may be at Limehouse or at Chatham,
+or at any other place frequented by barges. Therefore we must for the
+present give up all idea of seizing these men. Any researches at Pitsea
+itself are clearly attended by danger, and yet I see no other way of
+proceeding."
+
+"It seems," Dr. Leeds said, "that this other man, who appears to have
+acted as Simcoe's agent throughout the affair, took the alarm the other
+day, and instead of taking a trap as usual from Tilbury, returned to the
+station, took the ferry across to Gravesend, and then, as we suppose,
+came up to town again, told Simcoe that he found he was watched, and
+that Simcoe must himself take the matter up. Evidently, by what Miss
+Covington overheard, he had instructed him where and how to communicate
+with this bargeman, or in case of necessity to find him. I should think
+that the first step would be to withdraw the men now on watch, for it is
+possible that they may also send down men to places in the locality of
+Pitsea. In point of fact, your men have been instructed to make no such
+inquiries, but only to endeavor to trace where Simcoe's agent drives to.
+Still, I think it would be as well to withdraw them at once, as they can
+do no further good."
+
+Mr. Pettigrew nodded.
+
+"I know nothing of Pitsea," the doctor went on, "but I do know Hole
+Haven. When I was walking the hospital, three or four of us had a little
+sailing-boat, and used to go out from Saturday until Monday morning.
+Hole Haven was generally the limit of our excursions. It is a snug
+little harbor for small boats, and there is a comfortable old-fashioned
+little inn there, where we used to sleep. The coastguards were all
+sociable fellows, ready to chat with strangers and not averse to a small
+tip. Of course the same men will not be there now, nor would it be very
+safe to ask questions of them; for no doubt they are on friendly terms
+with the men on the barges which go up and down the creek. I might,
+however, learn something from them of the ways of these men, and I
+should think that, on giving my card to the petty officer in charge, I
+could safely question him. I don't suppose that he would know where this
+man Nibson has his headquarters. If he lives at Rochester, or Chatham,
+or at Limehouse, or Shadwell, he certainly would not know him; but if he
+lives at Pitsea he might know him. I fancy they keep a pretty sharp
+lookout on the barges. I know that the coastguard told me that there was
+still a good deal of smuggling carried on in the marshes between Leigh
+and Thames Haven. I fancy, from what he said, that the Leigh fishermen
+think it no harm to run a few pounds of tobacco or a keg of spirit from
+a passing ship, and, indeed, as there are so many vessels that go ashore
+on the sands below, and as they are generally engaged in unloading them
+or helping them to get off, they have considerable facilities that way.
+At any rate, as an old frequenter of the place and as knowing the
+landlord--that is to say if there has been no change there--no suspicion
+could fall upon me of going down there in reference to your affair.
+To-day is Friday. On Sunday morning, early, I will run down to
+Gravesend, hire a boat there, and will sail down to Hole Haven. It will
+be an outing for me, and a pleasant one; and at least I can be doing no
+harm."
+
+"Thank you very much indeed, Dr. Leeds," Hilda said warmly; "that is a
+splendid idea."
+
+On Sunday evening Dr. Leeds called at Hyde Park Gardens to report his
+day's work.
+
+"I think that my news is eminently satisfactory. I saw the petty officer
+in command of the coastguard station, and he willingly gave me all the
+information in his power. He knew the bargee, Bill Nibson. He is up and
+down the creek, he says, once and sometimes twice a week. He has got a
+little bit of a farm and a house on the bank of the creek a mile and a
+half on this side of Pitsea. They watch him pretty closely, as they do
+all the men who use the creek; there is not one of them who does not
+carry on a bit of smuggling if he gets the chance.
+
+"'I thought that was almost given up,' I said. 'Oh, no; it is carried
+on,' he replied, 'on a much smaller scale than it used to be, but there
+is plenty of it, and I should say that there is more done that way on
+the Thames than anywhere else. In the first place, Dutch, German, and
+French craft coming up the channels after dark can have no difficulty
+whatever in transferring tobacco and spirits into barges or
+fishing-boats. I need hardly say it is not ships of any size that carry
+on this sort of business, but small vessels, such as billy-boys and
+craft of that sort. They carry their regular cargoes, and probably never
+bring more than a few hundredweight of tobacco and a dozen or so kegs of
+spirits. It is doubtful whether their owners know anything of what is
+being done, and I should say that it is generally a sort of speculation
+on the part of the skipper and men. On this side the trade is no doubt
+in the hands of men who either work a single barge or fishing-boat of
+their own, or who certainly work it without the least suspicion on the
+part of the owners.
+
+"'The thing is so easily arranged. A man before he starts from Ostend or
+Hamburg, or the mouth of the Seine, sends a line to his friends here, at
+Rochester or Limehouse or Leigh, "Shall sail to-night. Expect to come up
+the south channel on Monday evening." The bargeman or fisherman runs
+down at the time arranged, and five or six miles below the Nore brings
+up and shows a light. He knows that the craft he expects will not be up
+before that time, for if the wind was extremely favorable, and they made
+the run quicker than they expected, they would bring up in Margate Roads
+till the time appointed. If they didn't arrive that night, they would do
+so the next, and the barge would lay there and wait for them, or the
+fishermen would go into Sheerness or Leigh and come out again the next
+night.
+
+"'You might wonder how a barge could waste twenty-four or forty-eight
+hours without being called to account by its owners, but there are
+barges which will anchor up for two or three days under the pretense
+that the weather is bad, but really from sheer laziness.
+
+"'That is one way the stuff comes into the country, and, so far as I can
+see, there is no way whatever of stopping it. The difficulty, of course,
+is with the landing, and even that is not great. When the tide turns to
+run out there are scores, I may say hundreds, of barges anchored between
+Chatham and Gravesend. They generally anchor close in shore, and it
+would require twenty times the number of coastguards there are between
+Chatham and Gravesend on one side, and Foulness and Tilbury on the
+other, to watch the whole of them and to see that boats do not come
+ashore.
+
+"'A few strokes and they are there. One man will wait in the boat while
+the other goes up onto the bank to see that all is clear. If it is, the
+things are carried up at once. Probably the barge has put up some flag
+that is understood by friends ashore; they are there to meet it, and in
+half an hour the kegs are either stowed away in lonely farmhouses or
+sunk in some of the deep ditches, and there they will remain until they
+can be fished up and sent off in a cart loaded with hay or something of
+that sort. You may take it that among the marshes on the banks of the
+Medway and Thames there is a pretty good deal done in the way of
+smuggling still. We keep a very close eye upon all the barges that come
+up here, but it is very seldom that we make any catch. One cannot seize
+a barge like the _Mary Ann_, that is the boat belonging to Nibson, with
+perhaps sixty tons of manure or cement or bricks, and unload it without
+some specific information that would justify our doing so. Indeed, we
+hardly could unload it unless we took it out into the Thames and threw
+the contents overboard. We could not carry it up this steep, stone-faced
+bank, and higher up there are very few places where a barge could lie
+alongside the bank to be unloaded. We suspect Nibson of doing something
+that way, but we have never been able to catch him at it. We have
+searched his place suddenly three or four times, but never found
+anything suspicious.'
+
+"'May I ask what family the man has?' I said.
+
+"He shook his head. 'There is his wife--I have seen her once or twice on
+board the barge as it has come in and out--and there is a boy, who helps
+him on the barge--I don't know whether he is his son or not. I have no
+idea whether he has any family, but I have never seen a child on the
+barge.'
+
+"All this seemed to be fairly satisfactory. I told him that we suspected
+that a stolen child was kept in Nibson's house, and asked him whether
+one of his men off duty would, at any time, go with me in a boat and
+point out the house. He said that there would be no difficulty about
+that. My idea, Miss Covington, was that it would be by far the best plan
+for us to go down with a pretty strong party--that is to say, two or
+three men--and to go from Gravesend in a boat, arriving at Hole Haven at
+eleven or twelve o'clock at night. I should write beforehand to the
+coastguard officer, asking him to have a man in readiness to guide us,
+and then row up to the house. In that way we should avoid all chance of
+a warning being sent on ahead from Pitsea, or from any other place where
+they might have men on watch.
+
+"I mentioned this to the officer, and he said, 'Well, I don't see how
+you could break into the man's house. If the child is not there you
+might find yourself in a very awkward position, and if Nibson himself
+happened to be at home he would be perfectly justified in using
+firearms.' I said of course that was a point I must consider. It is
+indeed a point on which we must take Mr. Pettigrew's opinion. But
+probably we shall have to lay an information before the nearest
+magistrate, though I think myself that if we were to take the officer
+into our confidence--and he seemed to me a bluff, hearty fellow--he
+would take a lot of interest in the matter, and might stretch a point,
+and send three or four men down after dark to search the place again for
+smuggled goods. You see, he has strong suspicions of the man, and has
+searched his place more than once. Then, when they were about it, we
+could enter and seize Walter. Should there be a mistake altogether, and
+the child not be found there, we could give the officer a written
+undertaking to hold him free in the very unlikely event of the fellow
+making a fuss about his house being entered."
+
+The next morning Hilda again drove up with Netta to see Mr. Pettigrew.
+
+"We must be careful, my dear; we must be very careful," he said. "If we
+obtain a search warrant, it can only be executed during the day, and
+even if the coastguards were to make a raid upon the place, we, as
+civilians, would not have any right to enter the house. I don't like the
+idea of this night business--indeed, I do not see why it should not be
+managed by day. Apparently, from what Dr. Leeds said, this Hole Haven is
+a place where little sailing-boats often go in. I don't know much of
+these matters, but probably in some cases gentlemen are accompanied by
+ladies, and no doubt sometimes these boats go up the creeks. Now, there
+must be good-sized boats that could be hired at Gravesend, with men
+accustomed to sailing them, and I can see no reason why we should not go
+down in a party. I should certainly wish to be there myself, and think
+Colonel Bulstrode should be there. You might bring your two men, and get
+an information laid before an Essex magistrate and obtain a warrant to
+search this man's place for a child supposed to be hidden there. By the
+way, I have a client who is an Essex magistrate; he lives near
+Billericay. I will have an information drawn out, and will go myself
+with it and see him; it is only about five miles to drive from Brentwood
+Station. If I sent a clerk down, there might be some difficulty,
+whereas, when I personally explain the circumstances to him, he will, I
+am sure, grant it. At the same time I will arrange with him that two of
+the county constabulary shall be at this place, Hole Haven, at the time
+we arrive there, and shall accompany us to execute the warrant. Let me
+see," and he turned to his engagement book, "there is no very special
+matter on for to-morrow, and I am sure that Mr. Farmer will see to the
+little matters that there are in my department. By the way, it was a
+year yesterday since the General's death, and we have this morning been
+served with a notice to show cause why we should not proceed at once to
+distribute the various legacies under his will. I don't think that
+refers to the bequest of the estates, though, of course, it may do so,
+but to the ten thousand pounds to which Simcoe is clearly entitled. Of
+course, we should appear by counsel in any case; but with Walter in our
+hands we can bring him to his knees at once, and he will have to wait
+some time before he touches the money. We cannot prevent his having
+that. He may get five years for abducting the child, but that does not
+affect his claim to the money."
+
+"Unless, Mr. Pettigrew, we could prove that he is not John Simcoe."
+
+"Certainly, my dear," the lawyer said, with an indulgent smile. "Your
+other theories have turned out very successful, I am bound to admit; but
+for this you have not a shadow of evidence, while he could produce a
+dozen respectable witnesses in his favor. However, we need not trouble
+ourselves about that now. As to the abduction of the child, while our
+evidence is pretty clear against the other man, we have only the fact
+against Simcoe that he was a constant associate of his, and had an
+immense interest in the child being lost. The other man seems to have
+acted as his intermediary all through, and so far as we actually know,
+Simcoe has never seen the child since he was taken away. Of course, if
+Walter can prove to the contrary, the case is clear against him; but
+without this it is only circumstantial, though I fancy that the jury
+would be pretty sure to convict. And now, how about the boat? Who will
+undertake that? We are rather busy at present, and could scarcely spare
+a clerk to go down."
+
+"We will look after that, Mr. Pettigrew; it is only an hour's run to
+Gravesend, and it will be an amusement for us. We will take Roberts down
+with us. What day shall we fix it for?"
+
+"Well, my dear, the sooner the better. I shall get the warrant
+to-morrow, and there is no reason why the constable should not be at
+Hole Haven the next day, at, say, two in the afternoon. So if you go
+down to-morrow and arrange for a boat, the matter may as well be carried
+out at once, especially as I know that you are burning with anxiety to
+get the child back. Of course this rascal of a bargeman must be
+arrested."
+
+"I should think that would depend partly on how he has treated Walter,"
+Hilda said. "I don't suppose he knows who he is, or anything of the
+circumstances of the case; he is simply paid so much to take charge of
+him. If he has behaved cruelly to him it is of course right that he
+should be punished; but if he has been kind to him I don't see why he
+should not be let off. Besides, we may want him as a witness against the
+others."
+
+"Well, there is something in that. Of course we might, if he were
+arrested, allow him to turn Queen's evidence, but there is always a
+certain feeling against this class of witness. However, we needn't
+discuss that now. I suppose that we ought to allow an hour and a half or
+two hours to get to this place from Gravesend, but you can find that out
+when you hire the boat. Of course, it will depend a good deal on which
+way the tide is. By the way, you had better look to that at once; for if
+it is not somewhere near high tide when we get to Hole Haven there may
+not be water enough to row up the creek."
+
+He called in one of the clerks, and told him to go out to get him an
+almanac with a tide-table.
+
+"I want to know when it will be high water the day after to-morrow at
+Gravesend," he said.
+
+"I can tell you that at once, sir. When I came across Waterloo Bridge
+this morning at a quarter to nine the tide was running in. I should say
+that it was about half-flood, and would be high about twelve o'clock. So
+that it will be high about half-past one o'clock on Wednesday. It is
+about three-quarters of an hour earlier at Gravesend. I don't know
+whether that is near enough for you, sir?"
+
+"Yes, that is near enough, thank you. So, you see," he went on after the
+clerk had left the room, "the tide will be just about high when you get
+to Gravesend, and you will get there in about an hour, I should say. I
+don't know exactly how far this place is, but I should say seven or
+eight miles; and with a sail, or, if the wind is contrary, a couple of
+oars, you will not be much above an hour, and I should think that there
+will be still plenty of water in the creek. You had better see Colonel
+Bulstrode. As joint trustee he should certainly be there."
+
+They drove at once to the Colonel's and found him in. He had not heard
+of the discovery Hilda had made, and was greatly excited at the prospect
+of so soon recovering Walter, and bringing, as he said, "the rascals to
+book."
+
+The next morning they went down with Roberts to Gravesend, to engage a
+large and roomy boat with two watermen for their trip. Just as they were
+entering Hyde Park Gardens, on their return, a man passed them. Roberts
+looked hard at him, and then said, "If you don't want me any more now,
+miss, I should like to speak to that man; he is an old fellow-soldier."
+
+"Certainly, Roberts. I shall not want you again for some time."
+
+Roberts hurried after the man. "Sergeant Nichol," he said, as he came up
+to him, "it is years since I saw you last."
+
+"I remember your face, if I do not remember your name," the man said.
+
+"I am Tom Roberts. I was in your company, you know, before you went onto
+the staff."
+
+"I remember you now, Roberts," and the two shook hands heartily. "What
+are you doing now? If I remember right, you went as servant to General
+Mathieson when you got your discharge."
+
+"Yes; you see, I had been his orderly for two or three years before, and
+when I got my discharge with my pension, I told him that I should like
+to stop with him if he would take me. I was with him out there for five
+years after; then I came home, and was with him until his death, and am
+still in the service of his niece, Miss Covington, one of the young
+ladies I was with just now. And what are you doing?"
+
+"I am collector for a firm in the City. It is an easy berth, and with my
+pension I am as comfortable as a man can wish to be."
+
+So they chatted for half an hour, and when they parted Roberts received
+a hearty invitation to look in at the other's place at Kilburn.
+
+"Both my boys are in the army," he said, "and likely to get on well. My
+eldest girl is married, my youngest is at home with her mother and
+myself; they will be pleased to see you too. The missus enjoys a gossip
+about India, and is always glad to welcome any old comrade of mine."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+WALTER.
+
+
+The wind was westerly, and the boat ran fast down the river from
+Gravesend; Roberts and Andrew, both in civilian clothes, were sitting in
+the bows, where there were stowed a large hamper and a small
+traveling-bag with some clothes. One waterman sat by the mast, in case
+it should be necessary to lower sail; the other was aft at the tiller.
+The men must have thought that they had never had so silent and grave a
+pleasure party before: two elderly gentlemen and two girls, none of whom
+seemed inclined to make merry in any way. Colonel Bulstrode, indeed,
+tried hard to keep up a conversation about the ships, barges, and other
+craft that they met, or which lay at anchor in the stream, and recalling
+reminiscences of trips on Indian rivers.
+
+Netta was the only one of his hearers who apparently took any interest
+in the talk. To her the scene was so new that she regarded everything
+with attention and pleasure, and looked with wonder at the great ships
+which were dragged along by tiny tugs, wondered at the rate at which the
+clumsy-looking barges made their way through the water, and enjoyed the
+rapid and easy motion with which their own boat glided along. Mr.
+Pettigrew was revolving in his mind the problem of what should next be
+done; while Hilda's thoughts were centered upon Walter, and the joy that
+it would be to have him with her again.
+
+"This is Hole Haven," the boatman in the stern said, as a wide sheet of
+water opened on their left.
+
+"Why don't you turn in, then?" Colonel Bulstrode asked.
+
+"There is scarce water enough for us, sir; they are neap tides at
+present, and in half an hour the sands will begin to show all over
+there. We have to go in onto the farther side--that is, where the
+channel is. You see those craft at anchor; there is the landing, just in
+front of the low roof you see over the bank. That is the 'Lobster
+Smack,' and a very comfortable house it is; and you can get as good a
+glass of beer there as anywhere on the river."
+
+As they turned into the creek they saw two constables on the top of the
+bank, and at the head of the steps stood a gentleman talking with a
+coastguard officer.
+
+"That is my friend, Mr. Bostock," Mr. Pettigrew said. "He told me that,
+if he could manage it, he would drive over himself with the two
+constables. I am glad that he has been able to do so; his presence will
+strengthen our hands."
+
+A coast guard boat, with four sailors in it, was lying close to the
+steps, and the officer came down with Mr. Bostock, followed by the two
+constables. The magistrate greeted Mr. Pettigrew and took his place in
+the boat beside him, after being introduced to the two ladies and the
+Colonel. The officer with the two constables stepped into the coastguard
+boat, which rowed on ahead of the other.
+
+"I could not resist the temptation of coming over to see the end of this
+singular affair, of which I heard from Mr. Pettigrew," Mr. Bostock said
+to Hilda. "The officer of the coastguard is going on, partly to show us
+the way to the house, and partly because it will be a good opportunity
+for him to search the place thoroughly for smuggled goods. He tells me
+that the barge is up the creek now; it went up yesterday evening. So we
+may find the fellow at home."
+
+"Now, my men," Colonel Bulstrode said to the boatmen, "we have got to
+follow that boat. You will have plenty of time for beer when you get
+there, and a good lunch besides. So pull your hardest; we have not got
+very far to go. Can either of you men row?"
+
+[Illustration: "I AM A MAGISTRATE OF THE COUNTY OF ESSEX."--_Page 289._]
+
+"I can pull a bit," Roberts said, and, aided by the sail and the
+three oars, the boat went along at a fair rate through the water, the
+coastguard boat keeping a short distance ahead of them. After a quarter
+of an hour's rowing the bargeman's house came in view. The revenue
+officer pointed to it.
+
+"Now, row your hardest, men," Colonel Bulstrode said; "we have but a
+hundred yards further to go."
+
+The two boats rowed up to the bank together; Mr. Bostock sprang out, as
+did the constables and sailors, and ran up the bank, the others
+following at once. As they appeared on the bank a boy working in the
+garden gave a shrill whistle; a man immediately appeared at the door and
+looked surprised at the appearance of the party. He stepped back a foot,
+and then, as if changing his mind, came out and closed the door after
+him.
+
+"I am a magistrate of the County of Essex," Mr. Bostock said, "and I
+have come to see a warrant executed for the search of your house for a
+child named Walter Rivington, who is believed to be concealed here, and
+who has been stolen from the care of his guardians."
+
+"I know nothing of any child of that name," the man replied, "but I have
+a child here that I am taking care of for a gentleman in London; I have
+had him here for just a year, and no one has made any inquiries about
+him. You are welcome to enter and see if he is the one you are in search
+of. If he is, all that I can say is that I know nothing about his being
+stolen, and shall be very sorry to lose him."
+
+He stood aside, and the two constables entered, followed closely by
+Hilda. The latter gave a cry of joy, for seated on the ground, playing
+with a box of soldiers, was Walter. She would hardly have known him
+anywhere else. His curls had been cut short, his face was brown and
+tanned, and his clothes, although scrupulously clean, were such as would
+be worn by any bargeman's boy at that age. The child looked up as they
+entered. Hilda ran to him, and caught him up in her arms.
+
+"Don't you know me, Walter? Don't you remember Cousin Hilda?"
+
+"Yes, I remember you," the child said, now returning her embrace. "You
+used to tell me stories and take me out in a carriage for drives. Where
+have you been so long? And where is grandpapa? Oh, here is Netta!" and
+as Hilda put him down he ran to her, for during the four months spent in
+the country she had been his chief playmate.
+
+"I have learned to swim, Netta. Uncle Bill has taught me himself; and he
+is going to take me out in his barge some day."
+
+The woman, who had come in with her arms covered with lather, from the
+little washhouse adjoining the house, now came forward.
+
+"I hope, miss, that there is nothing wrong," she said to Hilda. "We have
+done our best for the little boy, and I have come to care for him just
+as if he had been my own; and if you are going to take him away I shall
+miss him dreadful, for he is a dear little fellow," and she burst into
+tears.
+
+Walter struggled from Netta's arms, and ran to the woman, and, pulling
+her by the apron, said:
+
+"Don't cry, Aunt Betsy; Jack is not going away from you. Jack will stay
+here; he likes going in a barge better than riding in a carriage."
+
+"Well, Miss Covington," Mr. Bostock said, "the recognition appears to be
+complete on both sides; now what is the next step? Do you give this man
+into custody for unlawfully concealing this child and aiding and
+abetting in his abduction?"
+
+"Will you wait a minute while I speak to Mr. Pettigrew?" she said; and
+they went out of the house together.
+
+"Well, what do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?"
+
+"I have been thinking it over all the way as we came down," the lawyer
+said. "Of course, we have no shadow of proof that this man was aware who
+the child was, and, in fact, if he had seen the placards offering
+altogether fifteen hundred pounds for his recovery, we must certainly
+assume that he would have given him up; for however well he may have
+been paid for taking charge of him, the offer would have been too
+tempting for a man of that kind to have resisted. No doubt he had strong
+suspicions, but you can hardly say that it amounted to guilty knowledge
+that the child had been abducted. If Walter had been ill-treated I
+should have said at once, 'Give him into custody'; but this does not
+seem to have been the case."
+
+"No; they have evidently been very kind to him. I am so grateful for
+that that I should be sorry to do the man any harm."
+
+"That is not the only point," the lawyer went on. "It is evident that
+the other people very seldom come down here, and from what you heard, in
+future Simcoe is going to write. If we arrest this man the others will
+know at once that the game is up. Now, if you will take the child away
+quietly, we can tell the man that he shall not be prosecuted, providing
+that he takes no steps whatever to inform his employers that the child
+is gone; even if one of them came down here to see the child, the wife
+must say that he is away on the barge. Anyhow, we shall have ample time
+to decide upon what steps to take against Simcoe, and can lay hands upon
+him whenever we choose; whereas, if he got an inkling that we had
+discovered the child, he and his associate would probably disappear at
+once, and we might have lots of trouble to find them."
+
+"Yes, I think that would be a very good plan, Mr. Pettigrew. I will ask
+him and his wife to come out."
+
+"That will be the best way, my dear. We could hardly discuss the matter
+before Bostock."
+
+Hilda went in. As soon as she spoke to the man and his wife Mr. Bostock
+said, "If you want a conference, Miss Covington, I will go out and leave
+you to talk matters over."
+
+He and the two constables withdrew, and Mr. Pettigrew came in.
+
+"Now, my man," he began, "you must see that you have placed yourself in
+a very awkward position. You are found taking care of a child that has
+been stolen, and for whose recovery large rewards have been offered all
+over the country. It is like the case of a man found hiding stolen
+goods. He would be called upon to account for their being in his
+possession. Now, it is hardly possible that you can have been ignorant
+that this child was stolen. You may not have been told so in words, but
+you cannot have helped having suspicions. From what the child no doubt
+said when he first came here, you must have been sure that he had been
+brought up in luxury. No doubt he spoke of rides in a carriage, of
+servants, his nurse, and so on. However, Miss Covington is one of the
+child's guardians, and I am the other, and we are most reluctant to give
+you in charge. It is evident, from the behavior of the child, and from
+the affection that he shows to yourself and your wife, that you have
+treated him very kindly since he has been here, and these toys I see
+about show that you have done your best to make him happy."
+
+"That we have, sir," the man said. "Betsy and I took to him from the
+first. We have no children of our own, none living at least, and we have
+made as much of him as if he had been one of our own--perhaps more. We
+have often talked it over, and both thought that we were not doing the
+fair thing by him, and were, perhaps, keeping him out of his own. I did
+not like having anything to do with it at first, but I had had some
+business with the man who gave him to me, and when he asked me to
+undertake the job it did not seem to me so serious an affair as it has
+done since. I am heartily sorry that we have had any hand in it; not
+only because we have done the child harm, but because it seems that we
+are going to lose him now that we have come to care for him as if he was
+our own."
+
+"Of course you played only a minor part in the business, Nibson. We
+quite understand that, and it is the men who have carried out this
+abduction that we want to catch. Do you know the name of the man who
+brought the child to you?"
+
+"I don't, sir. He knows where to find me, but I have no more idea than a
+child unborn who he is or where he lives. When he writes to me, which he
+generally does before he comes down, which may be two or three times a
+month, or may be once in six months, he signs himself Smith. I don't
+suppose that is his right name, but I say fairly that if I knew it, and
+where he lived, I would not peach upon him. He has always been straight
+with me in the business I have done with him, and I would rather take
+six months for this affair than say anything against him."
+
+"We are not asking you at present to say anything against him, and he is
+not the principal man in this business. I believe he is only acting as
+agent for another more dangerous rascal than himself. We are not
+prepared at the present moment to arrest the chief scoundrel. Before we
+do that we must obtain evidence that will render his conviction a
+certainty. We have reason to believe that this man that you know will
+not come down for some time, and that you will receive the money for the
+child's keep by post; but if we abstain altogether from prosecuting you
+in this matter, you must give us your word that you will not take any
+steps whatever to let them know that the child is no longer with you. He
+says that you promised to take him out in your barge. Well, if by any
+chance this man--not your man, but the other--comes down here, and wants
+to see the child, you or your wife will lead him to believe that he is
+on board your barge. It will also be necessary that, if we do arrest
+them, you should enter as a witness to prove that the man handed the
+child over to you. You could let it be seen that you are an unwilling
+witness, but the evidence of the handing over of the child will be an
+absolute necessity."
+
+"All right, sir, I will undertake that. There is no fear of my letting
+him know that the child has gone, for I don't know where to write him;
+and if he or the other should come down, if I am here I shall have no
+difficulty in keeping it from him that the child has gone, for my man
+has never set foot in this house. He just meets me on the road near
+Pitsea, says what he has to say, and gives me what he has to give me,
+and then drives off again. Of course, if I am summoned as a witness, I
+know that the law can make me go. I remember now that when he gave me
+the child he said he was doing it to oblige a friend of his, and he may
+be able to prove that he had nothing to do with carrying it off."
+
+"That is as it may be," the lawyer said dryly. "However, we are quite
+content with your promise."
+
+"And I thank you most heartily, you and your wife," Hilda Covington said
+warmly, "for your kindness to the child. It would have made me very
+happy all this time if I could have known that he was in such good
+hands, but I pictured him shut up in some vile den in London, ill
+treated, and half starved. He has grown very much since he has been with
+you, and looks a great deal more boyish than he did."
+
+"Yes, he plays a good deal with my barge boy, who has taken to him just
+as we have."
+
+"Well, your kindness will not be forgotten nor unrewarded, Mr. Nibson."
+
+"I'm sure we don't want any reward, miss; we have been well paid. But
+even if we hadn't been paid at all after the first month, we should have
+gone on keeping him just the same."
+
+"Now, Walter," Hilda said, "we want you to come home with us; we have
+all been wanting you very badly. Nurse and Tom Roberts have been in a
+terrible way, and so has Dr. Leeds. You remember him, don't you? He was
+very kind to you all the time that you were down in the country."
+
+The child nodded. "I should like to see Tom Roberts and nurse, but I
+don't want to go away. I am going out in the barge soon."
+
+"Well, dear, I dare say that we shall be able to arrange for you to come
+down sometimes, and to go out in it, especially as you have learned to
+swim. We are going away now in a boat."
+
+"I often go out in the boat," Walter pouted. "I go with Joshua; he is a
+nice boy, Joshua is, and I like him."
+
+"Well, dear, we will see what we can do for Joshua."
+
+"You are sure that I shall come back and go out in the barge?"
+
+"Quite sure, dear; and perhaps I will go out with you, too."
+
+"Yes, you must go, like a good boy," Mrs. Nibson said. "You know, dear,
+that I shall always love you, and shall be very, very glad if the ladies
+can spare you to come down to see me sometimes. You won't forget me,
+will you?"
+
+"No, Aunt Betsy, I shall never forget you; I promise you that," the
+child said. "And I don't want to go away from you at all, only Cousin
+Hilda says I must."
+
+Mr. Pettigrew went out to tell Mr. Bostock that they should not give
+Nibson into custody.
+
+"The principal scoundrels would take the alarm instantly," he said,
+"and, above all things, we want to keep them in the dark until we are
+ready to arrest them. It will be much better that we should have this
+man to call as a witness than that he should appear in the dock as an
+accomplice."
+
+"I think that you are right there," the magistrate agreed; "and really,
+he and his wife seem to have been very kind to the child. I have been
+talking to this young barge boy. It seems he is no relation of these
+people. His mother was a tramp, who died one winter's night on the road
+to Pitsea. He was about ten or eleven years old then, and they would
+have sent him to the workhouse; but Nibson, who was on the coroner's
+jury, volunteered to take him, and I dare say he finds him very useful
+on board the barge. At any rate, he has been well treated, and says that
+Nibson is the best master on the river. So the fellow must have some
+good in him, though, from what the coastguard officer said, there are
+very strong suspicions that he is mixed up in the smuggling business,
+which, it seems, is still carried on in these marshes. Well, no doubt
+you have decided wisely; and now, I suppose, we shall be off."
+
+At this moment they were joined by the coastguard officer.
+
+"He has done us again," he said. "We have been investigating these
+outhouses thoroughly, and there is no question that he has had smuggled
+goods here. We found a clever hiding-place in that cattle-shed. It
+struck me that it was a curious thing that there should be a stack of
+hay built up right against the side of it. So we took down a plank or
+two, and I was not surprised to find that there was a hollow in the
+stack. One of the men stamped his foot, and the sound showed that there
+was another hollow underneath. We dug up the ground, and found, six
+inches below it, a trapdoor, and on lifting it discovered a hole five or
+six feet deep and six feet square. It was lined with bricks, roughly
+cemented together. It is lucky for him that the place is empty, and I
+should think that after this he will go out of the business for a time.
+Of course we cannot arrest a man merely for having a hidden cellar; I
+fancy that there are not many houses on the marshes that have not some
+places of the sort. Indeed, I am rather glad that we did not catch him,
+for in other respects Nibson is a decent, hard-working fellow. Sometimes
+he has a glass or two at the 'Lobster Smack,' but never takes too much,
+and is always very quiet and decent in his talk. I doubt whether the men
+would have found that hiding-place if I had not been there; they all
+know him well, and would not get him into a scrape if they could help
+it, though there are some fellows on the marshes they would give a
+month's pay to catch with kegs or tobacco."
+
+The door of the house opened, and the three women and Nibson came out
+with Walter, who was now dressed in the clothes that they had brought
+down for him.
+
+While the others were getting ready to enter the boat the officer took
+Nibson aside.
+
+"You have had a close squeak of it, Nibson; we found your hiding-place
+under the stack, and it is lucky for you that it was empty. So we have
+nothing to say to you. I should advise you to give it up, my man; sooner
+or later you are bound to be caught."
+
+The man's brow had darkened as the officer began, but it cleared up
+again.
+
+"All right," he said; "I have been thinking for the last half hour that
+I shall drop the business altogether, but when a man once gets into it,
+it is not so easy to get out. Now that you have found that cellar, it is
+a good excuse to cut it. I can well say that I dare not risk it again,
+for that, after so nearly catching me, you would be sure to keep an
+extra sharp eye on me in the future."
+
+"You give me your word for that, Nibson?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I swear off it altogether from the present day."
+
+"Good. I will take your word for it, and you can go in and come out as
+you like without being watched, and you need not fear that we shall pay
+you another visit."
+
+Walter went off in fair spirits. The promise that he should come down
+again and see his friends and have a sail in the barge lessened the pang
+of leaving, and as Hilda's and Netta's faces came more strongly back to
+him, as they talked to him and recalled pleasant things that had almost
+faded from his memory, he went away contentedly, while Betsy Nibson went
+back to the house and had what she called "a good cry." She too,
+however, cheered up when her husband told her how narrow an escape he
+had had, and how he had given his word that he would drop smuggling
+altogether.
+
+"That makes my mind easier than it has been for years, Bill. And will
+you give up the other thing, too? There may not be much harm in running
+kegs and bacca, but there is no doubt about its being wrong to have
+anything to do with stolen goods and to mix yourself up with men who
+steal them."
+
+"Yes, I will give that up, too, Betsy; and, as soon as I have time to
+look round, I will give an order for a new barge to be built for me. I
+have been ashamed of the old thing for a long time past with her patched
+sails. Of course, she suited my purpose, for when the other barges kept
+on their course it gave me a good excuse for anchoring; but it aint
+pleasant to have every barge passing you. There is old Joe Hargett; he
+said the other day that, if I ever thought of getting a new barge, he
+would give a hundred for her. He has got a set of decent sails, and he
+is a pretty handy carpenter, and no doubt he will make her look decent
+again. A hundred pounds aint much, but it will help. I can get a new one
+complete, sails and all, for fourteen or fifteen hundred, and have a
+hundred or two left in the bag afterwards. I tell you what, Betsy, I
+will get an extra comfortable cabin made, and a place forward for
+Joshua. It will be dull for you here now the child is gone, and it would
+be a sight more comfortable for us both to be always together."
+
+"That it will, Bill," she said joyfully. "I was always very happy on
+board till we lost our Billy. I took a dislike to it then, and was glad
+enough to come here; but I have got over it now, and this place is very
+lonely during the long winter nights when you are away."
+
+Then they talked over the barge, and how the cabin should be fitted up,
+and, in spite of having lost Walter, the evening was a pleasant one to
+them.
+
+That was not the only conversation that took place that day with
+reference to a new barge for Bill Nibson. As they rowed up against the
+tide, Hilda said:
+
+"We must do something for that bargeman, Colonel Bulstrode. I am sure we
+cannot be too grateful to him and his wife for their treatment of
+Walter. Think how different it might have been had he fallen into bad
+hands. Now he looks the picture of health; the change in the life and
+the open air has done wonders. You know, Dr. Leeds said that the officer
+of the coastguard had told him that Nibson's barge was one of the oldest
+and rottenest crafts on the river. Now, I propose that we buy him a new
+one. What would it cost, Colonel Bulstrode?"
+
+"I have not the slightest idea," the Colonel replied; "it might cost
+five hundred pounds, or it might cost five thousand, for all I know."
+
+"I will ask the waterman," Hilda said, and raising her voice she said,
+"How much do barges cost when they are new?"
+
+"From ten or eleven hundred up to fifteen," the man said.
+
+"Does that include sails and all?"
+
+"Yes, miss; down to the boat."
+
+"Who is considered the best barge-builder?"
+
+"Well, there are a good many of them, miss; but I should say that Gill,
+of Rochester, is considered as good as any."
+
+"What do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda said. "Should we, as Walter's
+guardians, be justified in spending this money? Mind, I don't care a bit
+whether we are or not, because I would buy it myself if it would not be
+right for us to use his money."
+
+"I am afraid that it would not be right," Mr. Pettigrew said. "As a
+trustee of the property, I should certainly not feel myself justified in
+sanctioning such a sum being drawn, though I quite admit that this good
+couple should be rewarded. I cannot regard a barge as a necessary;
+anything in reason that the child could require we should be justified
+in agreeing to. Of course, whatever may be his expenses at a public
+school, we should pay them without hesitation; but for a child of that
+age to give a present of fifteen hundred pounds would be altogether
+beyond our power to sanction."
+
+"Very well," Hilda said decidedly, "then I shall take the matter into my
+own hands, and I shall go down to Rochester to-morrow and see if these
+people have a barge ready built. I don't know whether they are the sort
+of things people keep in stock."
+
+"That I can't say, my dear. I should think it probable that in slack
+times they may build a barge or two on speculation, for the purpose of
+keeping their hands employed, but whether that is the case now or not I
+don't know. If these people at Rochester have not got one you may hear
+of one somewhere else. I want you all to come up to the office one day
+next week to talk over this matter of the order Simcoe is applying
+for--for us to carry out the provisions of the will--at any rate, as far
+as his legacy is concerned."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Pettigrew, I will come up any time that you write to me,
+but you know that I have very strong opinions about it."
+
+"I know your opinions are strong, as ladies' opinions generally are,"
+Mr. Pettigrew said with a smile; "but, unfortunately, they are much more
+influenced by their own view of matters than by the legal bearing of
+them. However, we will talk that over when we meet again."
+
+The arrival of Walter occasioned the most lively joy in Hyde Park
+Gardens. Hilda had written to his nurse, who had gone home to live with
+her mother when all hope of finding Walter had seemed to be at an end,
+to tell her that he would probably be at home on Wednesday evening, and
+that she was to be there to meet him. Her greeting of him was rapturous.
+It had been a source of bitter grief to her that he had been lost
+through a momentary act of carelessness on her part, and the relief that
+Hilda's letter had caused was great indeed. The child was scarcely less
+pleased to see her, for he retained a much more vivid recollection of
+her than he did of the others. He had already been told of his
+grandfather's death, but a year had so effaced his memory of him that he
+was not greatly affected at the news. In the course of a few hours he
+was almost as much at home in the house as if he had never left it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+A NEW BARGE.
+
+
+The next morning Hilda went down to Rochester with Netta, Tom Roberts
+accompanying them. They had no difficulty in discovering the
+barge-builder's. It seemed to the girls a dirty-looking place, thickly
+littered as it was with shavings; men were at work on two or three
+barges which seemed, thus seen out of the water, an enormous size.
+
+"Which is Mr. Gill?" Hilda asked a man passing.
+
+"That is him, miss," and he pointed to a man who was in the act of
+giving directions to some workmen. They waited until he had finished,
+and then went up to him.
+
+"I want to buy a barge, Mr. Gill," Hilda said.
+
+"To buy a barge!" he repeated in surprise, for never before had he had a
+young lady as a customer.
+
+Hilda nodded. "I want to give it to a bargeman who has rendered me a
+great service," as if it were an everyday occurrence for a young lady to
+buy a barge as a present. "I want it at once, please; and it is to be a
+first-class barge. How much would it cost?"
+
+The builder rubbed his chin. "Well, miss, it is a little unusual to sell
+a barge right off in this way; as a rule people want barges built for
+them. Some want them for speed, some want them for their carrying
+capacity."
+
+"I want a first-class barge," Hilda replied. "I suppose it will be for
+traffic on the Thames, and that he will like it to be fast."
+
+"Well, miss," the builder said slowly, for he could not yet quite
+persuade himself that this young lady was really prepared to pay such a
+sum as a new barge would cost, "I have got such a barge. She was
+launched last week, but I had a dispute with the man for whom I built
+her, and I said that I would not hold him to his bargain, and that he
+could get a barge elsewhere. He went off in a huff, but I expect he will
+come back before long and ask me to let him have her, and I should not
+be altogether sorry to say that she is gone. She is a first-class barge,
+and I expect that she will be as fast as anything on the river. Of
+course, I have got everything ready for her--masts, sails, and gear,
+even down to her dingey--and in twenty-four hours she would be ready to
+sail. The price is fifteen hundred pounds," and he looked sharply at
+Hilda to see what effect that communication would have. To his great
+surprise she replied quietly:
+
+"That is about the sum I expected, Mr. Gill. Can we look at her?"
+
+"Certainly, miss; she is lying alongside, and it is nearly high tide."
+
+He led the way over piles of balks of timber, across sloppy pieces of
+ground, over which at high tide water extended, to the edge of the
+wharf, where the barge floated. She was indeed all ready for her mast;
+her sides shone with fresh paint, her upper works were painted an
+emerald green, a color greatly in favor among bargemen, and there was a
+patch of the same on her bow, ready for the name, surrounded by gilt
+scrollwork.
+
+"There she is, miss; as handsome a barge as there is afloat."
+
+"I want to see the cabin. What a little place!" she went on, as she and
+Netta went down through a narrow hatchway, "and how low!"
+
+"It is the usual height in barges, miss, and the same size, unless
+especially ordered otherwise."
+
+"I should like the cabin to be made very comfortable, for I think the
+boatman will have his wife on board. Could it not be made a little
+larger?"
+
+"There would be no great difficulty about that. You see, this is a
+water-tight compartment, but of course it could be carried six feet
+farther forward and a permanent hatchway be fixed over it, and the
+lining made good in the new part. As to height, one might put in a
+good-sized skylight; it would not be usual, but of course it could be
+done."
+
+"And you could put the bed-place across there, could you not, and put a
+curtain to draw across it?"
+
+"Yes, that could be managed easy enough, miss; and it would make a very
+tidy cabin."
+
+"Then how much would that cost extra?"
+
+"Forty or fifty pounds, at the outside."
+
+"And when could you get it all finished, and everything painted a nice
+color?"
+
+"I could get it done in a week or ten days, if you made a point of it."
+
+"I do make a point of it," Hilda said.
+
+"What do you say to our leaving this bulkhead up as it is, miss, and
+making a door through it, and putting a small skylight, say three feet
+square, over the new part? You see, it will be fifteen feet wide by six
+feet, so that it will make a tidy little place. It would not cost more
+than the other way, not so much perhaps; for it would be a lot of
+trouble to get this bulkhead down, and then, you see, the second hand
+could have his bunk in here, on the lockers, and be quite separate."
+
+"Isn't there a cabin at the other end?"
+
+"Well, there is one, miss; you can come and look at it. That is where
+the second hand always sleeps when the bargeman has got his wife on
+board."
+
+"I think that it would be better to have the second hand sleep there,"
+Hilda said. "This is very rough," she went on, when she inspected the
+little cabin forward; "there are all the beams sticking out. Surely it
+can be made more comfortable than this."
+
+"We could matchboard the timbers over if you like, but it is not usual."
+
+"Never mind, please do it; and put some lockers up for his clothes, and
+make it very comfortable. Has the barge got a name yet?"
+
+"Well, miss, we have always called her the _Medway_; but there is no
+reason that you should stick to that name. She has not been registered
+yet, so we can call her any name you like."
+
+"Then we will call her the _Walter_," Hilda said, for the girls had
+already settled this point between them.
+
+"And now, Mr. Gill, I suppose there is nothing to do but to give you a
+check for fifteen hundred pounds, and I can pay for the alterations when
+I come down next Monday week. Can you get me a couple of men who
+understand the work--bargees, don't you call them? I want them to take
+her as far as Hole Haven and a short way up the creek."
+
+"I can do that easily enough," the builder said; "and I promise you that
+everything shall be ready for sailing, though I don't guarantee that the
+paint in the new part of the cabin will be dry. All the rest I can
+promise. I will set a strong gang of men on at once."
+
+A few days later Hilda wrote a line to William Nibson, saying that she
+intended to come down with the child on the following Monday, and hoped
+that he would be able to make it convenient to be at home on that day.
+
+"She is not long in coming down again, Betsy," he said, when on the
+Friday the barge went up to Pitsea again, and he received the letter,
+which was carried home and read by his wife, he himself being, like most
+of his class at the time, unable to read or write. "I suppose the child
+pined in his new home, and she had to pacify him by saying that he
+should come down and see us next week. That will suit me very well. I
+have a load of manure waiting for me at Rotherhithe; it is for Farmer
+Gilston, near Pitsea, so that I shall just manage it comfortably. Next
+week I will go over to Rochester and see if I can hear of a good barge
+for sale."
+
+On the following Monday morning the girls again went down to Rochester,
+this time taking Walter with them; having the previous week sent off
+three or four great parcels by luggage train. Roberts went to look for a
+cart to bring them to the barge-builder's, and the girls went on alone.
+
+"There she lies, miss," Mr. Gill said, pointing to a barge with new
+tanned sails lying out in the stream; "she is a boat any man might be
+proud of."
+
+"She looks very nice indeed," Hilda said, "though, of course, I am no
+judge of such things."
+
+"You may be sure that she is all right, Miss Covington."
+
+"Is the paint dry, down below?"
+
+"Yes. I saw that you were anxious about it, so put plenty of drier in.
+So that, though she was only painted on Saturday morning, she is
+perfectly dry now. But you are rather earlier than I had expected."
+
+"Yes; we have sent a lot of things down by rail. Our man is getting a
+cart, and I dare say they will be here in a quarter of an hour."
+
+The things were brought on a large hand-cart, and as soon as these were
+carried down to the boat they went off with Mr. Gill to the barge.
+
+"There, miss," he said, as he led the way down into the cabin; "there is
+not a barge afloat with such a comfortable cabin as this. I put up two
+or three more cupboards, for as they will sleep in the next room there
+is plenty of space for them."
+
+Except in point of height, the cabin was as comfortable a little room as
+could be desired. It was painted a light slate color, with the panels of
+the closets of a lighter shade of the same. The inner cabin was of the
+same color. A broad wooden bedstead extended across one end, and at the
+other were two long cupboards extending from the ceiling to the floor.
+The skylight afforded plenty of light to this room, while the large one
+in the main cabin gave standing height six feet square in the middle.
+
+"It could not have been better," Hilda said, greatly pleased.
+
+"Well, miss, I took upon myself to do several things in the way of
+cupboards, and so on, that you had not ordered, but seeing that you
+wanted to have things comfortable I took upon myself to do them."
+
+"You did quite right, Mr. Gill. This big skylight makes all the
+difference in height. I see that you have painted the name, and that you
+have got a flag flying from the masthead."
+
+"Yes; bargemen generally like a bit of a flag, that is to say if they
+take any pride in their boat. You cannot trade in the barge until you
+have had it registered; shall I get that done for you?"
+
+"Yes, I should be very much obliged if you would."
+
+"And in whose name shall I register it? In yours?"
+
+"No; in the name of William Nibson. If you want his address it is Creek
+Farm, Pitsea."
+
+"Well, miss, he is a lucky fellow. I will get it done, and he can call
+here for the register the first time he comes up the Medway."
+
+Roberts was sent ashore again for a number of hooks, screws, and a few
+tools.
+
+"Now, Mr. Gill, we are quite ready to start. We shall get things
+straight on the voyage."
+
+"You will have plenty of time, miss; she will anchor off Grain Spit till
+the tide begins to run up hard. You won't be able to get up the creek
+till an hour before high tide."
+
+"That won't matter," Hilda said; "it will not be dark till nine."
+
+"You can get up the anchor now," the builder said to two men who had
+been sitting smoking in the bow.
+
+The barge's boat was lying bottom upwards on the hatches and another
+boat lay behind her.
+
+"This boat does not belong to her, Mr. Gill; does she?" Hilda asked.
+
+"No, miss; that is the men's boat. When they have got the barge to where
+she is to be moored, they will row down to Hole Haven, and get a tow up
+with the first barge that comes down after the tide has turned. How
+will you be coming back, Miss Covington?"
+
+"We have arranged for a gig to be at Hole Haven at eight o'clock to
+drive us to Brentwood, where we shall take train to town. We shall not
+be up before half-past eleven, but as we have our man with us that does
+not matter; besides, the carriage is to be at the station to meet the
+train."
+
+The girls and Walter watched the operation of getting up the anchor and
+of setting the foresail and jib. They remained on deck while the barge
+beat down the long reach past the dockyards, and then with slackened
+sheets rounded the wooded curve down into Gillingham Reach, then,
+accompanied by Roberts, they went below. Here they were soon hard at
+work. The great packages were opened, and mattresses and bedclothes
+brought out.
+
+"This reminds one of our work when you first came to us," Netta laughed,
+as they made the bed.
+
+"Yes, it is like old times, certainly. We used to like to work then,
+because we were doing it together; we like it still more to-day, because
+not only are we together, but we are looking forward to the delight that
+we are going to give."
+
+Carpets were laid down, curtains hung to the bed, and a wash-hand stand
+fixed in its place. A hamper of crockery was unpacked and the contents
+placed on the shelves that had been made for them, and cooking utensils
+arranged on the stove, which had been obtained for them by the builder.
+By this time Roberts had screwed up the hooks in the long cupboards, and
+in every spot round both cabins where they could be made available. Then
+numerous japanned tin boxes, filled with tea, sugar, and other
+groceries, were stowed away, and a large one with a label, "Tobacco,"
+placed on a shelf for Bill Nibson's special delectation. Curtains that
+could be drawn were fixed to the skylights, looking-glasses fastened
+against the walls, and by the time that the barge neared Sheerness their
+labors were finished. Then the forward cabin was similarly made
+comfortable. Walter had assisted to the best of his power in all the
+arrangements, and when he became tired was allowed to go up on deck, on
+his promise to remain quiet by the side of the helmsman.
+
+"Now I think that everything is in its place," Hilda said at last, "and
+really they make two very pretty little rooms. I can't say that the one
+in the bow is pretty, but at any rate it is thoroughly comfortable, and
+I have no doubt that Joshua will be as pleased with it as the Nibsons
+are with theirs. Oh, dear, how dusty one gets! and we never thought of
+getting water on board for the jugs."
+
+On going up on deck, however, they observed two barrels lashed together.
+
+"Are those water?" Hilda asked the man at the tiller.
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"How do you get it out? I don't see a tap."
+
+"You put that little pump lying by the side into the bunghole. I will do
+it for you, miss."
+
+"Now we will go downstairs and tidy up, and then come and sit up here
+and enjoy ourselves," said Hilda.
+
+When they were below they heard a rattle of the chain, and, on going up,
+found that the barge had come to anchor in the midst of some thirty or
+forty others. The foresail had been run down and the jib lowered, but
+the great mainsail, with its huge, brightly painted sprit, was still
+standing. Roberts now opened a hamper that had been left on deck, and
+produced luncheon. Cold meat and beer were handed to the two watermen,
+who went up into the bow to eat it. An hour later the tide began to
+slacken, and many of the barges got up sail.
+
+"Shall we get up the anchor, ma'am?" one of the watermen asked.
+
+"There's plenty of time, is there not?" Hilda asked.
+
+"Yes, ma'am, but we thought that you would like to see how she goes with
+the others."
+
+"Yes, I should like that," Hilda said, and in a few minutes the barge
+was under sail again.
+
+"She is a clipper, and no mistake," the man at the tiller said, as one
+by one they passed the barges that had started ahead of them, and Walter
+clapped his hands in delight.
+
+"We may as well go down to the lower end of the Hope, miss. We shall
+have plenty of time to get back again before there is water enough for
+us in the creek."
+
+For three hours they sailed about, the girls enjoying it as much as
+Walter.
+
+"I do think, Netta, that I shall have to buy a barge on my own account.
+It is splendid, and, after all, the cabins are large enough for
+anything."
+
+"You had better have a yacht," Netta laughed. "You would soon get tired
+of always going up and down the river."
+
+"One might do worse," Hilda said. "Of course, now we shall give up that
+big house in Hyde Park Gardens, which is ridiculous for me and the boy.
+We have each got a country house, and when we want a thorough change I
+would infinitely rather have a yacht than a small house in town. I don't
+suppose that it would cost very much more. Besides, you know, it is
+arranged that I am always to have rooms at your house at the institute.
+That is to be the next thing seen after; you know that is quite agreed
+upon."
+
+"I shall be glad to be at work again," Netta said. "Now that Walter is
+found, there is certainly nothing to keep us any longer in town."
+
+"I know that it must have been horribly dull for you, Netta, but you see
+that you are partly to blame yourself for refusing to go out with me."
+
+"That would have been duller still," Netta laughed. "I should have been
+a long time before I got to know people, and there is no good in knowing
+people when you are going right away from them in a short time, and may
+never meet them again."
+
+At last the men said that there would be water enough to get up the
+creek.
+
+"We shan't be able to sail up, miss; you see, the wind will be right in
+our teeth. But that don't matter; we can pole her up. The tide will
+take us along, and we shall only have to keep her straight and get her
+round the corners."
+
+"Are you sure that there will be water enough?"
+
+"Yes, miss. You see, she is empty, and doesn't draw much more than a
+foot of water."
+
+As they entered the haven the head sails were dropped and the mainsail
+brailed up. The tide was running in strong, and, as the men had said,
+they had nothing to do but to keep the barge in the deepest part of the
+channel.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"How do you think they will be coming, Bill?" Betsy Nibson said, as she
+joined her husband, who was standing on the bank dressed in his Sunday
+clothes.
+
+"I cannot say, Betsy; if I had known I should have gone to meet them.
+They cannot drive here from Pitsea, but must walk; and, of course, I
+would have been there if I had been sure of their coming that way. But I
+should think most likely that they will drive to the haven and come up
+by boat."
+
+"There is a new barge coming up the creek," Joshua said. "You can see
+that she is new by her spars and sails."
+
+"That's so, boy," Bill agreed. "She has got a flag I haven't seen before
+at her masthead. It is white, and I think there are some red letters on
+it--her name, I suppose. 'Tis not often that a new barge comes up to
+Pitsea. She is a fine-looking craft," he went on, as a turning in the
+creek brought her wholly into view. "A first-class barge, I should say.
+Yes, there is no doubt about her being new. I should say, from the look
+of her spars, she cannot have made many trips up and down the river."
+
+"She has got a party on board," Mrs. Nibson said presently. "There are
+two women and a child. Perhaps it's them, Bill. They may have some
+friend in the barge line, and he has offered to bring them down, seeing
+that this is a difficult place to get at."
+
+"I believe you are right, Betsy. They are too far off to see their
+faces, but they are certainly not barge people."
+
+"They are waving their handkerchiefs!" Betsy exclaimed; "it is them,
+sure enough. Well, we have wondered how they would come down, but we
+never thought of a barge."
+
+The three hurried along the bank to meet the barge. Walter danced and
+waved his hat and shouted loudly to them as they approached.
+
+"You did not expect to see us arrive in a barge, Mrs. Nibson," Hilda
+called out as they came abreast of them.
+
+"No, indeed, miss; we talked it over together as to how you would come,
+but we never thought of a barge."
+
+"It belongs to a friend of ours, and we thought that it would be a
+pleasant way of coming. She is a new boat. You must come on board and
+have a look at her before we land."
+
+In a few minutes the barge was alongside the bank, opposite the house. A
+plank was run across and Walter scampered over it to his friends.
+
+"Bless his little face!" Mrs. Nibson said, as she lifted him up to kiss
+her. "What a darling he looks, Bill! And he has not forgotten us a bit."
+
+"He could not well forget in a week," Bill said, rather gruffly, for he,
+too, was moved by the warmth of the child's welcome. "Well, let us go on
+board and pay our respects. She is a fine barge, surely; and she has got
+the same name as the child."
+
+"Why, it is not 'Jack,'" his wife said, looking up.
+
+"Jack!" her husband repeated scornfully. "Didn't they call him Walter
+the other day? Go on, wife; the lady is waiting at the end of the plank
+for you."
+
+Mrs. Nibson put the child down and followed him across the plank,
+smoothing her apron as she went.
+
+"My best respects, miss," she said, as Hilda shook hands with her
+warmly.
+
+"We are glad to see you again, Mrs. Nibson, and hope that you have not
+missed Walter very much."
+
+"I cannot say that I have not missed him a good deal, miss, but,
+luckily, we have had other things to think about. We are giving up the
+farm; it is lonesome here in the winter, and I am going to take to barge
+life again."
+
+"Well, what do you think of this barge, Mr. Nibson?" Hilda asked.
+
+"I allow she is a handsome craft, and she ought to be fast."
+
+"She is fast. We have been sailing about until there was enough water in
+the creek, and we have passed every barge that we have come near. She is
+comfortable, too. Come below and look at her cabin."
+
+"Well, I never!" Mrs. Nibson said, pausing in astonishment at the foot
+of the ladder. "I have been in many barge cabins, but never saw one like
+this." Her surprise increased when the door of the bulkhead was opened
+and she saw the sleeping cabin beyond. "Did you ever, Bill?"
+
+"No, I never saw two cabins in a barge before," her husband said. "I
+suppose, miss, the owner must have had the cabin specially done up for
+his own use sometimes, and the crew lived forward."
+
+"There is a place forward for the second hand," she replied, "and I
+suppose the owner will sleep here."
+
+"Of course it is a loss of space, but she will carry a big load, too.
+Who is the owner, miss, if I may make so bold as to ask?"
+
+"The registered owner is William Nibson," Hilda said quietly.
+
+The bargeman and his wife gazed at each other in astonishment.
+
+"But," he said hesitatingly, "I have never heard of any owner of that
+name."
+
+"Except yourself, Nibson."
+
+"Yes, except myself; but I am not an owner, as I have sold the _Mary
+Ann_."
+
+"There is no other owner now," she said, "that I know of, of that name.
+The barge is yours. It is bought as testimony of our gratitude for the
+kindness that you have shown Walter, and you see it is named after
+him."
+
+"It is too much, miss," said Bill huskily, while his wife burst into
+tears. "It is too much altogether. We only did our duty to the child,
+and we were well paid for it."
+
+"You did more than your duty," Hilda said. "The money might pay for food
+and shelter and clothes, but money cannot buy love, and that is what you
+gave, both of you; and it is for that that we now pay as well as we
+can."
+
+"Miss Covington should say 'I,'" Netta broke in, "for it is her present
+entirely. Walter's trustees could not touch his money for the purpose,
+and so she has done it herself."
+
+"Hush, Netta! You should have said nothing about it," Hilda said; and
+then, turning to Nibson, went on, "I am his nearest relative--his only
+relative, in fact--besides being his guardian, and, therefore, naturally
+I am the most interested in his happiness; and as, fortunately, I am
+myself very well off, I can well afford the pleasure of helping those
+who have been so good to him. Please do not say anything more about it.
+Now we will go on deck for a few minutes, and leave you and your wife to
+look round. We will show Joshua his cabin."
+
+So saying, she and Netta went on deck. Joshua, led by Walter, was just
+crossing the plank. He had not received a special invitation, and he
+felt too shy to go on board with these ladies present. Walter, however,
+had run across to him, and at last persuaded him to come.
+
+"Well, Joshua," Hilda said, as she reached him, "what do you think of
+the barge?"
+
+"She is as good a one as ever I seed," the boy said.
+
+"Well, Joshua, she belongs to Mr. Nibson."
+
+"To Bill?" Joshua exclaimed. "You don't mean it, miss."
+
+"I do mean it," she said; "this is his barge."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't have thought that Bill was that artful!" Joshua
+exclaimed almost indignantly. "Fancy his keeping it from the missis and
+me that he had been and bought a new barge! But she is a fine one, there
+aint no doubt about that."
+
+"Come forward and look at your cabin, Joshua. I think you will say that
+it is more comfortable than usual."
+
+"Well, I am blowed!" the boy ejaculated, as he followed her down the
+ladder and looked round. "Why, it is a palace, that is wot it is; it is
+more comfortable than the master's cabin aft in most barges. And what a
+bed! Why, it is soft enough for a hemperor."
+
+"There are no sheets, Joshua. They told me that the men never use sheets
+in barges."
+
+"Lor' bless you! no, ma'am. We mostly stretch ourselves on the locker
+and roll ourselves up in a blanket, if we are lucky enough to have one.
+Why, I don't know as I shan't be afraid of getting into that bed, though
+I does take a header in the water every morning. There are lockers on
+both sides, too, and a basin. Who ever heard of such a thing as a basin?
+Why, miss, we allus washes in the pail on deck."
+
+"Well, I should think that it would be a good deal more comfortable to
+wash down here in a basin on a cold morning."
+
+"Well, I suppose it might, miss; it be sharp sometimes outside. Why,
+there is oilcloth all over the floor, and a mat to wipe one's feet at
+the bottom of the ladder, and a rug by the side of the bed! I never did
+see such things. Bill must have gone clean off his chump. Well, I am
+blessed!"
+
+"It is Miss Covington who has given Bill the barge and seen to its being
+fitted up," Netta said, "and she has done her best to make your cabin as
+comfortable as possible, because you have been so kind to Walter."
+
+"And I hope to do some more for you, Joshua, when I can see my way to do
+it. You will find two or three suits of clothes for your work in those
+lockers. I do not know that they will quite fit, but I dare say if they
+don't Mrs. Nibson can alter them for you, and you will find shirts and
+warm underclothing, and so on, in that cupboard."
+
+Joshua sat down suddenly on a locker, completely overpowered with what
+seemed to him the immensity of his possessions.
+
+There the girls left him, and they went up on deck again.
+
+Going aft, they sat down and talked for a few minutes, and were then
+joined by Nibson and his wife. The latter still bore traces of tears on
+her cheeks, and there was a suspicious redness about Bill's eyes.
+
+"We won't try to say what we would like to say," the man began, "'cause
+we could not say it, but we feels it just the same. Here we are with
+everything man or woman could wish for, ready to hand."
+
+"As I have said before, Nibson, please do not say anything more about
+it. It has made me quite as happy to get this barge for you, and to make
+it comfortable, as it can do you both to receive it. And now we will go
+ashore."
+
+In the house they found that tea was ready, save pouring the water into
+the pot. A ham and a couple of cold chickens were on the table, and jam
+and honey were specially provided for Walter. Joshua did not make one of
+the party. After recovering from the contemplation of his own cabin he
+had gone aft and remained in almost awe-struck admiration at the comfort
+and conveniences there, until summoned by Bill to take his place and
+help to get the new boat into the water, and to row the ladies down to
+Hole Haven.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+A CRUSHING EXPOSURE.
+
+
+The case of the application by John Simcoe for an order for the trustees
+of the will of the late General Mathieson to carry its provisions into
+effect was on the list of cases for the day. Tom Roberts was walking up
+and down in Westminster Hall, waiting for it to come on, when he saw a
+face he knew.
+
+"Hullo, Sergeant Nichol, what brings you here?"
+
+"Just curiosity, Roberts. I happened to see in the list of cases one of
+Simcoe against the trustees of General Mathieson. 'What,' I said to
+himself, 'Simcoe? That is the name of the chap who saved General
+Mathieson's life.' I remember their being both brought into cantonment,
+as well as if it were yesterday. I was with Paymaster-Sergeant
+Sanderson, the fellow who bolted a short time afterwards with three
+hundred pounds from the pay-chest and never was heard of afterwards. We
+heard that Simcoe was drowned at sea; and sorry we all were, for a
+braver fellow never stepped in shoe leather, and there was not a man
+there who did not feel that he owed him a debt of gratitude for saving
+the brigadier's life. So when I saw the paper I said to myself, 'Either
+the man was not drowned at all, or he must be some relation of his. I
+will go into court and have a look at him.'"
+
+"It is the same man, but I am sorry to say that, though he may be as
+brave as a lion, he is a rogue. But you can see him without going into
+court. That is him, talking with the man in a wig and gown and that
+little man in black, who is, I suppose, his lawyer. He knows me, so I
+won't go near him; but you can walk as close as you like to him, and
+take a good look at him."
+
+Not content with looking once, Sergeant Nichol passed him backwards and
+forwards three times. When he rejoined Roberts the latter saw that he
+looked flushed and excited.
+
+"What is it, sergeant?"
+
+"I don't believe it is Simcoe at all," the sergeant said. "It is that
+man Sanderson I was speaking about just now. Several of us noticed how
+like he was to Simcoe, but the expression of their faces was different.
+Simcoe was five or six years younger, and had a pleasant expression;
+Sanderson had a hard face. None of us liked him, he was a man one could
+never get friendly with; you might be in the same mess for years and not
+know more about him at the end than you did at the beginning. Of course,
+they would both be changed a good deal by this time, but I don't believe
+that Simcoe would have grown so as to be like this man; and I am sure
+that Sanderson would. He had a mark on him that I should know him by.
+One day when he was a recruit his musket went off, and the ball went
+through his left forearm. It was only a flesh wound, but it left a
+blackened scar, and I will bet all that I am worth that if you turned up
+that fellow's sleeve you would find it there."
+
+"That is very important, sergeant. I will go and tell my young lady; she
+is talking with her lawyers and Colonel Bulstrode at the other end of
+the hall."
+
+Hilda clapped her hands.
+
+"What do you say now, Mr. Pettigrew? I was right, after all. Bring your
+friend up, Roberts, and let us hear his story ourselves."
+
+Sergeant Nichol was fetched, and repeated the story that he had told to
+Roberts.
+
+"Thank you very much, sergeant," the barrister said. "Please remain here
+while we talk it over. What do you think of this, Mr. Pettigrew?"
+
+"It would seem to explain the whole matter that has puzzled us so. I did
+not tell you, because it was not in my opinion at all necessary to the
+case, that Miss Covington has always maintained that the man was not
+Simcoe, and so positive was she that her friend, Miss Purcell, went down
+to Stowmarket to make inquiries. It was certainly believed by his
+friends there that he was Simcoe, and this to my mind was quite
+conclusive. But I am bound to say that it did not satisfy Miss
+Covington."
+
+"May I ask, Miss Covington, why you took up that opinion in the first
+place?"
+
+"Because I was convinced that he was not the sort of man who would have
+risked his life for another. After Miss Purcell came back from
+Stowmarket we found out that just before he called on my uncle he
+advertised for relatives of the late John Simcoe, and that the
+advertisement appeared not in the Suffolk papers only, but in the London
+and provincial papers all over the country; and it was evident, if this
+man was John Simcoe, he would not advertise all over England, instead of
+going down to Stowmarket, where his family lived, and where he himself
+had lived for years. He received a reply from an old lady, an aunt of
+John Simcoe's, living there, went down and saluted her as his aunt, at
+once offered to settle a pension of fifty pounds a year on her, and
+after remaining for three days in her house, no doubt listening to her
+gossip about all John Simcoe's friends, went and introduced himself to
+them. There was probably some resemblance in height and figure, and an
+absence of twenty years would have effected a change in his face, so
+that, when it was found that his aunt unhesitatingly accepted him, the
+people there had no doubt whatever that it was their old acquaintance.
+Therefore, this in no way shook my belief that he was not the man.
+
+"It turns out now, you see, that there was another man at Benares at the
+time who was remarkably like him, and that this man was a scoundrel and
+a thief. When he deserted no doubt he would take another name, and
+having doubtless heard that John Simcoe was dead, and remembering the
+remarks made as to his likeness to him, he was as likely to take that
+name as any other, though probably not with any idea of making any
+special use of it. When in England he may have heard General
+Mathieson's name mentioned, and remembering that Simcoe had saved the
+life of the General, may have thought that the name and the likeness
+might enable him to personate the man. He first set about establishing
+his identity by going down to Stowmarket, and after that it was easy. I
+have thought it all over so many times that although it never struck me
+that there might have been at Benares some man bearing a striking
+resemblance to John Simcoe, all the rest is exactly as I had figured it
+out to my mind. Now I will leave you, gentlemen, to decide what use you
+will make of the discovery, while I go and tell my friends of it."
+
+The seats allotted to the general public were empty, as a case of this
+sort offered but slight attraction even to the loungers in the hall, but
+a large number of barristers were present. It had been whispered about
+that there were likely to be some unexpected developments in the case.
+The counsel engaged on both sides were the leaders of the profession,
+who could hardly have been expected to be retained in a mere case of a
+formal application for an order for trustees to act upon a will.
+
+"The facts of the case, my lord," the counsel who led for John Simcoe
+commenced, "are simple, and we are at a loss to understand how the
+trustees of the late General Mathieson can offer any opposition to our
+obtaining the order asked for. Nothing can be more straightforward than
+the facts. The late General Mathieson, early in March, 1852, made a
+will, which was duly signed and witnessed, bequeathing, among other
+legacies, the amount of ten thousand pounds to Mr. John Simcoe, as a
+mark of his gratitude for his having saved him from a tiger some twenty
+years before in India. The act was one of heroic bravery, and Mr. Simcoe
+nearly lost his own life in saving that of the General."
+
+He then related with dramatic power the incidents of the struggle.
+
+"There is, then, no matter of surprise that this large legacy should
+have been left to Mr. Simcoe by the General, who was a man of
+considerable wealth. The bulk of the property was left to his grandson,
+and in the event of his dying before coming of age it was to go to a
+niece, a Miss Covington, to whom only a small legacy was left; she being
+herself mistress of an estate and well provided for. Two months
+afterwards the General, upon reflection, decided to enlarge his gift to
+Mr. Simcoe, and he, therefore, in another will named him, in place of
+Miss Covington, who was amply provided for, his heir in the event of his
+grandson's death. I may say that the second will was not drawn up by the
+solicitors who had framed the first will. Probably, as often happens,
+the General preferred that the change he had effected should not be
+known until after his death, even to his family solicitors. He,
+therefore, went to a firm of equal respectability and standing, Messrs.
+Halstead & James, who have made an affidavit that he interviewed them
+personally on the matter, and gave them written instructions for drawing
+up his will, and signed it in their presence.
+
+"I may say that in all other respects, including the legacy of ten
+thousand pounds, the wills were absolutely identical. The trustees,
+after waiting until the last day permitted by law, have, to our client's
+surprise, proved the first of these two wills, ignoring the second; on
+what ground I am at a loss to understand. As my client is entitled to
+ten thousand pounds under either will it might be thought that the
+change would make little difference to him; but unhappily the
+circumstances have entirely changed by the fact that the General's
+grandson was lost or stolen on the day before his death, and in spite of
+the most active efforts of the police, and the offer of large
+rewards--my client, who was deeply affected by the loss of the child,
+himself offering a thousand pounds for news of his whereabouts--nothing
+was heard of him until two months after his disappearance, when his body
+was found in the canal at Paddington, and after hearing evidence of
+identification, and examining the clothes, which all parties agreed to
+be those of the missing child, the jury returned a verdict that the body
+was that of Walter Rivington, and that there was no proof of how he came
+by his end.
+
+"As the residence of General Mathieson was in Hyde Park Gardens, no
+doubt the poor child strolled away from the care of a careless nurse,
+came to the canal, and, walking near the bank, fell in and was drowned.
+No one could have been more grieved than my client at this, and although
+it practically put him into possession of a large property, he would, I
+am sure, gladly forfeit a large portion of it rather than come into
+possession of it in so melancholy a manner. I have not heard of the
+slightest reason why the last will of General Mathieson should be put
+aside. I believe that no question could arise as to his state of mind at
+the time that it was made. It may be that a plea of undue influence may
+be raised, but this, to those who knew the General, would appear absurd.
+He was a man of active habits, and vigorous both in mind and body. Here
+was no case of a man living in the house and influencing an old
+gentleman approaching his dotage. They met only at clubs and at dinners;
+and although the General was rightly and naturally attached to Simcoe,
+he was certainly not a man to be influenced against his will. I beg,
+therefore, to ask, my lord, that you will pronounce in favor of this
+second will, and issue an order to the trustees to carry out its
+provisions forthwith."
+
+"But upon the face of your appeal to the court, Sir Henry, there is no
+question as to the validity of the will you propound set up by the
+trustees?"
+
+"None, my lord. In fact, at the time the case was put down we were
+ignorant that there would be any attempt on the part of the trustees to
+dispute the second will, and that they should do so came upon us as a
+surprise. However, at a consultation between my learned friend and
+myself just before we came into court, it was agreed that, if your
+lordship would permit it, we would take the two matters at once. One of
+the trustees is a member of the firm who are and have been the family
+lawyers of General Mathieson, and of his father before him, for a long
+period of years. They are gentlemen of well-known honor, who are, I am
+sure, as anxious as we are to obtain from your lordship a judicial
+decision on which they can act."
+
+"It is irregular," the judge said, "but as both parties seemed agreed
+upon it, it will doubtless save much expense to the estate if the whole
+matter can be settled at once. I will permit the whole matter to be
+taken. Now, brother Herbert, we will hear you on the other side."
+
+"I am sorry to say, my lord, that it will be impossible for me to
+imitate my learned brother in the brevity with which he opened the case.
+So far from the facts being extremely simple, they are, I may say, of a
+very complicated nature. We own that we have no explanation to offer
+with regard to the second will. It was strange, very strange, that
+General Mathieson, a man of methodical habits, having just drawn up his
+will, should go to another firm of solicitors and draw up a fresh one,
+but the fact that the whole of the minor bequests are the same in the
+two wills is certainly a very strong proof, as also is the fact that the
+instructions for drafting the will were written by the General himself,
+or, at any rate, by someone intimately acquainted with the contents of
+that will, which we admit was difficult to believe could be the case, as
+the will, from the time it was signed by the General, has not been out
+of Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew's hands until it was taken for probate the
+other day.
+
+"Now, my lord, I trust that you will allow me a certain amount of
+license while I go into this somewhat singular story. Twenty-three years
+ago, General Mathieson's life was saved in India by Mr. John Simcoe. Mr.
+Simcoe himself was seriously wounded, and when he recovered somewhat he
+was recommended by the surgeon who attended him to go down to Calcutta
+at once and take a sea voyage. He did so, and embarked upon the ship
+_Nepaul_, which was lost in a terrible gale in the Bay of Bengal a few
+days later, with, as was supposed, all hands. Twenty years passed, and
+then to the surprise, and I may say to the delight of the General, who
+had much grieved over the loss of his preserver, Mr. Simcoe presented
+himself. For a moment the General did not recognize him; but it was not
+long before he became convinced of his identity, for he knew the
+officers who had been at the station at the time, and was well up in the
+gossip of the place, and the General at once hailed him as the man who
+had saved his life, introduced him to many friends, got him put up at a
+good club, and became, I may say, very fond of him. Mr. Simcoe brought
+up a friend or two who had known him at Stowmarket, where he had an aunt
+still living, and the result of all this was that the General requested
+Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew to draw up a new will bequeathing to John
+Simcoe the sum of ten thousand pounds.
+
+"Then came the singular episode of the second will. A fortnight later,
+when at dinner at his club, the General was smitten with a strange kind
+of fit, from which he recovered, but only lived for a few months, a
+half-paralyzed invalid. He was attended during that time by Dr. Leeds--a
+gentleman with a very high reputation, and now practicing in Harley
+Street as a consulting physician. The General was brought up to town,
+but broke down during the journey and died two days later.
+
+"Now we come to the second strange fact in this strange case. A day
+before his death his grandson, Walter Rivington, was missing. The
+efforts of the police, aided by a number of private detectives, failed
+to obtain any clew to the child until a body was found in the canal at
+Paddington. That the body was dressed in some of the clothes worn by the
+child when carried off was unquestionable; but the three persons who
+knew Walter Rivington best, namely, Miss Covington, a friend of hers
+named Miss Purcell, who had been all the summer assisting her to nurse
+General Mathieson, and the child's own nurse, all declared that the body
+was not that of the General's grandson. They were unable to adduce
+anything in support of this belief beyond the fact that the hair of the
+child found was short and to some extent bristly, whereas that of Walter
+Rivington was long and silky. The jury, however, adopted the view of the
+coroner that hair, however soft, when cut close to the skull will appear
+more or less bristly, and gave a verdict to the effect that the body was
+that of Walter Rivington. Miss Covington and her friends refused to
+accept the verdict, and continued their search for the child.
+
+"Without occupying your attention by going into details, my lord, I may
+briefly say that a close watch was set on Mr. Simcoe, and it was found
+that he was exceedingly intimate with a man of whom no one seemed to
+know anything; and before I go further I will ask, my lord, that you
+will give orders that Mr. Simcoe shall not leave the court until I have
+finished."
+
+"You are not asking without strong reason, I trust, brother Herbert?"
+
+"Certainly not, my lord."
+
+The order was, therefore, given. Simcoe grew very white in the face, but
+otherwise maintained an air of stolid indifference.
+
+"I will now go back for a moment, my lord. General Mathieson was
+attended by three of the leading physicians in London at the time of his
+seizure. The symptoms were so peculiar that in all their experience they
+had not met a similar case. Dr. Leeds, however, differed from them, but
+being their junior could not press his opinion; but he told them that
+his opinion was that the fit was due to the administration of some drug
+unknown to the British Pharmacopoeia, as the effects were precisely
+similar to those in cases that he had read of in Africa and among other
+savage people, where a poison of this kind was used by the native fetich
+men or wizards. That opinion was confirmed rather than diminished by the
+subsequent progress of the malady and the final death of his patient.
+The one man who could benefit by the General's death was sitting next to
+him at dinner at the time of his seizure, and that man, according to
+his own statement, had been for many years knocking about among the
+savages of the South Sea Islands and the islands of the Malay
+Archipelago.
+
+"I do not accuse John Simcoe of this crime, but I need hardly say that
+the mere possibility of such a thing heightened the strong feeling
+entertained by Miss Covington that Simcoe was the author of the
+abduction of Walter Rivington. She and her devoted friend, Miss Purcell,
+pursued their investigations with unflagging energy. They suspected that
+the man who was very intimate with Simcoe had acted as his agent in the
+matter, and a casual remark which was overheard in a singular manner,
+which will be explained when the case goes into another court, that this
+man was going to Tilbury, gave them a clew. Then, in a manner which many
+persons might find it very hard to believe, Miss Covington learned from
+a conversation between the two men, when together in a box at Her
+Majesty's Theater, that the lad was in charge of a bargeman living near
+the little village of Pitsea, in Essex. From that place, my lord, he was
+brought last week, and Miss Covington will produce him in court, if your
+lordship wishes to see him. Thus, then, it is immaterial to us whether
+your lordship pronounces for the first or second will.
+
+"But, my lord, I have not finished my story. Under neither of the wills
+does that man take a farthing. The money was left to John Simcoe; and
+John Simcoe was drowned over twenty years ago. The man standing over
+there is one William Sanderson, a sergeant on the paymaster's staff at
+Benares when the real John Simcoe was there. There happened to be a
+resemblance between this man and him, so strong that it was generally
+remarked upon by his comrades. This man Sanderson deserted soon after
+Simcoe was drowned, taking with him three hundred pounds of the
+paymaster's money. There was a sharp hue and cry after him, but he
+managed to make his escape. All this is a certainty, but we may assume
+without much difficulty that the man changed his name as soon as he got
+to Calcutta, and nothing was more likely than that he should take the
+name of John Simcoe, whom he had been told that he so strongly
+resembled.
+
+"For twenty years we hear nothing further of William Sanderson, nor do
+we hear when he returned to London. Probably he, in some way or other,
+came across the name of General Mathieson, and remembering what John
+Simcoe had done for the General, he, on the strength of his personal
+likeness, and the fact that he had, for twenty years, gone by that name,
+determined to introduce himself to him, with the result you know. He was
+clever enough to know that he must answer questions as to his history
+before he left England, and it was desirable to obtain witnesses who
+would, if necessary, certify to him. But he knew nothing of Simcoe's
+birthplace or history; so he inserted advertisements in a great number
+of London and provincial newspapers, saying that the relations of the
+John Simcoe who was supposed to have been drowned in the Bay of Bengal
+in the year 1832 would hear of something to their advantage at the
+address given. A maiden aunt, living at Stowmarket, did reply. He went
+down there at once, rushed into her arms and called her aunt, and told
+her that it was his intention to make her comfortable for life by
+allowing her fifty pounds per annum. He stayed with her for three days,
+and during that time obtained from her gossip full details of his
+boyhood and youth, his friends and their occupation, and he then went
+out and called upon John Simcoe's old companions, all of whom took him
+on his own word and his knowledge of the past and his recognition by his
+aunt.
+
+"So things might have remained. This man, after undergoing what
+punishment might be awarded to him for his abduction of Walter
+Rivington, could have claimed the ten thousand pounds left him by
+General Mathieson, had it not been that, by what I cannot but consider a
+dispensation of Providence, an old comrade of his, Staff-Sergeant
+Nichol, was attracted to the hall this morning by seeing the name of
+Simcoe and that of General Mathieson coupled in the cause list. This
+man was in the hall talking to his professional advisers, and Nichol,
+walking close to him, to see if he could recognize the man whom he had
+last seen carried wounded into Benares, at once recognized in the
+supposed John Simcoe the deserter and thief, Sergeant Sanderson. He
+passed him two or three times, to assure himself that he was not
+mistaken. Happily the deserter had a mark that was ineffaceable; he had,
+as a recruit, let off his rifle, and the ball had passed through the
+fleshy part of the forearm, leaving there, as Sergeant Nichol has
+informed me, an ineffaceable scar, blackened by powder. If this man is
+not Sergeant Sanderson, and is the long-lost John Simcoe, he has but to
+pull up the sleeve of his left arm and show that it is without scar."
+
+The man did not move; he was half stunned by the sudden and terrible
+exposure of the whole of his plans. As he did not rise the counsel said:
+
+"My lord, I must ask that you give an order for the arrest of this man,
+William Sanderson, as a deserter and a thief; also upon the charge of
+conspiring, with others, the abduction of Walter Rivington."
+
+"Certainly, brother Herbert," the judge said, as he saw that the accused
+made no motion to answer the challenge of the counsel. "Tipstaff, take
+that man into custody on the charge of aiding in the abduction of Walter
+Rivington. As to the other charge, I shall communicate with the
+authorities of the India Office, and leave it to them to prosecute if
+they choose to do so. After this lapse of years they may not think it
+worth while to do so, especially as the man is in custody on a still
+graver charge."
+
+The tipstaff moved toward the man, who roused himself with a great
+effort, snatched a small glass ball from a pocket inside his waistcoat,
+thrust it between his teeth, and bit it into fragments, and, as the
+officer laid his hand upon him, fell down in a fit. Dr. Leeds, who had
+come in just as the trial began, rose to his feet.
+
+"I am a doctor, my lord. My name is Leeds, and the opinion I held of
+the cause of General Mathieson's death is now proved to be correct. The
+symptoms of this fit are precisely similar to those of General
+Mathieson's seizure, and this man has taken some of the very poison with
+which he murdered the General."
+
+For a minute Sanderson struggled in violent convulsions, then, as Dr.
+Leeds bent over him, his head fell back suddenly. Dr. Leeds felt his
+pulse and then rose to his feet.
+
+"My lord," he said, "the case is finally closed. He has gone to a higher
+judgment seat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+A LETTER FROM ABROAD.
+
+
+Three days later, when Hilda returned from a drive, she found that Dr.
+Leeds was in the drawing room with Miss Purcell and Netta, whose face at
+once told what had happened.
+
+"I have asked the question at last, Miss Covington," Dr. Leeds said,
+coming forward to shake hands, "and Netta has consented to be my wife."
+
+"I am heartily glad. That you would ask her I knew from what you told
+me; and although I knew nothing of her thoughts in the matter, I felt
+sure that she would hardly say no. Netta, darling, I am glad. Long ago I
+thought and hoped that this would come about. It seemed to me that it
+would be such a happy thing."
+
+"Auntie said just the same thing," Netta said, smiling through her
+tears, as Hilda embraced her. "As you both knew, you ought to have given
+me some little hint; then I should not have been taken quite by
+surprise. I might have pretended that I did not quite know my own mind,
+and ask for time to think it over, instead of surrendering at once."
+
+"But you did make a condition, Netta," Dr. Leeds laughed.
+
+"Not a condition--a request, if you like, but certainly not a
+condition."
+
+"Netta said that her heart was greatly set on the work she had always
+looked forward to, and she hoped that I should let her do something in
+that way still. Of course I have heard you both talk over that institute
+a score of times, and I was as much impressed as yourselves with the
+enormous boon that it would be. I should be sorry indeed that the plan
+should be given up. I need hardly say that in the half hour we have had
+together we did not go deeply into it, but we will have a general
+council about it, as soon as we can get down to plain matter of fact.
+Netta can talk it over with you, and I can talk it over with her; and
+then we can hold a meeting, with Miss Purcell as president of the
+committee."
+
+But matters were not finally settled until the ladies were established
+at Holmwood with Walter, and Dr. Leeds came down for a short holiday of
+two or three days. Then the arrangements were made to the satisfaction
+of all parties. A large house, standing in grounds of considerable
+extent, was to be taken in the suburbs of London, Netta was to be lady
+superintendent, her aunt assisting in the domestic arrangements. Miss
+Purcell insisted that her savings should be used for furnishing the
+house. Hilda was to put in as a loan, for the others would receive it in
+no other way, five thousand pounds for working capital. She determined
+to take a house near the institute, so that she could run in and out and
+assist Netta in teaching. Dr. Leeds was to drive up every morning to
+Harley Street, where his work was over by two o'clock, except when he
+had to attend consultations. No arrangements would be necessary about
+the house, as this was the residence of his partner, and he only had his
+own set of rooms there. He was steadily making his way, and to his
+surprise already found that the report in the papers of his successful
+diagnosis of the cause of General Mathieson's death had resulted in a
+considerable addition to his practice, as a number of people consulted
+him on obscure, and in many cases fanciful, maladies, in which they had
+come to entertain the idea that they were suffering from the effects of
+poison.
+
+Now that she was going to assist at the institution and had no intention
+of entering society again in London, Hilda had no longer any objection
+to the power she had acquired being known, and, when questioned on the
+subject of the trial, made no secret of the manner in which she had
+made the discovery at the opera, and mentioned that she was going to
+assist in an institution that was about to be established for teaching
+the system by which she had benefited to deaf children.
+
+The matter excited considerable interest in medical circles, and by the
+time that the institution was ready the number of applicants was greater
+than could be entertained. By this time Dr. Leeds and Netta were
+married. The engagement was a short one, and the wedding took place
+within two months of their going down into the country with Hilda. Being
+anxious that as many as possible should participate in the benefits of
+the system, the doors of the institute were at once opened to outdoor
+pupils, who were boarded in the neighborhood. Six of Netta's pupils in
+Hanover were brought over as teachers, and a few weeks from its being
+opened the institution was in full swing. As Dr. Leeds wished that no
+profit whatever be made by the undertaking, in which desire he was
+cordially joined by his wife and Hilda, the charges were extremely low,
+except in the case of children of wealthy parents, the surplus in their
+case being devoted to taking in, free of payment, children of the poor.
+
+Before Netta's marriage the interest in the Mathieson case was revived
+by the appearance of a letter in the principal London papers. All search
+for the man who had assisted Sanderson in the abduction of the child had
+been fruitless. He had probably taken steps to receive information of
+how matters were going on in court, and long before an officer arrived
+at Rose Cottage with a warrant for his arrest he had left, and the
+police had failed to find any trace of his subsequent movements. The
+letter bore the simple heading, "United States," and ran as follows:
+
+     "To the Editor.
+
+     "SIR: I scarcely know why I write this letter, but I suppose even
+     an habitual criminal does not care to remain under an unjust
+     suspicion. I acknowledge that I come under that category, and that
+     my life has been spent in crime, although never once has suspicion
+     attached to me, until I became mixed up in the Simcoe-Mathieson
+     affair. I wish to state solemnly that I was absolutely ignorant
+     that the name John Simcoe was an assumed one. That was the name he
+     gave me when I first knew him, and I believed that he was, as he
+     represented, the man who had saved General Mathieson's life from a
+     tiger. That he had subsequently lived a rough life in the South
+     Seas I was aware, for he came to me with a message sent by a
+     brother of mine when at the point of death. The man had been a chum
+     of his out there and had gallantly carried him off when he had
+     received the wound from which he subsequently died, in a fight with
+     a large body of natives. I have absolute assurance that this was
+     true, for my brother would never have sent anyone to me except
+     under altogether extraordinary circumstances. The man called on me
+     when he first returned to England, but I saw little of him for the
+     first two years, and then he came to me and said that he had looked
+     up General Mathieson, and that the General had taken to him, and
+     put him down in his will for ten thousand pounds. He said that
+     General Mathieson was worth a hundred thousand, and that he had
+     planned to get the whole. Not being in any way squeamish, I agreed
+     at once to help him in any way in my power.
+
+     "His plan briefly was that he should obtain a fresh will,
+     appointing him sole heir to the General's estate in the event of a
+     boy of six or seven years old dying before he came of age. He had
+     somehow obtained a copy of the General's will, and had notes in the
+     General's handwriting. There were two things to be done, first that
+     he should get instructions for the draft of the will drawn up in
+     precise imitation of the General's handwriting, containing all the
+     provisions of the former will, except that he was made heir in
+     place of Miss Covington in the event of his grandson's death. There
+     are a dozen men in London who can imitate handwriting so as to
+     defy detection, and I introduced him to one of them, who drew up
+     the instructions. Then I introduced him to a man who is the
+     cleverest I know--and I know most of them--at getting up disguises.
+
+     "He had already ascertained that the General had on one occasion
+     been for a minute or two in the offices of Messrs. Halstead &
+     James. They would, therefore, have a vague, and only a vague,
+     remembrance of him. He had obtained a photograph of the General,
+     who was about his own height and figure, and although there was no
+     facial resemblance, the man, by the aid of this photograph,
+     converted him into a likeness of the General that would pass with
+     anyone who had seen him but once casually. So disguised, he went to
+     the offices of these solicitors, told a plausible story, and gave
+     them the written instructions. In the meantime he had been
+     practicing the General's signature, and being a good penman had got
+     to imitate it so accurately that I doubt if any expert would have
+     suspected the forgery. The lawyers were completely deceived, and he
+     had only to go there again three days later, in the same disguise,
+     and sign the will.
+
+     "So much for that. Then came the General's seizure. I most solemnly
+     declare that I had no shadow of suspicion that it was not a natural
+     fit, and that if I had had such a suspicion I should have chucked
+     the whole thing over at once, for though, as I have said, an
+     habitual criminal, that is to say, one who plans and directs what
+     may be called sensational robberies, I have always insisted that
+     the men who have worked under me should go unprovided with arms of
+     any kind, and in no case in which I have been concerned has a drop
+     of blood been shed. As to the carrying off of the boy, it was
+     entirely managed by me. I had agents, men on whom I could rely, as
+     a word of mine would have sent them to penal servitude for life. We
+     knew that suspicion would fall upon Simcoe, and that it was
+     important that he should be able to account for every hour of his
+     time. Therefore, on the day the child was carried away he went down
+     to Stowmarket, while I managed the affair and took the child down
+     to the place where he was hidden in the Essex marshes. It was I
+     also who made the arrangements by which the body of the child about
+     the same age, who had died in the workhouse, was placed in the
+     canal in some of the clothes the missing heir had worn when taken
+     away. I owe it to myself to say that in all this there was no
+     question of payment between this man and myself. I am well off, and
+     I acted simply to oblige a man who had stood by the side of my
+     brother to death. Whether his name was Simcoe or Sanderson mattered
+     nothing to me; I should have aided him just the same. But I did
+     believe that it was Simcoe, and that, having risked his life to
+     save that of General Mathieson, he had as good a right as another
+     to his inheritance. He never hinted to me that it would be a good
+     thing if the child was got rid of altogether. He knew well enough
+     that if he had done so I would not only have had nothing to do with
+     it, but that I would have taken steps to have put a stop to his
+     game altogether. Now I have only to add that, having fairly stated
+     the part that I bore in this affair, I have nothing more to say,
+     except that I have now retired from business altogether, and that
+     this is the last that the world will hear of William Sanderson's
+     accomplice."
+
+For four or five years Hilda Covington devoted much of her time to
+assisting Netta Leeds in her work, but at the end of that time she
+married. Her husband was a widower, whose wife had died in her first
+confinement. His name was Desmond. He sold out of the army, and Hilda
+never had reason to regret that she had played the part of a gypsy woman
+at Lady Moulton's fête.
+
+Walter grew up strong and healthy, and is one of the most popular men of
+his county. His early love for the water developed, and he served his
+time as a midshipman in one of Her Majesty's ships, and passed as a
+lieutenant. He then retired from the service and bought a fine yacht,
+which he himself commanded. His friends were never able to understand
+why he allowed his nominal skipper, William Nibson, to take his wife on
+board, and gave up two cabins for their accommodation. The barge
+_Walter_ passed into the hands of Joshua, who, for many years, sailed
+her most successfully. He is now an elderly man, and his four sons are
+skippers of as many fine barges, all his own property.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
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+          A Tale of the Franco-Prussian War
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+
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+captain had a difficult task to accomplish, but he had been drilled to
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+life of to-day.
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+
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+
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+American lad, with others, is captured and cast into a dungeon in
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+    The Children of Wilton Chase
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+    Bashful Fifteen
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+    Betty: A Schoolgirl
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+    Out of the Fashion
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+    The Palace Beautiful
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+    Red Rose and Tiger Lily
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+    Temptation of Olive Latimer
+
+    A Ring of Rubies
+
+    A Sweet Girl Graduate
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+    A World of Girls
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+    Good Luck
+
+    A Girl in Ten Thousand
+
+    A Young Mutineer
+
+    Wild Kitty
+
+    The Children's Pilgrimage
+
+    The Girls of St. Wode's
+
+    Light o' the Morning
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+    Bad Little Hannah
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+    Rebellion of Lill Carrington
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+    A Little Mother to the Others
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+    Merry Girls of England
+
+
+    THE MERSHON COMPANY
+    156 Fifth Ave., New York
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+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Heir, by G. A. Henty
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Lost Heir, by G. A. Henty.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Heir, by G. A. Henty
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Lost Heir
+
+Author: G. A. Henty
+
+Release Date: August 5, 2011 [EBook #36975]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST HEIR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h1>THE LOST HEIR</h1>
+
+<h2>BY G. A. HENTY</h2>
+
+<h3>AUTHOR OF "STURDY AND STRONG," "RUJUB, THE JUGGLER," "BY ENGLAND'S AID,"
+ETC., ETC.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">THE MERSHON COMPANY<br />
+RAHWAY, N. J.<br />
+NEW YORK</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>SIMCOE RAN IN WITH HIS KNIFE AND ATTACKED THE TIGER.<br />
+<i>&mdash;Page 4.</i></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<table width="50%">
+<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">A Brave Action</span> </a></td><td align="right">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap"> In the South Seas</span> </a></td><td align="right">14</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">A Deaf Girl</span> </a></td><td align="right">27</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">The Gypsy</span> </a></td><td align="right">40</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">A Gambling Den</span> </a></td><td align="right">52</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">John Simcoe</span> </a></td><td align="right">65</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">John Simcoe's Friend</span> </a></td><td align="right">77</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">General Mathieson's Seizure</span> </a></td><td align="right">90</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">A Strange Illness</span> </a></td><td align="right">102</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">Two Heavy Blows</span> </a></td><td align="right">112</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">A Startling Will</span> </a></td><td align="right">124</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">Dr. Leeds Speaks</span> </a></td><td align="right">137</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XIII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="smcap"> Netta Visits Stowmarket</span> </a></td><td align="right">150</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XIV.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><span class="smcap">An Advertisement</span> </a></td><td align="right">164</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XV.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><span class="smcap">Very Bad News</span> </a></td><td align="right">176</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XVI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><span class="smcap">A Fresh Clew</span> </a></td><td align="right">193</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XVII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><span class="smcap">Netta Acts Independently</span> </a></td><td align="right">206</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XVIII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><span class="smcap">Down in the Marshes</span> </a></td><td align="right">220</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XIX.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><span class="smcap">A Partial Success</span> </a></td><td align="right">233</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XX.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><span class="smcap">A Dinner Party</span> </a></td><td align="right">247</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XXI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><span class="smcap">A Box at the Opera</span> </a></td><td align="right">262</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XXII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><span class="smcap">Nearing the Goal</span> </a></td><td align="right">274</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XXIII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><span class="smcap">Walter</span> </a></td><td align="right">287</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XXIV.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><span class="smcap">A New Barge</span> </a></td><td align="right">301</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XXV.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><span class="smcap">A Crushing Exposure</span> </a></td><td align="right">316</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XXVI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><span class="smcap">A Letter from Abroad</span> </a></td><td align="right">329</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE LOST HEIR.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>A BRAVE ACTION.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A number of soldiers were standing in the road near the bungalow of
+Brigadier-General Mathieson, the officer in command of the force in the
+cantonments of Benares and the surrounding district.</p>
+
+<p>"They are coming now, I think," one sergeant said to another. "It is a
+bad business. They say the General is terribly hurt, and it was thought
+better to bring him and the other fellow who was mixed up in it down in
+doolies. I heard Captain Harvey say in the orderly-room that they have
+arranged relays of bearers every five miles all the way down. He is a
+good fellow is the General, and we should all miss him. He is not one of
+the sort who has everything comfortable himself and don't care a rap how
+the soldiers get on: he sees to the comfort of everyone and spends his
+money freely, too. He don't seem to care what he lays out in making the
+quarters of the married men comfortable, and in getting any amount of
+ice for the hospital, and extra punkawallahs in the barrack rooms during
+the hot season. He goes out and sees to everything himself. Why, on the
+march I have known him, when all the doolies were full, give up his own
+horse to a man who had fallen out. He has had bad luck too; lost his
+wife years ago by cholera, and he has got no one to care for but his
+girl. She was only a few months old when her mother died. Of course she
+was sent off to England, and has been there ever since. He must be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+rich man, besides his pay and allowances; but it aint every rich man who
+spends his money as he does. There won't be a dry eye in the cantonment
+if he goes under."</p>
+
+<p>"How was it the other man got hurt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I hear that the tiger sprang on to the General's elephant and
+seized him by the leg. They both went off together, and the brute
+shifted its hold to the shoulder, and carried him into the jungle; then
+the other fellow slipped off his elephant and ran after the tiger. He
+got badly mauled too; but he killed the brute and saved the General's
+life."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! that was a plucky thing. Who was he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he was the chap who was walking backwards and forwards with the
+General when the band was playing yesterday evening. Several of the men
+remarked how like he was to you, Sanderson. I noticed it, too. There
+certainly was a strong likeness."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, some of the fellows were saying so," Sanderson replied. "He passed
+close to me, and I saw that he was about my height and build, but of
+course I did not notice the likeness; a man does not know his own face
+much. Anyhow, he only sees his full face, and doesn't know how he looks
+sideways. He is a civilian, isn't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I believe so; I know that the General is putting him up at his
+quarters. He has been here about a week. I think he is some man from
+England, traveling, I suppose, to see the world. I heard the Adjutant
+speak of him as Mr. Simcoe when he was talking about the affair."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they will take him to the General's bungalow?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; he is going to the next. Major Walker is away on leave, and the
+doctor says that it is better that they should be in different
+bungalows, because then if one gets delirious and noisy he won't disturb
+the other. Dr. Hunter is going to take up his quarters there to look
+after him, with his own servants and a couple of hospital orderlies."</p>
+
+<p>By this time several officers were gathered at the entrance to the
+General's bungalow, two mounted troopers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> having brought in the news a
+few minutes before that the doolies were within a mile.</p>
+
+<p>They came along now, each carried by four men, maintaining a swift but
+smooth and steady pace, and abstaining from the monotonous chant usually
+kept up. A doctor was riding by the side of the doolies, and two mounted
+orderlies with baskets containing ice and surgical dressings rode fifty
+paces in the rear. The curtains of the doolies had been removed to allow
+of a free passage of air, and mosquito curtains hung round to prevent
+insects annoying the sufferers.</p>
+
+<p>There was a low murmur of sympathy from the soldiers as the doolies
+passed them, and many a muttered "God bless you, sir, and bring you
+through it all right." Then, as the injured men were carried into the
+two bungalows, most of the soldiers strolled off, some, however,
+remaining near in hopes of getting a favorable report from an orderly or
+servant. A group of officers remained under the shade of a tree near
+until the surgeon who had ridden in with the doolies came out.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the report, McManus?" one of them asked, as he approached.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no change since I sent off my report last night," he said.
+"The General is very badly hurt; I certainly should not like to give an
+opinion at present whether he will get over it or not. If he does it
+will be a very narrow shave. He was insensible till we lifted him into
+the doolie at eight o'clock yesterday evening, when the motion seemed to
+rouse him a little, and he just opened his eyes; and each time we
+changed bearers he has had a little ice between his lips, and a drink of
+lime juice and water with a dash of brandy in it. He has known me each
+time, and whispered a word or two, asking after the other."</p>
+
+<p>"And how is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt that he will do; that is, of course, if fever does not
+set in badly. His wounds are not so severe as the General's, and he is a
+much younger man, and, as I should say, with a good constitution. If
+there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> is no complication he ought to be about again in a month's time.
+He is perfectly sensible. Let him lie quiet for a day or two; after that
+it would be as well if some of you who have met him at the General's
+would drop in occasionally for a short chat with him; but of course we
+must wait to see if there is going to be much fever."</p>
+
+<p>"And did it happen as they say, doctor? The dispatch told us very little
+beyond the fact that the General was thrown from his elephant, just as
+the tiger sprang, and that it seized him and carried him into the
+jungle; that Simcoe slipped off his pad and ran in and attacked the
+tiger; that he saved the General's life and killed the animal, but is
+sadly hurt himself."</p>
+
+<p>"That is about it, except that he did not kill the tiger. Metcalf,
+Colvin, and Smith all ran in, and firing together knocked it over stone
+dead. It was an extraordinarily plucky action of Simcoe, for he had
+emptied his rifle, and had nothing but it and a knife when he ran in."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say so! By Jove! that was an extraordinary act of pluck; one
+would almost say of madness, if he hadn't succeeded in drawing the brute
+off Mathieson, and so gaining time for the others to come up. It was a
+miracle that he wasn't killed. Well, we shall not have quite so easy a
+time of it for a bit. Of course Murdock, as senior officer, will take
+command of the brigade, but he won't be half as considerate for our
+comfort as Mathieson has been. He is rather a scoffer at what he calls
+new-fangled ways, and he will be as likely to march the men out in the
+heat of the day as at five in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>The two sergeants who had been talking walked back together to their
+quarters. Both of them were on the brigade staff. Sanderson was the
+Paymaster's clerk, Nichol worked in the orderly-room. At the sergeants'
+mess the conversation naturally turned on the tiger hunt and its
+consequences.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been in some tough fights," one of the older men said, "and I
+don't know that I ever felt badly scared&mdash;one hasn't time to think of
+that when one is at work&mdash;but to rush in against a wounded tiger with
+nothing but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> an empty gun and a hunting-knife is not the sort of job
+that I should like to tackle. It makes one's blood run cold to think of
+it. I consider that everyone in the brigade ought to subscribe a day's
+pay to get something to give that man, as a token of our admiration for
+his pluck and of our gratitude for his having saved General Mathieson's
+life."</p>
+
+<p>There was a general expression of approval at the idea. Then Sanderson
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is a thing that ought to be done, but it is not for us to
+begin it. If we hear of anything of that sort done by the officers, two
+or three of us might go up and say that it was the general wish among
+the non-coms. and men to take a share in it; but it would never do for
+us to begin."</p>
+
+<p>"That is right enough; the officers certainly would not like such a
+thing to begin from below. We had better wait and see whether there is
+any movement that way. I dare say that it will depend a great deal on
+whether the General gets over it or not."</p>
+
+<p>The opportunity did not come. At the end of five weeks Mr. Simcoe was
+well enough to travel by easy stages down to the coast, acting upon the
+advice that he should, for the present, give up all idea of making a
+tour through India, and had better take a sea voyage to Australia or the
+Cape, or, better still, take his passage home at once. Had the day and
+hour of his leaving been known, there was not a white soldier in the
+cantonments who would not have turned out to give him a hearty cheer,
+but although going on well the doctor said that all excitement should be
+avoided. It would be quite enough for him to have to say good-by to the
+friends who had been in the habit of coming in to talk with him daily,
+but anything like a public greeting by the men would be likely to upset
+him. It was not, therefore, until Simcoe was some way down the river
+that his departure became known to the troops.</p>
+
+<p>Six weeks later there was a sensation in the cantonments. General
+Mathieson had so far recovered that he was able to be carried up to the
+hills, and the camp was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> still growling at the irritating orders and
+regulations of his temporary successor in command, when the news spread
+that Staff Pay-Sergeant Sanderson had deserted. He had obtained a
+fortnight's furlough, saying that he wanted to pay a visit to some old
+comrades at Allahabad; at the end of the fortnight he had not returned,
+and the Staff Paymaster had gone strictly into his accounts and found
+that there was a deficiency of over £300, which he himself would of
+course be called upon to make good. He had, indeed, helped to bring
+about the deficiency by placing entire confidence in the sergeant and by
+neglecting to check his accounts regularly.</p>
+
+<p>Letters were at once written to the heads of the police at Calcutta and
+Bombay, and to all the principal places on the roads to those ports; but
+it was felt that, with such a start as he had got, the chances were all
+in his favor.</p>
+
+<p>It was soon ascertained at Allahabad that he had not been there.
+Inquiries at the various dak-bungalows satisfied the authorities that he
+had not traveled by land. If he had gone down to Calcutta he had gone by
+boat; but he might have started on the long land journey across to
+Bombay, or have even made for Madras. No distinct clew, however, could
+be obtained.</p>
+
+<p>The Paymaster obtained leave and went down to Calcutta and inspected all
+the lists of passengers and made inquiries as to them; but there were
+then but few white men in the country, save those holding civil or
+military positions and the merchants at the large ports, therefore there
+was not much difficulty in ascertaining the identity of everyone who had
+left Calcutta during the past month, unless, indeed, he had taken a
+passage in some native craft to Rangoon or possibly Singapore.</p>
+
+<p>On his arrival at Calcutta he heard of an event which caused deep and
+general regret when known at Benares, and for a time threw even the
+desertion of Sergeant Sanderson into the shade. The <i>Nepaul</i>, in which
+John Simcoe had sailed, had been lost in a typhoon in the Bay of Bengal
+when but six days out. There was no possible doubt as to his fate, for a
+vessel half a mile distant had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> seen her founder, but could render no
+assistance, being herself dismasted and unmanageable and the sea so
+tremendous that no boat could have lived in it for a moment. As both
+ships belonged to the East India Company, and were well known to each
+other, the captain and officials of the <i>Ceylon</i> had no doubt whatever
+as to her identity, and, indeed, the remains of a boat bearing the
+<i>Nepaul's</i> name were picked up a few days later near the spot where she
+had gone down.</p>
+
+<p>"It's hard luck, that is what I call it," Sergeant Nichol said with
+great emphasis when the matter was talked over in the sergeants' mess.
+"Here is a man who faces a wounded tiger with nothing but a
+hunting-knife, and recovers from his wounds; here is the General, whose
+life he saved, going on first-rate, and yet he loses his life himself,
+drowned at sea. I call that about as hard luck as anything I have heard
+of."</p>
+
+<p>"Hard luck indeed!" another said. "If he had died of his wounds it would
+have been only what might have been expected; but to get over them and
+then to get drowned almost as soon as he had started is, as you say,
+Nichol, very hard luck. I am sure the General will be terribly cut up
+about it. I heard Major Butler tell Captain Thompson that he had heard
+from Dr. Hunter that when the General began to get round and heard that
+Simcoe had gone, while he was lying there too ill to know anything about
+it, he regularly broke down and cried like a child; and I am sure the
+fact that he will never have the chance of thanking him now will hurt
+him as bad as those tiger's claws."</p>
+
+<p>"And so there is no news of Sanderson?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not that I have heard. Maybe he has got clean away; but I should say
+it's more likely that he is lying low in some sailors' haunt until the
+matter blows over. Then, like enough, he will put on sea-togs and ship
+under another name before the mast in some trader knocking about among
+the islands, and by the time she comes back he could take a passage home
+without questions being asked. He is a sharp fellow is Sanderson. I
+never quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> liked him myself, but I never thought he was a rogue. It
+will teach Captain Smalley to be more careful in future. I heard that he
+was going home on his long leave in the spring, but I suppose he will
+not be able to do so now for a year or so; three hundred pounds is a big
+sum to have to fork out."</p>
+
+<p>The news of the loss of the <i>Nepaul</i>, with all hands, did indeed hit
+General Mathieson very heavily, and for a time seriously delayed the
+progress that he was making towards recovery.</p>
+
+<p>"It's bad enough to think," he said, "that I shall never have an
+opportunity of thanking that gallant fellow for my life; but it is even
+worse to know that my rescue has brought about his death, for had it not
+been for that he would have by this time been up at Delhi or in Oude
+instead of lying at the bottom of the sea. I would give half my fortune
+to grasp his hand again and tell him what I feel."</p>
+
+<p>General Mathieson's ill luck stuck to him. He gained strength so slowly
+that he was ordered home, and it was three years before he rejoined.
+Four years later his daughter came out to him, and for a time his home
+in Delhi, where he was now stationed, was a happy one. The girl showed
+no desire to marry, and refused several very favorable offers; but after
+she had been out four years she married a rising young civilian who was
+also stationed at Delhi. The union was a happy one, except that the
+first two children born to them died in infancy. They were girls. The
+third was a boy, who at the age of eight months was sent home under the
+charge of an officer's wife returning with her children to England. When
+they arrived there he was placed in charge of Mrs. Covington, a niece of
+the General's. But before he reached the shores of England he was an
+orphan. An epidemic of cholera broke out at the station at which his
+father, who was now a deputy collector, was living, and he and his wife
+were among the first victims of the scourge.</p>
+
+<p>General Mathieson was now a major-general, and in command of the troops
+in the Calcutta district. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> blow decided him to resign his command
+and return to England. He was now sixty; the climate of India had suited
+him, and he was still a hale, active man. Being generally popular he was
+soon at home in London, where he took a house in Hyde Park Gardens and
+became a regular frequenter of the Oriental and East Indian United
+Service Clubs, of which he had been for years a member, went a good deal
+into society, and when at home took a lively interest in his grandson,
+often running down to his niece's place, near Warwick, to see how he was
+getting on.</p>
+
+<p>The ayah who had come with the child from India had been sent back a few
+months after they arrived, for his mother had written to Mrs. Covington
+requesting that he should have a white nurse. "The native servants," she
+wrote, "spoil the children dreadfully, and let them have entirely their
+own way, and the consequence is that they grow up domineering,
+bad-tempered, and irritable. I have seen so many cases of it here that
+Herbert and I have quite decided that our child shall not be spoilt in
+this way, but shall be brought up in England as English children are, to
+obey their nurses and to do as they are ordered."</p>
+
+<p>As Mrs. Covington's was a large country house the child was no trouble;
+an excellent nurse was obtained, and the boy throve under her care.</p>
+
+<p>The General now much regretted having remained so many years in India,
+and if an old comrade remarked, "I never could make out why you stuck to
+it so long, Mathieson; it was ridiculous for a man with a large private
+fortune, such as you have," he would reply, "I can only suppose it was
+because I was an old fool. But, you see, I had no particular reason for
+coming home. I lost my only sister three years after I went out, and had
+never seen her only daughter, my niece Mary Covington. Of course I hoped
+for another bout of active service, and when the chance came at last up
+in the north, there was I stuck down in Calcutta. If it hadn't been for
+Jane I should certainly have given it up in disgust when I found I was
+practically shelved. But she always used to come down and stay with me
+for a month or two in the cool season,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> and as she was the only person
+in the world I cared for, I held on from year to year, grumbling of
+course, as pretty well every Anglo-Indian does, but without having
+sufficient resolution to throw it up. I ought to have stayed at home for
+good after that mauling I got from the tiger; but, you see, I was never
+really myself while I was at home. I did not feel up to going to clubs,
+and could not enter into London life at all, but spent most of my time
+at my own place, which was within a drive of Mary Covington's, who had
+then just married.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, I got deucedly tired of life down there. I knew nothing
+whatever of farming, and though I tried to get up an interest in it I
+failed altogether. Of course there was a certain amount of society of a
+sort, and everyone called, and one had to go out to dinner-parties. But
+such dinner-parties! Why, a dinner in India was worth a score of them.
+Most of them were very stiff and formal, and after the women had gone
+upstairs, the men talked of nothing but hunting and shooting and crops
+and cattle; so at last I could stand it no longer, but threw up six
+months of my furlough and went out again. Yes, of course I had Jane, but
+at that time she was but fourteen, and was a girl at school; and when I
+talked of bringing her home and having a governess, everyone seemed to
+think that it would be the worst thing possible for her, and no doubt
+they were right, for the life would have been as dull for her as it was
+for me.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course now it is different. I feel as young and as well as I did
+twenty years ago, and can thoroughly enjoy my life in London, though I
+still fight very shy of the country. It is a satisfaction to me to know
+that things are pretty quiet in India at present, so that I am losing
+nothing that way, and if I were out there I should be only holding
+inspections at Barrakpoor, Dumdum, or on the Maidan at Calcutta. Of
+course it was pleasant enough in its way, for I never felt the heat; but
+as a man gets on in life he doesn't have quite so much enjoyment out of
+it as he used to do. The men around him are a good deal younger than
+himself. He knows all the old messroom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> jokes, and one bit of scandal is
+like scores of others he has heard in his time.</p>
+
+<p>"I am heartily glad that I have come home. Many of you here are about my
+own standing, and there is plenty to talk about of old friends and old
+days. You were a young ensign when I was a captain, but Bulstrode and I
+got our companies within a few days of each other. Of course he is only
+a lieutenant-colonel, while I am a major-general, but that is because he
+had the good sense to quit the service years ago. There are scores of
+others in the club just about my own standing, and one gets one's rubber
+of whist in the afternoon, and we dine together and run down the cooking
+and wines, although every one of us knows at heart that they are both
+infinitely better than we got in India, except at the clubs in the
+Presidency towns.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, of course, we all agree that the service is going to the dogs,
+that the Sepoys are over-indulged and will some day give us a lot of
+trouble. I keep my liver all right by taking a long ride every morning,
+and altogether I think I can say that I thoroughly enjoy myself."</p>
+
+<p>The General, on his first visit to England, had endeavored, but in vain,
+to find out the family of John Simcoe. He had advertised largely, but
+without effect.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to find them out," he said to his niece; "I owe that man a debt
+of gratitude I can never repay, but doubtless there are some of his
+family who may be in circumstances where I could give them a helping
+hand. There may be young brothers&mdash;of course I could get them cadetships
+in the Indian army&mdash;maybe portionless sisters."</p>
+
+<p>"But if he was traveling in India for pleasure he must have been a
+well-to-do young fellow. Men cannot wander about in the East without
+having a pretty full purse."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, no doubt; but I don't fancy it was so in his case, and he said
+casually that he had come in for some money, and, as he had always had a
+great desire to travel, he thought that he could do nothing better than
+spend a year or two in the East, but that he hoped before it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> gone
+he should fall on his legs and obtain some sort of employment. He did
+not care much what it was, so that it was not quill-driving. He thought
+that he could turn his hands to most things. I laughed at the time, for
+I was by no means sure that he was in earnest, but I have felt since
+that he must have been. If it had not been so, my advertisements would
+surely have caught the eye of someone who knew his family. A family
+wealthy enough for one of the sons to start on two years' travel must be
+in a fair position, whether in town or country. Had it been so I should
+have heard of it, and therefore I think that what he said must have had
+some foundation in fact. He was certainly a gentleman in manner, and my
+idea now is that he belonged to a middle-class family, probably in some
+provincial town, and that, having come into some money at the death of
+his father or some other relative, he followed his natural bent and
+started on a sort of roving expedition, thinking, as many people do
+think, that India is a land where you have only to stretch out your
+hands and shake the pagoda tree.</p>
+
+<p>"He would have found out his mistake, poor fellow, if he had lived. The
+days are long past when any dashing young adventurer can obtain a post
+of honor in the pay of an Indian Rajah. Still, of course, after what he
+did for me, had he remained in India, and I found that he really wanted
+a berth, I might have done something for him. I know numbers of these
+Indian princes, some of them intimately, and to some I have been of very
+considerable service; and I fancy that I might have got him a berth of
+some kind or other without much difficulty. Or had he made up his mind
+to return to England I would have set him up in any business he had a
+fancy for. He has gone now, and I wish I could pay someone he cared for
+a little of the debt of gratitude I owe him. Well, I have done my best
+and have failed, from no fault of my own; but remember that if ever you
+hear of a family of the name of Simcoe, I want you to make inquiries
+about them, and to give me full particulars concerning them."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But no news ever reached the General on this head, and it was a frequent
+cause of lamentation to him, when he finally settled in town, that
+although he had again advertised he had heard nothing whatever of the
+family of which he was in search.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE SOUTH SEAS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An island in the Pacific. The sun was shining down from a cloudless sky,
+the sea was breaking on the white beach, there was just sufficient
+breeze to move the leaves of the cocoanut trees that formed a dark band
+behind the sands. A small brig of about a hundred tons' burden lay
+anchored a short distance from the shore. The paint was off in many
+places, and everywhere blistered by the sun. Her sails hung loosely in
+the gaskets, and the slackness of her ropes and her general air of
+untidiness alike showed the absence of any sort of discipline on board.</p>
+
+<p>In front of a rough shanty, built just within the line of shade of the
+cocoanuts, sat three men. Two drunken sailors lay asleep some fifty
+yards away. On the stump of a tree in front of the bench on which the
+three men were sitting were placed several black bottles and three tin
+pannikins, while two gourds filled with water and covered with broad
+banana leaves stood erect in holes dug in the sand.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you what it is, Atkins, your men are carrying it on too far.
+Bill here, and I, were good friends with the natives; the chief gave us
+wives, and we got on well enough with them. What with the cocoanuts,
+which are free to us all, and the patches of ground to cultivate, we had
+all we wanted, and with the store of beads and bright cotton we brought
+here with us we paid the natives to fish for pearls for us, and have
+collected enough copra to trade for rum and whatever else we want. You
+have got all our copra on board, and a good stock of native trumperies,
+and I should recommend you to be off, both for your own sake and ours.
+Your men have been more or less drunk ever since they came here. I don't
+mind a drinking bout<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> myself now and again, but it does not do to keep
+it up. However, it would be no odds to us whether your men were drunk
+all the time or not if they would but get drunk on board, but they will
+bring the liquor on shore, and then they get quarrelsome, use their
+fists on the natives, and meddle with the women. Now, these fellows are
+quiet and gentle enough if they are left alone and treated fairly, but I
+don't blame them for getting riled up when they are ill-treated, and I
+tell you they are riled up pretty badly now. My woman has spoken to me
+more than once, and from what she says there is likely to be trouble,
+not only for you but for us."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Sim," the man that he was addressing said, "there is reason
+enough in what you say. I don't care myself a snap for these black
+fellows; a couple of musket-shots would send them all flying. But, you
+see, though I am skipper, the men all have shares and do pretty much as
+they like. At present they like to stay here, and I suppose they will
+stay here till they are tired of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Atkins, if I were in your place I should very soon make a change,
+and if you like, Bill and I will help you. You have got six men; well,
+if you shot three of them the other three would think better of it; and
+if they didn't I would settle them too."</p>
+
+<p>"It is all very well talking like that, Sim. How could I sail the brig
+without hands? If I only kept three of them I should be very
+short-handed, and if I ever did manage to get to port they would lay a
+complaint against me for shooting the others. It is all very well for
+you to talk; you have lived here long enough to know that one can only
+get the very worst class of fellows to sail with one in craft like this
+and for this sort of trade. It pays well if one gets back safely, but
+what with the risk of being cast ashore or being killed by the natives,
+who are savage enough in some of the islands, it stands to reason that a
+man who can get a berth in any other sort of craft won't sail with us.
+But it is just the sort of life to suit chaps like these; it means easy
+work, plenty of loafing about, and if things turn out well a good lump
+of money<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> at the end of the voyage. However, they ought to have had
+enough of it this job; the rum is nearly gone, and if you will come off
+to-morrow I will let you have what remains, though if they are sober I
+doubt if they will let you take it away."</p>
+
+<p>"We will risk that," the third man said. "We are not nice about using
+our pistols, if you are. I was saying to Simcoe here, things are going a
+lot too far. Enough mischief has been done already, and I am by no means
+sure that when you have gone they won't make it hot for us. We are very
+comfortable here, and we are not doing badly, and I don't care about
+being turned out of it."</p>
+
+<p>"The pearl fishing is turning out well?" Atkins asked quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"It might be worse and it might be better. Anyhow, we are content to
+remain here for a bit.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like it, Jack," he said, as the skipper, having in vain tried
+to rouse the two drunken men, rowed himself off to the brig. "My woman
+told me this morning that there had been a big talk among the natives,
+and that though they did not tell her anything, she thought that they
+had made up their minds to wipe the whites out altogether. They said
+that if we hadn't been here, the brig would not have come; which is like
+enough, for Atkins only put in because he was an old chum of ours, and
+thought that we should have got copra enough to make it worth his while
+to come round. Well, if the niggers only wiped out the crew, and burned
+the ship, I should say nothing against it, as long as they let Atkins
+alone. He has stood by me in more than one rough-and-tumble business,
+and I am bound to stand by him. But there aint no discrimination among
+the niggers. Besides, I am not saying but that he has been pretty rough
+with them himself.</p>
+
+<p>"It makes all the difference whether you settle down and go in for
+making a pile, or if you only stop to water and take in fruit; we agreed
+as to that when we landed here. When we stopped here before and found
+them friendly and pleasant, and we says to each other, 'If we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> can but
+get on smooth with them and set them fishing for us we might make a good
+thing out of it.' You see, we had bought some oysters one of them
+brought up after a dive, and had found two or three pearls in them.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we have been here nine months, and I don't say I am not getting
+tired of it; but it is worth stopping for. You know we reckoned last
+week that the pearls we have got ought to be worth two or three thousand
+pounds, and we agreed that we would stay here till we have two bags the
+size of the one we have got; but unless Atkins gets those fellows off, I
+doubt if we shan't have to go before that. There is no reasoning with
+these niggers; if they had any sense they would see that we can't help
+these things."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps what the women tell us is untrue," the other suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think that," Simcoe said; "these black women are always true
+to their white men when they are decently treated. Besides, none of the
+natives have been near us to-day. That, of course, might be because they
+are afraid of these chaps; but from this shanty we can see the canoes,
+and not one has gone out to-day. Who is to blame them, when one of their
+chiefs was shot yesterday without a shadow of excuse? I don't say that I
+think so much of a nigger's life one way or another; and having been in
+some stiff fights together, as you know, I have always taken my share.
+But I am dead against shooting without some reason; it spoils trade, and
+makes it unsafe even to land for water. I have half a mind, Bill, to go
+on board and ask Atkins to take us away with him; we could mighty soon
+settle matters with the crew, and if there was a fight and we had to
+shoot them all, we could take the brig into port well enough."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," said Bill, "it has not come to that yet. Don't let us give up
+a good thing until we are sure that the game is up."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, just as you like; I am ready to run the risk if you are. It would
+be hard, if the worst came to the worst, if we couldn't fight our way
+down to our canoe, and once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> on board that we could laugh at them; for
+as we have proved over and over again, they have not one that can touch
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will be off to my hut; the sun is just setting and my supper
+will be ready for me." He strolled off to his shanty, which lay back
+some distance in the wood. Simcoe entered the hut, where a native woman
+was cooking.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing fresh, I suppose?" he asked in her language.</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head. "None of our people have been near us to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Polly,"&mdash;for so her white master had christened her, her native
+appellation being too long for ordinary conversation,&mdash;"it is a bad
+business, and I am sorry for it; but when these fellows have sailed away
+it will soon come all right again."</p>
+
+<p>"Polly hopes so," she said. "Polly very much afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you had better go to-morrow and see them, and tell them, as I
+have told them already, we are very sorry for the goings on of these
+people, but it is not our fault. You have no fear that they will hurt
+you, have you? Because if so, don't you go."</p>
+
+<p>"They no hurt Polly now," she said; "they know that if I do not come
+back you be on guard."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't think there is any danger at present, but it is as well
+to be ready. Do you take down to the canoe three or four dozen cocoanuts
+and four or five big bunches of plantains, and you may as well take
+three or four gourds of water. If we have to take to the boat, will you
+go with me or stay here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Polly will go with her master," the woman said; "if she stay here they
+will kill her."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad enough for you to go with me, Polly," he said. "You have been
+a good little woman, and I don't know how I should get on without you
+now; though why they should kill you I don't know, seeing that your head
+chief gave you to me himself."</p>
+
+<p>"Kill everything belonging to white man," she said quietly; and the man
+knew in his heart that it would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> probably be so. She put his supper on
+the table and then made several journeys backwards and forwards to the
+canoe, which lay afloat in a little cove a couple of hundred yards away.
+When she had done she stood at the table and ate the remains of the
+supper.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later the man was sitting on the bench outside smoking his pipe,
+when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps among the trees. He knew this
+was no native tread.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Bill?" he asked, as the man came up.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I came to tell you that there is a big row going on among the
+natives. I can hear their tom-tom things beating furiously, and
+occasionally they set up a tremendous yell. I tell you I don't like it,
+Simcoe; I don't like it a bit. I sent my woman to see what it was all
+about, but though she had been away three hours, she hadn't come back
+when I started out to talk it over with you."</p>
+
+<p>"There has been a biggish row going on on board the brig too," the other
+said. "I have heard Atkins storming, and a good deal of shouting among
+the men. I suppose you have got your pearls all right in your belt?
+Things begin to have an awkward look, and we may have to bolt at short
+notice."</p>
+
+<p>"You trust me for that, Simcoe; I have had them on me ever since the
+brig came in. I had no fear of the natives stealing them out of my hut,
+but if one of those fellows were to drop in and see them he would think
+nothing of knifing the woman and carrying them off."</p>
+
+<p>"I see you have brought your gun with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and my pistols too. I suppose you are loaded, and ready to catch
+up at a moment's notice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; my girl has been carrying down cocoanuts and plantains to the
+canoe, so, if we have to make a bolt, we can hold on comfortably enough
+until we get to the next island, which is not above three days' sail,
+and lies dead to leeward, as the wind is at present. Still, Bill, I hope
+it is not coming to that. I think it is likely enough they may attack
+the brig in their canoes, but they have always been so friendly with us
+that I really don't think they can turn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> against us now; they must know
+that we cannot help these people's doings."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all very well," the other said, "but you and I know half a
+dozen cases in which the niggers have attacked a ship, and in every case
+beachcombers were killed too."</p>
+
+<p>Simcoe made no answer; he knew that it was so, and could hardly hope
+that there would be an exception in their case. After thinking for a
+minute he said, "Well, Bill, in that case I think the safest plan will
+be to take to the canoe at once. We can stay away a few weeks and then
+come back here and see how matters stand."</p>
+
+<p>"But how about Atkins?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we will shout and get him ashore and tell him what we think of
+it, and give him the choice of either stopping or going with us. Nothing
+can be fairer than that. If he chooses to stop and harm comes of it we
+cannot blame ourselves. If we come back in a few weeks of course we
+should not land until we had overhauled one of their canoes and found
+out what the feeling of the people was. They will have got over their
+fit of rage, and like enough they will have said to each other, 'We were
+better off when the two white men were here. They paid us for our
+fishing and our copra, and never did us any harm. I wish they were back
+again.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That is reasonable enough," the other agreed. "What about the trade
+things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we have only got some beads and small knick-knacks left. Polly
+shall carry them down to the canoe; we shall want them for trading till
+we come back here again."</p>
+
+<p>He said a few words to the woman, who at once began to carry the things
+down to the canoe. Then he went down to the beach and shouted, "Atkins!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hullo!" came back from the brig.</p>
+
+<p>"Come ashore; we want to talk to you about something particular." They
+saw the dinghy pulled up to the ship's side, then Atkins rowed ashore.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been having a row with the crew," he said. "I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> thought it was
+coming to fighting. Two or three of them took up handspikes, but I drew
+my pistols and things calmed down. What do you want me for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bill here has brought news that there is a row among the natives. They
+are beating their drums and yelling like fiends, and we expect it means
+mischief. At any rate it comes to this: we are so convinced that there
+is going to be trouble that we mean to cut and run at once. We have got
+enough grub put on board our canoe to take us to the next island, but we
+did not want to leave you in the lurch, to be speared by the niggers, so
+we have called you to offer you a seat in the canoe."</p>
+
+<p>"That is friendly," Atkins said, "but I should lose the ship and cargo;
+and pretty near all that I have got is in her. Why should not you two
+bring your canoe off alongside and hoist her up? Then we could get up
+anchor and be off. Three of the fellows are dead-drunk and the other
+three half stupid. I would give you each a share in the profits of the
+voyage."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what do you think of that, Simcoe?" Bill said.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you straight I don't care for it. You and I are both good
+paddlers, and the canoe sails like a witch in a light wind. Once afloat
+in her and we are safe, but you can't say as much for the brig. I have
+sailed in her before now, and I know that she is slow, unless it is
+blowing half a gale. It is like enough that the natives may be watching
+her now, and if they saw us get under way they would be after her, and
+would go six feet to her one. As to fighting, what could we three do?
+The others would be of no use whatever. No, I like our plan best by
+far."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know what to say," Atkins said. "It is hard to make a
+choice. Of course if I were sure that the natives really meant mischief
+I would go with you, but we cannot be sure of that."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel pretty sure of it anyhow," Bill said. "My girl would be safe to
+follow me here when she got back and found the hut empty, but I am
+mightily afraid that some harm has come to her, or she would have been
+back long before this. It wasn't half a mile to go, and she might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> have
+been there and back in half an hour, and she has been gone now over
+three hours, and I feel nasty about it, I can tell you. I wish your crew
+were all sober, Atkins, and that we had a score of men that I could put
+my hand on among the islands. I should not be talking about taking to a
+canoe then, but I would just go in and give it them so hot that they
+would never try their pranks on again."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you got all the things in, Polly?" Simcoe asked the woman, as she
+crouched down by the door of the hut.</p>
+
+<p>"Got all in," she said. "Why not go? Very bad wait here."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I think you are about right. At any rate, we will go and get on
+board and wait a spear's-throw off the shore for an hour or so. If
+Bill's Susan comes here and finds we have gone she is pretty safe to
+guess that we shall be on board the canoe and waiting for her. What do
+you say to that, Bill?"</p>
+
+<p>"That suits me; nothing can be fairer. If she comes we can take her on
+board, if she doesn't I shall know that they have killed her, and I will
+jot it down against them and come back here some day before long and
+take it out of them. And you, Atkins?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will go straight on board. Like enough it is all a false alarm, and I
+aint going to lose the brig and all that she has got on board till I am
+downright certain that they&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He stopped suddenly, and the others leaped to their feet as a burst of
+savage yells broke out across the water.</p>
+
+<p>"By Heavens, they are attacking the ship!" Simcoe cried; "they will be
+here in a moment. Come on, Polly! come on, Atkins! we have no choice
+now." Taking up his arms, he started to run. "Quick, quick!" he cried;
+"I can hear them."</p>
+
+<p>They had gone but some thirty yards when a number of natives burst from
+the wood. Had they arrived a minute sooner at the hut none of its
+occupants would have lived to tell the tale, but the impatience of those
+in the canoes lying round the brig had caused the alarm to be given<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+before they had placed themselves in readiness for a simultaneous rush
+on the hut. There was no further occasion for silence; a wild yell burst
+out as they caught sight of the flying figures, and a dozen spears flew
+through the air.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't stop to fire!" Simcoe shouted; "we shall have to make a stand at
+the boat and shall want every barrel."</p>
+
+<p>They were three-quarters of the way to the boat and the natives were
+still some twenty yards behind them. Suddenly Bill stumbled; then with a
+savage oath he turned and emptied both barrels of his fowling-piece into
+the natives, and the two leading men fell forward on their faces, and
+some shouts and yells told that some of the shots had taken effect on
+those behind.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you wounded, Bill?" Simcoe asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am hit hard. Run on, man; I think I am done for."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" Simcoe exclaimed. "Catch hold of my arm; I will help you
+along."</p>
+
+<p>One native was in advance of the rest. He raised his arm to hurl his
+spear, but the native woman, who had all along been running behind
+Simcoe, threw herself forward, and the spear pierced her through the
+body. With an exclamation of fury Simcoe leveled his musket and shot the
+native through the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Throw your arms round my neck, Bill; the poor girl is done for, curse
+them. Can you hold on?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think so," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>Simcoe was a very powerful man, and with his comrade on his back he ran
+on almost as swiftly as before.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Atkins, give them every barrel that you have got, then lift Bill
+into the boat, and I will keep them back. I am not going until I have
+paid some of them out for poor Polly."</p>
+
+<p>Atkins fired his pistols, and with so steady an aim that each shot
+brought down a savage; then he lifted Bill from Simcoe's shoulders and
+laid him in the canoe.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up the sail!" Simcoe shouted. "They will riddle us with spears if
+we paddle." He shot down four of the natives with his double-barreled
+pistols, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> clubbing his gun threw himself with a hoarse shout
+upon them. The loss of seven of their leaders had caused their followers
+to hesitate, and the fury of Simcoe's attack and the tremendous blows he
+dealt completed their discomfiture, and they turned and fled in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Now is your time!" Atkins shouted; "I have cut the cord and got the
+sail up." Turning, Simcoe was in a moment knee-deep in the water;
+pushing the boat off, he threw himself into it.</p>
+
+<p>"Lie down, man, lie down!" he shouted to Atkins. But the warning was too
+late; the moment Simcoe turned the natives had turned also, and as they
+reached the water's edge half a dozen spears were flung. Two of them
+struck Atkins full in the body, and with a cry he threw up his arms and
+fell over the side of the canoe. Then came several splashes in the
+water. Simcoe drew the pistols from his companion's belt, and, raising
+himself high enough to look over the stern, shot two of the savages who
+were wading out waist deep, and were but a few paces behind.</p>
+
+<p>The sail was now doing its work, and the boat was beginning to glide
+through the water at a rate that even the best swimmers could not hope
+to emulate. As soon as he was out of reach of the spears Simcoe threw
+the boat up into the wind, reloaded his pistols and those of his
+comrade, and opened fire upon the group of natives clustered at the
+water's edge. Like most men of his class, he was a first-rate shot.
+Three of the natives fell and the rest fled. Then with a stroke of the
+paddle he put the boat before the wind again, and soon left the island
+far behind.</p>
+
+<p>"This has been a pretty night's work," he muttered. "Poor little Polly
+killed! She gave her life to save me, and there is no doubt she did save
+me too, for that fellow's spear must have gone right through me. I am
+afraid that they have done for Bill too." He stooped over his comrade.
+The shaft of the spear had broken off, but the jagged piece with the
+head attached stuck out just over the hip. "I am afraid it is all up
+with him; however, I must take it out and bandage him as well as I
+can."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A groan burst from the wounded man as Simcoe with some effort drew the
+jagged spear from the wound. Then he took off his own shirt and tore
+some strips off it and tightly bandaged the wound.</p>
+
+<p>"I can do nothing else until the morning," he said. "Well, Polly, I have
+paid them out for you. I have shot seven or eight and smashed the skulls
+of as many more. Of course they have done for those drunkards on board
+the brig. I did not hear a single pistol fired, and I expect that they
+knocked them on the head in their drunken sleep. The brutes! if they had
+had their senses about them we might have made a fair fight; though I
+expect that they would have been too many for us."</p>
+
+<p>Just as daylight was breaking Bill opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you feel, old man?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am going, Simcoe. You stood by me like a man; I heard it all till
+Atkins laid me in the boat. Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is gone, Bill. Instead of throwing himself down in the boat, as I
+shouted to him directly he got up the sail, he stood there watching, I
+suppose, until I was in. He got two spears in his body and fell
+overboard dead, I have no doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Sim!" The latter had to bend down his ear to listen. The
+words came faintly and slowly. "If you ever go back home again, you look
+up my brother. He is no more on the square than I was, but he is a
+clever fellow. He lives respectable&mdash;Rose Cottage, Pentonville Hill.
+Don't forget it. He goes by the name of Harrison. I wrote to him every
+two or three years, and got an answer about the same. Tell him how his
+brother Bill died, and how you carried him off when the blacks were
+yelling round. We were fond of each other, Tom and I. You keep the
+pearls, Sim; he don't want them. He is a top-sawyer in his way, he is,
+and has offered again and again that if I would come home he would set
+me up in any line I liked. I thought perhaps I should go home some day.
+Tom and I were great friends. I remember&mdash;&mdash;" His eyelids drooped, his
+lips moved, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> another minute no sounds came from them. He gave one
+deep sigh, and then all was over.</p>
+
+<p>"A good partner and a good chum," Simcoe muttered as he looked down into
+the man's face. "Well, well, I have lost a good many chums in the last
+ten years, but not one I missed as I shall miss Bill. It is hard, he and
+Polly going at the same time. There are not many fellows that I would
+have lain down to sleep with, with fifteen hundred pounds' or so worth
+of pearls in my belt, not out in these islands. But I never had any fear
+with him. Well, well," he went on, as he took the bag of pearls from his
+comrade's belt and placed it in his own, "There is a consolation
+everywhere, though we might have doubled and trebled this lot if we had
+stopped three months longer, which we should have done if Atkins had not
+brought that brig of his in. I can't think why he did it. He might have
+been sure that with that drunken lot of villains trouble would come of
+it sooner or later. He wasn't a bad fellow either, but too fond of
+liquor."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>A DEAF GIRL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Yes, Lady Moulton, I will undertake the gypsy tent business at your
+fête; that is to say, I will see to the getting up of the tent, provide
+a gypsy for you, and someone to stand at the door and let in one visitor
+at a time and receive the money. Do you mean to make it a fixed charge,
+or leave it to each to pay the gypsy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Which do you think will be best, Hilda? Of course the great thing is to
+get as much money for the decayed ladies as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say that it would be best to let them give what they like to
+the gypsy, Lady Moulton."</p>
+
+<p>"But she might keep some of it herself."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I can guarantee that she won't do that; I will get a dependable
+gypsy. You see, you could not charge above a shilling entrance, and very
+likely she would get a good deal more than that given to her."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, I leave it all to you. Spare no expense about the tent
+and its fitting up. I have set my heart upon the affair being a success,
+and I think everything else has been most satisfactorily arranged. It is
+a very happy thought of yours about the gypsy; I hope that you will find
+a clever one. But you must mind and impress upon her that we don't want
+any evil predictions. Nothing could be in worse taste. It is all very
+well when a girl is promised a rich husband and everything to match, but
+if she were told that she would never get married, or would die young,
+or something of that sort, it would be a most unpleasant business."</p>
+
+<p>"I quite agree with you, and will see that everything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> shall be 'couleur
+de rose' as to the future, and that she shall confine herself as much as
+possible to the past and present."</p>
+
+<p>"I leave it in your hands, and I am sure that it will be done nicely."</p>
+
+<p>Lady Moulton was a leading member of society, a charming woman with a
+rich and indulgent husband. Her home was a pleasant one, and her balls
+were among the most popular of the season. She had, as her friends said,
+but one failing, namely, her ardor for "The Society for Affording Aid to
+Decayed Ladies." It was on behalf of this institution that she was now
+organizing a fête in the grounds of her residence at Richmond. Hilda
+Covington was an orphan and an heiress, and was the ward of her uncle,
+an old Indian officer, who had been a great friend of Lady Moulton's
+father. She had been ushered into society under her ladyship's auspices.
+She had, however, rather forfeited that lady's favorable opinion by
+refusing two or three unexceptionable offers.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," she remonstrated, "no girl can afford to throw away such
+chances, even if she is, as you are, well endowed, pretty, and clever."</p>
+
+<p>The girl laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not aware that I am clever at all, Lady Moulton. I speak German
+and French perfectly, because I have been four or five years in Hanover;
+but beyond that I am not aware of possessing any special
+accomplishments."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are clever, my dear," the other said decidedly. "The way you
+seem to understand people's characters astonishes me. Sometimes it seems
+to me that you are almost a witch."</p>
+
+<p>"You are arguing against yourself," the girl laughed. "If I am such a
+good judge of character I am not likely to make a mistake in such an
+important matter as choosing a husband for myself."</p>
+
+<p>Lady Moulton was silenced, but not convinced; however, she had good
+sense enough to drop the subject. General Mathieson had already told her
+that although he should not interfere in any way with any choice Hilda<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+might make, he should make it an absolute condition that she should not
+marry until she came of age; and as she was at present but eighteen,
+many things might occur in the three years' interval.</p>
+
+<p>On her return home, after arranging to provide a gypsy for Lady
+Moulton's fête, Hilda related what had occurred to a girl friend who was
+staying with her.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, Netta, I mean to be the gypsy myself; but you must help me.
+It would never do for me to be suspected of being the sorceress, and so
+you must be my double, so that I can, from time to time, go out and mix
+with the crowd. A few minutes at a time will do."</p>
+
+<p>The other laughed. "But what should I say to them, Hilda?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it is as easy as A B C. All that you will have to do is to speak
+ambiguously, hint at coming changes, foresee a few troubles in the way,
+and prophesy a happy solution of the difficulties. I will take upon
+myself the business of surprising them, and I fancy that I shall be able
+to astonish a few of them so much that even if some do get only
+commonplaces we shall make a general sensation. Of course, we must get
+two disguises. I shall have a small tent behind the other where I can
+change. It won't take a moment&mdash;a skirt, and a shawl to go over my head
+and partly hide my face, can be slipped on and off in an instant. Of
+course I shall have a black wig and some sort of yellow wash that can be
+taken off with a damp towel. I shall place the tent so that I can leave
+from behind without being noticed. As we shall have the tent a good deal
+darkened there will be no fear of the differences between the two
+gypsies being discovered, and, indeed, people are not likely to compare
+notes very closely."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose you will have your way as usual, Hilda."</p>
+
+<p>"I like that!" the other said, with a laugh. "You were my guide and
+counselor for five years, and now you pretend that I always have my own
+way. Why, I cannot even get my own way in persuading you to come and
+settle over here. I am quite sure that you would get lots of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> pupils,
+when people understand the system and its advantages."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all very well, Hilda, but, you see, in the first place I have
+no friends here except yourself, and in the second it requires a good
+deal of money to get up an establishment and to wait until one gets
+pupils. My aunt would, I know, put in the money she saved when you were
+with us if I were to ask her, but I wouldn't do so. To begin with, she
+regards that as my fortune at her death. She has said over and over
+again how happy the knowledge makes her that I shall not be left
+absolutely penniless, except, of course, what I can get for the house
+and furniture, and I would do anything rather than sell that. She admits
+that I might keep myself by teaching deaf children, but, as she says, no
+one can answer for their health. I might have a long illness that would
+throw me out. I might suddenly lose a situation, say, from the death of
+a pupil, and might be a long time before I could hear of another. She
+said to me once, 'I do hope, Netta, you will never embark one penny of
+the little money that will come to you in any sort of enterprise or
+speculation, however promising it may look.' We had been talking of
+exactly the plan that you are now speaking of. 'The mere furnishing of a
+house in England large enough to take a dozen children would swallow up
+a considerable sum. At first you might have to wait some time till you
+could obtain more than two or three children, and there would be the
+rent and expenses going on, and you might find yourself without money
+and in debt before it began to pay its way; therefore I do hope that you
+will keep the money untouched except to meet your expenses in times of
+illness or of necessity of some kind. If you can save up money
+sufficient to start an establishment, it will, I think, be a good thing,
+especially if you could secure the promise of four or five pupils to
+come to you at once. If in a few years you should see your way to insure
+starting with enough pupils to pay your way, and I am alive at the time,
+I would draw out enough to furnish the house and will look after it for
+you.' That was a great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> concession on her part, but I certainly would
+not let her do it, for she is so happy in her home now, and I know that
+she would worry herself to death."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Netta, you know I am still ready to become the capitalist."</p>
+
+<p>Both girls laughed merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, Netta?" the speaker went on. "I know you said that you would
+not accept money as a loan even from me, which, as I told you, was very
+stupid and very disagreeable, but there is no reason why we should not
+do it in a business way. Other women go into business, why shouldn't I?
+As you know, I can't absolutely touch my money until I come of age, and
+it is nearly three years before that; still, I feel sure that the
+General would let me have some money, and we could start the Institute.
+It would be great fun. Of course, in the first place, you would be
+principal, or lady superintendent, or whatever you like to call
+yourself, and you would draw, say, five hundred pounds a year. After
+that we could divide the profits."</p>
+
+<p>Again both girls laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"And that is what you call a business transaction?" the other said. "I
+know that your guardian is very kind, and indeed spoils you altogether,
+but I don't think that you would get him to advance you money for such a
+scheme."</p>
+
+<p>"I am really in earnest, Netta."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't say that you would not do it, if you could. However, I
+think, anyhow, we had better wait until you come of age. There is plenty
+of time. I am only twenty yet, and even in three years' time I doubt
+whether I should quite look the character of professor or lady
+superintendent."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, directly I get of age I shall carry out my part of the plan,"
+Hilda said positively, "and if you are disagreeable and won't do as I
+want you, I shall write to the professor and ask him to recommend a
+superintendent."</p>
+
+<p>The other laughed again.</p>
+
+<p>"You would have a difficulty, Hilda. You and I are,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> so far, the only
+two English girls who have learned the system, and either your
+superintendent would have to learn English or all her pupils would have
+to learn German."</p>
+
+<p>"We will not discuss it further at present, Miss Purcell," Hilda said
+with dignity. "Oh, dear, those were happy days we had in that dear old
+house, with its pretty garden, when you were thirteen and I was eleven.
+I have got a great deal of fun from it since. One gets such curious
+little scraps of conversation."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the people do not know what you learned over with us?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed; as you know, it was not for a year after I came back that I
+became altogether the General's ward, and my dear mother said to me just
+before she died, 'It would be better for you, dear, not to say anything
+about that curious accomplishment of yours. I know that you would never
+use it to any harm, but if people knew it they would be rather afraid of
+you.' Uncle said the same thing directly I got here. So of course I have
+kept it to myself, and indeed if they had not said so I should never
+have mentioned it, for it gives me a great deal of amusement."</p>
+
+<p>When Hilda Covington was ten years old, she had, after a severe attack
+of scarlet fever, lost her hearing, and though her parents consulted the
+best specialists of the time, their remedies proved of no avail, and at
+last they could only express a hope, rather than an opinion, that in
+time, with added health and strength, nature might repair the damage. A
+year after her illness Mr. Covington heard of an aurist in Germany who
+had a European reputation, and he and Mrs. Covington took Hilda over to
+him. After examining her he said, "The mischief is serious, but not, I
+think, irreparable. It is a case requiring great care both as to
+dieting, exercise, and clothing. If it could be managed I should like to
+examine her ears once a fortnight, or once a month at the least. I have
+a house here where my patients live when under treatment, but I should
+not for a moment advise her being placed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> there. A child, to keep in
+good health, requires cheerful companions. If you will call again
+to-morrow I will think the matter over and let you know what I
+recommend."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. and Mrs. Covington retired much depressed. His opinion was, perhaps,
+a little more favorable than any that they had received, but the thought
+that their only child must either make this considerable journey once a
+month or live there altogether was very painful to them. However, on
+talking it over, they agreed that it was far better that she should
+reside in Hanover for a time, with the hope of coming back cured, than
+that she should grow up hopelessly deaf.</p>
+
+<p>"It will only be as if she were at school here," Mr. Covington said.
+"She will no doubt be taught to talk German and French, and even if she
+is never able to converse in these languages, it will add to her
+pleasures if she can read them."</p>
+
+<p>The next day when they called upon the doctor he said, "If you can bring
+yourself to part with the child, I have, I think, found the very thing
+to suit her. In the first place you must know that there is in the town
+an establishment, conducted by a Professor Menzel, for the instruction
+of deaf mutes. It is quite a new system, and consists in teaching them
+to read from the lips of persons speaking to them the words that they
+are saying. The system is by no means difficult for those who have
+still, like your daughter, the power of speech, and who have lost only
+their hearing. But even those born deaf and dumb have learned to be able
+to converse to a certain degree, though their voices are never quite
+natural, for in nine cases out of ten deaf mutes are mutes only because
+they have never learned to use their tongue. However, happily that is
+beside the question in your daughter's case. I hope that she will regain
+her hearing; but should this unfortunately not be the case, it will at
+least be a great mitigation to her position to be able to read from the
+lips of those who address her what is said, and therefore to converse
+like an ordinary person. I can assure you that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> many of Herr Menzel's
+pupils can converse so easily and rapidly that no one would have the
+least idea of the misfortune from which they suffer, as in fact they
+feel no inconvenience beyond the fact that they are not aware of being
+addressed by anyone standing behind them, or whose face they do not
+happen to be watching."</p>
+
+<p>"That would indeed be a blessing!" Mrs. Covington exclaimed. "I never
+heard of such a system."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is quite new, but as to its success there can be no question. I
+called upon Professor Menzel last evening. He said that as your daughter
+did not understand German the difficulties of her tuition would be very
+great. He has, however, among his pupils a young English girl two years
+older than your daughter. She lives with a maiden aunt, who has
+established herself here in order that her niece might have the benefit
+of learning the new system. Here is her name and address. The professor
+has reason to believe that her income is a small one, and imagines that
+she would gladly receive your daughter as a boarder. Her niece, who is a
+bright girl, would be a pleasant companion, and, moreover, having in the
+two years that she has been here made very great progress, she would be
+able to commence your daughter's education by conversing with her in
+English, and could act as her teacher in German also; and so soon as the
+language was fairly mastered your daughter could then become a pupil of
+the professor himself."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be an excellent plan indeed," Mrs. Covington said, and her
+husband fully agreed with her. The doctor handed her a slip of paper
+with the name, "Miss Purcell, 2nd Etage, 5 Koenigstrasse."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda had already been informed by the finger alphabet, which had been
+her means of communication since her illness, of the result of the
+conversation with the doctor on the previous day, and although she had
+cried at the thought of being separated from her father and mother, she
+had said that she would willingly bear anything if there was a hope of
+her regaining her hearing. She had watched earnestly the conversation
+between the doctor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> and her parents, and when the former had left and
+they explained what was proposed, her face brightened up.</p>
+
+<p>"That will be very nice," she exclaimed, "and if I could but learn to
+understand in that way what people say, instead of watching their
+fingers (and some of them don't know the alphabet, and some who do are
+so slow that one loses all patience), it would be delightful."</p>
+
+<p>Before going to see Miss Purcell, Mr. and Mrs. Covington talked the
+matter over together, and they agreed that, if Miss Purcell were the
+sort of person with whom Hilda could be happy, no plan could be better
+than that proposed.</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly would not be nice for her," Mrs. Covington said, "to be
+living on a second floor in a street; she has always been accustomed to
+be so much in the open air, and as the doctors all agree that much
+depends upon her general health, I am sure it will be quite essential
+that she should be so now. I think that we should arrange to take some
+pretty little house with a good garden, just outside the town, and
+furnish it, and that Miss Purcell and her niece should move in there. Of
+course we should pay a liberal sum for board, and if she would agree, I
+should say that it would be best that we should treat the house as ours
+and should pay the expenses of keeping it up altogether. I don't suppose
+she keeps a servant at present, and there are many little luxuries that
+Hilda has been accustomed to. Then, of course, we would pay so much to
+the niece for teaching Hilda German and beginning to teach her this
+system. I don't suppose the whole thing would cost more than three
+hundred pounds a year."</p>
+
+<p>"The expense is nothing," Mr. Covington said. "We could afford it if it
+were five times the amount. I think your idea is a very good one, and we
+could arrange for her to have the use of a pony-carriage for two or
+three hours a day whenever she was disposed. The great thing is for her
+to be healthy and happy."</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes after they started with Hilda to see Miss Purcell, after
+having explained to her the plan they proposed. At this she was greatly
+pleased. The thought of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> a little house all to themselves and a girl
+friend was a great relief to her, and she looked brighter and happier
+than she had done since she had lost her hearing. When they knocked at
+the door of the apartment on the second floor, it was opened by a
+bright-faced girl of thirteen.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Miss Purcell's, is it not?" Mrs. Covington asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am," the girl replied, with a slight expression of surprise
+which showed that visitors were very rare.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you give my card to her and say that we shall be glad if she will
+allow us a few minutes' conversation with her?"</p>
+
+<p>The girl went into the room and returned in a minute or two. "Will you
+come in?" she said. "My aunt will be glad to see you."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Purcell was a woman of some fifty years old, with a pleasant,
+kindly face. The room was somewhat poorly furnished, but everything was
+scrupulously neat and tidy, and there was an air of comfort pervading
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"We have called, Miss Purcell," Mrs. Covington began, "in consequence of
+what we have learned from Dr. Hartwig, whom we have come over to
+consult, and who has been good enough to see Professor Menzel. He has
+learned from him that your niece here is acquiring the system of
+learning to understand what is said by watching the lips of speakers.
+The doctor is of opinion that our daughter may in time outgrow the
+deafness that came on a year ago, after scarlet fever, but he wishes her
+to remain under his eye, and he suggested that it would be well that she
+should learn the new system, so that in case she does not recover her
+hearing she would still be able to mingle with other people. Hilda is
+delicate, and it is necessary that she should have a cheerful home;
+besides which she could not begin to learn the system until she had
+become familiar with German. The doctor suggested that if we could
+persuade you to do us the great kindness of taking her under your charge
+it would be the best possible arrangement."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I should be glad to do so, madam, but I fear that I could not
+accommodate her, for it is a mere closet that my niece sleeps in, and
+the other apartments on this floor are all occupied. Were it not for
+that I should certainly be glad to consider the matter. It would be
+pleasant to Netta to have a companion, for it is but dull work for her
+alone with me. We have few acquaintances. I do not mind saying frankly
+that my means are straitened, and that I cannot indulge her with many
+pleasures. She is a grandniece of mine; her father died some years ago,
+her mother three years since, and naturally she came to me. Shortly
+after, she lost her hearing through measles. Just at that time I
+happened to hear from a German workman of the institution which had been
+started in this town, of which he was a native. I had no ties in
+England, and as I heard that living was cheap there, and that the fees
+were not large, I decided to come over and have her taught this new
+system, which would not only add greatly to her own happiness, but would
+give her the means of earning her livelihood when she grew up; for
+although I have a small pension, as my father was an Excise officer,
+this, of course, will expire at my death."</p>
+
+<p>"Happily, Miss Purcell, we are in a position to say that money is no
+object to us. Hilda is our only child. We have talked it over, of
+course, and will tell you exactly what we propose, and I hope that you
+will fall in with the arrangement."</p>
+
+<p>She then stated the plan that she and her husband had discussed.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," she went on, "you would, in fact, be mistress of the house,
+and would have the entire management of everything as if it was your
+own. We are entirely ignorant of the cost of living here, or we might
+have proposed a fixed monthly payment for the expenses of servants and
+outgoings, and would still do that if you would prefer it, though we
+thought that it would be better that you should, at the end of each
+month, send us a line saying what the disbursements had been. We would
+wish everything done on a liberal scale. Hilda has little appetite,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> and
+it will, for a time, want tempting. However, that matter we could leave
+to you. We propose to pay a hundred a year to you for your personal
+services as mistress of the house, and fifty pounds to your niece as
+Hilda's companion and instructor in German and in the system, until she
+understands the language well enough to attend Professor Menzel's
+classes. If the house we take has a stable we should keep a pony and a
+light carriage, and a big lad or young man to look after it and drive,
+and to keep the garden in order in his spare time. I do hope, Miss
+Purcell, that you will oblige us by falling in with our plans. If you
+like we can give you a day to consider them."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not require a minute," she replied; "my only hesitation is because
+the terms that you offer are altogether too liberal."</p>
+
+<p>"That is our affair," Mrs. Covington said. "We want a comfortable, happy
+home for our child, and shall always feel under a deep obligation to you
+if you will consent."</p>
+
+<p>"I do consent most willingly and gratefully. The arrangement will be a
+delightful one for me, and I am sure for Netta."</p>
+
+<p>Netta, who had been standing where she could watch the lips of both
+speakers, clapped her hands joyously. "Oh, auntie, it will be splendid!
+Fancy having a house, and a garden, and a pony-chaise!"</p>
+
+<p>"You understand all we have been saying then, Netta?"</p>
+
+<p>"I understand it all," the girl replied. "I did not catch every word,
+but quite enough to know all that you were saying."</p>
+
+<p>"That certainly is a proof of the goodness of the system," Mr. Covington
+said, speaking for the first time. "How long have you been learning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Eighteen months, sir. We have been here two years, but I was six months
+learning German before I knew enough to begin, and for the next six
+months I could not get on very fast, as there were so many words that I
+did not know, so that really I have only been a year at it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> The
+professor says that in another year I shall be nearly perfect and fit to
+begin to teach; and he has no doubt that he will be able to find me a
+situation where I can teach in the daytime and still live with my aunt."</p>
+
+<p>In a week the necessary arrangements were all made. A pretty, furnished
+house, a quarter of a mile out of town, with a large garden and stables,
+had been taken, and Netta and Hilda had already become friends, for as
+the former had learned to talk with her fingers before she came out she
+was able to keep up her share of the conversation by that means while
+Hilda talked in reply.</p>
+
+<p>"The fingers are useful as a help at first," Netta said, "but Professor
+Menzel will not allow any of his pupils to use their fingers, because
+they come to rely upon them instead of watching the lips."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GYPSY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. and Mrs. Covington remained for a week after Hilda was installed
+with the Purcells in their new home. To her the house with its garden
+and pretty pony-carriage and pony were nothing remarkable, but Netta's
+enjoyment in all these things amused her, and the thought that she, too,
+would some day be able to talk and enjoy life as her companion did,
+greatly raised her spirits. Her father and mother were delighted at
+hearing her merry laugh mingled with that of Netta as they walked
+together in the garden, and they went home with lighter hearts and more
+hopeful spirits than they had felt since the child's illness began.</p>
+
+<p>Every three or four months&mdash;for a journey to Hanover was a longer and
+more serious business in 1843 than it is at present&mdash;they went over to
+spend a week there. There could be no doubt from the first that the
+change was most beneficial to Hilda. Her cheeks regained their color and
+her limbs their firmness. She lost the dull look and the apathy to
+whatever was going on around her that had before distressed them. She
+progressed very rapidly in her study of German, and at the end of six
+months her conversations with Netta were entirely carried on in that
+language. She had made some little progress in reading from her
+companion's lips and had just entered at Herr Menzel's academy. She
+could now take long walks with Netta, and every afternoon, or, as summer
+came on, every evening, they drove together in the pony-chaise. With
+renewed health and strength there had been some slight improvement in
+her hearing. She could now faintly distinguish any loud sounds, such as
+those of the band of a regiment marching past her or a sudden peal of
+bells.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I think that we shall make an eventual cure," Dr. Hartwig said. "It
+will be slow, and possibly her hearing may never be absolutely good; but
+at least we may hope that she may be able to eventually hear as well as
+nine people out of ten."</p>
+
+<p>In another year she could, indeed, though with difficulty, hear voices,
+and when she had been at Hanover three years her cure was almost
+complete, and she now went every morning to school to learn French and
+music. She herself was quite content to remain there. She was very happy
+in her life and surroundings, and could now read with the greatest
+facility from the lips, and indeed preferred watching a speaker's mouth
+to listening to the voice. It was a source of endless amusement to her
+that she could, as she and Netta walked through the streets, read scraps
+of conversation between persons on the other side of the street or
+passing in carriages.</p>
+
+<p>Another six months and both the doctor and Professor Menzel said that
+they could do nothing more for her. She was still somewhat hard of
+hearing; but not enough so to be noticeable; while she could with her
+eyes follow the most rapid speaker, and the Professor expressed his
+regret that so excellent an example of the benefit of his system should
+not be in circumstances that would compel her to make a living by
+becoming a teacher in it. Netta was now a paid assistant at the
+institution.</p>
+
+<p>The end of what had been a very happy time to Hilda came abruptly and
+sadly, for three weeks before the date when her parents were to come
+over to take her home, Miss Purcell, on opening a letter that came just
+as they had finished breakfast, said, after sitting silent for a few
+minutes, "You need not put on your things, Hilda; you cannot go to
+school this morning; I have some bad news, dear&mdash;very bad news."</p>
+
+<p>The tone of voice in which she spoke, even more than the words, sent a
+chill into the girl's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, aunt?" she said, for she had from the first used the same
+term as Netta in addressing her.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father has had a serious illness, my dear&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> very, very serious
+and sudden illness, and your mother wishes you to go home at once."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda looked at her with frightened, questioning eyes, while every
+vestige of color left her cheeks. "Is he&mdash;is he&mdash;&mdash;" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is an inclosure for you," Miss Purcell said, as she got up, and
+taking Hilda's hand in one of hers drew her with the other arm close to
+her; "your mother wrote to me that I might prepare you a little before
+giving it to you. A terrible misfortune has happened. Your dear father
+is dead. He died suddenly of an affection of the heart."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no; it cannot be!" Hilda cried.</p>
+
+<p>"It is true, my dear. God has taken him. You must be strong and brave,
+dear, for your mother's sake."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my poor mother, my poor mother!" Hilda cried, bursting into a
+sudden flood of tears, "what will she do!"</p>
+
+<p>It was not until some time afterwards that she was sufficiently composed
+to read her mother's letter, which caused her tears to flow afresh.
+After giving the details of her father's death, it went on:</p>
+
+<p>"I have written to your uncle, General Mathieson, who is, I know,
+appointed one of the trustees, and is joined with me as your guardian. I
+have asked him to find and send over a courier to fetch you home, and no
+doubt he will arrive a day or two after you receive this letter. So
+please get everything ready to start at once, when he comes."</p>
+
+<p>Two days later General Mathieson himself arrived, accompanied by a
+courier. It was a great comfort to Hilda that her uncle had come for her
+instead of a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very kind of you to come yourself, uncle," she said as she threw
+herself crying into his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I should come, dear," he said. "Who should fetch you except
+your uncle? I had to bring a courier with me, for I don't understand any
+of their languages, and he will take all trouble off my hands. Now let
+me look at your face." It was a pale, sad little face<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> that was lifted
+up, but two days of sorrow had not obliterated the signs of health and
+well-being.</p>
+
+<p>"Whiter than it ought to be," he said, "but clear and healthy, and very
+different from what it was when I saw you before you came out. You have
+grown wonderfully, child. Really, I should hardly have known you again."</p>
+
+<p>And so he kept on for two or three minutes, to allow her to recover
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, dear, you must take me in and introduce me to your kind friends
+here."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda led the way into the sitting room.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard so much of you and your niece, Miss Purcell," he said as
+he shook hands with her, "that I do do not feel that you are a stranger.
+You certainly seem to have worked wonders between you for my niece, and
+I must own that in the first place I thought it a mistake her being here
+by herself, for I had no belief that either her hearing would be
+restored or that she would ever be able to follow what people were
+saying by only staring at their lips."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, Hanover has agreed with her, sir, and it is only a small
+part of the credit that is due to us."</p>
+
+<p>"I must differ from you entirely, madam. If she had not been perfectly
+happy here with you, she would never have got on as she has done."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any luggage, sir? Of course you will stay with us to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you, Miss Purcell. We have already been to the Kaiserhof, and
+long before this my courier will have taken rooms and made every
+preparation for me. You see, I am accustomed to smoke at all times, and
+could not think of scenting a house, solely inhabited by ladies, with
+tobacco. Now, if you will excuse me, I will ask Hilda to put on her
+bonnet and take a stroll with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be very glad for her to do so. It is just getting cool and
+pleasant for walking, and half an hour in the fresh air will do her
+good."</p>
+
+<p>It was an hour before they returned. General Mathieson had gently told
+her all there was to tell of her father's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> death, and turning from that
+he spoke of her mother, and how nobly she was bearing her troubles, and
+erelong her tears, which had burst out anew, flowed more quietly, and
+she felt comforted. Presently she said suddenly:</p>
+
+<p>"What is going to be done here, uncle? I have been thinking over that
+ever since it was settled that I was to come home next month, and I am
+sure that, although she has said nothing about it, Miss Purcell has felt
+the change that is coming. She said the other day, 'I shall not go back
+to the apartments where you found us, Hilda. You see, we are a great
+deal better off than we were before. In the first place I have had
+nothing whatever to spend, and during the four years the ridiculously
+liberal sum paid to Netta and myself has been all laid aside and has
+mounted up to six hundred pounds. My pension of eighty pounds a year has
+also accumulated, with the exception of a small sum required for our
+clothes, so that in fact I have nearly a thousand pounds laid by. Netta
+is earning thirty pounds a year at the Institute; with that and my
+pension and the interest on money saved we shall get on very
+comfortably.' I should not like, uncle, to think of them in a little
+stuffy place in the town. Having a nice garden and everything
+comfortable has done a great deal for Miss Purcell. Netta told me that
+she was very delicate before, and that she is quite a different woman
+since she came out here from the town. You cannot tell how kind she has
+always been. If I had been her own child, she could not have been more
+loving. In fact, no one could have told by her manner that she was not
+my mother and Netta my sister."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear, I ran down to your mother before starting to fetch you to
+help in the arrangements, and she spoke about Miss Purcell. Under
+ordinary circumstances, of course, at the end of the four years that you
+have been here the house would be given up and she would, as you say, go
+into a much smaller place; but your mother does not consider that these
+are ordinary circumstances, and thinks that her care and kindness have
+had quite as much to do with the improvement in your health as has the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+doctor. Of course we had no time to come to any definite plan, but she
+has settled that things are to go on here exactly as at present, except
+that your friend Netta will not be paid for acting as companion to you.
+I am to tell Miss Purcell that with that exception everything is to go
+on as before, and that your mother will need a change, and will probably
+come out here in a month or so for some time."</p>
+
+<p>"Does she really mean that, uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, and the idea is an excellent one. After such a shock as she
+has had an entire change of scene will be most valuable; and as she
+knows Miss Purcell well, and you like the place very much, I don't think
+that any better plan could be hit upon. I dare say she will stay here
+two or three months, and you can continue your studies. At the end of
+that time I have no doubt some plan that will give satisfaction to all
+parties will be hit upon."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda returned to Hanover with her mother a month later. At the end of
+three months Mrs. Covington bought the house and presented the deeds to
+Miss Purcell, who had known nothing whatever of her intentions.</p>
+
+<p>"I could not think of accepting it," she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"But you cannot help accepting it, dear Miss Purcell; here are the deeds
+in your name. The house will be rather large for you at present, but in
+a few years, indeed in two or three years, Netta could begin to take a
+few pupils. As soon as she is ready to do so I shall, of course, mention
+it among my friends, and be able to send a few children, whose parents
+would be ready to pay well to have them taught this wonderful method of
+brightening their lives, which is at present quite unknown in England."</p>
+
+<p>So it was arranged; but a few months after her return to England Mrs.
+Covington, who had never altogether recovered from the shock of her
+husband's death, died after a short illness, and Hilda became an inmate
+of her uncle's house. Since that time three years had elapsed, and Hilda
+was now eighteen, and Netta was over for a two months' visit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The scene in the grounds of Lady Moulton's charming villa at Richmond, a
+fortnight after the conversation between that lady and Hilda, was a gay
+one. Everyone in society had been invited and there were but few
+refusals; the weather was lovely, and all agreed that even at Ascot the
+costumes were not brighter or more varied.</p>
+
+<p>Although the fête was especially on behalf of a charity, no admission
+fees were charged to guests, but everyone understood that it would be
+his duty to lay out money at the various picturesque tents scattered
+about under the trees. In these were all the most popular entertainers
+of the day. In one pavilion John Parry gave a short entertainment every
+half-hour. In a larger one Mario, Grisi, Jenny Lind, and Alboni gave
+short concerts, and high as were the prices of admission, there was
+never a seat vacant. Conjurers had a tent, electro-biologists&mdash;then the
+latest rage from the United States&mdash;held their séances, and at some
+distance from the others Richardson's booth was in full swing. The
+Grenadiers' band and a string band played alternately.</p>
+
+<p>Not the least attraction to many was the gypsy tent erected at the edge
+of a thick shrubbery, for it soon became rumored that the old gypsy
+woman there was no ordinary impostor, but really possessed of
+extraordinary powers of palmistry. Everything had been done to add to
+the air of mystery pervading the place. Externally it was but a long,
+narrow marquee. On entering, the inquirer was shown by an attendant to a
+seat in an apartment carpeted in red, with black hangings and black
+cloth lining the roof. From this hung a lamp, all other light being
+excluded. As each visitor came out from the inner apartment the next in
+order was shown in, and the heavy curtains shut off all sound of what
+was passing. Here sat an apparently aged gypsy on an old stump of a
+tree. A fire burned on the ground and a pot was suspended by a tripod
+over it; a hood above this carried the smoke out of the tent. The
+curtains here were red; the roof, as in the other compartment, black,
+but sprinkled with gold and silver stars. A stool was placed for the
+visitor close<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> enough to the gypsy for the latter to examine her hand by
+the light of two torches, which were fastened to a rough sapling stuck
+in the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Hilda possessed every advantage for making the most of the situation.
+Owing to her intimacy with Lady Moulton, and her experience for a year
+in the best London society, she knew all its gossip, while she had
+gathered much more than others knew from the conversations both of the
+dancers and the lookers-on.</p>
+
+<p>The first to enter was a young man who had been laughingly challenged by
+the lady he was walking with to go in and have his fortune told.</p>
+
+<p>"Be seated, my son," the old woman said; "give me your hand and a piece
+of money."</p>
+
+<p>With a smile he handed her half a sovereign. She crossed his palm with
+it and then proceeded attentively to examine the lines.</p>
+
+<p>"A fair beginning," she said, "and then troubles and difficulties. Here
+I see that, some three years back, there is the mark of blood; you won
+distinction in war. Then there is a cross-mark which would show a
+change. Some good fortune befell you. Then the lines darken. Things go
+from bad to worse as they proceed. You took to a vice&mdash;cards or
+horse-racing. Here are evil associates, but there is a white line that
+runs through them. There is a girl somewhere, with fair hair and blue
+eyes, who loves you, and whom you love, and whose happiness is imperiled
+by this vice and these associates. Beyond, there is another cross-line
+and signs of a conflict. What happens after will depend upon yourself.
+Either the white line and the true love will prove too powerful for the
+bad influences or these will end in ruin and&mdash;ah! sudden and violent
+death. Your future, therefore, depends upon yourself, and it is for you
+to say which influence must triumph. That is all."</p>
+
+<p>Without a word he went out.</p>
+
+<p>"You look pale, Mr. Desmond," the lady said when he rejoined her. "What
+has she told you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather not tell you, Mrs. Markham," he said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> seriously. "I
+thought it was going to be a joke, but it is very far from being one.
+Either the woman is a witch or she knew all about me personally, which
+is barely within the limits of possibility. At any rate she has given me
+something to think of."</p>
+
+<p>"I will try myself," the lady said; "it is very interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"I should advise you not to," he said earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" she laughed; "I have no superstitions. I will go in and hear
+what she has to say." And leaving him, she entered the tent.</p>
+
+<p>The gypsy examined her hand in silence. "I would rather not tell you
+what I see," she said as she dropped the hand. "Oh, ridiculous!" the
+lady exclaimed. "I have crossed your palm with gold, and I expect to get
+my money's worth," and she held out her hand again.</p>
+
+<p>The gypsy again examined it.</p>
+
+<p>"You stand at the crossing of the ways. There are two men&mdash;one dark,
+quiet, and earnest, who loves you. You love him, but not as he loves
+you; but your line of life runs smoothly until the other line, that of a
+brown man, becomes mixed up in it. He loves you too, with a hot,
+passionate love that would soon fade. You had a letter from him a day or
+two back. Last night, as he passed you in a dance, he whispered, 'I have
+not had an answer,' and the next time he passed you, you replied, 'You
+must give me another day or two.' Upon the answer you give the future of
+your life will depend. Here is a broad, fair line, and here is a short,
+jagged one, telling of terrible troubles and misery. It is for you to
+decide which course is to be yours."</p>
+
+<p>As she released her hold of the hand it dropped nerveless. The gypsy
+poured out a glass of water from a jug by her side, but her visitor
+waved it aside, and with a great effort rose to her feet, her face as
+pale as death.</p>
+
+<p>"My God!" she murmured to herself, "this woman is really a witch."</p>
+
+<p>"They do not burn witches now," the gypsy said; "I only read what I see
+on the palm. You cannot deny that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> what I have said is true. Stay a
+moment and drink a glass of wine; you need it before you go out."</p>
+
+<p>She took a bottle of wine from behind her seat, emptied the water on to
+the earth, half filled a tumbler, and held it out. The frightened woman
+felt that indeed she needed it before going out into the gay scene, and
+tossed it off.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you!" she said. "Whoever you are, I thank you. You have read my
+fate truly, and have helped me to decide it."</p>
+
+<p>Desmond was waiting for her when she came out, but she passed him with a
+gesture.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right!" she said. "She is a witch indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>Few other stories told were as tragic, but in nearly every case the
+visitors retired puzzled at the knowledge the gypsy possessed of their
+life and surroundings, and it soon became rumored that the old woman's
+powers were something extraordinary, and the little ante-room was kept
+filled with visitors waiting their turn for an audience. No one noticed
+the long and frequent absences of Hilda Covington from the grounds. The
+tent had been placed with its back hiding a small path through the
+shrubbery. Through a peep-hole arranged in the curtain she was able to
+see who was waiting, and each time before leaving said a few words as to
+their lives which enabled Netta to support the character fairly. When
+the last guest had departed and she joined Lady Moulton, she handed over
+a bag containing nearly a hundred pounds.</p>
+
+<p>"I have deducted five pounds for the gypsy," she said, "and eight pounds
+for the hire of the tent and its fittings."</p>
+
+<p>"That is at least five times as much as I expected, Hilda. I have heard
+all sorts of marvelous stories of the power of your old woman. Several
+people told me that she seemed to know all about them, and told them
+things that they believed were only known to themselves. But how did she
+get so much money?"</p>
+
+<p>Hilda laughed. "I hear that they began with half-sovereigns, but as soon
+as they heard of her real powers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> they did not venture to present her
+with anything less than a sovereign, and in a good many cases they gave
+more&mdash;no doubt to propitiate her into giving them good fortunes. You
+see, each visitor only had two or three minutes' interview, so that she
+got through from twenty to thirty an hour; and as it lasted four hours
+she did exceedingly well."</p>
+
+<p>"But who is the gypsy, and where did you find her?"</p>
+
+<p>"The gypsy has gone, and is doubtless by this time in some caravan or
+gypsy tent. I do not think that you will ever find her again."</p>
+
+<p>"I should have suspected that you played the gypsy yourself, Hilda, were
+it not that I saw you half a dozen times."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no skill in palmistry," the girl laughed, "and certainly have
+not been in two places at once. I did my duty and heard Jenny Lind sing
+and Parry play, though I own that I did not patronize Richardson's
+booth."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is extraordinary that this old woman should know the history
+of such a number of people as went into her tent, few of whom she could
+ever have heard of even by name, to say nothing of knowing them by
+sight."</p>
+
+<p>Several ladies called within the next few days, specially to inquire
+from Lady Moulton about the gypsy.</p>
+
+<p>"Everyone is talking about her," one said. "Certainly she told me
+several things about the past that it was hardly possible that a woman
+in her position could know. I have often heard that gypsies pick up
+information from servants, or in the country from village gossip; but at
+least a hundred people visited this woman's tent, and from what I hear
+everyone was as astonished as I was myself at her knowledge of their
+family matters. It is said that in some cases she went farther than
+this, and told them things about the present known only to themselves
+and two or three intimate friends. Some of them seemed to have been
+quite seriously affected. I saw Mrs. Markham just after she had left the
+tent, and she was as white as a sheet, and I know she drove away a few
+minutes afterwards."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To all inquiries Lady Moulton simply replied:</p>
+
+<p>"I know no more about the gypsy than you do. Miss Covington took the
+entire management of the gypsy tent off my hands, saw to the tent being
+erected, and engaged the gypsy. Where she picked her up I have no idea,
+but I fancy that she must have got her from their encampment on Ham
+Common. She turned the matter off when I asked her point-blank, and I
+imagine that she must have given the old crone a promise not to let it
+be known who she was. They are curious people, the gypsies, and for
+aught I know may have an objection to any of the tribe going to a
+gathering like ours to tell fortunes."</p>
+
+<p>Some appeals were made to Hilda personally; but Lady Moulton had told
+her the answer she had given, and taking her cue from it she was able to
+so shape her replies that her questioners left her convinced that she
+had really, while carrying out Lady Moulton's instructions, lighted on a
+gypsy possessing some of the secrets of the almost forgotten science of
+palmistry.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>A GAMBLING DEN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In a corner of one of the winding courts that lie behind Fleet Street
+stood a dingy-looking house, the lamp over the door bearing the words,
+"Billiards and Pool." During the daytime no one would be seen to enter
+save between the hours of twelve and two, when perhaps a dozen young
+fellows, after eating a frugal lunch, would resort there to pass their
+hour out of office in smoking and a game of billiards. Of an evening,
+however, there were lights in every window, and the click of balls could
+be heard from the ground floor and that above it. In each of these there
+were two tables, and the play continued uninterruptedly from seven until
+eleven or half-past.</p>
+
+<p>The lights on the second floor, however, often burned until two or three
+o'clock in the morning, and it was here that the proprietor reaped by
+far the larger proportion of his profits. While the billiard-room
+windows generally stood open, those of the large room on the second
+floor were never raised, and when the lights below were extinguished,
+heavy curtains were dropped across the windows to keep both the light
+and the sounds within from being seen or heard in the court below. Here
+was a large roulette table, while along the sides of the room were
+smaller tables for those who preferred other games. Here almost every
+evening some thirty or forty men assembled. Of these, perhaps a third
+were clerks or shop assistants, the remainder foreigners of almost every
+nationality. Betting lists were exposed at one end of the room.
+Underneath these a bookmaker had a small table, and carried on his
+trade.</p>
+
+<p>In 1851 there were a score of such places in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> neighborhood of the
+Strand and Fleet Street, but few did a larger business than this. It was
+generally understood that Wilkinson, the proprietor, had been a soldier;
+but the belief originated rather from his upright carriage and a certain
+soldierly walk than from anything he had himself said, and he was not
+the sort of man whom even the most regular of the frequenters of his
+establishment cared to question. He was a tall man, some five-and-forty
+years of age, taciturn in speech, but firm in manner while business was
+going on. He kept admirable order in the place. He was generally to be
+found in the room on the second floor, but when a whistle blew, and one
+of the markers whispered up a speaking-tube that there was a dispute
+going on between the players or lookers-on, he was at once upon the
+spot.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, gentlemen," he would say, interposing between them, "you know the
+rules of this establishment; the marker's decision on all points
+connected with the game is final, and must be accepted by both parties.
+I will have no quarrels or disputes here, and anyone making a row goes
+straight out into the street, and never comes in here again."</p>
+
+<p>In the vast majority of cases this settled the matter; but when the men
+were flushed with liquor, and inclined to continue the dispute, they
+were seized by the collar by Wilkinson's strong arm and were summarily
+ejected from the house. In the inner room he preserved order as
+strictly, but had much more difficulty in doing so among the foreign
+element. Here quarrels were not uncommon, and knives occasionally drawn;
+but Wilkinson was a powerful man and a good boxer, and a flush hit from
+the shoulder always settled the business.</p>
+
+<p>But though stern in the management of his establishment, Wilkinson was
+popular among its frequenters. He was acquainted with most of their
+callings and business. Indeed, none were admitted to the upper room
+unless well introduced by <i>habitués</i>, or until he had made private
+inquiries concerning them. Thus he knew among the foreigners whom he
+could trust, and how far, when, after a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> run of ill luck, they came to
+him and asked him for a loan, he could venture to go.</p>
+
+<p>With the English portion of his customers he was still more liberal. He
+knew that he should not be a loser from transactions with them; they
+must repay him, for were it known to their employers that they were in
+the habit of gambling, it would mean instant dismissal. There were among
+them several lawyers' clerks, some of whom were, in comparison with
+their means, deeply in debt to him. One or other of those he would often
+invite up to his private room on the floor above, where a bottle of good
+wine would be on the table, a box of excellent cigars beside it, and
+here they would chat more or less comfortably until the roulette room
+opened.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Wilkinson made no pretense that these meetings were simply for the
+purpose of drinking his wine and smoking his cigars. "I am a
+straightforward man," he would say, "and business is business. I oblige
+you, and I expect you to oblige me. I have always had a fancy that there
+is money to be made in connection with lawyers' businesses. There are
+missing heirs to be hunted up; there are provisos in deeds, of whose
+existence some one or other would give a good deal to know. Now, I am
+sure that you are not in a position to pay me the amount I have lent
+you, and for which I hold your I. O. U.'s. I have no idea of pressing
+you for the money, and shall be content to let it run on so long as you
+will let me know what is being done at your office. The arrangement is
+that you will tell me anything that you think can be used to advantage,
+and if money is made out of any information you may give me, I will
+engage to pay you a third of what it brings in. Now, I call that a fair
+bargain. What do you say?"</p>
+
+<p>In some cases the offer was closed with at once; in others it was only
+agreed to after threats that the debt must be at once paid or an
+application would be made forthwith. So far the gambling-house keeper's
+expectations had not met with the success he had looked for. He had
+spent a good deal of time in endeavoring to find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> the descendants of
+persons who stood in the direct line of succession to properties, but of
+whom all clew had been lost. He had indeed obtained an insight into
+various family differences that had enabled him to successfully extort
+blackmail, but his gains in this way had not, so far, recouped him for
+the sums he had, as he considered, invested in the speculation.</p>
+
+<p>He was, however, a patient man, and felt, no doubt, that sooner or later
+he should be able to make a coup that would set him up for life. Still
+he was disappointed; his idea had been the one held by many ignorant
+persons, that lawyers are as a class ready to resort to tricks of all
+kinds, in the interests of their clients or themselves. He had found
+that he had been altogether wrong, and that although there were a few
+firms which, working in connection with money-lenders, financial agents,
+and the lowest class of bill discounters, were mixed up in transactions
+of a more or less shady character, these were the black sheep of the
+profession, and that in the vast majority of cases the business
+transacted was purely technical and connected with the property of their
+clients. Nevertheless, he took copious notes of all he learned,
+contending that there was no saying what might come in useful some day.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Dawkins," he said one day to a dark-haired young fellow with a
+handsome face that already showed traces of the effect of late hours and
+dissipation, "I suppose it is the usual thing; the lawsuit as to the
+right of way at Brownsgrove is still going on, the settlements in Mr.
+Cochrane's marriage to Lady Gertrude Ivory are being drawn up, and other
+business of the same sort. You never give me a scrap of information that
+is of the slightest use. I am afraid that your firm is altogether too
+eminently respectable to have anything to do with doubtful
+transactions."</p>
+
+<p>"I told you so from the first, Wilkinson; that whatever your game might
+be, there would be nothing in our office that could be of the least use
+to you, even if you had copies of every deed drawn up in it. Ours is
+what you might call a family business. Our clients have for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> most
+part dealt with the firm for the last hundred years; that is to say,
+their families have. We have drawn their wills, their marriage
+settlements, their leases, and done everything relating to their
+property for years and years. My own work for the last two or three days
+has been drafting and engrossing the will of a General Mathieson, whose
+father and grandfather were our clients before him."</p>
+
+<p>"Mathieson&mdash;he is an old Indian officer, isn't he, if it is the man I
+mean? He was in command at Benares twenty years ago. He was a handsome
+man, then, about my height and build."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have no doubt that is the man&mdash;John Le Marchand Mathieson."</p>
+
+<p>"That is him. He was very popular with the troops. He used to spend a
+good deal of money in improving their rations and making them
+comfortable. Had a first-rate stable, and they used to say he was a rich
+man. Anyhow, he spent a good deal more than his pay."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he was a second son, but his elder brother died, and he came into
+the property; but instead of coming home to enjoy it he stopped out in
+India for years after he came into it."</p>
+
+<p>"He had a daughter, quite a little girl, in those days; her mother died
+out there. I suppose she inherits his property?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no; she married some time back; she and her husband are both
+dead, and their son, a boy, six or seven years old, lives with the old
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"How much does he leave?"</p>
+
+<p>"Something over a hundred thousand pounds. At least I know that that is
+about the value of the estates, for we have always acted as his agents,
+collected the rents, and so on."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to see a copy of his will," Wilkinson said, after sitting
+for some time silent. "I don't want all the legal jargon, but just the
+list of the legacies."</p>
+
+<p>"I can easily jot those down for you. The property goes to the grandson,
+and if he dies before coming of age, to a niece, Hilda Covington, who is
+his ward and lives with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> him. He leaves her beside only five hundred
+pounds, because she is herself an heiress. There are a score of small
+legacies, to old servants, soldiers, widows, and people of that sort."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you may as well give me the list entire."</p>
+
+<p>Dawkins shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Just as you like," he said; "the will was signed yesterday, but I have
+the note of instructions still by me, and will bring round the list
+to-morrow evening; though, upon my word, I don't see what interest it
+can possibly have for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know myself," the other said shortly, "but there is never any
+saying."</p>
+
+<p>After talking for a few minutes on other subjects he said, "The room is
+open downstairs now, Dawkins, and as we have finished the bottle I will
+not keep you any longer. In fact, the name of that old General has
+called up some queer memories of old times, and I should like to think
+them over."</p>
+
+<p>When the clerk had left, Wilkinson sat for a long time in thought.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a great idea," he murmured to himself at last; "it will want a
+tremendous lot of planning to arrange it all, and of course it is
+tremendously risky. Still, it can be done, and the stake is worth trying
+for, even if it would be seven years' transportation if anything went
+wrong. In the first place I have to get some proofs of my identity. I
+own that I have neglected my family scandalously," and his face, which
+had been stern and hard, softened into a smile. "Then, of course, I must
+establish myself in chambers in the West End, and as I have three or
+four thousand pounds in hand I can carry on for two or three years, if
+necessary. At the worst the General is likely to add me to his list of
+legatees, but of course that would scarcely be worth playing for alone.
+The will is the thing. I don't see my way to that, but it is hard if it
+can't be managed somehow. The child is, of course, an obstacle, but that
+can certainly be got over, and as I don't suppose the old man is going
+to die at present I have time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> to make my plans. When I see how matters
+go I can put my hand on a man who could be relied on to help me carry
+out anything I might put in his way. Well, I always thought that I
+should hit on something good through these young scamps who come here,
+but this is a bigger thing than I ever dreamed of. It will certainly be
+a difficult game to play, but, knocking about all over the world as I
+have been for fifteen years before I came back and set up this show, I
+think that I have learned enough to pass muster anywhere."</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat to the surprise of the <i>habitués</i> of the room below it was
+nearly eleven o'clock before the proprietor made his appearance there,
+and even when he did so he took little interest in what was going on,
+but moved restlessly from one room to another, smoking cigar after cigar
+without intermission, and acknowledging but briefly the greetings of
+those who were the most regular frequenters of his establishment.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later the following advertisement appeared, not only in the
+London papers, but in a large number of country journals:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">John Simcoe</span>: Any relatives of John Simcoe, who left England about
+the year 1830 or 1831, and is supposed to have been lost at sea in
+the Bay of Bengal, in the ship <i>Nepaul</i>, in December, 1832, are
+requested to communicate with J. W. Thompson &amp; Co., Newspaper
+Agents, Fleet Street, when they will hear of something to their
+advantage."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Only one reply was received. It was dated "Myrtle Cottage, Stowmarket,"
+and was as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>: A friend has shown me the advertisement in the Ipswich paper,
+which must, I think, refer to my nephew, who left here twenty years
+ago. I received a letter from him dated December 2, 1832, from
+Calcutta, saying that he was about to sail for China in the
+<i>Nepaul</i>. I never heard from him again, but the Rector here kindly
+made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> some inquiries for me some months afterwards, and learned
+that the vessel had never been heard of after sailing, but was
+believed to have foundered with all hands in a great gale that took
+place a few days after she sailed. So far as I know I am his only
+relative. Awaiting a further communication from you,</p>
+
+
+<p class="right">"I remain,<br />
+"Your obedient servant,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Martha Simcoe</span>."</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Great was the excitement caused by the advertisement at Myrtle Cottage.
+Miss Simcoe, who with a tiny servant was the sole inmate of the cottage,
+had called together all her female acquaintances, and consulted them as
+to what the advertisement could mean, and as to the way in which she
+should answer it.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think it would be safe to reply at all?" she inquired anxiously.
+"You see, my nephew John was a very wild young fellow. I do not mean as
+to his conduct here; no one could say anything against that. He was a
+clerk in the bank, you know, and, I believe, was very well thought of;
+but when his father died, and he came into two thousand pounds, it
+seemed to turn his head. I know that he never liked the bank; he had
+always wanted to be either a soldier or a sailor, and directly he got
+the money he gave up his situation at the bank, and nothing would do but
+that he must travel. Everyone told him that it was madness; his Aunt
+Maria&mdash;poor soul, you all knew her&mdash;and I cried over it, but nothing
+would move him. A fine-looking fellow he was, as some of you will
+remember, standing six feet high, and, as everyone said, looking more
+like a soldier officer than a clerk at a bank.</p>
+
+<p>"We asked him what he would do when his money was gone, but he laughed
+it off, and said that there were plenty of things for a man to do with a
+pair of strong arms. He said that he might enter the service of some
+Indian prince, or marry the daughter of a black king, or discover a
+diamond mine, and all sorts of nonsense of that sort. He bought such an
+outfit as you never did see&mdash;guns<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> and pistols and all sorts of things;
+and as for clothes, why, a prince could not have wanted more. Shirts by
+the dozen, my dear; and I should say eight or ten suits of white
+clothes, which I told him would make him look like a cricketer or a
+baker. Why, it took three big trunks to hold all his things. But I will
+say for him that he wrote regular, either to me or to my sister Maria.
+Last time he wrote he said that he had been attacked by a tiger, but had
+got well again and was going to China, though what he wanted to go there
+for I am sure I don't know. He could not want to buy teacups and
+saucers; they would only get broken sending home. Well, his death was a
+great blow to us."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether I should answer the advertisement, Miss Simcoe,"
+one of her friends said. "There is no saying what it might mean. Perhaps
+he got into debt in India, and the people think that they might get paid
+if they can find out his relations here."</p>
+
+<p>The idea came like a douche of cold water upon the little gathering.</p>
+
+<p>"But the advertisement says, 'will hear of something to their
+advantage,' Mrs. Maberley," Miss Simcoe urged timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is nothing, my dear. That may be only a lawyer's trick; they
+are capable of anything, I have heard."</p>
+
+<p>"But they could not make Miss Simcoe pay," another urged; "it seems to
+me much more likely that her nephew may have left some of his money in
+the hands of a banker at Calcutta, and now that it has been so many
+years unclaimed they are making inquiries to see who is his heir. That
+seems much more likely."</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of assent ran round the circle, and after much discussion the
+answer was drafted, and Miss Simcoe, in a fever of anxiety, awaited the
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later a tall, well-dressed man knocked at the door of Myrtle
+Cottage. It was a loud, authoritative knock, such as none of Miss
+Simcoe's usual visitors gave.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be about the advertisement," she exclaimed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The little servant had been enjoined to wear her Sunday clothes in case
+a visitor should come, and after a hasty glance to see if she was tidy,
+Miss Simcoe sat down in her little parlor, and tried to assume an
+appearance of calmness. The front door opened, and a man's voice
+inquired, "Is Miss Simcoe in?" Then the parlor door opened and the
+visitor entered, pushing past the girl, who had been instructed how to
+announce him in proper form, and exclaiming, "My dear Aunt Martha,"
+fairly lifted the astonished old lady from her seat and kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me! Dear me!" she gasped, as he put her on her feet again, "can it
+be that you are my nephew John?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, don't you know me, aunt? Twenty years of knocking about have
+changed me sadly, I am afraid, but surely you must remember me."</p>
+
+<p>"Ye&mdash;es," she said doubtfully, "yes, I think that I remember you. But,
+you see, we all thought that you were dead; and I have only got that
+likeness of you that was cut out in black paper by a man who came round
+when you were only eighteen, and somehow I have always thought of you as
+like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember," he laughed. "Well, aunt, I have changed since then,
+there is no doubt. So you see I was not drowned, after all. I was picked
+up by a passing ship, clinging to a spar, but I lost all my money in the
+wreck of the <i>Nepaul</i>. I shipped before the mast. We traded among the
+islands for some months, then I had a row with the captain and ran away,
+and threw in my lot with the natives, and I have been knocking about in
+the East ever since, and have come back with enough to live on
+comfortably, and to help you, if you need it."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Maria died four years ago," she said tearfully. "It would have
+been a happiness to her indeed, poor creature, if you had come back
+before."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry indeed to hear that," he replied. "Then you are living here
+all alone, aunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, except for my little maid. You see, John, Maria and I laid out the
+money our father left us in life<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> annuities, and as long as we lived
+together we did very comfortably. Since then, of course, I have had to
+draw in a little, but I manage very nicely."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, aunt, there will be no occasion for you to stint yourself
+any more. As I said, I have come home with my purse warmly lined, and I
+shall make you an allowance of fifty pounds a year. You were always very
+kind to me as a boy, and I can very well afford it, and I dare say it
+will make all the difference to you."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear John, I could not think of taking such a sum from you."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh, pooh, aunt! What is the use of money if one cannot use it to make
+one's friends comfortable? So that is settled, and I won't have anything
+more said about it."</p>
+
+<p>The old lady wiped her eyes. "It is good of you, John, and it will
+indeed make all the difference to me. It will almost double my income,
+and I shan't have to look at every halfpenny before I spend it."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all right, aunt; now let us sit down comfortably to chat about
+old times. You don't mind my smoking, I hope?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Simcoe, for almost the first time in her life, told a lie. "Not at
+all, John; not at all. Now, how was it that you did not come down
+yourself instead of putting in an advertisement, which I should never
+have seen if my friend Mrs. Maberley had not happened to notice it in
+the paper which she takes in regularly, and brought it in to show me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I could not bring myself to come down, aunt. Twenty years make
+great changes, and it would have been horrible to have come down here
+and found that you had all gone, and that I was friendless in the place
+where I had been brought up as a boy. I thought that, by my putting it
+into a local paper, someone who had known me would be sure to see it.
+Now let me hear about all the people that I knew."</p>
+
+<p>John Simcoe stayed for three days quietly at the cottage. The news of
+his return spread rapidly, and soon many of the friends that had known
+him came to welcome<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> him. His aunt had told her own circle of her
+nephew's wealth and liberality, and through them the news that John
+Simcoe had returned home a wealthy man was imparted to all their
+acquaintances. Some of his old friends declared that they should have
+known him anywhere; others said frankly that now they knew who he was
+they saw the likeness, but that if they had met him anywhere else they
+did not think they should have recognized him.</p>
+
+<p>John Simcoe's memory had been greatly refreshed by his aunt's incessant
+talk about his early days and doings, and as his visitors were more
+anxious to hear of his adventures abroad than to talk of the days long
+past, he had no difficulty whatever in satisfying all as to his
+identity, even had not the question been settled by his liberality to
+his aunt, from whom no return whatever could possibly be expected. When
+he left he handed her fifty pounds in gold.</p>
+
+<p>"I may as well give you a year's money at once," he said; "I am a
+careless man, and might forget to send it quarterly."</p>
+
+<p>"Where can I write to you, John?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot give you an address at present," he said; "I have only been
+stopping at a hotel until I could find chambers to suit me. Directly I
+do so I will drop you a line. I shall always be glad to hear of you, and
+will run down occasionally to see you and have a chat again with some of
+my old friends."</p>
+
+<p>The return of John Simcoe served Stowmarket as a subject for
+conversation for some time. He had spent his money generously while
+there, and had given a dinner at the principal hotel to a score of those
+with whom he had been most intimate when a boy. Champagne had flowed in
+unstinted abundance, and it was generally voted that he was a capital
+fellow, and well deserved the good fortune that had attended him. In the
+quiet Suffolk town the tales of the adventures that he had gone through
+created quite a sensation, and when repeated by their fathers set half
+the boys of the place wild with a desire to imitate his example, and to
+embark in a life which was at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> once delightful, and ended in acquiring
+untold wealth. On leaving he pressed several of them, especially one who
+had been a fellow-clerk with him at the bank, and was now its manager,
+to pay him a visit whenever they came to town.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect to be in diggings of my own in a week or two," he said, "and
+shall make a point of having a spare bed, to put up a friend at any
+time."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"YOU DON'T REMEMBER ME, GENERAL?"</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>JOHN SIMCOE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>General Mathieson was on the point of going out for a drive with his
+niece, who was buttoning her glove, when a servant entered the drawing
+room and said that a gentleman wished to speak to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is he? Did he give you his name or say what was his business?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. I have not seen him before. He merely asked me to give you his
+message."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I had better see him, Hilda."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, uncle, I will get out of the way and go downstairs when he has
+come in. Don't let him keep you, for you know that when I have put you
+down at your club I have an engagement to take Lina Crossley to do some
+shopping first, and then for a drive in the park."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose that he will be five minutes, whoever he is."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda slipped away just in time to avoid the visitor. As the manservant
+opened the door the General looked with some interest at the stranger,
+for such it seemed to him his visitor was. He was a tall man, well
+dressed, and yet without the precision that would mark him as being a
+member of a good club or an <i>habitué</i> of the Row.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't remember me, General?" he said, with a slight smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say that I do," the General replied. "Your face does not seem
+unfamiliar to me, though I cannot at the present moment place it."</p>
+
+<p>"It is rather an uncommon name," the visitor said; "but I am not
+surprised that you do not remember it or me, for it is some twenty years
+since we met. My name is Simcoe."</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty years!" the General repeated. "Then it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> must have been in India,
+for twenty years ago I was in command of the Benares district. Simcoe!"
+he broke off excitedly. "Of course I knew a gentleman of that name who
+did me an inestimable service; in fact, he saved my life."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that it was as much as that, but at least I saved you from
+being mauled by a tiger."</p>
+
+<p>"Bless me!" the General exclaimed, taking a step forward, "and you are
+the man. I recognize you now, and had I not believed that you had been
+lost at sea within a month after you had saved my life I should have
+known you at once, though, of course, twenty years have changed you a
+good deal. My dear sir, I am happy indeed to know that the report was a
+false one, and to meet you again." And he shook hands with his visitor
+with the greatest warmth.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not surprised that you did not recognize me," the latter said; "I
+was but twenty-five then, and have been knocking about the world ever
+since, and have gone through some very rough times and done some very
+hard work. Of course you saw my name among the list of the passengers on
+board the <i>Nepaul</i>, which went down with, as was supposed, all hands in
+that tremendous storm in the Bay of Bengal. Happily, I escaped. I was
+washed overboard just as the wreck of the mainmast had been cut away. A
+wave carried me close to it; I climbed upon it and lashed myself to
+leeward of the top, which sheltered me a good deal. Five days later I
+was picked up insensible and was carried to Singapore. I was in hospital
+there for some weeks. When I quite recovered, being penniless, without
+references or friends, I shipped on board a vessel that was going on a
+trading voyage among the islands. I had come out to see the world, and
+thought that I might as well see it that way as another. It would take a
+long time to relate my after-adventures; suffice it that at last, after
+numerous wanderings, I became chief adviser of a powerful chief in
+Burmah, and finally have returned home, not exactly a rich man, but with
+enough to live upon in more than comfort for the rest of my life."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How long have you been in London?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been here but a fortnight; I ran down home to see if I had
+relatives living, but found that an old lady was the sole survivor of my
+family. I need scarcely say that my first business on reaching London
+was to rig myself out in a presentable sort of way, and I may say that
+at present I feel very uncomfortable in these garments after being
+twenty years without putting on a black coat. I happened the other day
+to see your name among those who attended the <i>levée</i>, and I said to
+myself at once, 'I will call upon the General and see if he has any
+remembrances of me.'"</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a servant entered the room with a little note.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Uncle</span>: It is very naughty of you to be so long. I am
+taking the carriage, and have told them to put the other horse into
+the brougham and bring it round for you at once."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>For more than an hour the two men sat talking together, and Simcoe, on
+leaving, accepted a cordial invitation from the General to dinner on the
+following day.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Well, uncle, who was it?" Hilda asked, when they met in the drawing
+room a few minutes before the dinner hour. "You said you would not be
+five minutes, and I waited for a quarter of an hour and then lost
+patience. I asked when I came in how long he had stayed, and heard that
+he did not leave until five o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"He was a man who had saved my life in India, child."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me! And have you never heard of him since, uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear. I did my best to find out his family, but had no idea of ever
+seeing the man himself, for the simple reason that I believed that he
+died twenty years ago. He had sailed in a vessel that was reported as
+lost with all hands, so you may well imagine my surprise when he told me
+who he was."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Did you recognize him at once, uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at first. Twenty years is a long time; and he was only about
+five-and-twenty when I knew him, and of course he has changed greatly.
+However, even before he told me who he was I was able to recall his
+face. He was a tall, active young fellow then, and I could certainly
+trace the likeness."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose he was in the army, uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; he was a young Englishman who was making a tour through India. I
+was in command at Benares at the time, and he brought me letters of
+introduction from a man who had come out in the same ship with him, and
+also from a friend of mine in Calcutta. A few days after he arrived I
+was on the point of going up with a party to do some tiger-shooting in
+the Terai, and I invited him to come with us. He was a pleasant fellow
+and soon made himself popular. He never said much about himself, but as
+far as I understood him he was not a rich man, but he was spending his
+money in seeing the world, with a sort of happy confidence that
+something would turn up when his money was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"We were out a week and had fair sport. As you have often heard me say,
+I was passionately fond of big-game shooting, and I had had many narrow
+escapes in the course of my life, but I never had so narrow a one as
+happened to me on that occasion. We had wounded a tiger and had lost
+him. We had spent a couple of hours in beating the jungle, but without
+success, and had agreed that the brute could not have been hit as hard
+as we had believed, but must have made off altogether. We were within
+fifty yards of the edge of the jungle, when there was a sudden roar, and
+before I could use my rifle the tiger sprang. I was not in a howdah, but
+on a pad; and the tiger struck one of its forepaws on my knee. With the
+other he clung for a moment to the pad, and then we went down together.
+The brute seized me by the shoulder and sprang into the jungle again,
+carried me a dozen yards or so, and then lay down, still holding me by
+the shoulder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I was perfectly sensible, but felt somewhat dazed and stupid; I found
+myself vaguely thinking that he must, after all, have been very badly
+hit, and, instead of making off, had hid up within a short distance of
+the spot where we saw him. I was unable to move hand or foot, for he was
+lying on me, and his weight was pressing the life out of me. I know that
+I vaguely hoped I should die before he took a bite at my shoulder. I
+suppose that the whole thing did not last a minute, though to me it
+seemed an interminable time. Suddenly there was a rustling in the bush.
+With a deep growl the tiger loosed his hold of my shoulder, and, rising
+to his feet, faced half round. What happened after that I only know from
+hearsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Simcoe, it seems, was riding in the howdah on an elephant behind mine.
+As the tiger sprang at my elephant he fired and hit the beast on the
+shoulder. It was that, no doubt, that caused its hold to relax, and
+brought us to the ground together. As the tiger sprang with me into the
+jungle Simcoe leaped down from the howdah and followed. He had only his
+empty rifle and a large hunting-knife. It was no easy work pushing his
+way through the jungle, but in a minute he came upon us. Clubbing his
+gun, he brought it down on the left side of the tiger's head before the
+brute, who was hampered by his broken shoulder, and weak from his
+previous wound, could spring. Had it not been that it was the right
+shoulder that was broken, the blow, heavy as it was, would have had
+little effect upon the brute; as it was, having no support on that side,
+it reeled half over and then, with a snarling growl, sprang upon its
+assailant. Simcoe partly leaped aside, and striking again with the
+barrel of his gun,&mdash;the butt had splintered with the first blow,&mdash;so far
+turned it aside that instead of receiving the blow direct, which would
+certainly have broken in his skull, it fell in a slanting direction on
+his left shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"The force was sufficient to knock him down, but, as he fell, he drew
+his knife. The tiger had leaped partly beyond him, so that he lay under
+its stomach, and it could not for the moment use either its teeth or
+claws. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> pressure was terrible, but with his last remaining strength
+he drove the knife to the full length of its blade twice into the
+tiger's body. The animal rolled over for a moment, but there was still
+life in it, and it again sprang to its feet, when a couple of balls
+struck it in the head, and it fell dead. Three officers had slipped down
+from their howdahs when they saw Simcoe rushing into the jungle, and
+coming up just in time, they fired, and so finished the conflict.</p>
+
+<p>"There was not much to choose between Simcoe and myself, though I had
+certainly got the worst of it. The flesh of his arm had been pretty well
+stripped off from the shoulder to the elbow; my shoulder had been
+broken, and the flesh torn by the brute's teeth, but as it had not
+shifted its hold from the time it first grasped me till it let go to
+face Simcoe, it was not so bad as it might have been. But the wound on
+the leg was more serious; its claws had struck just above the knee-cap
+and had completely torn it off. We were both insensible when we were
+lifted up and carried down to the camp. In a fortnight Simcoe was about;
+but it was some months before I could walk again, and, as you know, my
+right leg is still stiff. I had a very narrow escape of my life; fever
+set in, and when Simcoe went down country, a month after the affair, I
+was still lying between life and death, and never had an opportunity of
+thanking him for the manner in which, practically unarmed, he went in to
+face a wounded tiger in order to save my life. You may imagine, then, my
+regret when a month later we got the news that the <i>Nepaul</i>, in which he
+had sailed, had been lost with all hands."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a gallant action indeed, uncle. You told me something about it
+soon after I came here, when I happened to ask you how it was that you
+walked so stiffly, but you did not tell it so fully. And what is he
+going to do now?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is going to settle in London. He has been, as he says, knocking
+about in the East ever since, being engaged in all sorts of adventures;
+he has been for some time in the service of a native chief some way up
+near the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> borders of Burmah, Siam, and China, and somehow got possession
+of a large number of rubies and other precious stones, which he has
+turned into money, and now intends to take chambers and settle down to a
+quiet life, join a club, and so on. Of course I promised to do all in my
+power to further his object, and to introduce him into as much society
+as he cared for."</p>
+
+<p>"What is he like, uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is about my height, and I suppose about five-and-forty&mdash;though he
+looks rather older. No wonder, after such a life as he has led. He
+carries himself well, and he is altogether much more presentable than
+you would expect under the circumstances. Indeed, had I not known that
+he had never served, I should unhesitatingly have put him down as having
+been in the army. There is something about the way he carries his
+shoulders that you seldom see except among men who have been drilled. He
+is coming here to dine to-morrow, so you will see him."</p>
+
+<p>"That relieves me of anxiety, uncle; for you know you had a letter this
+morning from Colonel Fitzhugh, saying that he had been unexpectedly
+called out of town, and you said that you would ask somebody at the club
+to fill his place, but you know you very often forget things that you
+ought to remember."</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly had forgotten that when I asked him to come, and as I came
+home I blamed myself for not having asked someone else, so as to make up
+an even number."</p>
+
+<p>A month later Mr. Simcoe had become an intimate of General Mathieson's
+house. It had always been a matter of deep regret to the General that he
+had been unable to thank the man who at terrible risk to his life had
+saved him from death, and that feeling was heightened when the news came
+that his preserver had been drowned, and that the opportunity of doing
+so was forever lost. He now spared no pains to further his wishes. He
+constantly invited him to lunch or dinner at his club, introduced him to
+all his friends in terms of the highest eulogium, and repeated over and
+over again the story of his heroic action. As his own club was a
+military one he could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> propose him there, but he had no difficulty
+in getting friends to propose and support him for two other clubs of
+good standing.</p>
+
+<p>Several of the officers to whom he introduced Simcoe had been at Benares
+at the time he was hurt. These he recognized at once, and was able to
+chat with them of their mutual acquaintances, and indeed surprised them
+by his knowledge of matters at the station that they would hardly have
+thought would be known to one who had made but a short stay there. One
+of them said as much, but Simcoe said, laughing, "You forget that I was
+laid up for a month. Everyone was very good to me, and I had generally
+one or two men sitting with me, and the amount of gossip I picked up
+about the station was wonderful. Of course there was nothing else to
+talk about; and as I have a good memory, I think I could tell you
+something about the private affairs of pretty nearly every civilian and
+military man on the station."</p>
+
+<p>Everyone agreed that Simcoe was a very pleasant and amusing companion.
+He was full of anecdotes of the wild people that he had lived among and
+of the adventures and escapes he had gone through. Although none of the
+Benares friends of the General recognized Simcoe when they first met
+him, they speedily recalled his features. His instant recognition of
+them, his acquaintance with persons and scenes at and around Benares was
+such that they never for a moment doubted his identity, and as their
+remembrance of the General's visitor returned they even wondered that
+their recognition of him had not been as instant as his of them. As to
+his means, not even to the General had Simcoe explained his exact
+position. He had taken good apartments in Jermyn Street, gave excellent
+little dinners there, kept undeniably good wine and equally excellent
+cigars, dressed well, and was regarded as being a thoroughly good
+fellow.</p>
+
+<p>The General was not a close observer. Had he been so, he would speedily
+have noticed that his niece, although always polite and courteous to Mr.
+Simcoe, did not receive him with the warmth and pleasure with which she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+greeted those who were her favorites. On his part the visitor spared no
+pains to make himself agreeable to her; he would at once volunteer to
+execute any commission for her if she happened to mention in his
+presence anything that she wanted. One evening when she was going to a
+ball he sent her an expensive bouquet of flowers. The next day when she
+saw him she said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am very much obliged to you for those lovely flowers, and I carried
+the bouquet last night, but please do not send any more. I don't think
+that it is quite nice to accept presents from anyone except very near
+relations. It was very kind of you to think of it, but I would really
+rather that you did not do it again. Uncle gives me carte blanche in the
+way of flowers, but I do not avail myself of it very largely, for the
+scent is apt to make me feel faint, and beyond the smallest spray I
+seldom carry any. I made an exception last night, for those you sent me
+were most lovely. You don't mind my saying that, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, Miss Covington; and I quite understand what you mean. It
+seemed natural to me to send you some flowers. Out in the Pacific
+Islands, especially at Samoa and Tahiti, and, indeed, more or less
+everywhere, women wear a profusion of flowers in their hair, and no
+present is so acceptable to them."</p>
+
+<p>"I fancy flowers do not cost so much there as they do here, Mr. Simcoe?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," the latter laughed; "for half a dollar one can get enough to
+render a girl the envy of all others."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I think you were right to ask Mr. Simcoe not to repeat his present,
+Hilda," the General said. "I particularly noticed the bouquet that you
+carried last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, uncle, there was nothing equal to it in the room; it must have
+cost three or four guineas."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that you quite like him; do you, Hilda?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like him, uncle, because he saved your life; but in other respects I
+do not know that I do like him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> particularly. He is very pleasant and
+very amusing, but I don't feel that I quite understand him."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean that you don't understand him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot quite explain, uncle. To begin with, I don't seem to get any
+nearer to him&mdash;I mean to what he really is. I know more of his
+adventures and his life than I did, but I know no more of him himself
+than I did three months ago when I first met him at dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate you know that he is brave," the General said, somewhat
+gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know that, of course; but a man can be brave, exceptionally
+brave, and yet not possess all other good qualities. He did behave like
+a hero in your case, and I need not say that I feel deeply grateful to
+him for the service that he rendered you; still, that is the only side
+of his nature that I feel certain about."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh! pooh! Hilda," the General said, with some irritation. "What do
+you know about nine-tenths of the men you meet? You cannot even tell
+that they are brave."</p>
+
+<p>"No, uncle; I know only the side they choose to present to me, which is
+a pleasant side, and I do not care to know more. But it is different in
+this case. Mr. Simcoe is here nearly every day; he has become one of our
+inner circle; you are naturally deeply interested in him, and I am,
+therefore, interested in him also, and want to know more of him than I
+have got to know. He is brave and pleasant; is he also honest and
+honorable? Is he a man of thoroughly good principles? We know what he
+tells us of his life and his adventures, but he only tells us what he
+chooses."</p>
+
+<p>The General shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child, you may say the same thing of pretty nearly every
+unmarried man you meet. When a man marries and sets up a household one
+does get to know something about him. There are his wife's relations,
+who, as a rule, speak with much frankness concerning a man who has
+married their daughter, sister, or cousin. But as to bachelors, as a
+rule one has to take them at their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> own valuation. Of course, I know no
+more than you do as to whether Simcoe is in all respects an honorable
+gentleman. It is quite sufficient that he saved my life, almost at the
+sacrifice of his own, and whatever the life he may have led since is no
+business of mine. He is distinctly popular among those I have introduced
+him to, and is not likely in any way to discredit that introduction."</p>
+
+<p>That Hilda was not entirely satisfied was evident by the letter she
+wrote when her uncle had, as usual, gone up one afternoon to his club.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Netta</span>: I have told you several times about the Mr. Simcoe
+who saved uncle's life out in India, and who is so intimate at the
+house. I can't say that either my acquaintance with or my liking
+for him increases. He does not stand the test of the system, and
+the more I watch his lips the less I understand him. He talks
+fluently and quickly, and yet somehow I feel that there is a
+hesitation in his speech, and that his lips are repeating what they
+have learned, and not speaking spontaneously. You know that we have
+noticed the same thing among those who have learned to speak by the
+system but are not yet perfect in it, so I need not explain further
+what I mean, as you will understand it. For example, I can always
+tell at a public meeting, or when listening to a preacher, whether
+he is speaking absolutely extemporarily or whether he has learned
+his speech by heart beforehand.</p>
+
+<p>"I really strongly misdoubt the man. Of course I know that he saved
+my uncle's life; beyond that I know nothing of him, and it is this
+very feeling that I do know nothing that disquiets me. I can no
+more see into him than I can into a stone wall. I can quite
+understand that it is of very great importance to him to stand well
+with the General. He came here a stranger with a queer history. He
+knew no one; he had money and wanted to get into society. Through
+my uncle he has done so; he has been elected to two clubs, has made
+a great number of acquaintances, goes to the Row, the Royal
+Academy, the theaters, and so on, and is, at any rate, on nodding
+terms<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> with a very large number of people. All this he owes to my
+uncle, and I fail to see what else he can wish for. It would be
+natural with so many other engagements that he should not come to
+us so often as he used to do, but there is no falling off in that
+respect. He is the tame cat of the establishment. I dare say you
+think me silly to worry over such a thing, but I can't help
+worrying. I hate things I don't understand, and I don't understand
+this man.</p>
+
+<p>"Another thing is, Walter does not like him. He constantly brings
+the child toys, but Walter does not take to him, refuses absolutely
+to sit upon his knee, or to be petted by him in any way. I always
+think that it is a bad sign when a child won't take to a man.
+However, I will not bother you more about it now; I will keep him
+out of my letters as much as I can. I wish I could keep him out of
+my mind also. As I tell myself over and over again, he is nothing
+to me, and whether he possesses all the virtues or none of them is,
+or at any rate should be, a matter of indifference to me. I can't
+help wishing that you had come over here two months later, then I
+should have had the benefit of your advice and opinion, for you
+know, Netta, how accustomed I was for years to consider you almost,
+if not quite, infallible."</p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>JOHN SIMCOE'S FRIEND.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There was a great sensation among the frequenters of the house in
+Elephant Court when they were told that Wilkinson had sold the business,
+and the new proprietor would come in at once. The feeling among those
+who were in his debt was one of absolute dismay, for it seemed to them
+certain the amounts would be at once called in. To their surprise and
+relief Wilkinson went round among the foreigners, whose debts in no case
+exceeded five pounds, and handed to them their notes of hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going out of the business," he said, "and shall be leaving for
+abroad in a day or so. I might, of course, have arranged with the new
+man for him to take over these papers, but he might not be as easy as I
+have been, and I should not like any of you to get into trouble. I have
+never pressed anyone since I have been here, still less taken anyone
+into court, and I should like to leave on friendly terms with all. So
+here are your papers; tear them up, and don't be fools enough to borrow
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Towards his English clients, whose debts were generally from ten to
+twenty pounds, he took the same course, adding a little good advice as
+to dropping billiards and play altogether and making a fresh start.</p>
+
+<p>"You have had a sharp lesson," he said, "and I know that you have been
+on thorns for the last year. I wanted to show you what folly it was to
+place yourself in the power of anyone to ruin you, and I fancy I have
+succeeded very well. There is no harm in a game of billiards now and
+then, but if you cannot play without betting you had better cut it
+altogether. As for the tables, it is simply madness. You must lose in
+the long run, and I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> am quite sure that I have got out of you several
+times the amount of the I. O. U.'s that I hold."</p>
+
+<p>Never were men more surprised and more relieved. They could hardly
+believe that they were once more free men, and until a fresh set of
+players had succeeded them the billiard rooms were frequently almost
+deserted. To Dawkins Wilkinson was somewhat more explicit.</p>
+
+<p>"You know," he said, "the interest I took in that will of General
+Mathieson. It was not the will so much as the man that I was so
+interested in. It showed me that he was most liberally disposed to those
+who had done him a service. Now, it happens that years ago, when he was
+at Benares, I saved his life from a tiger, and got mauled myself in
+doing so. I had not thought of the matter for many years, but your
+mention of his name recalled it to me. I had another name in those
+days&mdash;men often change their names when they knock about in queer
+places, as I have done. However, I called upon him, and he expressed
+himself most grateful. I need not say that I did not mention the
+billiard room to him. He naturally supposed that I had just arrived from
+abroad, and he has offered to introduce me to many of his friends; and I
+think that I have a good chance of being put down in his will for a
+decent sum. I brought money home with me from abroad and have made a
+goodish sum here, so I shall resume my proper name and go West, and drop
+this affair altogether. I am not likely to come against any of the crew
+here, and, as you see," and he removed a false beard and whiskers from
+his face, "I have shaved, though I got this hair to wear until I had
+finally cut the court. So you see you have unintentionally done me a
+considerable service, and in return I shall say nothing about that fifty
+pounds you owe me. Now, lad, try and keep yourself straight in future.
+You may not get out of another scrape as you have out of this. All I ask
+is that you will not mention what I have told you to anyone else. There
+is no fear of my being recognized, with a clean-shaven face and
+different toggery altogether, but at any rate it is as well that
+everyone but yourself should believe that, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> I have given out, I have
+gone abroad again. I shall keep your I. O. U.'s, but I promise you that
+you shall hear no more of them as long as you hold your tongue as to
+what I have just told you. Possibly I may some day need your assistance,
+and in that case shall know where to write to you."</p>
+
+<p>It was not until after a great deal of thought that John Simcoe had
+determined thus far to take Dawkins into his confidence, but he
+concluded at last that it was the safest thing to do. He was, as he
+knew, often sent by the firm with any communications that they might
+have to make to their clients, and should he meet him at the General's
+he might recognize him and give him some trouble. He had made no secret
+that he had turned his hand to many callings, and that his doings in the
+southern seas would not always bear close investigation, and the fact
+that he had once kept a billiard room could do him no special harm. As
+to the will, Dawkins certainly would not venture to own that he had
+repeated outside what had been done in the office. The man might be
+useful to him in the future. It was more than probable he would again
+involve himself in debt, and was just the weak and empty-headed young
+fellow who might be made a convenient tool should he require one.</p>
+
+<p>So Elephant Court knew Mr. Wilkinson no more, and certainly none of the
+<i>habitués</i> could have recognized him in the smooth-shaven and
+faultlessly dressed man whom they might meet coming out of a West End
+club. Dawkins often turned the matter over in his mind, after his first
+relief had passed at finding the debt that had weighed so heavily upon
+him perfectly wiped out.</p>
+
+<p>"There ought to be money in it," he said to himself, "but I don't see
+where it comes in. In the first place I could not say he had kept a
+gambling place without acknowledging that I had often been there, and I
+could not say that it was a conversation of mine about the General's
+will that put it into his head to call upon him, and lastly, he has me
+on the hip with those I. O. U.'s. Possibly if the General does leave him
+money, I may manage to get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> some out of him, though I am by no means
+sure of that. He is not a safe man to meddle with, and he might
+certainly do me more harm than I could do him."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The matter had dropped somewhat from his mind when, three months later,
+General Mathieson came into the office to have an interview with his
+principals.</p>
+
+<p>After he had left the managing clerk was called in. On returning, he
+handed Dawkins a sheet of paper.</p>
+
+<p>"You will prepare a fresh will for General Mathieson; it is to run
+exactly as at present, but this legacy is to be inserted after that to
+Miss Covington. It might just as well have been put in a codicil, but
+the General preferred to have it in the body of the will."</p>
+
+<p>Dawkins looked at the instruction. It contained the words: "To John
+Simcoe, at present residing at 132 Jermyn Street, I bequeath the sum of
+ten thousand pounds, as a token of my gratitude for his heroic conduct
+in saving my life at the cost of great personal injury to himself from
+the grip of a tiger, in the year 1831."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove, he has done well for himself!" Dawkins muttered, as he sat
+down to his desk after the managing clerk had handed him the General's
+will from the iron box containing papers and documents relating to his
+affairs. "Ten thousand pounds! I wish I could light upon a general in a
+fix of some sort, though I don't know that I should care about a tiger.
+It is wonderful what luck some men have. I ought to get something out of
+this, if I could but see my way to it. Fancy the keeper of a billiard
+room and gaming house coming in for such a haul as this! It is
+disgusting!"</p>
+
+<p>He set about preparing a draft of the will, but he found it difficult to
+keep his attention fixed upon his work, and when the chief clerk ran his
+eye over it he looked up in indignant surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"What on earth is the matter with you, Mr. Dawkins? The thing is full of
+the most disgraceful blunders. In several cases it is not even sense.
+During all the time that I have been in this office I have never had
+such a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> disgraceful piece of work come into my hands before. Why, if the
+office boy had been told to make a copy of the will, he would have done
+it vastly better. What does it mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry, sir," Dawkins said, "but I don't feel very well
+to-day, and I have got such a headache that I can scarcely see what I am
+writing."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," his superior said, somewhat mollified, "that will account
+for it. I thought at first that you must have been drinking. You had
+better take your hat and be off. Go to the nearest chemist and take a
+dose, and then go home and lie down. You are worse than of no use in the
+state that you are. I hope that you will be all right in the morning,
+for we are, as you know, very busy at present, and cannot spare a hand.
+Tear up that draft and hand the will and instructions to Mr. Macleod.
+The General will be down here at ten o'clock to-morrow to see it; he is
+like most military men, sharp and prompt, and when he wants a thing done
+he expects to have it done at once."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"You are feeling better, I hope, this morning?" he said, when Dawkins
+came into the office at the usual hour next day, "though I must say that
+you look far from well. Do you think that you are capable of work?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so, sir; at any rate my head is better."</p>
+
+<p>It was true that the clerk did not look well, for he had had no sleep
+all night, but had tossed restlessly in bed, endeavoring, but in vain,
+to hit on some manner of extracting a portion of the legacy from the
+ex-proprietor of the gambling house. The more he thought, the more
+hopeless seemed the prospect. John Simcoe was eminently a man whom it
+would be unsafe to anger. The promptness and decision of his methods had
+gained him at least the respect of all the frequenters of his
+establishment, and just as he had sternly kept order there, so he would
+deal with any individual who crossed his path. He held the best cards,
+too; and while a disclosure of the past could hardly injure him
+seriously, he had the means<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> of causing the ruin and disgrace of Dawkins
+himself, if he ventured to attack him.</p>
+
+<p>The clerk was himself shrewd in his own way, but he had the sense to
+feel that he was no match for John Simcoe, and the conclusion that he
+finally came to was that he must wait and watch events, and that, so far
+as he could see, his only chance of obtaining a penny of the legacy was
+to follow implicitly the instructions Simcoe had given him, in which
+case possibly he might receive a present when the money was paid.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>About a fortnight after he knew the will had been signed by General
+Mathieson, Simcoe went down to a small house on Pentonville Hill, where
+one of the ablest criminals in London resided, passing unsuspected under
+the eyes of the police in the character of a man engaged in business in
+the City. A peculiar knock brought him to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, is it you, Simcoe?" he said; "why, I have not seen you for months.
+I did not know you for the moment, for you have taken all the hair off
+your face."</p>
+
+<p>"I have made a change, Harrison. I have given up the billiard rooms, and
+am now a swell with lodgings in Jermyn Street."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a change! I thought you said the billiards and cards paid well;
+but I suppose you have got something better in view?"</p>
+
+<p>"They did pay well, but I have a very big thing in hand."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the right line to take up," the other said. "You were sure to
+get into trouble with the police about the card-playing before long, and
+then the place would have been shut up, and you might have got three
+months; and when you got out the peelers would have kept their eyes upon
+you, and your chances would have been at an end. No, I have never had
+anything to do with small affairs; I go in, as you know, for big things.
+They take time to work out, it is true; and after all one's trouble,
+something may go wrong at the last moment, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> thing has to be
+given up. Some girl who has been got at makes a fool of herself, and
+gets discharged a week before it comes off; or a lady takes it into her
+head to send her jewels to a banker's, and go on to the Continent a week
+earlier than she intended to do. Then there is a great loss in getting
+rid of the stuff. Those sharps at Amsterdam don't give more than a fifth
+of the value for diamonds. It is a heart-rending game, on the whole; but
+there is such excitement about the life that when one has once taken it
+up it is seldom indeed that one changes it, though one knows that,
+sooner or later, one is sure to make a slip and get caught. Now, what
+will you take? Champagne or brandy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know that your brandy is first-rate, Harrison, and I will sample it
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"I have often thought," went on the other, after the glasses had been
+filled and cigars lighted, "what a rum thing it was that you should come
+across my brother Bill out among the islands. He had not written to me
+for a long time, and I had never expected to hear of him again. I
+thought that he had gone down somehow, and had either been eaten by
+sharks or killed by the natives, or shot in some row with his mates. He
+was two years older than I was, and, as I have told you, we were sons of
+a well-to-do auctioneer in the country; but he was a hard man, and we
+could not stand it after a time, so we made a bolt for it. We were
+decently dressed when we got to London. As we had been at a good school
+at home, and were both pretty sharp, we thought that we should have no
+difficulty in getting work of some sort.</p>
+
+<p>"We had a hard time of it. No one would take us without a character, so
+we got lower and lower, till we got to know some boys who took us to
+what was called a thieves' kitchen&mdash;a place where boys were trained as
+pick-pockets. The old fellow who kept it saw that we were fit for higher
+game than was usual, and instead of being sent out to pick up what we
+could get in the streets we were dressed as we had been before, and sent
+to picture-galleries and museums and cricket matches, and we soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+became first-rate hands, and did well. In a short time we didn't see why
+we should work for another man, and we left him without saying good-by.</p>
+
+<p>"It was not long before he paid us out. He knew that we should go on at
+the same work, and dressed up two or three of his boys and sent them to
+these places, and one day when Bill was just pocketing a watch at Lord's
+one of these boys shouted out, 'Thief! thief! That boy has stolen your
+watch, sir,' and Bill got three months, though the boy could not appear
+against him, for I followed him after they had nabbed Bill, and pretty
+nearly killed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I went on my travels, and was away two or three years from London.
+Bill had been out and in again twice; he was too rash altogether. I took
+him away with me, but I soon found that it would not do, and that it
+would soon end in our both being shut up. So I put it fairly to him.</p>
+
+<p>"'We are good friends, you know, Bill,' I said, 'but it is plain to me
+that we can't work together with advantage. You are twenty and I am
+eighteen, but, as you have often said yourself, I have got the best head
+of the two. I am tired of this sort of work. When we get a gold ticker,
+worth perhaps twenty pounds, we can't get above two for it, and it is
+the same with everything else. It is not good enough. We have been away
+from London so long that old Isaacs must have forgotten all about us. I
+have not been copped yet, and as I have got about twenty pounds in my
+pocket I can take lodgings as a young chap who has come up to walk the
+hospitals, or something of that sort. If you like to live with me,
+quiet, we will work together; if not, it is best that we should each go
+our own way&mdash;always being friends, you know.'</p>
+
+<p>"Bill said that was fair enough, but that he liked a little life and to
+spend his money freely when he got it. So we separated. Bill got two
+more convictions, and the last time it was a case of transportation. We
+had agreed between ourselves that if either of us got into trouble the
+other should call once a month at the house of a woman we knew to ask
+for letters, and I did that regularly after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> he was sent out. I got a
+few letters from him. The first was written after he had made his
+escape. He told me that he intended to stay out there&mdash;it was a jolly
+life, and a free one, I expect. Pens and paper were not common where he
+was; anyhow he only wrote once a year or so, and it was two years since
+I had heard from him when you wrote and said you had brought me a
+message from Bill.</p>
+
+<p>"Ever since we parted I have gone on the same line, only I have worked
+carefully. I was not a bad-looking chap, and hadn't much difficulty in
+getting over servant girls and finding out where things were to be had,
+so I gradually got on. For years now I have only carried on big affairs,
+working the thing up and always employing other hands to carry the job
+out. None of them know me here. I meet them at quiet pubs and arrange
+things there, and I need hardly say that I am so disguised that none of
+the fellows who follow my orders would know me again if they met me in
+the street. I could retire if I liked, and live in a villa and keep my
+carriage. Why, I made five thousand pounds as my share of that bullion
+robbery between London and Brussels. But I know that I should be
+miserable without anything to do; as it is, I unite amusement with
+business. I sometimes take a stall at the Opera, and occasionally I find
+a diamond necklace in my pocket when I get home. I know well enough that
+it is foolish, but when I see a thing that I need only put out my hand
+to have, my old habit is too strong for me. Then I often walk into swell
+entertainments. You have only to be well got up, and to go rather late,
+so that the hostess has given up expecting arrivals and is occupied with
+her guests, and the flunky takes your hat without question, and you go
+upstairs and mix with the people. In that way you get to know as to the
+women who have the finest jewels, and have no difficulty in finding out
+their names. I have got hold of some very good things that way, but
+though there would have been no difficulty in taking some of them at the
+time, I never yielded to that temptation. In a crowded room one never
+can say whose eyes may happen to be looking in your direction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wonder that you never turned your thoughts that way. From what you
+have told me of your doings abroad, I know that you are not squeamish in
+your ideas, and with your appearance you ought to be able to go anywhere
+without suspicion."</p>
+
+<p>"I am certainly not squeamish," Simcoe said, "but I have not had the
+training. One wants a little practice and to begin young, as you did, to
+try that game on. However, just at present I have a matter in hand that
+will set me up for life if it turns out well, but I shall want a little
+assistance. In the first place I want to get hold of a man who could
+make one up well, and who, if I gave him a portrait, could turn me out
+so like the original that anyone who had only seen him casually would
+take me for him."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a man down in Whitechapel who is the best hand in London at
+that sort of thing. He is a downright artist. Several times when I have
+had particular jobs in hand, inquiries I could not trust anyone else to
+make, I have been to him, and when he has done with me and I have looked
+in the glass there was not the slightest resemblance to my own face in
+it. I suppose the man you want to represent is somewhere about your own
+height?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I should say that he is as nearly as may be the same. He is an
+older man than I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is nothing! He could make you look eighty if you wanted it.
+Here is the man's address; his usual fee is a guinea, but, as you want
+to be got up to resemble someone else, he might charge you double."</p>
+
+<p>"The fee is nothing," Simcoe said. "Then again, I may want to get hold
+of a man who is a good hand at imitating handwriting."</p>
+
+<p>"That is easy enough. Here is the address of a man who does little jobs
+for me sometimes, and is, I think, the best hand at it in England. You
+see, sometimes there is in a house where you intend to operate some
+confoundedly active and officious fellow&mdash;a butler or a footman&mdash;who
+might interrupt proceedings. His master is in London, and he receives a
+note from him ordering him to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> come up to town with a dressing case,
+portmanteau, guns, or something of that kind, as may be suitable to the
+case. I got a countess out of the way once by a messenger arriving on
+horseback with a line from her husband, saying that he had met with an
+accident in the hunting-field, and begging her to come to him. Of course
+I have always previously managed to get specimens of handwriting, and my
+man imitates them so well that they have never once failed in their
+action. I will give you a line to him, saying that you are a friend of
+mine. He knows me under the name of Sinclair. As a stranger you would
+hardly get him to act."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, he is thoroughly trustworthy?" Simcoe asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not employ him if he were not," the other said. "He was a
+writing-master at one time, but took to drink, and went altogether to
+the bad. He is always more or less drunk now, and you had better go to
+him before ten o'clock in the morning. I don't say that he will be quite
+sober, but he will be less drunk than he will be later. As soon as he
+begins to write he pulls himself together. He puts a watchmaker's glass
+in his eye and closely examines the writing that he has to imitate,
+writes a few lines to accustom himself to it, and then writes what he is
+told to do as quickly and as easily as if it were his own handwriting.
+He hands it over, takes his fee, which is two guineas, and then goes out
+to a public-house, and I don't believe that the next day he has the
+slightest remembrance of what he has written."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you very much, Harrison; I think that, with the assistance of
+these two men, I shall be able to work the matter I have in hand without
+fear of a hitch."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything else I can do for you? You know that you can rely upon me,
+Simcoe. You were with poor Bill for six years, and you stood by him to
+the last, when the natives rose and massacred the whites, and you got
+Bill off, and if he did die afterwards of his wounds, anyhow you did
+your best to save him. So if I can help you I will do it, whatever it
+is, short of murder, and there is my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> hand on it. You know in any case I
+could not round on you."</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you the whole business, Harrison. I have thought the matter
+pretty well out, but I shall be very glad to have your opinion on it,
+and with your head you are like to see the thing in a clearer light than
+I can, and may suggest a way out of some difficulties."</p>
+
+<p>He then unfolded the details of his scheme.</p>
+
+<p>"Very good!" the other said admiringly, when he had finished. "It does
+credit to you, Simcoe. You risked your life, and, as you say, very
+nearly lost it to save the General's, and have some sort of a right to
+have his money when he has done with it. Your plan of impersonating the
+General and getting another lawyer to draw out a fresh will is a capital
+one; and as you have a list of the bequests he made in his old one, you
+will not only be able to strengthen the last will, but will disarm the
+opposition of those who would have benefited by the first, as no one
+will suffer by the change. But how about the boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"The boy must be got out of the way somehow."</p>
+
+<p>"Not by foul play, I hope, Simcoe. I could not go with you there."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not. That idea never entered my mind; but surely there can be
+no difficulty in carrying off a child of that age. It only wants two to
+do that: one to engage the nurse in talk, the other to entice the child
+away, pop him into a cab waiting hard by, and drive off with him."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt whether the courts would hand over the property unless they had
+some absolute proof that the child was dead."</p>
+
+<p>"They would not do so for some time, no doubt, but evidence might be
+manufactured. At any rate I could wait. They would probably carry out
+all the other provisions of the will, and with the ten thousand pounds
+and the three or four thousand I have saved I could hold on for a good
+many years."</p>
+
+<p>"How about the signature to the will?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can manage that much," Simcoe said. "I had some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> work in that way
+years ago, and I have been for the last three months practicing the
+General's, and I think now that I can defy any expert to detect the
+difference. Of course, it is a very different thing learning to imitate
+a signature and writing a long letter."</p>
+
+<p>The other agreed, and added, "I should be careful to employ a firm of
+lawyers of long standing. If you were to go to shady people it would in
+itself cause suspicion."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I quite feel that, and I want, if possible, to get hold of people
+who just know the General by sight, so as to have a fairly good idea of
+his face without knowing him too well. I think I know of one. At the
+club the other day Colonel Bulstrode, a friend of the General's, said to
+him, 'I wish you would drive round with me to my lawyers'; their place
+is in the Temple. I want someone to sign as a witness to a deed, and as
+it is rather important, I would rather have it witnessed by a friend
+than by one of the clerks. It won't take you a minute.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think that would do very well; they would not be likely to
+notice him very particularly, and probably the General would not have
+spoken at all. He would just have seen his friend sign the deed, and
+then have affixed his own signature as a witness. Well, everything seems
+in your favor, and should you need any help you can rely upon me."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>GENERAL MATHIESON'S SEIZURE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Three months later John Simcoe called for a letter directed to "Mr.
+Jackson, care of William Scriven, Tobacconist, Fetter Lane." The address
+was in his own handwriting. He carried it home before opening it. The
+writing was rough and the spelling villainous.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Samoa.</span></p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Jack</span>: I was mitely glad when the old brig came in and
+Captain Jephson handed me a letter from you, and as you may guess
+still more pleased to find with it an order for fifty pounds. It
+was good and harty of you, but you allus was the right sort. I have
+dun as you asked me; I went to the wich man and for twelve bottles
+of rum he gave me the packet inclosed of the stuff he uses. There
+aint much of it, but it is mitely strong. About as much as will lie
+on the end of a knife will make a man foam at the mouth and fall
+into convulsions, three times as much as that will kill him
+outrite. He says there aint no taste in it. I hope this will suit
+your purpus. You will be sorry to hear that Long Peter has been
+wiped out; he was spered by a native, who thort Pete wanted to run
+away with his wife, wich I don't believe he did for she wernt no
+way a beuty. Vigors is in a bad way; he has had the shakes bad
+twice and I don't think that he can last much longer. Trade is bad
+here, but now I have got the rino I shall buy another cocoanut
+plantation and two or three more wives to work it, and shall be
+comfortible. I am a pore hand with the pen, so no more from your
+friend,</p>
+
+<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Ben Stokes</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A week later Hilda wrote to her friend:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Netta</span>: I am writing in great distress. Three days ago
+uncle had a terrible fit. He was seized with it at the club, and I
+hear that his struggles were dreadful. It was a sort of convulsion.
+He was sensible when he was brought home, but very weak; he does
+not remember anything about it. Fortunately, Dr. Pearson, who
+always attends us, was one of the party, and he sent off cabs for
+two others. Dr. Pearson came home with him. Of course I asked him
+what it was, and he said that it was a very unusual case, and that
+he and the other doctors had not yet come to any decision upon it,
+as none of them had ever seen one precisely like it. He said that
+some of the symptoms were those of an epileptic fit, but the
+convulsions were so violent that they rather resembled tetanus than
+an ordinary fit. Altogether he seemed greatly puzzled, and he would
+give no opinion as to whether it was likely to recur. Uncle is
+better to-day; he told me that he, Mr. Simcoe, and four others had
+been dining together. He had just drunk his coffee when the room
+seemed to swim round, and he remembered nothing more until he found
+himself in bed at home. Mr. Simcoe came home with him, and the
+doctor said, I must acknowledge, that no one could have been kinder
+than he was. He looked quite ill from the shock that he had had.
+But still I don't like him, Netta; in fact, I think I dislike him
+more and more every day. I often tell myself that I have not a
+shadow of reason for doing so, but I can't help it. You may call it
+prejudice: I call it instinct.</p>
+
+<p>"You can well imagine how all this has shocked me. Uncle seemed so
+strong and well that I have always thought he would live to a great
+age. He is sixty-eight, but I am sure he looks ten years
+younger&mdash;at least he did so; at present he might be ninety. But I
+can only hope that the change is temporary, and that he will soon
+be his dear self again. The three doctors are going to have a
+meeting here to-morrow. I shall be anxious, indeed, to hear the
+result. I hope that they will order him a change,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> and that we can
+go down together, either to his place or mine; then I can always be
+with him, whereas here he goes his way and I go mine, and except at
+meal-times we scarcely meet. If he does go I shall try and persuade
+him to engage a medical man to go with us. Of course, I do not know
+whether a doctor could be of any actual use in case of another
+attack, but it would be a great comfort to have one always at
+hand."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The letter stopped here, and was continued on the following evening.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"The consultation is over; Dr. Pearson had a long talk with me
+afterwards. He said that it was without doubt an epileptic fit, but
+that it differed in many respects from the general type of that
+malady, and that all of them were to some extent puzzled. They had
+brought with them a fourth doctor, Sir Henry Havercourt, who is the
+greatest authority on such maladies. He had seen uncle, and asked
+him a few questions, and had a talk with Dr. Pearson, and had from
+him a minute account of the seizure. He pronounced it a most
+interesting and, as far as he knew, a unique case, and expressed a
+wish to come as a friend to see how the General was getting on. Of
+course he inquired about his habits, asked what he had had for
+dinner, and so on.</p>
+
+<p>"'The great point, Dr. Pearson,' I said, after the consultation was
+over, 'is, of course, whether there is likely to be any recurrence
+of the attack.' 'That is more than I can say,' he answered gravely;
+'at present he can hardly be said to have recovered altogether from
+the effects of this one, which is in itself an unusual feature in
+the case. As a rule, when a person recovers from an epileptic fit
+he recovers altogether&mdash;that is to say, he is able to walk and talk
+as before, and his face shows little or no sign of the struggle
+that he has undergone. In this case the recovery is not altogether
+complete. You may have noticed that his voice is not only weak, but
+there is a certain hesitation in it. His face has not altogether
+recovered its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> natural expression, and is slightly, very slightly,
+drawn on one side, which would seem to point to paralysis; while in
+other respects the attack was as unlike a paralytic stroke as it
+could well have been. Thus, you see, it is difficult in the extreme
+for us to give any positive opinion concerning a case which is so
+entirely an exceptional one. We can only hope for the best, and
+trust to the strength of his constitution. At any rate, we all
+agree that he needs absolute quiet and very simple and plain diet.
+You see, he has been a great diner-out; and though an abstemious
+man in the way of drinking, he thoroughly appreciates a good
+dinner. All this must be given up, at any rate for a time. I should
+say that as soon as he is a little stronger, you had better take
+him down into the country. Let him see as few visitors as possible,
+and only very intimate friends. I do not mean that he should be
+lonely or left to himself; on the contrary, quiet companionship and
+talk are desirable.'</p>
+
+<p>"I said that though the country might be best for him, there was no
+medical man within three miles of his place, and it would be
+terrible were we to have an attack, and not know what to do for it.
+He said that he doubted if anything could be done when he was in
+such a state as he was the other night, beyond sprinkling his face
+with water, and that he himself felt powerless in the case of an
+attack that was altogether beyond his experience. Of course he said
+it was out of the question that I should be down there alone with
+him, but that I must take down an experienced nurse. He strongly
+recommended that she should not wear hospital uniform, as this
+would be a constant reminder of his illness.</p>
+
+<p>"I said that I should very much like to have a medical man in the
+house. Money was no object, and it seemed to me from what he said
+that it would also be desirable that, besides being a skillful
+doctor, he should be also a pleasant and agreeable man, who would
+be a cheerful companion to him as well as a medical attendant.</p>
+
+<p>"He agreed that this would certainly be very desirable, and that he
+and the others were all anxious that the case<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> should be watched
+very carefully. He said that he would think the matter over, and
+that if he could not find just the man that would suit, he would
+ask Sir Henry Havercourt to recommend us one.</p>
+
+<p>"He said there were many clever young men to whom such an
+engagement for a few months would be a godsend. He intended to run
+down himself once a fortnight, from Saturday until Monday, which he
+could do, as his practice was to a large extent a consulting one. I
+could see plainly enough that though he evidently put as good a
+face upon it as he could, he and the other doctors took by no means
+a hopeful view of the case.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all most dreadful, Netta, and I can hardly realize that only
+three days ago everything was bright and happy, while now it seems
+that everything is uncertain and dark. There was one thing the
+doctor said that pleased me, and that was, 'Don't let any of his
+town friends in to see him; and I think that it would be as well
+that none of them should go down to visit him in the country. Let
+him be kept altogether free from anything that would in the
+smallest degree excite him or set his brain working.' I told him
+that no one had seen him yet, and that I would take good care that
+no one should see him; and I need hardly tell you that Mr. Simcoe
+will be the first person to be informed of the doctor's orders."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A week later General Mathieson came downstairs for the first time. The
+change in him was even greater than it had seemed to be when he was
+lying on the sofa in his room; and Tom Roberts, who had been the
+General's soldier-servant years before, and had been in his service
+since he left the army, had difficulty in restraining his tears as he
+entered, with his master leaning heavily on his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"I am shaky, my dear Hilda, very shaky," the General said. "I feel just
+as I did when I was laid up with a bad attack of jungle fever in India.
+However, no doubt I shall pick up soon, just I did then. Pearson tells
+me that he and the others agree that I must go down into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> the country,
+and I suppose I must obey orders. Where is it we are to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"To your own place, uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"My own place?" he repeated doubtfully, and then after a pause, "Oh,
+yes, of course! Oh, yes!"</p>
+
+<p>There was a troubled look in his face, as if he was trying to recall
+memories that had somehow escaped him, and Hilda, resolutely repressing
+the impulse to burst into a flood of tears, said cheerfully:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I shall be very glad to be back at Holmwood. We won't go down by
+train, uncle. Dr. Pearson does not think that you are strong enough for
+that yet. He is going to arrange for a comfortable carriage in which you
+can lie down and rest. We shall make an early start. He will arrange for
+horses to be sent down so that we can change every ten or twelve miles,
+and arrive there early in the afternoon. It is only seventy miles, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have driven up from there by the coach many a time when I was a
+boy, and sometimes since; have I not, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, General. The railway was not made till six or seven years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"No, the railway wasn't made, Hilda; at least, not all the way."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda made signs to Tom not to leave the room, and he stood by his
+master's shoulder, prompting him occasionally when his memory failed
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"You must get strong very fast, uncle, for Dr. Pearson said that you
+cannot go until you are more fit to bear the fatigue."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall soon get strong, my dear. What is to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"To-day is Friday, uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"Somehow I have lost count of days," he said. "Well, I should think that
+I shall be fit to go early next week; it is not as if we were going to
+ride down. I was always fond of riding, and I hope I shall soon be after
+the hounds again. Let me see, what month is this?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is early in June, uncle; and the country will be looking its best."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; I shall have plenty of time to get strong before cub-hunting
+begins."</p>
+
+<p>So the conversation dragged on for another half hour, the General's
+words coming slower and slower, and at the end of that time he dropped
+asleep. Hilda made a sign to Roberts to stay with him, and then ran up
+to her own room, closed the door behind her, and burst into a passion of
+tears. Presently there was a tap at the door, and her maid came in.</p>
+
+<p>"Tom has just slipped out from the dining room, miss, and told me to
+tell you that the General was sleeping as peacefully as a child, and he
+thought it was like enough that he would not wake for hours. He said
+that when he woke he and William would get him up to his own room."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Lucy." The door closed again. Hilda got up from the bed on
+which she had lain down, and buried herself in the depths of a large
+cushioned chair. There she sat thinking. For the first time she realized
+how immense was the change in her uncle. She had seen him several times
+each day, but he had spoken but a few words, and it only seemed to her
+that he was drowsy and disinclined to talk. Now she saw how great was
+the mental as well as the physical weakness.</p>
+
+<p>"It is terrible!" she repeated over and over again to herself. "What a
+wreck&mdash;oh, what a dreadful wreck! Will he ever get over it?"</p>
+
+<p>She seemed absolutely unable to think. Sometimes she burst into sobs,
+sometimes she sat with her eyes fixed before her, but seeing nothing,
+and her fingers twining restlessly round each other. Presently the door
+opened very gently, and a voice said, "May I come in?" She sprang to her
+feet as if electrified, while a glad cry of "Netta!" broke from her
+lips. A moment later the two girls were clasped in a close embrace.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Netta, how good of you!" Hilda said, after she had sobbed for some
+time on her friend's shoulder. "Oh, what a relief it is to me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I have come, you foolish girl. You did not suppose I was
+going to remain away after your letter?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> Aunt is with me; she is
+downstairs, tidying herself up. We shut up the house and left the
+gardener in charge, and here we are, as long as you want us."</p>
+
+<p>"But your pupils, Netta?"</p>
+
+<p>"I handed them all over to another of the Professor's assistants, so we
+need not bother about them. I told aunt that I should not be down for an
+hour. Mrs. Brown is looking after her, and getting her a cup of tea, and
+I asked her to bring two cups up here. I thought that you would prefer
+for us to have a chat by ourselves. Now tell me all about it, dear; that
+is, if there is anything fresh since you wrote."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda told her the doctor's opinion and the plans that had been formed.</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Pearson brought a Dr. Leeds here with him this morning. He says he
+is very clever. His term as house surgeon at Guy's or St. Bartholomew's,
+I forget which, has just expired, and as he had not made any definite
+plans he was glad to accept the doctor's offer to take charge of my
+uncle. He seemed, from what little I saw of him, a pleasant man, and
+spoke in a cheerful voice, which will be a great thing for uncle. I
+should think that he is six or seven and twenty. Dr. Pearson said he was
+likely to become a very distinguished man in his profession some day. He
+is going to begin at once. He will not sleep here, but will spend most
+of his time here, partly because he wants to study the case, and partly
+because he wants uncle to get accustomed to him. He will travel down
+with us, which will be a great comfort to me, for there is no saying how
+uncle may stand the journey. I suggested that we should have another
+carriage, as the invalid carriage has room for only one inside besides
+the patient, but he laughed, and said that he would ride on the box with
+Tom Roberts; there will be room for two there, as we are going to post
+down. Of course, you and your aunt will go down by train, and be there
+to meet us; it will make it so much brighter and more cheerful having
+you to receive us than if we had to arrive all alone, with no one to say
+welcome."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And is your uncle so very weak?"</p>
+
+<p>"Terribly weak&mdash;weak both mentally and physically," and she gave an
+account of the interview that afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>"That is bad indeed, Hilda; worse than I had expected. But with country
+air, and you and me to amuse him, to say nothing of the doctor, we may
+hope that he will soon be a very different man."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will not stay talking here any longer, Netta; we have left your
+aunt half an hour alone, and if she were not the kindest soul in the
+world, she would feel hurt at being so neglected, after coming all this
+way for my sake. You don't know what good your coming has effected.
+Before you opened the door I was in the depth of despair; everything
+seemed shaken, everything looked hopeless. There seemed to have been a
+sort of moral earthquake that had turned everything in my life
+topsy-turvy, but now I feel hopeful again. With you by my side I think
+that I can bear even the worst."</p>
+
+<p>They went down to the drawing room, where they found Mrs. Brown, the
+housekeeper, having a long gossip over what had taken place with Miss
+Purcell, whom, although a stranger, she was unaffectedly glad to see, as
+it seemed to take some of her responsibilities off her shoulders, and
+she knew that Netta's society would be invaluable to Hilda.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until a week later that, after another consultation, the
+doctors agreed that it was as well that the General should be moved down
+to his country place. Dr. Pearson was opinion that there was some
+improvement, but that it was very slight; the others could see no change
+since they had seen him ten days before. However, they agreed with their
+colleague that although there might be a certain amount of danger in
+moving him to the country, it was best to risk that, as the change might
+possibly benefit him materially.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you formed any opinion of the case, Dr. Leeds?" Sir Henry asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I can scarcely be said to have any distinct opinion, Sir Henry. The
+symptoms do not tally with those one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> would expect to find after any
+ordinary sort of seizure, although certainly they would point to
+paralysis rather than epilepsy. I should, had the case come before me in
+the ordinary way in the ward of a hospital, have come to the conclusion
+that the seizure itself and the after-effects pointed rather to the
+administration of some drug than to any other cause. I admit that I am
+not acquainted with any drug whose administration would lead to any such
+results; but then I know of no other manner in which they could be
+brought about save by some lesion of a blood vessel in the brain of so
+unusual a character that no such case has hitherto been reported in any
+work with which I am acquainted. This, I say, would be my first theory
+in the case of a patient of whose previous history I was entirely
+unaware, and who came under my charge in a hospital ward; but I admit
+that in the present case it cannot be entertained for a moment, and I
+must, during my attendance upon General Mathieson, watch closely for
+symptoms that would aid me in localizing brain lesion or other cause."</p>
+
+<p>He spoke modestly and quietly in the presence, as he was, of some of the
+leading men of his profession. The theory he had enunciated had not
+occurred to any of them, but, as he spoke, they all recognized that the
+symptoms might under other circumstances have led them to a similar
+conclusion. They were silent for a minute when he ceased speaking, then
+Sir Henry said gravely:</p>
+
+<p>"I admit, Dr. Leeds, that some of the symptoms, indeed the fit itself,
+might in the case of a patient of whose history we were ignorant seem to
+point to some obscure form of poisoning, since they do not accord with
+what one would expect in ordinary forms of brain seizures of this kind.
+However, there is no doubt that we are all somewhat prone, when we meet
+with a case possessing unusual or altogether exceptional features, to
+fall back upon the theory of poisoning. In this case, fortunately, the
+circumstances are such as to preclude the possibility of entertaining
+the idea for a moment; and, as you say, you must endeavor to find,
+watching him as you will do, some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> other cause of what I admit is a
+mysterious and obscure case; and knowing you as I do, I am sure that you
+will mention this theory, even as a theory, to no one.</p>
+
+<p>"We are all aware that there are many cases which come before us where
+we may entertain suspicions, and strong suspicions, that the patient has
+been poisoned, and yet we dare not take any steps because, in the first
+place, we have no clew as to how or by whom he or she has been poisoned,
+and because, if after death an autopsy should prove that we were
+mistaken, it would be nothing short of professional ruin. Here, as you
+said, the theory is happily irreconcilable with the circumstances of the
+case, and no drug known to European science would produce so strange a
+seizure or the after-effects. Of course, as we all know, on the west
+coast of Africa, and it is believed in India, the natives are acquainted
+with poisons which are wholly unknown, and will probably remain unknown,
+since medical men who have endeavored to investigate the matter have
+almost always fallen victims themselves to poisons administered by the
+people whose secrets they were endeavoring to discover.</p>
+
+<p>"However, we can happily put that altogether aside. Dr. Pearson tells us
+that he intends to go down once a fortnight, and has promised to furnish
+us with the results of his own observations, and his own reports of this
+very interesting case. If General Mathieson had, in the course of his
+military career, ever been struck in the head by a bullet, I should say
+unhesitatingly that some splinter, possibly very minute, had obtruded
+into the brain matter; but this has, I learn, not been the case. The
+only serious injury that he has ever received was when he was terribly
+torn and nearly killed by a tiger some twenty years ago in India. It may
+be useful to you, Dr. Leeds, to keep this in your mind. There can be no
+doubt that scratches and bites, even of the domestic cat, occasionally
+give rise to violent inflammations, and probably, indeed I believe it to
+be the case, those of the great cats of India are still more poisonous.
+As is the case with the bite of a mad dog, the poison may in some cases
+remain latent for a considerable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> time, until some circumstance may
+arouse it into activity. I would suggest that should any scars caused at
+that time remain, you should examine them carefully, and ascertain
+whether there is any sign of inflammatory action there. I grant the
+improbability of any consequences arising so many years after the event,
+but at the same time in a case of this kind, where we are perfectly at a
+loss to explain what we see, it is as well to look for the cause in
+every direction, however improbable it may appear."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Sir Henry; I will certainly do so. I was not aware before of
+the General having suffered such an injury, and I will go this afternoon
+and spend a few hours in looking through the medical works at the
+library of the India Office to see if there are any records of serious
+disturbance caused in the system by wounds inflicted by tigers a
+considerable time after they have apparently healed."</p>
+
+<p>The meeting then broke up, and two days later General Mathieson was
+taken down to his seat in Warwickshire. Post horses were in readiness
+all along the road, and the journey was accomplished quickly and without
+fatigue to the patient, who slept the greater part of the distance. At
+each change Dr. Leeds got down and had two or three minutes' talk with
+Hilda, and when the General was awake gave him a spoonful of restorative
+medicine. His presence close at hand was a great comfort to Hilda, upon
+whom the strain of watching her uncle was very great, and she was
+thankful indeed when they arrived at the end of the journey, and found
+Netta and her aunt, who had gone down by that morning's train together
+with the housekeeper and her own maid, waiting on the steps to receive
+them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>A STRANGE ILLNESS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>For three months General Mathieson remained in the country. His
+improvement was very gradual&mdash;so gradual, indeed, that from week to week
+it was scarce noticeable, and it was only by looking back that it was
+perceptible. At the end of that time he could walk unaided, there was
+less hesitation in his speech, and his memory was distinctly clearer. He
+passed much of his time on a sofa placed in the shade in the garden,
+with Hilda and Netta sitting by him, working and talking.</p>
+
+<p>Netta had always been a favorite of his from the time that he first met
+her in Hanover; and he had, when she was staying with his niece the year
+before, offered her a very handsome salary if she would remain with her
+as her companion. The girl, however, was reluctant to give up her
+occupation, of which she was very fond, still less would she leave her
+aunt; and although the General would willingly have engaged the latter
+also as an inmate of the house, to act as a sort of chaperon to Hilda
+when she drove out alone shopping, Netta refused in both their names.</p>
+
+<p>"You would not have left the army, General, whatever temptations might
+have been held out to you. I am happy in thinking that I am doing good
+and useful work, and I don't think that any offer, even one so kind and
+liberal as yours, would induce me to relinquish it."</p>
+
+<p>Her presence now was not only an inestimable comfort to Hilda, but of
+great advantage to the General himself. Alone Hilda would have found it
+next to impossible to keep the invalid interested and amused. He liked
+to talk and be talked to, but it was like the work of entertaining a
+child. Netta, however, had an inexhaustible fund of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> good spirits. After
+her long intercourse with children who needed entertainment with
+instruction, and whose attention it was absolutely necessary to keep
+fixed, she had no difficulty in keeping the conversation going, and her
+anecdotes, connected with her life in Germany and the children she had
+taught, were just suited to the General's mental condition.</p>
+
+<p>Little Walter was of great assistance to her. He had come down with his
+nurse as soon as they were fairly settled at Holmwood, and his prattle
+and play were a great amusement to his grandfather. Whenever the
+conversation flagged Netta offered to tell him a story, which not only
+kept him quiet, but was listened to with as much interest by the General
+as by the child. Dr. Leeds was often a member of the party, and his
+cheery talk always had its effect in soothing the General when, as was
+sometimes the case, he was inclined to be petulant and irritable.</p>
+
+<p>They had been a fortnight at Holmwood before the doctor discovered
+Netta's infirmity. She happened to be standing at a window with her back
+to him when he asked her a question. Receiving no reply, he repeated it
+in a louder tone, but he was still unanswered. Somewhat surprised, he
+went up to her and touched her; she faced round immediately.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you speaking to me, Dr. Leeds?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I spoke to you twice, Miss Purcell, but you did not hear me."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been perfectly deaf from childhood," she said; "I cannot hear
+any sound whatever. I never talk about it; people ask questions and
+wonder, and then, forgetting that I do not hear, they persist in
+addressing me in loud tones."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible that you are deaf?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a melancholy fact," she said with a smile, and then added more
+seriously, "It came on after measles. When I was eight years old my good
+aunt, who had taken me to some of the best aurists in London, happened
+to hear that a Professor Menzel had opened an establishment in Hanover
+for teaching deaf mutes to speak by a new<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> system of watching people's
+lips. She took me over there, and, as you see, the result was an
+undoubted success, and I now earn my living by acting as one of the
+professor's assistants, and by teaching two or three little girls who
+board at my aunt's."</p>
+
+<p>"The system must be an admirable one indeed," the doctor said. "I have,
+of course, heard of it, but could not have believed that the results
+were so excellent. It never entered my mind for a moment that you were
+in any way deficient in hearing, still less that you were perfectly
+deaf. I have noticed that, more than is common, you always kept your
+eyes fixed on my face when I was speaking to you."</p>
+
+<p>"You would have noticed it earlier had we been often alone together,"
+she said, "for unless I had kept my eyes always upon you I should not
+have known when you were speaking; but when, as here, there are always
+several of us together, my eyes are at once directed to your face when
+you speak, by seeing the others look at you."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it necessary to be quite close to you when one speaks?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not at all! Of course I must be near enough to be able to see
+distinctly the motion of the lips, say at twenty yards. It is a great
+amusement to me as I walk about, for I can see what is being said by
+people on the other side of the road, or passing by in a vehicle. Of
+course one only gets scraps of conversations, but sometimes they are
+very funny."</p>
+
+<p>"You must be quite a dangerous person, Miss Purcell."</p>
+
+<p>"I am," she laughed; "and you must be careful not to say things that you
+don't want to be overheard when you are within reach of my eyes.
+Yesterday, for instance, you said to Hilda that my aunt seemed a
+wonderfully kind and intelligent old lady; and you were good enough to
+add some complimentary remarks about myself."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Leeds flushed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I should not have said them in your hearing, Miss Purcell; but,
+as they were complimentary, no harm was done. I think I said that you
+were invaluable here,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> which is certainly the case, for I really do not
+know how we should be able to amuse our patient if it were not for your
+assistance."</p>
+
+<p>"Hilda and I had a laugh about it," Netta said; "and she said, too, that
+it was not fair your being kept in the dark as to our accomplishment."</p>
+
+<p>"'Our accomplishment!'" he repeated in surprise. "Do you mean to say
+that Miss Covington is deaf also? But no, that is impossible; for I
+called to her yesterday, when her back was turned, and the General
+wanted her, and she answered immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"My tongue has run too fast," the girl said, "but I don't suppose she
+would mind your knowing what she never speaks of herself. She was, as
+you know, living with us in Hanover for more than four years. She
+temporarily lost her hearing after an attack of scarlet fever, and the
+doctors who were consulted here feared that it might be permanent. Her
+father and mother, hearing of Dr. Hartwig as having the reputation of
+being the first aurist in Europe, took her out to him. He held out hopes
+that she could be cured, and recommended that she should be placed in
+Professor Menzel's institution as soon as she could understand German,
+so that, in case a cure was not effected, she might be able to hear with
+her eyes. By great good fortune he recommended that she should live with
+my aunt, partly because she spoke English, and partly because, as I was
+already able to talk, I could act as her companion and instructor both
+in the system and in German.</p>
+
+<p>"In three years she could get on as well as I could, but the need for it
+happily passed away, as her hearing was gradually restored. Still, she
+continued to live with us while her education went on at the best school
+in the town, but of course she always talked with me as I talked with
+her, and so she kept up the accomplishment and has done so ever since.
+But her mother advised her very strongly to keep the knowledge of her
+ability to read people's words from their lips a profound secret, as it
+might tend to her disadvantage; for people might be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> afraid of a girl
+possessed of the faculty of overhearing their conversation at a
+distance."</p>
+
+<p>"That explains what rather puzzled me the other day," the doctor said.
+"When I came out into the garden you were sitting together and were
+laughing and talking. You did not notice me, and it struck me as strange
+that, while I heard the laughing, I did not hear the sound of your
+voices until I was within a few paces of you. When Miss Covington
+noticed me I at once heard your voices."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you gave us both quite a start, and Hilda said we must either give
+up talking silently or let you into our secret; so I don't think that
+she will be vexed when I tell her that I have let it out."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to have the matter explained," he said, "for really I asked
+myself whether I must not have been temporarily deaf, and should have
+thought it was so had I not heard the laughing as distinctly as usual. I
+came to the conclusion that you must, for some reason or other, have
+dropped your voices to a whisper, and that one or the other was telling
+some important secret that you did not wish even the winds to hear."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that this is the only secret that we have," Netta laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Seriously, this is most interesting to me as a doctor, and it is a
+thousand pities that a system that acts so admirably should not be
+introduced into this country. You should set up a similar institution
+here, Miss Purcell."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been thinking of doing so some day. Hilda is always urging me to
+it, but I feel that I am too young yet to take the head of an
+establishment, but in another four or five years' time I shall think
+seriously about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I can introduce you to all the aurists in London, Miss Purcell, and I
+am sure that you will soon get as many inmates as you may choose to
+take. In cases where their own skill fails altogether, they would be
+delighted to comfort parents by telling them how their children may
+learn to dispense altogether with the sense of hearing."</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite altogether," she said. "It has happened very often, as it did
+just now, that I have been addressed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> by someone at whom I did not
+happen to be looking, and then I have to explain my apparent rudeness by
+owning myself to be entirely deaf. Unfortunately, I have not always been
+able to make people believe it, and I have several times been soundly
+rated by strangers for endeavoring to excuse my rudeness by a palpable
+falsehood."</p>
+
+<p>"Really, I am hardly surprised," Dr. Leeds said, "for I should myself
+have found it difficult to believe that one altogether deaf could have
+been taught to join in conversation as you do. Well, I must be very
+careful what I say in future while in the society of two young ladies
+possessed of such dangerous and exceptional powers."</p>
+
+<p>"You need not be afraid, doctor; I feel sure that there is no one here
+to whom you would venture to give us a bad character."</p>
+
+<p>"I think," he went on more seriously, "that Miss Covington's mother was
+very wise in warning her against her letting anyone know that she could
+read conversations at a distance. People would certainly be afraid of
+her, for gossipmongers would be convinced that she was overhearing, if I
+may use the word, what was said, if she happened to look at them only
+casually."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>At the end of three months the General became restless, and was
+constantly expressing a wish to be brought back to London.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think yourself, Dr. Leeds?" Dr. Pearson said, when he paid
+one of his usual visits.</p>
+
+<p>"He is, of course, a great deal better than he was when he first came
+down," the former replied, "but there is still that curious hesitation
+in his speech, as if he was suffering from partial paralysis. I am not
+surprised at his wanting to get up to town again. As he improves in
+health he naturally feels more and more the loss of his usual course of
+life. I should certainly have advised his remaining here until he had
+made a good deal further advancement, but as he has set his mind upon
+it, I believe that more harm would be done by refusing than by his
+going. In fact, I think that he has, if anything, gone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> back in the last
+fortnight, and above all things it is necessary to avoid any course that
+might cause irritation, and so set up fresh brain disturbances."</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite of your opinion, Leeds. I have noticed myself that he
+hesitates more than he did a short time since, and sometimes, instead of
+joining in the conversation, he sits moody and silent; and he is
+beginning to resent being looked after and checked."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he said to me the other day quite angrily, 'I don't want to be
+treated as a child or a helpless invalid, doctor. I took a mile walk
+yesterday. I am beginning to feel quite myself again; it will do me a
+world of good to be back in London, and to drive down to the club and to
+have a chat with my old friends again.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I think it best that he should not be thwarted. You have looked
+at the scars from time to time, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; there has been no change in them, they are very red, but he tells
+me&mdash;and what is more to the point, his man tells me&mdash;that they have
+always been so."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think, Leeds? Will he ever be himself again? Watching the
+case from day to day as you have done, your opinion is worth a good deal
+more than mine."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not the slightest hope of it," the young doctor replied quietly.
+"I have seen as complete wrecks as he is gradually pull themselves round
+again, but they have been cases where they have been the victims of
+drink or of some malady from which they had been restored by a
+successful operation. In his case we have failed altogether to determine
+the cause of his attack, or the nature of it. We have been feeling in
+the dark, and hitherto have failed to discover a clew that we could
+follow up. So far there has been no recurrence of his first seizure,
+but, with returning strength and returning brain work, it is in my
+opinion more than likely that we shall have another recurrence of it.
+The shock has been a tremendous one to the system. Were he a younger man
+he might have rallied from it, but I doubt whether at his age he will
+ever get over it. Actually he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> is, I believe, under seventy; physically
+and mentally, he is ninety."</p>
+
+<p>"That is so, and between ourselves I cannot but think that a long
+continuance of his life is not to be desired. I believe with you that he
+will be a confirmed invalid, requiring nursing and humoring like a
+child, and for the sake of Miss Covington and all around him one cannot
+wish that his life should be prolonged."</p>
+
+<p>"I trust that, when the end comes, Dr. Pearson, it will be gradual and
+painless, and that there will be no recurrence of that dreadful
+seizure."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so indeed. I have seen many men in bad fits, but I never saw
+anything to equal that. I can assure you that several of the men who
+were present&mdash;men who had gone through a dozen battles&mdash;were completely
+prostrated by it. At least half a dozen of them, men whom I had never
+attended before, knowing that I had been present, called upon me within
+the next two or three days for advice, and were so evidently completely
+unstrung that I ordered them an entire change of scene at once, and
+recommended them to go to Homburg, take the waters, and play at the
+tables; to do anything, in fact, that would distract their minds from
+dwelling upon the painful scene that they had witnessed. Had it not been
+for that, one would have had no hesitation in assigning his illness to
+some obscure form of paralysis; as it is, it is unaccountable. Except,"
+he added, with a smile, "by your theory of poison."</p>
+
+<p>The younger doctor did not smile in return. "It is the only cause that I
+can assign for it," he said gravely. "The more I study the case, the
+more I investigate the writings of medical men in India and on the East
+and West Coast of Africa, the more it seems to me that the attack was
+the work of a drug altogether unknown to European science, but known to
+Obi women, fetich men, and others of that class in Africa. In some of
+the accounts of people accused of crime by fetich men, and given liquor
+to drink, which they are told will not affect them if innocent, but will
+kill them if guilty, I find reports of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> being seized with instant
+and violent convulsions similar to those that you witnessed. These
+convulsions often end in death; sometimes, where, I suppose, the dose
+was larger than usual, the man drops dead in his tracks while drinking
+it. Sometimes he dies in convulsions; at other times he recovers
+partially and lingers on, a mere wreck, for some months. In other cases,
+where, I suppose, the dose was a light one, and the man's relatives were
+ready to pay the fetich man handsomely, the recovery was speedy and
+complete; that is to say, if, as is usually the case, the man was not
+put to death at once upon the supposed proof of his guilt. By what
+possible means such poison could have found its way to England, for
+there is no instance of its nature being divulged to Europeans, I know
+not, nor how it could have been administered; but I own that it is still
+the only theory by which I can account for the General's state. I need
+not say that I should never think of giving the slightest hint to anyone
+but yourself as to my opinion in the matter, and trust most sincerely
+that I am mistaken; but although I have tried my utmost I cannot
+overcome the conviction that the theory is a correct one, and I think,
+Dr. Pearson, that if you were to look into the accounts of the various
+ways in which the poisons are sold by old negro women to those anxious
+to get rid of enemies or persons whose existence is inconvenient to
+them, and by the fetich men in these ordeals, you will admit at least
+that had you been practicing on the West Coast, and any white man there
+had such an attack as that through which the General has passed, you
+would without hesitation have put it down to poison by some negro who
+had a grudge against him."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt, no doubt," the other doctor admitted; "but, you see, we are
+not on the West Coast. These poisons are, as you admit, absolutely
+unobtainable by white men from the men and women who prepare them. If
+obtainable, when would they have been brought here, and by whom? And
+lastly, by whom administered, and from what motive? I admit all that you
+say about the African poisons. I lately had a long talk about them with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+a medical man who had been on the coast for four or five years, but
+until these other questions can be answered I must refuse to believe
+that this similarity is more than accidental, and in any possible way
+due to the same cause."</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I have told myself scores of times, and it would be a
+relief to me indeed could I find some other explanation of the matter.
+Then, you think that he had better come up to London?"</p>
+
+<p>"I leave the matter in your hands, Dr. Leeds. I would give him a few
+days longer and try the effect of a slight sedative; possibly his desire
+to get up to town may die out. If so, he is without doubt better here.
+If, however, you see that his irritation increases, and he becomes more
+and more set upon it, by all means take him up. How would you do so? By
+rail or road?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly by rail. I have been trying to make him feel that he is a
+free agent, and encouraged him in the belief that he is stronger and
+better. If then I say to him, 'My dear General, you are, of course, free
+to do as you like, and it may be that the change will be beneficial to
+you; if the ladies can be ready to-morrow, let us start without further
+delay,' I consider it quite possible that this ready and cheerful
+acquiescence may result in his no longer desiring it. One knows that in
+this respect sick people are very like fractious children. They set
+their minds on some special article of food, as a child does on a toy,
+and when it comes they will refuse to touch it, as the child will throw
+the coveted toy down."</p>
+
+<p>It turned out so in this case. The moment the General found that the
+doctor was willing that he should go up to town, and the ladies quite
+ready to accompany him at once, he himself began to raise objections.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it would be as well that we should wait another month," he
+replied. A little pretended opposition strengthened this view, and the
+return was postponed. At the end of the month he had made so much
+progress that, when the longing for London was again expressed, Dr.
+Leeds offered no opposition, and two days later the whole party went
+up.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>TWO HEAVY BLOWS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>During the four months that General Mathieson had remained at Holmwood
+no one had been more constant in his inquiries as to his health than Mr.
+Simcoe. He had seen Hilda before she started, and had begged her to let
+him have a line once a week, saying how her uncle was going on.</p>
+
+<p>"I will get Dr. Leeds to write," she said. "My own opinion will be worth
+nothing, but his will be valuable. I am afraid that he will find time
+hang heavily on his hands, and he will not mind writing. I do not like
+writing letters at the best of times, but in the trouble we are in now I
+am sure that I shall not be equal to it."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Leeds willingly undertook the duty of sending a short weekly
+bulletin, not only to Mr. Simcoe, but to a dozen other intimate friends.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not half an hour's work," he said, when Netta offered to relieve
+him by addressing the envelopes or copying out his report; "very few
+words will be sufficient. 'The General has made some slight progress
+this week,' or 'The General remains in very much the same state,' or 'I
+am glad to be able to record some slight improvement.' That, with my
+signature, will be quite sufficient, and when I said that half an hour
+would be enough I exaggerated: I fancy that it will be all done in five
+minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Simcoe occasionally wrote a few lines of thanks, but scarcely a day
+passed that he did not send some little present for the invalid&mdash;a bunch
+of the finest grapes, a few choice peaches, and other fruit from abroad.
+Of flowers they had plenty in their own conservatories at Holmwood,
+while game was abundant, for both from neighbors and from club friends
+they received so large a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> quantity that a considerable proportion was
+sent back in hampers to the London hospitals.</p>
+
+<p>Some of Mr. Simcoe's presents were of a different description. Among
+them was a machine that would hold a book at any angle desired, while at
+the same time there was a shelf upon which a cup or tumbler, a spare
+book or newspaper, could be placed.</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate, Hilda, this Mr. Simcoe of yours is very thoughtful and
+kind towards your uncle," Netta said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Hilda admitted reluctantly, "he certainly is very thoughtful, but
+I would much rather he did not send things. We can get anything we want
+from Warwick or Leamington, or indeed from London, merely by sending a
+line or a telegram. One hates being under obligations to a man one does
+not like."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me at present that you are unjust, Hilda; and I certainly
+look forward to seeing him in London and drawing my own conclusions."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, no doubt you will see him, and often enough too," Hilda said
+pettishly. "Of course, if uncle means to go to his club, it will be
+impossible to say that he is unfit to see his friends at home."</p>
+
+<p>Netta, however, did not see Mr. Simcoe on their return, for Dr. Leeds,
+on the suggestion of Hilda, stated in his last report that the General
+would be going up to town in a day or two, but that he strongly
+deprecated any visits until he could see how the invalid stood the
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>There was no doubt that he stood it badly. Just at first the excitement
+seemed to inspire him with strength, but this soon died away, and he had
+to be helped from the railway carriage to the brougham, and lifted out
+when he arrived at home. Dr. Leeds saw to his being carried upstairs,
+undressed, and put to bed.</p>
+
+<p>"He is weaker than I thought," he said in reply to Hilda's anxious look
+when he joined the party downstairs. "I cannot say that it is want of
+physical strength, for he has walked over a mile several times without
+apparent fatigue. It seems to me that it is rather failure of will
+power, or brain power, if you like. I noticed that he very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> frequently
+sat looking out of the window, and it is possible that the succession of
+objects passing rapidly before the eye has had the same effect of
+inducing giddiness that waltzing has to one unaccustomed to it. I trust
+that to-morrow the effect will have passed off. I had, as you know,
+intended to sleep at a friend's chambers to-night; but I should not
+think of doing so now, but will sit up with him. I will get Roberts to
+take watch and watch with me. I can lie down on the sofa, and he can
+wake me should there be any change. I sent him off in a cab, as soon as
+we got your uncle into bed, to fetch Dr. Pearson; if he is at home, he
+will be here in a few minutes."</p>
+
+<p>It was, however, half an hour before Dr. Pearson came, as he was out
+when the cab arrived. He had on the way learned from Tom Roberts the
+state in which the General had arrived, and he hurried upstairs at once
+to his room.</p>
+
+<p>"So he has broken down badly, Leeds?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very badly."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not expect it. When I saw him last Sunday he seemed to have made
+so much progress that I thought there could be no harm in his being
+brought up to London, though, as I said to you, I thought it would be
+better to dissuade him from going to his club. He might see a few of his
+friends and have a quiet chat with them here. His pulse is still much
+fuller than I should have expected from the account his man gave of him.
+There is a good deal of irregularity, but that has been the case ever
+since the attack."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that it is mental rather than bodily collapse," the younger man
+said. "A sudden failure of brain power. He was absolutely unable to make
+any effort to walk, or indeed to move his limbs at all. It was a sort of
+mental paralysis."</p>
+
+<p>"And to some slight extent bodily also," Dr. Pearson said, leaning over
+the bed and examining the patient closely. "Do you see there is a
+slight, but distinct, contortion of the face, just as there was after
+that fit?"</p>
+
+<p>"I see there is. He has not spoken since we lifted him from the railway
+carriage, and I am afraid that to-morrow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> we shall find that he has
+lost, partially or entirely, the power of speech. I fear that this is
+the beginning of the end."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Pearson nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"There can be little doubt of it, nor could we wish it to be otherwise.
+Still, he may linger for weeks or even months."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda read the doctor's opinion in his face when he went downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, doctor, don't say he is going to die!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not say that he is going to die at once, my dear. He may live for
+some time yet, but it is of no use concealing from you that neither Dr.
+Leeds nor myself have the slightest hope of his ultimate recovery. There
+can be no doubt that paralysis is creeping over him, and that it is most
+unlikely that he will ever leave his bed again.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know it is hard, dear," he said soothingly, as she burst into
+tears, "but much as you will regret his loss you cannot but feel that it
+is best so. He could never have been himself again, never have enjoyed
+his life. There would have been an ever-present anxiety and a dread of a
+recurrence of that fit. You will see in time that it is better for him
+and for you that it should be as it is, although, of course, you can
+hardly see that just at present. And now I must leave you to your kind
+friends here."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Purcell knew well enough that just at present words of consolation
+would be thrown away, and that it was a time only for silent sympathy,
+and her gentle words and the warm pressure of Netta's hand did more to
+restore Hilda's composure than any repetition of the doctor's well-meant
+assurance that all was for the best could do.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like me to write a line in your name to Colonel Bulstrode?"
+she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" Hilda cried; "it would look as if we had made up your minds
+that uncle was going to die. If he were conscious it would be different;
+for I know that Colonel Bulstrode is his greatest friend and is named
+one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> of his trustees, and uncle might want to talk to him. Oh, how one
+wishes at a time like this that one had a brother, or that he had a son
+alive, or that there was someone who would naturally step in and take
+everything into his hands!"</p>
+
+<p>"There are his lawyers," Miss Purcell suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I did not think of them. Mr. Pettigrew is the other trustee, and
+is, I know, joint guardian with me of Walter. I am sorry now that we did
+not leave the dear little fellow down at Holmwood, it will be so sad and
+dull for him here, and he would have been very happy in the country. But
+perhaps it is best as it is; if my uncle recovers consciousness he is
+sure to ask for him. He had come to be very fond of him, and Walter has
+been so much with him lately."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, his eyes always used to follow the child about in his play," Miss
+Purcell said. "I think it is best that he should be here, and as the
+nursery is at the top of the house he will not be in anyone's way."</p>
+
+<p>There was but little change in General Mathieson's condition next
+morning, although a slight movement, when Hilda spoke to him, showed
+that he was dimly conscious of her presence, and when she brought the
+child down and he laid his hand on that of the General, and said
+"Good-morning, grandfather," according to his custom, he opened his eyes
+for a moment, and there was a slight movement of the lips, as if he were
+trying to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Miss Covington," Dr. Leeds said; "the experiment was worth
+making, and it proves that his state of unconsciousness is not
+complete."</p>
+
+<p>Walter always took his dinner with the others when they lunched.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the child?" Hilda asked the footman; "have you sent him up to
+tell nurse that lunch is ready?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have not sent up, miss, because nurse has not come back with him from
+his walk."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt she will be back in a few minutes," Hilda said. "She is very
+punctual; I never knew her late before."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE NURSE WAS SITTING ON A CHAIR, SOBBING BITTERLY.</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Lunch was half over when Tom Roberts came in with a scared expression on
+his usually somewhat stolid face.</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, miss, nurse wishes to speak to you."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Roberts?" Hilda exclaimed, starting up. "Has Walter
+met with an accident?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, miss, not as I know of, but nurse has come home, and she is
+just like a wild thing; somehow or other Master Walter has got lost."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda, followed by Netta and Miss Purcell, ran out into the hall. The
+nurse, a woman of two or three and thirty, the daughter of one of the
+General's tenants, and who had been in charge of the child since he
+arrived a baby from India, was sitting on a chair, sobbing bitterly. Her
+bonnet hung down at the back of her head, her hair was unloosed, and she
+had evidently been running wildly to and fro. Her appearance at once
+disarmed Hilda, who said soothingly:</p>
+
+<p>"How has it happened, nurse? Stop crying and tell us. I am sure that it
+could not have been your fault, for you are always so careful with him.
+There is no occasion to be so terribly upset. Of course he will soon be
+found. The first policeman who sees him will be sure to take him to the
+station. Now how did it happen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was walking along Queen's Road, miss," the woman said between her
+sobs, "and Master Walter was close beside me. I know that special,
+because we had just passed a crossing, and I took hold of his hand as we
+went over&mdash;when a man&mdash;he looked like a respectable working-man&mdash;came up
+to me and said, 'I see you are a mother, ma'am.' 'Not at all,' said I;
+'how dare you say such a thing? I am a nurse; I am in charge of this
+young gentleman.' 'Well,' said he, 'I can see that you have a kind
+heart, anyhow; that is what made me speak to you. I am a carpenter, I
+am, and I have been out of work for months, and I have a child at home
+just about this one's age. He is starving, and I haven't a bit to put in
+his mouth. The parish buried my wife three weeks ago, and I am well-nigh
+mad. Would you give me the money to buy him a loaf of bread?' The man
+was in such distress, miss, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> I took out my purse and gave him a
+shilling, and thankful he was; he was all but crying, and could not say
+enough to thank me. Then I turned to take hold of Walter's hand, and
+found that the child had gone. I could not have been more than two or
+three minutes talking; though it always does take me a long time to take
+my purse out of my pocket, still I know that it could not have been
+three minutes altogether.</p>
+
+<p>"First of all, I went back to the crossing, and looked up and down the
+street, but he wasn't there; then I thought that perhaps he had walked
+on, and was hiding for fun in a shop doorway. When I could not see him
+up or down I got regular frighted, and ran up and down like a mad thing.
+Once I came back as far as the house, but there were no signs of him,
+and I knew that he could not have got as far as this, even if he had run
+all the way. Then I thought of the mews, and I ran back there. Master
+Walter was very fond of horses, and he generally stopped when we got to
+the entrance of the mews, and stood looking for a minute or two at the
+grooms cleaning the horses, and I thought that he might have gone in
+there. There were two or three men about, but none had seen the child.
+Still I ran on, and looked into several stables, a-calling for him all
+the time. When he wasn't there, I went well-nigh stark mad, and I ran up
+and down the streets asking everyone I met had they seen a child. Then I
+came back here to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall soon hear of him, nurse. Roberts, do you and William start out
+at once. Go first to the police station and give notice that the child
+is missing&mdash;he cannot have wandered far&mdash;and then do you and James go
+all round the neighborhood and tell every policeman that you meet what
+has happened. You can ask in all the shops in Queen's Road and the
+streets near; he may have wandered into one of them, and as he was
+alone, they may have kept him until someone came to inquire after him.
+Now, Netta, will you put on your bonnet and come out with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I come with you too, Hilda?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you, Miss Purcell. In the first place we shall walk too fast
+for you, and in the second it would be as well for you to be here to
+comfort him if he is brought back while we are out. We will come every
+half-hour to hear if there is news of him. You had better go upstairs
+and make yourself tidy, nurse, and then you can come out and join in the
+hunt. But you look so utterly worn out and exhausted that I think
+perhaps you had better sit quiet for a time; you may be sure that it
+will not be long before some of us bring him back.</p>
+
+<p>"I could not sit still, Miss Covington," the woman said. "I will just
+run upstairs and put myself straight, and then go out again."</p>
+
+<p>"Try and calm yourself, nurse, or you will be taken for a madwoman; you
+certainly looked like one when you came in."</p>
+
+<p>Two minutes later Hilda and her friend started.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go first into Kensington Gardens, Netta; he often went there to
+play, and if he came down into the main road, he would very likely
+wander in. It is probable that nurse may have been longer speaking to
+that man than she thinks, and that he had time to get a good way before
+she missed him."</p>
+
+<p>The gardens were thoroughly searched, and the park-keepers questioned,
+but there were no signs of Walter. Then they called at the house to see
+whether there was any news of him. Finding that there was not, they
+again went out. They had no real hopes of finding him now, for Hilda was
+convinced that he was not in any of the streets near. Had he been,
+either the nurse or the men would have found him.</p>
+
+<p>"He has, no doubt, been either taken by some kind-hearted person who has
+found him lost," she said, "and who has either given notice to the
+police, or he has been taken by them to the police station. Still, it
+relieves one to walk about; it would be impossible to sit quiet, doing
+nothing. The others will have searched all the streets near, and we had
+better go up the Edgware Road, search in that direction, and give notice
+to any policemen we find."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But the afternoon went on and no news was received of the missing child.
+It was a relief to them when Dr. Leeds, who had gone off watch for a few
+hours at twelve o'clock, returned. He looked grave for a moment when he
+heard the news, but said cheerfully, "It is very annoying, Miss
+Covington, but you need not alarm yourself; Walter is bound to turn up."</p>
+
+<p>"But he ought to have been sent to the police station long before this,"
+Hilda said tearfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he ought, if all people possessed common-sense;
+unfortunately, they don't. I expect that at the present moment he is
+eating bread and jam, or something of that sort in the house of some
+kind-hearted old lady who has taken him in, and the idea of informing
+the police has never occurred to her for a moment, and, unfortunately,
+may not occur for some little time. However, if you will give me the
+details of his dress, I will go at once with it to the printer's and get
+two or three hundred notices struck off and sent round, to be placed in
+tradesmen's windows and stuck up on walls, saying that whoever will
+bring the child here will be handsomely rewarded. This is sure to fetch
+him before long."</p>
+
+<p>There was but little sleep that night at General Mathieson's. The master
+of the house still lay unconscious, and from time to time Dr. Leeds came
+down to say a few cheering words to the anxious girls. Tom Roberts
+walked the streets all night with the faint idea of finding the child
+asleep on a doorstep, and went three times to the police station to ask
+if there was any news. The first thing in the morning Hilda went with
+Dr. Leeds to Scotland Yard, and the description of the child was at once
+sent to every station in London; then she drove by herself to the office
+of Messrs. Farmer &amp; Pettigrew, and waited there until the latter
+gentleman arrived. Mr. Pettigrew, who was a very old friend of the
+family, looked very grave over the news.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not conceal from you, Miss Covington," he said, when she had
+finished her story, "that the affair looks to me somewhat serious; and I
+am afraid that you will have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> to make up your mind that you may not see
+the little fellow as soon as you expect. Had he been merely lost, you
+should certainly have heard of him in a few hours after the various and,
+I may say, judicious steps that you have taken. A child who loses
+himself in the streets of London is morally certain to come into the
+hands of the police in a very few hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what can have become of him, Mr. Pettigrew?"</p>
+
+<p>"It may be that, as not unfrequently happens, the child has been stolen
+for the sake of his clothes. In that case he will probably be heard of
+before very long. Or it may be a case of blackmail. Someone, possibly an
+acquaintance of one of the servants, may have known that the child, as
+the grandson and heir of General Mathieson, would be a valuable prize,
+and that, if he could be carried off, his friends might finally be
+forced to pay a considerable sum to recover him. I must say that it
+looks to me like a planned thing. One of the confederates engages the
+silly woman, his nurse, in a long rambling talk; the other picks the
+child quietly up or entices him away to the next corner, where he has a
+cab in waiting, and drives off with him at once. However, in neither
+case need you fear that the child will come to serious harm. If he has
+been stolen for the sake of his clothes the woman will very speedily
+turn him adrift, and he will be brought home to you by the police in
+rags. If, on the other hand, he has been taken for the purpose of
+blackmail, you may be sure that he will be well cared for, for he will,
+in the eyes of those who have taken him, be a most valuable possession.
+In that case you may not hear from the abductors for some little time.
+They will know that, as the search continues and no news is obtained,
+his friends will grow more and more anxious, and more ready to pay
+handsomely for his return. Of course it is a most annoying and
+unfortunate business, but I really do not think that you have any
+occasion to feel anxious about his safety, and it is morally certain
+that in time you will have him back, safe and sound. Now how is your
+uncle? I hope that he shows signs of rallying?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to say there was no sign whatever of his doing so up to
+eight o'clock this morning, and, indeed, Dr. Pearson told me that he has
+but little hope of his doing so. He thinks that there has been a slight
+shock of paralysis. Dr. Leeds speaks a little more hopefully than Dr.
+Pearson, but that is his way, and I think that he too considers that the
+end is not far off."</p>
+
+<p>"Your friends, Miss Purcell and her niece, are still with you, I hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; they will not leave me as long as I am in trouble. I don't know
+what I should do without them, especially now this new blow has fallen
+upon me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, if you receive any communication respecting this boy
+send it straight to me. I do not know whether you are aware that you and
+I have been appointed his guardians?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; uncle told me so months ago. But I never thought then that he
+would not live till Walter came of age, and I thought that it was a mere
+form."</p>
+
+<p>"Doubtless it seemed so at the time," Mr. Pettigrew agreed; "your
+uncle's was apparently an excellent life, and he was as likely as anyone
+I know to have attained a great age."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing you can advise me to do at present?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing whatever, besides what you have done. The police all over
+London will be on the lookout for a lost child; they will probably
+assume at once that he has been stolen for his clothes, and will expect
+to see the child they are in search of in rags. They will know, too, the
+quarter in which he is most likely to be found. If it is for this
+purpose that he has been stolen you can confidently expect to have him
+back by to-morrow at latest; the woman would be anxious to get rid of
+him without loss of time. If the other hypothesis is correct you may not
+hear for a fortnight or three weeks; the fellows in that case will be
+content to bide their time."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda drove back with a heavy heart. Netta herself opened the door, and
+her swollen eyes at once told the truth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Uncle is dead?" Hilda exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear; he passed away half an hour ago, a few minutes after Dr.
+Leeds returned. The doctor ran down himself for a moment, almost
+directly he had gone up, and said that the General was sinking fast, and
+that the end might come at any moment. Ten minutes later he came down
+and told us that all was over."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A STARTLING WILL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Pettigrew at once took the management of affairs at the house in
+Hyde Park Gardens into his hands, as one of the trustees, as joint
+guardian of the heir, and as family solicitor. Hilda was completely
+prostrated by the two blows that had so suddenly fallen, and was glad
+indeed that all necessity for attending to business was taken off her
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>"We need not talk about the future at present," Mr. Pettigrew said to
+her; "that is a matter that can be considered afterwards. You are most
+fortunate in having the lady with whom you so long lived here with you,
+and I trust that some permanent arrangement may be made. In any case you
+could not, of course, well remain here alone."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not thought anything about it yet," she said wearily. "Oh, I
+wish I were a man, Mr. Pettigrew; then I could do something myself
+towards searching for Walter, instead of being obliged to sit here
+uselessly."</p>
+
+<p>"If you were a man, Miss Covington, you could do nothing more at present
+than is being done. The police are keeping up a most vigilant search. I
+have offered a reward of five hundred pounds for any news that may lead
+to the child's discovery, and notices have even been sent to the
+constabularies of all the home counties, requesting them to make
+inquiries if any tramp or tramps, accompanied by a child of about the
+age of our young ward, have been seen passing along the roads. But, as I
+told you when you called upon me, I have little doubt but that it is a
+case of blackmail, and that it will not be long before we hear of him.
+It is probable that the General's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> death has somewhat disconcerted them,
+and it is likely that they may wait to see how matters go and who is the
+person with whom they had best open negotiations. I have no doubt that
+they are in some way or other keeping themselves well informed of what
+is taking place here."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The funeral was over, the General being followed to the grave by a
+number of his military friends and comrades, and the blinds at the house
+in Hyde Park Gardens were drawn up again. On the following morning Mr.
+Pettigrew came to the house early. He was a man who was methodical in
+all his doings, and very rarely ruffled. As soon as he entered, however,
+Hilda saw that something unusual had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you heard of Walter?" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear, but I have some strange and unpleasant news to give you.
+Yesterday afternoon I received an intimation from Messrs. Halstead &amp;
+James, saying that they had in their possession the will of the late
+General Mathieson bearing date the 16th of May of the present year. I
+need not say that I was almost stupefied at the news. The firm is one of
+high standing, and it is impossible to suppose that any mistake has
+arisen; at the same time it seemed incredible that the General should
+thus have gone behind our backs, especially as it was only three months
+before that we had at his request drawn out a fresh will for him. Still,
+I am bound to say that such cases are by no means rare. A man wants to
+make a fresh disposition of his property, in a direction of which he
+feels that his own solicitors, especially when they are old family
+solicitors, will not approve, and, therefore, he gets it done by some
+other firm, with the result that, at his death, it comes like a
+bombshell to all concerned. I can hardly doubt that it is so in this
+case, although what dispositions the General may have made of his
+property, other than those contained in the last will we drew up, I am
+unable to say. At any rate one of the firm will come round to our office
+at twelve o'clock with this precious document, and I think that it is
+right that you should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> present when it is opened. You will be
+punctual, will you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can rely upon my being there a few minutes before twelve, Mr.
+Pettigrew. It all seems very strange. I knew what was the general
+purport of my uncle's last will, for he spoke of it to me. It was, he
+said, the same as the one before it, with the exception that he had left
+a handsome legacy to the man who had saved his life from a tiger. I was
+not surprised at this at all. He had taken a very great fancy to this
+Mr. Simcoe, who was constantly here, and it seemed to me only natural
+that he should leave some of his money to a man who had done him so
+great a service, and who, as he told me, had nearly lost his own life in
+doing it."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so," the lawyer agreed; "it seemed natural to us all. His
+property was large enough to permit of his doing so without making any
+material difference to his grandchild, who will come into a fine estate
+with large accumulations during his long minority. Now I must be off."</p>
+
+<p>There was a little council held after the lawyer had left.</p>
+
+<p>"They say troubles never comes singly," Hilda remarked, "and certainly
+the adage is verified in my case."</p>
+
+<p>"But we must hope that this will not be so, my dear," Miss Purcell said.</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot be any personal trouble, aunt," for Hilda had fallen back
+into her old habit of so addressing her, "because uncle told me that, as
+I was so well off, he had only put me down for a small sum in his will,
+just to show that he had not forgotten me. I feel sure that he will have
+made no change in that respect, and that whatever alteration he may have
+made cannot affect me in the least; except, of course, he may have come
+to the conclusion that it would be better to appoint two men as
+guardians to Walter, but I hardly think that he would have done that.
+However, there must be something strange about it, or he would not have
+gone to another firm of solicitors. No, I feel convinced that there is
+some fresh trouble at hand."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The carriage drew up at the office in Lincoln's Inn at five minutes to
+twelve. Mr. Pettigrew had not included Miss Purcell and Netta in the
+invitation, but Hilda insisted upon their coming with her. They were
+shown at once into his private room, where some extra chairs had been
+placed. Colonel Bulstrode was already there, and Mr. Farmer joined his
+partner as soon as they were seated.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a most singular affair, Miss Covington," he said, "and I need
+hardly say that it is a matter of great annoyance as well as surprise to
+Pettigrew and myself. Of course General Mathieson was perfectly free to
+go to any other firm of solicitors, but as we have made the wills for
+his family and yours for the last hundred years, as well as conducted
+all their legal business, it is an unpleasant shock to find that he has
+gone elsewhere, and I must say that I am awaiting the reading of this
+will with great curiosity, as its contents will doubtless furnish us
+with the reason why he had it thus prepared."</p>
+
+<p>Just at the stroke of twelve Mr. Halstead and Mr. James were announced.</p>
+
+<p>"We thought it as well," the former said, "for us both to come, Mr.
+Farmer, for we can understand your surprise at finding that a later will
+than that which is doubtless in your possession is in existence, and we
+are ready to explain the whole circumstances under which it was drawn
+out by us. General Mathieson came one day to our office. He brought with
+him the card of Colonel Bulstrode; but this was unnecessary, for some
+months ago the General was at our office with the Colonel. He was only
+there for the purpose of fixing his name as a witness to the colonel's
+signature, as our client, like many others, preferred having a personal
+friend to witness his signature instead of this being done by one of our
+clerks."</p>
+
+<p>"That was so," the Colonel interjected.</p>
+
+<p>"General Mathieson," Mr. Halstead went on, "was only in our office a
+minute or two on that occasion, but of course that was sufficient for us
+to recognize him when he called again. He told us that he desired us to
+draw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> out a will, and that as he had determined to appoint Mr. Pettigrew
+one of his trustees and guardian to his heir, he thought it as well to
+employ another firm to draw up the will.</p>
+
+<p>"We pointed out that such a precaution was altogether needless when
+dealing with a firm like yours, and he then said, 'I have another
+reason. I am making a change in one of the provisions of the will, and I
+fancy that Farmer &amp; Pettigrew might raise an argument upon it. Here are
+the instructions,' I said, 'You will permit me to read them through,
+General, before giving you a decided answer.' Had the will contained any
+provision that we considered unjust we should have declined to have had
+anything to do with the matter; but as it in no way diverted the
+property from the natural heir, and was, as far as we could see, a just
+and reasonable one, we saw no cause for refusing to carry out his
+instructions; for we have known, as doubtless you have known, many
+similar instances, in which men, for some reason or other, have chosen
+to go outside their family solicitors in matters which they desired
+should remain entirely a secret until after their death. Had General
+Mathieson come to us as an altogether unknown person we should have
+point-blank refused to have had anything to do with the business; but as
+an intimate friend of our client Colonel Bulstrode, and as being known
+to us to some extent personally, we decided to follow the instructions
+given us in writing. I will now, with your permission, read the will."</p>
+
+<p>"First let me introduce Miss Covington to you," Mr. Farmer said. "She is
+the General's nearest relative, with the exception of his grandson.
+These ladies are here with her as her friends."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Halstead bowed, then broke the seals on a large envelope, drew out a
+parchment, and proceeded to read it. Messrs. Farmer &amp; Pettigrew listened
+with increasing surprise as he went on. The legacies were absolutely
+identical with those in the will that they had last prepared. The same
+trustees and guardians for the child were appointed, and they were
+unable to understand what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> had induced General Mathieson to have what
+was almost a duplicate of his previous will prepared so secretly. The
+last paragraph, however, enlightened them. Instead of Hilda Covington,
+John Simcoe was named as heir to the bulk of the property in the event
+of the decease of Walter Rivington, his grandson, before coming of age.</p>
+
+<p>Hilda gave an involuntary start as the change was announced, and the two
+lawyers looked at each other in dismay. Mr. Halstead, to whom the
+General had explained his reasons for gratitude to John Simcoe, saw
+nothing unusual in the provision, which indeed was heralded with the
+words, "as my only near relative, Hilda Covington, is well endowed, I
+hereby appoint my dear friend, John Simcoe, my sole heir in the event of
+the decease of my grandson, Walter Rivington, before coming of age, in
+token of my appreciation of his heroic rescue of myself from the jaws of
+a tiger, in the course of which rescue he was most seriously wounded."</p>
+
+<p>When he had finished he laid down the will and looked round.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope," he said, "that this will be satisfactory to all parties."</p>
+
+<p>"By gad, sir," Colonel Bulstrode said hotly, "I should call this last
+part as unsatisfactory as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"The will is identical," Mr. Farmer said, without heeding the Colonel's
+interjection, "with the one that General Mathieson last executed. The
+persons benefited and the amounts left to them are in every case the
+same, but you will understand the dismay with which we have heard the
+concluding paragraph when I tell you that General Mathieson's heir,
+Walter Rivington, now a child of six or seven years old, disappeared&mdash;I
+think I may say was kidnaped&mdash;on the day preceding General Mathieson's
+death, and that all efforts to discover his whereabouts have so far been
+unsuccessful."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Halstead and his partner looked at each other with dismay, even
+greater than that exhibited by the other lawyers.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless me!" Mr. Halstead exclaimed. "This is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> bad business
+indeed&mdash;and a very strange one. Do you think that this Mr. Simcoe can
+have been aware of this provision in his favor?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is likely enough that he was aware of it," Mr. Pettigrew said; "he
+was constantly in the company of General Mathieson, and the latter, who
+was one of the frankest of men, may very well have informed him; but
+whether he actually did do so or not of course I cannot say. Would you
+have any objection to my looking at the written instructions?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not. I brought them with me in order that they may be
+referred to as to any question that might arise."</p>
+
+<p>"It is certainly in the General's own handwriting," Mr. Pettigrew said,
+after looking at the paper. "But, indeed, the identity of the legacies
+given to some twenty or thirty persons, and of all the other provisions
+of the will, including the appointment of trustees and guardians, with
+those of the will in our possession, would seem in itself to set the
+matter at rest. Were you present yourself when the General signed it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. Both Mr. James and myself were present. I can now only
+express my deep regret that we acceded to the General's request to draw
+up the will."</p>
+
+<p>"It is unfortunate, certainly," Mr. Farmer said. "I do not see that
+under the circumstances of his introduction by an old client, and the
+fact that you had seen him before, anyone could blame you for
+undertaking the matter. Such cases are, as you said, by no means
+unusual, and I am quite sure that you would not have undertaken it, had
+you considered for a moment that any injustice was being done by its
+provisions."</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask to whom the property was to go to by the first will?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was to go to Miss Covington. I am sure that I can say, in her name,
+that under other circumstances she would not feel in any way aggrieved
+at the loss of a property she can well dispense with, especially as the
+chances of that provision coming into effect were but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> small, as the
+child was a healthy little fellow, and in all respects likely to live to
+come of age."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not care in the least for myself," Hilda said impetuously. "On the
+contrary, I would much rather that it had gone to someone else. I should
+not have at all liked the thought that I might benefit by Walter's
+death, but I would rather that it had been left to anyone but this man,
+whom I have always disliked, and whom Walter also disliked. I cannot
+give any reason why. I suppose it was an instinct, and now the instinct
+is justified, for I feel sure that he is at the bottom of Walter's
+disappearance."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! hush! my dear young lady," Mr. Farmer said, holding up his hand
+in dismay, "you must not say such things; they are libelous in the
+extreme. Whatever suspicions you may have&mdash;and I own that at present
+things look awkward&mdash;you must not mention those suspicions until you
+obtain some evidence in their support. The disappearance of the child at
+this moment may be a mere coincidence&mdash;a singular one, if you like&mdash;and
+we shall, of course, examine the matter to the utmost and sift it to the
+bottom, but nothing must be said until we have something to go on."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda sat silent, with her lips pressed tightly together and an
+expression of determination upon her face. The other solicitors speedily
+left, after more expressions of regret.</p>
+
+<p>"What are we going to do next, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda asked abruptly, as
+the door closed behind them.</p>
+
+<p>"That is too difficult a matter to decide off-hand, but after going into
+the whole matter with my co-trustee, Colonel Bulstrode, with the
+assistance of my partner, we shall come to some agreement as to the best
+course to take. Of course we could oppose the probate of this new will,
+but it does not seem to me that we have a leg to stand upon in that
+respect. I have no doubt that Halstead &amp; James will retire altogether
+from the matter, and refuse to act further. In that case it will be my
+duty, of course, to acquaint Simcoe with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> provisions of the will,
+and to inform him that we, as trustees, shall not proceed to take any
+further steps in the matter until the fate of Walter Rivington is
+ascertained, but shall until then administer the estate in his behalf.
+It will then be for him to take the next step, and he certainly will not
+move for some months. After a time he will, of course, apply to the
+court to have it declared that Walter Rivington, having disappeared for
+a long time, there is reasonable presumption of his death. I shall then,
+in your name and mine, as the child's guardians, be heard in opposition,
+and I feel sure that the court will refuse to grant the petition,
+especially under the serious and most suspicious circumstances of the
+case. In time Simcoe will repeat the application, and we shall of course
+oppose it. In fact, I think it likely that it will be a good many years
+before the court will take the step asked, and all that time we shall be
+quietly making inquiries about this man and his antecedents, and we
+shall, of course, keep up a search for the child. It may be that his
+disappearance is only a coincidence, and that he has, as we at first
+supposed, been stolen for the purpose of making a heavy claim for his
+return."</p>
+
+<p>"You may be sure that I shall not rest until I find him, Mr. Pettigrew,"
+Hilda said. "I shall devote my life to it. I love the child dearly; but
+even were he a perfect stranger to me I would do everything in my power,
+if only to prevent this man from obtaining the proceeds of his
+villainy."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Farmer again interposed.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Miss Covington," he said, "you really must not speak like this.
+Of course, with us it is perfectly safe. I admit that you have good
+reason for your indignation, but you must really moderate your
+expressions, which might cause infinite mischief were you to use them
+before other people. In the eye of the law a man is innocent until he is
+proved guilty, and we have not a shadow of proof that this man has
+anything to do with the child's abduction. Moreover, it might do harm in
+other ways. To begin with, it might render the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> discovery of the child
+more difficult; for if his abductors were aware or even suspected that
+you were searching in all directions for him, they would take all the
+greater pains to conceal his hiding-place."</p>
+
+<p>"I will be careful, Mr. Farmer, but I shall proceed to have a search
+made at every workhouse and night refuge and place of that sort in
+London, and within twenty miles round, and issue more placards of your
+offer of a reward of five hundred pounds for information. There is no
+harm in that."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not. Those are the measures that one would naturally take in
+any case. Indeed, I should already have pushed my inquiries in that
+direction, but I have hitherto felt sure that had he been merely taken
+for his clothes, the police would have traced him before now; but as
+they have not been able to do so, that it was a case of blackmail, and
+that we should hear very shortly from the people that had stolen him. I
+sincerely trust that this may the case, and that it will turn out that
+this man Simcoe has nothing whatever to do with it. I will come down and
+let you know what steps we are taking from time to time, and learn the
+directions in which you are pushing your inquiries."</p>
+
+<p>Neither Miss Purcell nor Netta had spoken from the time they had entered
+the room, but as soon as they took their places in the carriage waiting
+for them, they burst out.</p>
+
+<p>"What an extraordinary thing, Hilda! And yet," Miss Purcell added, "the
+search for Walter may do good in one way; it will prevent you from
+turning your thoughts constantly to the past and to the loss that you
+have suffered."</p>
+
+<p>"If it had not been for Walter being missing, aunt, I should have
+thought nothing of uncle's appointing Mr. Simcoe as heir to his property
+if anything should happen to him. This man had obtained an extraordinary
+influence over him, and there can be no doubt from uncle's statement to
+me that he owed his life solely to him, and that Simcoe indeed was
+seriously injured in saving him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> He knew that I had no occasion for the
+money, and have already more than is good for a girl to have at her
+absolute disposal; therefore I am in no way surprised that he should
+have left him his estate in the event of Walter's death. All that is
+quite right, and I have nothing to say against it, except that I have
+always disliked the man. It is only the extraordinary disappearance of
+Walter, just at this moment, that seems to me to render it certain that
+Simcoe is at the bottom of it. No one else could have had any motive for
+stealing Walter, more than any other rich man's child. His interest in
+his disappearance is immense. I have no doubt uncle had told him what he
+had done, and the man must have seen that his chance of getting the
+estate was very small unless the child could be put out of the way."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't think," Netta began, "that any harm can have happened to
+him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't think that. Whether this man would have shrunk from it if
+there were no other way, I need not ask myself; but there could have
+been no occasion for it. Walter is so young that he will very soon
+forget the past; he might be handed over to a gypsy and grow up a little
+vagrant, and as there is no mark on him by which he might be identified,
+he would be lost to us forever. You see the man can afford to wait. He
+has doubtless means of his own&mdash;how large I do not know, but I have
+heard my uncle say that he had handsome chambers, and certainly he lived
+in good style. Now he will have this legacy of ten thousand pounds, and
+if the court keeps him waiting ten or fifteen years before pronouncing
+Walter dead, he can afford to wait. Anyhow, I shall have plenty of time
+in which to act, and it will require a lot of thinking over before I
+decide what I had best do."</p>
+
+<p>She lost no time, however, in beginning to work. Posters offering the
+reward of five hundred pounds for information of the missing boy were at
+once issued, and stuck up not only in London, but in every town and
+village within thirty miles. Then she obtained from Mr. Pettigrew the
+name of a firm of trustworthy private<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> detectives and set them to make
+inquiries, in the first place at all the institutions where a lost child
+would be likely to be taken if found, or where it might have been left
+by a tramp. Two days after the reading of the will she received the
+following letter from John Simcoe:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Covington</span>: I have learned from Messrs. Farmer &amp;
+Pettigrew the liberal and I may say extraordinary generosity shown
+towards myself by the late General Mathieson, whose loss I most
+deeply deplore. My feelings of gratitude are at the present moment
+overwhelmed by the very painful position in which I find myself. I
+had, of course, heard, upon calling at your door to make inquiries,
+that little Walter was missing, and was deeply grieved at the news,
+though not at the time dreaming that it could affect me personally.
+Now, however, the circumstances of the case are completely changed,
+for, by the provisions of the will, I should benefit pecuniarily by
+the poor child's death. I will not for a moment permit myself to
+believe that he is not alive and well, and do not doubt that you
+will speedily recover him; but, until this occurs, I feel that some
+sort of suspicion must attach to me, who am the only person having
+an interest in his disappearance. The thought that this may be so
+is distressing to me in the extreme. Since I heard of his
+disappearance I have spent the greater part of my time in
+traversing the slums of London in hopes of lighting upon him. I
+shall now undertake wider researches, and shall to-day insert
+advertisements in all the daily papers, offering one thousand
+pounds for his recovery. I feel sure that you at least will not for
+a moment entertain unjust suspicions concerning me, but those who
+do not know me well may do so, and although at present none of the
+facts have been made public, I feel as if I were already under a
+cloud, and that men in the club look askance at me, and unless the
+child is found my position will speedily become intolerable. My
+only support in this trial is my consciousness of innocence. You
+will excuse me for intruding upon your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> sorrow at the present
+moment, but I felt compelled to write as I have done, and to assure
+you that I will use every effort in my power to discover the child,
+not only for his own sake and yours, but because I feel that until
+he is discovered I must continue to rest under the terrible, if
+unspoken, suspicion of being concerned in his disappearance.</p>
+
+<p class="right">"Believe me, yours very truly,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">John Simcoe</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>DR. LEEDS SPEAKS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After reading John Simcoe's letter, Hilda threw it down with an
+exclamation of contempt.</p>
+
+<p>"Read it!" she said to Netta, who was alone with her.</p>
+
+<p>"The letter is good enough as it stands," Netta remarked, as she
+finished it.</p>
+
+<p>"Good enough, if coming from anyone else," Hilda said scornfully,
+"perhaps better than most men would write, but I think that a rogue can
+generally express himself better than an honest man."</p>
+
+<p>"Now you are getting cynical&mdash;a new and unpleasant phase in your
+character, Hilda. I have heard you say that you do not like this man,
+but you have never given me any particular reason for it, beyond, in one
+of your letters, saying that it was an instinct. Now do try to give me a
+more palpable reason than that. At present it seems to be only a case of
+Dr. Fell. You don't like him because you don't."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like him because from the first I distrusted him. Personally, I
+had no reason to complain; on the contrary, he has been extremely civil,
+and indeed willing to put himself out in any way to do me small
+services. Then, as I told you, Walter disliked him, too, although he was
+always bringing chocolates and toys for him; so that the child's dislike
+must have been also a sort of instinct. He felt, as I did, that the man
+was not true and honest. He always gave me the impression of acting a
+part, and I have never been able to understand how a man of his class
+could have performed so noble and heroic an act as rushing in almost
+unarmed to save another, who was almost a stranger to him, from the
+grip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> of a tiger. So absolutely did I feel this that I have at times
+even doubted whether he could be the John Simcoe who had performed this
+gallant action."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Hilda, you are getting fanciful! Do you think that your uncle
+was likely to be deceived in such a matter, and that he would not have a
+vivid remembrance of his preserver, even after twenty years?"</p>
+
+<p>"That depends on how much he saw of him. My uncle told me that Mr.
+Simcoe brought some good introductions from a friend of his at Calcutta
+who came out in the same ship with him. No doubt he dined at my uncle's
+two or three times&mdash;he may even have stayed a few days in the
+house&mdash;possibly more; but as commanding the district my uncle must have
+been fully occupied during the day, and can have seen little of him
+until, I suppose, a week or so after his arrival, when he invited him to
+join in the hunt for a tiger. Although much hurt on that occasion,
+Simcoe was much less injured than my uncle, who lay between life and
+death for some time, and Simcoe had left before he was well enough to
+see him. If he had dined with my uncle a few times after this affair,
+undoubtedly his features would have been so impressed on him that he
+would have recognized him, even after twenty years; but, as it was, he
+could have no particular interest in this gentleman, and can have
+entertained but a hazy recollection of his features. In fact, the
+General did not recognize him when he first called upon him, until he
+had related certain details of the affair. It had always been a sore
+point with my uncle that he had never had an opportunity of thanking his
+preserver, who had, as he believed, lost his life at sea before he
+himself was off his sick bed, and when he heard the man's story he was
+naturally anxious to welcome him with open arms, and to do all in his
+power for him. I admit that this man must either have been in Benares
+then, or shortly afterwards, for he remembered various officers who were
+there and little incidents of cantonment life that could, one would
+think, be only known to one who had been there at the time."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But you say he was only there a week, Hilda?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only a week before this tiger business; but it was a month before he
+was able to travel. No doubt all the officers there would make a good
+deal of a man who had performed such a deed, and would go and sit with
+him and chat to while away the hours; so that he would, in that time,
+pick up a great deal of the gossip of the station."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, what is your theory, Hilda? The real man, as you say, no
+doubt made a great many acquaintances there; this man seems to have been
+behind the scenes also."</p>
+
+<p>"He unquestionably knew many of the officers, for uncle told me that he
+recognized several men who had been out there when he met them at the
+club, and went up and addressed them by name."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they know him also?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; at first none of them had any idea who he was. But that is not
+surprising, for they had seen him principally when he was greatly pulled
+down; and believing him to be drowned, it would have been strange indeed
+if they had recalled his face until he had mentioned who he was."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it seems to me that you are arguing against yourself, Hilda.
+Everything you say points to the fact that this man is the John Simcoe
+he claims to be. If he is not Simcoe, who can he be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! There you ask a question that I cannot answer."</p>
+
+<p>"In fact, Hilda, you have nothing beyond the fact that you do not like
+the man, and believe that he is not the sort of man to perform an heroic
+and self-sacrificing action, on behalf of this curious theory of yours."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all at present, but I mean to set myself to work to find out
+more about him. If I can find out that this man is an impostor we shall
+recover Walter; if not, I doubt whether we shall ever hear of him
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Netta lifted her eyebrows.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, at any rate, you have plenty of time before you, Hilda."</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Dr. Leeds, who had not called for the last three or
+four days, came in to say that he was arranging a partnership with a
+doctor of considerable eminence, but who was beginning to find the
+pressure of work too much for him, and wanted the aid of a younger and
+more active man.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a chance in a thousand," he said. "I owe it largely to the kind
+manner in which both Sir Henry Havercourt and Dr. Pearson spoke to him
+as to my ability. You will excuse me," he went on, after Hilda had
+warmly congratulated him, "for talking of myself before I have asked any
+questions, but I know that, had you obtained any news of Walter, you
+would have let me know at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I should; but I have some news, and really important news, to
+give you." And she related the production of the new will and gave him
+the details of its provisions.</p>
+
+<p>He looked very serious.</p>
+
+<p>"It is certainly an ugly outlook," he said. "I have never seen this
+Simcoe, but I know from the tone in which you have spoken of him, at
+least two or three times, that he is by no means a favorite of yours.
+Can you tell me anything about him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not beyond the fact that he saved the General's life from a tiger a
+great many years ago. Shortly after that he was supposed to be lost at
+sea. Certainly the vessel in which he sailed went down in a hurricane
+with, as was reported, all hands. He says that he was picked up clinging
+to a spar. Of his life for the twenty years following he has never given
+a very connected account, at least as far as I know; but some of the
+stories that I have heard him tell show that he led a very wild sort of
+life. Sometimes he was working in a small trader among the islands of
+the Pacific, and I believe he had a share in some of these enterprises.
+Then he claims to have been in the service of a native prince somewhere
+up beyond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> Burmah, and according to his account took quite an active
+part in many sanguinary wars and adventures of all sorts."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor's face grew more and more serious as she proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>"Do I gather, Miss Covington, that you do not believe that this man is
+what he claims to be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Frankly that is my opinion, doctor. I own that I have no ground
+whatever for my disbelief, except that I have naturally studied the man
+closely. I have watched his lips as he spoke. When he has been talking
+about these adventures with savages he spoke without effort, and I have
+no doubt whatever that he did take part in such adventures; but when he
+was speaking of India, and especially when at some of the bachelor
+dinners uncle gave there were officers who had known him out there, it
+was clear to me that he did not speak with the same freedom. He weighed
+his words, as if afraid of making a mistake. I believe that the man was
+playing a part. His tone was genial and sometimes a little boisterous,
+as it might well be on the part of a man who had been years away from
+civilization; but I always thought from his manner that all this was
+false. I am convinced that he is a double-faced man. When he spoke I
+observed that he watched in a furtive sort of way the person to whom he
+was speaking, to see the effect of his words; but, above all, I formed
+my opinion upon the fact that I am absolutely convinced that this man
+could never have performed the splendid action of facing a wounded tiger
+unarmed for the sake of one who was, in fact, but a casual
+acquaintance."</p>
+
+<p>"You will excuse me if I make no comment on what you have told me, Miss
+Covington. It is a matter far too serious for any man to form a hasty
+opinion upon. I myself have never seen this man, but I am content to
+take your estimate of his character. One trained, as you were for years,
+in the habit of closely watching faces cannot but be a far better judge
+of character than those who have not had such training. I will take two
+or three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> days to think the matter over; and now will you tell me what
+steps you are taking at present to discover Walter?"</p>
+
+<p>She told him of what was being done.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you suggest anything else, Dr. Leeds?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. It seems to me that the key to the mystery is in the hands of
+this man, and that it is there it must be sought, though at present I
+can see no way in which the matter can be set about. When one enters
+into a struggle with a man like this, one must be armed at all points,
+prepared to meet craft with craft, and above all to have a
+well-marked-out plan of campaign. Now I will say good-morning. I suppose
+Miss Purcell and her niece will stay on with you, at any rate for a
+time?"</p>
+
+<p>"For a long time, I hope," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask if you have stated the view that you have given me to Miss
+Netta Purcell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have told her. She is disposed to treat it as an absurd fancy on
+my part, but if I can get anything to go upon which will convince her
+that there is even a faint possibility of my being right, she will go
+through fire and water to assist me."</p>
+
+<p>"I can well believe that," the doctor said. "I am sure that she has a
+strong character, although so lively and full of fun. Of course, having
+been thrown with her for four months, I am able to form a very fair
+opinion of her disposition."</p>
+
+<p>After Dr. Leeds had left, Hilda began to build castles for her friend.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be a splendid thing for her," she said. "He is certainly not a
+man to speak in the way he did unless he thoroughly meant it. I should
+think that they were just suited to each other; though it would be
+really a pity that the scheme I had set my mind upon for getting her
+over here as head of an institution for teaching deaf and dumb children
+on Professor Menzel's plan should come to nothing. Perhaps, though, he
+might be willing that she should act as the head of such an
+establishment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> getting trained assistants from those she knows in
+Hanover and giving a few hours a day herself to the general supervision,
+if only for the sake of the good that such an institution would do
+among, perhaps the most unfortunate of all beings. I am quite sure that,
+so far, she has no thought of such a thing. However, perhaps I am
+running on too fast, and that he only means what he said, that he
+admired her character. I suppose there is no reason that because a man
+admires a girl's character he should fall in love with her, and yet
+Netta is so bright and cheerful, and at the same time so kind and
+thoughtful, I can hardly imagine that any man, thrown with her as he has
+been, could help falling in love with her."</p>
+
+<p>Netta was surprised when Hilda told her that Dr. Leeds had been inclined
+to view her theory seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Hilda? Certainly he is not the sort of man to be carried away
+by your enthusiasm, so please consider all that I have said upon the
+subject as unspoken, and I will stand neutral until I hear further what
+he says."</p>
+
+<p>"He did not say very much, I admit, Netta; but he said that he would
+take the matter seriously into consideration and let me know what he
+thinks in two or three days."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid that he wants to let you down gently," Netta said. "Well,
+well, don't looked vexed! I will say no more about it until this solemn
+judgment is delivered."</p>
+
+<p>Netta was in the room when Dr. Leeds called, two days later.</p>
+
+<p>"Netta is in all my counsels, Dr. Leeds," Hilda said, "and she is, as a
+rule, a capital hand at keeping a secret, though she did let mine slip
+out to you."</p>
+
+<p>There was no smile on the doctor's face, and both girls felt at once
+that the interview was to be a serious one.</p>
+
+<p>"I am well aware that I can speak before Miss Purcell," he said,
+"although there are very few people before whom I would repeat what I am
+going to say. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> have two questions to ask you, Miss Covington. What is
+the date of this last will of your uncle's?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is dated the 16th of May."</p>
+
+<p>"About a fortnight before the General's alarming seizure?"</p>
+
+<p>Hilda bowed her head in assent. The next question took her quite by
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know whether this man Simcoe was one of the party when the
+seizure took place?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was, doctor. My uncle told me that he was going to dine with him,
+and Dr. Pearson mentioned to me that he was next to the General and
+caught him as he fell from his chair."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Leeds got up and walked up and down the room two or three minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that now things have come to the present pass you ought to know
+what was the opinion that I originally formed of General Mathieson's
+illness. Dr. Pearson and Sir Henry Havercourt both differed from me and
+treated my theory as a fanciful one, and without foundation; and of
+course I yielded to such superior authority, and henceforth kept my
+ideas to myself. Nevertheless, during the time the General was under my
+charge I failed altogether to find any theory or explanation for his
+strange attack and subsequent state, except that which I had first
+formed. It was a theory that a medical man is always most reluctant to
+declare unless he is in a position to prove it, or at least to give some
+very strong reason in its favor, for a mistake would not only cost him
+his reputation, but might involve him in litigation and ruin his career
+altogether. But I think that I ought to tell you what my opinion is,
+Miss Covington. You must not take it for more than it is worth, namely
+as a theory; but it may possibly set you on a new track and aid you in
+your endeavor to discover the missing child."</p>
+
+<p>The surprise of the two girls increased as he continued, after a pause:</p>
+
+<p>"Ever since the day when I was first requested to act<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> as the General's
+resident medical man I have devoted a considerable time to the study of
+books in which, here and there, could be found accounts of the action of
+the herbs in use among the Obi women, fetich men, and so-called wizards
+on the West Coast of Africa, also in India, and among the savage tribes
+of the Malay Archipelago and the Pacific Islands. What drugs they use
+has never been discovered, although many efforts have been made to
+obtain a knowledge of them, both in India and on the West Coast; but
+doctors have found it necessary to abandon the attempt, several of them
+having fallen victims of the jealousy of these people because of the
+researches they were making. But at the least the effects of the
+administration of these drugs have been frequently described, and in
+some respects these correspond so closely to those noticeable in the
+General's case that I say now, as I said at first, I believe the
+General's illness was caused by the administration of some drug
+absolutely unknown to European science."</p>
+
+<p>"You think that my uncle was poisoned?" Hilda exclaimed in a tone of
+horror, while Netta started to her feet with clenched hands and flushed
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not used the word 'poisoned,' Miss Covington, though in fact it
+comes to that. It may not have been administered with the intention of
+killing; it may have been intended only to bring on a fit, which, in due
+time, might have been attended by others; but the dose may have been
+stronger than its administrator intended."</p>
+
+<p>"And you think, Dr. Leeds&mdash;you think that it was administered by&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Covington; I accuse no one. I have no shadow of proof against
+anyone; but taking this illness, with the abduction of the child, it
+cannot be denied that one's suspicions must, in the first case, fall
+upon the man who has profited by the crime, if crime it was. On May 16
+this will was drawn up, bequeathing the property to a certain person.
+The circumstances of the will were curious, but from what I learned from
+you of the explanation given by the lawyers who drew it up, it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> seems
+fair and above-board enough. The General was certainly greatly under the
+influence of this man, who had rendered him the greatest service one man
+can render another, and that at the risk of his own life. Therefore I do
+not consider that this will, which was, so to speak, sprung upon you, is
+in itself an important link in the chain. But when we find that twelve
+or fourteen days afterwards the General was, when at table, seized with
+a terrible fit of an extraordinary and mysterious nature, and that the
+man who had an interest in his death was sitting next to him, the
+coincidence is at least a strange one. When, however, the General's heir
+is abducted, when the General is at the point of death, the matter for
+the first time assumes a position of the most extreme gravity.</p>
+
+<p>"At first, like you, I thought that Walter had either been stolen by
+some woman for the sake of his clothes, or that he had been carried off
+by someone aware that he was the General's heir, with a view to
+obtaining a large sum of money as his ransom. Such things have been done
+before, and will, no doubt, be done again. The first hypothesis appears
+to have failed altogether; no woman who had robbed a child of his
+clothes would desire to detain him for an hour longer than was
+necessary. The inquiries of the police have failed altogether; the
+people you have employed have ascertained that neither at the workhouses
+of London nor in the adjacent counties has any child at all answering to
+Walter's description been left by a tramp or brought in by the police or
+by someone who had found him wandering about. It cannot be said that the
+second hypothesis is also proved to be a mistaken one; the men who took
+him away would be obliged to exercise the greatest caution when opening
+negotiations for his release, and it might be a month or more before you
+heard from them.</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore, it would be unfair to this man Simcoe to assume that he is
+the author of the plot until so long a period has passed that it is
+morally certain that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> the boy was not stolen for the purpose of
+blackmail. However, we have the following suspicious circumstances:
+first, that, as I believe, the General was drugged by some poison of
+whose nature we are ignorant beyond that we read of very similar cases
+occurring among natives races in Africa and elsewhere. Then we have the
+point that no one would have had any interest in the General's death,
+with the exception of the man he had named as his heir in the event of
+the child's death. We know by the man's statement that he was for many
+years living among tribes where poisons of this kind are used by the
+wizards and fetich men to support their authority and to remove persons
+against whom they have a grudge. Lastly, we have the crowning fact of
+the abduction of the child, who stood between this man and the estates.
+All this is at best mere circumstantial evidence. We do not know for
+certain what caused the General's fit, we have no proof that Simcoe had
+any hand in the abduction, and whatever our opinion may be, it is
+absolutely necessary that we do not breathe a hint to anyone."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda did not speak; the shock and the horror of the matter were too
+much for her. She sat with open lips and blanched face, looking at Dr.
+Leeds. Netta, however, leaped to her feet again.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be so, Dr. Leeds. It does not seem to me that there can be a
+shadow of doubt in the matter, and anything that I can do to bring the
+truth to light I will do, however long a time it takes me."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Netta," Hilda said, holding out her hand to her friend; "as
+for me, I will devote my life to clearing up this mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid, Miss Covington, that my engagements henceforth will
+prevent my joining actively in your search, but my advice will always be
+at your service, and it may be that I shall be able to point out methods
+that have not occurred to you."</p>
+
+<p>"But, oh, Dr. Leeds!" Hilda exclaimed suddenly; "if this villain
+poisoned my uncle, surely he will not hesitate to put Walter out of his
+path."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have been thinking of that," Dr. Leeds exclaimed, "but I have come to
+the conclusion that it is very unlikely that he will do so. In the first
+place, he must have had accomplices. The man who spoke to the nurse and
+the cabman who drove the child away must both have been employed by him,
+and I have no doubt whatever that the child has been placed with some
+persons who are probably altogether ignorant of his identity. Walter was
+a lovable child, and as soon as he got over his first grief he would no
+doubt become attached to the people he was with, and although these
+might be willing to take a child who, they were told, had lost its
+parents, and was homeless and friendless, without inquiring too closely
+into the circumstances, it is unlikely in the extreme that they would
+connive at any acts of violence. It is by no means easy to murder and
+then to dispose of the body of a child of seven, and I should doubt
+whether this man would attempt such a thing. He would be perfectly
+content that the boy would be out of his way, that all traces of him
+should be lost, and that it would be beyond the range of probability
+that he could ever be identified, and, lastly, even the most hardened
+villains do not like putting their necks in a noose. Moreover, if in the
+last extremity his confederates, believing that he had made away with
+the child, tried to blackmail him, or some unforeseen circumstance
+brought home to him the guilt of this abduction, he would be in a
+position to produce the child, and even to make good terms for himself
+for doing so. You yourself, whatever your feelings might be as to the
+man whom you believe to be the murderer of your uncle, would still be
+willing to pay a considerable sum and allow him to leave the country, on
+condition of his restoring Walter. Therefore I think that you may make
+your mind easy on that score, and believe that whatever has happened to
+him, or wherever he may be, there is no risk of actual harm befalling
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you very much, doctor. That is indeed a relief. And now have you
+thought of any plan upon which we had best set to work?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not at present, beyond the fact that I see that the power you both
+possess of reading what men say, when, as they believe, out of earshot,
+ought to be of material advantage to you. As Miss Purcell has promised
+to associate herself with you in the search, I should say that she would
+be of more use in this direction than you would. You have told me that
+he must be perfectly aware of your dislike for him, and would certainly
+be most careful, were you in his presence, although he might not dream
+of this power that you possess. But he has never seen your friend, and
+would not be on his guard with her. I have at present not thought over
+any plan by which she could watch him&mdash;that must be for after
+consideration&mdash;but it seems to me that this offers some chance of
+obtaining a clew."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready to do anything, Dr. Leeds," Netta said firmly. "You only
+have to find out a way, and I will follow out your instructions to the
+letter. First we must find out whether Hilda's theory about this man,
+which I scoffed at when she first spoke of it to me, is correct."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean the theory that this man is not John Simcoe at all, but
+someone who, knowing the facts of the rescue from the tiger, and being
+also well acquainted with people and things in Benares, has personated
+him? I will not discuss that now. I have an appointment to meet a
+colleague for consultation in a difficult case, and have already run the
+time very close. You shall see me again shortly, when I have had time to
+think the whole matter over quietly."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>NETTA VISITS STOWMARKET.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Well, Netta," Hilda said, after Dr. Leeds had left them, "I suppose you
+will not in future laugh at my instincts. I only wish that they had been
+stronger. I wish I had told my dear uncle that I disliked the man so
+thoroughly that I was sure there was something wrong with him, and
+implored him not to become very intimate with him. If I had told him how
+strongly I felt on the subject, although, of course, he could have left
+or given him any sum that he chose, I do think it would have had some
+influence with him. No doubt he would have laughed at what he would have
+called my suspicious nature, but I think he would not have become so
+friendly with the man; but, of course, I never thought of this. Oh,
+Netta! my heart seems broken at the thought that my dear uncle, the
+kindest of men, should have been murdered by a man towards whom his
+thoughts were so kindly that he appointed him his heir in the event of
+Walter's death. If he had left him double the sum he did, and had
+directed that in case of Walter's death the property should go to
+hospitals, the child might now have been safe in the house. It is
+heartbreaking to think of."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dear," Netta said, "we have our work before us. I say 'we'
+because, although he was no relation to me, I loved him from the first,
+when he came over with the news of your father's death. Had I been his
+niece as well as you, he could not have treated me more kindly than he
+did when I was staying with you last year, and during the last four
+months that I have been with you. One could see, even in the state he
+was in, how kind his nature was, and his very helplessness added to
+one's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> affection for him. I quite meant what I said, for until this
+matter is cleared up, and until this crime, if crime it really is, is
+brought to light, I will stay here, and be your helper, however the long
+the time may be. There are two of us, and I do not think that either of
+us are fools, and we ought to be a match for one man. There is one thing
+we have, that is a man on whom we can rely. I do not mean Dr. Leeds; I
+regard him as our director. I mean Tom Roberts; he would have given his
+life, I am sure, for his master, and I feel confident that he will carry
+out any instructions we may give him to the letter."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure he will, Netta. Do you think we ought to tell him our
+suspicions?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should do so unhesitatingly, Hilda. I am sure he will be ready to go
+through fire and water to avenge his master's death. As aunt is out I
+think it will be as well to take him into our confidence at once."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda said nothing, but got up and rang the bell. When the footman
+entered she said, "Tell Roberts that I want to speak to him." When the
+man came up she went on, "We are quite sure, Tom, that you were most
+thoroughly devoted to your master, and that you would do anything in
+your power to get to the bottom of the events that have brought about
+his death and the carrying off of his grandson."</p>
+
+<p>"That I would, miss; there is not anything that I would not do if you
+would only set me about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Roberts, I am about to take you into our confidence, relying
+implicitly upon your silence and on your aid."</p>
+
+<p>"You can do that, miss, safely enough. There is nothing now that I can
+do for my master; but as for Master Walter, I would walk to China if I
+thought that there was a chance of finding him there."</p>
+
+<p>"In the first place you must remember, Roberts, that we are acting only
+upon suspicion; we have only that to go upon, and our object must be to
+find some proofs to justify those suspicions."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I understand, miss; you have got an idea, and you want to see if it is
+right?"</p>
+
+<p>"We ourselves have little doubt of it, Roberts. Now please sit down and
+listen to me, and don't interrupt me till I have finished."</p>
+
+<p>Then she related the grounds that she had for suspicion that the
+General's death and Walter's abduction were both the work of John
+Simcoe, and also her own theory that this man was not the person who had
+saved the General's life. In spite of her warning not to interrupt, Tom
+Roberts' exclamations of fury were frequent and strongly worded.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, miss!" he exclaimed, when she had finished and his tongue was
+untied, "I did not think that there was such a villain upon the face of
+the earth. Why, if I had suspected this I would have killed him, if I
+had been hung for it a week after. And to think that he regular took me
+in! He had always a cheerful word for me, if I happened to open the door
+for him. 'How are you, Tom?' he would say, 'hearty as usual?' and he
+would slip a crown into my hand to drink his health. I always keep an
+account of tips that I receive, and the first thing I do will be to add
+them up and see how much I have had from him, and I will hand it over to
+a charity. One don't like setting out to help to bring a man to the
+gallus when you have got his money in your pocket. I must have been a
+fool, miss, not to have kept a better watch, but I never thought ill of
+the man. It seemed to me that he had been a soldier. Sometimes when he
+was talking with me he would come out with barrack-room sayings, and
+though he never said that he had served, nor the General neither, I
+thought that he must have done so. He had a sort of way of carrying his
+shoulders which you don't often see among men who have not learned the
+goose-step. I will wait, miss, with your permission, until I have got
+rid of that money, and then if you say to me, 'Go to that man's rooms
+and take him by the throat and squeeze the truth out of him,' I am ready
+to do it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We shall not require such prompt measures as that, Tom; we must go
+about our work carefully and quietly, and I fear that it will be a very
+long time before we are able to collect facts that we can act upon. We
+have not decided yet how to begin. I may tell you that the only other
+person who shares our suspicions is Dr. Leeds. We think it best that
+even Miss Purcell should know nothing about them. It would only cause
+her great anxiety, and the matter will, therefore, be kept a close
+secret among our four selves. In a few days our plans will probably be
+complete, and I think that your share in the business will be to watch
+every movement of this man and to ascertain who are his associates; many
+of them, no doubt, are club men, who, of course, will be above
+suspicion, but it is certain that he must have had accomplices in the
+abduction of the child. Whether he visits them or they visit him, is a
+point to find out. There is little chance of their calling during
+daylight, and it is in the evening that you will have to keep a close
+eye on him and ascertain who his visitors are."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, miss, I wish he did not know me by sight; but I expect that
+I can get some sort of a disguise so that he won't recognize me."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that there will be any difficulty about that. Of course
+we are not going to rely only upon you; Miss Purcell and myself are both
+going to devote ourselves to the search."</p>
+
+<p>"We will run him down between us, miss, never fear. It cannot be meant
+that such a fellow as this should not be found out in his villainy. I
+wish that there was something more for me to do. I know several old
+soldiers like myself, who would join me willingly enough, and we might
+between us carry him off and keep him shut up somewhere, just as he is
+doing Master Walter, until he makes a clean breast of it. It is
+wonderful what the cells and bread and water will do to take a fellow's
+spirit down. It is bad enough when one knows how long one has got to
+bear it; but to know that there is no end to it until you choose to
+speak would get the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> truth out of Old Nick, begging your pardon for
+naming him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we shall see, Roberts. That would certainly be a last resource,
+and I fear that it would not be so effectual as you think. If he told us
+that if he did not pay his usual visit to the boy it would be absolutely
+certain we should never see him alive again, we should not dare retain
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, miss, whatever you decide on I will do. I have lost as a good
+master as ever a man had, and there is nothing that I would not do to
+bring that fellow to justice."</p>
+
+<p>The girls waited impatiently for the next visit of Dr. Leeds. It was
+four days before he came.</p>
+
+<p>"I hoped to have been here before," he said, "but I have been so busy
+that it has not been possible for me to manage it. Of course this
+business has always been in my mind, and it seems to me that the first
+step to be taken is to endeavor to ascertain whether this fellow is
+really, as you believe, Miss Covington, an impostor. Have you ever heard
+him say in what part of the country he formerly resided?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he lived at Stowmarket. I know that some months ago he introduced
+to uncle a gentleman who was manager at a bank there, and had known him
+from boyhood. He was up for a few days staying with him."</p>
+
+<p>"That is certainly rather against your surmise, Miss Covington; however,
+it is as well to clear that matter up before we attempt anything else."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go down and make inquiries, doctor," Netta said quietly. "I am
+half a head shorter than Hilda, and altogether different in face;
+therefore, if he learns that any inquiries have been made, he will be
+sure that whoever made them was not Hilda."</p>
+
+<p>"We might send down a detective, Miss Purcell."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I want to be useful," she said, "and I flatter myself that I shall
+be able to do quite as well as a detective. We could hardly take a
+detective into our confidence in a matter of this kind, and not knowing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+everything, he might miss points that would give us a clew to the truth.
+I will start to-morrow. I shall tell my aunt that I am going away for a
+day or two to follow up some clew we have obtained that may lead to
+Walter's discovery. In a week you shall know whether this man is really
+what he claims to be."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Miss Purcell; then we will leave this matter in your hands."</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, doctor," Hilda Covington said, "we have taken Roberts into
+our confidence. We know that we can rely upon his discretion implicitly,
+and it seemed to us that we must have somebody we can trust absolutely
+to watch this man."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that you could have done better," he said. "I was going
+to suggest that it would be well to obtain his assistance. From what I
+have heard, very few of these private detectives can be absolutely
+relied upon. I do not mean that they are necessarily rogues, who would
+take money from both sides, but that, if after trying for some time they
+consider the matter hopeless, they will go on running up expenses and
+making charges when they have in reality given up the search. What do
+you propose that he shall do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should say that, in the first place, he should watch every evening
+the house where Simcoe lives, and follow up everyone who comes out and
+ascertain who they are. No doubt the great majority of them will be
+clubmen, but it is likely that he will be occasionally visited by some
+of his confederates."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that is an excellent plan. He will, of course, also follow him
+when he goes out, for it is much more likely that he will visit these
+fellows than that they should come to him. In a case like this he would
+assuredly use every precaution, and would scarcely let them know who he
+is and where he resides."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt that is so, doctor, and it would make Roberts' work all the
+easier, for even if they came to the man's lodgings he might be away,
+following up the track of someone who had called before him."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Netta returned at the end of four days.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not succeeded," she said, in answer to Hilda's inquiring look as
+she came in. "The man is certainly well known at Stowmarket as John
+Simcoe; but that does not prove that he is the man, and just as he
+deceived your uncle he may have deceived the people down there. Now I
+will go upstairs and take off my things, and then give you a full
+account of my proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>"My first step," she began on her return, "was, of course, to find out
+what members of the Simcoe family lived there. After engaging a room at
+the hotel, which I can assure you was the most unpleasant part of the
+business, for they seemed to be altogether unaccustomed to the arrival
+of young ladies unattended, I went into the town. It is not much of a
+place, and after making some little purchases and inquiring at several
+places, I heard of a maiden lady of that name. The woman who told me of
+her was communicative. 'She has just had a great piece of luck,' she
+said. 'About ten months back a nephew, whom everyone had supposed to
+have been lost at sea, came home with a great fortune, and they say that
+he has behaved most handsomely to her. She has always bought her Berlin
+wool and such things here, and she has spent three or four times as much
+since he came home as she did before, and I know from a neighbor, of
+whom she is a customer, that the yards and yards of flannel that she
+buys for making up into petticoats for poor children is wonderful. Do
+you know her, miss?' I said that I did not know her personally, but that
+some friends of mine, knowing that I was going to Stowmarket, had asked
+me to inquire if Miss Simcoe was still alive. I said casually that I
+might call and see her, and so got her address.</p>
+
+<p>"I then went to call upon her. She lives in a little place called Myrtle
+Cottage. I had been a good deal puzzled as to what story I should tell
+her. I thought at first of giving myself out as the sister of the young
+lady to whom her nephew was paying his addresses; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> as we knew
+nothing of him except that he was wealthy, and as he had mentioned that
+he had an aunt at Stowmarket, and as I was coming down there, I had been
+asked to make inquiries about him. But I thought this might render her
+so indignant that I should get nothing from her. I thought, therefore, I
+had better get all she knew voluntarily; so I went to the house,
+knocked, and asked whether Miss Simcoe was in. I was shown by a little
+maid into the parlor, a funny, little, old-fashioned room. Presently
+Miss Simcoe herself came in. She was just the sort of woman I had
+pictured&mdash;a kindly-looking, little old maid.</p>
+
+<p>"'I do not know whether I have done wrong, Miss Simcoe,' I said, 'but I
+am a stranger here, and having over-worked myself at a picture from
+which I hope great things, I have been recommended country air; and a
+friend told me that Stowmarket was a pretty, quiet, country town, just
+the place for an over-worked Londoner to gain health in, so I came down
+and made some inquiries for a single lady who would perhaps take me in
+and give me a comfortable home for two or three months. Your name has
+been mentioned to me as being just the lady I am seeking."</p>
+
+<p>"'You have been misinformed,' she said, a little primly. 'I do not say
+that a few months back I might not have been willing to have entertained
+such an offer, but my circumstances have changed since then, and now I
+should not think for a moment of doing so.'</p>
+
+<p>"Rising from my seat with a tired air, I said that I was much obliged to
+her, but I was very sorry she could not take me in, as I was sure that I
+should be very comfortable; however, as she could not, of course there
+was an end of it.</p>
+
+<p>"'Sit down, my dear,' the old lady said. 'I see that you are tired and
+worn out; my servant shall get you a cup of tea. You see,' she went on,
+as I murmured my thanks and sat down, 'I cannot very well do what you
+ask. As I said, a few months ago I should certainly have been very glad
+to have had a young lady like yourself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> to stay with me for a time; I
+think that when a lady gets to my age a little youthful companionship
+does her good. Besides, I do not mind saying that my means were somewhat
+straitened, and that a little additional money would have been a great
+help to me; but everything was changed by the arrival of a nephew of
+mine. Perhaps you may have heard his name; he is a rich man, and I
+believe goes out a great deal, and belongs to clubs and so on.'</p>
+
+<p>"I said that I had not heard of him, for I knew nothing about society,
+nor the sort of men who frequented clubs.</p>
+
+<p>"'No, of course not, my dear,' she said. 'Well, he had been away for
+twenty years, and everyone thought he was dead. He sailed away in some
+ship that was never heard of again, and you may guess my surprise when
+he walked in here and called me aunt.'</p>
+
+<p>"'You must have been indeed surprised, Miss Simcoe,' I said; 'it must
+have been quite a shock to you. And did you know him at once?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, dear, no! He had been traveling about the world, you see, for a
+very long time, and naturally in twenty years he was very much changed;
+but of course I soon knew him when he began to talk.'</p>
+
+<p>"'You recognized his voice, I suppose?' I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"'No, my dear, no. Of course his voice had changed, just as his
+appearance had done. He had been what he called knocking about, among
+all sorts of horrible savages, eating and drinking all kinds of queer
+things; it made my blood run cold to listen to him. But I never asked
+any questions about these things; I was afraid he might say that when he
+was among the cannibals he used to eat human flesh, and I don't think
+that I could like a man who had done that, even though he was my
+nephew.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Did he go out quite as a boy, Miss Simcoe?' I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, no! He was twenty-four, I think, when he went abroad. He had a
+situation in the bank here. I know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> that the manager thought very highly
+of him, and, indeed, he was everywhere well spoken of. My brother
+Joshua&mdash;his father, you know&mdash;died, and he came in for two or three
+thousand pounds. He had always had a great fancy for travel, and so,
+instead of looking out for some nice girl and settling down, he threw up
+his situation and started on his travels.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Had his memory been affected by the hot suns and the hardships that he
+had gone through?' I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, dear! not at all. He recognized everyone almost whom he had known.
+Of course he was a good deal more changed than they were.'</p>
+
+<p>"'They did not recognize him any more than you did?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Not at first,' she said. 'When a man is believed to have been dead for
+twenty years, his face does not occur to old friends when they meet an
+apparent stranger.'</p>
+
+<p>"'That is quite natural,' I agreed. 'What a pleasure it must have been
+to him to talk over old times and old friends!'</p>
+
+<p>"'Indeed it was, my dear. He enjoyed it so much that for three days he
+would not move out of the house. Dear me! what pleasant talks we had.'</p>
+
+<p>"'And you say, Miss Simcoe, that his coming has quite altered your
+position?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, indeed. The very first thing he said after coming into the house
+was that he had come home resolved to make me and my sister Maria
+thoroughly comfortable. Poor Maria died some years ago, but of course he
+did not know it. Then he said that he should allow me fifty pounds a
+year for life.'</p>
+
+<p>"'That was very kind and nice indeed, Miss Simcoe,' I said.</p>
+
+<p>"By this time, seeing that my sympathy was with her, her heart opened
+altogether to me, and she said that she felt sure that her nephew would
+not like it were she to take in a lodger, and might indeed consider it a
+hint that he might have been more liberal than he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> was. But she invited
+me to stay three days with her while I was looking about for suitable
+lodgings. I found that her house was a regular rendezvous for the
+tabbies of the neighborhood. Every afternoon there were some four or
+five of them there. Some brought work, others came in undisguisedly to
+gossip. Many of these had known John Simcoe in his younger days, and by
+careless questioning I elicited the fact that no one would have
+recognized him had it not been for Miss Simcoe having told them of his
+arrival.</p>
+
+<p>"The manager of the bank I rather shrank from an encounter with, but I
+managed to obtain from Miss Simcoe a letter her nephew had written to
+her when he was away from home a short time before he left England, and
+also one written by him since his return. So far as I could see, there
+was not the slightest resemblance between them.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that I might possibly get at someone less likely to be on his
+guard than the bank manager, and she happened to mention as an
+interesting fact that one of the clerks who had entered the bank a lad
+of seventeen, only a month or two before her nephew left, was now
+married to the daughter of one of her gossips. I said that her story had
+so deeply interested me that I should be glad to make his acquaintance.</p>
+
+<p>"He came with his wife the evening before I left. He was very chatty and
+pleasant, and while there was a general conversation going on among the
+others, I said to him that I was a great student of handwriting, and I
+flattered myself that I could tell a man's character from his
+handwriting; but I owned that I had been quite disconcerted by two
+letters which Miss Simcoe was kind enough to show me from her nephew,
+one written before he left the bank, the other dated three or four
+months ago.</p>
+
+<p>"'I cannot see the slightest resemblance between the two,' I said, 'and
+do not remember any instance which has come under my knowledge of the
+handwriting of any man or woman changing so completely in the course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> of
+twenty years. The one is a methodical, business sort of writing, showing
+marks of steady purpose, regularity of habits, and a kindly disposition.
+I won't give you my opinion of the other, but the impression that was
+left upon my mind was far from favorable.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, there has been an extraordinary change,' he agreed. 'I can
+recollect the former one perfectly, for I saw him sign scores of letters
+and documents, and if he had had an account standing at the bank now I
+should without question honor a check so signed. No doubt the great
+difference is accounted for by the life that Mr. Simcoe has led. He told
+me himself that for years, at one time, he had never taken a pen in
+hand, and that he had almost forgotten how to write; and that his
+fingers had grown so clumsy pulling at ropes, rowing an oar, digging for
+gold, and opening oysters for pearls, that they had become all thumbs,
+and he wrote no better than a schoolboy.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But that is not the case, Mr. Askill,' I said; 'the writing is still
+clerkly in character, and does not at all answer to his own
+description.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I noticed that myself, and so did our chief. He showed me a letter
+that he had received from Simcoe, asking him to run up for a few days to
+stay with him in London. He showed it to me with the remark that in all
+his experience he had never seen so great and complete a change in the
+handwriting of any man as in that of Mr. Simcoe since he left the bank.
+He considered it striking proof how completely a man's handwriting
+depends upon his surroundings. He turned up an old ledger containing
+many entries in Simcoe's handwriting, and we both agreed that we could
+not see a single point of resemblance.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Thank you,' I said; 'I am glad to find that my failure to recognize
+the two handwritings as being those of the same man has been shared by
+two gentlemen who are, like myself in a humble way, experts at
+handwriting.'</p>
+
+<p>"The next morning I got your letter, written after I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> had sent you the
+address, and told Miss Simcoe that I was unexpectedly called back to
+town, but that it was quite probable that I should ere long be down
+again, when I would arrange with one or other of the people of whom she
+had kindly spoken to me. That is all I have been able to learn, Hilda."</p>
+
+<p>"But it seems to me that you have learned an immense deal, Netta. You
+have managed it most admirably."</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate, I have got as much as I expected, if not more; I have
+learned that no one recognized this man Simcoe on his first arrival in
+his native town, and it was only when this old lady had spread the news
+abroad, and had told the tale of his generosity to her, and so prepared
+the way for him, that he was more or less recognized; she having no
+shadow of doubt but that he was her long-lost nephew. In the three days
+that he stopped with her he had no doubt learned from the dear old
+gossip almost every fact connected with his boyhood, the men he was most
+intimate with, the positions they held, and I doubt not some of the
+escapades in which they might have taken part together; so that he was
+thoroughly well primed before he met them. Besides, no doubt they were
+more anxious to hear tales of adventure than to talk of the past, and
+his course must have been a very easy one.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Simcoe said that he spent money like a prince, and gave a dinner
+to all his old friends, at which every dainty appeared, and the
+champagne flowed like water. We may take it as certain that none of his
+guests ever entertained the slightest doubt that their host was the man
+he pretended to be. There could seem to them no conceivable reason why a
+stranger should come down, settle an income upon Miss Simcoe, and spend
+his money liberally among all his former acquaintances, if he were any
+other man than John Simcoe.</p>
+
+<p>"Lastly, we have the handwriting. The man seems to have laid his plans
+marvelously well, and to have provided against every unforeseen
+contingency; yet undoubtedly he must have altogether overlooked the
+question<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> of handwriting, although his declaration that he had almost
+forgotten how to use his pen was an ingenious one, and I might have
+accepted it myself if he had written in the rough, scrambling character
+you would expect under the circumstances. But his handwriting, although
+in some places he had evidently tried to write roughly, on the whole is
+certainly that of a man accustomed at one time of his life to clerkly
+work, and yet differing as widely as the poles from the handwriting of
+Simcoe, both in the bank ledger and in the letter to his aunt.</p>
+
+<p>"I think, Hilda, that although the matter cannot be decided, it
+certainly points to your theory that this man is not the John Simcoe who
+left Stowmarket twenty years ago. He attempted, and I think very
+cleverly, to establish his identity by a visit to Stowmarket, and no
+doubt did so to everyone's perfect satisfaction; but when we come to go
+into the thing step by step, we see that everything he did might have
+been done by anyone who happened to have a close resemblance to John
+Simcoe in figure and some slight resemblance in face, after listening
+for three days to Miss Simcoe's gossip."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>AN ADVERTISEMENT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I cannot wait for Dr. Leeds to come round," Hilda said the next morning
+at breakfast. "You and I will pay him a visit in Harley Street. I am
+sure that he will not grudge a quarter of an hour to hear what you have
+done."</p>
+
+<p>"What mystery are you two girls engaged in?" Miss Purcell asked, as she
+placidly poured out the tea.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a little plot of our own, aunt," Netta said. "We are trying to
+get on Walter's track in our own way, and to be for a time amateur
+detectives. So far we have not found any decisive clew, but I think that
+we are searching in the right direction. Please trust us entirely, and
+we hope some day we shall have the triumph of bringing Walter back, safe
+and sound."</p>
+
+<p>"I pray God that it may be so, my dear. I know that you are both
+sensible girls, and not likely to get yourselves into any silly scrape."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think we are, aunt; but I am afraid that neither of us would
+consider any scrape a foolish one that brought us even a little bit
+nearer to the object of our search. At any rate, aunt, it will reassure
+you to know that we are acting in concert with Dr. Leeds, of whom I know
+that you entertain the highest opinion."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I do. Of course I am no judge whatever as to whether he is a
+good doctor, but I should think, from what Dr. Pearson says, that he
+must, in the opinion of other medical men, be considered an
+exceptionally clever man for his age; and having seen him for four
+months and lived in close contact with him, I would rather be attended
+by him than by anyone else I have ever met. His kindness to the General
+was unceasing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> Had he been his son, he could not have been more patient
+and more attentive. He showed wonderful skill in managing him, and was
+at once sympathetic and cheerful. But, more than that, I admired his
+tact in filling the somewhat difficult position in which he was placed.
+Although he was completely one of the family, and any stranger would
+have supposed that he was a brother, or at least a cousin, there was
+always something in his manner that, even while laughing and chatting
+with us all, placed a little barrier between us and himself; and one
+felt that, although most essentially a friend, he was still there as the
+General's medical attendant.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a difficult position for a man of his age to be placed in. Had
+he been like most of the doctors we knew in Germany, a man filled with
+the idea that he must always be a professor of medicine, and impressing
+people with his learning and gravity, it might have been easy enough.
+But there is nothing of that sort about him at all; he is just as
+high-spirited and is as bright and cheerful as other young men of about
+the same age, and it was only when he was with the General that his
+gentleness of manner recalled the fact that he was a doctor. As I say,
+it was a difficult position, with only an old woman like myself and two
+girls, who looked to him for comfort and hope, who treated him as if he
+had been an old friend, and were constantly appealing to him for his
+opinion on all sorts of subjects.</p>
+
+<p>"I confess that, when he first came here with Dr. Pearson, I thought
+that it was a very rash experiment to introduce a young and evidently
+pleasant man to us under such circumstances, especially as you, Hilda,
+are a rich heiress and your own mistress; and feeling as I did that I
+was in the position of your chaperon, I must say that at first I felt
+very anxious about you, and it was a great relief to me when after a
+time I saw no signs, either on his part or yours, of any feeling
+stronger than friendship springing up."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda laughed merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"The idea never entered into my mind, aunt; it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> funny to me that so
+many people should think that a young man and a young woman cannot be
+thrown together without falling in love with each other. At present,
+fortunately, I don't quite understand what falling in love means. I like
+Dr. Leeds better, I think, than any young man I ever met, but I don't
+think that it can be in the least like what people feel when they fall
+in love. Certainly it was always as uncle's doctor, rather than as a
+possible suitor for my hand&mdash;that is the proper expression, isn't
+it?&mdash;that I thought of him."</p>
+
+<p>"So I was glad to perceive, Hilda; and I was very thankful that it was
+so. Against him personally I had nothing to say, quite the contrary; but
+I saw that he was greatly attached to a profession in which he seems
+likely to make himself a fine position, and nothing could be more
+uncomfortable than that such a man should marry a girl with a fine
+country estate. Either he would have to give up his profession or she
+would have to settle down in London as the wife of a physician, and
+practically forfeit all her advantages."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda again laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is wonderful that all these things should never have occurred to me,
+aunt. I see now how fortunate it was that I did not fall in love with
+him. And now, Netta, as we have finished breakfast, we will put on our
+things at once and go and consult our physician in ordinary. We have a
+fair chance of being the first to arrive if we start immediately. I told
+Roberts to have the carriage at the door at half-past nine, and he does
+not begin to see patients until ten."</p>
+
+<p>"Bravo! Miss Purcell," Dr. Leeds exclaimed, when she had given him an
+account of her mission. "Of course there is nothing absolutely proved,
+but at least it shows that his identity is open to doubt, since none of
+the people he had known recognized him at first sight, and of course all
+his knowledge of them may have been picked up from the gossiping old
+lady, his aunt. Something has been gained, but the evidence is rather
+negative than positive. It is possible that he is not the man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> that he
+pretends to be; though at present, putting aside the question of
+handwriting, we must admit that the balance of probability is very much
+the other way. To begin with, how could this man, supposing him to be an
+impostor, know that John Simcoe was born in Stowmarket, and had
+relatives living there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I forgot to mention that, Dr. Leeds. An advertisement was inserted in
+the county paper, saying that if any relatives of John Simcoe, who left
+England about 1830, would communicate with someone or other in town they
+would hear something to their advantage. I was told this by one of Miss
+Simcoe's friends, who saw it in the paper and brought it in to her. She
+was very proud of having made the discovery, and regarded herself quite
+in the light of a benefactor to Miss Simcoe. I remarked, when she told
+me, that it was curious he should have advertised instead of coming down
+himself to inquire. Miss Simcoe said that she had expressed surprise to
+him, and that he had said he did so because he should have shrunk from
+coming down, had he not learned there was someone to welcome him."</p>
+
+<p>"Curious," Dr. Leeds said thoughtfully. "We may quite put it out of our
+minds that the reason he gave was the real one. A man of this kind would
+not have suffered any very severe shock had he found that Stowmarket and
+all it contained had been swallowed up by an earthquake. No, certainly
+that could not have been the reason; we must think of some other. And
+now, ladies, as this is the third card I have had brought in since you
+arrived, I must leave the matter as it stands. I think that we are
+getting on much better than we could have expected."</p>
+
+<p>"That advertisement is very curious, Netta," Hilda said as they drove
+back. "Why should he have put it in? It would have been so much more
+natural that he should have gone straight down."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot think, Hilda. It did not strike me particularly when I heard
+of it, and I did not give it a thought afterwards. You see, I did not
+mention it, either to you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> or Dr. Leeds, until it flashed across my mind
+when we were talking. Of course I did not see the advertisement itself,
+but Miss Simcoe told me that there had been a good deal of discussion
+before she answered it, as some of them had thought that it might be a
+trick."</p>
+
+<p>"When was it he went down?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was in August last year; and it was in the first week in September
+that he came here."</p>
+
+<p>"He went down to get or manufacture proof of his identity," Hilda said.
+"As it turned out, uncle accepted his statement at once, and never had
+the smallest doubt as to his being John Simcoe. The precaution,
+therefore, was unnecessary; but at the same time it certainly helps him
+now that a doubt has arisen. It would have been very strange if a man
+possessing sufficient means to travel in India should have had no
+friends or connections in England. I was present when he told my uncle
+that he had been down to see his aunt at Stowmarket, and in the spring
+he brought a gentleman who, he said, was manager of the Stowmarket Bank,
+in which he had himself been at one time a clerk. So you see he did
+strengthen his position by going down there."</p>
+
+<p>"It strengthens it in one way, Hilda, but in the other it weakens it. As
+long as no close inquiries were made, it was doubtless an advantage to
+him to have an aunt of the same name in Stowmarket, and to be able to
+prove by means of a gentleman in the position of manager of the bank
+that he, John Simcoe, had worked under him three or four and twenty
+years ago. On the other hand, it was useful to us as a starting-point.
+If we had been utterly in the dark as to Simcoe's birthplace or past
+career, we should have had to start entirely in the dark. Now, at any
+rate, we have located the birthplace of the real man, and learned
+something of his position, his family, and how he became possessed of
+money that enabled him to start on a tour round the world. I adhere as
+firmly as before to the belief that this is not the real man, and the
+next step is to discover how he learned that John Simcoe had lived at
+Stowmarket. At any rate it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> would be as well that we should find the
+advertisement. It might tell us nothing, but at the least we should
+learn the place to which answers were to be sent. How should we set
+about that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can get a reader's ticket for the British Museum, because the chief
+librarian was a friend of uncle's and dined with him several times,"
+Hilda replied. "If I write to him and say that I want to examine some
+files of newspapers, to determine a question of importance, I am sure
+that he will send me a ticket at once. I may as well ask for one for you
+also. We may want to go there again to decide some other point."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda at once wrote a note and sent Tom Roberts with it to the Museum,
+and he returned two hours later with the tickets.</p>
+
+<p>"There are three Suffolk papers," the chief assistant in the Newspaper
+Department said courteously, on their sending up the usual slip of
+paper. "Which do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know. I should like to see them all three, please; the numbers
+for the first two weeks in August last."</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes three great volumes were placed on the table. These
+contained a year's issue, and on turning to the first week in August
+they found that the advertisement had appeared in all of the papers.
+They carefully copied it out, and were about to leave the library when
+Netta said:</p>
+
+<p>"Let us talk this over for a minute or two before we go. It seems to me
+that there is a curious omission in the advertisement."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you see that he does not mention Stowmarket? He simply inquires
+for relations of John Simcoe, who was supposed to have been lost at sea.
+It would certainly seem to be more natural that he should put it only in
+the paper that was likely to be read in Stowmarket, and surely he would
+have said 'relatives of John Simcoe, who left Stowmarket in the year
+1830.' It looks very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> much as if, while he knew that Simcoe was a
+Suffolk man, he had no idea in what part of the county he had lived."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very curious, certainly, Netta; and, as you say, it does seem
+that if he had known that it had been Stowmarket he would have said so
+in the advertisement. Possibly!" Hilda exclaimed so sharply that a
+gentleman at an adjoining table murmured "Hush!" "he did did not know
+that it was in Suffolk. Let us look in the London papers. Let us ask for
+the files of the <i>Times</i> and <i>Standard</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The papers were brought and the advertisement was found in both of them.</p>
+
+<p>"There, you see," Netta said triumphantly, "he still says nothing about
+Suffolk."</p>
+
+<p>She beckoned to the attendant.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to give you so much trouble, but will you please get us the
+files of three or four country papers of the same date. I should like
+them in different parts of the country&mdash;Yorkshire, for instance, and
+Hereford, and Devonshire."</p>
+
+<p>"It is no trouble, miss," he replied; "that is what we are here for."</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the three papers were brought, and Netta's triumph was
+great when she found the advertisement in each of them.</p>
+
+<p>"That settles it conclusively," she said. "The man did not know what
+part of the country John Simcoe came from, and he advertised in the
+London papers, and in the provincial papers all over the country."</p>
+
+<p>"That was a splendid idea of yours, Netta. I think that it settles the
+question as to the fact that the theory you all laughed at was correct,
+and that this man is not the real John Simcoe."</p>
+
+<p>When they got back, Hilda wrote a line to Dr. Leeds:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Doctor</span>: I do think that we have discovered beyond doubt that
+the man is an impostor, and that whoever he may be, he is not John
+Simcoe. When you can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> spare time, please come round. It is too long
+to explain."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>At nine o'clock that evening Dr. Leeds arrived, and heard of the steps
+that they had taken.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, young ladies," he said, "I must retire at once from my post of
+director of searches. It was an excellent thought to ascertain the exact
+wording of the advertisement, and the fact that the word Stowmarket did
+not appear in it, and that it was inserted in other county papers, was
+very significant as to the advertiser's ignorance of John Simcoe's
+birthplace. But the quickness with which you saw how this could be
+proved up to the hilt shows that you are born detectives, and I shall be
+happy to sit at your feet in future."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think that it is quite conclusive?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly so. The real John Simcoe would, of course, have put the
+advertisement into the county paper published nearest to Stowmarket, and
+he would naturally have used the word Stowmarket. That omission might,
+however, have been accidental; but the appearance of the advertisement
+in the London papers, and as you have seen, in provincial papers all
+over England, appears to me ample evidence that he did not know from
+what county Simcoe came, and was ready to spend a pretty heavy amount to
+discover it. Now, I think that you should at once communicate with Mr.
+Pettigrew, and inform him of your suspicion and the discovery that you
+have made. It is for him to decide whether any steps should be taken in
+the matter, and, if so, what steps. As one of the trustees he is
+responsible for the proper division of the estates of General Mathieson,
+and the matter is of considerable importance to him.</p>
+
+<p>"I think now, too, that our other suspicions should also be laid before
+him. Of course, these are greatly strengthened by his discovery. John
+Simcoe, who saved your uncle's life at the risk of his own, was scarcely
+the sort of man who would be guilty of murder and abduction; but an
+unknown adventurer, who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> passed himself off as being Simcoe, with
+the object of obtaining a large legacy from the General, may fairly be
+assumed capable of taking any steps that would enable him to obtain it.
+If you'd like to write to Mr. Pettigrew and make an appointment to meet
+him at his office at three o'clock to-morrow afternoon, I will be here
+half an hour before and accompany you."</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer was somewhat surprised when Dr. Leeds entered the office with
+the two ladies, but that astonishment became stupefaction when they told
+their story.</p>
+
+<p>"In the whole of my professional career I have never heard a more
+astonishing story. I own that the abduction of the child at that
+critical moment did arouse suspicions in my mind that this Mr. Simcoe,
+the only person that could be benefited by his disappearance, might be
+at the bottom of it, and I was quite prepared to resist until the last
+any demand that might be made on his part for Walter to be declared to
+be dead, and the property handed over to him. But that the man could
+have had any connection whatever with the illness of the General, or
+that he was an impostor, never entered my mind. With regard to the
+first, it is still a matter of suspicion only, and we have not a shadow
+of proof to go upon. You say yourself, Dr. Leeds, that Dr. Pearson, the
+General's own medical attendant, and the other eminent physicians called
+in, refused absolutely to accept your suggestion, because, exceptional
+as the seizure and its effects were, there was nothing that absolutely
+pointed to poison. Unless we can obtain some distinct evidence on that
+point, the matter must not be touched upon; for even you would hardly be
+prepared to swear in court that the General was a victim to poison?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I could not take my oath to it, but I certainly could declare that
+the symptoms, to my mind, could be attributed to poison only."</p>
+
+<p>"In the case of the abduction of the boy," the lawyer went on, "the only
+absolute ground for our suspicion is that this man and no one else would
+have benefited by it; and this theory certainly appears to be, after
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> discoveries you have made, a very tenable one. It all comes so
+suddenly on me that I cannot think of giving any opinion as to the best
+course to be adopted. I shall, in the first place, consult Mr. Farmer,
+and in the next place shall feel it my duty to take my co-trustee,
+Colonel Bulstrode, into my confidence, because any action that we may
+take must, of course, be in our joint names. He called here the other
+day and stated to me that he regarded the whole matter of Walter's
+abduction to be suspicious in the extreme. He said he was convinced that
+John Simcoe was at the bottom of it, his interest in getting the boy out
+of the way being unquestionable, and that we must move heaven and earth
+to find the child. He agreed that we can do nothing about carrying out
+the will until we have found him. I told him of the steps that we have
+been taking and their want of success. 'By gad, sir,' he said, 'he must
+be found, if we examine every child in the country.' I ventured to
+suggest that this would be a very difficult undertaking, to which he
+only made some remark about the cold-bloodedness of lawyers, and said
+that if there were no other way he would dress himself up as a
+costermonger and go into every slum of London. Whether you would find
+him a judicious assistant in your searches I should scarcely be inclined
+to say, but you would certainly find him ready to give every assistance
+in his power."</p>
+
+<p>The next day, at three o'clock, Colonel Bulstrode was announced. He was
+a short man, of full habit of body. At the present moment his face was
+even redder than usual.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Miss Covington," he burst out, as he came into the room, "I
+have just heard of all this rascality, and what you and your friend Miss
+Purcell have discovered. By gad, young ladies, I feel ashamed of myself.
+Here am I, Harry Bulstrode, a man of the world, and, as such, considered
+that this affair of the man Simcoe being made heir in case of the
+child's death and the simultaneous disappearance of the boy to have been
+suspicious in the extreme, and yet I have seen no way of doing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+anything, and have been so upset that my temper has, as that rascal
+Andrew, my old servant, had the impudence to tell this morning, become
+absolutely unbearable. And now I find that you two girls and a doctor
+fellow have been quietly working the whole thing out, and that not
+improbably my dear old friend was poisoned, and that the man who did it
+is not the man he pretended to be, but an infernal impostor, who had of
+course carried the child away, and may, for anything we know, have
+murdered him. It has made me feel that I ought to go to school again,
+for I must be getting into my second childhood. Still, young ladies, if,
+as is evident, I have no sense to plan, I can at least do all in my
+power to assist you in your search, and you have only to say to me,
+'Colonel Bulstrode, we want an inquiry made in India,' and I am off by
+the first P. and O."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you very much, Colonel," Hilda said, trying to repress a smile.
+"I was quite sure that from your friendship for my dear uncle you would
+be ready to give us your assistance, but so far there has been no way in
+which you could have aided us in the inquiries that we have made.
+Indeed, as Dr. Leeds has impressed upon us, the fewer there are engaged
+in the matter the better; for if this man knew that we were making all
+sorts of inquiries about him, he might think it necessary for his safety
+either to put Walter out of the way altogether, or to send him to some
+place so distant that there would be practically no hope whatever of our
+ever discovering him. At present I think that we have fairly satisfied
+ourselves that this man is an impostor, and that the real John Simcoe
+was drowned, as supposed, in the ship in which he sailed from India. Who
+this man is, and how he became acquainted with the fact that John Simcoe
+saved my uncle's life in India, are mysteries that so far we have no
+clew to; but these matters are at present of minor importance to us.
+Before anything else we want to find where Walter is hidden, and to do
+this we are going to have this man watched. He cannot have carried off
+Walter by himself, and, no doubt, he meets<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> occasionally the people who
+helped him, and who are now hiding Walter. It is scarcely probable that
+they come to his lodgings. He is not likely to put himself into anyone's
+power, and no doubt goes by night in some disguise to meet them. As, of
+course, he knows you perfectly well, it would be worse than useless for
+you to try to follow him. That is going to be done by Tom Roberts."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my man Andrew might help him," the Colonel said. "Simcoe has
+often dined with me at the club, but he never came to my chambers. One
+man cannot be always on the watch, and Andrew can take turns with
+Roberts. He is an impudent rascal, but he has got a fair share of sense;
+so, when you are ready, if you will drop me a line, he shall come here
+and take his instructions from you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you very much, Colonel. That certainly would be of assistance. It
+is only of an evening that he would be wanted, for we are quite agreed
+that these meetings are sure to take place after dark."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>VERY BAD NEWS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A month passed. Tom Roberts and Andrew watched together in Jermyn
+Street, the former with a cap pulled well down over his face and very
+tattered clothes, the latter dressed as a groom, but making no attempt
+to disguise his face. During that time everyone who called at the house
+in Jermyn Street was followed, and their names and addresses
+ascertained, one always remaining in Jermyn Street while the other was
+away. The man they were watching had gone out every evening, but it was
+either to one or the other of the clubs to which he belonged, or to the
+theater or opera.</p>
+
+<p>"You will trace him to the right place presently, Roberts," Hilda said
+cheerfully, when she saw that he was beginning to be disheartened at the
+non-success of his search. "You may be sure that he will not go to see
+these men oftener than he can help. Does he generally wear evening
+clothes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Always, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think there is any occasion to follow him in future when he
+goes out in that dress; I think it certain that when he goes to meet
+these men he will be in disguise. When you see him come out dressed
+altogether differently to usual, follow him closely. Even if we only
+find where he goes it will be a very important step."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>On the seventh week after the disappearance of Walter, Mr. Pettigrew
+came in one morning at eleven o'clock. His air was very grave.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you heard news, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I have very bad news. Mr. Comfrey, a lawyer of not the highest
+standing, who is, I have learnt, acting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> for this fellow, called upon
+me. He said, 'I am sorry to say that I have some painful news to give
+you, Mr. Pettigrew. Yesterday the body of a child, a boy some six or
+seven years old, was found in the canal at Paddington. It was taken to
+the lockhouse. The features were entirely unrecognizable, and the police
+surgeon who examined it said that it had been in the water over a month.
+Most of its clothing was gone, partly torn off by barges passing over
+the body; but there still remained a portion of its underclothing, and
+this bore the letters W. R. The police recognized them as those of the
+child who has been so largely advertised for, and, as my client, Mr.
+Simcoe, had offered a thousand pounds reward, and as all information was
+to be sent to me, a policeman came down, just as I was closing the
+office, to inform me of the fact.</p>
+
+<p>"'I at once communicated with my client, who was greatly distressed. He
+went to Paddington the first thing this morning, and he tells me that he
+has no doubt whatever that the remains are those of Walter Rivington,
+although he could not swear to his identity, as the features are
+altogether unrecognizable. As I understand, sir, that you and Miss
+Covington were the guardians of this unfortunate child, I have driven
+here at once in order that you may go up and satisfy yourselves on the
+subject. I understand that an inquest will be held to-morrow.'"</p>
+
+<p>Hilda had not spoken while Mr. Pettigrew was telling his story, but sat
+speechless with horror.</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot be; surely it cannot be!" she murmured. "Oh, Mr. Pettigrew!
+say that you cannot believe it."</p>
+
+<p>"I can hardly say that, my dear; the whole affair is such a terrible one
+that I can place no bounds whatever to the villainy of which this man
+may be capable. This may be the missing child, but, on the other hand,
+it may be only a part of the whole plot."</p>
+
+<p>"But who else can it be if it has Walter's clothes on?"</p>
+
+<p>"As to that I can say nothing; but you must remember that this man is an
+extraordinarily adroit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> plotter, and would hesitate at nothing to secure
+this inheritance. There would be no very great difficulty in obtaining
+from some rascally undertaker the body of a child of the right age,
+dressing him up in some of our ward's clothes, and dropping the body
+into the canal, which may have been done seven weeks ago, or may have
+been done but a month. Of course I do not mean to say that this was so.
+I only mean to say that it is possible. No. I expressed my opinion, when
+we talked it over before, that no sensible man would put his neck in a
+noose if he could carry out his object without doing so; and murder
+could hardly be perpetrated without running a very great risk, for the
+people with whom the child was placed would, upon missing it suddenly,
+be very likely to suspect that it had been made away with, and would
+either denounce the crime or extort money by holding a threat over his
+head for years."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that may be so!" Hilda exclaimed, rising to her feet. "Let us go
+and see at once. I will take Netta with me; she knows him as well as I
+do."</p>
+
+<p>She ran upstairs and in a few words told Netta the news, and in five
+minutes they came down, ready to start.</p>
+
+<p>"I have told Walter's nurse to come with us," Hilda said. "If anyone can
+recognize the child she ought to be able to do so. Fortunately, she is
+still in the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, young ladies," the lawyer said before they started, "let me
+caution you, unless you feel a moderate certainty that this child is
+Walter Rivington, make no admission whatever that you see any
+resemblance. If the matter comes to a trial, your evidence and mine
+cannot but weigh with the court as against that of this man who is
+interested in proving its identity with Walter. Of course, if there is
+any sign or mark on the body that you recognize, you will acknowledge it
+as the body of our ward. We shall then have to fight the case on other
+grounds. But unless you detect some unmistakable mark, and it is
+extremely unlikely that you will do so in the state the body must be in,
+confine yourself to simply stating that you fail to recognize it in any
+way."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There never was any mark on the poor child's body," Hilda said. "I have
+regretted it so much, because, in the absence of any descriptive marks,
+the chance of his ever being found was, of course, much lessened."</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer had come in a four-wheeled cab, and in this the party all
+took their places. Not a word was spoken on the way, except that Hilda
+repeated what Mr. Pettigrew had said to the nurse. It was with very
+white faces that they entered the lockhouse. The little body was lying
+on a board supported by two trestles. It was covered by a piece of
+sailcloth, and the tattered garments that it had had on were placed on a
+chair beside it. Prepared as she was for something dreadful, the room
+swam round, and had Hilda not been leaning on Mr. Pettigrew's arm she
+would have fallen. There was scarce a semblance of humanity in the
+little figure. The features of the face had been entirely obliterated,
+possibly by the passage of barges, possibly by the work of simple decay.</p>
+
+<p>"Courage, my dear!" Mr. Pettigrew said. "It is a painful duty, but it
+must be performed."</p>
+
+<p>The three women stood silent beside the little corpse. Netta was the
+first to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot identify the body as that of Walter Rivington," she said. "I
+don't think that it would be possible for anyone to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the hair of the same color?" the policeman who was in charge of the
+room asked.</p>
+
+<p>"The hair is rather darker than his," Netta said; "but being so long in
+the water, and in such dirty water, it might have darkened."</p>
+
+<p>"That was never Master Walter's hair!" the nurse exclaimed. "The darling
+had long, soft hair, and unless those who murdered him cut it short, it
+would not be like this. Besides, this hair is stiffer. It is more like
+the hair of a workhouse child than Master Walter's."</p>
+
+<p>"That is so," Hilda said. "I declare that I not only do not recognize
+the body as that of my ward, but that I am convinced it is not his."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Judging only by the hair," Mr. Pettigrew said, "I am entirely of your
+opinion, Miss Covington. I have stroked the child's head many times, and
+his hair was like silk. I have nothing else to go by, and am convinced
+that the body is not Walter Rivington's."</p>
+
+<p>They then looked at the fragments of clothes. In two places they were
+marked "W. R."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my marking, miss," the nurse said, after closely examining the
+initials. "I could not swear to the bits of clothes, but I can to the
+letters. You see, miss, I always work a line above the letters and
+another below them. I was taught to do it so when I was a girl in our
+village school, and I have always done it since. But I never saw anyone
+else mark them so. You see the letters are worked in red silk, and the
+two lines in white. The old woman who taught us said that it made a
+proper finish to the work. Yes, Miss Covington, I can swear to these
+things being Master Walter's."</p>
+
+<p>"You could not swear to their being those in which he went out the
+morning he was lost, nurse?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can, sir, because there is nothing missing except what he had on. I
+have all his things properly counted, and everything is there."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment there was a little stir outside, and Hilda glanced down
+and whispered to Netta:</p>
+
+<p>"Let down your fall; I do not want this man to recognize you."</p>
+
+<p>Just as she did so John Simcoe entered. He bowed to Hilda.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry, indeed, to meet you under such painful circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg you not to address me, sir," she said haughtily. "I wish to have
+no communication with or from you. Your coming here reminds me of the
+thirty-seventh verse of the nineteenth chapter of St. John. You can look
+it out, sir, if you happen to have a Bible at home. Fortunately it is
+not wholly applicable, for we are all absolutely convinced that this
+poor little body is not that of General Mathieson's grandson."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So saying she stepped out of the little house, followed by the others;
+leaving John Simcoe white with passion.</p>
+
+<p>"You should not have shown your hand so plainly, Miss Covington."</p>
+
+<p>"I could not help it," the girl said. "He has called a dozen times at
+the house and has always received the message, 'Not at home,' and he
+must know that I suspect him of being Walter's abductor."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the verse you referred him to, Hilda?" Netta said. "I confess
+that I do not know any verse in St. John that seems to be at all
+applicable to him."</p>
+
+<p>"The quotation is, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.'"</p>
+
+<p>Netta could not help smiling. Mr. Pettigrew shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"You are really too outspoken, Miss Covington, and you will get yourself
+into trouble. As it is, you have clearly laid yourself open to an action
+for libel for having practically called the man a murderer. We may think
+what we like, but we are in no position to prove it."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not afraid of that," she said. "I wish that he would do it; then
+we should have all the facts brought out in court, and, even if we could
+not, as you say, prove everything, we could at least let the world know
+what we think. No, there is no chance of his doing that, Mr. Pettigrew."</p>
+
+<p>"It is fortunate for us, Miss Covington, that our clients are for the
+most part men. Your sex are so impetuous and so headstrong that we
+should have a hard time of it indeed if we had to take our instructions
+from them."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Pettigrew, you will please remember that there are three of my sex
+in this cab, and if you malign us in this way we will at once get out
+and walk."</p>
+
+<p>The old lawyer smiled indulgently.</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite true, my dear. Women are always passionately certain that
+they are right, and neither counsel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> nor entreaty can get them to
+believe that there can be any other side to a case than that which they
+take. Talk about men ruining themselves by litigation; the number that
+do so is as nothing to that of the women who would do so, were they to
+get as often involved in lawsuits! When Dickens drew the man who haunted
+the courts he would have been much nearer the mark had he drawn the
+woman who did so. You can persuade a man that when he has been beaten in
+every court his case is a lost one; but a woman simply regards a hostile
+decision as the effect either of great partiality or of incompetence on
+the part of the judge, and even after being beaten in the House of Lords
+will attend the courts and pester the judges with applications for the
+hearing of some new points. It becomes a perfect mania with some of
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Mr. Pettigrew. I would certainly carry my case up to the
+highest court, and if I were beaten I would not admit that I was in the
+wrong; still, I do not think that I should pester the poor old judges
+after that. I suppose we shall all have to come up again to-morrow to
+the inquest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. Nurse has recognized the clothes, and I suppose you all
+recognize the marks, Miss Covington?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I have no doubt whatever that the clothes are Walter's."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course we shall be represented by counsel," Mr. Pettigrew went on.
+"We must not let the jury find that this is Walter's body if we can
+possibly prevent it."</p>
+
+<p>"You think that they will do so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid of it. They will know nothing of the real circumstances of
+the case; they will only know that the child has been missing for nearly
+two months, and that, in spite of large rewards, no news has been
+obtained of him. They will see that this child is about the same age,
+that the clothes in which it was found are those worn by the missing
+boy. They will themselves have viewed the body and have seen that
+identification is almost impossible. This man will give his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> evidence to
+the effect that he believes it to be Walter Rivington's body. We shall
+give it as our opinion that it is not; that opinion being founded upon
+the fact that the few patches of hair left on the head are shorter and
+coarser than this was. To us this may appear decisive, but the counsel
+who will, no doubt, appear for Simcoe, will very legitimately say this
+fact has no weight, and will point out that no real judgment can be
+formed upon this. The child was missing&mdash;probably stolen for the sake of
+its clothes. Seeing the description in the handbills and placards, the
+first step would be to cut off its hair, which disposes of the question
+of length, and, as he will point out, hair which, when very long, seems
+soft and silky, will stand up and appear almost bristly when cropped
+close to the head. I am afraid that, in the face of all that we can say,
+the coroner's jury will find that the body is Walter's. As to the cause
+of death they will probably give an open verdict, for even if the
+surgeon has found any signs of violence upon the body, these may have
+been inflicted by passing barges long after death."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you have it brought forward that Simcoe has an interest in proving
+the body to be Walter's?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think not. There would be no use in beginning the fight in the
+coroner's court. It will all have to be gone into when he applies to the
+higher courts for an order on the trustees of the will to proceed to
+carry out its provisions. Then our case will be fully gone into. We
+shall plead that in the first place the will was made under undue
+influence. We shall point to the singularity of the General's mysterious
+attack, an attack which one of the doctors who attended him at once put
+down to poison, and that at the moment of the attack Simcoe was sitting
+next to him at dinner. We shall point to the extraordinary coincidence
+that the child who stood between Simcoe and the inheritance disappeared
+on the evening when the General was <i>in extremis</i>, and, lastly, we shall
+fire our last shot by declaring that the man is not the John Simcoe
+named in the will, but is an impostor who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> assumed his name and traded
+upon his brave action on the General's behalf.</p>
+
+<p>"But I do not want the fight to begin until we are in a better position
+than at present to prove what we say. As yet, however satisfactory to
+us, we have not got beyond the point of conjecture and probabilities,
+and I trust that, before we have to fight the case, we shall obtain some
+absolute facts in support of our theory. The man would be able at
+present to put into court a number of highly respectable witnesses from
+Stowmarket, and of officers he has met here, who would all testify to
+his being John Simcoe, and as against their evidence our conjectures
+would literally go for nothing. No doubt you will all receive notices to
+attend this evening. The policeman took your names and addresses, and
+will have told the officer in charge of the case the nature of the
+evidence you will probably give. And please remember that, in giving
+evidence, you must carefully abstain from saying anything that would
+lead the jury to perceive that you have any personal feeling against
+Simcoe, for they would be likely to put down your declaration of
+inability to recognize the body as a result of a bias against him. Do
+not let it be seen that there is any personal feeling in the matter at
+all."</p>
+
+<p>The summonses arrived that evening and the next morning they drove to
+the coroner's court, Miss Purcell accompanying them. They found Mr.
+Pettigrew awaiting them at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"There is another case on before ours," he said, "and I should advise
+you to take a drive for half an hour, and, when you come back, to sit in
+the carriage until I come for you. The waiting room is a stuffy little
+place, and is at present full of witnesses in the case now on, and as
+that case is one of a man killed in a drunken row, they are not of a
+class whom it is pleasant to mix with."</p>
+
+<p>When they returned, he again came out. "I have just spoken to the
+coroner and told him who you are, and he has kindly given permission for
+you to go up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> to his own room. The case he has now before him may last
+another half hour."</p>
+
+<p>It was just about that time when Mr. Pettigrew came up and said that
+their case was about to commence, and that they must go down and take
+their places in court. This was now almost empty; a few minutes before
+it had been crowded by those interested in the proceedings, which had
+terminated in the finding of manslaughter against four of those
+concerned in the fray. The discovery of a child's body in the canal was
+far too common an event to afford any attraction, and with the exception
+of the witnesses, two counsel seated in the front line facing the
+coroner, and two or three officials, there was no one in court. As soon
+as the little stir caused by the return of the jury from viewing the
+body had ceased, the coroner addressed them.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall now, gentlemen of the jury, proceed to the case of the body of
+the child said to be that of Walter Rivington, which was found under
+very strange and suspicious circumstances near this end of the canal.
+You will hear that the child was missing from his home in Hyde Park
+Gardens on the 23d of October, and for his discovery, as some of you are
+doubtless aware, large sums have been offered. The day before yesterday
+the drags were used for the purpose of discovering whether another
+child, who was lost, and who had been seen going near the bank, had been
+drowned. In the course of that search this body was brought up. You have
+already viewed it, gentlemen. Dr. MacIlvaine will tell you that it has
+certainly been a month in the water, perhaps two or three weeks longer.
+Unfortunately the state of the body is such that it is impossible now to
+ascertain the cause of death, or whether it was alive when it fell in,
+or was placed in, the water. Fortunately some of its clothes still
+remain on the body, and one of the witnesses, the nurse of the missing
+boy, will tell you that the marks upon them were worked by herself, and
+that she can swear to them. Whether any other matters will come before
+you in reference to the case, which, from the fact<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> that the child was
+grandson of the late General Mathieson and heir to his property, has
+attracted much attention, I cannot say. The first witness you will hear
+is the lock-keeper, who was present at the finding of the body."</p>
+
+<p>Before the witness was called, however, one of the counsel rose and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am instructed, sir, to appear to watch the proceedings on behalf of
+Mr. John Simcoe, who, by the death of Walter Rivington, inherits under
+the will of the late General Mathieson."</p>
+
+<p>The coroner bowed. The other counsel then rose.</p>
+
+<p>"And I, sir, have been instructed by Mr. Pettigrew and Colonel
+Bulstrode, the trustees under the will, the former gentleman being also
+joint guardian with Miss Hilda Covington of the missing child, to watch
+the case on their behalf."</p>
+
+<p>There was again an exchange of bows, and the lock-keeper then entered
+the box. His evidence was given in few words. He simply deposed to
+assisting in dragging the canal, and to the finding of the body.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any questions to ask the witness?" the coroner said, turning
+to the barristers.</p>
+
+<p>The counsel employed by Mr. Pettigrew rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; I have a few questions to ask. Now, Mr. Cousins, you say that
+you took part in dragging the canal. You are in charge of the drags, are
+you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; they are always kept in readiness at the lockhouse."</p>
+
+<p>"How came you to use the drags? I suppose you don't take them down and
+spend a day or two in dragging the canal unless you have reason for
+supposing that a body is there."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. The afternoon before a woman came up crying and said that her
+child had fallen into the water. He had gone out in the morning to play,
+and when dinner-time came and he didn't return she searched everywhere
+for him, and two children had just told her that they were playing with
+him on the bank of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> canal, and that he had fallen in. They tried to
+get him out, but he sank, and they were so frightened that they ran home
+without saying anything. But they thought now that they had better tell.
+I said that she had better go to the police station and repeat her
+statement, and they would send a constable to help me. She did that, and
+came back with the policeman. It was getting late then, but we took a
+boat and dragged the canal for two or three hours. The next morning she
+came again, and said that the boys had shown her just where her child
+fell in, and we dragged there and found this body. We brought it ashore,
+and after we had carried it to the lockhouse we set to work again, but
+could not find any other body."</p>
+
+<p>"What became of the woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"She was with us till we fetched up this body. When she saw it she ran
+away crying, and did not come back again."</p>
+
+<p>"You have not seen her since, Mr. Cousins?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; I have not seen her since. I believe the constable made
+inquiries about her."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, I have nothing more to ask."</p>
+
+<p>The policeman then entered the box and gave his evidence shortly, as to
+assisting in the operation of dragging and to finding the body.</p>
+
+<p>"About this woman who gave the alarm," the barrister asked. "Have you
+seen her, constable?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; not since the body was found. Thinking it strange that she did
+not come back, I reported it at the station. She had given the name of
+Mary Smith and an address in Old Park. I was told to go round there, but
+no such person was known, and no one had heard of a child being lost. On
+my reporting this, inquiries were made all round the neighborhood; but
+no one had heard of such a woman, nor of a missing child."</p>
+
+<p>"This is a very strange circumstance, sir, and it looks as if the whole
+story of the drowning child was a fabrication. The fact that the body of
+the child whose death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> we are considering was found close to the spot
+would certainly seem to point to the fact that some person or persons
+who were cognizant of the fact that this body was there were for some
+reasons anxious that it should be found, and so employed this woman to
+get the drags used at that point in order that the body might be brought
+to light."</p>
+
+<p>"It is certainly a very strange business," the coroner said, "and I hope
+that the police will spare no efforts to discover this woman. However,
+as she is not before us, we must proceed with the case."</p>
+
+<p>Then the officer of the court called out the name of Mary Summerford,
+and the nurse went into the witness box.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand, Mary Sommerford, that you were nurse to Walter
+Rivington?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you tell the jury when you last saw him, and how it was that he
+was lost?"</p>
+
+<p>She told the story as she had told it to Hilda on the day that he was
+missing.</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen the clothes found on the body. Do you recognize them as
+those that he was wearing when you last saw him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you recognize them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because his initials are worked in two places. I worked them myself,
+and can swear to them."</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot recognize the body, nurse?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe it is the body of my young master," she said; "his
+hair was lovely&mdash;long and silky. What hair remains on the body is very
+short, and what I should call stubbly."</p>
+
+<p>"But the hair might have been cut short by the people who stole him,"
+the coroner said. "It is the first precaution they would take to evade
+the search that would at once be set on foot."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, but I don't think that it would have grown up so stiff."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"My experience of workhouse children," the coroner remarked, "is that
+whatever the hair they may have had when they entered the house, it is
+stiff enough to stand upright when cut close to the head. There is
+nothing else, is there, which leads you to doubt the identity of the
+child?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, I cannot say that there is; but I don't believe that it is
+Master Walter's body."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda, Netta, and Mr. Pettigrew all gave their evidence. The two former
+stated that they identified the clothes, but, upon the same ground as
+the nurse, they failed to recognize the body as that of Walter
+Rivington. All were asked if they could in any way account for the
+finding of the child's body there. The question had been foreseen, and
+they said that, although they had used every means of discovering the
+child, they had obtained no clew whatever as to his whereabouts from the
+time that he was stolen to the time they were summoned to identify the
+body.</p>
+
+<p>"You quite assume that he was stolen, and not that he wandered away, as
+children will do when their nurses are gossiping?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are convinced that he was stolen, sir, because the search was begun
+so momentarily after he was missed that he could hardly have got out of
+sight, had he merely wandered away on foot. Notice was given to the
+police an hour after he disappeared, and every street in this part of
+London was scoured immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"Children of that age, Miss Covington, have often a fancy for hiding
+themselves; and this child may have hidden somewhere close until he saw
+his nurse pass by, and then made off in the opposite direction. The spot
+where the child's body was found is little more than a quarter of a mile
+from the corner where he was missed. He might have wandered up there,
+found himself on the canal bank, and childlike, have begun to play, and
+so slipped into the water."</p>
+
+<p>John Simcoe was the last witness called. He gave his evidence to the
+effect that he had seen the body, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> that personally he saw no reason
+to doubt that it was that of Walter Rivington.</p>
+
+<p>His counsel then rose.</p>
+
+<p>"You are, I believe, Mr. Simcoe, owing to the death of this poor child,
+the principal legatee under the will of General Mathieson?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to say that I am. The whole business has caused me immense
+distress. I have felt that, being the only person that would benefit by
+the child's death, those who did not know me would have a suspicion that
+I might have had a hand in his mysterious disappearance."</p>
+
+<p>"You have taken an active part in the search for him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I offered a reward of one thousand pounds for any information that
+would lead to his discovery, and I believe that I have traveled up and
+down every obscure slum in London in hopes of lighting upon him."</p>
+
+<p>"Even without the provision in the will which made you next heir you
+benefited by it, did you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did, most munificently. General Mathieson had himself informed me
+that I should find, by his will, that he had not been ungrateful for a
+service that I rendered him many years ago; but I was not aware of the
+sum that he had left me. As to the distant contingency of inheriting in
+case of the child's death, I was altogether ignorant of it; but had I
+known it, it would in no way have affected me. The little fellow was a
+fine healthy child, and, therefore, the thought that he might not live
+to come of age would never have entered my mind."</p>
+
+<p>As the other counsel had no question to ask, the evidence was now
+concluded.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, gentlemen, you have heard the evidence," the coroner said. "Dr.
+MacIlvaine has told you, as indeed you might judge for yourselves on
+viewing the body, that it is impossible, in its advanced state of
+decomposition, to say whether the child was alive or dead at the time he
+fell, or was placed in the canal. As to who were the guilty persons who
+beguiled the child away, if he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> beguiled, we have no shadow of
+evidence, and it may well be that he was stolen for the sake of his
+clothes. The cutting short of his hair certainly points to the truth of
+this theory, as does also the fact that no vestige has been found of his
+upper clothing. It is probable that some woman enticed him away, and
+kept him for some time with her, and then, when she became alarmed by
+the search made for him, carried him in his sleep from the house, and
+perhaps laid him down by the canal, thinking that he would be found
+there in the morning, and that the poor child awoke in the dark,
+wandered about, and fell into the canal.</p>
+
+<p>"However, this is only theory; but it is at least supported by the
+mysterious incident of the unknown woman who, by means of a tale which
+appears beyond doubt to have been wholly fictitious, caused the water at
+that spot to be dragged. The fact that on the second day she pointed out
+almost the exact point where the body was found would seem to show that
+the child could scarcely have fallen in the water, as she suggested, for
+in that case she could not have known the precise spot. It would seem,
+then, more likely that either the child died a natural death, perhaps
+from confinement or bad treatment, or possibly that, terribly alarmed at
+the search that was being maintained, he was put out of the way and then
+thrown into the canal at this spot. In that case we may admit that it is
+certainly strange that she should risk discovery by the course she took,
+and I can only account for it on the ground that she had been, ever
+since his death, suffering from remorse, and possibly she may have
+thought that she might in some sort of way atone for her conduct were
+she to point out where the child was, and so secure for him Christian
+burial. That, however, is not before us at present, and I see no
+advantage in an adjournment for an indefinite time until this mystery is
+solved. The police have taken the matter in hand, and will spare no
+pains to discover the woman. If they do so, undoubtedly proceedings will
+be taken in another court. The point that we have to consider is who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+this child was, and how he came to his death. Unfortunately we are
+absolutely without any evidence of what became of him from the time he
+got lost up to the discovery of his body, and I think that you cannot do
+otherwise than find an open verdict.</p>
+
+<p>"As to the question of identity, there can, I think, be no shadow of
+doubt. The clothes in which he was found prove him beyond question to
+have been Walter Rivington, although the body itself is absolutely
+beyond identification. I do not think that you need give any weight to
+the nurse's failure to recognize him, or to her opinion about the hair.
+She is naturally reluctant to acknowledge, even to herself, that the
+child which was lost by her inadvertence is dead, and the ladies would
+be equally reluctant to admit that all hope was over."</p>
+
+<p>The jury put their heads together, and there was evidently no difference
+of opinion, for in two or three minutes they sat down again and the
+foreman stood up.</p>
+
+<p>"You have decided on your verdict?" the coroner asked.</p>
+
+<p>"We have, sir. We find that the body is that of Walter Rivington, and
+that he was found dead in the canal, but how he came there and by what
+means he came by his death, there is no evidence to show."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, gentlemen; that is precisely the verdict that I should
+myself have given."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A FRESH CLEW.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Just the verdict that I expected," Mr. Pettigrew said, as he and the
+ladies issued from the courthouse.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose that it is for the best, Mr. Pettigrew, but it seems hard,
+when we could have said so much, to be obliged to hold our tongues
+altogether."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt you will have an opportunity later on, Miss Covington. Our
+tongues are tied until we can obtain some sort of proof to go upon. We
+cannot go into court with merely suspicions; we must get facts. All we
+have done at present is to obtain some sort of foundation on which to
+work; but facts we shall, I hope, get ere long from what we may discover
+of this fellow's movements. He is likely to be less careful now that it
+has been decided that Walter is dead. He is doubtless well aware of the
+fact that trustees have a year given them before proceeding to carry out
+the provisions of a will, and, therefore, for that time he will keep
+quiet. At the end of the year his solicitor will write us a courteous
+letter, asking when we shall be in a position to distribute the estate
+in accordance with the provisions of the will. We shall reply that we
+are not in a position to do so. Then, after a time, will come letters of
+a more and more peremptory character, and at last a notice that they are
+about to apply to the courts for an order for us to act upon the
+provisions of the will. About two years after the General's death the
+matter will probably come on. I may say that I have already sent checks
+to all the small legatees."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, I was aware of that, because Tom Roberts came to me
+yesterday with his check for two hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> pounds," and said, "Look here,
+Miss Covington; you said you meant to keep me on just the same as in the
+General's time, so this won't be of any use to me, and I should like to
+spend it in any way that you think best to find out what has become of
+Master Walter.' Of course I told him that the money could not be spent
+in that way, and that the work that he was doing was of far greater use
+than ten times that sum would be."</p>
+
+<p>"I will send you your check to-morrow, Miss Covington. The sum we have
+paid to the people who have been searching, and all other expenses that
+may be incurred, will, of course, come out of the estate. You have not
+as yet settled, I suppose, as to your future plans?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, except that I shall certainly keep on the house in Hyde Park
+Gardens for the present. It is, of course, ridiculously large for me,
+but I don't want the trouble of making a move until I make one
+permanently, and shall therefore stay here until this matter is finally
+cleared up. Miss Purcell has most kindly consented to remain as my
+chaperon, and her plans and those of her niece will depend upon mine."</p>
+
+<p>They had sent away their carriage when they entered the court, and they
+walked quietly home, Mr. Pettigrew returning at once to his office. The
+next morning Tom Roberts accosted Hilda as she entered the breakfast
+room, with a face that showed he had news.</p>
+
+<p>"We have traced him down to one of his places at last, miss. I said to
+Andrew, 'We must keep a special sharp look out to-night, for like
+enough, now that the inquest is over, he will be going to talk over the
+matter with his pals.' Well, miss, last night, at half-past nine, out he
+comes. He wasn't in evening dress, for although, as usual, he had a
+topcoat on, he had light trousers and walking boots. He did not turn the
+usual way, but went up into Piccadilly. We followed him. I kept close
+behind him, and Andrew at a distance, so that he should not notice us
+together. At the Circus he hailed a cab, and as he got in I heard him
+say to the driver, 'King's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> Cross Station.' As soon as he had gone off
+Andrew and I jumped into another cab, and told the man to drive to the
+same place, and that we would give him a shilling extra if he drove
+sharp.</p>
+
+<p>"He did drive sharp, and I felt sure that we had got there before our
+man. I stopped outside the entrance, Andrew went inside. In five minutes
+he arrived, paid the driver his fare, and went in. I had agreed to wait
+two or three minutes outside, while Andrew was to be at the ticket
+office to see where he booked for. I was just going in when, to my
+surprise, out the man came again and walked briskly away. I ran in and
+fetched Andrew, and off we went after him. He hadn't more than a
+minute's start, and we were nearly up to him by the time he had got down
+to the main road. We kept behind him until we saw him go up Pentonville
+Hill, then Andrew went on ahead of him and I followed. We agreed that if
+he looked back, suspicious, I should drop behind. Andrew, when he once
+got ahead, was to keep about the same distance in front of him, so as to
+be able to drop behind and take it up instead of me, while I was to
+cross over the road if I thought that he had discovered I was following
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"However, it did not seem to strike him that anyone was watching him,
+and he walked on briskly until he came to a small house standing by
+itself, and as he turned in we were in time to see that the door was
+opened to him by a man. Andrew and I consulted. I went in at the gate,
+took my shoes off, and went round the house. There was only a light in
+one room, which looked as if there were no servants. The curtains were
+pulled together inside, and I could see nothing of what was going on. He
+stopped there for an hour and a half, then came out again, hailed a cab
+halfway down the hill, and drove off. Andrew and I had compared watches,
+and he had gone back to Jermyn Street, so that we should be able to know
+by the time the chap arrived whether he had gone anywhere else on his
+way back. When I joined him I found that the man must have driven
+straight to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> Circus and then got out, for he walked in just twenty
+minutes after I had seen him start."</p>
+
+<p>"That is good news indeed, Roberts. We will go and see Mr. Pettigrew
+directly after breakfast. Please order the carriage to be round at a
+quarter to ten."</p>
+
+<p>Netta was as pleased as her friend when she heard that a step had been
+made at last.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sick of this inaction," she said, "and want to be doing something
+towards getting to the bottom of the affair. I do hope that we shall
+find some way in which I can be useful."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt at all that you will be very useful when we get fairly
+on the track. I expect that this will lead to something."</p>
+
+<p>After Tom Roberts had repeated his story to Mr. Pettigrew, Hilda said:</p>
+
+<p>"I brought Roberts with me, Mr. Pettigrew, that he might tell the story
+in his own way. It seems to me that the best thing now would be to
+employ a private detective to find out who the man is who lives in Rose
+Cottage. This would be out of the line of Tom Roberts and Colonel
+Bulstrode's servant altogether. They would not know how to set about
+making inquiries, whereas a detective would be at home at such work."</p>
+
+<p>"I quite agree with you," the lawyer said. "To make inquiries without
+exciting suspicion requires training and practice. An injudicious
+question might lead to this man being warned that inquiries were being
+made about him and might ruin the matter altogether. Of course your two
+men will still keep up their watch. It may be that we shall find it is
+of more use to follow the track of this man than the other. But you must
+not be too sanguine; the man at Rose Cottage may be an old acquaintance
+of Simcoe. Well, my dear," he went on, in answer to a decided shake of
+the head on Hilda's part, "you must call the man by the only name that
+he is known by, although it may not belong to him. I grant that the
+manner in which he drove into King's Cross station and then walked out
+on foot would seem to show that he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> anxious to throw anyone who
+might be watching him off the scent, and that the visit was, so to
+speak, a clandestine one. But it may relate to an entirely different
+matter; for this man may be, for aught we know, an adept in crime, and
+may be in league with many other doubtful characters."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be so, Mr. Pettigrew, but we will hope not."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, my dear," the lawyer said. "I will send for a trustworthy
+man at once, and set him to work collecting information regarding the
+occupant of the cottage. And now I have a point upon which I wish to ask
+your opinion. I have this morning received a letter from this man's
+solicitor, asking if we intend to undertake the funeral of the body
+which the coroner's jury have found to be that of Walter Rivington; and
+announcing that, if we do not, his client will himself have it carried
+out."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda said hesitatingly. "We may be
+wrong, you know, and it may be Walter's body."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been thinking it over," the lawyer replied, "and I must say it
+is my opinion that, as we have all stated our conviction that it is not,
+we should only stultify ourselves if we now undertook the funeral and
+put a stone, with his name on, over the grave. If we should at any time
+become convinced that we have been wrong, we can apply for a faculty to
+remove the coffin to the family vault down in Warwickshire."</p>
+
+<p>"If we could do that I should not mind," Hilda said; "but even the
+possibility of Walter being buried by the man who we firmly believe was
+the cause of his death is terrible."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I can quite understand your feelings, but I think that it is
+necessary that the family should make a protest against its being
+supposed that they recognize the child, by declining to undertake the
+funeral. No protest could well be stronger."</p>
+
+<p>"If you think that, Mr. Pettigrew, we certainly had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> best stand aside
+and let that poor child be buried by this man."</p>
+
+<p>Two days later they were driving in the Row. It was Hilda's first
+appearance there since the General's death, and, after talking it over
+with Netta, she now appeared there in order to show that she was
+perfectly convinced that the child which had been found in the canal was
+not her little cousin. The details of the proceedings of the coroner's
+court had, of course, been read by all her friends, and her appearance
+in the park would be the best proof that she could give that the family
+were absolutely convinced that the body was not that of Walter.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Purcell and Netta were with her. The latter had on, as usual, a
+thick veil. This she always wore when driving through any locality where
+she might meet John Simcoe.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the man," Hilda said to her in a sharp tone; "the farther of
+those two leaning on the rail the other side of the road."</p>
+
+<p>As Hilda fixed her eyes on the man she saw him give a sudden movement.
+Then he said to the man next to him:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you see that girl in deep mourning? It is that little vixen, Hilda
+Covington. Confound her, she is at the bottom of all this trouble, and I
+believe she would give ten thousand out of her own pocket to checkmate
+me."</p>
+
+<p>The carriage was opposite to them now. Hilda looked straight in front of
+her, while Netta, who was sitting with her back to the horses, took up
+the watch.</p>
+
+<p>"She would have to be sharp indeed to do that," the other man said. "So
+far everything has gone without a hitch, and I don't see a single weak
+point in your case. The most troublesome part has been got over."</p>
+
+<p>And now some carriages going the other way cut off the view, and Netta
+could read no further. She drew a long breath as Hilda's eyes turned
+towards her.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you read?" the latter asked.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Netta repeated what she had caught, and then Hilda took up the
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite evident that this man, whoever he is, is an accomplice. He
+is a gentlemanly-looking man, and I fancy that he sat in the stalls near
+to us one evening this spring. However, it is quite clear that he is a
+confederate of Simcoe. Just repeat his words over again. They were in
+answer to his remark that I would give ten thousand pounds to be able to
+checkmate him."</p>
+
+<p>Netta repeated the answer of Simcoe's companion.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, Netta, there is something to find out that would checkmate
+him; that is quite evident. He thinks that I cannot find it out. It must
+be, I should think, that Walter is kept in hiding somewhere. It could
+not mean that he had killed my uncle, for he would hardly tell that to
+anyone, and so put himself in their power."</p>
+
+<p>"It may mean that you cannot find out that he is not John Simcoe," Netta
+suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly; but he cannot know we suspect that."</p>
+
+<p>"It might be about the last will, Hilda."</p>
+
+<p>The latter shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"We have never thought that there could be anything wrong about it. The
+will was drawn up by Colonel Bulstrode's lawyers, and they knew my uncle
+by sight; besides, all the legacies were exactly the same as in the
+other will, the signature and the written instructions were in his
+handwriting, and he signed it in the solicitor's office in the presence
+of two of their clerks. No, I don't think he can possibly mean that. It
+must be either Walter's abduction or that he is not John Simcoe, and I
+should say that the former is much the more likely. You see, he had no
+need of an accomplice in the matter of getting evidence as to identity,
+whereas he did need an accomplice in the carrying off of Walter. I
+should say that he is far too clever a man to let anyone into any of his
+secrets, unless he needed his assistance. I wonder who the man with him
+can be. He is dressed in good style, and I have certainly met him
+somewhere. I believe, as I said, it was at the opera. I should have
+thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> that a man of that class is the last Simcoe would choose as a
+confederate."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Purcell looked from one to the other as they talked. She had by
+this time been taken completely into their confidence, but had refused
+absolutely to believe that a man could be guilty of such wickedness as
+that which they suspected. On their return home they found a letter
+awaiting them from Mr. Pettigrew:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Miss Covington</span> [it ran]: My detective has not yet finished
+his inquiries, but has at least discovered that the proprietor of
+Rose Cottage, for they say that the place belongs to him, is
+somewhat of a mystery to his neighbors. He lives there entirely
+alone. He goes out regularly in a morning, it is supposed to some
+occupation in the City. No tradesmen ever call at the door; it is
+supposed that he brings home something for his breakfast and cooks
+it for himself, and that he dines in the City and makes himself a
+cup of tea in the evening, or else that he goes out after dark.
+Sometimes, of summer evenings, he has been seen to go out just at
+twilight, dressed in full evening costume&mdash;that is to say, it is
+supposed so, for he wore a light overcoat&mdash;but certainly a white
+necktie, black trousers, and patent leather boots. Of course, in
+all this there is nothing in itself absolutely suspicious. A man
+engaged in the City would naturally enough take his meals there,
+and may prefer to do everything for himself to having the bother of
+servants. Also, if his means permit it, he may like to go to
+theaters or places of amusement, or may go out to visit business
+friends. I have, of course, directed the detective to follow him to
+town and find out what is his business, and where employed. I will
+let you know result to-morrow."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The next day brought the letter.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"The man's name is William Barens. He has a small office on the
+third floor of a house of business in Great St. Helens, and on the
+doorway below his name is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> word 'accountant,' The housekeeper
+knows nothing about him, except that he has occupied the room for
+the last twelve years, and that he is a gentleman who gives no
+trouble. He always puts his papers away at night in his safe, so
+that his table can be properly dusted. She knows that he has
+clients, as several times, when he has been away for his dinner
+hour, she has been asked when he would return. He is a well-spoken
+gentleman, though not as particular about his dress as some; but
+liberal with his money, and gives her as handsome a tip at
+Christmas as some people who have three or four rooms, and, no
+doubt, think themselves much finer people. This certainly does not
+amount to much. By the way, the old woman said that she knew he was
+employed by several tradesmen in the neighborhood to keep their
+books for them."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Two days later there was another communication:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Miss Covington</span>: My man has taken a step which I should
+certainly have forbidden, had he told me beforehand of his
+intention. He watched the man go out, and then, having previously
+provided himself with instruments for picking locks, he opened the
+door and went in. On the table were several heavy ledgers and
+account books, all bearing the names of tradesmen in the
+neighborhood, with several files of accounts, bills, and invoices.
+These fully bore out what the woman had told him. Besides the
+chairs, table, and safe, the only other articles of furniture in
+the room were an office washing stand and a large closet. In the
+latter were a dress suit and boots, and a suit of fashionable
+walking clothes, so that it is evident that he often changed there
+instead of going home. I am sorry to say that all this throws no
+further light upon the man's pursuits, and had it not been for
+Simcoe's visit to him, it would be safe to say that he is a
+hard-working accountant, in a somewhat humble, but perhaps
+well-paying line; that he is a trifle eccentric in his habits, and
+prefers living a cheap, solitary life at home, while spending his
+money freely in the character of a man about town in the evening. I
+cannot say that the prospect in this direction seems hopeful. I
+have told my man that for the present we shall not require his
+services further."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It does not seem very satisfactory, certainly," Hilda said with a sigh;
+"I am afraid that we shall have to keep on watching Simcoe. I wish I
+could peep into his room as this detective did into that of the
+Pentonville man."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose that you would find anything there, Hilda; he is not
+the sort of man to keep a memorandum book, jotting down all his own
+doings."</p>
+
+<p>"No," Hilda said with a laugh; "still, one always thinks that one can
+find something."</p>
+
+<p>Had Hilda Covington had her wish and looked into John Simcoe's room that
+morning, she would certainly have derived some satisfaction from the
+sight. He had finished his breakfast before opening a letter that lay
+beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"What a plague the old woman is with her letters! I told her that I
+hated correspondence, but she persists in writing every month or so,
+though she never gets any reply except, 'My dear Aunt: Thanks for your
+letter. I am glad to hear that you are well.&mdash;Your affectionate nephew.'
+Well, I suppose I must read it through."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced over the first page, but on turning to the second his eye
+became arrested, and he read carefully, frowning deeply as he did so.
+Then he turned back and read it again. The passage was as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"I had quite an interesting little episode a day or two after I
+last wrote. A young lady&mdash;she said her name was Barcum, and that
+she was an artist&mdash;came in and asked if I would take her in as a
+lodger. She was a total stranger to the place, and had come down
+for her health, and said that some tradesman had recommended her to
+come here, saying that, as a single lady, I might be glad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> to
+accommodate her. Of course I told her that I did not take lodgers.
+She got up to go, when she nearly fainted, and I could not do less
+than offer her a cup of tea. Then we got very chatty, and as I saw
+that she was really too weak to go about town looking for lodgings,
+I invited her to stay a day or two with me, she being quite a lady
+and a very pleasant-spoken one. She accepted, and a pleasanter
+companion I never had. Naturally I mentioned your name, and told
+her what adventures you had gone through, and how kind you were.
+She was greatly interested, and often asked questions about you,
+and I do think that she almost fell in love with you from my
+description. She left suddenly on receipt of a letter that called
+her up to town, saying that she would return; but I have not heard
+from her since, and I am greatly afraid that the poor child must be
+seriously ill. She was a pretty and intelligent-looking girl, with
+dark eyes and hair, and I should say that when in good health she
+must be very bright. Of course, she may have changed her mind about
+coming down. I am sure she would have written if she had been
+well."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Confound the old gossip!" John Simcoe said angrily, as he threw the
+letter down. "I wonder what this means, and who this girl can be? It is
+clear enough that, whoever she is, she was sent down there to make
+inquiries about me. It is that girl Covington's doing, I have no doubt,
+though it was not the minx herself, for the description does not tally
+at all. She has light brown hair and grayish sort of eyes. There is one
+comfort, she would learn nothing to my disadvantage from the old woman,
+nor, I believe, from anyone at Stowmarket. In fact, she would only get
+more and more confirmation of my story. I have no fear upon that score,
+but the thing shows how that girl is working on my track. As for the
+lawyer, he is an old fool; and if it hadn't been for her I would bet a
+hundred to one that he would never have entertained any suspicion that
+all was not right. It is her doing all through, and this is a piece of
+it. Of course she could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> have no suspicion that I was not John Simcoe,
+but I suppose she wanted to learn if there was any dark spot in my
+history&mdash;whether I had ever been suspected of robbing a bank, or had
+been expelled from school for thieving, or something of that sort. I
+begin to be downright afraid of her. She had a way of looking through
+me, when I was telling my best stories to the General, that always put
+me out. She disliked me from the first, though I am sure I tried in
+every way to be pleasant to her. I felt from the day I first saw her
+that she was an enemy, and that if any trouble ever did come it would be
+through her. I have no doubt she is moving heaven and earth to find
+Walter; but that she will never do, for Harrison is as true as steel,
+and he is the only man who could put them on the right track. Moreover,
+I have as much pull over him as he has over me. He has never had a doubt
+about my being John Simcoe; he doesn't know about the other affair, but
+only that Walter stood between me and the estate, and he was quite ready
+to lend me a hand to manage to get him out of the way. So in that
+business he is in it as deep as I am, while I know of a score of schemes
+he has been engaged in, any one of which would send him abroad for life.
+I expect those inquiries were made at Stowmarket to endeavor to find out
+whether any child had been sent down there. If so, Miss Covington is not
+so sharp as I took her to be. Stowmarket would be the very last place
+where a man, having relations and friends there, would send a child whom
+he wished to keep concealed. Still it is annoying, confoundedly
+annoying; and it shows that these people, that is to say Hilda
+Covington, are pushing their inquiries in every direction, likely or
+unlikely.</p>
+
+<p>"The only comfort is, the more closely they search the sooner they will
+come to the conclusion that the boy is not to be found. I believe that,
+though they declared they did not recognize the body, they had no real
+doubt about it, and they only said so because if they had admitted it,
+the trustees would have had no excuse for not carrying out the
+provisions of the will. That text the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> girl had the impudence to quote
+to me looked as if she believed the body was Walter's, and that I had
+killed him, though it may be that she only said it to drive me to
+bringing the whole business into court, by bringing an action against
+her for libel; but I am not such a fool as to do that. Just at present
+there is a lot of public feeling excited by the circumstances of the
+child's loss and the finding of the body, and even if I got a verdict I
+fancy that the jury would be all on the girl's side, and give me such
+trifling damages that the verdict would do me more harm than good. No,
+our game clearly is to let the matter rest until it has died out of the
+public mind. Then we shall apply formally for the trustees to be called
+upon to act. No doubt they will give us a great deal of trouble, but
+Comfrey says that he thinks that the order must be granted at last,
+though possibly it may be withheld, as far as the estate is concerned,
+for some years. At any rate I ought to get the ten thousand at once, as
+the question whether the boy is alive or dead cannot affect that in the
+slightest."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>NETTA ACTS INDEPENDENTLY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"It seems to me, Hilda, that somehow or other we are wasting our time,"
+Netta said one morning suddenly, as they were sitting together.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean, Netta?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, we relied a great deal on being able to overhear
+conversation from a distance; and, except those few words we gathered in
+the Park, we have absolutely done nothing that way."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can we do more than we are doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; that is what is troubling me. You know, dear, that I am
+quite content to give up my own work to help you. At first, of course,
+aunt and I would have stayed here, at any rate for a time, to keep you
+company; but your uncle has been dead now for more than eight months,
+and time is going on. If I were really helping you I would stop, if it
+were five years; but in fact I am not helping you in the way we
+intended."</p>
+
+<p>"You are helping me, Netta!" Hilda exclaimed with tears in her eyes.
+"How should I have got on through all this sad time if you had not been
+here to comfort and cheer me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but the necessity for that is over. You have your friends, and
+though you don't go out yet, you often go to Lady Moulton's and some of
+your other friends', and they come to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and you will never go with me, Netta, nor see them when they
+come."</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear; I have nothing in common with them. I do not know the people
+of whom you talk, and should simply sit there uncomfortably, so I prefer
+to be out of it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> altogether. Then I really miss my work. Ever since you
+came to us some eight years ago I have been teaching eight or ten hours
+a day. I like the work; it is immensely interesting, and I am happy in
+seeing my pupils improve."</p>
+
+<p>"And all this means," Hilda said sorrowfully, "you are going to say that
+it is time for you to go back."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it does not necessarily mean that&mdash;there is an alternative; I must
+either be doing something or go back."</p>
+
+<p>"But, as I said before, Netta, what can we do, more than we have done?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I have been thinking, Hilda. Anyhow, I mean to try to do
+something before I give it up and go to Germany again."</p>
+
+<p>"I warn you, Netta, that I shall be furious if you do that. I am my own
+mistress now, for Mr. Pettigrew will let me do as I like now I am
+nineteen, and am quite determined that our old plan shall be carried
+out, and that you shall start an institution like that of Professor
+Menzel somewhere near London. You have been twelve months away, your
+pupils have already taken to other teachers, and there cannot be the
+least occasion for your assistance in an institution that is now well
+stocked with teachers, while here you could do enormous good. Anyhow,
+whether you stay or not, I shall, as soon as all this is settled, take a
+large house standing in its own grounds, in some healthy place near
+London, and obtain teachers."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we need not talk of that just yet," Netta said quietly; "it will
+be time enough when I have failed in carrying out my plans."</p>
+
+<p>"But what are your plans?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have not quite settled myself; and when I do I mean to work entirely
+in my own way, and shall say nothing about it until I come to you and
+say I have succeeded, or I have failed."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda opened her eyes in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"But why should I be kept in the dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because, dear, you might not approve of my plans," Netta replied
+coolly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You are not thinking of doing anything foolish, I hope?" Hilda
+exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"If it were foolish it would be excusable where the counsels of wisdom
+have failed," Netta laughed; and then more seriously, "Nothing would be
+foolish if it could possibly lead to the discovery of Walter's hiding
+place."</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon, when Hilda drove out with Miss Purcell to make some
+calls, Netta rang the bell, and when Tom Roberts came in she said:</p>
+
+<p>"I want to have a long talk with you, Roberts. But mind, what I say is
+to be kept a perfect secret between ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss," he said in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, sit down," she went on; "we can talk more comfortably so. Now,
+Roberts, there is no doubt that we are not making much headway with our
+search."</p>
+
+<p>"That we are not, Miss Netta," he agreed. "I did think that we had
+gained something when we traced him to that house on Pentonville Hill,
+but it does not seem that anything has come of it, after all."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is quite time that we took some other steps," she said
+decisively.</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready, miss," he replied eagerly. "You tell me what to do, and I
+am game to do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there are two or three things I have in my mind. First of all, I
+want to be able to watch John Simcoe and this Pentonville man when they
+are talking together."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I understand," he said; "but how is it to be done?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I want to find out. Now, in the first place, about this
+house. Which way did the window look of the room where there was a
+light?"</p>
+
+<p>"That window was at the side of the house, miss; a little way round the
+corner. We noticed the light there, but there was another window looking
+out on the front. We did not see any light there, as the shutters were
+closed."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And you say that the curtains of the other window were pulled very
+close?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they crossed each other most of the way down."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, the question in my mind, Roberts, is which would be easier&mdash;to cut
+a slit in the curtain, or to bore a hole in the shutter, or to take a
+brick out carefully from the side wall and then to deepen the hole until
+we got to the wall-paper, and then make a slight hole there?"</p>
+
+<p>Roberts looked at her with astonishment. "Do you really mean it, miss?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I mean it; it seems to me that our only chance of ever
+finding Walter is to overhear those men's talk."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, miss, I should say that the simplest way would be to cut a window
+pane out."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but, you see, it is pretty certain that that curtain will not be
+drawn until they come in, and they would notice it at once. If we took
+out a pane in the front window the shutter would prevent our seeing or
+hearing, and the man would be sure to notice the pane was missing as he
+walked up from the gate to the house."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say, miss, that the best plan would be for me to manage to get
+into the house some time during the day and to hide in that room, under
+the table or sofa or somewhere, and listen to them."</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"In the first place, Roberts, you would certainly be murdered if they
+found you there."</p>
+
+<p>"I would take my chance of that, miss; and you may be sure that I would
+take a brace of the General's pistols with me, and they would not find
+it such easy work to get rid of me."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be so," Netta said, "but if in the struggle you shot them
+both, our last chance of ever hearing of Walter would be gone. You
+yourself might be tried for murder, and it would be assumed, of course,
+that you were a burglar; for the explanation that you had broken into
+the house only to hear a conversation would scarcely be believed.
+Moreover, you must remember that we don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> know how often these men
+meet. Simcoe has not been there since you tracked him there six months
+ago, and the only thing we have since found out is that the man I saw
+him with in the park is the man who lives in that house. It would never
+do for you to make an entrance into the house night after night and week
+after week, to run the risk of being detected there, or seized as you
+entered, or caught by the police as a burglar. No, as far as I can see,
+the only safe plan is to get out a brick very carefully in the side wall
+and to make a hole behind it through the paper. It might be necessary to
+make an entry into the house before this was done, so as to decide which
+was the best spot for an opening. A great deal would depend upon the
+paper in the room. If it is a light paper, with only a small amount of
+pattern upon it, any hole large enough to see through might be noticed.
+If it is a dark paper, well covered, a hole might be made without any
+fear of its catching the eye. You see, it must be a rather large hole,
+for, supposing the wall is only nine inches thick, a person standing
+outside could not see what was passing inside unless the hole were a
+good size."</p>
+
+<p>"But I doubt much if you would be able to hear them, Miss Netta."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't think that I should; especially as people talking of things
+of that sort, even if they had no great fear of being overheard, would
+speak in a low voice. But that would not matter if I could see their
+faces. I should know what they were saying."</p>
+
+<p>Roberts did not think it right to offer any remark on what appeared to
+him to be impossible, and he confined himself to saying in a respectful
+voice, "Indeed, Miss Netta."</p>
+
+<p>"I am stone-deaf," she said, "but have learned to read what people are
+saying from the movement of their lips."</p>
+
+<p>Although the "Indeed, miss," was as respectful as before, Netta saw that
+he did not in the slightest degree believe her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Just go to the other end of the room, Roberts, and make some remark to
+yourself. Move your lips in the same way as if you were talking, but do
+not make any sound."</p>
+
+<p>Roberts, with military obedience, marched to the other end of the room,
+placed himself in a corner, and turned round, facing her. His lips
+moved, and, confident that she could not know what he was saying, he
+expressed his natural sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>The girl at once repeated the words: "Well, I'm jiggered! This is a rum
+start; Miss Netta has gone clean off her head."</p>
+
+<p>Roberts' jaw dropped, and he flushed up to the hair.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure," he began; but he was stopped by the girl's merry laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not apologize, Roberts; it was natural enough that you should be
+surprised. Well, you see I can do as I say. We will now go on with our
+talk."</p>
+
+<p>Greatly abashed, Tom Roberts returned to the chair, murmuring to himself
+as he sat down, "Well, I'm blowed!" when he was roughly recalled to the
+necessity of keeping his mouth shut by her quiet remark, "Never mind
+about being blowed at present, Roberts; let us talk over another plan.
+Who are the keepers of the house in Jermyn Street?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is kept by a man and his wife, miss. He has been a butler, I
+believe, and his wife was a cook. He waits upon the gentlemen who lodge
+there, and she cooks. They have a girl who sweeps and does the bedrooms
+and the scrubbing and that sort of thing."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of a girl is she, Roberts?"</p>
+
+<p>"She seems a nice sort of young woman, miss. Andrew has spoken to her
+more than I have, because, you see, my get-up aint likely to take much
+with a young girl."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose she is not very much attached to her place?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lor', no, miss; she told Andrew that she was only six months up from
+the country, and they don't pay her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> but eight pounds a year, and pretty
+hard work she has to do for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Roberts, I want to take her place."</p>
+
+<p>"You want&mdash;&mdash;" and Roberts' voice failed him in his astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I want to take her place, Roberts. I should think that if you or
+Andrew were to tell her that you have a friend up from the country who
+wants just such a place, and is ready to pay five pounds to get one, she
+might be ready to take the offer; especially as you might say that you
+knew of a lady who is in want of an under-housemaid and you thought that
+you could get her the place."</p>
+
+<p>"As to that, miss, I have no doubt that she would leave to-morrow, if
+she could get five pounds. She told Andrew that she hated London, and
+should go down home and take a country place as soon as she had saved up
+money to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"All the better, Roberts; then all she would have to do would be to say
+that she had heard of a place near home, and wanted to leave at once.
+She did not wish to inconvenience them, but that she had a cousin who
+was just coming up to London and wanted a place, and that she would jump
+at it. She could say that her cousin had not been in service before, but
+that she was a thorough good cleaner and hard worker."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you mean that you would go as a servant, Miss Netta? Why, it
+would not be right for you to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything would be right that led to the discovery of Walter's hiding
+place, Roberts. I have been accustomed to teaching, and I have helped my
+aunt to look after the house for years, and I do not in the slightest
+degree mind playing the part of a servant for a short time, in order to
+try and get at the bottom of this matter. You think that it can be
+managed?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure it can be managed right enough, miss; but what Miss Covington
+would say, if she knew that I had a hand in bringing it about, I can't
+say."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, you won't be drawn into the matter. I shall say enough to my aunt
+to satisfy her that I am acting for the best, and shall simply, when I
+go, leave a note for your mistress, telling her that I have gone to work
+out an idea that I have had in my mind, and that it would be no use for
+her to inquire into the matter until she hears of me again."</p>
+
+<p>"What am I to tell Andrew, miss?"</p>
+
+<p>"Simply tell him that a young woman has been engaged to watch Simcoe in
+his lodgings. Then tell him the story he has to tell the girl. I shall
+want three or four days to get my things ready. I shall have to go to a
+dressmaker's and tell her that I want three or four print gowns for a
+young servant about my own figure, and as soon as they are ready I shall
+be ready, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, miss, I will do as you tell me, but I would say, quite
+respectful, I hope that you will bear in mind, if things goes wrong,
+that I was dead against it, and that it was only because you said that
+it was our only chance of finding Master Walter that I agreed to lend a
+hand."</p>
+
+<p>"I will certainly bear that in mind," Netta said with a smile. "Talk it
+over with Andrew to-night; but remember he is only to know that a young
+woman has been engaged to keep a watch on Simcoe."</p>
+
+<p>"He will be glad enough to hear, miss, that someone else is going to do
+something. He says the Colonel is so irritable because he has found out
+so little that there is no bearing with him."</p>
+
+<p>"The Colonel is trying," Netta laughed. "As you know, he comes here two
+or three times a week and puts himself into such rages that, as he
+stamps up and down the room, I expect to hear a crash and to find that
+the dining-room ceiling has fallen down. He is a thoroughly kind-hearted
+man, but is a dreadful specimen of what an English gentleman may come to
+after he has had the command of an Indian regiment for some years, and
+been accustomed to have his will obeyed in everything. It is very bad
+for a man."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a good deal worse for his servant, miss," Tom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> Roberts said, in a
+tone of deep sympathy for his comrade. "I doubt whether I could have
+stood it myself; but though Andrew expresses his feelings strong
+sometimes, I know that if you offered him a good place, even in
+Buckingham Palace, he would not leave the Colonel."</p>
+
+<p>Two days later Netta heard that the girl in Jermyn Street had joyfully
+accepted the offer, and had that morning told her master that she had
+heard that she was wanted badly at home, and that a cousin of hers would
+be up in a day or two, and would, she was sure, be very glad to take her
+place. The master agreed to give her a trial, if she looked a clean and
+tidy girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be clean and tidy, Roberts; and I am sure I shall do no
+injustice to her recommendation."</p>
+
+<p>Roberts shook his head. The matter was, to his mind, far too serious to
+be joked about, and he almost felt as if he were acting in a treasonable
+sort of way in aiding to carry out such a project.</p>
+
+<p>On the following Monday Hilda, on coming down to breakfast, found a note
+on the table. She opened it in haste, seeing that it was in Netta's
+handwriting, and her eyes opened in surprise and almost dismay as she
+read:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Darling Hilda</span>: I told you that I had a plan. Well, I am off to
+carry it out. It is of no use your asking what it is, or where I am
+going. You will hear nothing of me until I return to tell you
+whether I have failed or succeeded. Aunt knows what I am going to
+do."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Hilda at once ran upstairs to Miss Purcell's room.</p>
+
+<p>"Where has Netta gone?" she exclaimed. "Her letter has given me quite a
+turn. She says that you know; but I feel sure that it is something very
+foolish and rash."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that you had a better opinion of Netta's common sense," Miss
+Purcell said placidly, smiling a little at Hilda's excitement. "It is
+her arrangement, dear, and not mine, and I am certainly not at liberty
+to give<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> you any information about it. I do not say that I should not
+have opposed it in the first instance, had I known of it, but I
+certainly cannot say that there is anything foolish in it, and I admit
+that it seems to me to offer a better chance of success than any plan
+that has yet been tried. I don't think there is any occasion for anxiety
+about her. Netta has thought over her plans very carefully, and has gone
+to work in a methodical way; she may fail, but if so I don't think that
+it will be her fault."</p>
+
+<p>"But why could she not tell me as well as you?" Hilda asked rather
+indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly because she did not wish to raise hopes that might not be
+fulfilled; but principally, I own, because she thought you would raise
+objections to it, and she was bent upon having her own way. She has
+seconded you well, my dear, all through this business."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know, aunt; she has been most kind in every respect."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, then don't grudge her having a little plan of her own."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't grudge her a bit," Hilda said impetuously, "and, as you are
+quite satisfied, I will try to be quite satisfied too. But, you see, it
+took me by surprise; and I was so afraid that she might do something
+rash and get into trouble somehow. You know really I am quite afraid of
+this man, and would certainly far rather run a risk myself than let her
+do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Of that I have no doubt, Hilda; but I am quite sure that, if the case
+had been reversed, you would have undertaken this little plan that she
+has hit upon, to endeavor to relieve her of a terrible anxiety, just as
+she is doing for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will be patient, aunt. How long do you think that she will be
+away?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is more than I can tell you; but at any rate she has promised to
+write me a line at least twice a week, and, should I think it right, I
+can recall her."</p>
+
+<p>"That is something, aunt. You cannot guess whether it is likely to be a
+week or a month?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Miss Purcell shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"It will all depend upon whether she succeeds in hitting upon a clew as
+to where Walter is. If she finds that she has no chance of so doing she
+will return; if, on the other hand, she thinks that there is a
+probability that with patience she will succeed, she will continue to
+watch and wait."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Netta is not ill, I hope, miss?" Roberts said, when he came in to
+clear the breakfast things away.</p>
+
+<p>"No she has gone away on a short visit," Hilda replied. Had she been
+watching the old soldier's face, she might have caught a slight
+contortion that would have enlightened her as to the fact that he knew
+more than she did about the matter; but she had avoided looking at him,
+lest he should read in her face that she was in ignorance as to Netta's
+whereabouts. She would have liked to have asked when she went; whether
+she took a box with her, and whether she had gone early that morning or
+late the evening before; but she felt that any questions of the sort
+would show that she was totally in the dark as to her friend's
+movements. In fact Netta had walked out early that morning, having sent
+off a box by the carrier on the previous Saturday when Hilda was out;
+Roberts having himself carried it to the receiving house.</p>
+
+<p>It was four or five days before Dr. Leeds called again.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Miss Purcell out?" he asked carelessly, when some little time had
+elapsed without her making her appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that asked innocently, Dr. Leeds?" Hilda said quickly.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor looked at her in genuine surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Innocently, Miss Covington? I don't think that I quite understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"I see, doctor, that I have been in error. I suspected you of being an
+accomplice of Netta's in a little scheme in which she is engaged on her
+own account." And she then told him about her disappearance, of the
+letter that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> she had received, and of the conversation with her aunt.
+Dr. Leeds was seriously disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>"I need hardly say that this comes as a perfect surprise to me, Miss
+Covington, and I say frankly a very unpleasant one. But the only
+satisfactory feature is that the young lady's aunt does not absolutely
+disapprove of the scheme, whatever it is, although it is evident that
+her approval is by no means a warm one. This is a very serious matter. I
+have the highest opinion of your friend's judgment and sense, but I own
+that I feel extremely uneasy at the thought that she has, so to speak,
+pitted herself against one of the most unscrupulous villains I have ever
+met, whose past conduct shows that he would stop at nothing, and who is
+playing for a very big stake. It would be as dangerous to interfere
+between a tiger and his prey as to endeavor to discover the secret on
+which so much depends."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel that myself, doctor, and I own that I'm exceedingly anxious.
+Aunt has had two short letters from her. Both are written in pencil, but
+the envelope is in ink, and in her usual handwriting. I should think it
+probable that she took with her several directed envelopes. The letters
+are very short. The first was: 'I am getting on all right, aunt, and am
+comfortable. Too early to say whether I am likely to discover anything.
+Pray do not fidget about me, nor let Hilda do so. There is nothing to be
+uneasy about.' The second was as nearly as possible in the same words,
+except that she said, 'You and Hilda must be patient. Rome was not built
+in a day, and after so many clever people have failed you cannot expect
+that I can succeed all at once.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That is good as far as it goes," the doctor said, "but you see it does
+not go very far. It is not until success is nearly reached that the
+danger will really begin. I do not mind saying to you that Miss Purcell
+is very dear to me. I have not spoken to her on the subject, as I wished
+to see how my present partnership was likely to turn out. I am wholly
+dependent upon my profession, and until I felt my ground thoroughly I
+determined to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> remain silent. You can imagine, therefore, how troubled I
+am at your news. Were it not that I have such implicit confidence in her
+judgment I should feel it still more; but even as it is, when I think
+how unscrupulous and how desperate is the man against whom she has,
+single-handed, entered the lists, I cannot but be alarmed."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad at what you have told me, doctor. I had a little hope
+that it might be so. It seemed to me impossible that you could be living
+for four months with such a dear girl without being greatly attracted by
+her. Of course I know nothing of her feelings. The subject is one that
+has never been alluded to between us, but I am sure that no girl living
+is more fitted than she is to be the wife of a medical man. I would give
+much to have Netta back again, but Miss Purcell is obdurate. She says
+that, knowing as she does what Netta is doing, she does not think that
+she is running any risk&mdash;at any rate, none proportionate to the
+importance of finding a clew to Walter's hiding place."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you ask her if she will write to her niece and urge her to return,
+saying how anxious you are about her? Or, if she will not do that,
+whether she will release her from her promise of secrecy, so that she
+may let us know what she is doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will go and ask her now; I will bring her down so that you can add
+your entreaties to mine, doctor."</p>
+
+<p>But Miss Purcell refused to interfere.</p>
+
+<p>"I consider Netta's scheme to be a possible one," she said, "though I am
+certainly doubtful of its success. But she has set her heart upon it,
+and I will do nothing to balk her. I do not say that I am free from
+anxiety myself, but my confidence in Netta's cleverness, and I may say
+prudence, is such that I believe that the risk she is running is very
+slight. It would be cruel, and I think wrong at the present moment, when
+above all things it is necessary that her brain should be clear, to
+distress and trouble her by interfering with her actions."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you are right, Miss Purcell," the doctor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> said thoughtfully.
+"Being totally in the dark in the matter, I am not justified in giving a
+decisive opinion, but I will admit that it would not conduce either to
+her comfort or to the success of her undertaking were we to harass her
+by interfering in any way with her plan, which, I have no doubt, has
+been thoroughly thought out before she undertook it. No one but a madman
+would shout instructions or warnings to a person performing a dangerous
+feat requiring coolness and presence of mind. Such, I take it, is the
+scheme, whatever it is, in which she is engaged; and as you are the only
+one who knows what that scheme is, I must, however reluctantly, abide by
+your decision. When Miss Covington tells you the conversation that we
+have had together you will recognize how deeply I am interested in the
+matter."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>DOWN IN THE MARSHES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Comparatively few of those who nowadays run down to Southend for a
+breath of fresh air give a thought to the fact that the wide stretch of
+low country lying between the railroad and the Thames, from Pitsea to
+Leigh, was at one time, and that not so many centuries back, a mud flat,
+a continuation of the great line of sand that still, with but a short
+break here and there, stretches down beyond Yarmouth; still less that,
+were it not for the watchfulness of those who dwell upon it, it would in
+a short time revert to its original condition, the country lying below
+the level of higher water.</p>
+
+<p>Along the whole face of the river run banks&mdash;the work, doubtless, of
+engineers brought over by Dutch William&mdash;strong, massive, and
+stone-faced, as they need be to withstand the rush and fret of the tide
+and the action of the waves when, as is often the case, the east wind
+knocks up ridges of short, angry water in Sea Reach. Similarly, the
+winding creeks are all embanked, but here dams of earth are sufficient
+to retain within its bounds the sluggish water as it rises and falls.
+Standing on any of these, the farmhouses and little homesteads lie
+below, their eaves for the most part level with the top of the bank,
+though there are a few knolls which rise above the level of the tidal
+water.</p>
+
+<p>The most conspicuous objects are the brown sails of the barges, which
+seem to stand up in the midst of the brownish-green fields, the hulls
+being invisible. This cannot be called marsh land, for the ground is
+intersected by ditches, having sluices through which they discharge
+their water at low tide. Very fertile is the land in some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> spots,
+notably in Canvey Island, where there are great stretches of wheat and
+broad meadows deep with rich waving grass; but there are other places
+where the grass is brown and coarse, showing that, though the surface
+may be hard and dry, water lies not far below. Here a few cattle gather
+a scanty living, and the little homesteads are few and far between. Most
+of the houses are placed near the banks of the creeks. The barges serve
+as their wagons, and carry their hay up to London and bring down manure
+and other things required, or carry coal and lime to the wharves of
+Pitsea.</p>
+
+<p>A rare place was this in the old smuggling days, and indeed until quite
+lately the trade was carried on, though upon a reduced scale. Vessels
+drifting slowly up the river would show a light as they passed a barge
+at anchor or a bawley hanging to its trawl, a light would be shown in
+answer, and a moment later a boat would row off to the ship, and a score
+of tubs or a dozen bales of tobacco be quickly transferred, and before
+morning the contents would be stowed in underground cellars in some of
+the little farmhouses on the creeks, or be hidden away in the Leigh
+marshes.</p>
+
+<p>"Will Bill be in to-night with the barge?" a child asked a woman, as he
+came down from the bank to a not uncomfortable-looking homestead ten
+yards from its foot.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you that you are to call him uncle," the woman said sharply, but
+not unkindly. "I have told you so over and over again, child."</p>
+
+<p>"I generally do now, but one forgets sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"There is never any saying"&mdash;the woman went on in reply to his
+question&mdash;"there is never any saying; it all depends on tide and wind.
+Sometimes they have to anchor and lose a tide, or maybe two. Sometimes
+they get a cargo directly they get into the Pool or at Rochester;
+sometimes they wait two or three days. They have been away four days
+now; they might have been here yesterday, but may not come till
+to-morrow. One thing is certain, whenever he do come he will want
+something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> to eat, and I hope that they will bring it with them, for
+there is nothing here but bread and bacon."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you think that I shall soon go home again, aunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no saying," the woman said evasively. "You are very
+comfortable here, aint you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! There are the dogs and the ducks and the chickens, and uncle
+says that he will take me sometimes for a sail with him in the barge."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I expect it won't be long first. You know, I used to go with him
+regular till, as I have told you, my little Billy fell overboard one
+night, and we knew nothing of it until he was gone, and I have never
+liked the barge since. Besides, I have plenty to do here. But I am going
+across to Rochester very soon. It's a good place for shopping, and I
+want groceries and little things for myself and more things for you. I
+will take you with me, but you will have to promise to be very good and
+careful."</p>
+
+<p>"I will be careful," the child said confidently, "and you know that
+uncle said that when spring comes he will teach me to swim; and I shall
+like that, and if I tumble overboard it won't matter. He says that when
+I get a few years older I shall go with him regularly, and learn to
+steer and to manage the sails. I shall like that; but I should like to
+go back sometimes to see Hilda and Netta and my grandpapa."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, my dear, we will see about it; they can't take you at
+present. I think that they have gone away traveling, and may not be back
+for a long time. And mind, you know you are not to talk about them. Just
+when you are here with me I don't care; but you know uncle does not like
+it, and if anyone asks, you must say just what he told you, that your
+father and mother are dead, and that Uncle Bill has took you."</p>
+
+<p>"I shan't forget," the boy said. "I never do talk about it before him;
+it makes him angry. I don't know why, but it does."</p>
+
+<p>"But he is always kind to you, Jack?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, he is very kind, and he often brings me things when he comes
+back; he brought me my dear little kitten. Pussy, where have you hidden
+yourself? Puss! puss!" And in answer a little ball of white fur bounded
+out from behind a chair, and the child was soon engaged in a game of
+romps with it.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a shame!" the woman said, as she watched them; "I don't mind the
+other things, but I never liked this. I wonder who the poor little chap
+is. By the way he talked when he first came, about his home and his
+nurse and horses and carriages, his friends must be rich people. Bill
+has never understood why they wanted to get rid of him; but I suppose
+that he was in somebody's way, and, as he never speaks of his father and
+mother, but only of those two girls and his grandfather, who seems to
+have been an invalid, I expect that he must have lost his father and
+mother before he can remember. Well, he will be right enough here; I
+should miss him dreadful if he were to go away; he seems to have taken
+the place of my little Billy. And Bill takes to him, too, wonderfully.
+He said the other day that when the boy grew up he would buy a barge, a
+new one of the best kind, and that some day it should be the boy's own.
+So he won't do so bad, after all."</p>
+
+<p>A stranger would have wondered at the comfort in the interior of the
+little farmhouse. The land round it was very poor. Three horses&mdash;which
+seemed as if they had nothing to do but to nibble the coarse grass&mdash;and
+a couple of cows wandered about on a few acres of land, inclosed by deep
+water ditches; a score or two of ducks and geese paddled in the mud in
+the bottom of the creek at low tide, or swam about in the water when it
+was up; and a patch of garden ground, attended to chiefly by the woman,
+surrounded the cottage. But all this would have afforded a scanty living
+indeed, were it not that the master, Bill Nibson, was the owner of the
+<i>Mary Ann</i> barge, an old craft with a somewhat dilapidated sail, which
+journeyed up and down the river with more or less regularity, laden, for
+the most part, with manure, hay,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> lime, bricks, or coal. This he
+navigated with the aid of a lad of fourteen, a waif, whose mother, a
+tramp, had died by the roadside one bitter cold night four years before.
+Bill had been summoned on the coroner's jury and had offered to take the
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>"I can do with him on board the barge," he said; "he is only a little
+nipper now, but in a year or two he will be useful. The boy I have got
+wants to go to sea, and I shan't be sorry to get rid of him; he is
+getting too knowing for me altogether."</p>
+
+<p>As no one else wanted the boy he was handed over to Bill, and was now a
+sharp lad, who, never having been instructed in the niceties of right
+and wrong, and being especially ignorant that there was any harm in
+cheating Her Majesty's Customs, was in all things a useful assistant to
+his master. He had, indeed, very soon imbibed the spirit, not uncommon
+among the dwellers on the marshes, that if managed without detection,
+the smuggling of tobacco and spirits was a meritorious action,
+advantageous to the community at large, and hurting no one except that
+mysterious and unknown entity, the queen's revenue. He was greatly
+attached to Bill, and took an occasional thrashing as a matter of
+course; regarding him as having saved him from the workhouse and having
+put him in a fair way of making a man of himself.</p>
+
+<p>The next day at twelve o'clock the child, playing on the bank, ran in
+and reported that Joshua was coming along the bank, and in a few minutes
+the boy appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Morning, missis," he said. "Master sent me on to say that the barge got
+into the haven this morning, and that she will come on with the evening
+tide. He sent me on with this lump of meat, and these rokers he got from
+a bawley which came in just as we were getting up sail off Grain Spit.
+He says he has got a barrel of beer on board, that he will land as he
+passes. He will be along about nine o'clock. Well, Jack, how are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am all right," the child said, "and so is Kitty. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> am glad that you
+are back. How long are you going to stay?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose that it will take us a couple of days to unload. Master is
+going as usual to hire a couple of men to get the line out, so I shall
+be over here by breakfast. He says that I may as well do a job of
+digging in the garden, as he wants to get some things in before we get
+frosty nights. Have you any message for him, missis?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can tell him he may as well get a dish of eels from one of the
+Dutchmen there. I suppose there is one in the haven?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two of them, missis; he will be able to get them, for one of them is
+the <i>Marden</i>, and the skipper has always let master have some, though he
+won't sell an eel to anyone else."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there any business to be done?" the woman asked significantly.</p>
+
+<p>The boy nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"All right; tell him that I will get the horses in."</p>
+
+<p>The child was put to bed upstairs at seven o'clock, although he in vain
+petitioned to be allowed to stop up until the barge came along. He
+already knew, however, by experience, that his request was not likely to
+be granted, as when the barge came along after dark he was always put to
+bed, the woman telling him that Bill didn't like him to be up when he
+came in, as he wanted to have a talk with her in quiet, and to eat his
+supper in peace.</p>
+
+<p>An hour after dark the woman went out onto the bank and listened. In a
+quarter of an hour she heard the rattle of a block in the distance. She
+went down, stirred up the fire, and put on the kettle, and in twenty
+minutes the barge came along. The boat, instead of towing behind as
+usual, was alongside.</p>
+
+<p>"You take her on, Joshua," its owner said, as he quietly got into the
+boat; "run in where the water is deep alongside, a quarter of a mile
+this side Pitsea. I will come along and get on board there as soon as I
+have finished this job. Keep a sharp lookout on the banks; some of the
+coastguardsmen may be about. If they hail<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> you and ask if I am on board,
+say I landed as we passed here, to have a cup of tea, and that I shall
+not be five minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Then he pushed the boat to shore. "Well, Betsy, how are you? I have got
+twenty kegs here, and five or six hundredweight of tobacco. I will get
+it up the bank, and you had better stow it away at once; I will lend you
+a hand as soon as it is all up."</p>
+
+<p>As fast as he could carry the kegs up the banks she slipped slings round
+them, two at a time, hooked them to a milkmaid's yoke, and went off with
+them to a shed which served as a stable and cowhouse in the winter.
+Against this was a rick of hay. Putting the kegs down she returned for
+more, and by the time that they were all in the stable her husband had
+finished his share of the work and had carried the heavy bales of
+tobacco to the shed. The three horses were already there.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to take them out at once?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not until I come back. I must get on board the barge as soon as
+possible. We will bundle them all in, in case any of those fellows
+should come along."</p>
+
+<p>Three planks were removed from the side of the shed next to the stack,
+and an opening was seen. Some turf was taken up and a trapdoor exposed.
+The kegs and tobacco were speedily carried down into a large cellar, the
+trapdoor was closed, and the boards placed securely in position and
+fastened by six long screws. Then they returned to the house. The teapot
+and cups were on the table, the kettle was boiling, and in two or three
+minutes they were taking tea. Scarcely had they begun their meal when
+there was a knock at the door. Bill got up and opened it, and two
+coastguards entered.</p>
+
+<p>"We saw there was a light burning, and thought that you might be here,
+Bill. The wind is bitter cold."</p>
+
+<p>"Come in and have a cup of tea or a glass of rum, whichever you like
+best. As you say, the wind is bitter cold, and I thought that I would
+land and have a cup of tea. I shall catch the barge up before she gets
+to Pitsea."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The coastguardsmen accepted the offer of a cup of tea, glancing
+furtively round the room as they drank it.</p>
+
+<p>"It is good tea."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis that," Bill said, "and it has never paid duty. I got it from an
+Indiaman that was on the Nore three weeks ago. She transshipped part of
+her cargo on my barge and floated next tide. It was one of the best jobs
+I've had for some time, and stood me in fifty pounds and a pound or two
+of tea."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps a chest of it!" one of the men said with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, I am not sure that it was not a chest. I like my cup of
+tea, and so does Betsy; and there is no getting tea like this at
+Stanford."</p>
+
+<p>They chatted for about ten minutes, when Bill remarked, "I must be
+going," and they went out together, and taking his place in his boat he
+rowed up the creek, while the coastguards continued their walk along the
+bank.</p>
+
+<p>"He is not a bad 'un, Tom," one of them said. "I guess he is like a good
+many of the others, runs a keg occasionally. However, his place has been
+searched half a dozen times, and nothing has been found. We have drunk
+many a glass of ale with him at the 'Lobster Smack' at Hole Haven, and I
+am sure I don't want to catch him unless there is some information to go
+on. The barge passed us half an hour ago, and I knew that it was no use
+looking in her, but of course when the boatswain said this afternoon,
+'Just follow that barge when she gets under way, and see if she goes on
+to Pitsea,' we had to do it; but the boat was late for us where the
+creek branches off round the island, and before we were across he must
+have got more than half an hour's start of us. And I am not sorry, Tom.
+We have got to do our duty, but we don't want to be at war with every
+good fellow on the marshes."</p>
+
+<p>"Right you are, Dick; besides, they are as slippery as eels. Who can
+tell what they have got under their lime or manure? Short of unloading
+it to the bottom there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> would be no finding it, if they had anything;
+and it is a job that I should not care for. Besides, there aint no place
+to empty it on; and we could not go and chuck a cargo overboard unless
+we were quite certain that we should find something underneath. As you
+say, I dare say Bill runs a keg or two now and then, but I don't suppose
+that he is worse than his neighbors; I have always suspected that it was
+he who left a keg of whisky at our door last Christmas."</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Bill had overtaken his barge, and they soon had her
+alongside of the little wharf at Pitsea.</p>
+
+<p>"Tide is just turning. She will be aground in half an hour," he said.
+"As soon as you have got these mooring ropes fastened, you had better
+fry that steak and have your supper. I shall be over by seven o'clock in
+the morning. If Harvey and Wilson come alongside before that, tell them
+they can have the job at the usual price, and can set to work without
+waiting for me. It will be pretty late before I am in bed to-night."</p>
+
+<p>It was over a mile walk back to his cottage. As soon as he arrived he
+sat down to a hearty supper which his wife had prepared for him. He then
+got three pack-saddles out of the cellar, put them on the horses, and
+fastened four kegs on each horse. Tying one behind the other, he
+started, and in an hour the kegs were stowed in the cellars of four
+farmers near Stanford. It was midnight before he returned home. At
+half-past six he was down to breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, uncle, how are you?" he asked the child, who was already up.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not your uncle," the boy replied; "you are my uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, well, it's a way of speaking down here. It does not mean that
+anyone is one's uncle; it is just a way of speaking."</p>
+
+<p>The child nodded. He was learning many things.</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is a way of speaking when I call you uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! That is different. A child like you would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> not call anyone
+uncle unless he was uncle; while a man my age calls anyone uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"That is funny, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose, when you think of it, it is; but, as I said, it is a
+way we have in this part of the country. Well, mother, have you got that
+fish nearly fried?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will be ready in five minutes. This roker is a very thick one. I put
+it on as soon as I heard you stirring, and it is not quite ready yet.
+That was a pretty near escape last night, Bill."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but, you see, they can hardly catch us unless they send men down
+in the afternoon. They cannot get along from the station without passing
+two or three creeks; and coming along with the tide, especially when
+there is a breath of wind to help her, we can do it in half the time.
+You see, I always get the things out from under the cargo and into the
+boat as we come along, so that the barge shall not be stopped."</p>
+
+<p>"But they might send down a boat from the Thames Haven station, Bill."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but then they don't know when the barge is in, or when it is going
+to start. So we get the best of them in that way. Besides, they have a
+good bit to go along the river face, and they have to cross a dozen deep
+cuts to get there. No, I have no fear of them, nor of the others either,
+as far as that goes. I have more than once had a word dropped, meant to
+put me on my guard, and instead of landing the things here have dropped
+them in a deep hole in the creek, where I could pick them up the next
+night I came in. Things have changed with us for the better, lass. Five
+years ago we had pretty hard work, with the farm and the old boat, to
+live at all comfortable; but since I have got into the swim things have
+changed with us, and I can tell you that I am making money hand over
+fist. I allow that there is a certain risk in it, but, after all, one
+likes it all the better for that. If the worst came to the worst they
+could but confiscate the old barge; if they gave me a heavy fine I could
+pay it, and if they gave me six months I could work it out, and buy a
+new<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> barge and half a dozen farms like this on the day I came out."</p>
+
+<p>"But the other would be more serious, Bill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes; but I don't see any chance of that being found out. A gent
+comes to me at a spot we have settled on, say on the road halfway
+between Pitsea and Stanford; he hands me a box, sometimes two; I puts
+them on one of the horses, and rides over here with them; then I stows
+them away in that secret place off the store, where there aint a shadow
+of a chance of the sharpest-eyed coastguardsman ever finding them. They
+would be too delighted to light on the spirits and bacca to think of
+digging up the floor underneath. There they lie, till I take them down
+to the <i>Marden</i>. They put them into the eel tank, and next morning off
+she sails."</p>
+
+<p>"But you have had heavy cases brought once or twice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only once&mdash;heavy enough to be troublesome. Ten cases there was then,
+each as heavy as a man could lift. It took me three journeys with three
+horses, and I had to dig a big hole in the garden to bury them till the
+<i>Marden</i> had got rid of her eels, and was ready to sail again. Yes, that
+was a heavy job, and I got a couple of hundred pounds for my share of
+the business. I should not mind having such a job twice a week. A few
+months of that, and I could buy the biggest farm on this side of
+Essex&mdash;that is to say, if I could make up my mind to cut it and settle
+down as a farmer."</p>
+
+<p>"You will never do that, Bill; but you might settle down in Rochester,
+and buy half a dozen barges, with a tip-top one you would sail yourself.
+You might have a couple of men and a cabin forward, and a nice roomy
+place for yourself and me aft; and you could just steer when you liked,
+or sit down and smoke your pipe and watch her going through the fleet as
+we worked through the swatchway. That would be more your sort, Bill, and
+mine too. I know you have money enough laid by to get such a barge."</p>
+
+<p>"That is so, Betsy. I allow that I could do that. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> have been thinking
+of it for some time, but somehow or other one never works one's self up
+to the right point to give it all up of a sudden and cut the old place.
+Well, I suppose one of these days I shall do it, if it is only to please
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"It would please me, you know, Bill. I don't see no harm in running the
+kegs or the bacca&mdash;it's what the people about here have been doing for
+hundreds of years&mdash;but I don't like this other business. You don't know
+what is in the cases, and you don't ask, but there aint much difficulty
+in guessing. And I don't much like this business of the child. I did not
+like it at all at first; but when I found that he had no father nor
+mother as he knew of, and so it was certain that no one was breaking
+their heart about him, I did not mind it; and I have taken to him, and
+he has pretty nearly forgotten about his home, and is as contented as if
+he had been here all his life. I have nothing more to say about him,
+though it is as certain as eggs is eggs that it has been a bad business.
+The boy has been cheated out of his money, and if his friends ever find
+him it is a nice row that we shall get into."</p>
+
+<p>"You need not bother yourself about that," the man said; "he aint more
+likely to be found here than if he was across the seas in Ameriky. We
+have had him near nine months now, and in another three months, if you
+were to put him down in front of his own house, he would not know it.
+Everyone about here believes as he is my nevvy, the son of a brother of
+yours who died down in the Midlands, and left him motherless. No one
+asks any questions about him now, no more than they does about Joshua.
+No, no; we are all right there, missis; and the hundred pounds that we
+had down with him, and fifty pounds a year till he gets big enough to
+earn his own grub on the barge, all helps. Anyhow, if something should
+happen to me before I have made up my mind to quit this, you know where
+the pot of money is hidden. You can settle in Rochester, and get him
+some schooling, and then apprentice him to a barge-owner and start<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> him
+with a barge of his own as soon as he is out of his time. You bear it in
+mind that is what I should like done."</p>
+
+<p>"I will mind," she said quietly; "but I am as likely to be carried to
+the churchyard as you are, and you remember what I should like, and try,
+Bill, if you give up the water yourself, to see that he is with a man as
+doesn't drink. Most of the things we hears of&mdash;of barges being run down,
+and of men falling overboard on a dark night&mdash;are just drink, and
+nothing else. You are not a man as drinks yourself; you take your glass
+when the barge is in the creek, but I have never seen you the worse for
+liquor since you courted me fifteen years ago, and I tell you there is
+not a night when you are out on the barge as I don't thank God that it
+is so. I says to myself, when the wind is blowing on a dark night, 'He
+is anchored somewheres under a weather shore, and he is snug asleep in
+his cabin. There is no fear of his driving along through it and carrying
+on sail; there is no fear of his stumbling as he goes forward and
+pitching over'; and no one but myself knows what a comfort it is to me.
+You bring him up in the same way, Bill. You teach him as it is always a
+good thing to keep from liquor, though a pint with an old mate aint
+neither here nor there, but that he might almost as well take poison as
+to drink down in the cabin."</p>
+
+<p>"I will mind, missis; I like the child, and have got it in my mind to
+bring him up straight, so let us have no more words about it."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>A PARTIAL SUCCESS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Netta had been away three weeks when one morning, just as they were
+sitting down to breakfast, she suddenly came into the room. With a cry
+of joy Hilda ran into her arms.</p>
+
+<p>"You wicked, wicked girl!" she exclaimed. "I know that I ought not to
+speak to you. You don't deserve that I should even look at you, but I
+cannot help it."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Purcell embraced her niece more soberly, but Hilda saw by the
+expression of her face that her niece's return relieved her of a burden
+of anxiety which at times she had had difficulty in concealing.</p>
+
+<p>"In the first place, Netta, before I even give you a cup of tea, tell me
+if this is a final return, or whether you are going to disappear again."</p>
+
+<p>"That we will decide after you have heard my story," Netta said quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"And have you got any news of Walter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not sure; I think so. So you have kept my secret, aunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I promised that I would, dear, and of course I have kept my word,
+though it was very difficult to resist Hilda's pleading. Dr. Leeds, too,
+has been terribly anxious about you, and not a day has passed that he
+has not run in for a few minutes to learn if there was any news."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why he should have known that I have been away."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, my dear," Hilda said, "coming here as often as he does, he
+naturally inquired where you were, and as I was uncertain how long you
+would be away, and as he had always been in our counsels, I could hardly
+keep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> him in the dark, even had I wished to do so. Now, my dear, let us
+know all about it; there can be no possible reason for keeping silent
+any longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Hilda, the whole affair has been very simple, and there was not
+the least occasion for being anxious. I simply wanted to keep it quiet
+because I felt that you would raise all sorts of objections to the plan.
+We had, as you know, thought over a great many methods by which we might
+overhear a conversation between John Simcoe and the man on Pentonville
+Hill. But it seemed next to be impossible that it could be managed
+there. Suddenly the idea came into my brain that, as a servant at
+Simcoe's lodgings in Jermyn Street, I might have an excellent chance."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda gave an exclamation of horror.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Netta, you never can really have thought of carrying this out?"</p>
+
+<p>"I not only thought of it, but did it. With a little management the girl
+there was got hold of, and as it fortunately happened that she did not
+like London and wanted to take a country situation, there was very
+little difficulty, and she agreed to introduce me as a friend who was
+willing to take her place. Of course, it took a few days to make all the
+arrangements and to get suitable clothes for the place, and these I sent
+by parcel delivery, and on the morning of the day that the girl was to
+leave presented myself at the house. The man and his wife were good
+enough to approve of my appearance. They had, it seemed, three sets of
+lodgers, one on each floor; the man himself waited upon them, and my
+work was to do their rooms and keep the house tidy generally."</p>
+
+<p>Again Hilda gave a gasp.</p>
+
+<p>"There was nothing much in that," Netta went on, without heeding her. "I
+used to do most of the house work when we were in Germany, and I think
+that I gave every satisfaction. Of course the chief difficulty was about
+my deafness. I was obliged to explain to them that I was very hard of
+hearing unless I was directly spoken to. Mr. Johnstone always answered
+the bells<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> himself when he was at home. Of course, when he was out it
+was my duty to do so. When I was downstairs it was simple enough, for I
+only had to go to the door of the room of which I saw the bell in
+motion. At first they seemed to think that the difficulty was
+insuperable; but I believe that in other respects I suited them so well
+that they decided to make the best of it, and when her husband was out
+and I was upstairs Mrs. Johnstone took to answering the door bells, or
+if a lodger rang, which was not very often, for her husband seldom went
+out unless they were all three away, she would come upstairs and tell
+me. Johnstone himself said to me one day that I was the best girl he had
+ever had, and that instead of having to go most carefully over the
+sitting rooms before the gentlemen came in for breakfast, he found that
+everything was so perfectly dusted and tidied up that there was really
+nothing for him to do.</p>
+
+<p>"But oh, Hilda, I never had the slightest idea before how untidy men
+are! The way they spill their tobacco ash all over the room, and put the
+ends of their cigars upon mantelpieces, tables, and everywhere else, you
+would hardly believe it. The ground floor and the second floor were the
+worst, for they very often had men in of an evening, and the state of
+the rooms in the morning was something awful. Our man was on the first
+floor, and did not give anything like so much trouble, for he almost
+always went out in the evening and never had more than one or two
+friends in with him. One of these friends was the man we saw with him in
+the Row, and who, we had no doubt, was an accomplice of his. He came
+oftener than anyone else, very often coming in to fetch him. As he was
+always in evening dress I suppose they went to some club or to the
+theater together. I am bound to say that his appearance is distinctly
+that of a gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"I had taken with me two or three things that I foresaw I should want.
+Among them was an auger, and some corks of a size that would exactly fit
+the hole that it would make. Simcoe's bedroom communicated with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+sitting room, and he always used this door in going from one room to the
+other; and it was evident that it was only through that that I could get
+a view of what was going on. I did not see how I could possibly make a
+hole through the door itself. It was on one side, next to that where the
+fireplace was, and there was a window directly opposite, and of course a
+hole would have been noticed immediately. The only place that I could
+see to make it was through the door frame. Its position was a matter of
+much calculation, I can assure you. The auger was half an inch bore. I
+dared not get it larger, and it would have been hopeless to try and see
+anything with a smaller one, especially as the hole would have to be
+four or five inches long. As I sometimes went into the room when they
+were together, either with hot water or grilled bones, or something of
+that sort, I was able to notice exactly where the chairs were generally
+placed. Simcoe sat with his back to the bedroom door, and the other man
+on the other side of the hearthrug, facing him. I, therefore, decided to
+make the hole on the side nearest to the wall, so that I could see the
+other man past Simcoe. Of course I wanted the hole to be as low as
+possible, as it would not be so likely to be noticed as it would were it
+higher up. I chose a point, therefore, that would come level with my eye
+when I was kneeling down.</p>
+
+<p>"At about four o'clock in the afternoon they always went out, and from
+then till six Johnstone also took his airing, and I went upstairs to
+turn down the beds and tidy up generally. It was very seldom that any of
+them dined at home; I, therefore, had that two hours to myself. I got
+the line the hole should go by leaving the door open, fastening a stick
+to the back of a chair till it was, as nearly as I could judge, the
+height of the man's face, tying a piece of string to it and bringing it
+tight to the point where I settled the hole should start, and then
+marking the line the string made across the frame. Then there was a good
+deal more calculation as to the side-slant; but ten days ago I boldly
+set to work and bored the hole. Everything was perfectly right; I could
+see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> the head of the stick, and the circle was large enough for me to
+get all the man's face in view. Of course I had put a duster on the
+ground to prevent any chips falling onto the carpet.</p>
+
+<p>"I was a little nervous when I set to work to drill that hole; it was
+the only time that I felt nervous at all. I had beforehand drilled
+several holes in the shelves of cupboards, so as to accustom myself to
+use the auger, and it did not take me many minutes before it came
+through on the other side. The corks were of two sizes; one fitted
+tightly into the hole, the other could be drawn in or out with very
+little difficulty. I had gone out one day and bought some tubes of paint
+of the colors that I thought would match the graining of the door frame.
+I also bought a corkscrew that was about an inch and a half shorter than
+the depth of the hole. It was meant to be used by a cross-piece that
+went through a hole at the top. I had got this cross-piece out with some
+trouble, and tied a short loop of string through the hole it had gone
+through. I put the corkscrew into one of the smaller corks and pushed it
+through until it was level with the frame on the sitting-room side, and
+found that by aid of the loop of string I could draw it out easily. Then
+I put one of the larger corks in at the bedroom side of the hole and
+pushed it in until it was level with that side. Then I painted the ends
+of the corks to resemble the graining, and when it was done they could
+hardly be noticed a couple of feet away.</p>
+
+<p>"I had now nothing to do but to wait until the right moment came. It
+came last night. The man arrived about seven o'clock. Johnstone was out,
+and I showed him upstairs. Simcoe was already dressed, and was in the
+sitting room. I lost no time, but went into the bedroom, where the gas
+was burning, turned down the bed on the side nearest to the door, and
+then went round, and with another corkscrew I had ready in my pocket
+took out the inner cork, got hold of the loop, and pulled the other one
+out also. Even had I had my hearing, I could have heard nothing of what
+was said inside, for the doors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> were of mahogany, and very well fitted,
+and Johnstone had said one day that even if a man shouted in one room he
+would hardly be heard in the next, or on the landing. I pushed a wedge
+under the door so as to prevent its being opened suddenly. That was the
+thing that I was most afraid of. I thought that Simcoe could hardly move
+without coming within my line of sight, and that I should have time to
+jump up and be busy at the bed before he could open the door. But I was
+not sure of this, so I used the wedge. If he tried the door and could
+not open it, he would only suppose that the door had stuck and I could
+snatch out the wedge and kick it under the bed by the time he made a
+second effort.</p>
+
+<p>"Kneeling down, I saw to my delight that my calculations had been
+perfectly right. I could see the man's face well, for the light of the
+candles fell full upon it. They talked for a time about the club and the
+men they were going to dine with, and I began to be afraid that there
+was going to be nothing more, when the man said, 'By the way, Simcoe, I
+went down to Tilbury yesterday.' What Simcoe said, of course, I could
+not hear; but the other answered, 'Oh, yes, he is all right, getting
+quite at home, the man said; and has almost ceased to talk about his
+friends.' Then I saw him rise, and at once jumped up and went on turning
+down the bed, lest Simcoe should have forgotten something and come in
+for it. However, he did not, and two or three minutes later I peeped in
+again. The room was all dark, and I knew that they had gone. Then I put
+my corks in again, saw that the paint was all right, and went
+downstairs. I told Mrs. Johnstone that, if I could be spared, I should
+like to go out for two or three hours this morning to see a friend in
+service. It was the time that I could best be spared. I should have
+finished the sitting rooms by eight o'clock, and as none of the men have
+breakfast until about eleven, there was plenty of time for me to make
+the beds after I got back."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda was crying now. Her relief that hearing that Walter was alive and
+well was unbounded. She had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> absolutely refused to recognize the body
+found in the canal, but she could not but admit that the probabilities
+were all against her. It was certain that the clothes were his, the
+child's age was about the same, the body must have been in the water the
+right length of time, the only shadow of evidence to support her was the
+hair. She had taken the trouble to go to two or three workhouses, and
+found that the coroner's assertion that soft hair when cut quite close
+will, in a very short time, stand upright, was a correct one. She kept
+on hoping against hope, but her faith had been yielding, especially
+since Netta's absence had deprived her of the support that she obtained
+from her when inclined to look at matters from a dark point of view.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Netta," she cried, "how can I thank you enough! How happy the news
+has made me! And to think that I have been blaming you, while you have
+been doing all this. You cannot tell what a relief it is to me. I have
+thought so much of that poor little body, and the dread that it was
+Walter's after all has been growing upon me. I have scarcely slept for a
+long time."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, dear. It was because I saw that though you still kept up an
+appearance of hope, you were really in despair, and could tell from your
+heavy eyes when you came down of a morning that you had hardly slept,
+that I made up my mind something must be done. There was no hardship
+whatever in my acting as a servant for a month or two. I can assure you
+that I regarded it rather as fun, and was quite proud of the credit that
+my master gave me. Now, the question is, shall I go back again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not, Netta. You might be months there without having such a
+piece of luck again. At any moment you might be caught listening, or
+they might notice the hole that you made so cleverly. Besides, we have
+gained a clew now to Walter's hiding place. But even that is as nothing
+to me in comparison with having learned that he is alive and well, and
+that he has ceased to fret and is becoming contented in his new home. We
+can afford to wait now. Sooner or later we are sure to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> find him.
+Before, I pictured him, if still alive, as shut up in some horrible
+cellar. Now I can be patient. I think that we are sure to find him
+before long."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I think, dear," Miss Purcell said quietly, "that we had better
+ring the bell and have some fresh tea made. Everything is perfectly
+cold, for it is three-quarters of an hour since it came up."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda rang the bell and gave the necessary orders.</p>
+
+<p>"Let Janet bring the things up, Roberts, and come back yourself when you
+have given the order. I want to send a line to Dr. Leeds. You will be
+delighted to hear that Miss Purcell has learned, at least, that Walter
+is alive and well; but mind," she went on, as the old soldier was about
+to burst out into exclamations of delight, "you must keep this
+altogether to yourself. It is quite possible that we have been watched
+as closely as we have been watching this man, and that he may in some
+way learn everything that passes here; therefore it must not be
+whispered outside this room that we have obtained any news."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand, miss. I won't say a word about it downstairs."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda scribbled a line in pencil to the doctor, saying that Netta was
+back and that she had obtained some news of a favorable description, and
+that, as she knew that at this hour he could not get away, she would
+come over with Netta at once to tell him what they had learned, and
+would be in Harley Street within half an hour of his getting the
+message.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they had finished breakfast they drove to the doctor's. They
+were shown up into the drawing room, where Dr. Leeds joined them almost
+immediately.</p>
+
+<p>"We are not going to detain you more than two or three minutes," Hilda
+said, while he shook hands warmly with Netta. "You must come over this
+evening, and then you shall hear the whole story; but I thought that it
+was only fair that Netta should have the satisfaction of telling you
+herself what she had learned."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very little, but so far as it goes it is quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> satisfactory, Dr.
+Leeds. I heard, or rather I saw, the man we suspected of being Simcoe's
+accomplice say, 'By the way, I ran down to Tilbury yesterday.' Simcoe
+then said something, but what I could not tell, as his face was hidden
+from me, and the man in reply said, 'Oh, yes, he is all right, and has
+almost ceased to talk about his friends.' Now you must be content with
+that until this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"I will be content with it," the doctor said, "if you will assure me
+that you are not going away again. If you will not, I will stop here and
+hear the whole story, even at the risk of a riot down in my waiting
+room."</p>
+
+<p>"No, she is not going away, doctor; she had not quite settled about it
+when she got back this morning, but I settled it for her. I will take
+care that she does not slip out of my sight till after you have seen her
+and talked it all over."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the matter is finally settled," Netta said, "for unless I go in
+half an hour's time I cannot go at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will be patient until this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you come to dinner, doctor?" Hilda said. "I have sent notes off to
+Mr. Pettigrew and Colonel Bulstrode to ask them to come, as I have news
+of importance to give them."</p>
+
+<p>"What will they do, Netta, when they find that you do not come back?"
+Hilda asked as they drove away.</p>
+
+<p>"That has puzzled me a good deal. I quite saw that if I disappeared
+suddenly they might take it into their heads that something had happened
+to me, and might go to the police office and say I was missing. But that
+would not be the worst. Simcoe might guess, when he heard that I had
+gone without notice and left my things behind me, that I had been put
+there to watch him. He certainly would not suspect that he could have
+been overheard, for he must know that it would be quite impossible for
+any words to be heard through the doors; still, he would be uneasy, and
+might even have the child moved to some other locality. So I have
+written a note,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> which we can talk over when we get in. Of course they
+may think that I have behaved very badly in throwing them over like
+this, but it is better that they should do that than they should think
+there was anything suspicious about it. My wages are due to-morrow; like
+the girl I succeeded, I was to have eight pounds a year. I have left my
+box open, so that the mistress can see for herself that there is none of
+the lodgers' property in it. There are two or three print dresses&mdash;I put
+on my Sunday gown when I came out&mdash;and the underclothes are all duly
+marked Jane Clotworthy."</p>
+
+<p>"What a name to take, Netta!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do not know how I came to choose it. I was thinking what name I
+would take when Clotworthy flashed across my mind. I don't think that I
+ever heard the name before, and how I came to think of it I cannot
+imagine; it seemed to me a sort of inspiration, so I settled on it at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, let me see the letter," Hilda asked, as soon as they returned
+home.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly liked to write it," Netta said, "it is such a wicked story;
+but I don't see how a person can act as detective without telling
+stories, and, at any rate, it is perfectly harmless."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; it is quite certain, Netta, that you could not write and tell
+her that you have been in her house in disguise, and that, having found
+out what you wanted, you have now left her. Of course you must make up a
+story of some sort, or, as you say, Simcoe would at once suspect that
+you had been sent there to watch him. He might feel perfectly sure that
+no conversation could have been heard outside the room, but he could not
+be sure that you might not have been hidden under the table or sofa, or
+behind a curtain. When so much depends upon his thinking that he is
+absolutely safe, one must use what weapons one can. If you have any
+scruples about it, I will write the letter for you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do not think the scruples will trouble me," Netta laughed. "Of
+course, I have had to tell stories,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> and one more or less will not weigh
+on my mind. Here is the letter. If you can think of any better reason
+for running away so suddenly, by all means let me have it."</p>
+
+<p>The letter was written in a sprawling hand, and with many of the words
+misspelt. It began:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Mrs. Johnstone</span>: I am afraid you will think very badly of me
+for leaving you so sudding, after you and Mr. Johnstone have been
+so kind to me, but who should I meet at my friend's but my young
+man. We were ingaged to be married, but we had a quarrel, and that
+is why I came up to town so sudding. We has made it up. He only
+come up yesterday, and is going down this morning, and nothing
+would do but that I must go down with him and that we should get
+married directly. He says that as the banns has been published
+there aint any occasion to wait, and we might be married at the end
+of the week, as he has got everything ready and is in good
+employment. So the long and the short of it is, mam, that I am
+going down with him home this afternoon. As to the wages that was
+due to-morrow, of course I forfeit them, and sorry I am to give you
+troubil, by leaving you without a girl. My box is not locked, plese
+look in it and you will see that there aint nothing there that
+isn't my own. In one corner you will find half a crown wrapped up
+in paper, plese take that to pay for the carriage of the box, the
+key is in the lock, and I send a labil to tie on."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"What do you think of that, Hilda?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it will do capitally. I don't think any better excuse could be
+made. But where will you have the box sent?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is what we must settle together. It would not do to send it down
+to some little village, for if the address was unknown it might be sent
+back again."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and if John Simcoe had any suspicions that the story was a false
+one he might go down there to make inquiries about Jane Clotworthy, and,
+finding no such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> name known there, and the box still lying at the
+station, his suspicion that he had been watched would become almost a
+certainty."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think that Reading would be a good place to send to it. 'Jane
+Clotworthy, Luggage Office, Reading.' Then I could go down myself and
+ask for it, and could bring it up by the next train."</p>
+
+<p>"Tom Roberts could do that, Netta; there is no reason why you should
+trouble about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that I had better go myself. It is most unlikely that Simcoe
+would send down anyone to watch who took the box away, but if he should
+be very uneasy he might do so. He would be sure to describe me to anyone
+that he sent, so that it would be better that I should go myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that your story is so plausible, Netta, that there is no risk
+whatever of his having any doubts about it, but still one cannot be too
+careful."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will wind up the letter.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"'Begging your pardon for having left you in the lurch so sudding.
+I remain, your obedient servant,</p>
+
+<p class="right">"'<span class="smcap">Jane Clotworthy</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"'P.S.&mdash;I am very sorry.<br />
+"'P.S.&mdash;Plese give my respects to Mr. Johnstone, and excuse
+blots.'"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Hilda burst into a fit of laughter as she glanced at the postscript.</p>
+
+<p>"That will do admirably, Netta," she said. "Now how had we better send
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think that your maid had better take it. You might tell her to
+ring at the bell, hand it to the woman, and come away at once, without
+talking, except saying 'I was told to give you this.' Then she would be
+well away before Mrs. Johnstone had mastered the contents of the note.
+It had better be sent off at once, for by this time they will be getting
+in a way."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that I had better send Roberts. No doubt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> Johnstone himself
+will be in, and will answer the door; and he might ask Lucy where she
+came from, and I don't want to tell her anything. Roberts could say that
+a young woman of his acquaintance, down Chelsea way, asked him to get on
+a 'bus and leave it for her. He can be trusted, if the man does detain
+him and ask him questions, to give sensible answers."</p>
+
+<p>The letter was sealed and Roberts called up.</p>
+
+<p>"Take a cab and go down with this to Jermyn Street," Hilda said. "I want
+it left at that house. If the man who opens the door asks you who you
+have brought it from, say from a young woman, a friend of yours, in a
+place down Chelsea way. I don't suppose that he will ask any other
+questions, and you had best say 'Good-morning,' and saunter off
+carelessly, as if, having done your errand, you had nothing else on
+hand. Of course you won't drive up to the door. Leave the cab round the
+corner, and come straight back here in it."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, miss," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>There was a little look of amusement in the man's face as he glanced at
+Netta that did not this time pass unnoticed by his mistress. She waited
+until the door had closed behind him, and then turned sharply on her
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe, Netta, you have had Roberts in your confidence all the time,
+and while we have all been working ourselves into a fever as to where
+you could be, he has known it all along."</p>
+
+<p>"One cannot work without accomplices," Netta laughed. "It was necessary
+that someone should make arrangements with the servant there for me to
+take her place, and who could I trust better than Roberts? I think
+Colonel Bulstrode's servant helped in the matter; at any rate, they
+managed it capitally between them. Of course it was Roberts who carried
+my box out that morning. You must not be angry with him, Hilda, for
+keeping it from you. I made him promise most faithfully that nothing
+should induce him to confess."</p>
+
+<p>"I shan't be angry with him, Netta, but you may be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> sure that I shall
+give him a little lecture and say that I will have no more meddling on
+his part, except by my express orders. It is really annoying, you know,
+to think that all this time we were fretting about you there was Roberts
+going about laughing in his sleeve."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you know, Hilda, he has the discovery of Walter as much at heart
+as we have, and he has certainly not spared himself in the search for
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"No, that he has not. He is a faithful fellow, and I promise you that I
+won't be too hard on him."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>A DINNER PARTY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was the first time that anyone had dined at the house in Hyde Park
+Gardens since General Mathieson's death, and it seemed strange to Hilda
+when Mr. Pettigrew, at her request, faced her at the table. The
+gentlemen had all arrived within a minute or two of each other, and no
+word had been said by Hilda as to the subject about which she had
+specially asked them there. The table was well lighted and bright with
+flowers, and the lawyer and Colonel Bulstrode were both somewhat
+surprised at the cheerful tone in which Hilda began to talk as soon as
+they sat down. It was, however, eight months since the house was first
+shut up, and though all had sincerely regretted the General's death, it
+was an old story now, and they were relieved to find that it was
+evidently not Hilda's intention to recall the past.</p>
+
+<p>During dinner the talk went on as usual, and it was not until the
+servants had left the room that Hilda said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mr. Pettigrew, I have no doubt that both you and Colonel Bulstrode
+are wondering what the matter of importance about which I asked you to
+come here can be. It is rather a long story, so instead of going
+upstairs we will stop here. My news is great news. We have
+discovered&mdash;at least my friend Miss Purcell has discovered&mdash;that without
+doubt Walter is alive and well."</p>
+
+<p>An exclamation of surprise broke from Mr. Pettigrew and the Colonel.</p>
+
+<p>"By gad, that is great news indeed!" the latter exclaimed; "and I
+congratulate you most heartily. I had quite given up all hope myself,
+and although I would have fought that fellow to the last, I never had
+any real doubt in my mind that the child they fished out of the canal
+was General's Mathieson's grandson."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You astonish me indeed," Mr. Pettigrew said. "I own that, while I was
+able to swear that I did not recognize him, yet as a reasonable man I
+felt that the evidence was overpowering the other way. Though I would
+not dash your hopes by saying so, it appeared to me certain that, sooner
+or later, the courts would decide that the provisions of the will must
+be carried out. And so you discovered this, Miss Netta? May we ask how
+you did it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Netta wanted her share in the matter to remain a secret, Mr. Pettigrew;
+but I told her that was out of the question, and that it was quite
+necessary that you and Colonel Bulstrode should know the precise facts,
+for that, as a lawyer, you could not take any action or decide upon any
+course to be pursued unless you knew the exact circumstances of the
+case. However, she asked me, as she has given me the whole particulars,
+to tell the story for her. When I have done she will answer any
+questions you may like to ask."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda then repeated, almost word for word, the story Netta had told her.
+Mr. Pettigrew and the Colonel several times broke in with exclamations
+of surprise as she went on. Dr. Leeds sat grave and thoughtful.</p>
+
+<p>"Splendidly done!" Colonel Bulstrode exclaimed when she brought her
+story to an end. "It was a magnificent idea, and it must have needed no
+end of pluck to carry it out as you did. But how, by looking at a
+fellow's mouth through a hole, you knew what he said beats me
+altogether."</p>
+
+<p>"That part was very simple, Colonel Bulstrode," Netta said quietly. "I
+learned it by a new system that they have in Germany, and was myself a
+teacher in the institution. You may not know, perhaps, that I am
+stone-deaf."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not joking, Miss Purcell; are you?" the Colonel said, looking
+at her earnestly. "Why, I have talked to you a dozen times and it never
+struck me that you were in the slightest degree deaf."</p>
+
+<p>"I am absolutely so, as Miss Covington will tell you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> and Mr. Pettigrew
+knows it also. Fortunately I did not lose my hearing until I was six
+years old, and I had not altogether lost the habit of speaking when I
+went out to Germany, three years later. Had I been born deaf and dumb I
+could have learned to understand what was said perfectly, but should
+never have spoken in a natural voice."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is wonderful altogether, and I should not have believed it if
+a stranger had told me. However, the great thing at present is that you
+have found out that the child is alive. We ought not to be long in
+laying hands on him now, Pettigrew, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not, Colonel; but you must not be too sanguine about that; we
+have evidently very crafty scoundrels to deal with. Still, now that we
+feel sure that the child is alive and well, the matter is a
+comparatively straightforward one, and we can afford to work and wait
+patiently. Tilbury is only a bit of a village, but beyond that stretch
+great marshes&mdash;in fact, all South Essex as far as the mouths of the
+rivers Crouch, Blackwater, and Coln. He would say, 'I went down to
+Tilbury,' because Tilbury is the terminus of the railway. Possibly he
+may have crossed to Gravesend; possibly he may have gone inland to
+Upminster or some other village lying in that district; or he may have
+driven down as far as Foulness, which, so far as anybody knows anything
+about it, might be the end of the world. Therefore, there is a wide area
+to be searched."</p>
+
+<p>"But he can be followed when he goes down again, Mr. Pettigrew?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, my dear, that is what must be done, though there is no
+reason why we should not set about inquiries at once. But, you see, it
+is not so easy to follow a man about country roads as it is in the
+streets of London. No doubt he must drive or ride, unless, indeed,
+Walter is within two or three miles of the station, and you may be sure
+that if he sees a trap coming after him he will not go near the place
+where the child is. Possibly, again, he may not go near the place at
+all, but may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> meet someone who takes the money for the child's keep. It
+may be a bargeman who sails round to Harwich or somewhere along the
+south coast. It may be the steward of a steamer that goes regularly
+backwards and forwards to France.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to dishearten you, my dear," he broke off, as he saw how
+Hilda's face fell as he went on, "but, you see, we have not common
+rogues to deal with; their whole proceedings have shown an exceptional
+amount of coolness and determination. Although I own that I can see
+nothing absolutely suspicious in the way that last will was drawn up and
+signed, still I have never been able to divest my mind of an idea that
+there is something radically wrong about it. But putting aside the
+strange death of your uncle, we have the cunning way in which the boy
+was stolen, the complete success with which our search was baffled, the
+daring attempt to prove his death by what we now know must have been the
+substitution of the body of some other child of the same age dressed in
+his clothes. All this shows how carefully every detail must have been
+thought out, and we must assume that equal care will be shown to prevent
+our recovering the boy. Were they to suspect that they had been traced
+to Tilbury, and were watched there, or that any inquiries were being
+made in the neighborhood, you may be sure that Walter would be at once
+removed some distance away, or possibly sent abroad, perhaps to
+Australia or the States. There could be no difficulty about that. There
+are hundreds of emigrants going out every week with their families, who
+would jump at the offer of a hundred pounds for adopting a child, and
+once away it would be next to impossible ever to come upon his traces.
+So, you see, we shall need to exercise the most extreme caution in our
+searches."</p>
+
+<p>"I see, Mr. Pettigrew," Hilda said quietly, "that the difficulties are
+far greater than I ever dreamt of. It seemed to me that when we had
+found out that Walter was alive and well, and that Tilbury was, so to
+speak, the starting place of our search, it would be an easy matter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> to
+find him. Now I see that, except for the knowledge that he is alive, we
+are nearly as far off as ever."</p>
+
+<p>"I think Mr. Pettigrew is rather making the worst of things, Miss
+Covington," Dr. Leeds said, speaking for the first time. "No doubt the
+difficulties are considerable, but I think we have good heads on our
+side too, as Miss Purcell has proved, and I feel confident that, now
+that we have learned as much as we have done, we shall be successful in
+the end."</p>
+
+<p>"My opinion," Colonel Bulstrode said, "is that we ought to give these
+two fellows in custody as rogues, vagabonds, and kidnapers. Then the
+police will set to work to find out their antecedents, and at least
+while they are shut up they can do no harm. Gad, sir, we should make
+short work of them in India."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid that that would hardly do, Colonel Bulstrode," Mr.
+Pettigrew said mildly. "We have practically nothing to go upon; we have
+no evidence that a magistrate would entertain for a moment. The men
+would be discharged at once, and we should no doubt be served the next
+morning with a writ for at least ten thousand pounds' damages, and, what
+is more, they would get them; and you may be very sure that you would
+never find the child."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is shameful that it should be so," the Colonel said warmly;
+"why, I served three years as a police officer in India, and when I got
+news that a dacoit, for instance, was hiding in a jungle near a village,
+down I would go, with a couple of dozen of men, surround the place, and
+make every man and woman a prisoner. Then the police would examine them,
+and let me tell you that they have pretty rough ways of finding out a
+secret. Of course I knew nothing about it, and asked no questions, but
+you may be sure that it was not long before they made someone open his
+mouth. Hanging up a man by his thumbs, for instance, freshens his memory
+wonderfully. You may say that this thorough way of getting at things is
+not according to modern ideas. I don't care a fig for modern ideas, and,
+as far as that goes, neither do the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> natives of India. My object is to
+find out the author of certain crimes; the villagers' object is to
+shield him. If they are obstinate, they bring it on themselves; the
+criminal is caught, and justice is satisfied. What is the use of police
+if they are not to catch criminals? I have no patience with the maudlin
+nonsense that prevails in this country, that a criminal should have
+every chance of escape. He is warned not to say anything that would
+incriminate himself, material evidence is not admitted, his wife mayn't
+be questioned. Why, it is downright sickening, sir. The so-called spirit
+of fairness is all on the side of the criminal, and it seems to me that
+our whole procedure, instead of being directed to punish criminals, is
+calculated to enable them to escape from punishment. The whole thing is
+wrong, sir&mdash;radically wrong." And Colonel Bulstrode wiped his heated
+forehead with a huge Indian silk handkerchief. Hilda laughed, Netta
+smiled, and Mr. Pettigrew's eyes twinkled.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a good deal in what you say, Colonel Bulstrode, though I
+cannot go with you in the matter of hanging men up by their thumbs."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, sir," broke in Colonel, "what is it? Their own native princes
+would have stretched them over a charcoal fire until they got the truth
+out of them."</p>
+
+<p>"So, possibly, would our own forefathers, Colonel."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! They had a lot more common sense in those days than they have
+now, Mr. Pettigrew. There was no sentimentality about them; they were
+short and sharp in their measures. They were men, sir&mdash;men. They drank
+like men, and they fought like men; there was sterling stuff in them;
+they didn't weaken their bodies by drinking slops, or their minds by
+reading newspapers."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Colonel Bulstrode," Hilda said, smiling, "if it is not contrary
+to your convictions, we will go upstairs and have a cup of tea. No doubt
+there is something to be said for the old days, but there is a good deal
+to be said on the other side of the question, too."</p>
+
+<p>When they went upstairs Dr. Leeds sat down by Netta.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid that you blame me for what I did, Dr. Leeds," she said
+timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do not blame you at all for doing it, but I do think that you
+ought to have consulted us all before undertaking it. Your intention was
+a noble one, but the risk that you ran was so great that certainly I
+should not have felt justified in allowing you to undertake it, had I
+had any voice in the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot see that it was dangerous," the girl said. "He could not
+have knocked me down and beaten me, even if he had caught me with my eye
+at the peep-hole. He could only have called up Johnstone and denounced
+me as an eavesdropper, and at the worst I should only have been turned
+straight out of the house."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think that that would have been at all his course of action. I
+believe, on the contrary, that although he would have spoken angrily to
+you, he would have said nothing to the lodging-house keeper. He would
+have at once guessed that you had not taken all this trouble merely to
+gratify a silly curiosity, but would have been sure that you had been
+employed as a spy. What he would have done I do not know, but he would
+certainly have had you watched as you watched him, and he would, in his
+conversation with his confederates, have dropped clews that would have
+sent us all off on wild-goose chases. I don't think that he would have
+ventured on getting you removed, for he would have known that he would
+have been suspected of foul play at once by those who had employed you.
+I hope you will give me a promise that you will never undertake any plan
+without consulting Miss Covington and myself. You can hardly realize
+what anxiety I have suffered while you have been away."</p>
+
+<p>"I will promise willingly, Dr. Leeds. I did not think anything of the
+danger, and do not believe even now there was any; but I do think that
+Hilda would not have heard of my going as a servant, and that you would
+not have approved of it. Still, as I saw no harm in it myself, I thought
+that for once I would act upon my own ideas."</p>
+
+<p>"There are circumstances under which no one need<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> disapprove of a lady
+acting as a servant," he said quietly. "If a family misfortune has
+happened, and she has to earn her own living, I think that there are
+many who would be far happier in the position of a servant in a good
+family, than as an ill-paid and over-worked governess. The one is at
+least her own mistress, to a large extent, as long as she does her work
+properly; the other can never call her time her own. In your case,
+certainly, the kind object with which you undertook the task was a full
+justification of it, had you not been matching yourself against an
+unscrupulous villain, who, had he detected your disguise, would have
+practically hesitated at nothing to rid himself of you. It happened,
+too, in this case you were one of the few persons who could have
+succeeded; for, as you say, it would have been next to impossible for
+anyone unpossessed of your peculiar faculty to have overheard a
+conversation, doubtless conducted in a somewhat low voice, through such
+a hole as you made."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you don't think any worse of me for it?"</p>
+
+<p>"You need not be afraid of that," he said quietly. "My opinion is
+already so fixed on that subject that I doubt if anything you could do
+would shake it."</p>
+
+<p>Then he got up and walked across to where the others were chatting
+together.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, are we to have another council?" Hilda asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I think not," Dr. Leeds said; "it seems to me that the matter requires
+a great deal of thinking over before we decide, and fortunately, as the
+man went down to Tilbury only two days ago, he is not likely to repeat
+his visit for another month at least, possibly for another three months.
+Men like that do not give away chances, and he would probably pay for
+three months' board for the child at a time, so as to avoid having to
+make the journey oftener, however confident he might be that he was not
+watched."</p>
+
+<p>"I agree with you, Dr. Leeds," Mr. Pettigrew said. "It would never do to
+make a false step."</p>
+
+<p>"Still," Hilda urged, "surely there cannot be any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> need to wait for his
+going down again. A sharp detective might find out a good deal. He could
+inquire whether there was anyone at Tilbury who let out traps. Probably
+nothing beyond a gig or a pony-cart could be obtained there. He would,
+of course, hire it for a drive to some place within three or four miles,
+and while it was got ready would casually ask if it was often let; he
+might possibly hear of someone who came down from town&mdash;a bagman,
+perhaps, who hired it occasionally for calling upon his customers in the
+villages round."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that that is a capital suggestion," Mr. Pettigrew said. "I
+don't see why, while we are thinking over the best way to proceed, we
+should not get these inquiries made. They might be of some assistance to
+us. I will send a man down to-morrow or next day. As you say, it may
+give us something to go upon."</p>
+
+<p>Netta went down two days later to Reading. She had the box labeled to
+Oxford, and took a third-class ticket for herself. She had a suspicion
+that a man who was lolling on a seat on the platform looked closely at
+her, and she saw him afterwards saunter away towards the luggage office.
+When the train came in her box was put into the van, and she got out at
+the next station and returned by the first train to London, feeling
+satisfied that she would never hear anything more of the box.</p>
+
+<p>The next day a detective called who had been engaged earlier in the
+search for Walter and had frequently seen Hilda.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Pettigrew said, Miss Covington, that I had better come to you and
+tell you exactly what I have done. I went down to Tilbury yesterday. I
+took with me one or two cases made up like a traveler's samples, and I
+presently found that the man at the public house by the water had a
+pony-trap which he let. I went over to him and said that I wanted it for
+the day.</p>
+
+<p>"'How far are you going?' he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'I am going to Stanford,' I said; 'then by a crossroad by Laindon to
+Hornchurch and back.'</p>
+
+<p>"'It is rather a long round for one day,' he said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"''Tis a long round,' I said. 'Well, maybe I might sleep at Hornchurch,
+and go on to Upminster.'</p>
+
+<p>"'You will have to pay a deposit of a couple of pounds,' he said,
+'unless you like to take a boy.'</p>
+
+<p>"I said I preferred driving myself, and that it was less weight for the
+pony. 'I suppose you often let it out?' I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"'Pretty often,' he said; 'you see, there is no way of getting about
+beyond this. It would pay me to keep a better trap if it wasn't that
+commercials generally work this country in their own vehicles, and take
+the road from Barking through Dagenham, or else from Brentwood or
+Chelmsford or one of the other Great Eastern stations. There is one in
+your line comes occasionally; he goes by the same route you are taking,
+and always has the trap to himself. He travels for some spirit firm, I
+think; he always brings down a couple of cases of bottles.'</p>
+
+<p>"'That is my line too,' I said. 'He hasn't been here lately, I hope?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, yes, he was here three or four days ago; he is a pretty liberal
+chap with his samples, I should say, for he always comes back with his
+cases empty.' Of course I hired the pony and trap. I drove through New
+Tilbury, Low Street, and Stanford. I put up there for three or four
+hours. At each place I went to all the public houses, and as I marked
+the liquors cheap I got several orders. I asked at every place had
+anyone in my line been round lately, and they all said no, and nobody
+had noticed the pony cart; but of course that did not prove that he
+might not have driven through there."</p>
+
+<p>"You did not make any inquiries about a missing child?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Covington. Mr. Pettigrew particularly told me that I was not
+to make any inquiries whatever."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is what we agreed upon, Bassett; we don't want to run the
+slightest risk of their suspecting that we are inquiring in that
+direction. My own idea is that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> you could do no harm if you went round
+several times, just as you did yesterday; and perhaps it would be better
+for you not to start from the same place, but to hire a vehicle and
+drive round the country, stopping at all the villages, and apparently
+trying to get orders for spirits or tobacco. That idea of yours is an
+excellent one, because your inquiry whether another man had been along
+in the same trade would seem natural. You might say everywhere that you
+had heard of his going round there, but that it did not look much like
+business driving a rickety little trap with a pony not worth fifty
+shillings. At any village public houses at which he stopped they could
+hardly help noticing it, and if you heard that he had put up there for
+an hour or two, it would certainly be something to go upon, and a search
+round there might lead to a result. However, do not go until you hear
+again from me. I will talk it over with Mr. Pettigrew, and see what he
+thinks of it."</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly seems to me that we might light upon a clew that way, Miss
+Covington, and if he were to happen to hear that another man in the same
+line had been there asking questions about him, it would seem natural
+enough, because of course a commercial would like to know what line
+another in the same branch was following, and how he was doing. Then I
+will wait your further orders. There would be sure to be traps to be
+hired at Barking or Rainham, and if there are not, I could get one at
+Bromley. Indeed, as I should want it for a day or two, it would be just
+as well to get it there as farther east, and I should be likely to get a
+better-looking turnout. In little places a man with a good turnout is
+more likely to do business than one who looks second-rate altogether. It
+seems a sort of credit to the place; and they would give him orders
+where they would not to a man who made no sort of show. I should say,
+miss, that as I shall be going over the ground more than once, it would
+be best to send on the goods I get orders for; they don't amount to very
+much, and I should get about the same price that I gave for them. I know
+a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> clerk in the firm whose liquors I took down. I told him that I was
+going down in that part of Essex, and asked if they would give me a
+commission on anything that I could sell. They said 'yes' willingly
+enough, and the clerk said I was a respectable man who could be trusted;
+and so it will cost nothing, and will open the way for my making another
+call. Of course when I am known there I can ask questions more freely,
+sit in the bar-parlor, smoke a cigar with the landlord, and so on."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that is an excellent idea. Well, at any rate you shall hear in
+the course of a day or two."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Purcell had gone on quietly with her knitting and uttered no
+remarks while the man was present. Immediately he had left, she said, "I
+think, Netta, that we shall gradually get at it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think so; that man seems really a sharp fellow. I had quite lost
+all faith in detectives, but I see that when they have really got
+something to go upon, they know how to follow it up."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda wrote a long letter to Mr. Pettigrew, and received three words in
+answer: "By all means." So Bassett was written to and told to continue
+his career as a commercial traveler, but to abstain altogether, for the
+present, from any questions about the boy.</p>
+
+<p>Ten days later Mr. Pettigrew forwarded a letter that he had received
+from Bassett, which was as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>: I have to report that I have for the last fortnight been
+engaged in driving about the country in accordance with Miss
+Covington's instructions. The only place where I can ascertain that
+the pony and cart from Tilbury was noticed about that time was at
+Stanford. My inquiries there before had failed, but after dining at
+the inn, I went out into the yard behind, and asked the helper
+whether the same trap that I drove over in from Tilbury had been
+there since.</p>
+
+<p>"'Not since you were here last,' he said; 'at least if it was you
+as drove the pony over somewhere about three weeks ago. I did not
+see you then, I was doing a job over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> at the cowhouse. That pony
+aint been here since then, though he was here two days before. The
+man put him up for three or four hours, and hired a horse from the
+landlord to ride over to Billericay. He must have gone cross
+country, I should say, by the mud on its legs. However, he tipped
+me a bob, so I cleaned it up and said nothing to master; but the
+horse was all in a lather and must have been taken along at a
+hunting pace all the way.' Waiting further orders,</p>
+
+<p class="right">"I remain,<br />
+"Yours respectfully,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">H. Bassett</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Mr. Pettigrew came down himself in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Miss Covington, I think that the scent is getting warm. Now is
+the time that you must be very cautious. I think we may take it that the
+child is somewhere within ten or twelve miles of Stanford, north or east
+of it. The man was away for over three hours, and he rode fast. It's not
+likely that the horse was anything out of the way. However, allowing for
+half an hour's stay somewhere, I think we may take twelve miles as the
+limit. Still, a circle of twelve miles' radius covers a very large area.
+I have been looking up the map since that man set about inquiring down
+there. Twelve miles would include the whole of the marshes as far as
+Leigh. It goes up to Brentwood, Billericay, Downham, and touches
+Rayleigh; and in that semicircle would be some sixty or seventy
+villages, large and small."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been looking at the map too, Mr. Pettigrew, and it does not seem
+to me at all likely that he would go near the places that you first
+mentioned; they are quite close to the Great Eastern Railway, by which
+he would have traveled, instead of going round such an enormous detour
+by Tilbury and Stanford."</p>
+
+<p>"One would think so, my dear, certainly; but, you see, a man having the
+least idea that he was watched, which I admit we have no reason for
+believing that this fellow has, would naturally choose a very circuitous
+route.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> However, I think that we need hardly try so far to the north, to
+begin with; I should say that the area of our search need go no farther
+north than Downham, and that between a line running west from that place
+and the river the child is most likely to be hidden."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say, Mr. Pettigrew, that the detective might engage four or
+five fellows who could act separately in villages on each of the roads
+running from Stanford east or northeast. The villages should be at least
+two miles away from Stanford, because he might start by one road and
+then turn off by another. But in two miles he would probably settle down
+on the road he was going to follow and we should, therefore, get the
+general direction of Walter's hiding place. Then, as soon as he passed,
+the watcher should follow him on foot till he met him coming back. If he
+did meet him, he would know that at any rate he had been farther; if he
+did not meet him, he would know that he had turned off somewhere between
+him and the village that he had passed. Netta and I have been talking
+the matter over, and it seems to us that this would be the best plan,
+and that it would be as well, also, to have a man to watch at Tilbury
+Station; because he may possibly choose some entirely different route
+the next time he comes, and the men in the villages, not knowing that he
+had come down at all, might be kept there for a month waiting for his
+next visit."</p>
+
+<p>"You and your friend have certainly put your heads together to good
+purpose," the old lawyer said, "and I do not see any better plan than
+you suggest. You had better have Bassett down here, and give him your
+instructions yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mr. Pettigrew; and I shall be glad if you will write a line to him
+to-night, for in three days it will be a month since this man last went
+down, or at any rate since we know that he went down. Of course, it may
+be three months before he goes again, and if he does not come in four or
+five days the men must be recalled; for although each of them could stop
+in a village for a day or two under the pretense of finding work in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>
+neighborhood, they certainly could not stop for a month."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I leave you a free hand in the matter, altogether, Miss
+Covington; for frankly I acknowledge that you are vastly more likely to
+ferret the thing out than I am."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A BOX AT THE OPERA.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I tell you what it is, Simcoe," Harrison said two months later, "this
+affair of yours is getting to be a good deal more troublesome than I
+bargained for. It all looked simple enough; one only had to pick up a
+child, drive him in a cab across London, then down in a trap to Pitsea,
+hand him over to a man I knew would take good care of him, and take the
+payments for him when they became due, which would be no trouble, as I
+had to see the man occasionally on my own business. Of course I expected
+that there would be a big hue and cry for him, but I had no fear
+whatever of his being found. Then I managed through another man to get
+that body from the workhouse undertaker, and you managed the rest easily
+enough; but I tell you that the matter is getting a good deal hotter
+than I ever thought it would.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you that I had been followed several times after leaving your
+place, and one morning when I went out early I saw footmarks, showing
+that someone had been walking round my house and trying to look in at
+the windows. I have a strong suspicion that I have been followed to my
+office, and I know that someone got in there one day at my dinner hour.
+I know, because I always fasten a piece of thread, so that if the door
+is opened it breaks it. There is nothing there that anyone could make
+anything of, but it is just as well to know if anyone has been prying
+about. The woman of the house was sure that she had not been in there,
+nor had she let anyone in; so the lock must have been picked. Of course
+anyone is liable to have his office robbed when he is out and it is
+empty; but nothing was taken, and if a common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> thief had found nothing
+else he would probably have made off with my dress suit, which would
+have brought him a sov. in a second-hand clothes shop.</p>
+
+<p>"You know I have an excessive objection to being watched. I have had
+nothing on hand lately, at any rate nothing that has come off, but I
+might have had, you know. Well, yesterday I was going down to see my man
+in the marshes, and to tell him that likely enough I should bring
+something down to him next week. I got out of the train at Tilbury, and,
+as you know, there are not a dozen houses anywhere near the station.
+Now, I have a habit of keeping my eyes open, and I saw a man sitting on
+an old boat. What called my attention particularly to him was that he
+was turned half round watching the entrance to the station as I came
+out. You can always tell whether a man is watching for someone, or
+whether he is merely looking generally in that direction, and this man
+was certainly watching for someone. The instant his eye fell upon me he
+turned round and stared at the river. The path to the public house lay
+just behind him. Now, it would be natural that hearing a footstep a man
+doing nothing would look round and perhaps say a word&mdash;ask the time, or
+something of that sort. Well, he didn't turn round. Now, it is my habit,
+and a very useful one, always to carry a glass of about the size of a
+folded letter in my pocket. Instead of going on to the public house I
+turned off from the path and walked away from the river. When I had got
+some little distance I took out my glass, and still walking along, I
+held it up so that I could see in it what was going on behind. The man
+was standing up, watching me. I put the glass in my pocket and dropped
+my handkerchief. I stooped down to pick it up, of course partly turning
+as I did so, and saw that he had instantly dropped into a sitting
+position again, with his back to me.</p>
+
+<p>"That was good enough. I turned, cut across the fields, went straight
+back to the station and took the next ferry-boat to Gravesend, and came
+back that way. It is quite clear to me that not only is this girl on
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> track still, but the chase is getting to be a very hot one, and
+that not only are they watching you, but they are watching me, and have
+in some way or other, though how, I cannot guess, found out that I go
+down to Tilbury, and have accordingly sent a man down to follow me. Now,
+I tell you frankly, I will have no more to do with the matter&mdash;that is
+to say, as far as going down on your business. As I have told you, I
+have always managed my own affairs so well that the police and I have no
+acquaintance whatever; and I am not going to be spied upon and followed
+and have the 'tecs upon my track about an affair in which I have no
+interest at all, except that, you having stood by my brother, I was glad
+to do you any service I could. But this is getting serious. I don't like
+it. I have told you I have business with the man, and get things off
+abroad through him that I should have great trouble in getting rid of in
+any other way; but unless in quite exceptional cases, these things are
+so small that they could be hidden away for months without much risk of
+their being found, however sharp the hunt after them might be. As I am
+in no way pressed for money I can afford to wait, though I own that I
+like to get the things off my hands as soon as I can, and as I
+considered that I ran practically no risk in going down with them into
+Essex, I never kept them at my house. However, for a time I must do so.
+I must tell you that when I am going down I always write beforehand and
+make an appointment for him to have his barge at the wharf at Pitsea,
+and I send my letter addressed to him: 'Mr. William Nibson, barge <i>Mary
+Ann</i>, care of Mr. Scholey, Spotted Horse, Pitsea.' You had better write
+to him in future. You need not put anything inside the envelope except
+notes for twenty-five pounds, and the words, 'For the child's keep for
+six months.' I need not say that you had better disguise your writing,
+both on the envelope and on the inside, and it is best that you should
+get your notes from some bookmaker on a race-course. You tell me you
+often go to races now and do a little betting. They are not the sort of
+men who take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> the numbers of the notes they pay out, and it would be
+next to impossible for them to be traced to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Harrison; you have behaved like a true pal to me, and I am
+ever so much obliged to you. I quite see what you mean, and indeed it is
+as much for my interest as yours that you should not go down there any
+more. Confound that girl Covington! I am sure she is the moving spirit
+of it all. I always felt uneasy about her from the first, and was sure
+that if there was any trouble it would come from her. I wonder how the
+deuce she ever found out that you went down to Tilbury."</p>
+
+<p>"That beats me too, Simcoe. As you may guess, I am always most cautious
+about it, and always take a very roundabout way of going to the
+station."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been uneasy ever since that girl at our place left so suddenly.
+A fortnight afterwards we found that there was a hole bored through the
+doorpost. Of course it might have been bored before I went there; but in
+that case it is curious that it was never noticed before. I cannot help
+thinking that she did it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you told me; but you said that you tried the experiment, and found
+that when your man and his wife were talking there in a loud voice, and
+you had your ear at the hole, you could not catch a single word."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that was certainly so. I could hear them talking, but I could not
+make out a word of their conversation. Still it is evident that somebody
+has been trying to hear. I cannot help thinking that it was that girl,
+though both Johnstone and his wife spoke very highly of her. Certainly
+the story she told them was true to a certain extent, for when they sent
+the box down to Reading I sent a man down there to watch, and she called
+to fetch it, and my man found out that she labeled it 'Oxford,' and took
+it away with her on the down train. As he had no directions to follow
+her farther he came back. After we found the hole I sent him down again;
+but he never came upon her traces, though he inquired at every village
+near Oxford."</p>
+
+<p>"She may have been put there as a spy," the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> said; "but as it is
+evident that she couldn't hear through that hole, it is clear that she
+could not have done them any good. That is, I suppose, why they called
+her off; so the puzzle still remains how they got on my track at
+Tilbury. I should like to have a good look at this Covington girl. I can
+admire a clever wench, even when she is working against me."</p>
+
+<p>"There is 'The Huguenots' at Her Majesty's to-night, the first time this
+season. She very often goes in Lady Moulton's box, and it is likely
+enough that she will go to-night. It's the third box from the stage, on
+the first tier; I will go down to Bond Street and see if I can get hold
+of a box opposite, on the second or third tier. The money will be well
+laid out, for I should very much like you to study her face, and I won
+enough at pool at the club this afternoon to pay for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then I will come round to your place. I really am curious to
+see the girl. I only caught a passing glimpse of her in the park that
+day."</p>
+
+<p>Simcoe was not wrong in his conjecture, for Hilda dined at Lady
+Moulton's, and they took their places in the latter's box just as the
+first bar of the overture sounded. She was in half mourning now, and in
+black lace, with white camellias in her hair and breast, was, as Netta
+had told her before starting, looking her best.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the girl," Simcoe exclaimed, as she went forward to the front
+of the box.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there is no denying that she is good-looking," the other said, as
+he turned his glasses upon her; "there is not a better-looking woman in
+the house. Plenty of self-possession too," he added, as Hilda took her
+seat and at once, in apparent ignorance that any glasses were upon her,
+took her own lorgnettes from their case and proceeded calmly to scan the
+stalls and boxes, to see who among her numerous acquaintances were
+there. As her eyes fell upon the two men sitting nearly opposite to her,
+her glasses steadied, then after a minute she lowered them.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Moulton, I regard it as a providence that you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> brought me here
+this evening. Do you see those two men there in the box nearly opposite,
+in the second tier? Well, one of the men is Simcoe, to whom my uncle
+left all his property if Walter should not live to come of age, and who
+I am absolutely convinced carried the child away."</p>
+
+<p>"I see them, my dear; they are staring at you. I suppose they are as
+much interested in you as you in them."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda again put her glasses to her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"She has just told Lady Moulton who I am," Simcoe said.</p>
+
+<p>"She has a clever face, Simcoe&mdash;broad across the chin&mdash;any amount of
+determination, I should say. Ah! there, she is getting up to make room
+for somebody else."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay where you are, my dear," Lady Moulton said, putting her hand on
+Hilda's arm; "there is plenty of room for three."</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty," she replied; "but I want to watch those two men, and I cannot
+keep my glasses fixed on them while I am sitting in the front row."</p>
+
+<p>"Hardly, my dear," Lady Moulton said with a smile. "Well, have your own
+way."</p>
+
+<p>A fourth lady came in almost immediately. She took the third chair in
+the front, and Hilda, sitting half in the shade, was able to devote
+herself to her purpose free from general observation. She had already
+heard that Simcoe's companion had apparently suspected that he was
+watched, and had returned to town at once without speaking to anyone at
+Tilbury. She felt that he would probably henceforth choose some other
+route, and the chances of following him would be greatly diminished. The
+opportunity was a fortunate one indeed. For months she had been hoping
+that some day or other she could watch these men talking, and now, as it
+seemed by accident, just at the moment when her hopes had fallen, the
+chance had come to her.</p>
+
+<p>"She has changed her place in order to have a better<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> look at us," John
+Simcoe said, as she moved. "She has got her glasses on us."</p>
+
+<p>"We came to stare at her. It seems to me that she is staring at us,"
+Harrison said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I should think that she knows my face pretty well by this time,"
+Simcoe laughed. "I told you she has a way of looking through one that
+has often made me uncomfortable."</p>
+
+<p>"I can quite understand that. I noticed myself that when she looked at
+us, without her glasses, there was a curious intentness in her
+expression, as if she was taking stock of every point about us. She
+cannot be the girl who has been to your lodging."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," the other said; "I know her a great deal too well for
+her to try that on. Besides, beyond the fact that the other was a
+good-looking girl too&mdash;and, by the way, that she had the same trick of
+looking full in your face when you spoke&mdash;there was no resemblance
+whatever between them."</p>
+
+<p>The curtain now drew up, and silence fell upon the house, and the men
+did not speak again until the end of the first act. They then continued
+their conversation where they had left it off.</p>
+
+<p>"She has moved, and has been attending to the opera," Simcoe said; "but
+she has gone into the shade again, and is taking another look at us."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not given to nervousness, but upon my word those glasses fixed
+upon me make me quite fidgety."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh, man! she is not looking at you; she is looking at me. I don't
+know whether she thinks that she can read my thoughts, and find out
+where the child is hidden. By the way, I know nothing about this place
+Pitsea. Where is it, and which is the best way to get there?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can drive straight down by road through Upminster and Laindon. The
+place lies about three miles this side of Benfleet. There are only about
+half a dozen houses, at the end of a creek that comes up from Hole
+Haven. But I should not think of going near the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> house. The latter,
+directed as I told you, is sure to find the man."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am not thinking of going! but I shall get a man to watch the
+fellows they sent down to watch you, and if I find that they seem to be
+getting on the right track, I shall run down at all hazards and take him
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"Your best plan by far will be to go with him, on board Nibson's barge,
+up to Rochester. No doubt he can find some bargeman there who will take
+the boy in. Or, what would perhaps be better, hire a trap there, and
+drive him down to Margate or Ramsgate. There are plenty of schools
+there, and you might get up a yarn about his being a nephew of yours,
+and leave him there for a term or two. That would give you time to
+decide. By this time he will have but a very faint remembrance of his
+life in town, and anything that he may say about it will certainly meet
+with no attention."</p>
+
+<p>"Would it be as well to do it at once, do you think?" Simcoe asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No; we have no idea how many people they may have on the watch, and it
+would be only running unnecessary risks. Stick to the plan that we have
+already agreed on, of communicating only by writing. But I think your
+idea of sending two or three sharp fellows down there to find out what
+the party are doing is really a good one."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda lowered her glasses as the curtain rose again. "Oh, Lady Moulton!"
+she whispered, "I have found out all that I have been so long wanting to
+know. I believe now that in three days I shall have the child home
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Lady Moulton turned half round.</p>
+
+<p>"How on earth have you found that out, Hilda? Are you a wizard indeed,
+who can read men's thoughts in their faces? I always thought that there
+was something uncanny about you, ever since that day of my fête."</p>
+
+<p>To Harrison's relief, Miss Covington did not turn her glass towards him
+again during the evening. When the curtain fell on the next act a
+gentleman, to whom Lady Moulton had nodded in the stalls, came in. After
+shaking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> hands with her and her friends, he seated himself by the side
+of Hilda.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Covington," he said, "I have never had an opportunity of speaking
+to you since that fête at Lady Moulton's. I have understood that the
+gypsy on that occasion was engaged by you, and that there was, if you
+will excuse me saying so, some little mystery about it. I don't wish to
+pry into that, but if you should ever see the woman again you will
+oblige me very greatly by telling her that I consider I owe her a deep
+debt of gratitude. She said something to me then that made a tremendous
+impression upon me, and I do not mind telling you it brought me up with
+a round turn. I had been going ahead a great deal too fast, and I see
+now that, had I continued on the same course, I should have brought
+absolute ruin upon myself, and blighted my life in every way. The shock
+she gave me by warning me what would come if I did not give up cards and
+racing showed me my utter folly, and on that day I swore never to touch
+a card or lay a penny upon a horse for the rest of my life. When I tell
+you that I have completely pulled myself round, and that, by the aid of
+an old uncle, to whom I went and made a clean breast of all, I am now
+straight in every way, and, as you may have heard, am going to be
+married to Miss Fortescue in a fortnight, you may guess what deep reason
+I have to be grateful to this gypsy woman of yours, and how I hope that,
+should you come across her again, you will tell her so, and should there
+be any possible way in which I can prove my gratitude, by money or
+otherwise, I shall be delighted to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell her, Captain Desmond," the girl said in a low voice. "I am
+sure that it will make her happy to know that she did some good that
+evening. I do not think that she is in need of money or assistance of
+any kind, but should she be so I will let you know."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you really mean that you have discovered where General
+Mathieson's grandson is living?" Lady Moulton asked, as they rose to
+leave their seats when the curtain fell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I think so; I am almost sure of it."</p>
+
+<p>Lady Moulton had heard a good deal from Hilda as to the situation. Mr.
+Pettigrew had strongly impressed upon both Hilda and Colonel Bulstrode
+that it was very important that the contents of the will should not be
+talked about. "We don't want our private affairs discussed in the press
+and made the subject of general talk," he had said, and it was only to
+Lady Moulton that Hilda had spoken freely of the matter, so far as the
+discovery of the new will, the change that had been made, and the
+singularity of Walter being missing. She had also mentioned her belief
+that Simcoe was at the bottom of this, but had breathed no words of her
+suspicion that the General had come to his death by foul play, or of her
+own conviction that Simcoe was an impostor, although there had been some
+talk in the clubs over the matter, for Colonel Bulstrode was by no means
+so discreet as Hilda, and among his intimate friends spoke his mind with
+great vehemence and strength of language as to General Mathieson having
+made so singular a disposition of his property, and he made no secret of
+his suspicion that Simcoe was at the bottom of Walter's disappearance.
+Thus the matter had gradually gone the round of the clubs; but it was
+not until Simcoe's own counsel had drawn from him the fact that Walter's
+death would put him into possession of the estate that the public in
+general learned the facts.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a clever move," Mr. Pettigrew had said, talking it over with his
+partner. "No doubt he was afraid that the question would be asked by our
+counsel, and he thought that it was better that the fact should come
+voluntarily from himself. His best plan by far was to brazen it out. No
+doubt nine men out of ten will consider that the affair is a very
+suspicious one, and some of them will give him the cold shoulder; but
+whatever their opinions, they dare not express them without laying
+themselves open to an action for libel, while, on the other hand, the
+fact that a man is heir to a good estate will always cause a good many
+to rally round him. Not the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> best of men, you know, but enough to
+prevent his being a lonely figure in a club.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think he was certainly well advised to declare his heirship
+voluntarily, instead of having it drawn from him. He must have known, of
+course, that sooner or later the matter would be made public, and it is
+better for him to get the talk and gossip over now instead of the matter
+being known for the first time when he begins to take legal steps to
+compel us to put him into possession of the estate."</p>
+
+<p>"What on earth did you mean, Hilda," Lady Moulton said, as the door of
+the carriage was closed and they drove off from Her Majesty's, "by
+saying that you had discovered a clew by which you might in a few days
+find your little cousin?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you exactly how I discovered it. At present it is a
+secret that both my mother and uncle charged me to keep, but when these
+troubles are over I will explain it all to you, though I should
+certainly do so to no one else."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose I must be content with that, Hilda. But it certainly
+does seem extraordinary to me that by merely seeing two men in a box on
+the other side of the house you should have obtained a clew to what you
+have for a year now been trying to get at."</p>
+
+<p>"It does seem extraordinary, Lady Moulton, but it really is not so, and
+I hope to convince you that I am right by producing Walter in a week
+from the present time."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will, Hilda. I sincerely hope so, both for the child's sake,
+yours, and my own. Of course, when he is found there will be no possible
+reason for your keeping yourself shut up as you have done. I have missed
+you very much, and shall be very glad to have you under my wing again."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you for saying so, Lady Moulton; but so far as I have formed my
+plans, they are that Walter's trustees shall either let or sell the
+house in Hyde Park Gardens, and that I shall go down for a time with him
+into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> the country. I have had a great deal of anxiety this last year,
+and I shall be very glad of complete rest for a time."</p>
+
+<p>"That is reasonable enough, my dear, but I do hope that you are not
+thinking of burying yourself in the country for good. There, I am at
+home. Good-night, Hilda; thanks for the lift. It is not often my horses
+or my coachmen have a night off during the season."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>NEARING THE GOAL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I suppose Miss Netta is in bed?" Hilda asked, as she entered the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss; she and Miss Purcell went to their rooms soon after ten
+o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda ran upstairs to Netta's room.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you awake, Netta?" she asked, as she opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I think I was asleep, Hilda; I didn't intend to go off, for I
+made sure that you would come in for a chat, as usual, when you got
+back; but I think I must have dozed off."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you had been so sound asleep that I had had to violently wake
+you up, I should have done so. I have had my chance, Netta. Simcoe and
+his friend were in a box opposite to ours, and I have learned where
+Walter is."</p>
+
+<p>"That is news indeed," Netta exclaimed, leaping up; "that is worth being
+awakened a hundred times for. Please hand me my dressing-gown. Now let
+us sit down and talk it over comfortably."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda then repeated the whole conversation that she had overheard.</p>
+
+<p>"Splendid!" Netta exclaimed, clapping her hands; "and that man was
+right, dear, in feeling uncomfortable when your glasses were fixed on
+his face, though he little guessed what reason he had for the feeling.
+Well, it is worth all the four years you spent with us to have learned
+to read people's words from their lips. I always said that you were my
+best pupil, and you have proved it so now. What is to be done next?"</p>
+
+<p>"We shall need a general council for that!" Hilda<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> laughed. "We must do
+nothing rash now that success seems so close; a false move might spoil
+everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we shall have to be very careful. This bargeman may not live near
+there at all; though no doubt he goes there pretty often, as letters are
+sent there for him. Besides, Simcoe may have someone stationed there to
+find out whether any inquiries have been made for a missing child."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see that we shall have to be very careful, Netta, and we must
+not spoil our chances by being over hasty."</p>
+
+<p>They talked for upwards of an hour, and then went to their beds. The
+next morning Roberts took a note to Dr. Leeds. It contained only a few
+lines from Hilda:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Dr. Leeds</span>: We have found a most important clew, and are
+going to have a consultation, at which, of course, we want you to
+be present. Could you manage to be at Mr. Pettigrew's office at
+three o'clock? If so, on hearing from you, I will send to him to
+make an appointment."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The answer came back:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"I congratulate you heartily, and will meet you at three o'clock at
+Pettigrew's office."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A note was at once sent off to the lawyer's to make the appointment, and
+the girls arrived with Miss Purcell two or three minutes before the
+hour, and were at once shown into Mr. Pettigrew's room, where Mr. Farmer
+immediately joined them.</p>
+
+<p>"I will wait a minute or two before I begin," Hilda said. "I have asked
+Dr. Leeds to join us here. He has been so very kind throughout the whole
+matter that we thought it was only fair that he should be here."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, I thoroughly agree with you. I never thought that terrible
+suspicion of his well founded, but he certainly took immense pains in
+collecting information<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> of all sorts about these native poisons, and
+since then has shown the greatest desire to assist in any way."</p>
+
+<p>A minute later Dr. Leeds was shown in.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Miss Covington," Mr. Farmer said, "we are ready to hear your
+communication."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda then related what she had learned at the opera.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Miss Covington," Mr. Farmer continued, "it is a thousand pities
+that you and your friend cannot utilize your singular accomplishment in
+the detective line. You ought to make a fortune by it. I have, of
+course, heard from my partner of the education that you had in Germany,
+and of your having acquired some new system by which you can understand
+what people are saying by watching their lips, but I certainly had no
+conception that it could be carried to such an extent as you have just
+proved it can. It is like gaining a new sense. Now I suppose you have
+come to us for advice as to what had best be done next."</p>
+
+<p>"That is it, Mr. Farmer. It is quite evident to us that we must be
+extremely careful, for if these people suspect that we are so far on
+their track, they might remove Walter at once, and we might never be
+able to light upon a clew again."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see that. Of course, if we were absolutely in a position to
+prove that this child has been kept down near Pitsea with their
+cognizance we could arrest them at once; but, unfortunately, in the
+words you heard there was no mention of the child, and at present we
+have nothing but a series of small circumstantial facts to adduce. You
+believe, Mr. Pettigrew tells me, that the man who calls himself John
+Simcoe is an impostor who has no right to the name, and that General
+Mathieson was under a complete delusion when he made that extraordinary
+will. You believe that, or at any rate you have a suspicion that, having
+got the General to make the will, he administered some unknown drug that
+finally caused his death. You believe that, as this child alone stood
+between him and the inheritance, he had him carried off with the
+assistance of the other man. You<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> believe that the body the coroner's
+jury decided to be that of Walter Rivington was not his, and that the
+child himself is being kept out of the way somewhere in Essex, and you
+believe that the conversation that you most singularly overheard related
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>"But, unfortunately, all these beliefs are unsupported by a single legal
+fact, and I doubt very much whether any magistrate would issue a warrant
+for these men's arrest upon your story being laid before him. Even if
+they were arrested, some confederate might hasten down to Pitsea and
+carry the child off; and, indeed, Pitsea may only be the meeting-place
+of these conspirators, and the child may be at Limehouse or at Chatham,
+or at any other place frequented by barges. Therefore we must for the
+present give up all idea of seizing these men. Any researches at Pitsea
+itself are clearly attended by danger, and yet I see no other way of
+proceeding."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems," Dr. Leeds said, "that this other man, who appears to have
+acted as Simcoe's agent throughout the affair, took the alarm the other
+day, and instead of taking a trap as usual from Tilbury, returned to the
+station, took the ferry across to Gravesend, and then, as we suppose,
+came up to town again, told Simcoe that he found he was watched, and
+that Simcoe must himself take the matter up. Evidently, by what Miss
+Covington overheard, he had instructed him where and how to communicate
+with this bargeman, or in case of necessity to find him. I should think
+that the first step would be to withdraw the men now on watch, for it is
+possible that they may also send down men to places in the locality of
+Pitsea. In point of fact, your men have been instructed to make no such
+inquiries, but only to endeavor to trace where Simcoe's agent drives to.
+Still, I think it would be as well to withdraw them at once, as they can
+do no further good."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pettigrew nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"I know nothing of Pitsea," the doctor went on, "but I do know Hole
+Haven. When I was walking the hospital, three or four of us had a little
+sailing-boat, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> used to go out from Saturday until Monday morning.
+Hole Haven was generally the limit of our excursions. It is a snug
+little harbor for small boats, and there is a comfortable old-fashioned
+little inn there, where we used to sleep. The coastguards were all
+sociable fellows, ready to chat with strangers and not averse to a small
+tip. Of course the same men will not be there now, nor would it be very
+safe to ask questions of them; for no doubt they are on friendly terms
+with the men on the barges which go up and down the creek. I might,
+however, learn something from them of the ways of these men, and I
+should think that, on giving my card to the petty officer in charge, I
+could safely question him. I don't suppose that he would know where this
+man Nibson has his headquarters. If he lives at Rochester, or Chatham,
+or at Limehouse, or Shadwell, he certainly would not know him; but if he
+lives at Pitsea he might know him. I fancy they keep a pretty sharp
+lookout on the barges. I know that the coastguard told me that there was
+still a good deal of smuggling carried on in the marshes between Leigh
+and Thames Haven. I fancy, from what he said, that the Leigh fishermen
+think it no harm to run a few pounds of tobacco or a keg of spirit from
+a passing ship, and, indeed, as there are so many vessels that go ashore
+on the sands below, and as they are generally engaged in unloading them
+or helping them to get off, they have considerable facilities that way.
+At any rate, as an old frequenter of the place and as knowing the
+landlord&mdash;that is to say if there has been no change there&mdash;no suspicion
+could fall upon me of going down there in reference to your affair.
+To-day is Friday. On Sunday morning, early, I will run down to
+Gravesend, hire a boat there, and will sail down to Hole Haven. It will
+be an outing for me, and a pleasant one; and at least I can be doing no
+harm."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you very much indeed, Dr. Leeds," Hilda said warmly; "that is a
+splendid idea."</p>
+
+<p>On Sunday evening Dr. Leeds called at Hyde Park Gardens to report his
+day's work.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I think that my news is eminently satisfactory. I saw the petty officer
+in command of the coastguard station, and he willingly gave me all the
+information in his power. He knew the bargee, Bill Nibson. He is up and
+down the creek, he says, once and sometimes twice a week. He has got a
+little bit of a farm and a house on the bank of the creek a mile and a
+half on this side of Pitsea. They watch him pretty closely, as they do
+all the men who use the creek; there is not one of them who does not
+carry on a bit of smuggling if he gets the chance.</p>
+
+<p>"'I thought that was almost given up,' I said. 'Oh, no; it is carried
+on,' he replied, 'on a much smaller scale than it used to be, but there
+is plenty of it, and I should say that there is more done that way on
+the Thames than anywhere else. In the first place, Dutch, German, and
+French craft coming up the channels after dark can have no difficulty
+whatever in transferring tobacco and spirits into barges or
+fishing-boats. I need hardly say it is not ships of any size that carry
+on this sort of business, but small vessels, such as billy-boys and
+craft of that sort. They carry their regular cargoes, and probably never
+bring more than a few hundredweight of tobacco and a dozen or so kegs of
+spirits. It is doubtful whether their owners know anything of what is
+being done, and I should say that it is generally a sort of speculation
+on the part of the skipper and men. On this side the trade is no doubt
+in the hands of men who either work a single barge or fishing-boat of
+their own, or who certainly work it without the least suspicion on the
+part of the owners.</p>
+
+<p>"'The thing is so easily arranged. A man before he starts from Ostend or
+Hamburg, or the mouth of the Seine, sends a line to his friends here, at
+Rochester or Limehouse or Leigh, "Shall sail to-night. Expect to come up
+the south channel on Monday evening." The bargeman or fisherman runs
+down at the time arranged, and five or six miles below the Nore brings
+up and shows a light. He knows that the craft he expects will not be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> up
+before that time, for if the wind was extremely favorable, and they made
+the run quicker than they expected, they would bring up in Margate Roads
+till the time appointed. If they didn't arrive that night, they would do
+so the next, and the barge would lay there and wait for them, or the
+fishermen would go into Sheerness or Leigh and come out again the next
+night.</p>
+
+<p>"'You might wonder how a barge could waste twenty-four or forty-eight
+hours without being called to account by its owners, but there are
+barges which will anchor up for two or three days under the pretense
+that the weather is bad, but really from sheer laziness.</p>
+
+<p>"'That is one way the stuff comes into the country, and, so far as I can
+see, there is no way whatever of stopping it. The difficulty, of course,
+is with the landing, and even that is not great. When the tide turns to
+run out there are scores, I may say hundreds, of barges anchored between
+Chatham and Gravesend. They generally anchor close in shore, and it
+would require twenty times the number of coastguards there are between
+Chatham and Gravesend on one side, and Foulness and Tilbury on the
+other, to watch the whole of them and to see that boats do not come
+ashore.</p>
+
+<p>"'A few strokes and they are there. One man will wait in the boat while
+the other goes up onto the bank to see that all is clear. If it is, the
+things are carried up at once. Probably the barge has put up some flag
+that is understood by friends ashore; they are there to meet it, and in
+half an hour the kegs are either stowed away in lonely farmhouses or
+sunk in some of the deep ditches, and there they will remain until they
+can be fished up and sent off in a cart loaded with hay or something of
+that sort. You may take it that among the marshes on the banks of the
+Medway and Thames there is a pretty good deal done in the way of
+smuggling still. We keep a very close eye upon all the barges that come
+up here, but it is very seldom that we make any catch. One cannot seize
+a barge like the <i>Mary Ann</i>, that is the boat belonging to Nibson, with
+perhaps sixty tons of manure or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> cement or bricks, and unload it without
+some specific information that would justify our doing so. Indeed, we
+hardly could unload it unless we took it out into the Thames and threw
+the contents overboard. We could not carry it up this steep, stone-faced
+bank, and higher up there are very few places where a barge could lie
+alongside the bank to be unloaded. We suspect Nibson of doing something
+that way, but we have never been able to catch him at it. We have
+searched his place suddenly three or four times, but never found
+anything suspicious.'</p>
+
+<p>"'May I ask what family the man has?' I said.</p>
+
+<p>"He shook his head. 'There is his wife&mdash;I have seen her once or twice on
+board the barge as it has come in and out&mdash;and there is a boy, who helps
+him on the barge&mdash;I don't know whether he is his son or not. I have no
+idea whether he has any family, but I have never seen a child on the
+barge.'</p>
+
+<p>"All this seemed to be fairly satisfactory. I told him that we suspected
+that a stolen child was kept in Nibson's house, and asked him whether
+one of his men off duty would, at any time, go with me in a boat and
+point out the house. He said that there would be no difficulty about
+that. My idea, Miss Covington, was that it would be by far the best plan
+for us to go down with a pretty strong party&mdash;that is to say, two or
+three men&mdash;and to go from Gravesend in a boat, arriving at Hole Haven at
+eleven or twelve o'clock at night. I should write beforehand to the
+coastguard officer, asking him to have a man in readiness to guide us,
+and then row up to the house. In that way we should avoid all chance of
+a warning being sent on ahead from Pitsea, or from any other place where
+they might have men on watch.</p>
+
+<p>"I mentioned this to the officer, and he said, 'Well, I don't see how
+you could break into the man's house. If the child is not there you
+might find yourself in a very awkward position, and if Nibson himself
+happened to be at home he would be perfectly justified in using
+firearms.' I said of course that was a point I must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> consider. It is
+indeed a point on which we must take Mr. Pettigrew's opinion. But
+probably we shall have to lay an information before the nearest
+magistrate, though I think myself that if we were to take the officer
+into our confidence&mdash;and he seemed to me a bluff, hearty fellow&mdash;he
+would take a lot of interest in the matter, and might stretch a point,
+and send three or four men down after dark to search the place again for
+smuggled goods. You see, he has strong suspicions of the man, and has
+searched his place more than once. Then, when they were about it, we
+could enter and seize Walter. Should there be a mistake altogether, and
+the child not be found there, we could give the officer a written
+undertaking to hold him free in the very unlikely event of the fellow
+making a fuss about his house being entered."</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Hilda again drove up with Netta to see Mr. Pettigrew.</p>
+
+<p>"We must be careful, my dear; we must be very careful," he said. "If we
+obtain a search warrant, it can only be executed during the day, and
+even if the coastguards were to make a raid upon the place, we, as
+civilians, would not have any right to enter the house. I don't like the
+idea of this night business&mdash;indeed, I do not see why it should not be
+managed by day. Apparently, from what Dr. Leeds said, this Hole Haven is
+a place where little sailing-boats often go in. I don't know much of
+these matters, but probably in some cases gentlemen are accompanied by
+ladies, and no doubt sometimes these boats go up the creeks. Now, there
+must be good-sized boats that could be hired at Gravesend, with men
+accustomed to sailing them, and I can see no reason why we should not go
+down in a party. I should certainly wish to be there myself, and think
+Colonel Bulstrode should be there. You might bring your two men, and get
+an information laid before an Essex magistrate and obtain a warrant to
+search this man's place for a child supposed to be hidden there. By the
+way, I have a client who is an Essex magistrate; he lives near
+Billericay. I will have an information drawn out, and will go myself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>
+with it and see him; it is only about five miles to drive from Brentwood
+Station. If I sent a clerk down, there might be some difficulty,
+whereas, when I personally explain the circumstances to him, he will, I
+am sure, grant it. At the same time I will arrange with him that two of
+the county constabulary shall be at this place, Hole Haven, at the time
+we arrive there, and shall accompany us to execute the warrant. Let me
+see," and he turned to his engagement book, "there is no very special
+matter on for to-morrow, and I am sure that Mr. Farmer will see to the
+little matters that there are in my department. By the way, it was a
+year yesterday since the General's death, and we have this morning been
+served with a notice to show cause why we should not proceed at once to
+distribute the various legacies under his will. I don't think that
+refers to the bequest of the estates, though, of course, it may do so,
+but to the ten thousand pounds to which Simcoe is clearly entitled. Of
+course, we should appear by counsel in any case; but with Walter in our
+hands we can bring him to his knees at once, and he will have to wait
+some time before he touches the money. We cannot prevent his having
+that. He may get five years for abducting the child, but that does not
+affect his claim to the money."</p>
+
+<p>"Unless, Mr. Pettigrew, we could prove that he is not John Simcoe."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, my dear," the lawyer said, with an indulgent smile. "Your
+other theories have turned out very successful, I am bound to admit; but
+for this you have not a shadow of evidence, while he could produce a
+dozen respectable witnesses in his favor. However, we need not trouble
+ourselves about that now. As to the abduction of the child, while our
+evidence is pretty clear against the other man, we have only the fact
+against Simcoe that he was a constant associate of his, and had an
+immense interest in the child being lost. The other man seems to have
+acted as his intermediary all through, and so far as we actually know,
+Simcoe has never seen the child since he was taken away. Of course, if
+Walter can prove<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> to the contrary, the case is clear against him; but
+without this it is only circumstantial, though I fancy that the jury
+would be pretty sure to convict. And now, how about the boat? Who will
+undertake that? We are rather busy at present, and could scarcely spare
+a clerk to go down."</p>
+
+<p>"We will look after that, Mr. Pettigrew; it is only an hour's run to
+Gravesend, and it will be an amusement for us. We will take Roberts down
+with us. What day shall we fix it for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, the sooner the better. I shall get the warrant
+to-morrow, and there is no reason why the constable should not be at
+Hole Haven the next day, at, say, two in the afternoon. So if you go
+down to-morrow and arrange for a boat, the matter may as well be carried
+out at once, especially as I know that you are burning with anxiety to
+get the child back. Of course this rascal of a bargeman must be
+arrested."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think that would depend partly on how he has treated Walter,"
+Hilda said. "I don't suppose he knows who he is, or anything of the
+circumstances of the case; he is simply paid so much to take charge of
+him. If he has behaved cruelly to him it is of course right that he
+should be punished; but if he has been kind to him I don't see why he
+should not be let off. Besides, we may want him as a witness against the
+others."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there is something in that. Of course we might, if he were
+arrested, allow him to turn Queen's evidence, but there is always a
+certain feeling against this class of witness. However, we needn't
+discuss that now. I suppose that we ought to allow an hour and a half or
+two hours to get to this place from Gravesend, but you can find that out
+when you hire the boat. Of course, it will depend a good deal on which
+way the tide is. By the way, you had better look to that at once; for if
+it is not somewhere near high tide when we get to Hole Haven there may
+not be water enough to row up the creek."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He called in one of the clerks, and told him to go out to get him an
+almanac with a tide-table.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to know when it will be high water the day after to-morrow at
+Gravesend," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you that at once, sir. When I came across Waterloo Bridge
+this morning at a quarter to nine the tide was running in. I should say
+that it was about half-flood, and would be high about twelve o'clock. So
+that it will be high about half-past one o'clock on Wednesday. It is
+about three-quarters of an hour earlier at Gravesend. I don't know
+whether that is near enough for you, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is near enough, thank you. So, you see," he went on after the
+clerk had left the room, "the tide will be just about high when you get
+to Gravesend, and you will get there in about an hour, I should say. I
+don't know exactly how far this place is, but I should say seven or
+eight miles; and with a sail, or, if the wind is contrary, a couple of
+oars, you will not be much above an hour, and I should think that there
+will be still plenty of water in the creek. You had better see Colonel
+Bulstrode. As joint trustee he should certainly be there."</p>
+
+<p>They drove at once to the Colonel's and found him in. He had not heard
+of the discovery Hilda had made, and was greatly excited at the prospect
+of so soon recovering Walter, and bringing, as he said, "the rascals to
+book."</p>
+
+<p>The next morning they went down with Roberts to Gravesend, to engage a
+large and roomy boat with two watermen for their trip. Just as they were
+entering Hyde Park Gardens, on their return, a man passed them. Roberts
+looked hard at him, and then said, "If you don't want me any more now,
+miss, I should like to speak to that man; he is an old fellow-soldier."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Roberts. I shall not want you again for some time."</p>
+
+<p>Roberts hurried after the man. "Sergeant Nichol," he said, as he came up
+to him, "it is years since I saw you last."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I remember your face, if I do not remember your name," the man said.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Tom Roberts. I was in your company, you know, before you went onto
+the staff."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember you now, Roberts," and the two shook hands heartily. "What
+are you doing now? If I remember right, you went as servant to General
+Mathieson when you got your discharge."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; you see, I had been his orderly for two or three years before, and
+when I got my discharge with my pension, I told him that I should like
+to stop with him if he would take me. I was with him out there for five
+years after; then I came home, and was with him until his death, and am
+still in the service of his niece, Miss Covington, one of the young
+ladies I was with just now. And what are you doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am collector for a firm in the City. It is an easy berth, and with my
+pension I am as comfortable as a man can wish to be."</p>
+
+<p>So they chatted for half an hour, and when they parted Roberts received
+a hearty invitation to look in at the other's place at Kilburn.</p>
+
+<p>"Both my boys are in the army," he said, "and likely to get on well. My
+eldest girl is married, my youngest is at home with her mother and
+myself; they will be pleased to see you too. The missus enjoys a gossip
+about India, and is always glad to welcome any old comrade of mine."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>WALTER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The wind was westerly, and the boat ran fast down the river from
+Gravesend; Roberts and Andrew, both in civilian clothes, were sitting in
+the bows, where there were stowed a large hamper and a small
+traveling-bag with some clothes. One waterman sat by the mast, in case
+it should be necessary to lower sail; the other was aft at the tiller.
+The men must have thought that they had never had so silent and grave a
+pleasure party before: two elderly gentlemen and two girls, none of whom
+seemed inclined to make merry in any way. Colonel Bulstrode, indeed,
+tried hard to keep up a conversation about the ships, barges, and other
+craft that they met, or which lay at anchor in the stream, and recalling
+reminiscences of trips on Indian rivers.</p>
+
+<p>Netta was the only one of his hearers who apparently took any interest
+in the talk. To her the scene was so new that she regarded everything
+with attention and pleasure, and looked with wonder at the great ships
+which were dragged along by tiny tugs, wondered at the rate at which the
+clumsy-looking barges made their way through the water, and enjoyed the
+rapid and easy motion with which their own boat glided along. Mr.
+Pettigrew was revolving in his mind the problem of what should next be
+done; while Hilda's thoughts were centered upon Walter, and the joy that
+it would be to have him with her again.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Hole Haven," the boatman in the stern said, as a wide sheet of
+water opened on their left.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you turn in, then?" Colonel Bulstrode asked.</p>
+
+<p>"There is scarce water enough for us, sir; they are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> neap tides at
+present, and in half an hour the sands will begin to show all over
+there. We have to go in onto the farther side&mdash;that is, where the
+channel is. You see those craft at anchor; there is the landing, just in
+front of the low roof you see over the bank. That is the 'Lobster
+Smack,' and a very comfortable house it is; and you can get as good a
+glass of beer there as anywhere on the river."</p>
+
+<p>As they turned into the creek they saw two constables on the top of the
+bank, and at the head of the steps stood a gentleman talking with a
+coastguard officer.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my friend, Mr. Bostock," Mr. Pettigrew said. "He told me that,
+if he could manage it, he would drive over himself with the two
+constables. I am glad that he has been able to do so; his presence will
+strengthen our hands."</p>
+
+<p>A coast guard boat, with four sailors in it, was lying close to the
+steps, and the officer came down with Mr. Bostock, followed by the two
+constables. The magistrate greeted Mr. Pettigrew and took his place in
+the boat beside him, after being introduced to the two ladies and the
+Colonel. The officer with the two constables stepped into the coastguard
+boat, which rowed on ahead of the other.</p>
+
+<p>"I could not resist the temptation of coming over to see the end of this
+singular affair, of which I heard from Mr. Pettigrew," Mr. Bostock said
+to Hilda. "The officer of the coastguard is going on, partly to show us
+the way to the house, and partly because it will be a good opportunity
+for him to search the place thoroughly for smuggled goods. He tells me
+that the barge is up the creek now; it went up yesterday evening. So we
+may find the fellow at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my men," Colonel Bulstrode said to the boatmen, "we have got to
+follow that boat. You will have plenty of time for beer when you get
+there, and a good lunch besides. So pull your hardest; we have not got
+very far to go. Can either of you men row?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"I AM A MAGISTRATE OF THE COUNTY OF ESSEX."</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>"I can pull a bit," Roberts said, and, aided by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> sail and the
+three oars, the boat went along at a fair rate through the water, the
+coastguard boat keeping a short distance ahead of them. After a quarter
+of an hour's rowing the bargeman's house came in view. The revenue
+officer pointed to it.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, row your hardest, men," Colonel Bulstrode said; "we have but a
+hundred yards further to go."</p>
+
+<p>The two boats rowed up to the bank together; Mr. Bostock sprang out, as
+did the constables and sailors, and ran up the bank, the others
+following at once. As they appeared on the bank a boy working in the
+garden gave a shrill whistle; a man immediately appeared at the door and
+looked surprised at the appearance of the party. He stepped back a foot,
+and then, as if changing his mind, came out and closed the door after
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a magistrate of the County of Essex," Mr. Bostock said, "and I
+have come to see a warrant executed for the search of your house for a
+child named Walter Rivington, who is believed to be concealed here, and
+who has been stolen from the care of his guardians."</p>
+
+<p>"I know nothing of any child of that name," the man replied, "but I have
+a child here that I am taking care of for a gentleman in London; I have
+had him here for just a year, and no one has made any inquiries about
+him. You are welcome to enter and see if he is the one you are in search
+of. If he is, all that I can say is that I know nothing about his being
+stolen, and shall be very sorry to lose him."</p>
+
+<p>He stood aside, and the two constables entered, followed closely by
+Hilda. The latter gave a cry of joy, for seated on the ground, playing
+with a box of soldiers, was Walter. She would hardly have known him
+anywhere else. His curls had been cut short, his face was brown and
+tanned, and his clothes, although scrupulously clean, were such as would
+be worn by any bargeman's boy at that age. The child looked up as they
+entered. Hilda ran to him, and caught him up in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know me, Walter? Don't you remember Cousin Hilda?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember you," the child said, now returning her embrace. "You
+used to tell me stories and take me out in a carriage for drives. Where
+have you been so long? And where is grandpapa? Oh, here is Netta!" and
+as Hilda put him down he ran to her, for during the four months spent in
+the country she had been his chief playmate.</p>
+
+<p>"I have learned to swim, Netta. Uncle Bill has taught me himself; and he
+is going to take me out in his barge some day."</p>
+
+<p>The woman, who had come in with her arms covered with lather, from the
+little washhouse adjoining the house, now came forward.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope, miss, that there is nothing wrong," she said to Hilda. "We have
+done our best for the little boy, and I have come to care for him just
+as if he had been my own; and if you are going to take him away I shall
+miss him dreadful, for he is a dear little fellow," and she burst into
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>Walter struggled from Netta's arms, and ran to the woman, and, pulling
+her by the apron, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't cry, Aunt Betsy; Jack is not going away from you. Jack will stay
+here; he likes going in a barge better than riding in a carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Miss Covington," Mr. Bostock said, "the recognition appears to be
+complete on both sides; now what is the next step? Do you give this man
+into custody for unlawfully concealing this child and aiding and
+abetting in his abduction?"</p>
+
+<p>"Will you wait a minute while I speak to Mr. Pettigrew?" she said; and
+they went out of the house together.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been thinking it over all the way as we came down," the lawyer
+said. "Of course, we have no shadow of proof that this man was aware who
+the child was, and, in fact, if he had seen the placards offering
+altogether fifteen hundred pounds for his recovery, we must certainly
+assume that he would have given him up; for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> however well he may have
+been paid for taking charge of him, the offer would have been too
+tempting for a man of that kind to have resisted. No doubt he had strong
+suspicions, but you can hardly say that it amounted to guilty knowledge
+that the child had been abducted. If Walter had been ill-treated I
+should have said at once, 'Give him into custody'; but this does not
+seem to have been the case."</p>
+
+<p>"No; they have evidently been very kind to him. I am so grateful for
+that that I should be sorry to do the man any harm."</p>
+
+<p>"That is not the only point," the lawyer went on. "It is evident that
+the other people very seldom come down here, and from what you heard, in
+future Simcoe is going to write. If we arrest this man the others will
+know at once that the game is up. Now, if you will take the child away
+quietly, we can tell the man that he shall not be prosecuted, providing
+that he takes no steps whatever to inform his employers that the child
+is gone; even if one of them came down here to see the child, the wife
+must say that he is away on the barge. Anyhow, we shall have ample time
+to decide upon what steps to take against Simcoe, and can lay hands upon
+him whenever we choose; whereas, if he got an inkling that we had
+discovered the child, he and his associate would probably disappear at
+once, and we might have lots of trouble to find them."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think that would be a very good plan, Mr. Pettigrew. I will ask
+him and his wife to come out."</p>
+
+<p>"That will be the best way, my dear. We could hardly discuss the matter
+before Bostock."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda went in. As soon as she spoke to the man and his wife Mr. Bostock
+said, "If you want a conference, Miss Covington, I will go out and leave
+you to talk matters over."</p>
+
+<p>He and the two constables withdrew, and Mr. Pettigrew came in.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my man," he began, "you must see that you have placed yourself in
+a very awkward position. You<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> are found taking care of a child that has
+been stolen, and for whose recovery large rewards have been offered all
+over the country. It is like the case of a man found hiding stolen
+goods. He would be called upon to account for their being in his
+possession. Now, it is hardly possible that you can have been ignorant
+that this child was stolen. You may not have been told so in words, but
+you cannot have helped having suspicions. From what the child no doubt
+said when he first came here, you must have been sure that he had been
+brought up in luxury. No doubt he spoke of rides in a carriage, of
+servants, his nurse, and so on. However, Miss Covington is one of the
+child's guardians, and I am the other, and we are most reluctant to give
+you in charge. It is evident, from the behavior of the child, and from
+the affection that he shows to yourself and your wife, that you have
+treated him very kindly since he has been here, and these toys I see
+about show that you have done your best to make him happy."</p>
+
+<p>"That we have, sir," the man said. "Betsy and I took to him from the
+first. We have no children of our own, none living at least, and we have
+made as much of him as if he had been one of our own&mdash;perhaps more. We
+have often talked it over, and both thought that we were not doing the
+fair thing by him, and were, perhaps, keeping him out of his own. I did
+not like having anything to do with it at first, but I had had some
+business with the man who gave him to me, and when he asked me to
+undertake the job it did not seem to me so serious an affair as it has
+done since. I am heartily sorry that we have had any hand in it; not
+only because we have done the child harm, but because it seems that we
+are going to lose him now that we have come to care for him as if he was
+our own."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you played only a minor part in the business, Nibson. We
+quite understand that, and it is the men who have carried out this
+abduction that we want to catch. Do you know the name of the man who
+brought the child to you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't, sir. He knows where to find me, but I have no more idea than a
+child unborn who he is or where he lives. When he writes to me, which he
+generally does before he comes down, which may be two or three times a
+month, or may be once in six months, he signs himself Smith. I don't
+suppose that is his right name, but I say fairly that if I knew it, and
+where he lived, I would not peach upon him. He has always been straight
+with me in the business I have done with him, and I would rather take
+six months for this affair than say anything against him."</p>
+
+<p>"We are not asking you at present to say anything against him, and he is
+not the principal man in this business. I believe he is only acting as
+agent for another more dangerous rascal than himself. We are not
+prepared at the present moment to arrest the chief scoundrel. Before we
+do that we must obtain evidence that will render his conviction a
+certainty. We have reason to believe that this man that you know will
+not come down for some time, and that you will receive the money for the
+child's keep by post; but if we abstain altogether from prosecuting you
+in this matter, you must give us your word that you will not take any
+steps whatever to let them know that the child is no longer with you. He
+says that you promised to take him out in your barge. Well, if by any
+chance this man&mdash;not your man, but the other&mdash;comes down here, and wants
+to see the child, you or your wife will lead him to believe that he is
+on board your barge. It will also be necessary that, if we do arrest
+them, you should enter as a witness to prove that the man handed the
+child over to you. You could let it be seen that you are an unwilling
+witness, but the evidence of the handing over of the child will be an
+absolute necessity."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, sir, I will undertake that. There is no fear of my letting
+him know that the child has gone, for I don't know where to write him;
+and if he or the other should come down, if I am here I shall have no
+difficulty in keeping it from him that the child has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> gone, for my man
+has never set foot in this house. He just meets me on the road near
+Pitsea, says what he has to say, and gives me what he has to give me,
+and then drives off again. Of course, if I am summoned as a witness, I
+know that the law can make me go. I remember now that when he gave me
+the child he said he was doing it to oblige a friend of his, and he may
+be able to prove that he had nothing to do with carrying it off."</p>
+
+<p>"That is as it may be," the lawyer said dryly. "However, we are quite
+content with your promise."</p>
+
+<p>"And I thank you most heartily, you and your wife," Hilda Covington said
+warmly, "for your kindness to the child. It would have made me very
+happy all this time if I could have known that he was in such good
+hands, but I pictured him shut up in some vile den in London, ill
+treated, and half starved. He has grown very much since he has been with
+you, and looks a great deal more boyish than he did."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he plays a good deal with my barge boy, who has taken to him just
+as we have."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, your kindness will not be forgotten nor unrewarded, Mr. Nibson."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure we don't want any reward, miss; we have been well paid. But
+even if we hadn't been paid at all after the first month, we should have
+gone on keeping him just the same."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Walter," Hilda said, "we want you to come home with us; we have
+all been wanting you very badly. Nurse and Tom Roberts have been in a
+terrible way, and so has Dr. Leeds. You remember him, don't you? He was
+very kind to you all the time that you were down in the country."</p>
+
+<p>The child nodded. "I should like to see Tom Roberts and nurse, but I
+don't want to go away. I am going out in the barge soon."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dear, I dare say that we shall be able to arrange for you to come
+down sometimes, and to go out in it, especially as you have learned to
+swim. We are going away now in a boat."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I often go out in the boat," Walter pouted. "I go with Joshua; he is a
+nice boy, Joshua is, and I like him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dear, we will see what we can do for Joshua."</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure that I shall come back and go out in the barge?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite sure, dear; and perhaps I will go out with you, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you must go, like a good boy," Mrs. Nibson said. "You know, dear,
+that I shall always love you, and shall be very, very glad if the ladies
+can spare you to come down to see me sometimes. You won't forget me,
+will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Aunt Betsy, I shall never forget you; I promise you that," the
+child said. "And I don't want to go away from you at all, only Cousin
+Hilda says I must."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pettigrew went out to tell Mr. Bostock that they should not give
+Nibson into custody.</p>
+
+<p>"The principal scoundrels would take the alarm instantly," he said,
+"and, above all things, we want to keep them in the dark until we are
+ready to arrest them. It will be much better that we should have this
+man to call as a witness than that he should appear in the dock as an
+accomplice."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that you are right there," the magistrate agreed; "and really,
+he and his wife seem to have been very kind to the child. I have been
+talking to this young barge boy. It seems he is no relation of these
+people. His mother was a tramp, who died one winter's night on the road
+to Pitsea. He was about ten or eleven years old then, and they would
+have sent him to the workhouse; but Nibson, who was on the coroner's
+jury, volunteered to take him, and I dare say he finds him very useful
+on board the barge. At any rate, he has been well treated, and says that
+Nibson is the best master on the river. So the fellow must have some
+good in him, though, from what the coastguard officer said, there are
+very strong suspicions that he is mixed up in the smuggling business,
+which, it seems, is still carried on in these marshes. Well,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> no doubt
+you have decided wisely; and now, I suppose, we shall be off."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment they were joined by the coastguard officer.</p>
+
+<p>"He has done us again," he said. "We have been investigating these
+outhouses thoroughly, and there is no question that he has had smuggled
+goods here. We found a clever hiding-place in that cattle-shed. It
+struck me that it was a curious thing that there should be a stack of
+hay built up right against the side of it. So we took down a plank or
+two, and I was not surprised to find that there was a hollow in the
+stack. One of the men stamped his foot, and the sound showed that there
+was another hollow underneath. We dug up the ground, and found, six
+inches below it, a trapdoor, and on lifting it discovered a hole five or
+six feet deep and six feet square. It was lined with bricks, roughly
+cemented together. It is lucky for him that the place is empty, and I
+should think that after this he will go out of the business for a time.
+Of course we cannot arrest a man merely for having a hidden cellar; I
+fancy that there are not many houses on the marshes that have not some
+places of the sort. Indeed, I am rather glad that we did not catch him,
+for in other respects Nibson is a decent, hard-working fellow. Sometimes
+he has a glass or two at the 'Lobster Smack,' but never takes too much,
+and is always very quiet and decent in his talk. I doubt whether the men
+would have found that hiding-place if I had not been there; they all
+know him well, and would not get him into a scrape if they could help
+it, though there are some fellows on the marshes they would give a
+month's pay to catch with kegs or tobacco."</p>
+
+<p>The door of the house opened, and the three women and Nibson came out
+with Walter, who was now dressed in the clothes that they had brought
+down for him.</p>
+
+<p>While the others were getting ready to enter the boat the officer took
+Nibson aside.</p>
+
+<p>"You have had a close squeak of it, Nibson; we found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> your hiding-place
+under the stack, and it is lucky for you that it was empty. So we have
+nothing to say to you. I should advise you to give it up, my man; sooner
+or later you are bound to be caught."</p>
+
+<p>The man's brow had darkened as the officer began, but it cleared up
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," he said; "I have been thinking for the last half hour that
+I shall drop the business altogether, but when a man once gets into it,
+it is not so easy to get out. Now that you have found that cellar, it is
+a good excuse to cut it. I can well say that I dare not risk it again,
+for that, after so nearly catching me, you would be sure to keep an
+extra sharp eye on me in the future."</p>
+
+<p>"You give me your word for that, Nibson?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; I swear off it altogether from the present day."</p>
+
+<p>"Good. I will take your word for it, and you can go in and come out as
+you like without being watched, and you need not fear that we shall pay
+you another visit."</p>
+
+<p>Walter went off in fair spirits. The promise that he should come down
+again and see his friends and have a sail in the barge lessened the pang
+of leaving, and as Hilda's and Netta's faces came more strongly back to
+him, as they talked to him and recalled pleasant things that had almost
+faded from his memory, he went away contentedly, while Betsy Nibson went
+back to the house and had what she called "a good cry." She too,
+however, cheered up when her husband told her how narrow an escape he
+had had, and how he had given his word that he would drop smuggling
+altogether.</p>
+
+<p>"That makes my mind easier than it has been for years, Bill. And will
+you give up the other thing, too? There may not be much harm in running
+kegs and bacca, but there is no doubt about its being wrong to have
+anything to do with stolen goods and to mix yourself up with men who
+steal them."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will give that up, too, Betsy; and, as soon as I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> have time to
+look round, I will give an order for a new barge to be built for me. I
+have been ashamed of the old thing for a long time past with her patched
+sails. Of course, she suited my purpose, for when the other barges kept
+on their course it gave me a good excuse for anchoring; but it aint
+pleasant to have every barge passing you. There is old Joe Hargett; he
+said the other day that, if I ever thought of getting a new barge, he
+would give a hundred for her. He has got a set of decent sails, and he
+is a pretty handy carpenter, and no doubt he will make her look decent
+again. A hundred pounds aint much, but it will help. I can get a new one
+complete, sails and all, for fourteen or fifteen hundred, and have a
+hundred or two left in the bag afterwards. I tell you what, Betsy, I
+will get an extra comfortable cabin made, and a place forward for
+Joshua. It will be dull for you here now the child is gone, and it would
+be a sight more comfortable for us both to be always together."</p>
+
+<p>"That it will, Bill," she said joyfully. "I was always very happy on
+board till we lost our Billy. I took a dislike to it then, and was glad
+enough to come here; but I have got over it now, and this place is very
+lonely during the long winter nights when you are away."</p>
+
+<p>Then they talked over the barge, and how the cabin should be fitted up,
+and, in spite of having lost Walter, the evening was a pleasant one to
+them.</p>
+
+<p>That was not the only conversation that took place that day with
+reference to a new barge for Bill Nibson. As they rowed up against the
+tide, Hilda said:</p>
+
+<p>"We must do something for that bargeman, Colonel Bulstrode. I am sure we
+cannot be too grateful to him and his wife for their treatment of
+Walter. Think how different it might have been had he fallen into bad
+hands. Now he looks the picture of health; the change in the life and
+the open air has done wonders. You know, Dr. Leeds said that the officer
+of the coastguard had told him that Nibson's barge was one of the oldest
+and rottenest crafts on the river. Now, I propose that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> we buy him a new
+one. What would it cost, Colonel Bulstrode?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have not the slightest idea," the Colonel replied; "it might cost
+five hundred pounds, or it might cost five thousand, for all I know."</p>
+
+<p>"I will ask the waterman," Hilda said, and raising her voice she said,
+"How much do barges cost when they are new?"</p>
+
+<p>"From ten or eleven hundred up to fifteen," the man said.</p>
+
+<p>"Does that include sails and all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss; down to the boat."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is considered the best barge-builder?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there are a good many of them, miss; but I should say that Gill,
+of Rochester, is considered as good as any."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda said. "Should we, as Walter's
+guardians, be justified in spending this money? Mind, I don't care a bit
+whether we are or not, because I would buy it myself if it would not be
+right for us to use his money."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid that it would not be right," Mr. Pettigrew said. "As a
+trustee of the property, I should certainly not feel myself justified in
+sanctioning such a sum being drawn, though I quite admit that this good
+couple should be rewarded. I cannot regard a barge as a necessary;
+anything in reason that the child could require we should be justified
+in agreeing to. Of course, whatever may be his expenses at a public
+school, we should pay them without hesitation; but for a child of that
+age to give a present of fifteen hundred pounds would be altogether
+beyond our power to sanction."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," Hilda said decidedly, "then I shall take the matter into my
+own hands, and I shall go down to Rochester to-morrow and see if these
+people have a barge ready built. I don't know whether they are the sort
+of things people keep in stock."</p>
+
+<p>"That I can't say, my dear. I should think it probable that in slack
+times they may build a barge or two on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> speculation, for the purpose of
+keeping their hands employed, but whether that is the case now or not I
+don't know. If these people at Rochester have not got one you may hear
+of one somewhere else. I want you all to come up to the office one day
+next week to talk over this matter of the order Simcoe is applying
+for&mdash;for us to carry out the provisions of the will&mdash;at any rate, as far
+as his legacy is concerned."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Mr. Pettigrew, I will come up any time that you write to me,
+but you know that I have very strong opinions about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I know your opinions are strong, as ladies' opinions generally are,"
+Mr. Pettigrew said with a smile; "but, unfortunately, they are much more
+influenced by their own view of matters than by the legal bearing of
+them. However, we will talk that over when we meet again."</p>
+
+<p>The arrival of Walter occasioned the most lively joy in Hyde Park
+Gardens. Hilda had written to his nurse, who had gone home to live with
+her mother when all hope of finding Walter had seemed to be at an end,
+to tell her that he would probably be at home on Wednesday evening, and
+that she was to be there to meet him. Her greeting of him was rapturous.
+It had been a source of bitter grief to her that he had been lost
+through a momentary act of carelessness on her part, and the relief that
+Hilda's letter had caused was great indeed. The child was scarcely less
+pleased to see her, for he retained a much more vivid recollection of
+her than he did of the others. He had already been told of his
+grandfather's death, but a year had so effaced his memory of him that he
+was not greatly affected at the news. In the course of a few hours he
+was almost as much at home in the house as if he had never left it.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A NEW BARGE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The next morning Hilda went down to Rochester with Netta, Tom Roberts
+accompanying them. They had no difficulty in discovering the
+barge-builder's. It seemed to the girls a dirty-looking place, thickly
+littered as it was with shavings; men were at work on two or three
+barges which seemed, thus seen out of the water, an enormous size.</p>
+
+<p>"Which is Mr. Gill?" Hilda asked a man passing.</p>
+
+<p>"That is him, miss," and he pointed to a man who was in the act of
+giving directions to some workmen. They waited until he had finished,
+and then went up to him.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to buy a barge, Mr. Gill," Hilda said.</p>
+
+<p>"To buy a barge!" he repeated in surprise, for never before had he had a
+young lady as a customer.</p>
+
+<p>Hilda nodded. "I want to give it to a bargeman who has rendered me a
+great service," as if it were an everyday occurrence for a young lady to
+buy a barge as a present. "I want it at once, please; and it is to be a
+first-class barge. How much would it cost?"</p>
+
+<p>The builder rubbed his chin. "Well, miss, it is a little unusual to sell
+a barge right off in this way; as a rule people want barges built for
+them. Some want them for speed, some want them for their carrying
+capacity."</p>
+
+<p>"I want a first-class barge," Hilda replied. "I suppose it will be for
+traffic on the Thames, and that he will like it to be fast."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, miss," the builder said slowly, for he could not yet quite
+persuade himself that this young lady was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> really prepared to pay such a
+sum as a new barge would cost, "I have got such a barge. She was
+launched last week, but I had a dispute with the man for whom I built
+her, and I said that I would not hold him to his bargain, and that he
+could get a barge elsewhere. He went off in a huff, but I expect he will
+come back before long and ask me to let him have her, and I should not
+be altogether sorry to say that she is gone. She is a first-class barge,
+and I expect that she will be as fast as anything on the river. Of
+course, I have got everything ready for her&mdash;masts, sails, and gear,
+even down to her dingey&mdash;and in twenty-four hours she would be ready to
+sail. The price is fifteen hundred pounds," and he looked sharply at
+Hilda to see what effect that communication would have. To his great
+surprise she replied quietly:</p>
+
+<p>"That is about the sum I expected, Mr. Gill. Can we look at her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, miss; she is lying alongside, and it is nearly high tide."</p>
+
+<p>He led the way over piles of balks of timber, across sloppy pieces of
+ground, over which at high tide water extended, to the edge of the
+wharf, where the barge floated. She was indeed all ready for her mast;
+her sides shone with fresh paint, her upper works were painted an
+emerald green, a color greatly in favor among bargemen, and there was a
+patch of the same on her bow, ready for the name, surrounded by gilt
+scrollwork.</p>
+
+<p>"There she is, miss; as handsome a barge as there is afloat."</p>
+
+<p>"I want to see the cabin. What a little place!" she went on, as she and
+Netta went down through a narrow hatchway, "and how low!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the usual height in barges, miss, and the same size, unless
+especially ordered otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like the cabin to be made very comfortable, for I think the
+boatman will have his wife on board. Could it not be made a little
+larger?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There would be no great difficulty about that. You see, this is a
+water-tight compartment, but of course it could be carried six feet
+farther forward and a permanent hatchway be fixed over it, and the
+lining made good in the new part. As to height, one might put in a
+good-sized skylight; it would not be usual, but of course it could be
+done."</p>
+
+<p>"And you could put the bed-place across there, could you not, and put a
+curtain to draw across it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that could be managed easy enough, miss; and it would make a very
+tidy cabin."</p>
+
+<p>"Then how much would that cost extra?"</p>
+
+<p>"Forty or fifty pounds, at the outside."</p>
+
+<p>"And when could you get it all finished, and everything painted a nice
+color?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could get it done in a week or ten days, if you made a point of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I do make a point of it," Hilda said.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say to our leaving this bulkhead up as it is, miss, and
+making a door through it, and putting a small skylight, say three feet
+square, over the new part? You see, it will be fifteen feet wide by six
+feet, so that it will make a tidy little place. It would not cost more
+than the other way, not so much perhaps; for it would be a lot of
+trouble to get this bulkhead down, and then, you see, the second hand
+could have his bunk in here, on the lockers, and be quite separate."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't there a cabin at the other end?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there is one, miss; you can come and look at it. That is where
+the second hand always sleeps when the bargeman has got his wife on
+board."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that it would be better to have the second hand sleep there,"
+Hilda said. "This is very rough," she went on, when she inspected the
+little cabin forward; "there are all the beams sticking out. Surely it
+can be made more comfortable than this."</p>
+
+<p>"We could matchboard the timbers over if you like, but it is not usual."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, please do it; and put some lockers up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> for his clothes, and
+make it very comfortable. Has the barge got a name yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, miss, we have always called her the <i>Medway</i>; but there is no
+reason that you should stick to that name. She has not been registered
+yet, so we can call her any name you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we will call her the <i>Walter</i>," Hilda said, for the girls had
+already settled this point between them.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Mr. Gill, I suppose there is nothing to do but to give you a
+check for fifteen hundred pounds, and I can pay for the alterations when
+I come down next Monday week. Can you get me a couple of men who
+understand the work&mdash;bargees, don't you call them? I want them to take
+her as far as Hole Haven and a short way up the creek."</p>
+
+<p>"I can do that easily enough," the builder said; "and I promise you that
+everything shall be ready for sailing, though I don't guarantee that the
+paint in the new part of the cabin will be dry. All the rest I can
+promise. I will set a strong gang of men on at once."</p>
+
+<p>A few days later Hilda wrote a line to William Nibson, saying that she
+intended to come down with the child on the following Monday, and hoped
+that he would be able to make it convenient to be at home on that day.</p>
+
+<p>"She is not long in coming down again, Betsy," he said, when on the
+Friday the barge went up to Pitsea again, and he received the letter,
+which was carried home and read by his wife, he himself being, like most
+of his class at the time, unable to read or write. "I suppose the child
+pined in his new home, and she had to pacify him by saying that he
+should come down and see us next week. That will suit me very well. I
+have a load of manure waiting for me at Rotherhithe; it is for Farmer
+Gilston, near Pitsea, so that I shall just manage it comfortably. Next
+week I will go over to Rochester and see if I can hear of a good barge
+for sale."</p>
+
+<p>On the following Monday morning the girls again went down to Rochester,
+this time taking Walter with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> them; having the previous week sent off
+three or four great parcels by luggage train. Roberts went to look for a
+cart to bring them to the barge-builder's, and the girls went on alone.</p>
+
+<p>"There she lies, miss," Mr. Gill said, pointing to a barge with new
+tanned sails lying out in the stream; "she is a boat any man might be
+proud of."</p>
+
+<p>"She looks very nice indeed," Hilda said, "though, of course, I am no
+judge of such things."</p>
+
+<p>"You may be sure that she is all right, Miss Covington."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the paint dry, down below?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I saw that you were anxious about it, so put plenty of drier in.
+So that, though she was only painted on Saturday morning, she is
+perfectly dry now. But you are rather earlier than I had expected."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; we have sent a lot of things down by rail. Our man is getting a
+cart, and I dare say they will be here in a quarter of an hour."</p>
+
+<p>The things were brought on a large hand-cart, and as soon as these were
+carried down to the boat they went off with Mr. Gill to the barge.</p>
+
+<p>"There, miss," he said, as he led the way down into the cabin; "there is
+not a barge afloat with such a comfortable cabin as this. I put up two
+or three more cupboards, for as they will sleep in the next room there
+is plenty of space for them."</p>
+
+<p>Except in point of height, the cabin was as comfortable a little room as
+could be desired. It was painted a light slate color, with the panels of
+the closets of a lighter shade of the same. The inner cabin was of the
+same color. A broad wooden bedstead extended across one end, and at the
+other were two long cupboards extending from the ceiling to the floor.
+The skylight afforded plenty of light to this room, while the large one
+in the main cabin gave standing height six feet square in the middle.</p>
+
+<p>"It could not have been better," Hilda said, greatly pleased.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, miss, I took upon myself to do several things in the way of
+cupboards, and so on, that you had not ordered, but seeing that you
+wanted to have things comfortable I took upon myself to do them."</p>
+
+<p>"You did quite right, Mr. Gill. This big skylight makes all the
+difference in height. I see that you have painted the name, and that you
+have got a flag flying from the masthead."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; bargemen generally like a bit of a flag, that is to say if they
+take any pride in their boat. You cannot trade in the barge until you
+have had it registered; shall I get that done for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I should be very much obliged if you would."</p>
+
+<p>"And in whose name shall I register it? In yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; in the name of William Nibson. If you want his address it is Creek
+Farm, Pitsea."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, miss, he is a lucky fellow. I will get it done, and he can call
+here for the register the first time he comes up the Medway."</p>
+
+<p>Roberts was sent ashore again for a number of hooks, screws, and a few
+tools.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mr. Gill, we are quite ready to start. We shall get things
+straight on the voyage."</p>
+
+<p>"You will have plenty of time, miss; she will anchor off Grain Spit till
+the tide begins to run up hard. You won't be able to get up the creek
+till an hour before high tide."</p>
+
+<p>"That won't matter," Hilda said; "it will not be dark till nine."</p>
+
+<p>"You can get up the anchor now," the builder said to two men who had
+been sitting smoking in the bow.</p>
+
+<p>The barge's boat was lying bottom upwards on the hatches and another
+boat lay behind her.</p>
+
+<p>"This boat does not belong to her, Mr. Gill; does she?" Hilda asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, miss; that is the men's boat. When they have got the barge to where
+she is to be moored, they will row down to Hole Haven, and get a tow up
+with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> first barge that comes down after the tide has turned. How
+will you be coming back, Miss Covington?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have arranged for a gig to be at Hole Haven at eight o'clock to
+drive us to Brentwood, where we shall take train to town. We shall not
+be up before half-past eleven, but as we have our man with us that does
+not matter; besides, the carriage is to be at the station to meet the
+train."</p>
+
+<p>The girls and Walter watched the operation of getting up the anchor and
+of setting the foresail and jib. They remained on deck while the barge
+beat down the long reach past the dockyards, and then with slackened
+sheets rounded the wooded curve down into Gillingham Reach, then,
+accompanied by Roberts, they went below. Here they were soon hard at
+work. The great packages were opened, and mattresses and bedclothes
+brought out.</p>
+
+<p>"This reminds one of our work when you first came to us," Netta laughed,
+as they made the bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is like old times, certainly. We used to like to work then,
+because we were doing it together; we like it still more to-day, because
+not only are we together, but we are looking forward to the delight that
+we are going to give."</p>
+
+<p>Carpets were laid down, curtains hung to the bed, and a wash-hand stand
+fixed in its place. A hamper of crockery was unpacked and the contents
+placed on the shelves that had been made for them, and cooking utensils
+arranged on the stove, which had been obtained for them by the builder.
+By this time Roberts had screwed up the hooks in the long cupboards, and
+in every spot round both cabins where they could be made available. Then
+numerous japanned tin boxes, filled with tea, sugar, and other
+groceries, were stowed away, and a large one with a label, "Tobacco,"
+placed on a shelf for Bill Nibson's special delectation. Curtains that
+could be drawn were fixed to the skylights, looking-glasses fastened
+against the walls, and by the time that the barge neared Sheerness their
+labors were finished. Then the forward cabin was similarly made
+comfortable.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> Walter had assisted to the best of his power in all the
+arrangements, and when he became tired was allowed to go up on deck, on
+his promise to remain quiet by the side of the helmsman.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I think that everything is in its place," Hilda said at last, "and
+really they make two very pretty little rooms. I can't say that the one
+in the bow is pretty, but at any rate it is thoroughly comfortable, and
+I have no doubt that Joshua will be as pleased with it as the Nibsons
+are with theirs. Oh, dear, how dusty one gets! and we never thought of
+getting water on board for the jugs."</p>
+
+<p>On going up on deck, however, they observed two barrels lashed together.</p>
+
+<p>"Are those water?" Hilda asked the man at the tiller.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you get it out? I don't see a tap."</p>
+
+<p>"You put that little pump lying by the side into the bunghole. I will do
+it for you, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"Now we will go downstairs and tidy up, and then come and sit up here
+and enjoy ourselves," said Hilda.</p>
+
+<p>When they were below they heard a rattle of the chain, and, on going up,
+found that the barge had come to anchor in the midst of some thirty or
+forty others. The foresail had been run down and the jib lowered, but
+the great mainsail, with its huge, brightly painted sprit, was still
+standing. Roberts now opened a hamper that had been left on deck, and
+produced luncheon. Cold meat and beer were handed to the two watermen,
+who went up into the bow to eat it. An hour later the tide began to
+slacken, and many of the barges got up sail.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we get up the anchor, ma'am?" one of the watermen asked.</p>
+
+<p>"There's plenty of time, is there not?" Hilda asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, but we thought that you would like to see how she goes with
+the others."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I should like that," Hilda said, and in a few minutes the barge
+was under sail again.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a clipper, and no mistake," the man at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> tiller said, as one
+by one they passed the barges that had started ahead of them, and Walter
+clapped his hands in delight.</p>
+
+<p>"We may as well go down to the lower end of the Hope, miss. We shall
+have plenty of time to get back again before there is water enough for
+us in the creek."</p>
+
+<p>For three hours they sailed about, the girls enjoying it as much as
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I do think, Netta, that I shall have to buy a barge on my own account.
+It is splendid, and, after all, the cabins are large enough for
+anything."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better have a yacht," Netta laughed. "You would soon get tired
+of always going up and down the river."</p>
+
+<p>"One might do worse," Hilda said. "Of course, now we shall give up that
+big house in Hyde Park Gardens, which is ridiculous for me and the boy.
+We have each got a country house, and when we want a thorough change I
+would infinitely rather have a yacht than a small house in town. I don't
+suppose that it would cost very much more. Besides, you know, it is
+arranged that I am always to have rooms at your house at the institute.
+That is to be the next thing seen after; you know that is quite agreed
+upon."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be glad to be at work again," Netta said. "Now that Walter is
+found, there is certainly nothing to keep us any longer in town."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that it must have been horribly dull for you, Netta, but you see
+that you are partly to blame yourself for refusing to go out with me."</p>
+
+<p>"That would have been duller still," Netta laughed. "I should have been
+a long time before I got to know people, and there is no good in knowing
+people when you are going right away from them in a short time, and may
+never meet them again."</p>
+
+<p>At last the men said that there would be water enough to get up the
+creek.</p>
+
+<p>"We shan't be able to sail up, miss; you see, the wind will be right in
+our teeth. But that don't matter; we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> can pole her up. The tide will
+take us along, and we shall only have to keep her straight and get her
+round the corners."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure that there will be water enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss. You see, she is empty, and doesn't draw much more than a
+foot of water."</p>
+
+<p>As they entered the haven the head sails were dropped and the mainsail
+brailed up. The tide was running in strong, and, as the men had said,
+they had nothing to do but to keep the barge in the deepest part of the
+channel.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"How do you think they will be coming, Bill?" Betsy Nibson said, as she
+joined her husband, who was standing on the bank dressed in his Sunday
+clothes.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say, Betsy; if I had known I should have gone to meet them.
+They cannot drive here from Pitsea, but must walk; and, of course, I
+would have been there if I had been sure of their coming that way. But I
+should think most likely that they will drive to the haven and come up
+by boat."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a new barge coming up the creek," Joshua said. "You can see
+that she is new by her spars and sails."</p>
+
+<p>"That's so, boy," Bill agreed. "She has got a flag I haven't seen before
+at her masthead. It is white, and I think there are some red letters on
+it&mdash;her name, I suppose. 'Tis not often that a new barge comes up to
+Pitsea. She is a fine-looking craft," he went on, as a turning in the
+creek brought her wholly into view. "A first-class barge, I should say.
+Yes, there is no doubt about her being new. I should say, from the look
+of her spars, she cannot have made many trips up and down the river."</p>
+
+<p>"She has got a party on board," Mrs. Nibson said presently. "There are
+two women and a child. Perhaps it's them, Bill. They may have some
+friend in the barge line, and he has offered to bring them down, seeing
+that this is a difficult place to get at."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you are right, Betsy. They are too far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> off to see their
+faces, but they are certainly not barge people."</p>
+
+<p>"They are waving their handkerchiefs!" Betsy exclaimed; "it is them,
+sure enough. Well, we have wondered how they would come down, but we
+never thought of a barge."</p>
+
+<p>The three hurried along the bank to meet the barge. Walter danced and
+waved his hat and shouted loudly to them as they approached.</p>
+
+<p>"You did not expect to see us arrive in a barge, Mrs. Nibson," Hilda
+called out as they came abreast of them.</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, miss; we talked it over together as to how you would come,
+but we never thought of a barge."</p>
+
+<p>"It belongs to a friend of ours, and we thought that it would be a
+pleasant way of coming. She is a new boat. You must come on board and
+have a look at her before we land."</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the barge was alongside the bank, opposite the house. A
+plank was run across and Walter scampered over it to his friends.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless his little face!" Mrs. Nibson said, as she lifted him up to kiss
+her. "What a darling he looks, Bill! And he has not forgotten us a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"He could not well forget in a week," Bill said, rather gruffly, for he,
+too, was moved by the warmth of the child's welcome. "Well, let us go on
+board and pay our respects. She is a fine barge, surely; and she has got
+the same name as the child."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it is not 'Jack,'" his wife said, looking up.</p>
+
+<p>"Jack!" her husband repeated scornfully. "Didn't they call him Walter
+the other day? Go on, wife; the lady is waiting at the end of the plank
+for you."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Nibson put the child down and followed him across the plank,
+smoothing her apron as she went.</p>
+
+<p>"My best respects, miss," she said, as Hilda shook hands with her
+warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"We are glad to see you again, Mrs. Nibson, and hope that you have not
+missed Walter very much."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say that I have not missed him a good deal,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> miss, but,
+luckily, we have had other things to think about. We are giving up the
+farm; it is lonesome here in the winter, and I am going to take to barge
+life again."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what do you think of this barge, Mr. Nibson?" Hilda asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I allow she is a handsome craft, and she ought to be fast."</p>
+
+<p>"She is fast. We have been sailing about until there was enough water in
+the creek, and we have passed every barge that we have come near. She is
+comfortable, too. Come below and look at her cabin."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I never!" Mrs. Nibson said, pausing in astonishment at the foot
+of the ladder. "I have been in many barge cabins, but never saw one like
+this." Her surprise increased when the door of the bulkhead was opened
+and she saw the sleeping cabin beyond. "Did you ever, Bill?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I never saw two cabins in a barge before," her husband said. "I
+suppose, miss, the owner must have had the cabin specially done up for
+his own use sometimes, and the crew lived forward."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a place forward for the second hand," she replied, "and I
+suppose the owner will sleep here."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is a loss of space, but she will carry a big load, too.
+Who is the owner, miss, if I may make so bold as to ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"The registered owner is William Nibson," Hilda said quietly.</p>
+
+<p>The bargeman and his wife gazed at each other in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"But," he said hesitatingly, "I have never heard of any owner of that
+name."</p>
+
+<p>"Except yourself, Nibson."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, except myself; but I am not an owner, as I have sold the <i>Mary
+Ann</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no other owner now," she said, "that I know of, of that name.
+The barge is yours. It is bought as testimony of our gratitude for the
+kindness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> that you have shown Walter, and you see it is named after
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"It is too much, miss," said Bill huskily, while his wife burst into
+tears. "It is too much altogether. We only did our duty to the child,
+and we were well paid for it."</p>
+
+<p>"You did more than your duty," Hilda said. "The money might pay for food
+and shelter and clothes, but money cannot buy love, and that is what you
+gave, both of you; and it is for that that we now pay as well as we
+can."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Covington should say 'I,'" Netta broke in, "for it is her present
+entirely. Walter's trustees could not touch his money for the purpose,
+and so she has done it herself."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Netta! You should have said nothing about it," Hilda said; and
+then, turning to Nibson, went on, "I am his nearest relative&mdash;his only
+relative, in fact&mdash;besides being his guardian, and, therefore, naturally
+I am the most interested in his happiness; and as, fortunately, I am
+myself very well off, I can well afford the pleasure of helping those
+who have been so good to him. Please do not say anything more about it.
+Now we will go on deck for a few minutes, and leave you and your wife to
+look round. We will show Joshua his cabin."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, she and Netta went on deck. Joshua, led by Walter, was just
+crossing the plank. He had not received a special invitation, and he
+felt too shy to go on board with these ladies present. Walter, however,
+had run across to him, and at last persuaded him to come.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Joshua," Hilda said, as she reached him, "what do you think of
+the barge?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is as good a one as ever I seed," the boy said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Joshua, she belongs to Mr. Nibson."</p>
+
+<p>"To Bill?" Joshua exclaimed. "You don't mean it, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"I do mean it," she said; "this is his barge."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shouldn't have thought that Bill was that artful!" Joshua
+exclaimed almost indignantly. "Fancy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> his keeping it from the missis and
+me that he had been and bought a new barge! But she is a fine one, there
+aint no doubt about that."</p>
+
+<p>"Come forward and look at your cabin, Joshua. I think you will say that
+it is more comfortable than usual."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am blowed!" the boy ejaculated, as he followed her down the
+ladder and looked round. "Why, it is a palace, that is wot it is; it is
+more comfortable than the master's cabin aft in most barges. And what a
+bed! Why, it is soft enough for a hemperor."</p>
+
+<p>"There are no sheets, Joshua. They told me that the men never use sheets
+in barges."</p>
+
+<p>"Lor' bless you! no, ma'am. We mostly stretch ourselves on the locker
+and roll ourselves up in a blanket, if we are lucky enough to have one.
+Why, I don't know as I shan't be afraid of getting into that bed, though
+I does take a header in the water every morning. There are lockers on
+both sides, too, and a basin. Who ever heard of such a thing as a basin?
+Why, miss, we allus washes in the pail on deck."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I should think that it would be a good deal more comfortable to
+wash down here in a basin on a cold morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose it might, miss; it be sharp sometimes outside. Why,
+there is oilcloth all over the floor, and a mat to wipe one's feet at
+the bottom of the ladder, and a rug by the side of the bed! I never did
+see such things. Bill must have gone clean off his chump. Well, I am
+blessed!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is Miss Covington who has given Bill the barge and seen to its being
+fitted up," Netta said, "and she has done her best to make your cabin as
+comfortable as possible, because you have been so kind to Walter."</p>
+
+<p>"And I hope to do some more for you, Joshua, when I can see my way to do
+it. You will find two or three suits of clothes for your work in those
+lockers. I do not know that they will quite fit, but I dare say if they
+don't Mrs. Nibson can alter them for you, and you will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> find shirts and
+warm underclothing, and so on, in that cupboard."</p>
+
+<p>Joshua sat down suddenly on a locker, completely overpowered with what
+seemed to him the immensity of his possessions.</p>
+
+<p>There the girls left him, and they went up on deck again.</p>
+
+<p>Going aft, they sat down and talked for a few minutes, and were then
+joined by Nibson and his wife. The latter still bore traces of tears on
+her cheeks, and there was a suspicious redness about Bill's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"We won't try to say what we would like to say," the man began, "'cause
+we could not say it, but we feels it just the same. Here we are with
+everything man or woman could wish for, ready to hand."</p>
+
+<p>"As I have said before, Nibson, please do not say anything more about
+it. It has made me quite as happy to get this barge for you, and to make
+it comfortable, as it can do you both to receive it. And now we will go
+ashore."</p>
+
+<p>In the house they found that tea was ready, save pouring the water into
+the pot. A ham and a couple of cold chickens were on the table, and jam
+and honey were specially provided for Walter. Joshua did not make one of
+the party. After recovering from the contemplation of his own cabin he
+had gone aft and remained in almost awe-struck admiration at the comfort
+and conveniences there, until summoned by Bill to take his place and
+help to get the new boat into the water, and to row the ladies down to
+Hole Haven.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A CRUSHING EXPOSURE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The case of the application by John Simcoe for an order for the trustees
+of the will of the late General Mathieson to carry its provisions into
+effect was on the list of cases for the day. Tom Roberts was walking up
+and down in Westminster Hall, waiting for it to come on, when he saw a
+face he knew.</p>
+
+<p>"Hullo, Sergeant Nichol, what brings you here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just curiosity, Roberts. I happened to see in the list of cases one of
+Simcoe against the trustees of General Mathieson. 'What,' I said to
+himself, 'Simcoe? That is the name of the chap who saved General
+Mathieson's life.' I remember their being both brought into cantonment,
+as well as if it were yesterday. I was with Paymaster-Sergeant
+Sanderson, the fellow who bolted a short time afterwards with three
+hundred pounds from the pay-chest and never was heard of afterwards. We
+heard that Simcoe was drowned at sea; and sorry we all were, for a
+braver fellow never stepped in shoe leather, and there was not a man
+there who did not feel that he owed him a debt of gratitude for saving
+the brigadier's life. So when I saw the paper I said to myself, 'Either
+the man was not drowned at all, or he must be some relation of his. I
+will go into court and have a look at him.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the same man, but I am sorry to say that, though he may be as
+brave as a lion, he is a rogue. But you can see him without going into
+court. That is him, talking with the man in a wig and gown and that
+little man in black, who is, I suppose, his lawyer. He knows me, so I
+won't go near him; but you can walk as close as you like to him, and
+take a good look at him."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Not content with looking once, Sergeant Nichol passed him backwards and
+forwards three times. When he rejoined Roberts the latter saw that he
+looked flushed and excited.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, sergeant?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it is Simcoe at all," the sergeant said. "It is that
+man Sanderson I was speaking about just now. Several of us noticed how
+like he was to Simcoe, but the expression of their faces was different.
+Simcoe was five or six years younger, and had a pleasant expression;
+Sanderson had a hard face. None of us liked him, he was a man one could
+never get friendly with; you might be in the same mess for years and not
+know more about him at the end than you did at the beginning. Of course,
+they would both be changed a good deal by this time, but I don't believe
+that Simcoe would have grown so as to be like this man; and I am sure
+that Sanderson would. He had a mark on him that I should know him by.
+One day when he was a recruit his musket went off, and the ball went
+through his left forearm. It was only a flesh wound, but it left a
+blackened scar, and I will bet all that I am worth that if you turned up
+that fellow's sleeve you would find it there."</p>
+
+<p>"That is very important, sergeant. I will go and tell my young lady; she
+is talking with her lawyers and Colonel Bulstrode at the other end of
+the hall."</p>
+
+<p>Hilda clapped her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say now, Mr. Pettigrew? I was right, after all. Bring your
+friend up, Roberts, and let us hear his story ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>Sergeant Nichol was fetched, and repeated the story that he had told to
+Roberts.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you very much, sergeant," the barrister said. "Please remain here
+while we talk it over. What do you think of this, Mr. Pettigrew?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would seem to explain the whole matter that has puzzled us so. I did
+not tell you, because it was not in my opinion at all necessary to the
+case, that Miss Covington has always maintained that the man was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>
+Simcoe, and so positive was she that her friend, Miss Purcell, went down
+to Stowmarket to make inquiries. It was certainly believed by his
+friends there that he was Simcoe, and this to my mind was quite
+conclusive. But I am bound to say that it did not satisfy Miss
+Covington."</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask, Miss Covington, why you took up that opinion in the first
+place?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I was convinced that he was not the sort of man who would have
+risked his life for another. After Miss Purcell came back from
+Stowmarket we found out that just before he called on my uncle he
+advertised for relatives of the late John Simcoe, and that the
+advertisement appeared not in the Suffolk papers only, but in the London
+and provincial papers all over the country; and it was evident, if this
+man was John Simcoe, he would not advertise all over England, instead of
+going down to Stowmarket, where his family lived, and where he himself
+had lived for years. He received a reply from an old lady, an aunt of
+John Simcoe's, living there, went down and saluted her as his aunt, at
+once offered to settle a pension of fifty pounds a year on her, and
+after remaining for three days in her house, no doubt listening to her
+gossip about all John Simcoe's friends, went and introduced himself to
+them. There was probably some resemblance in height and figure, and an
+absence of twenty years would have effected a change in his face, so
+that, when it was found that his aunt unhesitatingly accepted him, the
+people there had no doubt whatever that it was their old acquaintance.
+Therefore, this in no way shook my belief that he was not the man.</p>
+
+<p>"It turns out now, you see, that there was another man at Benares at the
+time who was remarkably like him, and that this man was a scoundrel and
+a thief. When he deserted no doubt he would take another name, and
+having doubtless heard that John Simcoe was dead, and remembering the
+remarks made as to his likeness to him, he was as likely to take that
+name as any other, though probably not with any idea of making any
+special<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> use of it. When in England he may have heard General
+Mathieson's name mentioned, and remembering that Simcoe had saved the
+life of the General, may have thought that the name and the likeness
+might enable him to personate the man. He first set about establishing
+his identity by going down to Stowmarket, and after that it was easy. I
+have thought it all over so many times that although it never struck me
+that there might have been at Benares some man bearing a striking
+resemblance to John Simcoe, all the rest is exactly as I had figured it
+out to my mind. Now I will leave you, gentlemen, to decide what use you
+will make of the discovery, while I go and tell my friends of it."</p>
+
+<p>The seats allotted to the general public were empty, as a case of this
+sort offered but slight attraction even to the loungers in the hall, but
+a large number of barristers were present. It had been whispered about
+that there were likely to be some unexpected developments in the case.
+The counsel engaged on both sides were the leaders of the profession,
+who could hardly have been expected to be retained in a mere case of a
+formal application for an order for trustees to act upon a will.</p>
+
+<p>"The facts of the case, my lord," the counsel who led for John Simcoe
+commenced, "are simple, and we are at a loss to understand how the
+trustees of the late General Mathieson can offer any opposition to our
+obtaining the order asked for. Nothing can be more straightforward than
+the facts. The late General Mathieson, early in March, 1852, made a
+will, which was duly signed and witnessed, bequeathing, among other
+legacies, the amount of ten thousand pounds to Mr. John Simcoe, as a
+mark of his gratitude for his having saved him from a tiger some twenty
+years before in India. The act was one of heroic bravery, and Mr. Simcoe
+nearly lost his own life in saving that of the General."</p>
+
+<p>He then related with dramatic power the incidents of the struggle.</p>
+
+<p>"There is, then, no matter of surprise that this large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> legacy should
+have been left to Mr. Simcoe by the General, who was a man of
+considerable wealth. The bulk of the property was left to his grandson,
+and in the event of his dying before coming of age it was to go to a
+niece, a Miss Covington, to whom only a small legacy was left; she being
+herself mistress of an estate and well provided for. Two months
+afterwards the General, upon reflection, decided to enlarge his gift to
+Mr. Simcoe, and he, therefore, in another will named him, in place of
+Miss Covington, who was amply provided for, his heir in the event of his
+grandson's death. I may say that the second will was not drawn up by the
+solicitors who had framed the first will. Probably, as often happens,
+the General preferred that the change he had effected should not be
+known until after his death, even to his family solicitors. He,
+therefore, went to a firm of equal respectability and standing, Messrs.
+Halstead &amp; James, who have made an affidavit that he interviewed them
+personally on the matter, and gave them written instructions for drawing
+up his will, and signed it in their presence.</p>
+
+<p>"I may say that in all other respects, including the legacy of ten
+thousand pounds, the wills were absolutely identical. The trustees,
+after waiting until the last day permitted by law, have, to our client's
+surprise, proved the first of these two wills, ignoring the second; on
+what ground I am at a loss to understand. As my client is entitled to
+ten thousand pounds under either will it might be thought that the
+change would make little difference to him; but unhappily the
+circumstances have entirely changed by the fact that the General's
+grandson was lost or stolen on the day before his death, and in spite of
+the most active efforts of the police, and the offer of large
+rewards&mdash;my client, who was deeply affected by the loss of the child,
+himself offering a thousand pounds for news of his whereabouts&mdash;nothing
+was heard of him until two months after his disappearance, when his body
+was found in the canal at Paddington, and after hearing evidence of
+identification, and examining<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> the clothes, which all parties agreed to
+be those of the missing child, the jury returned a verdict that the body
+was that of Walter Rivington, and that there was no proof of how he came
+by his end.</p>
+
+<p>"As the residence of General Mathieson was in Hyde Park Gardens, no
+doubt the poor child strolled away from the care of a careless nurse,
+came to the canal, and, walking near the bank, fell in and was drowned.
+No one could have been more grieved than my client at this, and although
+it practically put him into possession of a large property, he would, I
+am sure, gladly forfeit a large portion of it rather than come into
+possession of it in so melancholy a manner. I have not heard of the
+slightest reason why the last will of General Mathieson should be put
+aside. I believe that no question could arise as to his state of mind at
+the time that it was made. It may be that a plea of undue influence may
+be raised, but this, to those who knew the General, would appear absurd.
+He was a man of active habits, and vigorous both in mind and body. Here
+was no case of a man living in the house and influencing an old
+gentleman approaching his dotage. They met only at clubs and at dinners;
+and although the General was rightly and naturally attached to Simcoe,
+he was certainly not a man to be influenced against his will. I beg,
+therefore, to ask, my lord, that you will pronounce in favor of this
+second will, and issue an order to the trustees to carry out its
+provisions forthwith."</p>
+
+<p>"But upon the face of your appeal to the court, Sir Henry, there is no
+question as to the validity of the will you propound set up by the
+trustees?"</p>
+
+<p>"None, my lord. In fact, at the time the case was put down we were
+ignorant that there would be any attempt on the part of the trustees to
+dispute the second will, and that they should do so came upon us as a
+surprise. However, at a consultation between my learned friend and
+myself just before we came into court, it was agreed that, if your
+lordship would permit it, we would take the two matters at once. One of
+the trustees is a member<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> of the firm who are and have been the family
+lawyers of General Mathieson, and of his father before him, for a long
+period of years. They are gentlemen of well-known honor, who are, I am
+sure, as anxious as we are to obtain from your lordship a judicial
+decision on which they can act."</p>
+
+<p>"It is irregular," the judge said, "but as both parties seemed agreed
+upon it, it will doubtless save much expense to the estate if the whole
+matter can be settled at once. I will permit the whole matter to be
+taken. Now, brother Herbert, we will hear you on the other side."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to say, my lord, that it will be impossible for me to
+imitate my learned brother in the brevity with which he opened the case.
+So far from the facts being extremely simple, they are, I may say, of a
+very complicated nature. We own that we have no explanation to offer
+with regard to the second will. It was strange, very strange, that
+General Mathieson, a man of methodical habits, having just drawn up his
+will, should go to another firm of solicitors and draw up a fresh one,
+but the fact that the whole of the minor bequests are the same in the
+two wills is certainly a very strong proof, as also is the fact that the
+instructions for drafting the will were written by the General himself,
+or, at any rate, by someone intimately acquainted with the contents of
+that will, which we admit was difficult to believe could be the case, as
+the will, from the time it was signed by the General, has not been out
+of Messrs. Farmer &amp; Pettigrew's hands until it was taken for probate the
+other day.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my lord, I trust that you will allow me a certain amount of
+license while I go into this somewhat singular story. Twenty-three years
+ago, General Mathieson's life was saved in India by Mr. John Simcoe. Mr.
+Simcoe himself was seriously wounded, and when he recovered somewhat he
+was recommended by the surgeon who attended him to go down to Calcutta
+at once and take a sea voyage. He did so, and embarked upon the ship
+<i>Nepaul</i>, which was lost in a terrible gale in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> Bay of Bengal a few
+days later, with, as was supposed, all hands. Twenty years passed, and
+then to the surprise, and I may say to the delight of the General, who
+had much grieved over the loss of his preserver, Mr. Simcoe presented
+himself. For a moment the General did not recognize him; but it was not
+long before he became convinced of his identity, for he knew the
+officers who had been at the station at the time, and was well up in the
+gossip of the place, and the General at once hailed him as the man who
+had saved his life, introduced him to many friends, got him put up at a
+good club, and became, I may say, very fond of him. Mr. Simcoe brought
+up a friend or two who had known him at Stowmarket, where he had an aunt
+still living, and the result of all this was that the General requested
+Messrs. Farmer &amp; Pettigrew to draw up a new will bequeathing to John
+Simcoe the sum of ten thousand pounds.</p>
+
+<p>"Then came the singular episode of the second will. A fortnight later,
+when at dinner at his club, the General was smitten with a strange kind
+of fit, from which he recovered, but only lived for a few months, a
+half-paralyzed invalid. He was attended during that time by Dr. Leeds&mdash;a
+gentleman with a very high reputation, and now practicing in Harley
+Street as a consulting physician. The General was brought up to town,
+but broke down during the journey and died two days later.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we come to the second strange fact in this strange case. A day
+before his death his grandson, Walter Rivington, was missing. The
+efforts of the police, aided by a number of private detectives, failed
+to obtain any clew to the child until a body was found in the canal at
+Paddington. That the body was dressed in some of the clothes worn by the
+child when carried off was unquestionable; but the three persons who
+knew Walter Rivington best, namely, Miss Covington, a friend of hers
+named Miss Purcell, who had been all the summer assisting her to nurse
+General Mathieson, and the child's own nurse, all declared that the body
+was not that of the General's grandson. They were unable to adduce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>
+anything in support of this belief beyond the fact that the hair of the
+child found was short and to some extent bristly, whereas that of Walter
+Rivington was long and silky. The jury, however, adopted the view of the
+coroner that hair, however soft, when cut close to the skull will appear
+more or less bristly, and gave a verdict to the effect that the body was
+that of Walter Rivington. Miss Covington and her friends refused to
+accept the verdict, and continued their search for the child.</p>
+
+<p>"Without occupying your attention by going into details, my lord, I may
+briefly say that a close watch was set on Mr. Simcoe, and it was found
+that he was exceedingly intimate with a man of whom no one seemed to
+know anything; and before I go further I will ask, my lord, that you
+will give orders that Mr. Simcoe shall not leave the court until I have
+finished."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not asking without strong reason, I trust, brother Herbert?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not, my lord."</p>
+
+<p>The order was, therefore, given. Simcoe grew very white in the face, but
+otherwise maintained an air of stolid indifference.</p>
+
+<p>"I will now go back for a moment, my lord. General Mathieson was
+attended by three of the leading physicians in London at the time of his
+seizure. The symptoms were so peculiar that in all their experience they
+had not met a similar case. Dr. Leeds, however, differed from them, but
+being their junior could not press his opinion; but he told them that
+his opinion was that the fit was due to the administration of some drug
+unknown to the British Pharmacop&oelig;ia, as the effects were precisely
+similar to those in cases that he had read of in Africa and among other
+savage people, where a poison of this kind was used by the native fetich
+men or wizards. That opinion was confirmed rather than diminished by the
+subsequent progress of the malady and the final death of his patient.
+The one man who could benefit by the General's death was sitting next to
+him at dinner at the time of his seizure, and that man, according to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>
+his own statement, had been for many years knocking about among the
+savages of the South Sea Islands and the islands of the Malay
+Archipelago.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not accuse John Simcoe of this crime, but I need hardly say that
+the mere possibility of such a thing heightened the strong feeling
+entertained by Miss Covington that Simcoe was the author of the
+abduction of Walter Rivington. She and her devoted friend, Miss Purcell,
+pursued their investigations with unflagging energy. They suspected that
+the man who was very intimate with Simcoe had acted as his agent in the
+matter, and a casual remark which was overheard in a singular manner,
+which will be explained when the case goes into another court, that this
+man was going to Tilbury, gave them a clew. Then, in a manner which many
+persons might find it very hard to believe, Miss Covington learned from
+a conversation between the two men, when together in a box at Her
+Majesty's Theater, that the lad was in charge of a bargeman living near
+the little village of Pitsea, in Essex. From that place, my lord, he was
+brought last week, and Miss Covington will produce him in court, if your
+lordship wishes to see him. Thus, then, it is immaterial to us whether
+your lordship pronounces for the first or second will.</p>
+
+<p>"But, my lord, I have not finished my story. Under neither of the wills
+does that man take a farthing. The money was left to John Simcoe; and
+John Simcoe was drowned over twenty years ago. The man standing over
+there is one William Sanderson, a sergeant on the paymaster's staff at
+Benares when the real John Simcoe was there. There happened to be a
+resemblance between this man and him, so strong that it was generally
+remarked upon by his comrades. This man Sanderson deserted soon after
+Simcoe was drowned, taking with him three hundred pounds of the
+paymaster's money. There was a sharp hue and cry after him, but he
+managed to make his escape. All this is a certainty, but we may assume
+without much difficulty that the man changed his name as soon as he got
+to Calcutta, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> nothing was more likely than that he should take the
+name of John Simcoe, whom he had been told that he so strongly
+resembled.</p>
+
+<p>"For twenty years we hear nothing further of William Sanderson, nor do
+we hear when he returned to London. Probably he, in some way or other,
+came across the name of General Mathieson, and remembering what John
+Simcoe had done for the General, he, on the strength of his personal
+likeness, and the fact that he had, for twenty years, gone by that name,
+determined to introduce himself to him, with the result you know. He was
+clever enough to know that he must answer questions as to his history
+before he left England, and it was desirable to obtain witnesses who
+would, if necessary, certify to him. But he knew nothing of Simcoe's
+birthplace or history; so he inserted advertisements in a great number
+of London and provincial newspapers, saying that the relations of the
+John Simcoe who was supposed to have been drowned in the Bay of Bengal
+in the year 1832 would hear of something to their advantage at the
+address given. A maiden aunt, living at Stowmarket, did reply. He went
+down there at once, rushed into her arms and called her aunt, and told
+her that it was his intention to make her comfortable for life by
+allowing her fifty pounds per annum. He stayed with her for three days,
+and during that time obtained from her gossip full details of his
+boyhood and youth, his friends and their occupation, and he then went
+out and called upon John Simcoe's old companions, all of whom took him
+on his own word and his knowledge of the past and his recognition by his
+aunt.</p>
+
+<p>"So things might have remained. This man, after undergoing what
+punishment might be awarded to him for his abduction of Walter
+Rivington, could have claimed the ten thousand pounds left him by
+General Mathieson, had it not been that, by what I cannot but consider a
+dispensation of Providence, an old comrade of his, Staff-Sergeant
+Nichol, was attracted to the hall this morning by seeing the name of
+Simcoe and that of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> General Mathieson coupled in the cause list. This
+man was in the hall talking to his professional advisers, and Nichol,
+walking close to him, to see if he could recognize the man whom he had
+last seen carried wounded into Benares, at once recognized in the
+supposed John Simcoe the deserter and thief, Sergeant Sanderson. He
+passed him two or three times, to assure himself that he was not
+mistaken. Happily the deserter had a mark that was ineffaceable; he had,
+as a recruit, let off his rifle, and the ball had passed through the
+fleshy part of the forearm, leaving there, as Sergeant Nichol has
+informed me, an ineffaceable scar, blackened by powder. If this man is
+not Sergeant Sanderson, and is the long-lost John Simcoe, he has but to
+pull up the sleeve of his left arm and show that it is without scar."</p>
+
+<p>The man did not move; he was half stunned by the sudden and terrible
+exposure of the whole of his plans. As he did not rise the counsel said:</p>
+
+<p>"My lord, I must ask that you give an order for the arrest of this man,
+William Sanderson, as a deserter and a thief; also upon the charge of
+conspiring, with others, the abduction of Walter Rivington."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, brother Herbert," the judge said, as he saw that the accused
+made no motion to answer the challenge of the counsel. "Tipstaff, take
+that man into custody on the charge of aiding in the abduction of Walter
+Rivington. As to the other charge, I shall communicate with the
+authorities of the India Office, and leave it to them to prosecute if
+they choose to do so. After this lapse of years they may not think it
+worth while to do so, especially as the man is in custody on a still
+graver charge."</p>
+
+<p>The tipstaff moved toward the man, who roused himself with a great
+effort, snatched a small glass ball from a pocket inside his waistcoat,
+thrust it between his teeth, and bit it into fragments, and, as the
+officer laid his hand upon him, fell down in a fit. Dr. Leeds, who had
+come in just as the trial began, rose to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a doctor, my lord. My name is Leeds, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> opinion I held of
+the cause of General Mathieson's death is now proved to be correct. The
+symptoms of this fit are precisely similar to those of General
+Mathieson's seizure, and this man has taken some of the very poison with
+which he murdered the General."</p>
+
+<p>For a minute Sanderson struggled in violent convulsions, then, as Dr.
+Leeds bent over him, his head fell back suddenly. Dr. Leeds felt his
+pulse and then rose to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"My lord," he said, "the case is finally closed. He has gone to a higher
+judgment seat."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A LETTER FROM ABROAD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Three days later, when Hilda returned from a drive, she found that Dr.
+Leeds was in the drawing room with Miss Purcell and Netta, whose face at
+once told what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"I have asked the question at last, Miss Covington," Dr. Leeds said,
+coming forward to shake hands, "and Netta has consented to be my wife."</p>
+
+<p>"I am heartily glad. That you would ask her I knew from what you told
+me; and although I knew nothing of her thoughts in the matter, I felt
+sure that she would hardly say no. Netta, darling, I am glad. Long ago I
+thought and hoped that this would come about. It seemed to me that it
+would be such a happy thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Auntie said just the same thing," Netta said, smiling through her
+tears, as Hilda embraced her. "As you both knew, you ought to have given
+me some little hint; then I should not have been taken quite by
+surprise. I might have pretended that I did not quite know my own mind,
+and ask for time to think it over, instead of surrendering at once."</p>
+
+<p>"But you did make a condition, Netta," Dr. Leeds laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a condition&mdash;a request, if you like, but certainly not a
+condition."</p>
+
+<p>"Netta said that her heart was greatly set on the work she had always
+looked forward to, and she hoped that I should let her do something in
+that way still. Of course I have heard you both talk over that institute
+a score of times, and I was as much impressed as yourselves with the
+enormous boon that it would be. I should be sorry indeed that the plan
+should be given<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> up. I need hardly say that in the half hour we have had
+together we did not go deeply into it, but we will have a general
+council about it, as soon as we can get down to plain matter of fact.
+Netta can talk it over with you, and I can talk it over with her; and
+then we can hold a meeting, with Miss Purcell as president of the
+committee."</p>
+
+<p>But matters were not finally settled until the ladies were established
+at Holmwood with Walter, and Dr. Leeds came down for a short holiday of
+two or three days. Then the arrangements were made to the satisfaction
+of all parties. A large house, standing in grounds of considerable
+extent, was to be taken in the suburbs of London, Netta was to be lady
+superintendent, her aunt assisting in the domestic arrangements. Miss
+Purcell insisted that her savings should be used for furnishing the
+house. Hilda was to put in as a loan, for the others would receive it in
+no other way, five thousand pounds for working capital. She determined
+to take a house near the institute, so that she could run in and out and
+assist Netta in teaching. Dr. Leeds was to drive up every morning to
+Harley Street, where his work was over by two o'clock, except when he
+had to attend consultations. No arrangements would be necessary about
+the house, as this was the residence of his partner, and he only had his
+own set of rooms there. He was steadily making his way, and to his
+surprise already found that the report in the papers of his successful
+diagnosis of the cause of General Mathieson's death had resulted in a
+considerable addition to his practice, as a number of people consulted
+him on obscure, and in many cases fanciful, maladies, in which they had
+come to entertain the idea that they were suffering from the effects of
+poison.</p>
+
+<p>Now that she was going to assist at the institution and had no intention
+of entering society again in London, Hilda had no longer any objection
+to the power she had acquired being known, and, when questioned on the
+subject of the trial, made no secret of the manner in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> she had
+made the discovery at the opera, and mentioned that she was going to
+assist in an institution that was about to be established for teaching
+the system by which she had benefited to deaf children.</p>
+
+<p>The matter excited considerable interest in medical circles, and by the
+time that the institution was ready the number of applicants was greater
+than could be entertained. By this time Dr. Leeds and Netta were
+married. The engagement was a short one, and the wedding took place
+within two months of their going down into the country with Hilda. Being
+anxious that as many as possible should participate in the benefits of
+the system, the doors of the institute were at once opened to outdoor
+pupils, who were boarded in the neighborhood. Six of Netta's pupils in
+Hanover were brought over as teachers, and a few weeks from its being
+opened the institution was in full swing. As Dr. Leeds wished that no
+profit whatever be made by the undertaking, in which desire he was
+cordially joined by his wife and Hilda, the charges were extremely low,
+except in the case of children of wealthy parents, the surplus in their
+case being devoted to taking in, free of payment, children of the poor.</p>
+
+<p>Before Netta's marriage the interest in the Mathieson case was revived
+by the appearance of a letter in the principal London papers. All search
+for the man who had assisted Sanderson in the abduction of the child had
+been fruitless. He had probably taken steps to receive information of
+how matters were going on in court, and long before an officer arrived
+at Rose Cottage with a warrant for his arrest he had left, and the
+police had failed to find any trace of his subsequent movements. The
+letter bore the simple heading, "United States," and ran as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"To the Editor.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>: I scarcely know why I write this letter, but I suppose even
+an habitual criminal does not care to remain under an unjust
+suspicion. I acknowledge that I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> come under that category, and that
+my life has been spent in crime, although never once has suspicion
+attached to me, until I became mixed up in the Simcoe-Mathieson
+affair. I wish to state solemnly that I was absolutely ignorant
+that the name John Simcoe was an assumed one. That was the name he
+gave me when I first knew him, and I believed that he was, as he
+represented, the man who had saved General Mathieson's life from a
+tiger. That he had subsequently lived a rough life in the South
+Seas I was aware, for he came to me with a message sent by a
+brother of mine when at the point of death. The man had been a chum
+of his out there and had gallantly carried him off when he had
+received the wound from which he subsequently died, in a fight with
+a large body of natives. I have absolute assurance that this was
+true, for my brother would never have sent anyone to me except
+under altogether extraordinary circumstances. The man called on me
+when he first returned to England, but I saw little of him for the
+first two years, and then he came to me and said that he had looked
+up General Mathieson, and that the General had taken to him, and
+put him down in his will for ten thousand pounds. He said that
+General Mathieson was worth a hundred thousand, and that he had
+planned to get the whole. Not being in any way squeamish, I agreed
+at once to help him in any way in my power.</p>
+
+<p>"His plan briefly was that he should obtain a fresh will,
+appointing him sole heir to the General's estate in the event of a
+boy of six or seven years old dying before he came of age. He had
+somehow obtained a copy of the General's will, and had notes in the
+General's handwriting. There were two things to be done, first that
+he should get instructions for the draft of the will drawn up in
+precise imitation of the General's handwriting, containing all the
+provisions of the former will, except that he was made heir in
+place of Miss Covington in the event of his grandson's death. There
+are a dozen men in London who can imitate handwriting so as to
+defy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> detection, and I introduced him to one of them, who drew up
+the instructions. Then I introduced him to a man who is the
+cleverest I know&mdash;and I know most of them&mdash;at getting up disguises.</p>
+
+<p>"He had already ascertained that the General had on one occasion
+been for a minute or two in the offices of Messrs. Halstead &amp;
+James. They would, therefore, have a vague, and only a vague,
+remembrance of him. He had obtained a photograph of the General,
+who was about his own height and figure, and although there was no
+facial resemblance, the man, by the aid of this photograph,
+converted him into a likeness of the General that would pass with
+anyone who had seen him but once casually. So disguised, he went to
+the offices of these solicitors, told a plausible story, and gave
+them the written instructions. In the meantime he had been
+practicing the General's signature, and being a good penman had got
+to imitate it so accurately that I doubt if any expert would have
+suspected the forgery. The lawyers were completely deceived, and he
+had only to go there again three days later, in the same disguise,
+and sign the will.</p>
+
+<p>"So much for that. Then came the General's seizure. I most solemnly
+declare that I had no shadow of suspicion that it was not a natural
+fit, and that if I had had such a suspicion I should have chucked
+the whole thing over at once, for though, as I have said, an
+habitual criminal, that is to say, one who plans and directs what
+may be called sensational robberies, I have always insisted that
+the men who have worked under me should go unprovided with arms of
+any kind, and in no case in which I have been concerned has a drop
+of blood been shed. As to the carrying off of the boy, it was
+entirely managed by me. I had agents, men on whom I could rely, as
+a word of mine would have sent them to penal servitude for life. We
+knew that suspicion would fall upon Simcoe, and that it was
+important that he should be able to account for every hour of his
+time. Therefore, on the day the child was carried away he went down
+to Stowmarket,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> while I managed the affair and took the child down
+to the place where he was hidden in the Essex marshes. It was I
+also who made the arrangements by which the body of the child about
+the same age, who had died in the workhouse, was placed in the
+canal in some of the clothes the missing heir had worn when taken
+away. I owe it to myself to say that in all this there was no
+question of payment between this man and myself. I am well off, and
+I acted simply to oblige a man who had stood by the side of my
+brother to death. Whether his name was Simcoe or Sanderson mattered
+nothing to me; I should have aided him just the same. But I did
+believe that it was Simcoe, and that, having risked his life to
+save that of General Mathieson, he had as good a right as another
+to his inheritance. He never hinted to me that it would be a good
+thing if the child was got rid of altogether. He knew well enough
+that if he had done so I would not only have had nothing to do with
+it, but that I would have taken steps to have put a stop to his
+game altogether. Now I have only to add that, having fairly stated
+the part that I bore in this affair, I have nothing more to say,
+except that I have now retired from business altogether, and that
+this is the last that the world will hear of William Sanderson's
+accomplice."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>For four or five years Hilda Covington devoted much of her time to
+assisting Netta Leeds in her work, but at the end of that time she
+married. Her husband was a widower, whose wife had died in her first
+confinement. His name was Desmond. He sold out of the army, and Hilda
+never had reason to regret that she had played the part of a gypsy woman
+at Lady Moulton's fête.</p>
+
+<p>Walter grew up strong and healthy, and is one of the most popular men of
+his county. His early love for the water developed, and he served his
+time as a midshipman in one of Her Majesty's ships, and passed as a
+lieutenant. He then retired from the service and bought a fine yacht,
+which he himself commanded. His friends were never able to understand
+why he allowed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> his nominal skipper, William Nibson, to take his wife on
+board, and gave up two cabins for their accommodation. The barge
+<i>Walter</i> passed into the hands of Joshua, who, for many years, sailed
+her most successfully. He is now an elderly man, and his four sons are
+skippers of as many fine barges, all his own property.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE FAMOUS HENTY BOOKS</h2>
+
+<h3>The Boys' Own library</h3>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/ad1.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<p>12mo, Cloth</p>
+
+
+<p>G. A. Henty has long held the field as the most popular boys' author.
+Age after age of heroic deeds has been the subject of his pen, and the
+knights of old seem very real in his pages. Always wholesome and manly,
+always heroic and of high ideals, his books are more than popular
+wherever the English language is spoken.</p>
+
+<p>Each volume is printed on excellent paper from new large-type plates,
+bound in cloth, assorted colors, with an attractive ink and gold stamp.
+<b>Price 50 Cents.</b></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><b>A Final Reckoning</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of Bush Life in Australia<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>Among the Malay Pirates</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>By England's Aid</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Freeing of the Netherlands<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>By Right of Conquest</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of Cortez in Mexico<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>Bravest of the Brave</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of Peterborough in Spain<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>By Pike and Dyke</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Rise of the Dutch Republic<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>By Sheer Pluck</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Ashantee War<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>Bonnie Prince Charlie</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>Captain Bayley's Heir</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Gold Fields of California<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>Cat of Bubastes</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Story of Ancient Egypt<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>Colonel Thorndyke's Secret</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>Cornet of Horse</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of Marlborough's Wars<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>Facing Death</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Coal Mines<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>Friends, though Divided</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Civil War in England<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><b>For Name and Fame</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of Afghan Warfare<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>For the Temple</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>In Freedom's Cause</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Story of Wallace and Bruce<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>In the Reign of Terror</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Adventures of a Westminster Boy<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>In Times of Peril   A Tale of India</b><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Jack Archer</b>   A Tale of the Crimea<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Lion of St. Mark</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of Venice in the XIV. Century<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Lion of the North</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Maori and Settler</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the New Zealand War<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Orange and Green</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>One of the 28th</b>   A Tale of Waterloo<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Out on the Pampas</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of South America<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Rujub the Juggler</b><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>St. George for England</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of Crécy and Poictiers<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Sturdy and Strong</b><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>True to the Old Flag</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Revolution<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>The Golden Cañon</b><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>The Lost Heir</b><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>The Young Colonists</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Zulu and Boer Wars<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>The Young Midshipman</b><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>The Dragon and the Raven</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of King Alfred<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>The Boy Knight</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Crusades<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Through the Fray</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Story of the Luddite Riots<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Under Drake's Flag</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Spanish Main<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>With Wolfe in Canada</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Tale of Winning a Continent<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>With Clive in India</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Beginning of an Empire<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>With Lee in Virginia</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Story of the American Civil War<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Young Carthaginian</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Story of the Times of Hannibal<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Young Buglers</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Peninsular War<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0"><b>Young Franc-Tireurs</b><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A Tale of the Franco-Prussian War<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>FLAG OF FREEDOM SERIES</h2>
+
+<h3>By CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL</h3>
+
+<p>Volumes Illustrated, Bound in Cloth, with a very Attractive Cover, Price
+$1.25 per Volume, or Set of Five in Box for $6.00</p>
+
+
+<p><b>BOYS OF THE FORT;</b> or, A Young Captain's Pluck</p>
+
+<p>Captain Bonehill is at his best when relating a tale of military
+adventure, and this story of stirring doings at one of our well-known
+forts in the Wild West is of more than ordinary interest. The young
+captain had a difficult task to accomplish, but he had been drilled to
+do his duty, and he did it thoroughly. Gives a good insight into army
+life of to-day.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>THE YOUNG BANDMASTER;</b> or, Concert Stage and Battlefield</p>
+
+<p>In this tale Captain Bonehill touches upon a new field. The hero is a
+youth with a passion for music, who, compelled to make his own way in
+the world, becomes a cornetist in an orchestra, and works his way up,
+first, to the position of a soloist, and then to that of leader of a
+brass band. He is carried off to sea and falls in with a secret-service
+cutter bound for Cuba, and while in that island joins a military band
+which accompanies our soldiers in the never-to-be-forgotten attack on
+Santiago. A mystery connected with the hero's inheritance adds to the
+interest of the tale.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>OFF FOR HAWAII;</b> or, The Mystery of a Great Volcano</p>
+
+<p>Here we have fact and romance cleverly interwoven. Several boys start on
+a tour of the Hawaiian Islands. They have heard that there is a treasure
+located in the vicinity of Kilauea, the largest active volcano in the
+world, and go in search of it. Their numerous adventures will be
+followed with much interest.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>A SAILOR BOY WITH DEWEY;</b> or, Afloat in the Philippines</p>
+
+<p>The story of Dewey's victory in Manila Bay will never grow old, but here
+we have it told in a new form&mdash;not as those in command witnessed the
+contest, but as it appeared to a real, live American youth who was in
+the navy at the time. Many adventures in Manila and in the interior
+follow, giving true-to-life scenes from this remote portion of the
+globe. A book that should be in every boy's library.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>WHEN SANTIAGO FELL;</b> or, The War Adventures of Two Chums</p>
+
+<p>Captain Bonehill has never penned a better tale than this stirring story
+of adventures in Cuba. Two boys, an American and his Cuban chum, leave
+New York to join their parents in the interior of Cuba. The war between
+Spain and the Cubans is on, and the boys are detained at Santiago de
+Cuba, but escape by crossing the bay at night. Many adventures between
+the lines follow, and a good pen-picture of General Garcia is given. The
+American lad, with others, is captured and cast into a dungeon in
+Santiago; and then follows the never-to-be-forgotten campaign in Cuba
+under General Shafter. How the hero finally escapes makes reading no
+wide-awake boy will want to miss.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>Press Opinions of Captain Bonehill's Books for Boys</b></p>
+
+<p>"Captain Bonehill's stories will always be popular with our boys, for
+the reason that they are thoroughly up-to-date and true to life. As a
+writer of outdoor tales he has no rival."&mdash;<i>Bright Days.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The story is by Captain Ralph Bonehill, and that is all that need be
+said about it, for all of our readers know that the captain is one of
+America's best story-tellers, so far as stories for young people
+go."&mdash;<i>Young People of America.</i></p>
+
+<p>"We understand that Captain Bonehill will soon be turning from sporting
+stories to tales of the war. This field is one in which he should feel
+thoroughly at home. We are certain that the boys will look eagerly for
+the Bonehill war tales."&mdash;<i>Weekly Messenger.</i></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>MRS. L. T. MEADE'S<br />
+FAMOUS BOOKS FOR GIRLS</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/ad3.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<p>12mo, Cloth, Price $1.25</p>
+
+
+<p>There are few more favorite authors with American girls than Mrs. L. T.
+Meade, whose copyright works can only be had from us. Essentially a
+writer for the home, with the loftiest aims and purest sentiments, Mrs.
+Meade's books possess the merit of utility as well as the means of
+amusement. They are girls' books&mdash;written for girls, and fitted for
+every home.</p>
+
+<p>Here will be found no maudlin nonsense as to the affections. There are
+no counts in disguise nor castles in Spain. It is pure and wholesome
+literature of a high order with a lofty ideal.</p>
+
+<p>The volumes are all copyright, excellently printed with clear, open
+type, uniformly bound in best cloth, with ink and gold stamp.</p>
+
+
+<p>THE FOLLOWING ARE THE TITLES</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The Children of Wilton Chase<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Bashful Fifteen<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Betty: A Schoolgirl<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Four on an Island<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Girls New and Old<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Out of the Fashion<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">The Palace Beautiful<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Polly, a New-Fashioned Girl<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Red Rose and Tiger Lily<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Temptation of Olive Latimer<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">A Ring of Rubies<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">A Sweet Girl Graduate<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">A World of Girls<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Good Luck<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">A Girl in Ten Thousand<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">A Young Mutineer<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Wild Kitty<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">The Children's Pilgrimage<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">The Girls of St. Wode's<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Light o' the Morning<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Bad Little Hannah<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Rebellion of Lill Carrington<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">A Little Mother to the Others<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">Merry Girls of England<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p class="center">THE MERSHON COMPANY<br />
+156 Fifth Ave., New York<br />
+Rahway, N. J.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Heir, by G. A. Henty
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST HEIR ***
+
+***** This file should be named 36975-h.htm or 36975-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Heir, by G. A. Henty
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Lost Heir
+
+Author: G. A. Henty
+
+Release Date: August 5, 2011 [EBook #36975]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST HEIR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                            THE LOST HEIR
+
+                            BY G. A. HENTY
+
+AUTHOR OF "STURDY AND STRONG," "RUJUB, THE JUGGLER," "BY ENGLAND'S AID,"
+ETC., ETC.
+
+
+    THE MERSHON COMPANY
+    RAHWAY, N. J.
+    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+       I. A BRAVE ACTION                      1
+
+      II. IN THE SOUTH SEAS                  14
+
+     III. A DEAF GIRL                        27
+
+      IV. THE GYPSY                          40
+
+       V. A GAMBLING DEN                     52
+
+      VI. JOHN SIMCOE                        65
+
+     VII. JOHN SIMCOE'S FRIEND               77
+
+    VIII. GENERAL MATHIESON'S SEIZURE        90
+
+      IX. A STRANGE ILLNESS                 102
+
+       X. TWO HEAVY BLOWS                   112
+
+      XI. A STARTLING WILL                  124
+
+     XII. DR. LEEDS SPEAKS                  137
+
+    XIII. NETTA VISITS STOWMARKET           150
+
+     XIV. AN ADVERTISEMENT                  164
+
+      XV. VERY BAD NEWS                     176
+
+     XVI. A FRESH CLEW                      193
+
+    XVII. NETTA ACTS INDEPENDENTLY          206
+
+   XVIII. DOWN IN THE MARSHES               220
+
+     XIX. A PARTIAL SUCCESS                 233
+
+      XX. A DINNER PARTY                    247
+
+     XXI. A BOX AT THE OPERA                262
+
+    XXII. NEARING THE GOAL                  274
+
+   XXIII. WALTER                            287
+
+    XXIV. A NEW BARGE                       301
+
+     XXV. A CRUSHING EXPOSURE               316
+
+    XXVI. A LETTER FROM ABROAD              329
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: SIMCOE RAN IN WITH HIS KNIFE AND ATTACKED THE TIGER.
+_--Page 4._]
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LOST HEIR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A BRAVE ACTION.
+
+
+A number of soldiers were standing in the road near the bungalow of
+Brigadier-General Mathieson, the officer in command of the force in the
+cantonments of Benares and the surrounding district.
+
+"They are coming now, I think," one sergeant said to another. "It is a
+bad business. They say the General is terribly hurt, and it was thought
+better to bring him and the other fellow who was mixed up in it down in
+doolies. I heard Captain Harvey say in the orderly-room that they have
+arranged relays of bearers every five miles all the way down. He is a
+good fellow is the General, and we should all miss him. He is not one of
+the sort who has everything comfortable himself and don't care a rap how
+the soldiers get on: he sees to the comfort of everyone and spends his
+money freely, too. He don't seem to care what he lays out in making the
+quarters of the married men comfortable, and in getting any amount of
+ice for the hospital, and extra punkawallahs in the barrack rooms during
+the hot season. He goes out and sees to everything himself. Why, on the
+march I have known him, when all the doolies were full, give up his own
+horse to a man who had fallen out. He has had bad luck too; lost his
+wife years ago by cholera, and he has got no one to care for but his
+girl. She was only a few months old when her mother died. Of course she
+was sent off to England, and has been there ever since. He must be a
+rich man, besides his pay and allowances; but it aint every rich man who
+spends his money as he does. There won't be a dry eye in the cantonment
+if he goes under."
+
+"How was it the other man got hurt?"
+
+"Well, I hear that the tiger sprang on to the General's elephant and
+seized him by the leg. They both went off together, and the brute
+shifted its hold to the shoulder, and carried him into the jungle; then
+the other fellow slipped off his elephant and ran after the tiger. He
+got badly mauled too; but he killed the brute and saved the General's
+life."
+
+"By Jove! that was a plucky thing. Who was he?"
+
+"Why, he was the chap who was walking backwards and forwards with the
+General when the band was playing yesterday evening. Several of the men
+remarked how like he was to you, Sanderson. I noticed it, too. There
+certainly was a strong likeness."
+
+"Yes, some of the fellows were saying so," Sanderson replied. "He passed
+close to me, and I saw that he was about my height and build, but of
+course I did not notice the likeness; a man does not know his own face
+much. Anyhow, he only sees his full face, and doesn't know how he looks
+sideways. He is a civilian, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes, I believe so; I know that the General is putting him up at his
+quarters. He has been here about a week. I think he is some man from
+England, traveling, I suppose, to see the world. I heard the Adjutant
+speak of him as Mr. Simcoe when he was talking about the affair."
+
+"Of course they will take him to the General's bungalow?"
+
+"No; he is going to the next. Major Walker is away on leave, and the
+doctor says that it is better that they should be in different
+bungalows, because then if one gets delirious and noisy he won't disturb
+the other. Dr. Hunter is going to take up his quarters there to look
+after him, with his own servants and a couple of hospital orderlies."
+
+By this time several officers were gathered at the entrance to the
+General's bungalow, two mounted troopers having brought in the news a
+few minutes before that the doolies were within a mile.
+
+They came along now, each carried by four men, maintaining a swift but
+smooth and steady pace, and abstaining from the monotonous chant usually
+kept up. A doctor was riding by the side of the doolies, and two mounted
+orderlies with baskets containing ice and surgical dressings rode fifty
+paces in the rear. The curtains of the doolies had been removed to allow
+of a free passage of air, and mosquito curtains hung round to prevent
+insects annoying the sufferers.
+
+There was a low murmur of sympathy from the soldiers as the doolies
+passed them, and many a muttered "God bless you, sir, and bring you
+through it all right." Then, as the injured men were carried into the
+two bungalows, most of the soldiers strolled off, some, however,
+remaining near in hopes of getting a favorable report from an orderly or
+servant. A group of officers remained under the shade of a tree near
+until the surgeon who had ridden in with the doolies came out.
+
+"What is the report, McManus?" one of them asked, as he approached.
+
+"There is no change since I sent off my report last night," he said.
+"The General is very badly hurt; I certainly should not like to give an
+opinion at present whether he will get over it or not. If he does it
+will be a very narrow shave. He was insensible till we lifted him into
+the doolie at eight o'clock yesterday evening, when the motion seemed to
+rouse him a little, and he just opened his eyes; and each time we
+changed bearers he has had a little ice between his lips, and a drink of
+lime juice and water with a dash of brandy in it. He has known me each
+time, and whispered a word or two, asking after the other."
+
+"And how is he?"
+
+"I have no doubt that he will do; that is, of course, if fever does not
+set in badly. His wounds are not so severe as the General's, and he is a
+much younger man, and, as I should say, with a good constitution. If
+there is no complication he ought to be about again in a month's time.
+He is perfectly sensible. Let him lie quiet for a day or two; after that
+it would be as well if some of you who have met him at the General's
+would drop in occasionally for a short chat with him; but of course we
+must wait to see if there is going to be much fever."
+
+"And did it happen as they say, doctor? The dispatch told us very little
+beyond the fact that the General was thrown from his elephant, just as
+the tiger sprang, and that it seized him and carried him into the
+jungle; that Simcoe slipped off his pad and ran in and attacked the
+tiger; that he saved the General's life and killed the animal, but is
+sadly hurt himself."
+
+"That is about it, except that he did not kill the tiger. Metcalf,
+Colvin, and Smith all ran in, and firing together knocked it over stone
+dead. It was an extraordinarily plucky action of Simcoe, for he had
+emptied his rifle, and had nothing but it and a knife when he ran in."
+
+"You don't say so! By Jove! that was an extraordinary act of pluck; one
+would almost say of madness, if he hadn't succeeded in drawing the brute
+off Mathieson, and so gaining time for the others to come up. It was a
+miracle that he wasn't killed. Well, we shall not have quite so easy a
+time of it for a bit. Of course Murdock, as senior officer, will take
+command of the brigade, but he won't be half as considerate for our
+comfort as Mathieson has been. He is rather a scoffer at what he calls
+new-fangled ways, and he will be as likely to march the men out in the
+heat of the day as at five in the morning."
+
+The two sergeants who had been talking walked back together to their
+quarters. Both of them were on the brigade staff. Sanderson was the
+Paymaster's clerk, Nichol worked in the orderly-room. At the sergeants'
+mess the conversation naturally turned on the tiger hunt and its
+consequences.
+
+"I have been in some tough fights," one of the older men said, "and I
+don't know that I ever felt badly scared--one hasn't time to think of
+that when one is at work--but to rush in against a wounded tiger with
+nothing but an empty gun and a hunting-knife is not the sort of job
+that I should like to tackle. It makes one's blood run cold to think of
+it. I consider that everyone in the brigade ought to subscribe a day's
+pay to get something to give that man, as a token of our admiration for
+his pluck and of our gratitude for his having saved General Mathieson's
+life."
+
+There was a general expression of approval at the idea. Then Sanderson
+said:
+
+"I think it is a thing that ought to be done, but it is not for us to
+begin it. If we hear of anything of that sort done by the officers, two
+or three of us might go up and say that it was the general wish among
+the non-coms. and men to take a share in it; but it would never do for
+us to begin."
+
+"That is right enough; the officers certainly would not like such a
+thing to begin from below. We had better wait and see whether there is
+any movement that way. I dare say that it will depend a great deal on
+whether the General gets over it or not."
+
+The opportunity did not come. At the end of five weeks Mr. Simcoe was
+well enough to travel by easy stages down to the coast, acting upon the
+advice that he should, for the present, give up all idea of making a
+tour through India, and had better take a sea voyage to Australia or the
+Cape, or, better still, take his passage home at once. Had the day and
+hour of his leaving been known, there was not a white soldier in the
+cantonments who would not have turned out to give him a hearty cheer,
+but although going on well the doctor said that all excitement should be
+avoided. It would be quite enough for him to have to say good-by to the
+friends who had been in the habit of coming in to talk with him daily,
+but anything like a public greeting by the men would be likely to upset
+him. It was not, therefore, until Simcoe was some way down the river
+that his departure became known to the troops.
+
+Six weeks later there was a sensation in the cantonments. General
+Mathieson had so far recovered that he was able to be carried up to the
+hills, and the camp was still growling at the irritating orders and
+regulations of his temporary successor in command, when the news spread
+that Staff Pay-Sergeant Sanderson had deserted. He had obtained a
+fortnight's furlough, saying that he wanted to pay a visit to some old
+comrades at Allahabad; at the end of the fortnight he had not returned,
+and the Staff Paymaster had gone strictly into his accounts and found
+that there was a deficiency of over L300, which he himself would of
+course be called upon to make good. He had, indeed, helped to bring
+about the deficiency by placing entire confidence in the sergeant and by
+neglecting to check his accounts regularly.
+
+Letters were at once written to the heads of the police at Calcutta and
+Bombay, and to all the principal places on the roads to those ports; but
+it was felt that, with such a start as he had got, the chances were all
+in his favor.
+
+It was soon ascertained at Allahabad that he had not been there.
+Inquiries at the various dak-bungalows satisfied the authorities that he
+had not traveled by land. If he had gone down to Calcutta he had gone by
+boat; but he might have started on the long land journey across to
+Bombay, or have even made for Madras. No distinct clew, however, could
+be obtained.
+
+The Paymaster obtained leave and went down to Calcutta and inspected all
+the lists of passengers and made inquiries as to them; but there were
+then but few white men in the country, save those holding civil or
+military positions and the merchants at the large ports, therefore there
+was not much difficulty in ascertaining the identity of everyone who had
+left Calcutta during the past month, unless, indeed, he had taken a
+passage in some native craft to Rangoon or possibly Singapore.
+
+On his arrival at Calcutta he heard of an event which caused deep and
+general regret when known at Benares, and for a time threw even the
+desertion of Sergeant Sanderson into the shade. The _Nepaul_, in which
+John Simcoe had sailed, had been lost in a typhoon in the Bay of Bengal
+when but six days out. There was no possible doubt as to his fate, for a
+vessel half a mile distant had seen her founder, but could render no
+assistance, being herself dismasted and unmanageable and the sea so
+tremendous that no boat could have lived in it for a moment. As both
+ships belonged to the East India Company, and were well known to each
+other, the captain and officials of the _Ceylon_ had no doubt whatever
+as to her identity, and, indeed, the remains of a boat bearing the
+_Nepaul's_ name were picked up a few days later near the spot where she
+had gone down.
+
+"It's hard luck, that is what I call it," Sergeant Nichol said with
+great emphasis when the matter was talked over in the sergeants' mess.
+"Here is a man who faces a wounded tiger with nothing but a
+hunting-knife, and recovers from his wounds; here is the General, whose
+life he saved, going on first-rate, and yet he loses his life himself,
+drowned at sea. I call that about as hard luck as anything I have heard
+of."
+
+"Hard luck indeed!" another said. "If he had died of his wounds it would
+have been only what might have been expected; but to get over them and
+then to get drowned almost as soon as he had started is, as you say,
+Nichol, very hard luck. I am sure the General will be terribly cut up
+about it. I heard Major Butler tell Captain Thompson that he had heard
+from Dr. Hunter that when the General began to get round and heard that
+Simcoe had gone, while he was lying there too ill to know anything about
+it, he regularly broke down and cried like a child; and I am sure the
+fact that he will never have the chance of thanking him now will hurt
+him as bad as those tiger's claws."
+
+"And so there is no news of Sanderson?"
+
+"Not that I have heard. Maybe he has got clean away; but I should say
+it's more likely that he is lying low in some sailors' haunt until the
+matter blows over. Then, like enough, he will put on sea-togs and ship
+under another name before the mast in some trader knocking about among
+the islands, and by the time she comes back he could take a passage home
+without questions being asked. He is a sharp fellow is Sanderson. I
+never quite liked him myself, but I never thought he was a rogue. It
+will teach Captain Smalley to be more careful in future. I heard that he
+was going home on his long leave in the spring, but I suppose he will
+not be able to do so now for a year or so; three hundred pounds is a big
+sum to have to fork out."
+
+The news of the loss of the _Nepaul_, with all hands, did indeed hit
+General Mathieson very heavily, and for a time seriously delayed the
+progress that he was making towards recovery.
+
+"It's bad enough to think," he said, "that I shall never have an
+opportunity of thanking that gallant fellow for my life; but it is even
+worse to know that my rescue has brought about his death, for had it not
+been for that he would have by this time been up at Delhi or in Oude
+instead of lying at the bottom of the sea. I would give half my fortune
+to grasp his hand again and tell him what I feel."
+
+General Mathieson's ill luck stuck to him. He gained strength so slowly
+that he was ordered home, and it was three years before he rejoined.
+Four years later his daughter came out to him, and for a time his home
+in Delhi, where he was now stationed, was a happy one. The girl showed
+no desire to marry, and refused several very favorable offers; but after
+she had been out four years she married a rising young civilian who was
+also stationed at Delhi. The union was a happy one, except that the
+first two children born to them died in infancy. They were girls. The
+third was a boy, who at the age of eight months was sent home under the
+charge of an officer's wife returning with her children to England. When
+they arrived there he was placed in charge of Mrs. Covington, a niece of
+the General's. But before he reached the shores of England he was an
+orphan. An epidemic of cholera broke out at the station at which his
+father, who was now a deputy collector, was living, and he and his wife
+were among the first victims of the scourge.
+
+General Mathieson was now a major-general, and in command of the troops
+in the Calcutta district. This blow decided him to resign his command
+and return to England. He was now sixty; the climate of India had suited
+him, and he was still a hale, active man. Being generally popular he was
+soon at home in London, where he took a house in Hyde Park Gardens and
+became a regular frequenter of the Oriental and East Indian United
+Service Clubs, of which he had been for years a member, went a good deal
+into society, and when at home took a lively interest in his grandson,
+often running down to his niece's place, near Warwick, to see how he was
+getting on.
+
+The ayah who had come with the child from India had been sent back a few
+months after they arrived, for his mother had written to Mrs. Covington
+requesting that he should have a white nurse. "The native servants," she
+wrote, "spoil the children dreadfully, and let them have entirely their
+own way, and the consequence is that they grow up domineering,
+bad-tempered, and irritable. I have seen so many cases of it here that
+Herbert and I have quite decided that our child shall not be spoilt in
+this way, but shall be brought up in England as English children are, to
+obey their nurses and to do as they are ordered."
+
+As Mrs. Covington's was a large country house the child was no trouble;
+an excellent nurse was obtained, and the boy throve under her care.
+
+The General now much regretted having remained so many years in India,
+and if an old comrade remarked, "I never could make out why you stuck to
+it so long, Mathieson; it was ridiculous for a man with a large private
+fortune, such as you have," he would reply, "I can only suppose it was
+because I was an old fool. But, you see, I had no particular reason for
+coming home. I lost my only sister three years after I went out, and had
+never seen her only daughter, my niece Mary Covington. Of course I hoped
+for another bout of active service, and when the chance came at last up
+in the north, there was I stuck down in Calcutta. If it hadn't been for
+Jane I should certainly have given it up in disgust when I found I was
+practically shelved. But she always used to come down and stay with me
+for a month or two in the cool season, and as she was the only person
+in the world I cared for, I held on from year to year, grumbling of
+course, as pretty well every Anglo-Indian does, but without having
+sufficient resolution to throw it up. I ought to have stayed at home for
+good after that mauling I got from the tiger; but, you see, I was never
+really myself while I was at home. I did not feel up to going to clubs,
+and could not enter into London life at all, but spent most of my time
+at my own place, which was within a drive of Mary Covington's, who had
+then just married.
+
+"Well, you see, I got deucedly tired of life down there. I knew nothing
+whatever of farming, and though I tried to get up an interest in it I
+failed altogether. Of course there was a certain amount of society of a
+sort, and everyone called, and one had to go out to dinner-parties. But
+such dinner-parties! Why, a dinner in India was worth a score of them.
+Most of them were very stiff and formal, and after the women had gone
+upstairs, the men talked of nothing but hunting and shooting and crops
+and cattle; so at last I could stand it no longer, but threw up six
+months of my furlough and went out again. Yes, of course I had Jane, but
+at that time she was but fourteen, and was a girl at school; and when I
+talked of bringing her home and having a governess, everyone seemed to
+think that it would be the worst thing possible for her, and no doubt
+they were right, for the life would have been as dull for her as it was
+for me.
+
+"Of course now it is different. I feel as young and as well as I did
+twenty years ago, and can thoroughly enjoy my life in London, though I
+still fight very shy of the country. It is a satisfaction to me to know
+that things are pretty quiet in India at present, so that I am losing
+nothing that way, and if I were out there I should be only holding
+inspections at Barrakpoor, Dumdum, or on the Maidan at Calcutta. Of
+course it was pleasant enough in its way, for I never felt the heat; but
+as a man gets on in life he doesn't have quite so much enjoyment out of
+it as he used to do. The men around him are a good deal younger than
+himself. He knows all the old messroom jokes, and one bit of scandal is
+like scores of others he has heard in his time.
+
+"I am heartily glad that I have come home. Many of you here are about my
+own standing, and there is plenty to talk about of old friends and old
+days. You were a young ensign when I was a captain, but Bulstrode and I
+got our companies within a few days of each other. Of course he is only
+a lieutenant-colonel, while I am a major-general, but that is because he
+had the good sense to quit the service years ago. There are scores of
+others in the club just about my own standing, and one gets one's rubber
+of whist in the afternoon, and we dine together and run down the cooking
+and wines, although every one of us knows at heart that they are both
+infinitely better than we got in India, except at the clubs in the
+Presidency towns.
+
+"Then, of course, we all agree that the service is going to the dogs,
+that the Sepoys are over-indulged and will some day give us a lot of
+trouble. I keep my liver all right by taking a long ride every morning,
+and altogether I think I can say that I thoroughly enjoy myself."
+
+The General, on his first visit to England, had endeavored, but in vain,
+to find out the family of John Simcoe. He had advertised largely, but
+without effect.
+
+"I want to find them out," he said to his niece; "I owe that man a debt
+of gratitude I can never repay, but doubtless there are some of his
+family who may be in circumstances where I could give them a helping
+hand. There may be young brothers--of course I could get them cadetships
+in the Indian army--maybe portionless sisters."
+
+"But if he was traveling in India for pleasure he must have been a
+well-to-do young fellow. Men cannot wander about in the East without
+having a pretty full purse."
+
+"Yes, no doubt; but I don't fancy it was so in his case, and he said
+casually that he had come in for some money, and, as he had always had a
+great desire to travel, he thought that he could do nothing better than
+spend a year or two in the East, but that he hoped before it was gone
+he should fall on his legs and obtain some sort of employment. He did
+not care much what it was, so that it was not quill-driving. He thought
+that he could turn his hands to most things. I laughed at the time, for
+I was by no means sure that he was in earnest, but I have felt since
+that he must have been. If it had not been so, my advertisements would
+surely have caught the eye of someone who knew his family. A family
+wealthy enough for one of the sons to start on two years' travel must be
+in a fair position, whether in town or country. Had it been so I should
+have heard of it, and therefore I think that what he said must have had
+some foundation in fact. He was certainly a gentleman in manner, and my
+idea now is that he belonged to a middle-class family, probably in some
+provincial town, and that, having come into some money at the death of
+his father or some other relative, he followed his natural bent and
+started on a sort of roving expedition, thinking, as many people do
+think, that India is a land where you have only to stretch out your
+hands and shake the pagoda tree.
+
+"He would have found out his mistake, poor fellow, if he had lived. The
+days are long past when any dashing young adventurer can obtain a post
+of honor in the pay of an Indian Rajah. Still, of course, after what he
+did for me, had he remained in India, and I found that he really wanted
+a berth, I might have done something for him. I know numbers of these
+Indian princes, some of them intimately, and to some I have been of very
+considerable service; and I fancy that I might have got him a berth of
+some kind or other without much difficulty. Or had he made up his mind
+to return to England I would have set him up in any business he had a
+fancy for. He has gone now, and I wish I could pay someone he cared for
+a little of the debt of gratitude I owe him. Well, I have done my best
+and have failed, from no fault of my own; but remember that if ever you
+hear of a family of the name of Simcoe, I want you to make inquiries
+about them, and to give me full particulars concerning them."
+
+But no news ever reached the General on this head, and it was a frequent
+cause of lamentation to him, when he finally settled in town, that
+although he had again advertised he had heard nothing whatever of the
+family of which he was in search.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+IN THE SOUTH SEAS.
+
+
+An island in the Pacific. The sun was shining down from a cloudless sky,
+the sea was breaking on the white beach, there was just sufficient
+breeze to move the leaves of the cocoanut trees that formed a dark band
+behind the sands. A small brig of about a hundred tons' burden lay
+anchored a short distance from the shore. The paint was off in many
+places, and everywhere blistered by the sun. Her sails hung loosely in
+the gaskets, and the slackness of her ropes and her general air of
+untidiness alike showed the absence of any sort of discipline on board.
+
+In front of a rough shanty, built just within the line of shade of the
+cocoanuts, sat three men. Two drunken sailors lay asleep some fifty
+yards away. On the stump of a tree in front of the bench on which the
+three men were sitting were placed several black bottles and three tin
+pannikins, while two gourds filled with water and covered with broad
+banana leaves stood erect in holes dug in the sand.
+
+"I tell you what it is, Atkins, your men are carrying it on too far.
+Bill here, and I, were good friends with the natives; the chief gave us
+wives, and we got on well enough with them. What with the cocoanuts,
+which are free to us all, and the patches of ground to cultivate, we had
+all we wanted, and with the store of beads and bright cotton we brought
+here with us we paid the natives to fish for pearls for us, and have
+collected enough copra to trade for rum and whatever else we want. You
+have got all our copra on board, and a good stock of native trumperies,
+and I should recommend you to be off, both for your own sake and ours.
+Your men have been more or less drunk ever since they came here. I don't
+mind a drinking bout myself now and again, but it does not do to keep
+it up. However, it would be no odds to us whether your men were drunk
+all the time or not if they would but get drunk on board, but they will
+bring the liquor on shore, and then they get quarrelsome, use their
+fists on the natives, and meddle with the women. Now, these fellows are
+quiet and gentle enough if they are left alone and treated fairly, but I
+don't blame them for getting riled up when they are ill-treated, and I
+tell you they are riled up pretty badly now. My woman has spoken to me
+more than once, and from what she says there is likely to be trouble,
+not only for you but for us."
+
+"Well, Sim," the man that he was addressing said, "there is reason
+enough in what you say. I don't care myself a snap for these black
+fellows; a couple of musket-shots would send them all flying. But, you
+see, though I am skipper, the men all have shares and do pretty much as
+they like. At present they like to stay here, and I suppose they will
+stay here till they are tired of it."
+
+"Well, Atkins, if I were in your place I should very soon make a change,
+and if you like, Bill and I will help you. You have got six men; well,
+if you shot three of them the other three would think better of it; and
+if they didn't I would settle them too."
+
+"It is all very well talking like that, Sim. How could I sail the brig
+without hands? If I only kept three of them I should be very
+short-handed, and if I ever did manage to get to port they would lay a
+complaint against me for shooting the others. It is all very well for
+you to talk; you have lived here long enough to know that one can only
+get the very worst class of fellows to sail with one in craft like this
+and for this sort of trade. It pays well if one gets back safely, but
+what with the risk of being cast ashore or being killed by the natives,
+who are savage enough in some of the islands, it stands to reason that a
+man who can get a berth in any other sort of craft won't sail with us.
+But it is just the sort of life to suit chaps like these; it means easy
+work, plenty of loafing about, and if things turn out well a good lump
+of money at the end of the voyage. However, they ought to have had
+enough of it this job; the rum is nearly gone, and if you will come off
+to-morrow I will let you have what remains, though if they are sober I
+doubt if they will let you take it away."
+
+"We will risk that," the third man said. "We are not nice about using
+our pistols, if you are. I was saying to Simcoe here, things are going a
+lot too far. Enough mischief has been done already, and I am by no means
+sure that when you have gone they won't make it hot for us. We are very
+comfortable here, and we are not doing badly, and I don't care about
+being turned out of it."
+
+"The pearl fishing is turning out well?" Atkins asked quietly.
+
+"It might be worse and it might be better. Anyhow, we are content to
+remain here for a bit.
+
+"I don't like it, Jack," he said, as the skipper, having in vain tried
+to rouse the two drunken men, rowed himself off to the brig. "My woman
+told me this morning that there had been a big talk among the natives,
+and that though they did not tell her anything, she thought that they
+had made up their minds to wipe the whites out altogether. They said
+that if we hadn't been here, the brig would not have come; which is like
+enough, for Atkins only put in because he was an old chum of ours, and
+thought that we should have got copra enough to make it worth his while
+to come round. Well, if the niggers only wiped out the crew, and burned
+the ship, I should say nothing against it, as long as they let Atkins
+alone. He has stood by me in more than one rough-and-tumble business,
+and I am bound to stand by him. But there aint no discrimination among
+the niggers. Besides, I am not saying but that he has been pretty rough
+with them himself.
+
+"It makes all the difference whether you settle down and go in for
+making a pile, or if you only stop to water and take in fruit; we agreed
+as to that when we landed here. When we stopped here before and found
+them friendly and pleasant, and we says to each other, 'If we can but
+get on smooth with them and set them fishing for us we might make a good
+thing out of it.' You see, we had bought some oysters one of them
+brought up after a dive, and had found two or three pearls in them.
+
+"Well, we have been here nine months, and I don't say I am not getting
+tired of it; but it is worth stopping for. You know we reckoned last
+week that the pearls we have got ought to be worth two or three thousand
+pounds, and we agreed that we would stay here till we have two bags the
+size of the one we have got; but unless Atkins gets those fellows off, I
+doubt if we shan't have to go before that. There is no reasoning with
+these niggers; if they had any sense they would see that we can't help
+these things."
+
+"Perhaps what the women tell us is untrue," the other suggested.
+
+"Don't you think that," Simcoe said; "these black women are always true
+to their white men when they are decently treated. Besides, none of the
+natives have been near us to-day. That, of course, might be because they
+are afraid of these chaps; but from this shanty we can see the canoes,
+and not one has gone out to-day. Who is to blame them, when one of their
+chiefs was shot yesterday without a shadow of excuse? I don't say that I
+think so much of a nigger's life one way or another; and having been in
+some stiff fights together, as you know, I have always taken my share.
+But I am dead against shooting without some reason; it spoils trade, and
+makes it unsafe even to land for water. I have half a mind, Bill, to go
+on board and ask Atkins to take us away with him; we could mighty soon
+settle matters with the crew, and if there was a fight and we had to
+shoot them all, we could take the brig into port well enough."
+
+"No, no," said Bill, "it has not come to that yet. Don't let us give up
+a good thing until we are sure that the game is up."
+
+"Well, just as you like; I am ready to run the risk if you are. It would
+be hard, if the worst came to the worst, if we couldn't fight our way
+down to our canoe, and once on board that we could laugh at them; for
+as we have proved over and over again, they have not one that can touch
+her."
+
+"Well, I will be off to my hut; the sun is just setting and my supper
+will be ready for me." He strolled off to his shanty, which lay back
+some distance in the wood. Simcoe entered the hut, where a native woman
+was cooking.
+
+"Nothing fresh, I suppose?" he asked in her language.
+
+She shook her head. "None of our people have been near us to-day."
+
+"Well, Polly,"--for so her white master had christened her, her native
+appellation being too long for ordinary conversation,--"it is a bad
+business, and I am sorry for it; but when these fellows have sailed away
+it will soon come all right again."
+
+"Polly hopes so," she said. "Polly very much afraid."
+
+"Well, you had better go to-morrow and see them, and tell them, as I
+have told them already, we are very sorry for the goings on of these
+people, but it is not our fault. You have no fear that they will hurt
+you, have you? Because if so, don't you go."
+
+"They no hurt Polly now," she said; "they know that if I do not come
+back you be on guard."
+
+"Well, I don't think there is any danger at present, but it is as well
+to be ready. Do you take down to the canoe three or four dozen cocoanuts
+and four or five big bunches of plantains, and you may as well take
+three or four gourds of water. If we have to take to the boat, will you
+go with me or stay here?"
+
+"Polly will go with her master," the woman said; "if she stay here they
+will kill her."
+
+"I am glad enough for you to go with me, Polly," he said. "You have been
+a good little woman, and I don't know how I should get on without you
+now; though why they should kill you I don't know, seeing that your head
+chief gave you to me himself."
+
+"Kill everything belonging to white man," she said quietly; and the man
+knew in his heart that it would probably be so. She put his supper on
+the table and then made several journeys backwards and forwards to the
+canoe, which lay afloat in a little cove a couple of hundred yards away.
+When she had done she stood at the table and ate the remains of the
+supper.
+
+An hour later the man was sitting on the bench outside smoking his pipe,
+when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps among the trees. He knew this
+was no native tread.
+
+"What is it, Bill?" he asked, as the man came up.
+
+"Well, I came to tell you that there is a big row going on among the
+natives. I can hear their tom-tom things beating furiously, and
+occasionally they set up a tremendous yell. I tell you I don't like it,
+Simcoe; I don't like it a bit. I sent my woman to see what it was all
+about, but though she had been away three hours, she hadn't come back
+when I started out to talk it over with you."
+
+"There has been a biggish row going on on board the brig too," the other
+said. "I have heard Atkins storming, and a good deal of shouting among
+the men. I suppose you have got your pearls all right in your belt?
+Things begin to have an awkward look, and we may have to bolt at short
+notice."
+
+"You trust me for that, Simcoe; I have had them on me ever since the
+brig came in. I had no fear of the natives stealing them out of my hut,
+but if one of those fellows were to drop in and see them he would think
+nothing of knifing the woman and carrying them off."
+
+"I see you have brought your gun with you."
+
+"Yes, and my pistols too. I suppose you are loaded, and ready to catch
+up at a moment's notice?"
+
+"Yes; my girl has been carrying down cocoanuts and plantains to the
+canoe, so, if we have to make a bolt, we can hold on comfortably enough
+until we get to the next island, which is not above three days' sail,
+and lies dead to leeward, as the wind is at present. Still, Bill, I hope
+it is not coming to that. I think it is likely enough they may attack
+the brig in their canoes, but they have always been so friendly with us
+that I really don't think they can turn against us now; they must know
+that we cannot help these people's doings."
+
+"That is all very well," the other said, "but you and I know half a
+dozen cases in which the niggers have attacked a ship, and in every case
+beachcombers were killed too."
+
+Simcoe made no answer; he knew that it was so, and could hardly hope
+that there would be an exception in their case. After thinking for a
+minute he said, "Well, Bill, in that case I think the safest plan will
+be to take to the canoe at once. We can stay away a few weeks and then
+come back here and see how matters stand."
+
+"But how about Atkins?"
+
+"Well, we will shout and get him ashore and tell him what we think of
+it, and give him the choice of either stopping or going with us. Nothing
+can be fairer than that. If he chooses to stop and harm comes of it we
+cannot blame ourselves. If we come back in a few weeks of course we
+should not land until we had overhauled one of their canoes and found
+out what the feeling of the people was. They will have got over their
+fit of rage, and like enough they will have said to each other, 'We were
+better off when the two white men were here. They paid us for our
+fishing and our copra, and never did us any harm. I wish they were back
+again.'"
+
+"That is reasonable enough," the other agreed. "What about the trade
+things?"
+
+"Well, we have only got some beads and small knick-knacks left. Polly
+shall carry them down to the canoe; we shall want them for trading till
+we come back here again."
+
+He said a few words to the woman, who at once began to carry the things
+down to the canoe. Then he went down to the beach and shouted, "Atkins!"
+
+"Hullo!" came back from the brig.
+
+"Come ashore; we want to talk to you about something particular." They
+saw the dinghy pulled up to the ship's side, then Atkins rowed ashore.
+
+"I have been having a row with the crew," he said. "I thought it was
+coming to fighting. Two or three of them took up handspikes, but I drew
+my pistols and things calmed down. What do you want me for?"
+
+"Bill here has brought news that there is a row among the natives. They
+are beating their drums and yelling like fiends, and we expect it means
+mischief. At any rate it comes to this: we are so convinced that there
+is going to be trouble that we mean to cut and run at once. We have got
+enough grub put on board our canoe to take us to the next island, but we
+did not want to leave you in the lurch, to be speared by the niggers, so
+we have called you to offer you a seat in the canoe."
+
+"That is friendly," Atkins said, "but I should lose the ship and cargo;
+and pretty near all that I have got is in her. Why should not you two
+bring your canoe off alongside and hoist her up? Then we could get up
+anchor and be off. Three of the fellows are dead-drunk and the other
+three half stupid. I would give you each a share in the profits of the
+voyage."
+
+"Well, what do you think of that, Simcoe?" Bill said.
+
+"I tell you straight I don't care for it. You and I are both good
+paddlers, and the canoe sails like a witch in a light wind. Once afloat
+in her and we are safe, but you can't say as much for the brig. I have
+sailed in her before now, and I know that she is slow, unless it is
+blowing half a gale. It is like enough that the natives may be watching
+her now, and if they saw us get under way they would be after her, and
+would go six feet to her one. As to fighting, what could we three do?
+The others would be of no use whatever. No, I like our plan best by
+far."
+
+"Well, I don't know what to say," Atkins said. "It is hard to make a
+choice. Of course if I were sure that the natives really meant mischief
+I would go with you, but we cannot be sure of that."
+
+"I feel pretty sure of it anyhow," Bill said. "My girl would be safe to
+follow me here when she got back and found the hut empty, but I am
+mightily afraid that some harm has come to her, or she would have been
+back long before this. It wasn't half a mile to go, and she might have
+been there and back in half an hour, and she has been gone now over
+three hours, and I feel nasty about it, I can tell you. I wish your crew
+were all sober, Atkins, and that we had a score of men that I could put
+my hand on among the islands. I should not be talking about taking to a
+canoe then, but I would just go in and give it them so hot that they
+would never try their pranks on again."
+
+"Have you got all the things in, Polly?" Simcoe asked the woman, as she
+crouched down by the door of the hut.
+
+"Got all in," she said. "Why not go? Very bad wait here."
+
+"Well, I think you are about right. At any rate, we will go and get on
+board and wait a spear's-throw off the shore for an hour or so. If
+Bill's Susan comes here and finds we have gone she is pretty safe to
+guess that we shall be on board the canoe and waiting for her. What do
+you say to that, Bill?"
+
+"That suits me; nothing can be fairer. If she comes we can take her on
+board, if she doesn't I shall know that they have killed her, and I will
+jot it down against them and come back here some day before long and
+take it out of them. And you, Atkins?"
+
+"I will go straight on board. Like enough it is all a false alarm, and I
+aint going to lose the brig and all that she has got on board till I am
+downright certain that they----"
+
+He stopped suddenly, and the others leaped to their feet as a burst of
+savage yells broke out across the water.
+
+"By Heavens, they are attacking the ship!" Simcoe cried; "they will be
+here in a moment. Come on, Polly! come on, Atkins! we have no choice
+now." Taking up his arms, he started to run. "Quick, quick!" he cried;
+"I can hear them."
+
+They had gone but some thirty yards when a number of natives burst from
+the wood. Had they arrived a minute sooner at the hut none of its
+occupants would have lived to tell the tale, but the impatience of those
+in the canoes lying round the brig had caused the alarm to be given
+before they had placed themselves in readiness for a simultaneous rush
+on the hut. There was no further occasion for silence; a wild yell burst
+out as they caught sight of the flying figures, and a dozen spears flew
+through the air.
+
+"Don't stop to fire!" Simcoe shouted; "we shall have to make a stand at
+the boat and shall want every barrel."
+
+They were three-quarters of the way to the boat and the natives were
+still some twenty yards behind them. Suddenly Bill stumbled; then with a
+savage oath he turned and emptied both barrels of his fowling-piece into
+the natives, and the two leading men fell forward on their faces, and
+some shouts and yells told that some of the shots had taken effect on
+those behind.
+
+"Are you wounded, Bill?" Simcoe asked.
+
+"Yes, I am hit hard. Run on, man; I think I am done for."
+
+"Nonsense!" Simcoe exclaimed. "Catch hold of my arm; I will help you
+along."
+
+One native was in advance of the rest. He raised his arm to hurl his
+spear, but the native woman, who had all along been running behind
+Simcoe, threw herself forward, and the spear pierced her through the
+body. With an exclamation of fury Simcoe leveled his musket and shot the
+native through the head.
+
+"Throw your arms round my neck, Bill; the poor girl is done for, curse
+them. Can you hold on?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," he replied.
+
+Simcoe was a very powerful man, and with his comrade on his back he ran
+on almost as swiftly as before.
+
+"Now, Atkins, give them every barrel that you have got, then lift Bill
+into the boat, and I will keep them back. I am not going until I have
+paid some of them out for poor Polly."
+
+Atkins fired his pistols, and with so steady an aim that each shot
+brought down a savage; then he lifted Bill from Simcoe's shoulders and
+laid him in the canoe.
+
+"Get up the sail!" Simcoe shouted. "They will riddle us with spears if
+we paddle." He shot down four of the natives with his double-barreled
+pistols, and then clubbing his gun threw himself with a hoarse shout
+upon them. The loss of seven of their leaders had caused their followers
+to hesitate, and the fury of Simcoe's attack and the tremendous blows he
+dealt completed their discomfiture, and they turned and fled in dismay.
+
+"Now is your time!" Atkins shouted; "I have cut the cord and got the
+sail up." Turning, Simcoe was in a moment knee-deep in the water;
+pushing the boat off, he threw himself into it.
+
+"Lie down, man, lie down!" he shouted to Atkins. But the warning was too
+late; the moment Simcoe turned the natives had turned also, and as they
+reached the water's edge half a dozen spears were flung. Two of them
+struck Atkins full in the body, and with a cry he threw up his arms and
+fell over the side of the canoe. Then came several splashes in the
+water. Simcoe drew the pistols from his companion's belt, and, raising
+himself high enough to look over the stern, shot two of the savages who
+were wading out waist deep, and were but a few paces behind.
+
+The sail was now doing its work, and the boat was beginning to glide
+through the water at a rate that even the best swimmers could not hope
+to emulate. As soon as he was out of reach of the spears Simcoe threw
+the boat up into the wind, reloaded his pistols and those of his
+comrade, and opened fire upon the group of natives clustered at the
+water's edge. Like most men of his class, he was a first-rate shot.
+Three of the natives fell and the rest fled. Then with a stroke of the
+paddle he put the boat before the wind again, and soon left the island
+far behind.
+
+"This has been a pretty night's work," he muttered. "Poor little Polly
+killed! She gave her life to save me, and there is no doubt she did save
+me too, for that fellow's spear must have gone right through me. I am
+afraid that they have done for Bill too." He stooped over his comrade.
+The shaft of the spear had broken off, but the jagged piece with the
+head attached stuck out just over the hip. "I am afraid it is all up
+with him; however, I must take it out and bandage him as well as I
+can."
+
+A groan burst from the wounded man as Simcoe with some effort drew the
+jagged spear from the wound. Then he took off his own shirt and tore
+some strips off it and tightly bandaged the wound.
+
+"I can do nothing else until the morning," he said. "Well, Polly, I have
+paid them out for you. I have shot seven or eight and smashed the skulls
+of as many more. Of course they have done for those drunkards on board
+the brig. I did not hear a single pistol fired, and I expect that they
+knocked them on the head in their drunken sleep. The brutes! if they had
+had their senses about them we might have made a fair fight; though I
+expect that they would have been too many for us."
+
+Just as daylight was breaking Bill opened his eyes.
+
+"How do you feel, old man?"
+
+"I am going, Simcoe. You stood by me like a man; I heard it all till
+Atkins laid me in the boat. Where is he?"
+
+"He is gone, Bill. Instead of throwing himself down in the boat, as I
+shouted to him directly he got up the sail, he stood there watching, I
+suppose, until I was in. He got two spears in his body and fell
+overboard dead, I have no doubt."
+
+"Look here, Sim!" The latter had to bend down his ear to listen. The
+words came faintly and slowly. "If you ever go back home again, you look
+up my brother. He is no more on the square than I was, but he is a
+clever fellow. He lives respectable--Rose Cottage, Pentonville Hill.
+Don't forget it. He goes by the name of Harrison. I wrote to him every
+two or three years, and got an answer about the same. Tell him how his
+brother Bill died, and how you carried him off when the blacks were
+yelling round. We were fond of each other, Tom and I. You keep the
+pearls, Sim; he don't want them. He is a top-sawyer in his way, he is,
+and has offered again and again that if I would come home he would set
+me up in any line I liked. I thought perhaps I should go home some day.
+Tom and I were great friends. I remember----" His eyelids drooped, his
+lips moved, and in another minute no sounds came from them. He gave one
+deep sigh, and then all was over.
+
+"A good partner and a good chum," Simcoe muttered as he looked down into
+the man's face. "Well, well, I have lost a good many chums in the last
+ten years, but not one I missed as I shall miss Bill. It is hard, he and
+Polly going at the same time. There are not many fellows that I would
+have lain down to sleep with, with fifteen hundred pounds' or so worth
+of pearls in my belt, not out in these islands. But I never had any fear
+with him. Well, well," he went on, as he took the bag of pearls from his
+comrade's belt and placed it in his own, "There is a consolation
+everywhere, though we might have doubled and trebled this lot if we had
+stopped three months longer, which we should have done if Atkins had not
+brought that brig of his in. I can't think why he did it. He might have
+been sure that with that drunken lot of villains trouble would come of
+it sooner or later. He wasn't a bad fellow either, but too fond of
+liquor."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A DEAF GIRL.
+
+
+"Yes, Lady Moulton, I will undertake the gypsy tent business at your
+fete; that is to say, I will see to the getting up of the tent, provide
+a gypsy for you, and someone to stand at the door and let in one visitor
+at a time and receive the money. Do you mean to make it a fixed charge,
+or leave it to each to pay the gypsy?"
+
+"Which do you think will be best, Hilda? Of course the great thing is to
+get as much money for the decayed ladies as possible."
+
+"I should say that it would be best to let them give what they like to
+the gypsy, Lady Moulton."
+
+"But she might keep some of it herself."
+
+"I think I can guarantee that she won't do that; I will get a dependable
+gypsy. You see, you could not charge above a shilling entrance, and very
+likely she would get a good deal more than that given to her."
+
+"Well, my dear, I leave it all to you. Spare no expense about the tent
+and its fitting up. I have set my heart upon the affair being a success,
+and I think everything else has been most satisfactorily arranged. It is
+a very happy thought of yours about the gypsy; I hope that you will find
+a clever one. But you must mind and impress upon her that we don't want
+any evil predictions. Nothing could be in worse taste. It is all very
+well when a girl is promised a rich husband and everything to match, but
+if she were told that she would never get married, or would die young,
+or something of that sort, it would be a most unpleasant business."
+
+"I quite agree with you, and will see that everything shall be 'couleur
+de rose' as to the future, and that she shall confine herself as much as
+possible to the past and present."
+
+"I leave it in your hands, and I am sure that it will be done nicely."
+
+Lady Moulton was a leading member of society, a charming woman with a
+rich and indulgent husband. Her home was a pleasant one, and her balls
+were among the most popular of the season. She had, as her friends said,
+but one failing, namely, her ardor for "The Society for Affording Aid to
+Decayed Ladies." It was on behalf of this institution that she was now
+organizing a fete in the grounds of her residence at Richmond. Hilda
+Covington was an orphan and an heiress, and was the ward of her uncle,
+an old Indian officer, who had been a great friend of Lady Moulton's
+father. She had been ushered into society under her ladyship's auspices.
+She had, however, rather forfeited that lady's favorable opinion by
+refusing two or three unexceptionable offers.
+
+"My dear," she remonstrated, "no girl can afford to throw away such
+chances, even if she is, as you are, well endowed, pretty, and clever."
+
+The girl laughed.
+
+"I am not aware that I am clever at all, Lady Moulton. I speak German
+and French perfectly, because I have been four or five years in Hanover;
+but beyond that I am not aware of possessing any special
+accomplishments."
+
+"But you are clever, my dear," the other said decidedly. "The way you
+seem to understand people's characters astonishes me. Sometimes it seems
+to me that you are almost a witch."
+
+"You are arguing against yourself," the girl laughed. "If I am such a
+good judge of character I am not likely to make a mistake in such an
+important matter as choosing a husband for myself."
+
+Lady Moulton was silenced, but not convinced; however, she had good
+sense enough to drop the subject. General Mathieson had already told her
+that although he should not interfere in any way with any choice Hilda
+might make, he should make it an absolute condition that she should not
+marry until she came of age; and as she was at present but eighteen,
+many things might occur in the three years' interval.
+
+On her return home, after arranging to provide a gypsy for Lady
+Moulton's fete, Hilda related what had occurred to a girl friend who was
+staying with her.
+
+"Of course, Netta, I mean to be the gypsy myself; but you must help me.
+It would never do for me to be suspected of being the sorceress, and so
+you must be my double, so that I can, from time to time, go out and mix
+with the crowd. A few minutes at a time will do."
+
+The other laughed. "But what should I say to them, Hilda?"
+
+"Oh, it is as easy as A B C. All that you will have to do is to speak
+ambiguously, hint at coming changes, foresee a few troubles in the way,
+and prophesy a happy solution of the difficulties. I will take upon
+myself the business of surprising them, and I fancy that I shall be able
+to astonish a few of them so much that even if some do get only
+commonplaces we shall make a general sensation. Of course, we must get
+two disguises. I shall have a small tent behind the other where I can
+change. It won't take a moment--a skirt, and a shawl to go over my head
+and partly hide my face, can be slipped on and off in an instant. Of
+course I shall have a black wig and some sort of yellow wash that can be
+taken off with a damp towel. I shall place the tent so that I can leave
+from behind without being noticed. As we shall have the tent a good deal
+darkened there will be no fear of the differences between the two
+gypsies being discovered, and, indeed, people are not likely to compare
+notes very closely."
+
+"Well, I suppose you will have your way as usual, Hilda."
+
+"I like that!" the other said, with a laugh. "You were my guide and
+counselor for five years, and now you pretend that I always have my own
+way. Why, I cannot even get my own way in persuading you to come and
+settle over here. I am quite sure that you would get lots of pupils,
+when people understand the system and its advantages."
+
+"That is all very well, Hilda, but, you see, in the first place I have
+no friends here except yourself, and in the second it requires a good
+deal of money to get up an establishment and to wait until one gets
+pupils. My aunt would, I know, put in the money she saved when you were
+with us if I were to ask her, but I wouldn't do so. To begin with, she
+regards that as my fortune at her death. She has said over and over
+again how happy the knowledge makes her that I shall not be left
+absolutely penniless, except, of course, what I can get for the house
+and furniture, and I would do anything rather than sell that. She admits
+that I might keep myself by teaching deaf children, but, as she says, no
+one can answer for their health. I might have a long illness that would
+throw me out. I might suddenly lose a situation, say, from the death of
+a pupil, and might be a long time before I could hear of another. She
+said to me once, 'I do hope, Netta, you will never embark one penny of
+the little money that will come to you in any sort of enterprise or
+speculation, however promising it may look.' We had been talking of
+exactly the plan that you are now speaking of. 'The mere furnishing of a
+house in England large enough to take a dozen children would swallow up
+a considerable sum. At first you might have to wait some time till you
+could obtain more than two or three children, and there would be the
+rent and expenses going on, and you might find yourself without money
+and in debt before it began to pay its way; therefore I do hope that you
+will keep the money untouched except to meet your expenses in times of
+illness or of necessity of some kind. If you can save up money
+sufficient to start an establishment, it will, I think, be a good thing,
+especially if you could secure the promise of four or five pupils to
+come to you at once. If in a few years you should see your way to insure
+starting with enough pupils to pay your way, and I am alive at the time,
+I would draw out enough to furnish the house and will look after it for
+you.' That was a great concession on her part, but I certainly would
+not let her do it, for she is so happy in her home now, and I know that
+she would worry herself to death."
+
+"Well, Netta, you know I am still ready to become the capitalist."
+
+Both girls laughed merrily.
+
+"Why not, Netta?" the speaker went on. "I know you said that you would
+not accept money as a loan even from me, which, as I told you, was very
+stupid and very disagreeable, but there is no reason why we should not
+do it in a business way. Other women go into business, why shouldn't I?
+As you know, I can't absolutely touch my money until I come of age, and
+it is nearly three years before that; still, I feel sure that the
+General would let me have some money, and we could start the Institute.
+It would be great fun. Of course, in the first place, you would be
+principal, or lady superintendent, or whatever you like to call
+yourself, and you would draw, say, five hundred pounds a year. After
+that we could divide the profits."
+
+Again both girls laughed.
+
+"And that is what you call a business transaction?" the other said. "I
+know that your guardian is very kind, and indeed spoils you altogether,
+but I don't think that you would get him to advance you money for such a
+scheme."
+
+"I am really in earnest, Netta."
+
+"Oh, I don't say that you would not do it, if you could. However, I
+think, anyhow, we had better wait until you come of age. There is plenty
+of time. I am only twenty yet, and even in three years' time I doubt
+whether I should quite look the character of professor or lady
+superintendent."
+
+"Well, directly I get of age I shall carry out my part of the plan,"
+Hilda said positively, "and if you are disagreeable and won't do as I
+want you, I shall write to the professor and ask him to recommend a
+superintendent."
+
+The other laughed again.
+
+"You would have a difficulty, Hilda. You and I are, so far, the only
+two English girls who have learned the system, and either your
+superintendent would have to learn English or all her pupils would have
+to learn German."
+
+"We will not discuss it further at present, Miss Purcell," Hilda said
+with dignity. "Oh, dear, those were happy days we had in that dear old
+house, with its pretty garden, when you were thirteen and I was eleven.
+I have got a great deal of fun from it since. One gets such curious
+little scraps of conversation."
+
+"Then the people do not know what you learned over with us?"
+
+"No, indeed; as you know, it was not for a year after I came back that I
+became altogether the General's ward, and my dear mother said to me just
+before she died, 'It would be better for you, dear, not to say anything
+about that curious accomplishment of yours. I know that you would never
+use it to any harm, but if people knew it they would be rather afraid of
+you.' Uncle said the same thing directly I got here. So of course I have
+kept it to myself, and indeed if they had not said so I should never
+have mentioned it, for it gives me a great deal of amusement."
+
+When Hilda Covington was ten years old, she had, after a severe attack
+of scarlet fever, lost her hearing, and though her parents consulted the
+best specialists of the time, their remedies proved of no avail, and at
+last they could only express a hope, rather than an opinion, that in
+time, with added health and strength, nature might repair the damage. A
+year after her illness Mr. Covington heard of an aurist in Germany who
+had a European reputation, and he and Mrs. Covington took Hilda over to
+him. After examining her he said, "The mischief is serious, but not, I
+think, irreparable. It is a case requiring great care both as to
+dieting, exercise, and clothing. If it could be managed I should like to
+examine her ears once a fortnight, or once a month at the least. I have
+a house here where my patients live when under treatment, but I should
+not for a moment advise her being placed there. A child, to keep in
+good health, requires cheerful companions. If you will call again
+to-morrow I will think the matter over and let you know what I
+recommend."
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Covington retired much depressed. His opinion was, perhaps,
+a little more favorable than any that they had received, but the thought
+that their only child must either make this considerable journey once a
+month or live there altogether was very painful to them. However, on
+talking it over, they agreed that it was far better that she should
+reside in Hanover for a time, with the hope of coming back cured, than
+that she should grow up hopelessly deaf.
+
+"It will only be as if she were at school here," Mr. Covington said.
+"She will no doubt be taught to talk German and French, and even if she
+is never able to converse in these languages, it will add to her
+pleasures if she can read them."
+
+The next day when they called upon the doctor he said, "If you can bring
+yourself to part with the child, I have, I think, found the very thing
+to suit her. In the first place you must know that there is in the town
+an establishment, conducted by a Professor Menzel, for the instruction
+of deaf mutes. It is quite a new system, and consists in teaching them
+to read from the lips of persons speaking to them the words that they
+are saying. The system is by no means difficult for those who have
+still, like your daughter, the power of speech, and who have lost only
+their hearing. But even those born deaf and dumb have learned to be able
+to converse to a certain degree, though their voices are never quite
+natural, for in nine cases out of ten deaf mutes are mutes only because
+they have never learned to use their tongue. However, happily that is
+beside the question in your daughter's case. I hope that she will regain
+her hearing; but should this unfortunately not be the case, it will at
+least be a great mitigation to her position to be able to read from the
+lips of those who address her what is said, and therefore to converse
+like an ordinary person. I can assure you that many of Herr Menzel's
+pupils can converse so easily and rapidly that no one would have the
+least idea of the misfortune from which they suffer, as in fact they
+feel no inconvenience beyond the fact that they are not aware of being
+addressed by anyone standing behind them, or whose face they do not
+happen to be watching."
+
+"That would indeed be a blessing!" Mrs. Covington exclaimed. "I never
+heard of such a system."
+
+"No, it is quite new, but as to its success there can be no question. I
+called upon Professor Menzel last evening. He said that as your daughter
+did not understand German the difficulties of her tuition would be very
+great. He has, however, among his pupils a young English girl two years
+older than your daughter. She lives with a maiden aunt, who has
+established herself here in order that her niece might have the benefit
+of learning the new system. Here is her name and address. The professor
+has reason to believe that her income is a small one, and imagines that
+she would gladly receive your daughter as a boarder. Her niece, who is a
+bright girl, would be a pleasant companion, and, moreover, having in the
+two years that she has been here made very great progress, she would be
+able to commence your daughter's education by conversing with her in
+English, and could act as her teacher in German also; and so soon as the
+language was fairly mastered your daughter could then become a pupil of
+the professor himself."
+
+"That would be an excellent plan indeed," Mrs. Covington said, and her
+husband fully agreed with her. The doctor handed her a slip of paper
+with the name, "Miss Purcell, 2nd Etage, 5 Koenigstrasse."
+
+Hilda had already been informed by the finger alphabet, which had been
+her means of communication since her illness, of the result of the
+conversation with the doctor on the previous day, and although she had
+cried at the thought of being separated from her father and mother, she
+had said that she would willingly bear anything if there was a hope of
+her regaining her hearing. She had watched earnestly the conversation
+between the doctor and her parents, and when the former had left and
+they explained what was proposed, her face brightened up.
+
+"That will be very nice," she exclaimed, "and if I could but learn to
+understand in that way what people say, instead of watching their
+fingers (and some of them don't know the alphabet, and some who do are
+so slow that one loses all patience), it would be delightful."
+
+Before going to see Miss Purcell, Mr. and Mrs. Covington talked the
+matter over together, and they agreed that, if Miss Purcell were the
+sort of person with whom Hilda could be happy, no plan could be better
+than that proposed.
+
+"It certainly would not be nice for her," Mrs. Covington said, "to be
+living on a second floor in a street; she has always been accustomed to
+be so much in the open air, and as the doctors all agree that much
+depends upon her general health, I am sure it will be quite essential
+that she should be so now. I think that we should arrange to take some
+pretty little house with a good garden, just outside the town, and
+furnish it, and that Miss Purcell and her niece should move in there. Of
+course we should pay a liberal sum for board, and if she would agree, I
+should say that it would be best that we should treat the house as ours
+and should pay the expenses of keeping it up altogether. I don't suppose
+she keeps a servant at present, and there are many little luxuries that
+Hilda has been accustomed to. Then, of course, we would pay so much to
+the niece for teaching Hilda German and beginning to teach her this
+system. I don't suppose the whole thing would cost more than three
+hundred pounds a year."
+
+"The expense is nothing," Mr. Covington said. "We could afford it if it
+were five times the amount. I think your idea is a very good one, and we
+could arrange for her to have the use of a pony-carriage for two or
+three hours a day whenever she was disposed. The great thing is for her
+to be healthy and happy."
+
+Ten minutes after they started with Hilda to see Miss Purcell, after
+having explained to her the plan they proposed. At this she was greatly
+pleased. The thought of a little house all to themselves and a girl
+friend was a great relief to her, and she looked brighter and happier
+than she had done since she had lost her hearing. When they knocked at
+the door of the apartment on the second floor, it was opened by a
+bright-faced girl of thirteen.
+
+"This is Miss Purcell's, is it not?" Mrs. Covington asked.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," the girl replied, with a slight expression of surprise
+which showed that visitors were very rare.
+
+"Will you give my card to her and say that we shall be glad if she will
+allow us a few minutes' conversation with her?"
+
+The girl went into the room and returned in a minute or two. "Will you
+come in?" she said. "My aunt will be glad to see you."
+
+Miss Purcell was a woman of some fifty years old, with a pleasant,
+kindly face. The room was somewhat poorly furnished, but everything was
+scrupulously neat and tidy, and there was an air of comfort pervading
+it.
+
+"We have called, Miss Purcell," Mrs. Covington began, "in consequence of
+what we have learned from Dr. Hartwig, whom we have come over to
+consult, and who has been good enough to see Professor Menzel. He has
+learned from him that your niece here is acquiring the system of
+learning to understand what is said by watching the lips of speakers.
+The doctor is of opinion that our daughter may in time outgrow the
+deafness that came on a year ago, after scarlet fever, but he wishes her
+to remain under his eye, and he suggested that it would be well that she
+should learn the new system, so that in case she does not recover her
+hearing she would still be able to mingle with other people. Hilda is
+delicate, and it is necessary that she should have a cheerful home;
+besides which she could not begin to learn the system until she had
+become familiar with German. The doctor suggested that if we could
+persuade you to do us the great kindness of taking her under your charge
+it would be the best possible arrangement."
+
+"I should be glad to do so, madam, but I fear that I could not
+accommodate her, for it is a mere closet that my niece sleeps in, and
+the other apartments on this floor are all occupied. Were it not for
+that I should certainly be glad to consider the matter. It would be
+pleasant to Netta to have a companion, for it is but dull work for her
+alone with me. We have few acquaintances. I do not mind saying frankly
+that my means are straitened, and that I cannot indulge her with many
+pleasures. She is a grandniece of mine; her father died some years ago,
+her mother three years since, and naturally she came to me. Shortly
+after, she lost her hearing through measles. Just at that time I
+happened to hear from a German workman of the institution which had been
+started in this town, of which he was a native. I had no ties in
+England, and as I heard that living was cheap there, and that the fees
+were not large, I decided to come over and have her taught this new
+system, which would not only add greatly to her own happiness, but would
+give her the means of earning her livelihood when she grew up; for
+although I have a small pension, as my father was an Excise officer,
+this, of course, will expire at my death."
+
+"Happily, Miss Purcell, we are in a position to say that money is no
+object to us. Hilda is our only child. We have talked it over, of
+course, and will tell you exactly what we propose, and I hope that you
+will fall in with the arrangement."
+
+She then stated the plan that she and her husband had discussed.
+
+"You see," she went on, "you would, in fact, be mistress of the house,
+and would have the entire management of everything as if it was your
+own. We are entirely ignorant of the cost of living here, or we might
+have proposed a fixed monthly payment for the expenses of servants and
+outgoings, and would still do that if you would prefer it, though we
+thought that it would be better that you should, at the end of each
+month, send us a line saying what the disbursements had been. We would
+wish everything done on a liberal scale. Hilda has little appetite, and
+it will, for a time, want tempting. However, that matter we could leave
+to you. We propose to pay a hundred a year to you for your personal
+services as mistress of the house, and fifty pounds to your niece as
+Hilda's companion and instructor in German and in the system, until she
+understands the language well enough to attend Professor Menzel's
+classes. If the house we take has a stable we should keep a pony and a
+light carriage, and a big lad or young man to look after it and drive,
+and to keep the garden in order in his spare time. I do hope, Miss
+Purcell, that you will oblige us by falling in with our plans. If you
+like we can give you a day to consider them."
+
+"I do not require a minute," she replied; "my only hesitation is because
+the terms that you offer are altogether too liberal."
+
+"That is our affair," Mrs. Covington said. "We want a comfortable, happy
+home for our child, and shall always feel under a deep obligation to you
+if you will consent."
+
+"I do consent most willingly and gratefully. The arrangement will be a
+delightful one for me, and I am sure for Netta."
+
+Netta, who had been standing where she could watch the lips of both
+speakers, clapped her hands joyously. "Oh, auntie, it will be splendid!
+Fancy having a house, and a garden, and a pony-chaise!"
+
+"You understand all we have been saying then, Netta?"
+
+"I understand it all," the girl replied. "I did not catch every word,
+but quite enough to know all that you were saying."
+
+"That certainly is a proof of the goodness of the system," Mr. Covington
+said, speaking for the first time. "How long have you been learning?"
+
+"Eighteen months, sir. We have been here two years, but I was six months
+learning German before I knew enough to begin, and for the next six
+months I could not get on very fast, as there were so many words that I
+did not know, so that really I have only been a year at it. The
+professor says that in another year I shall be nearly perfect and fit to
+begin to teach; and he has no doubt that he will be able to find me a
+situation where I can teach in the daytime and still live with my aunt."
+
+In a week the necessary arrangements were all made. A pretty, furnished
+house, a quarter of a mile out of town, with a large garden and stables,
+had been taken, and Netta and Hilda had already become friends, for as
+the former had learned to talk with her fingers before she came out she
+was able to keep up her share of the conversation by that means while
+Hilda talked in reply.
+
+"The fingers are useful as a help at first," Netta said, "but Professor
+Menzel will not allow any of his pupils to use their fingers, because
+they come to rely upon them instead of watching the lips."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE GYPSY.
+
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Covington remained for a week after Hilda was installed
+with the Purcells in their new home. To her the house with its garden
+and pretty pony-carriage and pony were nothing remarkable, but Netta's
+enjoyment in all these things amused her, and the thought that she, too,
+would some day be able to talk and enjoy life as her companion did,
+greatly raised her spirits. Her father and mother were delighted at
+hearing her merry laugh mingled with that of Netta as they walked
+together in the garden, and they went home with lighter hearts and more
+hopeful spirits than they had felt since the child's illness began.
+
+Every three or four months--for a journey to Hanover was a longer and
+more serious business in 1843 than it is at present--they went over to
+spend a week there. There could be no doubt from the first that the
+change was most beneficial to Hilda. Her cheeks regained their color and
+her limbs their firmness. She lost the dull look and the apathy to
+whatever was going on around her that had before distressed them. She
+progressed very rapidly in her study of German, and at the end of six
+months her conversations with Netta were entirely carried on in that
+language. She had made some little progress in reading from her
+companion's lips and had just entered at Herr Menzel's academy. She
+could now take long walks with Netta, and every afternoon, or, as summer
+came on, every evening, they drove together in the pony-chaise. With
+renewed health and strength there had been some slight improvement in
+her hearing. She could now faintly distinguish any loud sounds, such as
+those of the band of a regiment marching past her or a sudden peal of
+bells.
+
+"I think that we shall make an eventual cure," Dr. Hartwig said. "It
+will be slow, and possibly her hearing may never be absolutely good; but
+at least we may hope that she may be able to eventually hear as well as
+nine people out of ten."
+
+In another year she could, indeed, though with difficulty, hear voices,
+and when she had been at Hanover three years her cure was almost
+complete, and she now went every morning to school to learn French and
+music. She herself was quite content to remain there. She was very happy
+in her life and surroundings, and could now read with the greatest
+facility from the lips, and indeed preferred watching a speaker's mouth
+to listening to the voice. It was a source of endless amusement to her
+that she could, as she and Netta walked through the streets, read scraps
+of conversation between persons on the other side of the street or
+passing in carriages.
+
+Another six months and both the doctor and Professor Menzel said that
+they could do nothing more for her. She was still somewhat hard of
+hearing; but not enough so to be noticeable; while she could with her
+eyes follow the most rapid speaker, and the Professor expressed his
+regret that so excellent an example of the benefit of his system should
+not be in circumstances that would compel her to make a living by
+becoming a teacher in it. Netta was now a paid assistant at the
+institution.
+
+The end of what had been a very happy time to Hilda came abruptly and
+sadly, for three weeks before the date when her parents were to come
+over to take her home, Miss Purcell, on opening a letter that came just
+as they had finished breakfast, said, after sitting silent for a few
+minutes, "You need not put on your things, Hilda; you cannot go to
+school this morning; I have some bad news, dear--very bad news."
+
+The tone of voice in which she spoke, even more than the words, sent a
+chill into the girl's heart.
+
+"What is it, aunt?" she said, for she had from the first used the same
+term as Netta in addressing her.
+
+"Your father has had a serious illness, my dear--a very, very serious
+and sudden illness, and your mother wishes you to go home at once."
+
+Hilda looked at her with frightened, questioning eyes, while every
+vestige of color left her cheeks. "Is he--is he----" she asked.
+
+"Here is an inclosure for you," Miss Purcell said, as she got up, and
+taking Hilda's hand in one of hers drew her with the other arm close to
+her; "your mother wrote to me that I might prepare you a little before
+giving it to you. A terrible misfortune has happened. Your dear father
+is dead. He died suddenly of an affection of the heart."
+
+"Oh, no, no; it cannot be!" Hilda cried.
+
+"It is true, my dear. God has taken him. You must be strong and brave,
+dear, for your mother's sake."
+
+"Oh, my poor mother, my poor mother!" Hilda cried, bursting into a
+sudden flood of tears, "what will she do!"
+
+It was not until some time afterwards that she was sufficiently composed
+to read her mother's letter, which caused her tears to flow afresh.
+After giving the details of her father's death, it went on:
+
+"I have written to your uncle, General Mathieson, who is, I know,
+appointed one of the trustees, and is joined with me as your guardian. I
+have asked him to find and send over a courier to fetch you home, and no
+doubt he will arrive a day or two after you receive this letter. So
+please get everything ready to start at once, when he comes."
+
+Two days later General Mathieson himself arrived, accompanied by a
+courier. It was a great comfort to Hilda that her uncle had come for her
+instead of a stranger.
+
+"It is very kind of you to come yourself, uncle," she said as she threw
+herself crying into his arms.
+
+"Of course I should come, dear," he said. "Who should fetch you except
+your uncle? I had to bring a courier with me, for I don't understand any
+of their languages, and he will take all trouble off my hands. Now let
+me look at your face." It was a pale, sad little face that was lifted
+up, but two days of sorrow had not obliterated the signs of health and
+well-being.
+
+"Whiter than it ought to be," he said, "but clear and healthy, and very
+different from what it was when I saw you before you came out. You have
+grown wonderfully, child. Really, I should hardly have known you again."
+
+And so he kept on for two or three minutes, to allow her to recover
+herself.
+
+"Now, dear, you must take me in and introduce me to your kind friends
+here."
+
+Hilda led the way into the sitting room.
+
+"I have heard so much of you and your niece, Miss Purcell," he said as
+he shook hands with her, "that I do do not feel that you are a stranger.
+You certainly seem to have worked wonders between you for my niece, and
+I must own that in the first place I thought it a mistake her being here
+by herself, for I had no belief that either her hearing would be
+restored or that she would ever be able to follow what people were
+saying by only staring at their lips."
+
+"Yes, indeed, Hanover has agreed with her, sir, and it is only a small
+part of the credit that is due to us."
+
+"I must differ from you entirely, madam. If she had not been perfectly
+happy here with you, she would never have got on as she has done."
+
+"Have you any luggage, sir? Of course you will stay with us to-night."
+
+"No, thank you, Miss Purcell. We have already been to the Kaiserhof, and
+long before this my courier will have taken rooms and made every
+preparation for me. You see, I am accustomed to smoke at all times, and
+could not think of scenting a house, solely inhabited by ladies, with
+tobacco. Now, if you will excuse me, I will ask Hilda to put on her
+bonnet and take a stroll with me."
+
+"I shall be very glad for her to do so. It is just getting cool and
+pleasant for walking, and half an hour in the fresh air will do her
+good."
+
+It was an hour before they returned. General Mathieson had gently told
+her all there was to tell of her father's death, and turning from that
+he spoke of her mother, and how nobly she was bearing her troubles, and
+erelong her tears, which had burst out anew, flowed more quietly, and
+she felt comforted. Presently she said suddenly:
+
+"What is going to be done here, uncle? I have been thinking over that
+ever since it was settled that I was to come home next month, and I am
+sure that, although she has said nothing about it, Miss Purcell has felt
+the change that is coming. She said the other day, 'I shall not go back
+to the apartments where you found us, Hilda. You see, we are a great
+deal better off than we were before. In the first place I have had
+nothing whatever to spend, and during the four years the ridiculously
+liberal sum paid to Netta and myself has been all laid aside and has
+mounted up to six hundred pounds. My pension of eighty pounds a year has
+also accumulated, with the exception of a small sum required for our
+clothes, so that in fact I have nearly a thousand pounds laid by. Netta
+is earning thirty pounds a year at the Institute; with that and my
+pension and the interest on money saved we shall get on very
+comfortably.' I should not like, uncle, to think of them in a little
+stuffy place in the town. Having a nice garden and everything
+comfortable has done a great deal for Miss Purcell. Netta told me that
+she was very delicate before, and that she is quite a different woman
+since she came out here from the town. You cannot tell how kind she has
+always been. If I had been her own child, she could not have been more
+loving. In fact, no one could have told by her manner that she was not
+my mother and Netta my sister."
+
+"Yes, dear, I ran down to your mother before starting to fetch you to
+help in the arrangements, and she spoke about Miss Purcell. Under
+ordinary circumstances, of course, at the end of the four years that you
+have been here the house would be given up and she would, as you say, go
+into a much smaller place; but your mother does not consider that these
+are ordinary circumstances, and thinks that her care and kindness have
+had quite as much to do with the improvement in your health as has the
+doctor. Of course we had no time to come to any definite plan, but she
+has settled that things are to go on here exactly as at present, except
+that your friend Netta will not be paid for acting as companion to you.
+I am to tell Miss Purcell that with that exception everything is to go
+on as before, and that your mother will need a change, and will probably
+come out here in a month or so for some time."
+
+"Does she really mean that, uncle?"
+
+"Certainly, and the idea is an excellent one. After such a shock as she
+has had an entire change of scene will be most valuable; and as she
+knows Miss Purcell well, and you like the place very much, I don't think
+that any better plan could be hit upon. I dare say she will stay here
+two or three months, and you can continue your studies. At the end of
+that time I have no doubt some plan that will give satisfaction to all
+parties will be hit upon."
+
+Hilda returned to Hanover with her mother a month later. At the end of
+three months Mrs. Covington bought the house and presented the deeds to
+Miss Purcell, who had known nothing whatever of her intentions.
+
+"I could not think of accepting it," she exclaimed.
+
+"But you cannot help accepting it, dear Miss Purcell; here are the deeds
+in your name. The house will be rather large for you at present, but in
+a few years, indeed in two or three years, Netta could begin to take a
+few pupils. As soon as she is ready to do so I shall, of course, mention
+it among my friends, and be able to send a few children, whose parents
+would be ready to pay well to have them taught this wonderful method of
+brightening their lives, which is at present quite unknown in England."
+
+So it was arranged; but a few months after her return to England Mrs.
+Covington, who had never altogether recovered from the shock of her
+husband's death, died after a short illness, and Hilda became an inmate
+of her uncle's house. Since that time three years had elapsed, and Hilda
+was now eighteen, and Netta was over for a two months' visit.
+
+The scene in the grounds of Lady Moulton's charming villa at Richmond, a
+fortnight after the conversation between that lady and Hilda, was a gay
+one. Everyone in society had been invited and there were but few
+refusals; the weather was lovely, and all agreed that even at Ascot the
+costumes were not brighter or more varied.
+
+Although the fete was especially on behalf of a charity, no admission
+fees were charged to guests, but everyone understood that it would be
+his duty to lay out money at the various picturesque tents scattered
+about under the trees. In these were all the most popular entertainers
+of the day. In one pavilion John Parry gave a short entertainment every
+half-hour. In a larger one Mario, Grisi, Jenny Lind, and Alboni gave
+short concerts, and high as were the prices of admission, there was
+never a seat vacant. Conjurers had a tent, electro-biologists--then the
+latest rage from the United States--held their seances, and at some
+distance from the others Richardson's booth was in full swing. The
+Grenadiers' band and a string band played alternately.
+
+Not the least attraction to many was the gypsy tent erected at the edge
+of a thick shrubbery, for it soon became rumored that the old gypsy
+woman there was no ordinary impostor, but really possessed of
+extraordinary powers of palmistry. Everything had been done to add to
+the air of mystery pervading the place. Externally it was but a long,
+narrow marquee. On entering, the inquirer was shown by an attendant to a
+seat in an apartment carpeted in red, with black hangings and black
+cloth lining the roof. From this hung a lamp, all other light being
+excluded. As each visitor came out from the inner apartment the next in
+order was shown in, and the heavy curtains shut off all sound of what
+was passing. Here sat an apparently aged gypsy on an old stump of a
+tree. A fire burned on the ground and a pot was suspended by a tripod
+over it; a hood above this carried the smoke out of the tent. The
+curtains here were red; the roof, as in the other compartment, black,
+but sprinkled with gold and silver stars. A stool was placed for the
+visitor close enough to the gypsy for the latter to examine her hand by
+the light of two torches, which were fastened to a rough sapling stuck
+in the ground.
+
+Hilda possessed every advantage for making the most of the situation.
+Owing to her intimacy with Lady Moulton, and her experience for a year
+in the best London society, she knew all its gossip, while she had
+gathered much more than others knew from the conversations both of the
+dancers and the lookers-on.
+
+The first to enter was a young man who had been laughingly challenged by
+the lady he was walking with to go in and have his fortune told.
+
+"Be seated, my son," the old woman said; "give me your hand and a piece
+of money."
+
+With a smile he handed her half a sovereign. She crossed his palm with
+it and then proceeded attentively to examine the lines.
+
+"A fair beginning," she said, "and then troubles and difficulties. Here
+I see that, some three years back, there is the mark of blood; you won
+distinction in war. Then there is a cross-mark which would show a
+change. Some good fortune befell you. Then the lines darken. Things go
+from bad to worse as they proceed. You took to a vice--cards or
+horse-racing. Here are evil associates, but there is a white line that
+runs through them. There is a girl somewhere, with fair hair and blue
+eyes, who loves you, and whom you love, and whose happiness is imperiled
+by this vice and these associates. Beyond, there is another cross-line
+and signs of a conflict. What happens after will depend upon yourself.
+Either the white line and the true love will prove too powerful for the
+bad influences or these will end in ruin and--ah! sudden and violent
+death. Your future, therefore, depends upon yourself, and it is for you
+to say which influence must triumph. That is all."
+
+Without a word he went out.
+
+"You look pale, Mr. Desmond," the lady said when he rejoined her. "What
+has she told you?"
+
+"I would rather not tell you, Mrs. Markham," he said seriously. "I
+thought it was going to be a joke, but it is very far from being one.
+Either the woman is a witch or she knew all about me personally, which
+is barely within the limits of possibility. At any rate she has given me
+something to think of."
+
+"I will try myself," the lady said; "it is very interesting."
+
+"I should advise you not to," he said earnestly.
+
+"Nonsense!" she laughed; "I have no superstitions. I will go in and hear
+what she has to say." And leaving him, she entered the tent.
+
+The gypsy examined her hand in silence. "I would rather not tell you
+what I see," she said as she dropped the hand. "Oh, ridiculous!" the
+lady exclaimed. "I have crossed your palm with gold, and I expect to get
+my money's worth," and she held out her hand again.
+
+The gypsy again examined it.
+
+"You stand at the crossing of the ways. There are two men--one dark,
+quiet, and earnest, who loves you. You love him, but not as he loves
+you; but your line of life runs smoothly until the other line, that of a
+brown man, becomes mixed up in it. He loves you too, with a hot,
+passionate love that would soon fade. You had a letter from him a day or
+two back. Last night, as he passed you in a dance, he whispered, 'I have
+not had an answer,' and the next time he passed you, you replied, 'You
+must give me another day or two.' Upon the answer you give the future of
+your life will depend. Here is a broad, fair line, and here is a short,
+jagged one, telling of terrible troubles and misery. It is for you to
+decide which course is to be yours."
+
+As she released her hold of the hand it dropped nerveless. The gypsy
+poured out a glass of water from a jug by her side, but her visitor
+waved it aside, and with a great effort rose to her feet, her face as
+pale as death.
+
+"My God!" she murmured to herself, "this woman is really a witch."
+
+"They do not burn witches now," the gypsy said; "I only read what I see
+on the palm. You cannot deny that what I have said is true. Stay a
+moment and drink a glass of wine; you need it before you go out."
+
+She took a bottle of wine from behind her seat, emptied the water on to
+the earth, half filled a tumbler, and held it out. The frightened woman
+felt that indeed she needed it before going out into the gay scene, and
+tossed it off.
+
+"Thank you!" she said. "Whoever you are, I thank you. You have read my
+fate truly, and have helped me to decide it."
+
+Desmond was waiting for her when she came out, but she passed him with a
+gesture.
+
+"You are right!" she said. "She is a witch indeed!"
+
+Few other stories told were as tragic, but in nearly every case the
+visitors retired puzzled at the knowledge the gypsy possessed of their
+life and surroundings, and it soon became rumored that the old woman's
+powers were something extraordinary, and the little ante-room was kept
+filled with visitors waiting their turn for an audience. No one noticed
+the long and frequent absences of Hilda Covington from the grounds. The
+tent had been placed with its back hiding a small path through the
+shrubbery. Through a peep-hole arranged in the curtain she was able to
+see who was waiting, and each time before leaving said a few words as to
+their lives which enabled Netta to support the character fairly. When
+the last guest had departed and she joined Lady Moulton, she handed over
+a bag containing nearly a hundred pounds.
+
+"I have deducted five pounds for the gypsy," she said, "and eight pounds
+for the hire of the tent and its fittings."
+
+"That is at least five times as much as I expected, Hilda. I have heard
+all sorts of marvelous stories of the power of your old woman. Several
+people told me that she seemed to know all about them, and told them
+things that they believed were only known to themselves. But how did she
+get so much money?"
+
+Hilda laughed. "I hear that they began with half-sovereigns, but as soon
+as they heard of her real powers, they did not venture to present her
+with anything less than a sovereign, and in a good many cases they gave
+more--no doubt to propitiate her into giving them good fortunes. You
+see, each visitor only had two or three minutes' interview, so that she
+got through from twenty to thirty an hour; and as it lasted four hours
+she did exceedingly well."
+
+"But who is the gypsy, and where did you find her?"
+
+"The gypsy has gone, and is doubtless by this time in some caravan or
+gypsy tent. I do not think that you will ever find her again."
+
+"I should have suspected that you played the gypsy yourself, Hilda, were
+it not that I saw you half a dozen times."
+
+"I have no skill in palmistry," the girl laughed, "and certainly have
+not been in two places at once. I did my duty and heard Jenny Lind sing
+and Parry play, though I own that I did not patronize Richardson's
+booth."
+
+"Well, it is extraordinary that this old woman should know the history
+of such a number of people as went into her tent, few of whom she could
+ever have heard of even by name, to say nothing of knowing them by
+sight."
+
+Several ladies called within the next few days, specially to inquire
+from Lady Moulton about the gypsy.
+
+"Everyone is talking about her," one said. "Certainly she told me
+several things about the past that it was hardly possible that a woman
+in her position could know. I have often heard that gypsies pick up
+information from servants, or in the country from village gossip; but at
+least a hundred people visited this woman's tent, and from what I hear
+everyone was as astonished as I was myself at her knowledge of their
+family matters. It is said that in some cases she went farther than
+this, and told them things about the present known only to themselves
+and two or three intimate friends. Some of them seemed to have been
+quite seriously affected. I saw Mrs. Markham just after she had left the
+tent, and she was as white as a sheet, and I know she drove away a few
+minutes afterwards."
+
+To all inquiries Lady Moulton simply replied:
+
+"I know no more about the gypsy than you do. Miss Covington took the
+entire management of the gypsy tent off my hands, saw to the tent being
+erected, and engaged the gypsy. Where she picked her up I have no idea,
+but I fancy that she must have got her from their encampment on Ham
+Common. She turned the matter off when I asked her point-blank, and I
+imagine that she must have given the old crone a promise not to let it
+be known who she was. They are curious people, the gypsies, and for
+aught I know may have an objection to any of the tribe going to a
+gathering like ours to tell fortunes."
+
+Some appeals were made to Hilda personally; but Lady Moulton had told
+her the answer she had given, and taking her cue from it she was able to
+so shape her replies that her questioners left her convinced that she
+had really, while carrying out Lady Moulton's instructions, lighted on a
+gypsy possessing some of the secrets of the almost forgotten science of
+palmistry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A GAMBLING DEN.
+
+
+In a corner of one of the winding courts that lie behind Fleet Street
+stood a dingy-looking house, the lamp over the door bearing the words,
+"Billiards and Pool." During the daytime no one would be seen to enter
+save between the hours of twelve and two, when perhaps a dozen young
+fellows, after eating a frugal lunch, would resort there to pass their
+hour out of office in smoking and a game of billiards. Of an evening,
+however, there were lights in every window, and the click of balls could
+be heard from the ground floor and that above it. In each of these there
+were two tables, and the play continued uninterruptedly from seven until
+eleven or half-past.
+
+The lights on the second floor, however, often burned until two or three
+o'clock in the morning, and it was here that the proprietor reaped by
+far the larger proportion of his profits. While the billiard-room
+windows generally stood open, those of the large room on the second
+floor were never raised, and when the lights below were extinguished,
+heavy curtains were dropped across the windows to keep both the light
+and the sounds within from being seen or heard in the court below. Here
+was a large roulette table, while along the sides of the room were
+smaller tables for those who preferred other games. Here almost every
+evening some thirty or forty men assembled. Of these, perhaps a third
+were clerks or shop assistants, the remainder foreigners of almost every
+nationality. Betting lists were exposed at one end of the room.
+Underneath these a bookmaker had a small table, and carried on his
+trade.
+
+In 1851 there were a score of such places in the neighborhood of the
+Strand and Fleet Street, but few did a larger business than this. It was
+generally understood that Wilkinson, the proprietor, had been a soldier;
+but the belief originated rather from his upright carriage and a certain
+soldierly walk than from anything he had himself said, and he was not
+the sort of man whom even the most regular of the frequenters of his
+establishment cared to question. He was a tall man, some five-and-forty
+years of age, taciturn in speech, but firm in manner while business was
+going on. He kept admirable order in the place. He was generally to be
+found in the room on the second floor, but when a whistle blew, and one
+of the markers whispered up a speaking-tube that there was a dispute
+going on between the players or lookers-on, he was at once upon the
+spot.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," he would say, interposing between them, "you know the
+rules of this establishment; the marker's decision on all points
+connected with the game is final, and must be accepted by both parties.
+I will have no quarrels or disputes here, and anyone making a row goes
+straight out into the street, and never comes in here again."
+
+In the vast majority of cases this settled the matter; but when the men
+were flushed with liquor, and inclined to continue the dispute, they
+were seized by the collar by Wilkinson's strong arm and were summarily
+ejected from the house. In the inner room he preserved order as
+strictly, but had much more difficulty in doing so among the foreign
+element. Here quarrels were not uncommon, and knives occasionally drawn;
+but Wilkinson was a powerful man and a good boxer, and a flush hit from
+the shoulder always settled the business.
+
+But though stern in the management of his establishment, Wilkinson was
+popular among its frequenters. He was acquainted with most of their
+callings and business. Indeed, none were admitted to the upper room
+unless well introduced by _habitues_, or until he had made private
+inquiries concerning them. Thus he knew among the foreigners whom he
+could trust, and how far, when, after a run of ill luck, they came to
+him and asked him for a loan, he could venture to go.
+
+With the English portion of his customers he was still more liberal. He
+knew that he should not be a loser from transactions with them; they
+must repay him, for were it known to their employers that they were in
+the habit of gambling, it would mean instant dismissal. There were among
+them several lawyers' clerks, some of whom were, in comparison with
+their means, deeply in debt to him. One or other of those he would often
+invite up to his private room on the floor above, where a bottle of good
+wine would be on the table, a box of excellent cigars beside it, and
+here they would chat more or less comfortably until the roulette room
+opened.
+
+Mr. Wilkinson made no pretense that these meetings were simply for the
+purpose of drinking his wine and smoking his cigars. "I am a
+straightforward man," he would say, "and business is business. I oblige
+you, and I expect you to oblige me. I have always had a fancy that there
+is money to be made in connection with lawyers' businesses. There are
+missing heirs to be hunted up; there are provisos in deeds, of whose
+existence some one or other would give a good deal to know. Now, I am
+sure that you are not in a position to pay me the amount I have lent
+you, and for which I hold your I. O. U.'s. I have no idea of pressing
+you for the money, and shall be content to let it run on so long as you
+will let me know what is being done at your office. The arrangement is
+that you will tell me anything that you think can be used to advantage,
+and if money is made out of any information you may give me, I will
+engage to pay you a third of what it brings in. Now, I call that a fair
+bargain. What do you say?"
+
+In some cases the offer was closed with at once; in others it was only
+agreed to after threats that the debt must be at once paid or an
+application would be made forthwith. So far the gambling-house keeper's
+expectations had not met with the success he had looked for. He had
+spent a good deal of time in endeavoring to find the descendants of
+persons who stood in the direct line of succession to properties, but of
+whom all clew had been lost. He had indeed obtained an insight into
+various family differences that had enabled him to successfully extort
+blackmail, but his gains in this way had not, so far, recouped him for
+the sums he had, as he considered, invested in the speculation.
+
+He was, however, a patient man, and felt, no doubt, that sooner or later
+he should be able to make a coup that would set him up for life. Still
+he was disappointed; his idea had been the one held by many ignorant
+persons, that lawyers are as a class ready to resort to tricks of all
+kinds, in the interests of their clients or themselves. He had found
+that he had been altogether wrong, and that although there were a few
+firms which, working in connection with money-lenders, financial agents,
+and the lowest class of bill discounters, were mixed up in transactions
+of a more or less shady character, these were the black sheep of the
+profession, and that in the vast majority of cases the business
+transacted was purely technical and connected with the property of their
+clients. Nevertheless, he took copious notes of all he learned,
+contending that there was no saying what might come in useful some day.
+
+"Well, Dawkins," he said one day to a dark-haired young fellow with a
+handsome face that already showed traces of the effect of late hours and
+dissipation, "I suppose it is the usual thing; the lawsuit as to the
+right of way at Brownsgrove is still going on, the settlements in Mr.
+Cochrane's marriage to Lady Gertrude Ivory are being drawn up, and other
+business of the same sort. You never give me a scrap of information that
+is of the slightest use. I am afraid that your firm is altogether too
+eminently respectable to have anything to do with doubtful
+transactions."
+
+"I told you so from the first, Wilkinson; that whatever your game might
+be, there would be nothing in our office that could be of the least use
+to you, even if you had copies of every deed drawn up in it. Ours is
+what you might call a family business. Our clients have for the most
+part dealt with the firm for the last hundred years; that is to say,
+their families have. We have drawn their wills, their marriage
+settlements, their leases, and done everything relating to their
+property for years and years. My own work for the last two or three days
+has been drafting and engrossing the will of a General Mathieson, whose
+father and grandfather were our clients before him."
+
+"Mathieson--he is an old Indian officer, isn't he, if it is the man I
+mean? He was in command at Benares twenty years ago. He was a handsome
+man, then, about my height and build."
+
+"Yes, I have no doubt that is the man--John Le Marchand Mathieson."
+
+"That is him. He was very popular with the troops. He used to spend a
+good deal of money in improving their rations and making them
+comfortable. Had a first-rate stable, and they used to say he was a rich
+man. Anyhow, he spent a good deal more than his pay."
+
+"Yes, he was a second son, but his elder brother died, and he came into
+the property; but instead of coming home to enjoy it he stopped out in
+India for years after he came into it."
+
+"He had a daughter, quite a little girl, in those days; her mother died
+out there. I suppose she inherits his property?"
+
+"Well, no; she married some time back; she and her husband are both
+dead, and their son, a boy, six or seven years old, lives with the old
+man."
+
+"How much does he leave?"
+
+"Something over a hundred thousand pounds. At least I know that that is
+about the value of the estates, for we have always acted as his agents,
+collected the rents, and so on."
+
+"I should like to see a copy of his will," Wilkinson said, after sitting
+for some time silent. "I don't want all the legal jargon, but just the
+list of the legacies."
+
+"I can easily jot those down for you. The property goes to the grandson,
+and if he dies before coming of age, to a niece, Hilda Covington, who is
+his ward and lives with him. He leaves her beside only five hundred
+pounds, because she is herself an heiress. There are a score of small
+legacies, to old servants, soldiers, widows, and people of that sort."
+
+"Well, you may as well give me the list entire."
+
+Dawkins shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Just as you like," he said; "the will was signed yesterday, but I have
+the note of instructions still by me, and will bring round the list
+to-morrow evening; though, upon my word, I don't see what interest it
+can possibly have for you."
+
+"I don't know myself," the other said shortly, "but there is never any
+saying."
+
+After talking for a few minutes on other subjects he said, "The room is
+open downstairs now, Dawkins, and as we have finished the bottle I will
+not keep you any longer. In fact, the name of that old General has
+called up some queer memories of old times, and I should like to think
+them over."
+
+When the clerk had left, Wilkinson sat for a long time in thought.
+
+"It is a great idea," he murmured to himself at last; "it will want a
+tremendous lot of planning to arrange it all, and of course it is
+tremendously risky. Still, it can be done, and the stake is worth trying
+for, even if it would be seven years' transportation if anything went
+wrong. In the first place I have to get some proofs of my identity. I
+own that I have neglected my family scandalously," and his face, which
+had been stern and hard, softened into a smile. "Then, of course, I must
+establish myself in chambers in the West End, and as I have three or
+four thousand pounds in hand I can carry on for two or three years, if
+necessary. At the worst the General is likely to add me to his list of
+legatees, but of course that would scarcely be worth playing for alone.
+The will is the thing. I don't see my way to that, but it is hard if it
+can't be managed somehow. The child is, of course, an obstacle, but that
+can certainly be got over, and as I don't suppose the old man is going
+to die at present I have time to make my plans. When I see how matters
+go I can put my hand on a man who could be relied on to help me carry
+out anything I might put in his way. Well, I always thought that I
+should hit on something good through these young scamps who come here,
+but this is a bigger thing than I ever dreamed of. It will certainly be
+a difficult game to play, but, knocking about all over the world as I
+have been for fifteen years before I came back and set up this show, I
+think that I have learned enough to pass muster anywhere."
+
+Somewhat to the surprise of the _habitues_ of the room below it was
+nearly eleven o'clock before the proprietor made his appearance there,
+and even when he did so he took little interest in what was going on,
+but moved restlessly from one room to another, smoking cigar after cigar
+without intermission, and acknowledging but briefly the greetings of
+those who were the most regular frequenters of his establishment.
+
+Two days later the following advertisement appeared, not only in the
+London papers, but in a large number of country journals:
+
+     "JOHN SIMCOE: Any relatives of John Simcoe, who left England about
+     the year 1830 or 1831, and is supposed to have been lost at sea in
+     the Bay of Bengal, in the ship _Nepaul_, in December, 1832, are
+     requested to communicate with J. W. Thompson & Co., Newspaper
+     Agents, Fleet Street, when they will hear of something to their
+     advantage."
+
+Only one reply was received. It was dated "Myrtle Cottage, Stowmarket,"
+and was as follows:
+
+     "SIR: A friend has shown me the advertisement in the Ipswich paper,
+     which must, I think, refer to my nephew, who left here twenty years
+     ago. I received a letter from him dated December 2, 1832, from
+     Calcutta, saying that he was about to sail for China in the
+     _Nepaul_. I never heard from him again, but the Rector here kindly
+     made some inquiries for me some months afterwards, and learned
+     that the vessel had never been heard of after sailing, but was
+     believed to have foundered with all hands in a great gale that took
+     place a few days after she sailed. So far as I know I am his only
+     relative. Awaiting a further communication from you,
+
+     "I remain,
+     "Your obedient servant,
+     "MARTHA SIMCOE."
+
+Great was the excitement caused by the advertisement at Myrtle Cottage.
+Miss Simcoe, who with a tiny servant was the sole inmate of the cottage,
+had called together all her female acquaintances, and consulted them as
+to what the advertisement could mean, and as to the way in which she
+should answer it.
+
+"Do you think it would be safe to reply at all?" she inquired anxiously.
+"You see, my nephew John was a very wild young fellow. I do not mean as
+to his conduct here; no one could say anything against that. He was a
+clerk in the bank, you know, and, I believe, was very well thought of;
+but when his father died, and he came into two thousand pounds, it
+seemed to turn his head. I know that he never liked the bank; he had
+always wanted to be either a soldier or a sailor, and directly he got
+the money he gave up his situation at the bank, and nothing would do but
+that he must travel. Everyone told him that it was madness; his Aunt
+Maria--poor soul, you all knew her--and I cried over it, but nothing
+would move him. A fine-looking fellow he was, as some of you will
+remember, standing six feet high, and, as everyone said, looking more
+like a soldier officer than a clerk at a bank.
+
+"We asked him what he would do when his money was gone, but he laughed
+it off, and said that there were plenty of things for a man to do with a
+pair of strong arms. He said that he might enter the service of some
+Indian prince, or marry the daughter of a black king, or discover a
+diamond mine, and all sorts of nonsense of that sort. He bought such an
+outfit as you never did see--guns and pistols and all sorts of things;
+and as for clothes, why, a prince could not have wanted more. Shirts by
+the dozen, my dear; and I should say eight or ten suits of white
+clothes, which I told him would make him look like a cricketer or a
+baker. Why, it took three big trunks to hold all his things. But I will
+say for him that he wrote regular, either to me or to my sister Maria.
+Last time he wrote he said that he had been attacked by a tiger, but had
+got well again and was going to China, though what he wanted to go there
+for I am sure I don't know. He could not want to buy teacups and
+saucers; they would only get broken sending home. Well, his death was a
+great blow to us."
+
+"I don't know whether I should answer the advertisement, Miss Simcoe,"
+one of her friends said. "There is no saying what it might mean. Perhaps
+he got into debt in India, and the people think that they might get paid
+if they can find out his relations here."
+
+The idea came like a douche of cold water upon the little gathering.
+
+"But the advertisement says, 'will hear of something to their
+advantage,' Mrs. Maberley," Miss Simcoe urged timidly.
+
+"Oh, that is nothing, my dear. That may be only a lawyer's trick; they
+are capable of anything, I have heard."
+
+"But they could not make Miss Simcoe pay," another urged; "it seems to
+me much more likely that her nephew may have left some of his money in
+the hands of a banker at Calcutta, and now that it has been so many
+years unclaimed they are making inquiries to see who is his heir. That
+seems much more likely."
+
+A murmur of assent ran round the circle, and after much discussion the
+answer was drafted, and Miss Simcoe, in a fever of anxiety, awaited the
+reply.
+
+Two days later a tall, well-dressed man knocked at the door of Myrtle
+Cottage. It was a loud, authoritative knock, such as none of Miss
+Simcoe's usual visitors gave.
+
+"It must be about the advertisement," she exclaimed.
+
+The little servant had been enjoined to wear her Sunday clothes in case
+a visitor should come, and after a hasty glance to see if she was tidy,
+Miss Simcoe sat down in her little parlor, and tried to assume an
+appearance of calmness. The front door opened, and a man's voice
+inquired, "Is Miss Simcoe in?" Then the parlor door opened and the
+visitor entered, pushing past the girl, who had been instructed how to
+announce him in proper form, and exclaiming, "My dear Aunt Martha,"
+fairly lifted the astonished old lady from her seat and kissed her.
+
+"Dear me! Dear me!" she gasped, as he put her on her feet again, "can it
+be that you are my nephew John?"
+
+"Why, don't you know me, aunt? Twenty years of knocking about have
+changed me sadly, I am afraid, but surely you must remember me."
+
+"Ye--es," she said doubtfully, "yes, I think that I remember you. But,
+you see, we all thought that you were dead; and I have only got that
+likeness of you that was cut out in black paper by a man who came round
+when you were only eighteen, and somehow I have always thought of you as
+like that."
+
+"Yes, I remember," he laughed. "Well, aunt, I have changed since then,
+there is no doubt. So you see I was not drowned, after all. I was picked
+up by a passing ship, clinging to a spar, but I lost all my money in the
+wreck of the _Nepaul_. I shipped before the mast. We traded among the
+islands for some months, then I had a row with the captain and ran away,
+and threw in my lot with the natives, and I have been knocking about in
+the East ever since, and have come back with enough to live on
+comfortably, and to help you, if you need it."
+
+"Poor Maria died four years ago," she said tearfully. "It would have
+been a happiness to her indeed, poor creature, if you had come back
+before."
+
+"I am sorry indeed to hear that," he replied. "Then you are living here
+all alone, aunt?"
+
+"Yes, except for my little maid. You see, John, Maria and I laid out the
+money our father left us in life annuities, and as long as we lived
+together we did very comfortably. Since then, of course, I have had to
+draw in a little, but I manage very nicely."
+
+"Well, well, aunt, there will be no occasion for you to stint yourself
+any more. As I said, I have come home with my purse warmly lined, and I
+shall make you an allowance of fifty pounds a year. You were always very
+kind to me as a boy, and I can very well afford it, and I dare say it
+will make all the difference to you."
+
+"My dear John, I could not think of taking such a sum from you."
+
+"Pooh, pooh, aunt! What is the use of money if one cannot use it to make
+one's friends comfortable? So that is settled, and I won't have anything
+more said about it."
+
+The old lady wiped her eyes. "It is good of you, John, and it will
+indeed make all the difference to me. It will almost double my income,
+and I shan't have to look at every halfpenny before I spend it."
+
+"That is all right, aunt; now let us sit down comfortably to chat about
+old times. You don't mind my smoking, I hope?"
+
+Miss Simcoe, for almost the first time in her life, told a lie. "Not at
+all, John; not at all. Now, how was it that you did not come down
+yourself instead of putting in an advertisement, which I should never
+have seen if my friend Mrs. Maberley had not happened to notice it in
+the paper which she takes in regularly, and brought it in to show me?"
+
+"Well, I could not bring myself to come down, aunt. Twenty years make
+great changes, and it would have been horrible to have come down here
+and found that you had all gone, and that I was friendless in the place
+where I had been brought up as a boy. I thought that, by my putting it
+into a local paper, someone who had known me would be sure to see it.
+Now let me hear about all the people that I knew."
+
+John Simcoe stayed for three days quietly at the cottage. The news of
+his return spread rapidly, and soon many of the friends that had known
+him came to welcome him. His aunt had told her own circle of her
+nephew's wealth and liberality, and through them the news that John
+Simcoe had returned home a wealthy man was imparted to all their
+acquaintances. Some of his old friends declared that they should have
+known him anywhere; others said frankly that now they knew who he was
+they saw the likeness, but that if they had met him anywhere else they
+did not think they should have recognized him.
+
+John Simcoe's memory had been greatly refreshed by his aunt's incessant
+talk about his early days and doings, and as his visitors were more
+anxious to hear of his adventures abroad than to talk of the days long
+past, he had no difficulty whatever in satisfying all as to his
+identity, even had not the question been settled by his liberality to
+his aunt, from whom no return whatever could possibly be expected. When
+he left he handed her fifty pounds in gold.
+
+"I may as well give you a year's money at once," he said; "I am a
+careless man, and might forget to send it quarterly."
+
+"Where can I write to you, John?" she asked.
+
+"I cannot give you an address at present," he said; "I have only been
+stopping at a hotel until I could find chambers to suit me. Directly I
+do so I will drop you a line. I shall always be glad to hear of you, and
+will run down occasionally to see you and have a chat again with some of
+my old friends."
+
+The return of John Simcoe served Stowmarket as a subject for
+conversation for some time. He had spent his money generously while
+there, and had given a dinner at the principal hotel to a score of those
+with whom he had been most intimate when a boy. Champagne had flowed in
+unstinted abundance, and it was generally voted that he was a capital
+fellow, and well deserved the good fortune that had attended him. In the
+quiet Suffolk town the tales of the adventures that he had gone through
+created quite a sensation, and when repeated by their fathers set half
+the boys of the place wild with a desire to imitate his example, and to
+embark in a life which was at once delightful, and ended in acquiring
+untold wealth. On leaving he pressed several of them, especially one who
+had been a fellow-clerk with him at the bank, and was now its manager,
+to pay him a visit whenever they came to town.
+
+"I expect to be in diggings of my own in a week or two," he said, "and
+shall make a point of having a spare bed, to put up a friend at any
+time."
+
+[Illustration: "YOU DON'T REMEMBER ME, GENERAL?"--_Page 65._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+JOHN SIMCOE.
+
+
+General Mathieson was on the point of going out for a drive with his
+niece, who was buttoning her glove, when a servant entered the drawing
+room and said that a gentleman wished to speak to him.
+
+"Who is he? Did he give you his name or say what was his business?"
+
+"No, sir. I have not seen him before. He merely asked me to give you his
+message."
+
+"I suppose I had better see him, Hilda."
+
+"Well, uncle, I will get out of the way and go downstairs when he has
+come in. Don't let him keep you, for you know that when I have put you
+down at your club I have an engagement to take Lina Crossley to do some
+shopping first, and then for a drive in the park."
+
+"I don't suppose that he will be five minutes, whoever he is."
+
+Hilda slipped away just in time to avoid the visitor. As the manservant
+opened the door the General looked with some interest at the stranger,
+for such it seemed to him his visitor was. He was a tall man, well
+dressed, and yet without the precision that would mark him as being a
+member of a good club or an _habitue_ of the Row.
+
+"You don't remember me, General?" he said, with a slight smile.
+
+"I cannot say that I do," the General replied. "Your face does not seem
+unfamiliar to me, though I cannot at the present moment place it."
+
+"It is rather an uncommon name," the visitor said; "but I am not
+surprised that you do not remember it or me, for it is some twenty years
+since we met. My name is Simcoe."
+
+"Twenty years!" the General repeated. "Then it must have been in India,
+for twenty years ago I was in command of the Benares district. Simcoe!"
+he broke off excitedly. "Of course I knew a gentleman of that name who
+did me an inestimable service; in fact, he saved my life."
+
+"I don't know that it was as much as that, but at least I saved you from
+being mauled by a tiger."
+
+"Bless me!" the General exclaimed, taking a step forward, "and you are
+the man. I recognize you now, and had I not believed that you had been
+lost at sea within a month after you had saved my life I should have
+known you at once, though, of course, twenty years have changed you a
+good deal. My dear sir, I am happy indeed to know that the report was a
+false one, and to meet you again." And he shook hands with his visitor
+with the greatest warmth.
+
+"I am not surprised that you did not recognize me," the latter said; "I
+was but twenty-five then, and have been knocking about the world ever
+since, and have gone through some very rough times and done some very
+hard work. Of course you saw my name among the list of the passengers on
+board the _Nepaul_, which went down with, as was supposed, all hands in
+that tremendous storm in the Bay of Bengal. Happily, I escaped. I was
+washed overboard just as the wreck of the mainmast had been cut away. A
+wave carried me close to it; I climbed upon it and lashed myself to
+leeward of the top, which sheltered me a good deal. Five days later I
+was picked up insensible and was carried to Singapore. I was in hospital
+there for some weeks. When I quite recovered, being penniless, without
+references or friends, I shipped on board a vessel that was going on a
+trading voyage among the islands. I had come out to see the world, and
+thought that I might as well see it that way as another. It would take a
+long time to relate my after-adventures; suffice it that at last, after
+numerous wanderings, I became chief adviser of a powerful chief in
+Burmah, and finally have returned home, not exactly a rich man, but with
+enough to live upon in more than comfort for the rest of my life."
+
+"How long have you been in London?"
+
+"I have been here but a fortnight; I ran down home to see if I had
+relatives living, but found that an old lady was the sole survivor of my
+family. I need scarcely say that my first business on reaching London
+was to rig myself out in a presentable sort of way, and I may say that
+at present I feel very uncomfortable in these garments after being
+twenty years without putting on a black coat. I happened the other day
+to see your name among those who attended the _levee_, and I said to
+myself at once, 'I will call upon the General and see if he has any
+remembrances of me.'"
+
+At this moment a servant entered the room with a little note.
+
+     "MY DEAR UNCLE: It is very naughty of you to be so long. I am
+     taking the carriage, and have told them to put the other horse into
+     the brougham and bring it round for you at once."
+
+For more than an hour the two men sat talking together, and Simcoe, on
+leaving, accepted a cordial invitation from the General to dinner on the
+following day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well, uncle, who was it?" Hilda asked, when they met in the drawing
+room a few minutes before the dinner hour. "You said you would not be
+five minutes, and I waited for a quarter of an hour and then lost
+patience. I asked when I came in how long he had stayed, and heard that
+he did not leave until five o'clock."
+
+"He was a man who had saved my life in India, child."
+
+"Dear me! And have you never heard of him since, uncle?"
+
+"No, dear. I did my best to find out his family, but had no idea of ever
+seeing the man himself, for the simple reason that I believed that he
+died twenty years ago. He had sailed in a vessel that was reported as
+lost with all hands, so you may well imagine my surprise when he told me
+who he was."
+
+"Did you recognize him at once, uncle?"
+
+"Not at first. Twenty years is a long time; and he was only about
+five-and-twenty when I knew him, and of course he has changed greatly.
+However, even before he told me who he was I was able to recall his
+face. He was a tall, active young fellow then, and I could certainly
+trace the likeness."
+
+"I suppose he was in the army, uncle?"
+
+"No; he was a young Englishman who was making a tour through India. I
+was in command at Benares at the time, and he brought me letters of
+introduction from a man who had come out in the same ship with him, and
+also from a friend of mine in Calcutta. A few days after he arrived I
+was on the point of going up with a party to do some tiger-shooting in
+the Terai, and I invited him to come with us. He was a pleasant fellow
+and soon made himself popular. He never said much about himself, but as
+far as I understood him he was not a rich man, but he was spending his
+money in seeing the world, with a sort of happy confidence that
+something would turn up when his money was gone.
+
+"We were out a week and had fair sport. As you have often heard me say,
+I was passionately fond of big-game shooting, and I had had many narrow
+escapes in the course of my life, but I never had so narrow a one as
+happened to me on that occasion. We had wounded a tiger and had lost
+him. We had spent a couple of hours in beating the jungle, but without
+success, and had agreed that the brute could not have been hit as hard
+as we had believed, but must have made off altogether. We were within
+fifty yards of the edge of the jungle, when there was a sudden roar, and
+before I could use my rifle the tiger sprang. I was not in a howdah, but
+on a pad; and the tiger struck one of its forepaws on my knee. With the
+other he clung for a moment to the pad, and then we went down together.
+The brute seized me by the shoulder and sprang into the jungle again,
+carried me a dozen yards or so, and then lay down, still holding me by
+the shoulder.
+
+"I was perfectly sensible, but felt somewhat dazed and stupid; I found
+myself vaguely thinking that he must, after all, have been very badly
+hit, and, instead of making off, had hid up within a short distance of
+the spot where we saw him. I was unable to move hand or foot, for he was
+lying on me, and his weight was pressing the life out of me. I know that
+I vaguely hoped I should die before he took a bite at my shoulder. I
+suppose that the whole thing did not last a minute, though to me it
+seemed an interminable time. Suddenly there was a rustling in the bush.
+With a deep growl the tiger loosed his hold of my shoulder, and, rising
+to his feet, faced half round. What happened after that I only know from
+hearsay.
+
+"Simcoe, it seems, was riding in the howdah on an elephant behind mine.
+As the tiger sprang at my elephant he fired and hit the beast on the
+shoulder. It was that, no doubt, that caused its hold to relax, and
+brought us to the ground together. As the tiger sprang with me into the
+jungle Simcoe leaped down from the howdah and followed. He had only his
+empty rifle and a large hunting-knife. It was no easy work pushing his
+way through the jungle, but in a minute he came upon us. Clubbing his
+gun, he brought it down on the left side of the tiger's head before the
+brute, who was hampered by his broken shoulder, and weak from his
+previous wound, could spring. Had it not been that it was the right
+shoulder that was broken, the blow, heavy as it was, would have had
+little effect upon the brute; as it was, having no support on that side,
+it reeled half over and then, with a snarling growl, sprang upon its
+assailant. Simcoe partly leaped aside, and striking again with the
+barrel of his gun,--the butt had splintered with the first blow,--so far
+turned it aside that instead of receiving the blow direct, which would
+certainly have broken in his skull, it fell in a slanting direction on
+his left shoulder.
+
+"The force was sufficient to knock him down, but, as he fell, he drew
+his knife. The tiger had leaped partly beyond him, so that he lay under
+its stomach, and it could not for the moment use either its teeth or
+claws. The pressure was terrible, but with his last remaining strength
+he drove the knife to the full length of its blade twice into the
+tiger's body. The animal rolled over for a moment, but there was still
+life in it, and it again sprang to its feet, when a couple of balls
+struck it in the head, and it fell dead. Three officers had slipped down
+from their howdahs when they saw Simcoe rushing into the jungle, and
+coming up just in time, they fired, and so finished the conflict.
+
+"There was not much to choose between Simcoe and myself, though I had
+certainly got the worst of it. The flesh of his arm had been pretty well
+stripped off from the shoulder to the elbow; my shoulder had been
+broken, and the flesh torn by the brute's teeth, but as it had not
+shifted its hold from the time it first grasped me till it let go to
+face Simcoe, it was not so bad as it might have been. But the wound on
+the leg was more serious; its claws had struck just above the knee-cap
+and had completely torn it off. We were both insensible when we were
+lifted up and carried down to the camp. In a fortnight Simcoe was about;
+but it was some months before I could walk again, and, as you know, my
+right leg is still stiff. I had a very narrow escape of my life; fever
+set in, and when Simcoe went down country, a month after the affair, I
+was still lying between life and death, and never had an opportunity of
+thanking him for the manner in which, practically unarmed, he went in to
+face a wounded tiger in order to save my life. You may imagine, then, my
+regret when a month later we got the news that the _Nepaul_, in which he
+had sailed, had been lost with all hands."
+
+"It was a gallant action indeed, uncle. You told me something about it
+soon after I came here, when I happened to ask you how it was that you
+walked so stiffly, but you did not tell it so fully. And what is he
+going to do now?"
+
+"He is going to settle in London. He has been, as he says, knocking
+about in the East ever since, being engaged in all sorts of adventures;
+he has been for some time in the service of a native chief some way up
+near the borders of Burmah, Siam, and China, and somehow got possession
+of a large number of rubies and other precious stones, which he has
+turned into money, and now intends to take chambers and settle down to a
+quiet life, join a club, and so on. Of course I promised to do all in my
+power to further his object, and to introduce him into as much society
+as he cared for."
+
+"What is he like, uncle?"
+
+"He is about my height, and I suppose about five-and-forty--though he
+looks rather older. No wonder, after such a life as he has led. He
+carries himself well, and he is altogether much more presentable than
+you would expect under the circumstances. Indeed, had I not known that
+he had never served, I should unhesitatingly have put him down as having
+been in the army. There is something about the way he carries his
+shoulders that you seldom see except among men who have been drilled. He
+is coming here to dine to-morrow, so you will see him."
+
+"That relieves me of anxiety, uncle; for you know you had a letter this
+morning from Colonel Fitzhugh, saying that he had been unexpectedly
+called out of town, and you said that you would ask somebody at the club
+to fill his place, but you know you very often forget things that you
+ought to remember."
+
+"I certainly had forgotten that when I asked him to come, and as I came
+home I blamed myself for not having asked someone else, so as to make up
+an even number."
+
+A month later Mr. Simcoe had become an intimate of General Mathieson's
+house. It had always been a matter of deep regret to the General that he
+had been unable to thank the man who at terrible risk to his life had
+saved him from death, and that feeling was heightened when the news came
+that his preserver had been drowned, and that the opportunity of doing
+so was forever lost. He now spared no pains to further his wishes. He
+constantly invited him to lunch or dinner at his club, introduced him to
+all his friends in terms of the highest eulogium, and repeated over and
+over again the story of his heroic action. As his own club was a
+military one he could not propose him there, but he had no difficulty
+in getting friends to propose and support him for two other clubs of
+good standing.
+
+Several of the officers to whom he introduced Simcoe had been at Benares
+at the time he was hurt. These he recognized at once, and was able to
+chat with them of their mutual acquaintances, and indeed surprised them
+by his knowledge of matters at the station that they would hardly have
+thought would be known to one who had made but a short stay there. One
+of them said as much, but Simcoe said, laughing, "You forget that I was
+laid up for a month. Everyone was very good to me, and I had generally
+one or two men sitting with me, and the amount of gossip I picked up
+about the station was wonderful. Of course there was nothing else to
+talk about; and as I have a good memory, I think I could tell you
+something about the private affairs of pretty nearly every civilian and
+military man on the station."
+
+Everyone agreed that Simcoe was a very pleasant and amusing companion.
+He was full of anecdotes of the wild people that he had lived among and
+of the adventures and escapes he had gone through. Although none of the
+Benares friends of the General recognized Simcoe when they first met
+him, they speedily recalled his features. His instant recognition of
+them, his acquaintance with persons and scenes at and around Benares was
+such that they never for a moment doubted his identity, and as their
+remembrance of the General's visitor returned they even wondered that
+their recognition of him had not been as instant as his of them. As to
+his means, not even to the General had Simcoe explained his exact
+position. He had taken good apartments in Jermyn Street, gave excellent
+little dinners there, kept undeniably good wine and equally excellent
+cigars, dressed well, and was regarded as being a thoroughly good
+fellow.
+
+The General was not a close observer. Had he been so, he would speedily
+have noticed that his niece, although always polite and courteous to Mr.
+Simcoe, did not receive him with the warmth and pleasure with which she
+greeted those who were her favorites. On his part the visitor spared no
+pains to make himself agreeable to her; he would at once volunteer to
+execute any commission for her if she happened to mention in his
+presence anything that she wanted. One evening when she was going to a
+ball he sent her an expensive bouquet of flowers. The next day when she
+saw him she said:
+
+"I am very much obliged to you for those lovely flowers, and I carried
+the bouquet last night, but please do not send any more. I don't think
+that it is quite nice to accept presents from anyone except very near
+relations. It was very kind of you to think of it, but I would really
+rather that you did not do it again. Uncle gives me carte blanche in the
+way of flowers, but I do not avail myself of it very largely, for the
+scent is apt to make me feel faint, and beyond the smallest spray I
+seldom carry any. I made an exception last night, for those you sent me
+were most lovely. You don't mind my saying that, do you?"
+
+"Not at all, Miss Covington; and I quite understand what you mean. It
+seemed natural to me to send you some flowers. Out in the Pacific
+Islands, especially at Samoa and Tahiti, and, indeed, more or less
+everywhere, women wear a profusion of flowers in their hair, and no
+present is so acceptable to them."
+
+"I fancy flowers do not cost so much there as they do here, Mr. Simcoe?"
+
+"No," the latter laughed; "for half a dollar one can get enough to
+render a girl the envy of all others."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I think you were right to ask Mr. Simcoe not to repeat his present,
+Hilda," the General said. "I particularly noticed the bouquet that you
+carried last night."
+
+"Yes, uncle, there was nothing equal to it in the room; it must have
+cost three or four guineas."
+
+"I don't think that you quite like him; do you, Hilda?"
+
+"I like him, uncle, because he saved your life; but in other respects I
+do not know that I do like him particularly. He is very pleasant and
+very amusing, but I don't feel that I quite understand him."
+
+"How do you mean that you don't understand him?"
+
+"I cannot quite explain, uncle. To begin with, I don't seem to get any
+nearer to him--I mean to what he really is. I know more of his
+adventures and his life than I did, but I know no more of him himself
+than I did three months ago when I first met him at dinner."
+
+"At any rate you know that he is brave," the General said, somewhat
+gravely.
+
+"Yes, I know that, of course; but a man can be brave, exceptionally
+brave, and yet not possess all other good qualities. He did behave like
+a hero in your case, and I need not say that I feel deeply grateful to
+him for the service that he rendered you; still, that is the only side
+of his nature that I feel certain about."
+
+"Pooh! pooh! Hilda," the General said, with some irritation. "What do
+you know about nine-tenths of the men you meet? You cannot even tell
+that they are brave."
+
+"No, uncle; I know only the side they choose to present to me, which is
+a pleasant side, and I do not care to know more. But it is different in
+this case. Mr. Simcoe is here nearly every day; he has become one of our
+inner circle; you are naturally deeply interested in him, and I am,
+therefore, interested in him also, and want to know more of him than I
+have got to know. He is brave and pleasant; is he also honest and
+honorable? Is he a man of thoroughly good principles? We know what he
+tells us of his life and his adventures, but he only tells us what he
+chooses."
+
+The General shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"My dear child, you may say the same thing of pretty nearly every
+unmarried man you meet. When a man marries and sets up a household one
+does get to know something about him. There are his wife's relations,
+who, as a rule, speak with much frankness concerning a man who has
+married their daughter, sister, or cousin. But as to bachelors, as a
+rule one has to take them at their own valuation. Of course, I know no
+more than you do as to whether Simcoe is in all respects an honorable
+gentleman. It is quite sufficient that he saved my life, almost at the
+sacrifice of his own, and whatever the life he may have led since is no
+business of mine. He is distinctly popular among those I have introduced
+him to, and is not likely in any way to discredit that introduction."
+
+That Hilda was not entirely satisfied was evident by the letter she
+wrote when her uncle had, as usual, gone up one afternoon to his club.
+
+     "MY DEAR NETTA: I have told you several times about the Mr. Simcoe
+     who saved uncle's life out in India, and who is so intimate at the
+     house. I can't say that either my acquaintance with or my liking
+     for him increases. He does not stand the test of the system, and
+     the more I watch his lips the less I understand him. He talks
+     fluently and quickly, and yet somehow I feel that there is a
+     hesitation in his speech, and that his lips are repeating what they
+     have learned, and not speaking spontaneously. You know that we have
+     noticed the same thing among those who have learned to speak by the
+     system but are not yet perfect in it, so I need not explain further
+     what I mean, as you will understand it. For example, I can always
+     tell at a public meeting, or when listening to a preacher, whether
+     he is speaking absolutely extemporarily or whether he has learned
+     his speech by heart beforehand.
+
+     "I really strongly misdoubt the man. Of course I know that he saved
+     my uncle's life; beyond that I know nothing of him, and it is this
+     very feeling that I do know nothing that disquiets me. I can no
+     more see into him than I can into a stone wall. I can quite
+     understand that it is of very great importance to him to stand well
+     with the General. He came here a stranger with a queer history. He
+     knew no one; he had money and wanted to get into society. Through
+     my uncle he has done so; he has been elected to two clubs, has made
+     a great number of acquaintances, goes to the Row, the Royal
+     Academy, the theaters, and so on, and is, at any rate, on nodding
+     terms with a very large number of people. All this he owes to my
+     uncle, and I fail to see what else he can wish for. It would be
+     natural with so many other engagements that he should not come to
+     us so often as he used to do, but there is no falling off in that
+     respect. He is the tame cat of the establishment. I dare say you
+     think me silly to worry over such a thing, but I can't help
+     worrying. I hate things I don't understand, and I don't understand
+     this man.
+
+     "Another thing is, Walter does not like him. He constantly brings
+     the child toys, but Walter does not take to him, refuses absolutely
+     to sit upon his knee, or to be petted by him in any way. I always
+     think that it is a bad sign when a child won't take to a man.
+     However, I will not bother you more about it now; I will keep him
+     out of my letters as much as I can. I wish I could keep him out of
+     my mind also. As I tell myself over and over again, he is nothing
+     to me, and whether he possesses all the virtues or none of them is,
+     or at any rate should be, a matter of indifference to me. I can't
+     help wishing that you had come over here two months later, then I
+     should have had the benefit of your advice and opinion, for you
+     know, Netta, how accustomed I was for years to consider you almost,
+     if not quite, infallible."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+JOHN SIMCOE'S FRIEND.
+
+
+There was a great sensation among the frequenters of the house in
+Elephant Court when they were told that Wilkinson had sold the business,
+and the new proprietor would come in at once. The feeling among those
+who were in his debt was one of absolute dismay, for it seemed to them
+certain the amounts would be at once called in. To their surprise and
+relief Wilkinson went round among the foreigners, whose debts in no case
+exceeded five pounds, and handed to them their notes of hand.
+
+"I am going out of the business," he said, "and shall be leaving for
+abroad in a day or so. I might, of course, have arranged with the new
+man for him to take over these papers, but he might not be as easy as I
+have been, and I should not like any of you to get into trouble. I have
+never pressed anyone since I have been here, still less taken anyone
+into court, and I should like to leave on friendly terms with all. So
+here are your papers; tear them up, and don't be fools enough to borrow
+again."
+
+Towards his English clients, whose debts were generally from ten to
+twenty pounds, he took the same course, adding a little good advice as
+to dropping billiards and play altogether and making a fresh start.
+
+"You have had a sharp lesson," he said, "and I know that you have been
+on thorns for the last year. I wanted to show you what folly it was to
+place yourself in the power of anyone to ruin you, and I fancy I have
+succeeded very well. There is no harm in a game of billiards now and
+then, but if you cannot play without betting you had better cut it
+altogether. As for the tables, it is simply madness. You must lose in
+the long run, and I am quite sure that I have got out of you several
+times the amount of the I. O. U.'s that I hold."
+
+Never were men more surprised and more relieved. They could hardly
+believe that they were once more free men, and until a fresh set of
+players had succeeded them the billiard rooms were frequently almost
+deserted. To Dawkins Wilkinson was somewhat more explicit.
+
+"You know," he said, "the interest I took in that will of General
+Mathieson. It was not the will so much as the man that I was so
+interested in. It showed me that he was most liberally disposed to those
+who had done him a service. Now, it happens that years ago, when he was
+at Benares, I saved his life from a tiger, and got mauled myself in
+doing so. I had not thought of the matter for many years, but your
+mention of his name recalled it to me. I had another name in those
+days--men often change their names when they knock about in queer
+places, as I have done. However, I called upon him, and he expressed
+himself most grateful. I need not say that I did not mention the
+billiard room to him. He naturally supposed that I had just arrived from
+abroad, and he has offered to introduce me to many of his friends; and I
+think that I have a good chance of being put down in his will for a
+decent sum. I brought money home with me from abroad and have made a
+goodish sum here, so I shall resume my proper name and go West, and drop
+this affair altogether. I am not likely to come against any of the crew
+here, and, as you see," and he removed a false beard and whiskers from
+his face, "I have shaved, though I got this hair to wear until I had
+finally cut the court. So you see you have unintentionally done me a
+considerable service, and in return I shall say nothing about that fifty
+pounds you owe me. Now, lad, try and keep yourself straight in future.
+You may not get out of another scrape as you have out of this. All I ask
+is that you will not mention what I have told you to anyone else. There
+is no fear of my being recognized, with a clean-shaven face and
+different toggery altogether, but at any rate it is as well that
+everyone but yourself should believe that, as I have given out, I have
+gone abroad again. I shall keep your I. O. U.'s, but I promise you that
+you shall hear no more of them as long as you hold your tongue as to
+what I have just told you. Possibly I may some day need your assistance,
+and in that case shall know where to write to you."
+
+It was not until after a great deal of thought that John Simcoe had
+determined thus far to take Dawkins into his confidence, but he
+concluded at last that it was the safest thing to do. He was, as he
+knew, often sent by the firm with any communications that they might
+have to make to their clients, and should he meet him at the General's
+he might recognize him and give him some trouble. He had made no secret
+that he had turned his hand to many callings, and that his doings in the
+southern seas would not always bear close investigation, and the fact
+that he had once kept a billiard room could do him no special harm. As
+to the will, Dawkins certainly would not venture to own that he had
+repeated outside what had been done in the office. The man might be
+useful to him in the future. It was more than probable he would again
+involve himself in debt, and was just the weak and empty-headed young
+fellow who might be made a convenient tool should he require one.
+
+So Elephant Court knew Mr. Wilkinson no more, and certainly none of the
+_habitues_ could have recognized him in the smooth-shaven and
+faultlessly dressed man whom they might meet coming out of a West End
+club. Dawkins often turned the matter over in his mind, after his first
+relief had passed at finding the debt that had weighed so heavily upon
+him perfectly wiped out.
+
+"There ought to be money in it," he said to himself, "but I don't see
+where it comes in. In the first place I could not say he had kept a
+gambling place without acknowledging that I had often been there, and I
+could not say that it was a conversation of mine about the General's
+will that put it into his head to call upon him, and lastly, he has me
+on the hip with those I. O. U.'s. Possibly if the General does leave him
+money, I may manage to get some out of him, though I am by no means
+sure of that. He is not a safe man to meddle with, and he might
+certainly do me more harm than I could do him."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The matter had dropped somewhat from his mind when, three months later,
+General Mathieson came into the office to have an interview with his
+principals.
+
+After he had left the managing clerk was called in. On returning, he
+handed Dawkins a sheet of paper.
+
+"You will prepare a fresh will for General Mathieson; it is to run
+exactly as at present, but this legacy is to be inserted after that to
+Miss Covington. It might just as well have been put in a codicil, but
+the General preferred to have it in the body of the will."
+
+Dawkins looked at the instruction. It contained the words: "To John
+Simcoe, at present residing at 132 Jermyn Street, I bequeath the sum of
+ten thousand pounds, as a token of my gratitude for his heroic conduct
+in saving my life at the cost of great personal injury to himself from
+the grip of a tiger, in the year 1831."
+
+"By Jove, he has done well for himself!" Dawkins muttered, as he sat
+down to his desk after the managing clerk had handed him the General's
+will from the iron box containing papers and documents relating to his
+affairs. "Ten thousand pounds! I wish I could light upon a general in a
+fix of some sort, though I don't know that I should care about a tiger.
+It is wonderful what luck some men have. I ought to get something out of
+this, if I could but see my way to it. Fancy the keeper of a billiard
+room and gaming house coming in for such a haul as this! It is
+disgusting!"
+
+He set about preparing a draft of the will, but he found it difficult to
+keep his attention fixed upon his work, and when the chief clerk ran his
+eye over it he looked up in indignant surprise.
+
+"What on earth is the matter with you, Mr. Dawkins? The thing is full of
+the most disgraceful blunders. In several cases it is not even sense.
+During all the time that I have been in this office I have never had
+such a disgraceful piece of work come into my hands before. Why, if the
+office boy had been told to make a copy of the will, he would have done
+it vastly better. What does it mean?"
+
+"I am very sorry, sir," Dawkins said, "but I don't feel very well
+to-day, and I have got such a headache that I can scarcely see what I am
+writing."
+
+"Well, well," his superior said, somewhat mollified, "that will account
+for it. I thought at first that you must have been drinking. You had
+better take your hat and be off. Go to the nearest chemist and take a
+dose, and then go home and lie down. You are worse than of no use in the
+state that you are. I hope that you will be all right in the morning,
+for we are, as you know, very busy at present, and cannot spare a hand.
+Tear up that draft and hand the will and instructions to Mr. Macleod.
+The General will be down here at ten o'clock to-morrow to see it; he is
+like most military men, sharp and prompt, and when he wants a thing done
+he expects to have it done at once."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"You are feeling better, I hope, this morning?" he said, when Dawkins
+came into the office at the usual hour next day, "though I must say that
+you look far from well. Do you think that you are capable of work?"
+
+"I think so, sir; at any rate my head is better."
+
+It was true that the clerk did not look well, for he had had no sleep
+all night, but had tossed restlessly in bed, endeavoring, but in vain,
+to hit on some manner of extracting a portion of the legacy from the
+ex-proprietor of the gambling house. The more he thought, the more
+hopeless seemed the prospect. John Simcoe was eminently a man whom it
+would be unsafe to anger. The promptness and decision of his methods had
+gained him at least the respect of all the frequenters of his
+establishment, and just as he had sternly kept order there, so he would
+deal with any individual who crossed his path. He held the best cards,
+too; and while a disclosure of the past could hardly injure him
+seriously, he had the means of causing the ruin and disgrace of Dawkins
+himself, if he ventured to attack him.
+
+The clerk was himself shrewd in his own way, but he had the sense to
+feel that he was no match for John Simcoe, and the conclusion that he
+finally came to was that he must wait and watch events, and that, so far
+as he could see, his only chance of obtaining a penny of the legacy was
+to follow implicitly the instructions Simcoe had given him, in which
+case possibly he might receive a present when the money was paid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About a fortnight after he knew the will had been signed by General
+Mathieson, Simcoe went down to a small house on Pentonville Hill, where
+one of the ablest criminals in London resided, passing unsuspected under
+the eyes of the police in the character of a man engaged in business in
+the City. A peculiar knock brought him to the door.
+
+"Ah, is it you, Simcoe?" he said; "why, I have not seen you for months.
+I did not know you for the moment, for you have taken all the hair off
+your face."
+
+"I have made a change, Harrison. I have given up the billiard rooms, and
+am now a swell with lodgings in Jermyn Street."
+
+"That is a change! I thought you said the billiards and cards paid well;
+but I suppose you have got something better in view?"
+
+"They did pay well, but I have a very big thing in hand."
+
+"That is the right line to take up," the other said. "You were sure to
+get into trouble with the police about the card-playing before long, and
+then the place would have been shut up, and you might have got three
+months; and when you got out the peelers would have kept their eyes upon
+you, and your chances would have been at an end. No, I have never had
+anything to do with small affairs; I go in, as you know, for big things.
+They take time to work out, it is true; and after all one's trouble,
+something may go wrong at the last moment, and the thing has to be
+given up. Some girl who has been got at makes a fool of herself, and
+gets discharged a week before it comes off; or a lady takes it into her
+head to send her jewels to a banker's, and go on to the Continent a week
+earlier than she intended to do. Then there is a great loss in getting
+rid of the stuff. Those sharps at Amsterdam don't give more than a fifth
+of the value for diamonds. It is a heart-rending game, on the whole; but
+there is such excitement about the life that when one has once taken it
+up it is seldom indeed that one changes it, though one knows that,
+sooner or later, one is sure to make a slip and get caught. Now, what
+will you take? Champagne or brandy?"
+
+"I know that your brandy is first-rate, Harrison, and I will sample it
+again."
+
+"I have often thought," went on the other, after the glasses had been
+filled and cigars lighted, "what a rum thing it was that you should come
+across my brother Bill out among the islands. He had not written to me
+for a long time, and I had never expected to hear of him again. I
+thought that he had gone down somehow, and had either been eaten by
+sharks or killed by the natives, or shot in some row with his mates. He
+was two years older than I was, and, as I have told you, we were sons of
+a well-to-do auctioneer in the country; but he was a hard man, and we
+could not stand it after a time, so we made a bolt for it. We were
+decently dressed when we got to London. As we had been at a good school
+at home, and were both pretty sharp, we thought that we should have no
+difficulty in getting work of some sort.
+
+"We had a hard time of it. No one would take us without a character, so
+we got lower and lower, till we got to know some boys who took us to
+what was called a thieves' kitchen--a place where boys were trained as
+pick-pockets. The old fellow who kept it saw that we were fit for higher
+game than was usual, and instead of being sent out to pick up what we
+could get in the streets we were dressed as we had been before, and sent
+to picture-galleries and museums and cricket matches, and we soon
+became first-rate hands, and did well. In a short time we didn't see why
+we should work for another man, and we left him without saying good-by.
+
+"It was not long before he paid us out. He knew that we should go on at
+the same work, and dressed up two or three of his boys and sent them to
+these places, and one day when Bill was just pocketing a watch at Lord's
+one of these boys shouted out, 'Thief! thief! That boy has stolen your
+watch, sir,' and Bill got three months, though the boy could not appear
+against him, for I followed him after they had nabbed Bill, and pretty
+nearly killed him.
+
+"Then I went on my travels, and was away two or three years from London.
+Bill had been out and in again twice; he was too rash altogether. I took
+him away with me, but I soon found that it would not do, and that it
+would soon end in our both being shut up. So I put it fairly to him.
+
+"'We are good friends, you know, Bill,' I said, 'but it is plain to me
+that we can't work together with advantage. You are twenty and I am
+eighteen, but, as you have often said yourself, I have got the best head
+of the two. I am tired of this sort of work. When we get a gold ticker,
+worth perhaps twenty pounds, we can't get above two for it, and it is
+the same with everything else. It is not good enough. We have been away
+from London so long that old Isaacs must have forgotten all about us. I
+have not been copped yet, and as I have got about twenty pounds in my
+pocket I can take lodgings as a young chap who has come up to walk the
+hospitals, or something of that sort. If you like to live with me,
+quiet, we will work together; if not, it is best that we should each go
+our own way--always being friends, you know.'
+
+"Bill said that was fair enough, but that he liked a little life and to
+spend his money freely when he got it. So we separated. Bill got two
+more convictions, and the last time it was a case of transportation. We
+had agreed between ourselves that if either of us got into trouble the
+other should call once a month at the house of a woman we knew to ask
+for letters, and I did that regularly after he was sent out. I got a
+few letters from him. The first was written after he had made his
+escape. He told me that he intended to stay out there--it was a jolly
+life, and a free one, I expect. Pens and paper were not common where he
+was; anyhow he only wrote once a year or so, and it was two years since
+I had heard from him when you wrote and said you had brought me a
+message from Bill.
+
+"Ever since we parted I have gone on the same line, only I have worked
+carefully. I was not a bad-looking chap, and hadn't much difficulty in
+getting over servant girls and finding out where things were to be had,
+so I gradually got on. For years now I have only carried on big affairs,
+working the thing up and always employing other hands to carry the job
+out. None of them know me here. I meet them at quiet pubs and arrange
+things there, and I need hardly say that I am so disguised that none of
+the fellows who follow my orders would know me again if they met me in
+the street. I could retire if I liked, and live in a villa and keep my
+carriage. Why, I made five thousand pounds as my share of that bullion
+robbery between London and Brussels. But I know that I should be
+miserable without anything to do; as it is, I unite amusement with
+business. I sometimes take a stall at the Opera, and occasionally I find
+a diamond necklace in my pocket when I get home. I know well enough that
+it is foolish, but when I see a thing that I need only put out my hand
+to have, my old habit is too strong for me. Then I often walk into swell
+entertainments. You have only to be well got up, and to go rather late,
+so that the hostess has given up expecting arrivals and is occupied with
+her guests, and the flunky takes your hat without question, and you go
+upstairs and mix with the people. In that way you get to know as to the
+women who have the finest jewels, and have no difficulty in finding out
+their names. I have got hold of some very good things that way, but
+though there would have been no difficulty in taking some of them at the
+time, I never yielded to that temptation. In a crowded room one never
+can say whose eyes may happen to be looking in your direction.
+
+"I wonder that you never turned your thoughts that way. From what you
+have told me of your doings abroad, I know that you are not squeamish in
+your ideas, and with your appearance you ought to be able to go anywhere
+without suspicion."
+
+"I am certainly not squeamish," Simcoe said, "but I have not had the
+training. One wants a little practice and to begin young, as you did, to
+try that game on. However, just at present I have a matter in hand that
+will set me up for life if it turns out well, but I shall want a little
+assistance. In the first place I want to get hold of a man who could
+make one up well, and who, if I gave him a portrait, could turn me out
+so like the original that anyone who had only seen him casually would
+take me for him."
+
+"There is a man down in Whitechapel who is the best hand in London at
+that sort of thing. He is a downright artist. Several times when I have
+had particular jobs in hand, inquiries I could not trust anyone else to
+make, I have been to him, and when he has done with me and I have looked
+in the glass there was not the slightest resemblance to my own face in
+it. I suppose the man you want to represent is somewhere about your own
+height?"
+
+"Yes, I should say that he is as nearly as may be the same. He is an
+older man than I am."
+
+"Oh, that is nothing! He could make you look eighty if you wanted it.
+Here is the man's address; his usual fee is a guinea, but, as you want
+to be got up to resemble someone else, he might charge you double."
+
+"The fee is nothing," Simcoe said. "Then again, I may want to get hold
+of a man who is a good hand at imitating handwriting."
+
+"That is easy enough. Here is the address of a man who does little jobs
+for me sometimes, and is, I think, the best hand at it in England. You
+see, sometimes there is in a house where you intend to operate some
+confoundedly active and officious fellow--a butler or a footman--who
+might interrupt proceedings. His master is in London, and he receives a
+note from him ordering him to come up to town with a dressing case,
+portmanteau, guns, or something of that kind, as may be suitable to the
+case. I got a countess out of the way once by a messenger arriving on
+horseback with a line from her husband, saying that he had met with an
+accident in the hunting-field, and begging her to come to him. Of course
+I have always previously managed to get specimens of handwriting, and my
+man imitates them so well that they have never once failed in their
+action. I will give you a line to him, saying that you are a friend of
+mine. He knows me under the name of Sinclair. As a stranger you would
+hardly get him to act."
+
+"Of course, he is thoroughly trustworthy?" Simcoe asked.
+
+"I should not employ him if he were not," the other said. "He was a
+writing-master at one time, but took to drink, and went altogether to
+the bad. He is always more or less drunk now, and you had better go to
+him before ten o'clock in the morning. I don't say that he will be quite
+sober, but he will be less drunk than he will be later. As soon as he
+begins to write he pulls himself together. He puts a watchmaker's glass
+in his eye and closely examines the writing that he has to imitate,
+writes a few lines to accustom himself to it, and then writes what he is
+told to do as quickly and as easily as if it were his own handwriting.
+He hands it over, takes his fee, which is two guineas, and then goes out
+to a public-house, and I don't believe that the next day he has the
+slightest remembrance of what he has written."
+
+"Thank you very much, Harrison; I think that, with the assistance of
+these two men, I shall be able to work the matter I have in hand without
+fear of a hitch."
+
+"Anything else I can do for you? You know that you can rely upon me,
+Simcoe. You were with poor Bill for six years, and you stood by him to
+the last, when the natives rose and massacred the whites, and you got
+Bill off, and if he did die afterwards of his wounds, anyhow you did
+your best to save him. So if I can help you I will do it, whatever it
+is, short of murder, and there is my hand on it. You know in any case I
+could not round on you."
+
+"I will tell you the whole business, Harrison. I have thought the matter
+pretty well out, but I shall be very glad to have your opinion on it,
+and with your head you are like to see the thing in a clearer light than
+I can, and may suggest a way out of some difficulties."
+
+He then unfolded the details of his scheme.
+
+"Very good!" the other said admiringly, when he had finished. "It does
+credit to you, Simcoe. You risked your life, and, as you say, very
+nearly lost it to save the General's, and have some sort of a right to
+have his money when he has done with it. Your plan of impersonating the
+General and getting another lawyer to draw out a fresh will is a capital
+one; and as you have a list of the bequests he made in his old one, you
+will not only be able to strengthen the last will, but will disarm the
+opposition of those who would have benefited by the first, as no one
+will suffer by the change. But how about the boy?"
+
+"The boy must be got out of the way somehow."
+
+"Not by foul play, I hope, Simcoe. I could not go with you there."
+
+"Certainly not. That idea never entered my mind; but surely there can be
+no difficulty in carrying off a child of that age. It only wants two to
+do that: one to engage the nurse in talk, the other to entice the child
+away, pop him into a cab waiting hard by, and drive off with him."
+
+"I doubt whether the courts would hand over the property unless they had
+some absolute proof that the child was dead."
+
+"They would not do so for some time, no doubt, but evidence might be
+manufactured. At any rate I could wait. They would probably carry out
+all the other provisions of the will, and with the ten thousand pounds
+and the three or four thousand I have saved I could hold on for a good
+many years."
+
+"How about the signature to the will?"
+
+"I can manage that much," Simcoe said. "I had some work in that way
+years ago, and I have been for the last three months practicing the
+General's, and I think now that I can defy any expert to detect the
+difference. Of course, it is a very different thing learning to imitate
+a signature and writing a long letter."
+
+The other agreed, and added, "I should be careful to employ a firm of
+lawyers of long standing. If you were to go to shady people it would in
+itself cause suspicion."
+
+"Yes, I quite feel that, and I want, if possible, to get hold of people
+who just know the General by sight, so as to have a fairly good idea of
+his face without knowing him too well. I think I know of one. At the
+club the other day Colonel Bulstrode, a friend of the General's, said to
+him, 'I wish you would drive round with me to my lawyers'; their place
+is in the Temple. I want someone to sign as a witness to a deed, and as
+it is rather important, I would rather have it witnessed by a friend
+than by one of the clerks. It won't take you a minute.'"
+
+"I should think that would do very well; they would not be likely to
+notice him very particularly, and probably the General would not have
+spoken at all. He would just have seen his friend sign the deed, and
+then have affixed his own signature as a witness. Well, everything seems
+in your favor, and should you need any help you can rely upon me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+GENERAL MATHIESON'S SEIZURE.
+
+
+Three months later John Simcoe called for a letter directed to "Mr.
+Jackson, care of William Scriven, Tobacconist, Fetter Lane." The address
+was in his own handwriting. He carried it home before opening it. The
+writing was rough and the spelling villainous.
+
+     "SAMOA.
+
+     "MY DEAR JACK: I was mitely glad when the old brig came in and
+     Captain Jephson handed me a letter from you, and as you may guess
+     still more pleased to find with it an order for fifty pounds. It
+     was good and harty of you, but you allus was the right sort. I have
+     dun as you asked me; I went to the wich man and for twelve bottles
+     of rum he gave me the packet inclosed of the stuff he uses. There
+     aint much of it, but it is mitely strong. About as much as will lie
+     on the end of a knife will make a man foam at the mouth and fall
+     into convulsions, three times as much as that will kill him
+     outrite. He says there aint no taste in it. I hope this will suit
+     your purpus. You will be sorry to hear that Long Peter has been
+     wiped out; he was spered by a native, who thort Pete wanted to run
+     away with his wife, wich I don't believe he did for she wernt no
+     way a beuty. Vigors is in a bad way; he has had the shakes bad
+     twice and I don't think that he can last much longer. Trade is bad
+     here, but now I have got the rino I shall buy another cocoanut
+     plantation and two or three more wives to work it, and shall be
+     comfortible. I am a pore hand with the pen, so no more from your
+     friend,
+
+     "BEN STOKES."
+
+A week later Hilda wrote to her friend:
+
+     "MY DEAR NETTA: I am writing in great distress. Three days ago
+     uncle had a terrible fit. He was seized with it at the club, and I
+     hear that his struggles were dreadful. It was a sort of convulsion.
+     He was sensible when he was brought home, but very weak; he does
+     not remember anything about it. Fortunately, Dr. Pearson, who
+     always attends us, was one of the party, and he sent off cabs for
+     two others. Dr. Pearson came home with him. Of course I asked him
+     what it was, and he said that it was a very unusual case, and that
+     he and the other doctors had not yet come to any decision upon it,
+     as none of them had ever seen one precisely like it. He said that
+     some of the symptoms were those of an epileptic fit, but the
+     convulsions were so violent that they rather resembled tetanus than
+     an ordinary fit. Altogether he seemed greatly puzzled, and he would
+     give no opinion as to whether it was likely to recur. Uncle is
+     better to-day; he told me that he, Mr. Simcoe, and four others had
+     been dining together. He had just drunk his coffee when the room
+     seemed to swim round, and he remembered nothing more until he found
+     himself in bed at home. Mr. Simcoe came home with him, and the
+     doctor said, I must acknowledge, that no one could have been kinder
+     than he was. He looked quite ill from the shock that he had had.
+     But still I don't like him, Netta; in fact, I think I dislike him
+     more and more every day. I often tell myself that I have not a
+     shadow of reason for doing so, but I can't help it. You may call it
+     prejudice: I call it instinct.
+
+     "You can well imagine how all this has shocked me. Uncle seemed so
+     strong and well that I have always thought he would live to a great
+     age. He is sixty-eight, but I am sure he looks ten years
+     younger--at least he did so; at present he might be ninety. But I
+     can only hope that the change is temporary, and that he will soon
+     be his dear self again. The three doctors are going to have a
+     meeting here to-morrow. I shall be anxious, indeed, to hear the
+     result. I hope that they will order him a change, and that we can
+     go down together, either to his place or mine; then I can always be
+     with him, whereas here he goes his way and I go mine, and except at
+     meal-times we scarcely meet. If he does go I shall try and persuade
+     him to engage a medical man to go with us. Of course, I do not know
+     whether a doctor could be of any actual use in case of another
+     attack, but it would be a great comfort to have one always at
+     hand."
+
+The letter stopped here, and was continued on the following evening.
+
+     "The consultation is over; Dr. Pearson had a long talk with me
+     afterwards. He said that it was without doubt an epileptic fit, but
+     that it differed in many respects from the general type of that
+     malady, and that all of them were to some extent puzzled. They had
+     brought with them a fourth doctor, Sir Henry Havercourt, who is the
+     greatest authority on such maladies. He had seen uncle, and asked
+     him a few questions, and had a talk with Dr. Pearson, and had from
+     him a minute account of the seizure. He pronounced it a most
+     interesting and, as far as he knew, a unique case, and expressed a
+     wish to come as a friend to see how the General was getting on. Of
+     course he inquired about his habits, asked what he had had for
+     dinner, and so on.
+
+     "'The great point, Dr. Pearson,' I said, after the consultation was
+     over, 'is, of course, whether there is likely to be any recurrence
+     of the attack.' 'That is more than I can say,' he answered gravely;
+     'at present he can hardly be said to have recovered altogether from
+     the effects of this one, which is in itself an unusual feature in
+     the case. As a rule, when a person recovers from an epileptic fit
+     he recovers altogether--that is to say, he is able to walk and talk
+     as before, and his face shows little or no sign of the struggle
+     that he has undergone. In this case the recovery is not altogether
+     complete. You may have noticed that his voice is not only weak, but
+     there is a certain hesitation in it. His face has not altogether
+     recovered its natural expression, and is slightly, very slightly,
+     drawn on one side, which would seem to point to paralysis; while in
+     other respects the attack was as unlike a paralytic stroke as it
+     could well have been. Thus, you see, it is difficult in the extreme
+     for us to give any positive opinion concerning a case which is so
+     entirely an exceptional one. We can only hope for the best, and
+     trust to the strength of his constitution. At any rate, we all
+     agree that he needs absolute quiet and very simple and plain diet.
+     You see, he has been a great diner-out; and though an abstemious
+     man in the way of drinking, he thoroughly appreciates a good
+     dinner. All this must be given up, at any rate for a time. I should
+     say that as soon as he is a little stronger, you had better take
+     him down into the country. Let him see as few visitors as possible,
+     and only very intimate friends. I do not mean that he should be
+     lonely or left to himself; on the contrary, quiet companionship and
+     talk are desirable.'
+
+     "I said that though the country might be best for him, there was no
+     medical man within three miles of his place, and it would be
+     terrible were we to have an attack, and not know what to do for it.
+     He said that he doubted if anything could be done when he was in
+     such a state as he was the other night, beyond sprinkling his face
+     with water, and that he himself felt powerless in the case of an
+     attack that was altogether beyond his experience. Of course he said
+     it was out of the question that I should be down there alone with
+     him, but that I must take down an experienced nurse. He strongly
+     recommended that she should not wear hospital uniform, as this
+     would be a constant reminder of his illness.
+
+     "I said that I should very much like to have a medical man in the
+     house. Money was no object, and it seemed to me from what he said
+     that it would also be desirable that, besides being a skillful
+     doctor, he should be also a pleasant and agreeable man, who would
+     be a cheerful companion to him as well as a medical attendant.
+
+     "He agreed that this would certainly be very desirable, and that he
+     and the others were all anxious that the case should be watched
+     very carefully. He said that he would think the matter over, and
+     that if he could not find just the man that would suit, he would
+     ask Sir Henry Havercourt to recommend us one.
+
+     "He said there were many clever young men to whom such an
+     engagement for a few months would be a godsend. He intended to run
+     down himself once a fortnight, from Saturday until Monday, which he
+     could do, as his practice was to a large extent a consulting one. I
+     could see plainly enough that though he evidently put as good a
+     face upon it as he could, he and the other doctors took by no means
+     a hopeful view of the case.
+
+     "It is all most dreadful, Netta, and I can hardly realize that only
+     three days ago everything was bright and happy, while now it seems
+     that everything is uncertain and dark. There was one thing the
+     doctor said that pleased me, and that was, 'Don't let any of his
+     town friends in to see him; and I think that it would be as well
+     that none of them should go down to visit him in the country. Let
+     him be kept altogether free from anything that would in the
+     smallest degree excite him or set his brain working.' I told him
+     that no one had seen him yet, and that I would take good care that
+     no one should see him; and I need hardly tell you that Mr. Simcoe
+     will be the first person to be informed of the doctor's orders."
+
+A week later General Mathieson came downstairs for the first time. The
+change in him was even greater than it had seemed to be when he was
+lying on the sofa in his room; and Tom Roberts, who had been the
+General's soldier-servant years before, and had been in his service
+since he left the army, had difficulty in restraining his tears as he
+entered, with his master leaning heavily on his arm.
+
+"I am shaky, my dear Hilda, very shaky," the General said. "I feel just
+as I did when I was laid up with a bad attack of jungle fever in India.
+However, no doubt I shall pick up soon, just I did then. Pearson tells
+me that he and the others agree that I must go down into the country,
+and I suppose I must obey orders. Where is it we are to go?"
+
+"To your own place, uncle."
+
+"My own place?" he repeated doubtfully, and then after a pause, "Oh,
+yes, of course! Oh, yes!"
+
+There was a troubled look in his face, as if he was trying to recall
+memories that had somehow escaped him, and Hilda, resolutely repressing
+the impulse to burst into a flood of tears, said cheerfully:
+
+"Yes, I shall be very glad to be back at Holmwood. We won't go down by
+train, uncle. Dr. Pearson does not think that you are strong enough for
+that yet. He is going to arrange for a comfortable carriage in which you
+can lie down and rest. We shall make an early start. He will arrange for
+horses to be sent down so that we can change every ten or twelve miles,
+and arrive there early in the afternoon. It is only seventy miles, you
+know."
+
+"Yes, I have driven up from there by the coach many a time when I was a
+boy, and sometimes since; have I not, Tom?"
+
+"Yes, General. The railway was not made till six or seven years ago."
+
+"No, the railway wasn't made, Hilda; at least, not all the way."
+
+Hilda made signs to Tom not to leave the room, and he stood by his
+master's shoulder, prompting him occasionally when his memory failed
+him.
+
+"You must get strong very fast, uncle, for Dr. Pearson said that you
+cannot go until you are more fit to bear the fatigue."
+
+"I shall soon get strong, my dear. What is to-day?"
+
+"To-day is Friday, uncle."
+
+"Somehow I have lost count of days," he said. "Well, I should think that
+I shall be fit to go early next week; it is not as if we were going to
+ride down. I was always fond of riding, and I hope I shall soon be after
+the hounds again. Let me see, what month is this?"
+
+"It is early in June, uncle; and the country will be looking its best."
+
+"Yes, yes; I shall have plenty of time to get strong before cub-hunting
+begins."
+
+So the conversation dragged on for another half hour, the General's
+words coming slower and slower, and at the end of that time he dropped
+asleep. Hilda made a sign to Roberts to stay with him, and then ran up
+to her own room, closed the door behind her, and burst into a passion of
+tears. Presently there was a tap at the door, and her maid came in.
+
+"Tom has just slipped out from the dining room, miss, and told me to
+tell you that the General was sleeping as peacefully as a child, and he
+thought it was like enough that he would not wake for hours. He said
+that when he woke he and William would get him up to his own room."
+
+"Thank you, Lucy." The door closed again. Hilda got up from the bed on
+which she had lain down, and buried herself in the depths of a large
+cushioned chair. There she sat thinking. For the first time she realized
+how immense was the change in her uncle. She had seen him several times
+each day, but he had spoken but a few words, and it only seemed to her
+that he was drowsy and disinclined to talk. Now she saw how great was
+the mental as well as the physical weakness.
+
+"It is terrible!" she repeated over and over again to herself. "What a
+wreck--oh, what a dreadful wreck! Will he ever get over it?"
+
+She seemed absolutely unable to think. Sometimes she burst into sobs,
+sometimes she sat with her eyes fixed before her, but seeing nothing,
+and her fingers twining restlessly round each other. Presently the door
+opened very gently, and a voice said, "May I come in?" She sprang to her
+feet as if electrified, while a glad cry of "Netta!" broke from her
+lips. A moment later the two girls were clasped in a close embrace.
+
+"Oh, Netta, how good of you!" Hilda said, after she had sobbed for some
+time on her friend's shoulder. "Oh, what a relief it is to me!"
+
+"Of course I have come, you foolish girl. You did not suppose I was
+going to remain away after your letter? Aunt is with me; she is
+downstairs, tidying herself up. We shut up the house and left the
+gardener in charge, and here we are, as long as you want us."
+
+"But your pupils, Netta?"
+
+"I handed them all over to another of the Professor's assistants, so we
+need not bother about them. I told aunt that I should not be down for an
+hour. Mrs. Brown is looking after her, and getting her a cup of tea, and
+I asked her to bring two cups up here. I thought that you would prefer
+for us to have a chat by ourselves. Now tell me all about it, dear; that
+is, if there is anything fresh since you wrote."
+
+Hilda told her the doctor's opinion and the plans that had been formed.
+
+"Dr. Pearson brought a Dr. Leeds here with him this morning. He says he
+is very clever. His term as house surgeon at Guy's or St. Bartholomew's,
+I forget which, has just expired, and as he had not made any definite
+plans he was glad to accept the doctor's offer to take charge of my
+uncle. He seemed, from what little I saw of him, a pleasant man, and
+spoke in a cheerful voice, which will be a great thing for uncle. I
+should think that he is six or seven and twenty. Dr. Pearson said he was
+likely to become a very distinguished man in his profession some day. He
+is going to begin at once. He will not sleep here, but will spend most
+of his time here, partly because he wants to study the case, and partly
+because he wants uncle to get accustomed to him. He will travel down
+with us, which will be a great comfort to me, for there is no saying how
+uncle may stand the journey. I suggested that we should have another
+carriage, as the invalid carriage has room for only one inside besides
+the patient, but he laughed, and said that he would ride on the box with
+Tom Roberts; there will be room for two there, as we are going to post
+down. Of course, you and your aunt will go down by train, and be there
+to meet us; it will make it so much brighter and more cheerful having
+you to receive us than if we had to arrive all alone, with no one to say
+welcome."
+
+"And is your uncle so very weak?"
+
+"Terribly weak--weak both mentally and physically," and she gave an
+account of the interview that afternoon.
+
+"That is bad indeed, Hilda; worse than I had expected. But with country
+air, and you and me to amuse him, to say nothing of the doctor, we may
+hope that he will soon be a very different man."
+
+"Well, I will not stay talking here any longer, Netta; we have left your
+aunt half an hour alone, and if she were not the kindest soul in the
+world, she would feel hurt at being so neglected, after coming all this
+way for my sake. You don't know what good your coming has effected.
+Before you opened the door I was in the depth of despair; everything
+seemed shaken, everything looked hopeless. There seemed to have been a
+sort of moral earthquake that had turned everything in my life
+topsy-turvy, but now I feel hopeful again. With you by my side I think
+that I can bear even the worst."
+
+They went down to the drawing room, where they found Mrs. Brown, the
+housekeeper, having a long gossip over what had taken place with Miss
+Purcell, whom, although a stranger, she was unaffectedly glad to see, as
+it seemed to take some of her responsibilities off her shoulders, and
+she knew that Netta's society would be invaluable to Hilda.
+
+It was not until a week later that, after another consultation, the
+doctors agreed that it was as well that the General should be moved down
+to his country place. Dr. Pearson was opinion that there was some
+improvement, but that it was very slight; the others could see no change
+since they had seen him ten days before. However, they agreed with their
+colleague that although there might be a certain amount of danger in
+moving him to the country, it was best to risk that, as the change might
+possibly benefit him materially.
+
+"Have you formed any opinion of the case, Dr. Leeds?" Sir Henry asked.
+
+"I can scarcely be said to have any distinct opinion, Sir Henry. The
+symptoms do not tally with those one would expect to find after any
+ordinary sort of seizure, although certainly they would point to
+paralysis rather than epilepsy. I should, had the case come before me in
+the ordinary way in the ward of a hospital, have come to the conclusion
+that the seizure itself and the after-effects pointed rather to the
+administration of some drug than to any other cause. I admit that I am
+not acquainted with any drug whose administration would lead to any such
+results; but then I know of no other manner in which they could be
+brought about save by some lesion of a blood vessel in the brain of so
+unusual a character that no such case has hitherto been reported in any
+work with which I am acquainted. This, I say, would be my first theory
+in the case of a patient of whose previous history I was entirely
+unaware, and who came under my charge in a hospital ward; but I admit
+that in the present case it cannot be entertained for a moment, and I
+must, during my attendance upon General Mathieson, watch closely for
+symptoms that would aid me in localizing brain lesion or other cause."
+
+He spoke modestly and quietly in the presence, as he was, of some of the
+leading men of his profession. The theory he had enunciated had not
+occurred to any of them, but, as he spoke, they all recognized that the
+symptoms might under other circumstances have led them to a similar
+conclusion. They were silent for a minute when he ceased speaking, then
+Sir Henry said gravely:
+
+"I admit, Dr. Leeds, that some of the symptoms, indeed the fit itself,
+might in the case of a patient of whose history we were ignorant seem to
+point to some obscure form of poisoning, since they do not accord with
+what one would expect in ordinary forms of brain seizures of this kind.
+However, there is no doubt that we are all somewhat prone, when we meet
+with a case possessing unusual or altogether exceptional features, to
+fall back upon the theory of poisoning. In this case, fortunately, the
+circumstances are such as to preclude the possibility of entertaining
+the idea for a moment; and, as you say, you must endeavor to find,
+watching him as you will do, some other cause of what I admit is a
+mysterious and obscure case; and knowing you as I do, I am sure that you
+will mention this theory, even as a theory, to no one.
+
+"We are all aware that there are many cases which come before us where
+we may entertain suspicions, and strong suspicions, that the patient has
+been poisoned, and yet we dare not take any steps because, in the first
+place, we have no clew as to how or by whom he or she has been poisoned,
+and because, if after death an autopsy should prove that we were
+mistaken, it would be nothing short of professional ruin. Here, as you
+said, the theory is happily irreconcilable with the circumstances of the
+case, and no drug known to European science would produce so strange a
+seizure or the after-effects. Of course, as we all know, on the west
+coast of Africa, and it is believed in India, the natives are acquainted
+with poisons which are wholly unknown, and will probably remain unknown,
+since medical men who have endeavored to investigate the matter have
+almost always fallen victims themselves to poisons administered by the
+people whose secrets they were endeavoring to discover.
+
+"However, we can happily put that altogether aside. Dr. Pearson tells us
+that he intends to go down once a fortnight, and has promised to furnish
+us with the results of his own observations, and his own reports of this
+very interesting case. If General Mathieson had, in the course of his
+military career, ever been struck in the head by a bullet, I should say
+unhesitatingly that some splinter, possibly very minute, had obtruded
+into the brain matter; but this has, I learn, not been the case. The
+only serious injury that he has ever received was when he was terribly
+torn and nearly killed by a tiger some twenty years ago in India. It may
+be useful to you, Dr. Leeds, to keep this in your mind. There can be no
+doubt that scratches and bites, even of the domestic cat, occasionally
+give rise to violent inflammations, and probably, indeed I believe it to
+be the case, those of the great cats of India are still more poisonous.
+As is the case with the bite of a mad dog, the poison may in some cases
+remain latent for a considerable time, until some circumstance may
+arouse it into activity. I would suggest that should any scars caused at
+that time remain, you should examine them carefully, and ascertain
+whether there is any sign of inflammatory action there. I grant the
+improbability of any consequences arising so many years after the event,
+but at the same time in a case of this kind, where we are perfectly at a
+loss to explain what we see, it is as well to look for the cause in
+every direction, however improbable it may appear."
+
+"Thank you, Sir Henry; I will certainly do so. I was not aware before of
+the General having suffered such an injury, and I will go this afternoon
+and spend a few hours in looking through the medical works at the
+library of the India Office to see if there are any records of serious
+disturbance caused in the system by wounds inflicted by tigers a
+considerable time after they have apparently healed."
+
+The meeting then broke up, and two days later General Mathieson was
+taken down to his seat in Warwickshire. Post horses were in readiness
+all along the road, and the journey was accomplished quickly and without
+fatigue to the patient, who slept the greater part of the distance. At
+each change Dr. Leeds got down and had two or three minutes' talk with
+Hilda, and when the General was awake gave him a spoonful of restorative
+medicine. His presence close at hand was a great comfort to Hilda, upon
+whom the strain of watching her uncle was very great, and she was
+thankful indeed when they arrived at the end of the journey, and found
+Netta and her aunt, who had gone down by that morning's train together
+with the housekeeper and her own maid, waiting on the steps to receive
+them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A STRANGE ILLNESS.
+
+
+For three months General Mathieson remained in the country. His
+improvement was very gradual--so gradual, indeed, that from week to week
+it was scarce noticeable, and it was only by looking back that it was
+perceptible. At the end of that time he could walk unaided, there was
+less hesitation in his speech, and his memory was distinctly clearer. He
+passed much of his time on a sofa placed in the shade in the garden,
+with Hilda and Netta sitting by him, working and talking.
+
+Netta had always been a favorite of his from the time that he first met
+her in Hanover; and he had, when she was staying with his niece the year
+before, offered her a very handsome salary if she would remain with her
+as her companion. The girl, however, was reluctant to give up her
+occupation, of which she was very fond, still less would she leave her
+aunt; and although the General would willingly have engaged the latter
+also as an inmate of the house, to act as a sort of chaperon to Hilda
+when she drove out alone shopping, Netta refused in both their names.
+
+"You would not have left the army, General, whatever temptations might
+have been held out to you. I am happy in thinking that I am doing good
+and useful work, and I don't think that any offer, even one so kind and
+liberal as yours, would induce me to relinquish it."
+
+Her presence now was not only an inestimable comfort to Hilda, but of
+great advantage to the General himself. Alone Hilda would have found it
+next to impossible to keep the invalid interested and amused. He liked
+to talk and be talked to, but it was like the work of entertaining a
+child. Netta, however, had an inexhaustible fund of good spirits. After
+her long intercourse with children who needed entertainment with
+instruction, and whose attention it was absolutely necessary to keep
+fixed, she had no difficulty in keeping the conversation going, and her
+anecdotes, connected with her life in Germany and the children she had
+taught, were just suited to the General's mental condition.
+
+Little Walter was of great assistance to her. He had come down with his
+nurse as soon as they were fairly settled at Holmwood, and his prattle
+and play were a great amusement to his grandfather. Whenever the
+conversation flagged Netta offered to tell him a story, which not only
+kept him quiet, but was listened to with as much interest by the General
+as by the child. Dr. Leeds was often a member of the party, and his
+cheery talk always had its effect in soothing the General when, as was
+sometimes the case, he was inclined to be petulant and irritable.
+
+They had been a fortnight at Holmwood before the doctor discovered
+Netta's infirmity. She happened to be standing at a window with her back
+to him when he asked her a question. Receiving no reply, he repeated it
+in a louder tone, but he was still unanswered. Somewhat surprised, he
+went up to her and touched her; she faced round immediately.
+
+"Were you speaking to me, Dr. Leeds?"
+
+"Yes, I spoke to you twice, Miss Purcell, but you did not hear me."
+
+"I have been perfectly deaf from childhood," she said; "I cannot hear
+any sound whatever. I never talk about it; people ask questions and
+wonder, and then, forgetting that I do not hear, they persist in
+addressing me in loud tones."
+
+"Is it possible that you are deaf?"
+
+"It is a melancholy fact," she said with a smile, and then added more
+seriously, "It came on after measles. When I was eight years old my good
+aunt, who had taken me to some of the best aurists in London, happened
+to hear that a Professor Menzel had opened an establishment in Hanover
+for teaching deaf mutes to speak by a new system of watching people's
+lips. She took me over there, and, as you see, the result was an
+undoubted success, and I now earn my living by acting as one of the
+professor's assistants, and by teaching two or three little girls who
+board at my aunt's."
+
+"The system must be an admirable one indeed," the doctor said. "I have,
+of course, heard of it, but could not have believed that the results
+were so excellent. It never entered my mind for a moment that you were
+in any way deficient in hearing, still less that you were perfectly
+deaf. I have noticed that, more than is common, you always kept your
+eyes fixed on my face when I was speaking to you."
+
+"You would have noticed it earlier had we been often alone together,"
+she said, "for unless I had kept my eyes always upon you I should not
+have known when you were speaking; but when, as here, there are always
+several of us together, my eyes are at once directed to your face when
+you speak, by seeing the others look at you."
+
+"Is it necessary to be quite close to you when one speaks?"
+
+"Oh, not at all! Of course I must be near enough to be able to see
+distinctly the motion of the lips, say at twenty yards. It is a great
+amusement to me as I walk about, for I can see what is being said by
+people on the other side of the road, or passing by in a vehicle. Of
+course one only gets scraps of conversations, but sometimes they are
+very funny."
+
+"You must be quite a dangerous person, Miss Purcell."
+
+"I am," she laughed; "and you must be careful not to say things that you
+don't want to be overheard when you are within reach of my eyes.
+Yesterday, for instance, you said to Hilda that my aunt seemed a
+wonderfully kind and intelligent old lady; and you were good enough to
+add some complimentary remarks about myself."
+
+Dr. Leeds flushed.
+
+"Well, I should not have said them in your hearing, Miss Purcell; but,
+as they were complimentary, no harm was done. I think I said that you
+were invaluable here, which is certainly the case, for I really do not
+know how we should be able to amuse our patient if it were not for your
+assistance."
+
+"Hilda and I had a laugh about it," Netta said; "and she said, too, that
+it was not fair your being kept in the dark as to our accomplishment."
+
+"'Our accomplishment!'" he repeated in surprise. "Do you mean to say
+that Miss Covington is deaf also? But no, that is impossible; for I
+called to her yesterday, when her back was turned, and the General
+wanted her, and she answered immediately."
+
+"My tongue has run too fast," the girl said, "but I don't suppose she
+would mind your knowing what she never speaks of herself. She was, as
+you know, living with us in Hanover for more than four years. She
+temporarily lost her hearing after an attack of scarlet fever, and the
+doctors who were consulted here feared that it might be permanent. Her
+father and mother, hearing of Dr. Hartwig as having the reputation of
+being the first aurist in Europe, took her out to him. He held out hopes
+that she could be cured, and recommended that she should be placed in
+Professor Menzel's institution as soon as she could understand German,
+so that, in case a cure was not effected, she might be able to hear with
+her eyes. By great good fortune he recommended that she should live with
+my aunt, partly because she spoke English, and partly because, as I was
+already able to talk, I could act as her companion and instructor both
+in the system and in German.
+
+"In three years she could get on as well as I could, but the need for it
+happily passed away, as her hearing was gradually restored. Still, she
+continued to live with us while her education went on at the best school
+in the town, but of course she always talked with me as I talked with
+her, and so she kept up the accomplishment and has done so ever since.
+But her mother advised her very strongly to keep the knowledge of her
+ability to read people's words from their lips a profound secret, as it
+might tend to her disadvantage; for people might be afraid of a girl
+possessed of the faculty of overhearing their conversation at a
+distance."
+
+"That explains what rather puzzled me the other day," the doctor said.
+"When I came out into the garden you were sitting together and were
+laughing and talking. You did not notice me, and it struck me as strange
+that, while I heard the laughing, I did not hear the sound of your
+voices until I was within a few paces of you. When Miss Covington
+noticed me I at once heard your voices."
+
+"Yes, you gave us both quite a start, and Hilda said we must either give
+up talking silently or let you into our secret; so I don't think that
+she will be vexed when I tell her that I have let it out."
+
+"I am glad to have the matter explained," he said, "for really I asked
+myself whether I must not have been temporarily deaf, and should have
+thought it was so had I not heard the laughing as distinctly as usual. I
+came to the conclusion that you must, for some reason or other, have
+dropped your voices to a whisper, and that one or the other was telling
+some important secret that you did not wish even the winds to hear."
+
+"I think that this is the only secret that we have," Netta laughed.
+
+"Seriously, this is most interesting to me as a doctor, and it is a
+thousand pities that a system that acts so admirably should not be
+introduced into this country. You should set up a similar institution
+here, Miss Purcell."
+
+"I have been thinking of doing so some day. Hilda is always urging me to
+it, but I feel that I am too young yet to take the head of an
+establishment, but in another four or five years' time I shall think
+seriously about it."
+
+"I can introduce you to all the aurists in London, Miss Purcell, and I
+am sure that you will soon get as many inmates as you may choose to
+take. In cases where their own skill fails altogether, they would be
+delighted to comfort parents by telling them how their children may
+learn to dispense altogether with the sense of hearing."
+
+"Not quite altogether," she said. "It has happened very often, as it did
+just now, that I have been addressed by someone at whom I did not
+happen to be looking, and then I have to explain my apparent rudeness by
+owning myself to be entirely deaf. Unfortunately, I have not always been
+able to make people believe it, and I have several times been soundly
+rated by strangers for endeavoring to excuse my rudeness by a palpable
+falsehood."
+
+"Really, I am hardly surprised," Dr. Leeds said, "for I should myself
+have found it difficult to believe that one altogether deaf could have
+been taught to join in conversation as you do. Well, I must be very
+careful what I say in future while in the society of two young ladies
+possessed of such dangerous and exceptional powers."
+
+"You need not be afraid, doctor; I feel sure that there is no one here
+to whom you would venture to give us a bad character."
+
+"I think," he went on more seriously, "that Miss Covington's mother was
+very wise in warning her against her letting anyone know that she could
+read conversations at a distance. People would certainly be afraid of
+her, for gossipmongers would be convinced that she was overhearing, if I
+may use the word, what was said, if she happened to look at them only
+casually."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the end of three months the General became restless, and was
+constantly expressing a wish to be brought back to London.
+
+"What do you think yourself, Dr. Leeds?" Dr. Pearson said, when he paid
+one of his usual visits.
+
+"He is, of course, a great deal better than he was when he first came
+down," the former replied, "but there is still that curious hesitation
+in his speech, as if he was suffering from partial paralysis. I am not
+surprised at his wanting to get up to town again. As he improves in
+health he naturally feels more and more the loss of his usual course of
+life. I should certainly have advised his remaining here until he had
+made a good deal further advancement, but as he has set his mind upon
+it, I believe that more harm would be done by refusing than by his
+going. In fact, I think that he has, if anything, gone back in the last
+fortnight, and above all things it is necessary to avoid any course that
+might cause irritation, and so set up fresh brain disturbances."
+
+"I am quite of your opinion, Leeds. I have noticed myself that he
+hesitates more than he did a short time since, and sometimes, instead of
+joining in the conversation, he sits moody and silent; and he is
+beginning to resent being looked after and checked."
+
+"Yes; he said to me the other day quite angrily, 'I don't want to be
+treated as a child or a helpless invalid, doctor. I took a mile walk
+yesterday. I am beginning to feel quite myself again; it will do me a
+world of good to be back in London, and to drive down to the club and to
+have a chat with my old friends again.'"
+
+"Well, I think it best that he should not be thwarted. You have looked
+at the scars from time to time, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes; there has been no change in them, they are very red, but he tells
+me--and what is more to the point, his man tells me--that they have
+always been so."
+
+"What do you think, Leeds? Will he ever be himself again? Watching the
+case from day to day as you have done, your opinion is worth a good deal
+more than mine."
+
+"I have not the slightest hope of it," the young doctor replied quietly.
+"I have seen as complete wrecks as he is gradually pull themselves round
+again, but they have been cases where they have been the victims of
+drink or of some malady from which they had been restored by a
+successful operation. In his case we have failed altogether to determine
+the cause of his attack, or the nature of it. We have been feeling in
+the dark, and hitherto have failed to discover a clew that we could
+follow up. So far there has been no recurrence of his first seizure,
+but, with returning strength and returning brain work, it is in my
+opinion more than likely that we shall have another recurrence of it.
+The shock has been a tremendous one to the system. Were he a younger man
+he might have rallied from it, but I doubt whether at his age he will
+ever get over it. Actually he is, I believe, under seventy; physically
+and mentally, he is ninety."
+
+"That is so, and between ourselves I cannot but think that a long
+continuance of his life is not to be desired. I believe with you that he
+will be a confirmed invalid, requiring nursing and humoring like a
+child, and for the sake of Miss Covington and all around him one cannot
+wish that his life should be prolonged."
+
+"I trust that, when the end comes, Dr. Pearson, it will be gradual and
+painless, and that there will be no recurrence of that dreadful
+seizure."
+
+"I hope so indeed. I have seen many men in bad fits, but I never saw
+anything to equal that. I can assure you that several of the men who
+were present--men who had gone through a dozen battles--were completely
+prostrated by it. At least half a dozen of them, men whom I had never
+attended before, knowing that I had been present, called upon me within
+the next two or three days for advice, and were so evidently completely
+unstrung that I ordered them an entire change of scene at once, and
+recommended them to go to Homburg, take the waters, and play at the
+tables; to do anything, in fact, that would distract their minds from
+dwelling upon the painful scene that they had witnessed. Had it not been
+for that, one would have had no hesitation in assigning his illness to
+some obscure form of paralysis; as it is, it is unaccountable. Except,"
+he added, with a smile, "by your theory of poison."
+
+The younger doctor did not smile in return. "It is the only cause that I
+can assign for it," he said gravely. "The more I study the case, the
+more I investigate the writings of medical men in India and on the East
+and West Coast of Africa, the more it seems to me that the attack was
+the work of a drug altogether unknown to European science, but known to
+Obi women, fetich men, and others of that class in Africa. In some of
+the accounts of people accused of crime by fetich men, and given liquor
+to drink, which they are told will not affect them if innocent, but will
+kill them if guilty, I find reports of their being seized with instant
+and violent convulsions similar to those that you witnessed. These
+convulsions often end in death; sometimes, where, I suppose, the dose
+was larger than usual, the man drops dead in his tracks while drinking
+it. Sometimes he dies in convulsions; at other times he recovers
+partially and lingers on, a mere wreck, for some months. In other cases,
+where, I suppose, the dose was a light one, and the man's relatives were
+ready to pay the fetich man handsomely, the recovery was speedy and
+complete; that is to say, if, as is usually the case, the man was not
+put to death at once upon the supposed proof of his guilt. By what
+possible means such poison could have found its way to England, for
+there is no instance of its nature being divulged to Europeans, I know
+not, nor how it could have been administered; but I own that it is still
+the only theory by which I can account for the General's state. I need
+not say that I should never think of giving the slightest hint to anyone
+but yourself as to my opinion in the matter, and trust most sincerely
+that I am mistaken; but although I have tried my utmost I cannot
+overcome the conviction that the theory is a correct one, and I think,
+Dr. Pearson, that if you were to look into the accounts of the various
+ways in which the poisons are sold by old negro women to those anxious
+to get rid of enemies or persons whose existence is inconvenient to
+them, and by the fetich men in these ordeals, you will admit at least
+that had you been practicing on the West Coast, and any white man there
+had such an attack as that through which the General has passed, you
+would without hesitation have put it down to poison by some negro who
+had a grudge against him."
+
+"No doubt, no doubt," the other doctor admitted; "but, you see, we are
+not on the West Coast. These poisons are, as you admit, absolutely
+unobtainable by white men from the men and women who prepare them. If
+obtainable, when would they have been brought here, and by whom? And
+lastly, by whom administered, and from what motive? I admit all that you
+say about the African poisons. I lately had a long talk about them with
+a medical man who had been on the coast for four or five years, but
+until these other questions can be answered I must refuse to believe
+that this similarity is more than accidental, and in any possible way
+due to the same cause."
+
+"That is what I have told myself scores of times, and it would be a
+relief to me indeed could I find some other explanation of the matter.
+Then, you think that he had better come up to London?"
+
+"I leave the matter in your hands, Dr. Leeds. I would give him a few
+days longer and try the effect of a slight sedative; possibly his desire
+to get up to town may die out. If so, he is without doubt better here.
+If, however, you see that his irritation increases, and he becomes more
+and more set upon it, by all means take him up. How would you do so? By
+rail or road?"
+
+"Certainly by rail. I have been trying to make him feel that he is a
+free agent, and encouraged him in the belief that he is stronger and
+better. If then I say to him, 'My dear General, you are, of course, free
+to do as you like, and it may be that the change will be beneficial to
+you; if the ladies can be ready to-morrow, let us start without further
+delay,' I consider it quite possible that this ready and cheerful
+acquiescence may result in his no longer desiring it. One knows that in
+this respect sick people are very like fractious children. They set
+their minds on some special article of food, as a child does on a toy,
+and when it comes they will refuse to touch it, as the child will throw
+the coveted toy down."
+
+It turned out so in this case. The moment the General found that the
+doctor was willing that he should go up to town, and the ladies quite
+ready to accompany him at once, he himself began to raise objections.
+
+"Perhaps it would be as well that we should wait another month," he
+replied. A little pretended opposition strengthened this view, and the
+return was postponed. At the end of the month he had made so much
+progress that, when the longing for London was again expressed, Dr.
+Leeds offered no opposition, and two days later the whole party went
+up.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+TWO HEAVY BLOWS.
+
+
+During the four months that General Mathieson had remained at Holmwood
+no one had been more constant in his inquiries as to his health than Mr.
+Simcoe. He had seen Hilda before she started, and had begged her to let
+him have a line once a week, saying how her uncle was going on.
+
+"I will get Dr. Leeds to write," she said. "My own opinion will be worth
+nothing, but his will be valuable. I am afraid that he will find time
+hang heavily on his hands, and he will not mind writing. I do not like
+writing letters at the best of times, but in the trouble we are in now I
+am sure that I shall not be equal to it."
+
+Dr. Leeds willingly undertook the duty of sending a short weekly
+bulletin, not only to Mr. Simcoe, but to a dozen other intimate friends.
+
+"It is not half an hour's work," he said, when Netta offered to relieve
+him by addressing the envelopes or copying out his report; "very few
+words will be sufficient. 'The General has made some slight progress
+this week,' or 'The General remains in very much the same state,' or 'I
+am glad to be able to record some slight improvement.' That, with my
+signature, will be quite sufficient, and when I said that half an hour
+would be enough I exaggerated: I fancy that it will be all done in five
+minutes."
+
+Mr. Simcoe occasionally wrote a few lines of thanks, but scarcely a day
+passed that he did not send some little present for the invalid--a bunch
+of the finest grapes, a few choice peaches, and other fruit from abroad.
+Of flowers they had plenty in their own conservatories at Holmwood,
+while game was abundant, for both from neighbors and from club friends
+they received so large a quantity that a considerable proportion was
+sent back in hampers to the London hospitals.
+
+Some of Mr. Simcoe's presents were of a different description. Among
+them was a machine that would hold a book at any angle desired, while at
+the same time there was a shelf upon which a cup or tumbler, a spare
+book or newspaper, could be placed.
+
+"At any rate, Hilda, this Mr. Simcoe of yours is very thoughtful and
+kind towards your uncle," Netta said.
+
+"Yes," Hilda admitted reluctantly, "he certainly is very thoughtful, but
+I would much rather he did not send things. We can get anything we want
+from Warwick or Leamington, or indeed from London, merely by sending a
+line or a telegram. One hates being under obligations to a man one does
+not like."
+
+"It seems to me at present that you are unjust, Hilda; and I certainly
+look forward to seeing him in London and drawing my own conclusions."
+
+"Yes, no doubt you will see him, and often enough too," Hilda said
+pettishly. "Of course, if uncle means to go to his club, it will be
+impossible to say that he is unfit to see his friends at home."
+
+Netta, however, did not see Mr. Simcoe on their return, for Dr. Leeds,
+on the suggestion of Hilda, stated in his last report that the General
+would be going up to town in a day or two, but that he strongly
+deprecated any visits until he could see how the invalid stood the
+journey.
+
+There was no doubt that he stood it badly. Just at first the excitement
+seemed to inspire him with strength, but this soon died away, and he had
+to be helped from the railway carriage to the brougham, and lifted out
+when he arrived at home. Dr. Leeds saw to his being carried upstairs,
+undressed, and put to bed.
+
+"He is weaker than I thought," he said in reply to Hilda's anxious look
+when he joined the party downstairs. "I cannot say that it is want of
+physical strength, for he has walked over a mile several times without
+apparent fatigue. It seems to me that it is rather failure of will
+power, or brain power, if you like. I noticed that he very frequently
+sat looking out of the window, and it is possible that the succession of
+objects passing rapidly before the eye has had the same effect of
+inducing giddiness that waltzing has to one unaccustomed to it. I trust
+that to-morrow the effect will have passed off. I had, as you know,
+intended to sleep at a friend's chambers to-night; but I should not
+think of doing so now, but will sit up with him. I will get Roberts to
+take watch and watch with me. I can lie down on the sofa, and he can
+wake me should there be any change. I sent him off in a cab, as soon as
+we got your uncle into bed, to fetch Dr. Pearson; if he is at home, he
+will be here in a few minutes."
+
+It was, however, half an hour before Dr. Pearson came, as he was out
+when the cab arrived. He had on the way learned from Tom Roberts the
+state in which the General had arrived, and he hurried upstairs at once
+to his room.
+
+"So he has broken down badly, Leeds?"
+
+"Very badly."
+
+"I did not expect it. When I saw him last Sunday he seemed to have made
+so much progress that I thought there could be no harm in his being
+brought up to London, though, as I said to you, I thought it would be
+better to dissuade him from going to his club. He might see a few of his
+friends and have a quiet chat with them here. His pulse is still much
+fuller than I should have expected from the account his man gave of him.
+There is a good deal of irregularity, but that has been the case ever
+since the attack."
+
+"I think that it is mental rather than bodily collapse," the younger man
+said. "A sudden failure of brain power. He was absolutely unable to make
+any effort to walk, or indeed to move his limbs at all. It was a sort of
+mental paralysis."
+
+"And to some slight extent bodily also," Dr. Pearson said, leaning over
+the bed and examining the patient closely. "Do you see there is a
+slight, but distinct, contortion of the face, just as there was after
+that fit?"
+
+"I see there is. He has not spoken since we lifted him from the railway
+carriage, and I am afraid that to-morrow we shall find that he has
+lost, partially or entirely, the power of speech. I fear that this is
+the beginning of the end."
+
+Dr. Pearson nodded.
+
+"There can be little doubt of it, nor could we wish it to be otherwise.
+Still, he may linger for weeks or even months."
+
+Hilda read the doctor's opinion in his face when he went downstairs.
+
+"Oh, doctor, don't say he is going to die!" she cried.
+
+"I do not say that he is going to die at once, my dear. He may live for
+some time yet, but it is of no use concealing from you that neither Dr.
+Leeds nor myself have the slightest hope of his ultimate recovery. There
+can be no doubt that paralysis is creeping over him, and that it is most
+unlikely that he will ever leave his bed again.
+
+"Yes, I know it is hard, dear," he said soothingly, as she burst into
+tears, "but much as you will regret his loss you cannot but feel that it
+is best so. He could never have been himself again, never have enjoyed
+his life. There would have been an ever-present anxiety and a dread of a
+recurrence of that fit. You will see in time that it is better for him
+and for you that it should be as it is, although, of course, you can
+hardly see that just at present. And now I must leave you to your kind
+friends here."
+
+Miss Purcell knew well enough that just at present words of consolation
+would be thrown away, and that it was a time only for silent sympathy,
+and her gentle words and the warm pressure of Netta's hand did more to
+restore Hilda's composure than any repetition of the doctor's well-meant
+assurance that all was for the best could do.
+
+"Would you like me to write a line in your name to Colonel Bulstrode?"
+she asked.
+
+"No, no!" Hilda cried; "it would look as if we had made up your minds
+that uncle was going to die. If he were conscious it would be different;
+for I know that Colonel Bulstrode is his greatest friend and is named
+one of his trustees, and uncle might want to talk to him. Oh, how one
+wishes at a time like this that one had a brother, or that he had a son
+alive, or that there was someone who would naturally step in and take
+everything into his hands!"
+
+"There are his lawyers," Miss Purcell suggested.
+
+"Yes, I did not think of them. Mr. Pettigrew is the other trustee, and
+is, I know, joint guardian with me of Walter. I am sorry now that we did
+not leave the dear little fellow down at Holmwood, it will be so sad and
+dull for him here, and he would have been very happy in the country. But
+perhaps it is best as it is; if my uncle recovers consciousness he is
+sure to ask for him. He had come to be very fond of him, and Walter has
+been so much with him lately."
+
+"Yes, his eyes always used to follow the child about in his play," Miss
+Purcell said. "I think it is best that he should be here, and as the
+nursery is at the top of the house he will not be in anyone's way."
+
+There was but little change in General Mathieson's condition next
+morning, although a slight movement, when Hilda spoke to him, showed
+that he was dimly conscious of her presence, and when she brought the
+child down and he laid his hand on that of the General, and said
+"Good-morning, grandfather," according to his custom, he opened his eyes
+for a moment, and there was a slight movement of the lips, as if he were
+trying to speak.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Covington," Dr. Leeds said; "the experiment was worth
+making, and it proves that his state of unconsciousness is not
+complete."
+
+Walter always took his dinner with the others when they lunched.
+
+"Where is the child?" Hilda asked the footman; "have you sent him up to
+tell nurse that lunch is ready?"
+
+"I have not sent up, miss, because nurse has not come back with him from
+his walk."
+
+"No doubt she will be back in a few minutes," Hilda said. "She is very
+punctual; I never knew her late before."
+
+[Illustration: THE NURSE WAS SITTING ON A CHAIR, SOBBING BITTERLY.
+_--Page 117._]
+
+Lunch was half over when Tom Roberts came in with a scared expression on
+his usually somewhat stolid face.
+
+"If you please, miss, nurse wishes to speak to you."
+
+"What is the matter, Roberts?" Hilda exclaimed, starting up. "Has Walter
+met with an accident?"
+
+"Well, no, miss, not as I know of, but nurse has come home, and she is
+just like a wild thing; somehow or other Master Walter has got lost."
+
+Hilda, followed by Netta and Miss Purcell, ran out into the hall. The
+nurse, a woman of two or three and thirty, the daughter of one of the
+General's tenants, and who had been in charge of the child since he
+arrived a baby from India, was sitting on a chair, sobbing bitterly. Her
+bonnet hung down at the back of her head, her hair was unloosed, and she
+had evidently been running wildly to and fro. Her appearance at once
+disarmed Hilda, who said soothingly:
+
+"How has it happened, nurse? Stop crying and tell us. I am sure that it
+could not have been your fault, for you are always so careful with him.
+There is no occasion to be so terribly upset. Of course he will soon be
+found. The first policeman who sees him will be sure to take him to the
+station. Now how did it happen?"
+
+"I was walking along Queen's Road, miss," the woman said between her
+sobs, "and Master Walter was close beside me. I know that special,
+because we had just passed a crossing, and I took hold of his hand as we
+went over--when a man--he looked like a respectable working-man--came up
+to me and said, 'I see you are a mother, ma'am.' 'Not at all,' said I;
+'how dare you say such a thing? I am a nurse; I am in charge of this
+young gentleman.' 'Well,' said he, 'I can see that you have a kind
+heart, anyhow; that is what made me speak to you. I am a carpenter, I
+am, and I have been out of work for months, and I have a child at home
+just about this one's age. He is starving, and I haven't a bit to put in
+his mouth. The parish buried my wife three weeks ago, and I am well-nigh
+mad. Would you give me the money to buy him a loaf of bread?' The man
+was in such distress, miss, that I took out my purse and gave him a
+shilling, and thankful he was; he was all but crying, and could not say
+enough to thank me. Then I turned to take hold of Walter's hand, and
+found that the child had gone. I could not have been more than two or
+three minutes talking; though it always does take me a long time to take
+my purse out of my pocket, still I know that it could not have been
+three minutes altogether.
+
+"First of all, I went back to the crossing, and looked up and down the
+street, but he wasn't there; then I thought that perhaps he had walked
+on, and was hiding for fun in a shop doorway. When I could not see him
+up or down I got regular frighted, and ran up and down like a mad thing.
+Once I came back as far as the house, but there were no signs of him,
+and I knew that he could not have got as far as this, even if he had run
+all the way. Then I thought of the mews, and I ran back there. Master
+Walter was very fond of horses, and he generally stopped when we got to
+the entrance of the mews, and stood looking for a minute or two at the
+grooms cleaning the horses, and I thought that he might have gone in
+there. There were two or three men about, but none had seen the child.
+Still I ran on, and looked into several stables, a-calling for him all
+the time. When he wasn't there, I went well-nigh stark mad, and I ran up
+and down the streets asking everyone I met had they seen a child. Then I
+came back here to tell you."
+
+"We shall soon hear of him, nurse. Roberts, do you and William start out
+at once. Go first to the police station and give notice that the child
+is missing--he cannot have wandered far--and then do you and James go
+all round the neighborhood and tell every policeman that you meet what
+has happened. You can ask in all the shops in Queen's Road and the
+streets near; he may have wandered into one of them, and as he was
+alone, they may have kept him until someone came to inquire after him.
+Now, Netta, will you put on your bonnet and come out with me?"
+
+"Shall I come with you too, Hilda?"
+
+"No, thank you, Miss Purcell. In the first place we shall walk too fast
+for you, and in the second it would be as well for you to be here to
+comfort him if he is brought back while we are out. We will come every
+half-hour to hear if there is news of him. You had better go upstairs
+and make yourself tidy, nurse, and then you can come out and join in the
+hunt. But you look so utterly worn out and exhausted that I think
+perhaps you had better sit quiet for a time; you may be sure that it
+will not be long before some of us bring him back.
+
+"I could not sit still, Miss Covington," the woman said. "I will just
+run upstairs and put myself straight, and then go out again."
+
+"Try and calm yourself, nurse, or you will be taken for a madwoman; you
+certainly looked like one when you came in."
+
+Two minutes later Hilda and her friend started.
+
+"Let us go first into Kensington Gardens, Netta; he often went there to
+play, and if he came down into the main road, he would very likely
+wander in. It is probable that nurse may have been longer speaking to
+that man than she thinks, and that he had time to get a good way before
+she missed him."
+
+The gardens were thoroughly searched, and the park-keepers questioned,
+but there were no signs of Walter. Then they called at the house to see
+whether there was any news of him. Finding that there was not, they
+again went out. They had no real hopes of finding him now, for Hilda was
+convinced that he was not in any of the streets near. Had he been,
+either the nurse or the men would have found him.
+
+"He has, no doubt, been either taken by some kind-hearted person who has
+found him lost," she said, "and who has either given notice to the
+police, or he has been taken by them to the police station. Still, it
+relieves one to walk about; it would be impossible to sit quiet, doing
+nothing. The others will have searched all the streets near, and we had
+better go up the Edgware Road, search in that direction, and give notice
+to any policemen we find."
+
+But the afternoon went on and no news was received of the missing child.
+It was a relief to them when Dr. Leeds, who had gone off watch for a few
+hours at twelve o'clock, returned. He looked grave for a moment when he
+heard the news, but said cheerfully, "It is very annoying, Miss
+Covington, but you need not alarm yourself; Walter is bound to turn up."
+
+"But he ought to have been sent to the police station long before this,"
+Hilda said tearfully.
+
+"Of course he ought, if all people possessed common-sense;
+unfortunately, they don't. I expect that at the present moment he is
+eating bread and jam, or something of that sort in the house of some
+kind-hearted old lady who has taken him in, and the idea of informing
+the police has never occurred to her for a moment, and, unfortunately,
+may not occur for some little time. However, if you will give me the
+details of his dress, I will go at once with it to the printer's and get
+two or three hundred notices struck off and sent round, to be placed in
+tradesmen's windows and stuck up on walls, saying that whoever will
+bring the child here will be handsomely rewarded. This is sure to fetch
+him before long."
+
+There was but little sleep that night at General Mathieson's. The master
+of the house still lay unconscious, and from time to time Dr. Leeds came
+down to say a few cheering words to the anxious girls. Tom Roberts
+walked the streets all night with the faint idea of finding the child
+asleep on a doorstep, and went three times to the police station to ask
+if there was any news. The first thing in the morning Hilda went with
+Dr. Leeds to Scotland Yard, and the description of the child was at once
+sent to every station in London; then she drove by herself to the office
+of Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew, and waited there until the latter
+gentleman arrived. Mr. Pettigrew, who was a very old friend of the
+family, looked very grave over the news.
+
+"I will not conceal from you, Miss Covington," he said, when she had
+finished her story, "that the affair looks to me somewhat serious; and I
+am afraid that you will have to make up your mind that you may not see
+the little fellow as soon as you expect. Had he been merely lost, you
+should certainly have heard of him in a few hours after the various and,
+I may say, judicious steps that you have taken. A child who loses
+himself in the streets of London is morally certain to come into the
+hands of the police in a very few hours."
+
+"Then what can have become of him, Mr. Pettigrew?"
+
+"It may be that, as not unfrequently happens, the child has been stolen
+for the sake of his clothes. In that case he will probably be heard of
+before very long. Or it may be a case of blackmail. Someone, possibly an
+acquaintance of one of the servants, may have known that the child, as
+the grandson and heir of General Mathieson, would be a valuable prize,
+and that, if he could be carried off, his friends might finally be
+forced to pay a considerable sum to recover him. I must say that it
+looks to me like a planned thing. One of the confederates engages the
+silly woman, his nurse, in a long rambling talk; the other picks the
+child quietly up or entices him away to the next corner, where he has a
+cab in waiting, and drives off with him at once. However, in neither
+case need you fear that the child will come to serious harm. If he has
+been stolen for the sake of his clothes the woman will very speedily
+turn him adrift, and he will be brought home to you by the police in
+rags. If, on the other hand, he has been taken for the purpose of
+blackmail, you may be sure that he will be well cared for, for he will,
+in the eyes of those who have taken him, be a most valuable possession.
+In that case you may not hear from the abductors for some little time.
+They will know that, as the search continues and no news is obtained,
+his friends will grow more and more anxious, and more ready to pay
+handsomely for his return. Of course it is a most annoying and
+unfortunate business, but I really do not think that you have any
+occasion to feel anxious about his safety, and it is morally certain
+that in time you will have him back, safe and sound. Now how is your
+uncle? I hope that he shows signs of rallying?"
+
+"I am sorry to say there was no sign whatever of his doing so up to
+eight o'clock this morning, and, indeed, Dr. Pearson told me that he has
+but little hope of his doing so. He thinks that there has been a slight
+shock of paralysis. Dr. Leeds speaks a little more hopefully than Dr.
+Pearson, but that is his way, and I think that he too considers that the
+end is not far off."
+
+"Your friends, Miss Purcell and her niece, are still with you, I hope?"
+
+"Yes; they will not leave me as long as I am in trouble. I don't know
+what I should do without them, especially now this new blow has fallen
+upon me."
+
+"Well, my dear, if you receive any communication respecting this boy
+send it straight to me. I do not know whether you are aware that you and
+I have been appointed his guardians?"
+
+"Yes; uncle told me so months ago. But I never thought then that he
+would not live till Walter came of age, and I thought that it was a mere
+form."
+
+"Doubtless it seemed so at the time," Mr. Pettigrew agreed; "your
+uncle's was apparently an excellent life, and he was as likely as anyone
+I know to have attained a great age."
+
+"There is nothing you can advise me to do at present?"
+
+"Nothing whatever, besides what you have done. The police all over
+London will be on the lookout for a lost child; they will probably
+assume at once that he has been stolen for his clothes, and will expect
+to see the child they are in search of in rags. They will know, too, the
+quarter in which he is most likely to be found. If it is for this
+purpose that he has been stolen you can confidently expect to have him
+back by to-morrow at latest; the woman would be anxious to get rid of
+him without loss of time. If the other hypothesis is correct you may not
+hear for a fortnight or three weeks; the fellows in that case will be
+content to bide their time."
+
+Hilda drove back with a heavy heart. Netta herself opened the door, and
+her swollen eyes at once told the truth.
+
+"Uncle is dead?" Hilda exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, dear; he passed away half an hour ago, a few minutes after Dr.
+Leeds returned. The doctor ran down himself for a moment, almost
+directly he had gone up, and said that the General was sinking fast, and
+that the end might come at any moment. Ten minutes later he came down
+and told us that all was over."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A STARTLING WILL.
+
+
+Mr. Pettigrew at once took the management of affairs at the house in
+Hyde Park Gardens into his hands, as one of the trustees, as joint
+guardian of the heir, and as family solicitor. Hilda was completely
+prostrated by the two blows that had so suddenly fallen, and was glad
+indeed that all necessity for attending to business was taken off her
+hands.
+
+"We need not talk about the future at present," Mr. Pettigrew said to
+her; "that is a matter that can be considered afterwards. You are most
+fortunate in having the lady with whom you so long lived here with you,
+and I trust that some permanent arrangement may be made. In any case you
+could not, of course, well remain here alone."
+
+"I have not thought anything about it yet," she said wearily. "Oh, I
+wish I were a man, Mr. Pettigrew; then I could do something myself
+towards searching for Walter, instead of being obliged to sit here
+uselessly."
+
+"If you were a man, Miss Covington, you could do nothing more at present
+than is being done. The police are keeping up a most vigilant search. I
+have offered a reward of five hundred pounds for any news that may lead
+to the child's discovery, and notices have even been sent to the
+constabularies of all the home counties, requesting them to make
+inquiries if any tramp or tramps, accompanied by a child of about the
+age of our young ward, have been seen passing along the roads. But, as I
+told you when you called upon me, I have little doubt but that it is a
+case of blackmail, and that it will not be long before we hear of him.
+It is probable that the General's death has somewhat disconcerted them,
+and it is likely that they may wait to see how matters go and who is the
+person with whom they had best open negotiations. I have no doubt that
+they are in some way or other keeping themselves well informed of what
+is taking place here."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The funeral was over, the General being followed to the grave by a
+number of his military friends and comrades, and the blinds at the house
+in Hyde Park Gardens were drawn up again. On the following morning Mr.
+Pettigrew came to the house early. He was a man who was methodical in
+all his doings, and very rarely ruffled. As soon as he entered, however,
+Hilda saw that something unusual had happened.
+
+"Have you heard of Walter?" she exclaimed.
+
+"No, my dear, but I have some strange and unpleasant news to give you.
+Yesterday afternoon I received an intimation from Messrs. Halstead &
+James, saying that they had in their possession the will of the late
+General Mathieson bearing date the 16th of May of the present year. I
+need not say that I was almost stupefied at the news. The firm is one of
+high standing, and it is impossible to suppose that any mistake has
+arisen; at the same time it seemed incredible that the General should
+thus have gone behind our backs, especially as it was only three months
+before that we had at his request drawn out a fresh will for him. Still,
+I am bound to say that such cases are by no means rare. A man wants to
+make a fresh disposition of his property, in a direction of which he
+feels that his own solicitors, especially when they are old family
+solicitors, will not approve, and, therefore, he gets it done by some
+other firm, with the result that, at his death, it comes like a
+bombshell to all concerned. I can hardly doubt that it is so in this
+case, although what dispositions the General may have made of his
+property, other than those contained in the last will we drew up, I am
+unable to say. At any rate one of the firm will come round to our office
+at twelve o'clock with this precious document, and I think that it is
+right that you should be present when it is opened. You will be
+punctual, will you not?"
+
+"You can rely upon my being there a few minutes before twelve, Mr.
+Pettigrew. It all seems very strange. I knew what was the general
+purport of my uncle's last will, for he spoke of it to me. It was, he
+said, the same as the one before it, with the exception that he had left
+a handsome legacy to the man who had saved his life from a tiger. I was
+not surprised at this at all. He had taken a very great fancy to this
+Mr. Simcoe, who was constantly here, and it seemed to me only natural
+that he should leave some of his money to a man who had done him so
+great a service, and who, as he told me, had nearly lost his own life in
+doing it."
+
+"Quite so," the lawyer agreed; "it seemed natural to us all. His
+property was large enough to permit of his doing so without making any
+material difference to his grandchild, who will come into a fine estate
+with large accumulations during his long minority. Now I must be off."
+
+There was a little council held after the lawyer had left.
+
+"They say troubles never comes singly," Hilda remarked, "and certainly
+the adage is verified in my case."
+
+"But we must hope that this will not be so, my dear," Miss Purcell said.
+
+"It cannot be any personal trouble, aunt," for Hilda had fallen back
+into her old habit of so addressing her, "because uncle told me that, as
+I was so well off, he had only put me down for a small sum in his will,
+just to show that he had not forgotten me. I feel sure that he will have
+made no change in that respect, and that whatever alteration he may have
+made cannot affect me in the least; except, of course, he may have come
+to the conclusion that it would be better to appoint two men as
+guardians to Walter, but I hardly think that he would have done that.
+However, there must be something strange about it, or he would not have
+gone to another firm of solicitors. No, I feel convinced that there is
+some fresh trouble at hand."
+
+The carriage drew up at the office in Lincoln's Inn at five minutes to
+twelve. Mr. Pettigrew had not included Miss Purcell and Netta in the
+invitation, but Hilda insisted upon their coming with her. They were
+shown at once into his private room, where some extra chairs had been
+placed. Colonel Bulstrode was already there, and Mr. Farmer joined his
+partner as soon as they were seated.
+
+"This is a most singular affair, Miss Covington," he said, "and I need
+hardly say that it is a matter of great annoyance as well as surprise to
+Pettigrew and myself. Of course General Mathieson was perfectly free to
+go to any other firm of solicitors, but as we have made the wills for
+his family and yours for the last hundred years, as well as conducted
+all their legal business, it is an unpleasant shock to find that he has
+gone elsewhere, and I must say that I am awaiting the reading of this
+will with great curiosity, as its contents will doubtless furnish us
+with the reason why he had it thus prepared."
+
+Just at the stroke of twelve Mr. Halstead and Mr. James were announced.
+
+"We thought it as well," the former said, "for us both to come, Mr.
+Farmer, for we can understand your surprise at finding that a later will
+than that which is doubtless in your possession is in existence, and we
+are ready to explain the whole circumstances under which it was drawn
+out by us. General Mathieson came one day to our office. He brought with
+him the card of Colonel Bulstrode; but this was unnecessary, for some
+months ago the General was at our office with the Colonel. He was only
+there for the purpose of fixing his name as a witness to the colonel's
+signature, as our client, like many others, preferred having a personal
+friend to witness his signature instead of this being done by one of our
+clerks."
+
+"That was so," the Colonel interjected.
+
+"General Mathieson," Mr. Halstead went on, "was only in our office a
+minute or two on that occasion, but of course that was sufficient for us
+to recognize him when he called again. He told us that he desired us to
+draw out a will, and that as he had determined to appoint Mr. Pettigrew
+one of his trustees and guardian to his heir, he thought it as well to
+employ another firm to draw up the will.
+
+"We pointed out that such a precaution was altogether needless when
+dealing with a firm like yours, and he then said, 'I have another
+reason. I am making a change in one of the provisions of the will, and I
+fancy that Farmer & Pettigrew might raise an argument upon it. Here are
+the instructions,' I said, 'You will permit me to read them through,
+General, before giving you a decided answer.' Had the will contained any
+provision that we considered unjust we should have declined to have had
+anything to do with the matter; but as it in no way diverted the
+property from the natural heir, and was, as far as we could see, a just
+and reasonable one, we saw no cause for refusing to carry out his
+instructions; for we have known, as doubtless you have known, many
+similar instances, in which men, for some reason or other, have chosen
+to go outside their family solicitors in matters which they desired
+should remain entirely a secret until after their death. Had General
+Mathieson come to us as an altogether unknown person we should have
+point-blank refused to have had anything to do with the business; but as
+an intimate friend of our client Colonel Bulstrode, and as being known
+to us to some extent personally, we decided to follow the instructions
+given us in writing. I will now, with your permission, read the will."
+
+"First let me introduce Miss Covington to you," Mr. Farmer said. "She is
+the General's nearest relative, with the exception of his grandson.
+These ladies are here with her as her friends."
+
+Mr. Halstead bowed, then broke the seals on a large envelope, drew out a
+parchment, and proceeded to read it. Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew listened
+with increasing surprise as he went on. The legacies were absolutely
+identical with those in the will that they had last prepared. The same
+trustees and guardians for the child were appointed, and they were
+unable to understand what had induced General Mathieson to have what
+was almost a duplicate of his previous will prepared so secretly. The
+last paragraph, however, enlightened them. Instead of Hilda Covington,
+John Simcoe was named as heir to the bulk of the property in the event
+of the decease of Walter Rivington, his grandson, before coming of age.
+
+Hilda gave an involuntary start as the change was announced, and the two
+lawyers looked at each other in dismay. Mr. Halstead, to whom the
+General had explained his reasons for gratitude to John Simcoe, saw
+nothing unusual in the provision, which indeed was heralded with the
+words, "as my only near relative, Hilda Covington, is well endowed, I
+hereby appoint my dear friend, John Simcoe, my sole heir in the event of
+the decease of my grandson, Walter Rivington, before coming of age, in
+token of my appreciation of his heroic rescue of myself from the jaws of
+a tiger, in the course of which rescue he was most seriously wounded."
+
+When he had finished he laid down the will and looked round.
+
+"I hope," he said, "that this will be satisfactory to all parties."
+
+"By gad, sir," Colonel Bulstrode said hotly, "I should call this last
+part as unsatisfactory as possible."
+
+"The will is identical," Mr. Farmer said, without heeding the Colonel's
+interjection, "with the one that General Mathieson last executed. The
+persons benefited and the amounts left to them are in every case the
+same, but you will understand the dismay with which we have heard the
+concluding paragraph when I tell you that General Mathieson's heir,
+Walter Rivington, now a child of six or seven years old, disappeared--I
+think I may say was kidnaped--on the day preceding General Mathieson's
+death, and that all efforts to discover his whereabouts have so far been
+unsuccessful."
+
+Mr. Halstead and his partner looked at each other with dismay, even
+greater than that exhibited by the other lawyers.
+
+"God bless me!" Mr. Halstead exclaimed. "This is a bad business
+indeed--and a very strange one. Do you think that this Mr. Simcoe can
+have been aware of this provision in his favor?"
+
+"It is likely enough that he was aware of it," Mr. Pettigrew said; "he
+was constantly in the company of General Mathieson, and the latter, who
+was one of the frankest of men, may very well have informed him; but
+whether he actually did do so or not of course I cannot say. Would you
+have any objection to my looking at the written instructions?"
+
+"Certainly not. I brought them with me in order that they may be
+referred to as to any question that might arise."
+
+"It is certainly in the General's own handwriting," Mr. Pettigrew said,
+after looking at the paper. "But, indeed, the identity of the legacies
+given to some twenty or thirty persons, and of all the other provisions
+of the will, including the appointment of trustees and guardians, with
+those of the will in our possession, would seem in itself to set the
+matter at rest. Were you present yourself when the General signed it?"
+
+"Certainly. Both Mr. James and myself were present. I can now only
+express my deep regret that we acceded to the General's request to draw
+up the will."
+
+"It is unfortunate, certainly," Mr. Farmer said. "I do not see that
+under the circumstances of his introduction by an old client, and the
+fact that you had seen him before, anyone could blame you for
+undertaking the matter. Such cases are, as you said, by no means
+unusual, and I am quite sure that you would not have undertaken it, had
+you considered for a moment that any injustice was being done by its
+provisions."
+
+"May I ask to whom the property was to go to by the first will?"
+
+"It was to go to Miss Covington. I am sure that I can say, in her name,
+that under other circumstances she would not feel in any way aggrieved
+at the loss of a property she can well dispense with, especially as the
+chances of that provision coming into effect were but small, as the
+child was a healthy little fellow, and in all respects likely to live to
+come of age."
+
+"I do not care in the least for myself," Hilda said impetuously. "On the
+contrary, I would much rather that it had gone to someone else. I should
+not have at all liked the thought that I might benefit by Walter's
+death, but I would rather that it had been left to anyone but this man,
+whom I have always disliked, and whom Walter also disliked. I cannot
+give any reason why. I suppose it was an instinct, and now the instinct
+is justified, for I feel sure that he is at the bottom of Walter's
+disappearance."
+
+"Hush! hush! my dear young lady," Mr. Farmer said, holding up his hand
+in dismay, "you must not say such things; they are libelous in the
+extreme. Whatever suspicions you may have--and I own that at present
+things look awkward--you must not mention those suspicions until you
+obtain some evidence in their support. The disappearance of the child at
+this moment may be a mere coincidence--a singular one, if you like--and
+we shall, of course, examine the matter to the utmost and sift it to the
+bottom, but nothing must be said until we have something to go on."
+
+Hilda sat silent, with her lips pressed tightly together and an
+expression of determination upon her face. The other solicitors speedily
+left, after more expressions of regret.
+
+"What are we going to do next, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda asked abruptly, as
+the door closed behind them.
+
+"That is too difficult a matter to decide off-hand, but after going into
+the whole matter with my co-trustee, Colonel Bulstrode, with the
+assistance of my partner, we shall come to some agreement as to the best
+course to take. Of course we could oppose the probate of this new will,
+but it does not seem to me that we have a leg to stand upon in that
+respect. I have no doubt that Halstead & James will retire altogether
+from the matter, and refuse to act further. In that case it will be my
+duty, of course, to acquaint Simcoe with the provisions of the will,
+and to inform him that we, as trustees, shall not proceed to take any
+further steps in the matter until the fate of Walter Rivington is
+ascertained, but shall until then administer the estate in his behalf.
+It will then be for him to take the next step, and he certainly will not
+move for some months. After a time he will, of course, apply to the
+court to have it declared that Walter Rivington, having disappeared for
+a long time, there is reasonable presumption of his death. I shall then,
+in your name and mine, as the child's guardians, be heard in opposition,
+and I feel sure that the court will refuse to grant the petition,
+especially under the serious and most suspicious circumstances of the
+case. In time Simcoe will repeat the application, and we shall of course
+oppose it. In fact, I think it likely that it will be a good many years
+before the court will take the step asked, and all that time we shall be
+quietly making inquiries about this man and his antecedents, and we
+shall, of course, keep up a search for the child. It may be that his
+disappearance is only a coincidence, and that he has, as we at first
+supposed, been stolen for the purpose of making a heavy claim for his
+return."
+
+"You may be sure that I shall not rest until I find him, Mr. Pettigrew,"
+Hilda said. "I shall devote my life to it. I love the child dearly; but
+even were he a perfect stranger to me I would do everything in my power,
+if only to prevent this man from obtaining the proceeds of his
+villainy."
+
+Mr. Farmer again interposed.
+
+"My dear Miss Covington," he said, "you really must not speak like this.
+Of course, with us it is perfectly safe. I admit that you have good
+reason for your indignation, but you must really moderate your
+expressions, which might cause infinite mischief were you to use them
+before other people. In the eye of the law a man is innocent until he is
+proved guilty, and we have not a shadow of proof that this man has
+anything to do with the child's abduction. Moreover, it might do harm in
+other ways. To begin with, it might render the discovery of the child
+more difficult; for if his abductors were aware or even suspected that
+you were searching in all directions for him, they would take all the
+greater pains to conceal his hiding-place."
+
+"I will be careful, Mr. Farmer, but I shall proceed to have a search
+made at every workhouse and night refuge and place of that sort in
+London, and within twenty miles round, and issue more placards of your
+offer of a reward of five hundred pounds for information. There is no
+harm in that."
+
+"Certainly not. Those are the measures that one would naturally take in
+any case. Indeed, I should already have pushed my inquiries in that
+direction, but I have hitherto felt sure that had he been merely taken
+for his clothes, the police would have traced him before now; but as
+they have not been able to do so, that it was a case of blackmail, and
+that we should hear very shortly from the people that had stolen him. I
+sincerely trust that this may the case, and that it will turn out that
+this man Simcoe has nothing whatever to do with it. I will come down and
+let you know what steps we are taking from time to time, and learn the
+directions in which you are pushing your inquiries."
+
+Neither Miss Purcell nor Netta had spoken from the time they had entered
+the room, but as soon as they took their places in the carriage waiting
+for them, they burst out.
+
+"What an extraordinary thing, Hilda! And yet," Miss Purcell added, "the
+search for Walter may do good in one way; it will prevent you from
+turning your thoughts constantly to the past and to the loss that you
+have suffered."
+
+"If it had not been for Walter being missing, aunt, I should have
+thought nothing of uncle's appointing Mr. Simcoe as heir to his property
+if anything should happen to him. This man had obtained an extraordinary
+influence over him, and there can be no doubt from uncle's statement to
+me that he owed his life solely to him, and that Simcoe indeed was
+seriously injured in saving him. He knew that I had no occasion for the
+money, and have already more than is good for a girl to have at her
+absolute disposal; therefore I am in no way surprised that he should
+have left him his estate in the event of Walter's death. All that is
+quite right, and I have nothing to say against it, except that I have
+always disliked the man. It is only the extraordinary disappearance of
+Walter, just at this moment, that seems to me to render it certain that
+Simcoe is at the bottom of it. No one else could have had any motive for
+stealing Walter, more than any other rich man's child. His interest in
+his disappearance is immense. I have no doubt uncle had told him what he
+had done, and the man must have seen that his chance of getting the
+estate was very small unless the child could be put out of the way."
+
+"You don't think," Netta began, "that any harm can have happened to
+him?"
+
+"No, I don't think that. Whether this man would have shrunk from it if
+there were no other way, I need not ask myself; but there could have
+been no occasion for it. Walter is so young that he will very soon
+forget the past; he might be handed over to a gypsy and grow up a little
+vagrant, and as there is no mark on him by which he might be identified,
+he would be lost to us forever. You see the man can afford to wait. He
+has doubtless means of his own--how large I do not know, but I have
+heard my uncle say that he had handsome chambers, and certainly he lived
+in good style. Now he will have this legacy of ten thousand pounds, and
+if the court keeps him waiting ten or fifteen years before pronouncing
+Walter dead, he can afford to wait. Anyhow, I shall have plenty of time
+in which to act, and it will require a lot of thinking over before I
+decide what I had best do."
+
+She lost no time, however, in beginning to work. Posters offering the
+reward of five hundred pounds for information of the missing boy were at
+once issued, and stuck up not only in London, but in every town and
+village within thirty miles. Then she obtained from Mr. Pettigrew the
+name of a firm of trustworthy private detectives and set them to make
+inquiries, in the first place at all the institutions where a lost child
+would be likely to be taken if found, or where it might have been left
+by a tramp. Two days after the reading of the will she received the
+following letter from John Simcoe:
+
+     "DEAR MISS COVINGTON: I have learned from Messrs. Farmer &
+     Pettigrew the liberal and I may say extraordinary generosity shown
+     towards myself by the late General Mathieson, whose loss I most
+     deeply deplore. My feelings of gratitude are at the present moment
+     overwhelmed by the very painful position in which I find myself. I
+     had, of course, heard, upon calling at your door to make inquiries,
+     that little Walter was missing, and was deeply grieved at the news,
+     though not at the time dreaming that it could affect me personally.
+     Now, however, the circumstances of the case are completely changed,
+     for, by the provisions of the will, I should benefit pecuniarily by
+     the poor child's death. I will not for a moment permit myself to
+     believe that he is not alive and well, and do not doubt that you
+     will speedily recover him; but, until this occurs, I feel that some
+     sort of suspicion must attach to me, who am the only person having
+     an interest in his disappearance. The thought that this may be so
+     is distressing to me in the extreme. Since I heard of his
+     disappearance I have spent the greater part of my time in
+     traversing the slums of London in hopes of lighting upon him. I
+     shall now undertake wider researches, and shall to-day insert
+     advertisements in all the daily papers, offering one thousand
+     pounds for his recovery. I feel sure that you at least will not for
+     a moment entertain unjust suspicions concerning me, but those who
+     do not know me well may do so, and although at present none of the
+     facts have been made public, I feel as if I were already under a
+     cloud, and that men in the club look askance at me, and unless the
+     child is found my position will speedily become intolerable. My
+     only support in this trial is my consciousness of innocence. You
+     will excuse me for intruding upon your sorrow at the present
+     moment, but I felt compelled to write as I have done, and to assure
+     you that I will use every effort in my power to discover the child,
+     not only for his own sake and yours, but because I feel that until
+     he is discovered I must continue to rest under the terrible, if
+     unspoken, suspicion of being concerned in his disappearance.
+
+     "Believe me, yours very truly,
+     "JOHN SIMCOE."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+DR. LEEDS SPEAKS.
+
+
+After reading John Simcoe's letter, Hilda threw it down with an
+exclamation of contempt.
+
+"Read it!" she said to Netta, who was alone with her.
+
+"The letter is good enough as it stands," Netta remarked, as she
+finished it.
+
+"Good enough, if coming from anyone else," Hilda said scornfully,
+"perhaps better than most men would write, but I think that a rogue can
+generally express himself better than an honest man."
+
+"Now you are getting cynical--a new and unpleasant phase in your
+character, Hilda. I have heard you say that you do not like this man,
+but you have never given me any particular reason for it, beyond, in one
+of your letters, saying that it was an instinct. Now do try to give me a
+more palpable reason than that. At present it seems to be only a case of
+Dr. Fell. You don't like him because you don't."
+
+"I don't like him because from the first I distrusted him. Personally, I
+had no reason to complain; on the contrary, he has been extremely civil,
+and indeed willing to put himself out in any way to do me small
+services. Then, as I told you, Walter disliked him, too, although he was
+always bringing chocolates and toys for him; so that the child's dislike
+must have been also a sort of instinct. He felt, as I did, that the man
+was not true and honest. He always gave me the impression of acting a
+part, and I have never been able to understand how a man of his class
+could have performed so noble and heroic an act as rushing in almost
+unarmed to save another, who was almost a stranger to him, from the
+grip of a tiger. So absolutely did I feel this that I have at times
+even doubted whether he could be the John Simcoe who had performed this
+gallant action."
+
+"My dear Hilda, you are getting fanciful! Do you think that your uncle
+was likely to be deceived in such a matter, and that he would not have a
+vivid remembrance of his preserver, even after twenty years?"
+
+"That depends on how much he saw of him. My uncle told me that Mr.
+Simcoe brought some good introductions from a friend of his at Calcutta
+who came out in the same ship with him. No doubt he dined at my uncle's
+two or three times--he may even have stayed a few days in the
+house--possibly more; but as commanding the district my uncle must have
+been fully occupied during the day, and can have seen little of him
+until, I suppose, a week or so after his arrival, when he invited him to
+join in the hunt for a tiger. Although much hurt on that occasion,
+Simcoe was much less injured than my uncle, who lay between life and
+death for some time, and Simcoe had left before he was well enough to
+see him. If he had dined with my uncle a few times after this affair,
+undoubtedly his features would have been so impressed on him that he
+would have recognized him, even after twenty years; but, as it was, he
+could have no particular interest in this gentleman, and can have
+entertained but a hazy recollection of his features. In fact, the
+General did not recognize him when he first called upon him, until he
+had related certain details of the affair. It had always been a sore
+point with my uncle that he had never had an opportunity of thanking his
+preserver, who had, as he believed, lost his life at sea before he
+himself was off his sick bed, and when he heard the man's story he was
+naturally anxious to welcome him with open arms, and to do all in his
+power for him. I admit that this man must either have been in Benares
+then, or shortly afterwards, for he remembered various officers who were
+there and little incidents of cantonment life that could, one would
+think, be only known to one who had been there at the time."
+
+"But you say he was only there a week, Hilda?"
+
+"Only a week before this tiger business; but it was a month before he
+was able to travel. No doubt all the officers there would make a good
+deal of a man who had performed such a deed, and would go and sit with
+him and chat to while away the hours; so that he would, in that time,
+pick up a great deal of the gossip of the station."
+
+"Well, then, what is your theory, Hilda? The real man, as you say, no
+doubt made a great many acquaintances there; this man seems to have been
+behind the scenes also."
+
+"He unquestionably knew many of the officers, for uncle told me that he
+recognized several men who had been out there when he met them at the
+club, and went up and addressed them by name."
+
+"Did they know him also?"
+
+"No; at first none of them had any idea who he was. But that is not
+surprising, for they had seen him principally when he was greatly pulled
+down; and believing him to be drowned, it would have been strange indeed
+if they had recalled his face until he had mentioned who he was."
+
+"Well, it seems to me that you are arguing against yourself, Hilda.
+Everything you say points to the fact that this man is the John Simcoe
+he claims to be. If he is not Simcoe, who can he be?"
+
+"Ah! There you ask a question that I cannot answer."
+
+"In fact, Hilda, you have nothing beyond the fact that you do not like
+the man, and believe that he is not the sort of man to perform an heroic
+and self-sacrificing action, on behalf of this curious theory of yours."
+
+"That is all at present, but I mean to set myself to work to find out
+more about him. If I can find out that this man is an impostor we shall
+recover Walter; if not, I doubt whether we shall ever hear of him
+again."
+
+Netta lifted her eyebrows.
+
+"Well, at any rate, you have plenty of time before you, Hilda."
+
+The next morning Dr. Leeds, who had not called for the last three or
+four days, came in to say that he was arranging a partnership with a
+doctor of considerable eminence, but who was beginning to find the
+pressure of work too much for him, and wanted the aid of a younger and
+more active man.
+
+"It is a chance in a thousand," he said. "I owe it largely to the kind
+manner in which both Sir Henry Havercourt and Dr. Pearson spoke to him
+as to my ability. You will excuse me," he went on, after Hilda had
+warmly congratulated him, "for talking of myself before I have asked any
+questions, but I know that, had you obtained any news of Walter, you
+would have let me know at once."
+
+"Certainly I should; but I have some news, and really important news, to
+give you." And she related the production of the new will and gave him
+the details of its provisions.
+
+He looked very serious.
+
+"It is certainly an ugly outlook," he said. "I have never seen this
+Simcoe, but I know from the tone in which you have spoken of him, at
+least two or three times, that he is by no means a favorite of yours.
+Can you tell me anything about him?"
+
+"Not beyond the fact that he saved the General's life from a tiger a
+great many years ago. Shortly after that he was supposed to be lost at
+sea. Certainly the vessel in which he sailed went down in a hurricane
+with, as was reported, all hands. He says that he was picked up clinging
+to a spar. Of his life for the twenty years following he has never given
+a very connected account, at least as far as I know; but some of the
+stories that I have heard him tell show that he led a very wild sort of
+life. Sometimes he was working in a small trader among the islands of
+the Pacific, and I believe he had a share in some of these enterprises.
+Then he claims to have been in the service of a native prince somewhere
+up beyond Burmah, and according to his account took quite an active
+part in many sanguinary wars and adventures of all sorts."
+
+The doctor's face grew more and more serious as she proceeded.
+
+"Do I gather, Miss Covington, that you do not believe that this man is
+what he claims to be?"
+
+"Frankly that is my opinion, doctor. I own that I have no ground
+whatever for my disbelief, except that I have naturally studied the man
+closely. I have watched his lips as he spoke. When he has been talking
+about these adventures with savages he spoke without effort, and I have
+no doubt whatever that he did take part in such adventures; but when he
+was speaking of India, and especially when at some of the bachelor
+dinners uncle gave there were officers who had known him out there, it
+was clear to me that he did not speak with the same freedom. He weighed
+his words, as if afraid of making a mistake. I believe that the man was
+playing a part. His tone was genial and sometimes a little boisterous,
+as it might well be on the part of a man who had been years away from
+civilization; but I always thought from his manner that all this was
+false. I am convinced that he is a double-faced man. When he spoke I
+observed that he watched in a furtive sort of way the person to whom he
+was speaking, to see the effect of his words; but, above all, I formed
+my opinion upon the fact that I am absolutely convinced that this man
+could never have performed the splendid action of facing a wounded tiger
+unarmed for the sake of one who was, in fact, but a casual
+acquaintance."
+
+"You will excuse me if I make no comment on what you have told me, Miss
+Covington. It is a matter far too serious for any man to form a hasty
+opinion upon. I myself have never seen this man, but I am content to
+take your estimate of his character. One trained, as you were for years,
+in the habit of closely watching faces cannot but be a far better judge
+of character than those who have not had such training. I will take two
+or three days to think the matter over; and now will you tell me what
+steps you are taking at present to discover Walter?"
+
+She told him of what was being done.
+
+"Can you suggest anything else, Dr. Leeds?"
+
+"Nothing. It seems to me that the key to the mystery is in the hands of
+this man, and that it is there it must be sought, though at present I
+can see no way in which the matter can be set about. When one enters
+into a struggle with a man like this, one must be armed at all points,
+prepared to meet craft with craft, and above all to have a
+well-marked-out plan of campaign. Now I will say good-morning. I suppose
+Miss Purcell and her niece will stay on with you, at any rate for a
+time?"
+
+"For a long time, I hope," she said.
+
+"May I ask if you have stated the view that you have given me to Miss
+Netta Purcell?"
+
+"Yes, I have told her. She is disposed to treat it as an absurd fancy on
+my part, but if I can get anything to go upon which will convince her
+that there is even a faint possibility of my being right, she will go
+through fire and water to assist me."
+
+"I can well believe that," the doctor said. "I am sure that she has a
+strong character, although so lively and full of fun. Of course, having
+been thrown with her for four months, I am able to form a very fair
+opinion of her disposition."
+
+After Dr. Leeds had left, Hilda began to build castles for her friend.
+
+"It would be a splendid thing for her," she said. "He is certainly not a
+man to speak in the way he did unless he thoroughly meant it. I should
+think that they were just suited to each other; though it would be
+really a pity that the scheme I had set my mind upon for getting her
+over here as head of an institution for teaching deaf and dumb children
+on Professor Menzel's plan should come to nothing. Perhaps, though, he
+might be willing that she should act as the head of such an
+establishment, getting trained assistants from those she knows in
+Hanover and giving a few hours a day herself to the general supervision,
+if only for the sake of the good that such an institution would do
+among, perhaps the most unfortunate of all beings. I am quite sure that,
+so far, she has no thought of such a thing. However, perhaps I am
+running on too fast, and that he only means what he said, that he
+admired her character. I suppose there is no reason that because a man
+admires a girl's character he should fall in love with her, and yet
+Netta is so bright and cheerful, and at the same time so kind and
+thoughtful, I can hardly imagine that any man, thrown with her as he has
+been, could help falling in love with her."
+
+Netta was surprised when Hilda told her that Dr. Leeds had been inclined
+to view her theory seriously.
+
+"Really, Hilda? Certainly he is not the sort of man to be carried away
+by your enthusiasm, so please consider all that I have said upon the
+subject as unspoken, and I will stand neutral until I hear further what
+he says."
+
+"He did not say very much, I admit, Netta; but he said that he would
+take the matter seriously into consideration and let me know what he
+thinks in two or three days."
+
+"I am afraid that he wants to let you down gently," Netta said. "Well,
+well, don't looked vexed! I will say no more about it until this solemn
+judgment is delivered."
+
+Netta was in the room when Dr. Leeds called, two days later.
+
+"Netta is in all my counsels, Dr. Leeds," Hilda said, "and she is, as a
+rule, a capital hand at keeping a secret, though she did let mine slip
+out to you."
+
+There was no smile on the doctor's face, and both girls felt at once
+that the interview was to be a serious one.
+
+"I am well aware that I can speak before Miss Purcell," he said,
+"although there are very few people before whom I would repeat what I am
+going to say. I have two questions to ask you, Miss Covington. What is
+the date of this last will of your uncle's?"
+
+"It is dated the 16th of May."
+
+"About a fortnight before the General's alarming seizure?"
+
+Hilda bowed her head in assent. The next question took her quite by
+surprise.
+
+"Do you know whether this man Simcoe was one of the party when the
+seizure took place?"
+
+"He was, doctor. My uncle told me that he was going to dine with him,
+and Dr. Pearson mentioned to me that he was next to the General and
+caught him as he fell from his chair."
+
+Dr. Leeds got up and walked up and down the room two or three minutes.
+
+"I think that now things have come to the present pass you ought to know
+what was the opinion that I originally formed of General Mathieson's
+illness. Dr. Pearson and Sir Henry Havercourt both differed from me and
+treated my theory as a fanciful one, and without foundation; and of
+course I yielded to such superior authority, and henceforth kept my
+ideas to myself. Nevertheless, during the time the General was under my
+charge I failed altogether to find any theory or explanation for his
+strange attack and subsequent state, except that which I had first
+formed. It was a theory that a medical man is always most reluctant to
+declare unless he is in a position to prove it, or at least to give some
+very strong reason in its favor, for a mistake would not only cost him
+his reputation, but might involve him in litigation and ruin his career
+altogether. But I think that I ought to tell you what my opinion is,
+Miss Covington. You must not take it for more than it is worth, namely
+as a theory; but it may possibly set you on a new track and aid you in
+your endeavor to discover the missing child."
+
+The surprise of the two girls increased as he continued, after a pause:
+
+"Ever since the day when I was first requested to act as the General's
+resident medical man I have devoted a considerable time to the study of
+books in which, here and there, could be found accounts of the action of
+the herbs in use among the Obi women, fetich men, and so-called wizards
+on the West Coast of Africa, also in India, and among the savage tribes
+of the Malay Archipelago and the Pacific Islands. What drugs they use
+has never been discovered, although many efforts have been made to
+obtain a knowledge of them, both in India and on the West Coast; but
+doctors have found it necessary to abandon the attempt, several of them
+having fallen victims of the jealousy of these people because of the
+researches they were making. But at the least the effects of the
+administration of these drugs have been frequently described, and in
+some respects these correspond so closely to those noticeable in the
+General's case that I say now, as I said at first, I believe the
+General's illness was caused by the administration of some drug
+absolutely unknown to European science."
+
+"You think that my uncle was poisoned?" Hilda exclaimed in a tone of
+horror, while Netta started to her feet with clenched hands and flushed
+face.
+
+"I have not used the word 'poisoned,' Miss Covington, though in fact it
+comes to that. It may not have been administered with the intention of
+killing; it may have been intended only to bring on a fit, which, in due
+time, might have been attended by others; but the dose may have been
+stronger than its administrator intended."
+
+"And you think, Dr. Leeds--you think that it was administered by----"
+
+"No, Miss Covington; I accuse no one. I have no shadow of proof against
+anyone; but taking this illness, with the abduction of the child, it
+cannot be denied that one's suspicions must, in the first case, fall
+upon the man who has profited by the crime, if crime it was. On May 16
+this will was drawn up, bequeathing the property to a certain person.
+The circumstances of the will were curious, but from what I learned from
+you of the explanation given by the lawyers who drew it up, it seems
+fair and above-board enough. The General was certainly greatly under the
+influence of this man, who had rendered him the greatest service one man
+can render another, and that at the risk of his own life. Therefore I do
+not consider that this will, which was, so to speak, sprung upon you, is
+in itself an important link in the chain. But when we find that twelve
+or fourteen days afterwards the General was, when at table, seized with
+a terrible fit of an extraordinary and mysterious nature, and that the
+man who had an interest in his death was sitting next to him, the
+coincidence is at least a strange one. When, however, the General's heir
+is abducted, when the General is at the point of death, the matter for
+the first time assumes a position of the most extreme gravity.
+
+"At first, like you, I thought that Walter had either been stolen by
+some woman for the sake of his clothes, or that he had been carried off
+by someone aware that he was the General's heir, with a view to
+obtaining a large sum of money as his ransom. Such things have been done
+before, and will, no doubt, be done again. The first hypothesis appears
+to have failed altogether; no woman who had robbed a child of his
+clothes would desire to detain him for an hour longer than was
+necessary. The inquiries of the police have failed altogether; the
+people you have employed have ascertained that neither at the workhouses
+of London nor in the adjacent counties has any child at all answering to
+Walter's description been left by a tramp or brought in by the police or
+by someone who had found him wandering about. It cannot be said that the
+second hypothesis is also proved to be a mistaken one; the men who took
+him away would be obliged to exercise the greatest caution when opening
+negotiations for his release, and it might be a month or more before you
+heard from them.
+
+"Therefore, it would be unfair to this man Simcoe to assume that he is
+the author of the plot until so long a period has passed that it is
+morally certain that the boy was not stolen for the purpose of
+blackmail. However, we have the following suspicious circumstances:
+first, that, as I believe, the General was drugged by some poison of
+whose nature we are ignorant beyond that we read of very similar cases
+occurring among natives races in Africa and elsewhere. Then we have the
+point that no one would have had any interest in the General's death,
+with the exception of the man he had named as his heir in the event of
+the child's death. We know by the man's statement that he was for many
+years living among tribes where poisons of this kind are used by the
+wizards and fetich men to support their authority and to remove persons
+against whom they have a grudge. Lastly, we have the crowning fact of
+the abduction of the child, who stood between this man and the estates.
+All this is at best mere circumstantial evidence. We do not know for
+certain what caused the General's fit, we have no proof that Simcoe had
+any hand in the abduction, and whatever our opinion may be, it is
+absolutely necessary that we do not breathe a hint to anyone."
+
+Hilda did not speak; the shock and the horror of the matter were too
+much for her. She sat with open lips and blanched face, looking at Dr.
+Leeds. Netta, however, leaped to her feet again.
+
+"It must be so, Dr. Leeds. It does not seem to me that there can be a
+shadow of doubt in the matter, and anything that I can do to bring the
+truth to light I will do, however long a time it takes me."
+
+"Thank you, Netta," Hilda said, holding out her hand to her friend; "as
+for me, I will devote my life to clearing up this mystery."
+
+"I am afraid, Miss Covington, that my engagements henceforth will
+prevent my joining actively in your search, but my advice will always be
+at your service, and it may be that I shall be able to point out methods
+that have not occurred to you."
+
+"But, oh, Dr. Leeds!" Hilda exclaimed suddenly; "if this villain
+poisoned my uncle, surely he will not hesitate to put Walter out of his
+path."
+
+"I have been thinking of that," Dr. Leeds exclaimed, "but I have come to
+the conclusion that it is very unlikely that he will do so. In the first
+place, he must have had accomplices. The man who spoke to the nurse and
+the cabman who drove the child away must both have been employed by him,
+and I have no doubt whatever that the child has been placed with some
+persons who are probably altogether ignorant of his identity. Walter was
+a lovable child, and as soon as he got over his first grief he would no
+doubt become attached to the people he was with, and although these
+might be willing to take a child who, they were told, had lost its
+parents, and was homeless and friendless, without inquiring too closely
+into the circumstances, it is unlikely in the extreme that they would
+connive at any acts of violence. It is by no means easy to murder and
+then to dispose of the body of a child of seven, and I should doubt
+whether this man would attempt such a thing. He would be perfectly
+content that the boy would be out of his way, that all traces of him
+should be lost, and that it would be beyond the range of probability
+that he could ever be identified, and, lastly, even the most hardened
+villains do not like putting their necks in a noose. Moreover, if in the
+last extremity his confederates, believing that he had made away with
+the child, tried to blackmail him, or some unforeseen circumstance
+brought home to him the guilt of this abduction, he would be in a
+position to produce the child, and even to make good terms for himself
+for doing so. You yourself, whatever your feelings might be as to the
+man whom you believe to be the murderer of your uncle, would still be
+willing to pay a considerable sum and allow him to leave the country, on
+condition of his restoring Walter. Therefore I think that you may make
+your mind easy on that score, and believe that whatever has happened to
+him, or wherever he may be, there is no risk of actual harm befalling
+him."
+
+"Thank you very much, doctor. That is indeed a relief. And now have you
+thought of any plan upon which we had best set to work?"
+
+"Not at present, beyond the fact that I see that the power you both
+possess of reading what men say, when, as they believe, out of earshot,
+ought to be of material advantage to you. As Miss Purcell has promised
+to associate herself with you in the search, I should say that she would
+be of more use in this direction than you would. You have told me that
+he must be perfectly aware of your dislike for him, and would certainly
+be most careful, were you in his presence, although he might not dream
+of this power that you possess. But he has never seen your friend, and
+would not be on his guard with her. I have at present not thought over
+any plan by which she could watch him--that must be for after
+consideration--but it seems to me that this offers some chance of
+obtaining a clew."
+
+"I am ready to do anything, Dr. Leeds," Netta said firmly. "You only
+have to find out a way, and I will follow out your instructions to the
+letter. First we must find out whether Hilda's theory about this man,
+which I scoffed at when she first spoke of it to me, is correct."
+
+"You mean the theory that this man is not John Simcoe at all, but
+someone who, knowing the facts of the rescue from the tiger, and being
+also well acquainted with people and things in Benares, has personated
+him? I will not discuss that now. I have an appointment to meet a
+colleague for consultation in a difficult case, and have already run the
+time very close. You shall see me again shortly, when I have had time to
+think the whole matter over quietly."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+NETTA VISITS STOWMARKET.
+
+
+"Well, Netta," Hilda said, after Dr. Leeds had left them, "I suppose you
+will not in future laugh at my instincts. I only wish that they had been
+stronger. I wish I had told my dear uncle that I disliked the man so
+thoroughly that I was sure there was something wrong with him, and
+implored him not to become very intimate with him. If I had told him how
+strongly I felt on the subject, although, of course, he could have left
+or given him any sum that he chose, I do think it would have had some
+influence with him. No doubt he would have laughed at what he would have
+called my suspicious nature, but I think he would not have become so
+friendly with the man; but, of course, I never thought of this. Oh,
+Netta! my heart seems broken at the thought that my dear uncle, the
+kindest of men, should have been murdered by a man towards whom his
+thoughts were so kindly that he appointed him his heir in the event of
+Walter's death. If he had left him double the sum he did, and had
+directed that in case of Walter's death the property should go to
+hospitals, the child might now have been safe in the house. It is
+heartbreaking to think of."
+
+"Well, dear," Netta said, "we have our work before us. I say 'we'
+because, although he was no relation to me, I loved him from the first,
+when he came over with the news of your father's death. Had I been his
+niece as well as you, he could not have treated me more kindly than he
+did when I was staying with you last year, and during the last four
+months that I have been with you. One could see, even in the state he
+was in, how kind his nature was, and his very helplessness added to
+one's affection for him. I quite meant what I said, for until this
+matter is cleared up, and until this crime, if crime it really is, is
+brought to light, I will stay here, and be your helper, however the long
+the time may be. There are two of us, and I do not think that either of
+us are fools, and we ought to be a match for one man. There is one thing
+we have, that is a man on whom we can rely. I do not mean Dr. Leeds; I
+regard him as our director. I mean Tom Roberts; he would have given his
+life, I am sure, for his master, and I feel confident that he will carry
+out any instructions we may give him to the letter."
+
+"I am sure he will, Netta. Do you think we ought to tell him our
+suspicions?"
+
+"I should do so unhesitatingly, Hilda. I am sure he will be ready to go
+through fire and water to avenge his master's death. As aunt is out I
+think it will be as well to take him into our confidence at once."
+
+Hilda said nothing, but got up and rang the bell. When the footman
+entered she said, "Tell Roberts that I want to speak to him." When the
+man came up she went on, "We are quite sure, Tom, that you were most
+thoroughly devoted to your master, and that you would do anything in
+your power to get to the bottom of the events that have brought about
+his death and the carrying off of his grandson."
+
+"That I would, miss; there is not anything that I would not do if you
+would only set me about it."
+
+"Well, Roberts, I am about to take you into our confidence, relying
+implicitly upon your silence and on your aid."
+
+"You can do that, miss, safely enough. There is nothing now that I can
+do for my master; but as for Master Walter, I would walk to China if I
+thought that there was a chance of finding him there."
+
+"In the first place you must remember, Roberts, that we are acting only
+upon suspicion; we have only that to go upon, and our object must be to
+find some proofs to justify those suspicions."
+
+"I understand, miss; you have got an idea, and you want to see if it is
+right?"
+
+"We ourselves have little doubt of it, Roberts. Now please sit down and
+listen to me, and don't interrupt me till I have finished."
+
+Then she related the grounds that she had for suspicion that the
+General's death and Walter's abduction were both the work of John
+Simcoe, and also her own theory that this man was not the person who had
+saved the General's life. In spite of her warning not to interrupt, Tom
+Roberts' exclamations of fury were frequent and strongly worded.
+
+"Well, miss!" he exclaimed, when she had finished and his tongue was
+untied, "I did not think that there was such a villain upon the face of
+the earth. Why, if I had suspected this I would have killed him, if I
+had been hung for it a week after. And to think that he regular took me
+in! He had always a cheerful word for me, if I happened to open the door
+for him. 'How are you, Tom?' he would say, 'hearty as usual?' and he
+would slip a crown into my hand to drink his health. I always keep an
+account of tips that I receive, and the first thing I do will be to add
+them up and see how much I have had from him, and I will hand it over to
+a charity. One don't like setting out to help to bring a man to the
+gallus when you have got his money in your pocket. I must have been a
+fool, miss, not to have kept a better watch, but I never thought ill of
+the man. It seemed to me that he had been a soldier. Sometimes when he
+was talking with me he would come out with barrack-room sayings, and
+though he never said that he had served, nor the General neither, I
+thought that he must have done so. He had a sort of way of carrying his
+shoulders which you don't often see among men who have not learned the
+goose-step. I will wait, miss, with your permission, until I have got
+rid of that money, and then if you say to me, 'Go to that man's rooms
+and take him by the throat and squeeze the truth out of him,' I am ready
+to do it."
+
+"We shall not require such prompt measures as that, Tom; we must go
+about our work carefully and quietly, and I fear that it will be a very
+long time before we are able to collect facts that we can act upon. We
+have not decided yet how to begin. I may tell you that the only other
+person who shares our suspicions is Dr. Leeds. We think it best that
+even Miss Purcell should know nothing about them. It would only cause
+her great anxiety, and the matter will, therefore, be kept a close
+secret among our four selves. In a few days our plans will probably be
+complete, and I think that your share in the business will be to watch
+every movement of this man and to ascertain who are his associates; many
+of them, no doubt, are club men, who, of course, will be above
+suspicion, but it is certain that he must have had accomplices in the
+abduction of the child. Whether he visits them or they visit him, is a
+point to find out. There is little chance of their calling during
+daylight, and it is in the evening that you will have to keep a close
+eye on him and ascertain who his visitors are."
+
+"All right, miss, I wish he did not know me by sight; but I expect that
+I can get some sort of a disguise so that he won't recognize me."
+
+"I don't think that there will be any difficulty about that. Of course
+we are not going to rely only upon you; Miss Purcell and myself are both
+going to devote ourselves to the search."
+
+"We will run him down between us, miss, never fear. It cannot be meant
+that such a fellow as this should not be found out in his villainy. I
+wish that there was something more for me to do. I know several old
+soldiers like myself, who would join me willingly enough, and we might
+between us carry him off and keep him shut up somewhere, just as he is
+doing Master Walter, until he makes a clean breast of it. It is
+wonderful what the cells and bread and water will do to take a fellow's
+spirit down. It is bad enough when one knows how long one has got to
+bear it; but to know that there is no end to it until you choose to
+speak would get the truth out of Old Nick, begging your pardon for
+naming him."
+
+"Well, we shall see, Roberts. That would certainly be a last resource,
+and I fear that it would not be so effectual as you think. If he told us
+that if he did not pay his usual visit to the boy it would be absolutely
+certain we should never see him alive again, we should not dare retain
+him."
+
+"Well, miss, whatever you decide on I will do. I have lost as a good
+master as ever a man had, and there is nothing that I would not do to
+bring that fellow to justice."
+
+The girls waited impatiently for the next visit of Dr. Leeds. It was
+four days before he came.
+
+"I hoped to have been here before," he said, "but I have been so busy
+that it has not been possible for me to manage it. Of course this
+business has always been in my mind, and it seems to me that the first
+step to be taken is to endeavor to ascertain whether this fellow is
+really, as you believe, Miss Covington, an impostor. Have you ever heard
+him say in what part of the country he formerly resided?"
+
+"Yes; he lived at Stowmarket. I know that some months ago he introduced
+to uncle a gentleman who was manager at a bank there, and had known him
+from boyhood. He was up for a few days staying with him."
+
+"That is certainly rather against your surmise, Miss Covington; however,
+it is as well to clear that matter up before we attempt anything else."
+
+"I will go down and make inquiries, doctor," Netta said quietly. "I am
+half a head shorter than Hilda, and altogether different in face;
+therefore, if he learns that any inquiries have been made, he will be
+sure that whoever made them was not Hilda."
+
+"We might send down a detective, Miss Purcell."
+
+"No; I want to be useful," she said, "and I flatter myself that I shall
+be able to do quite as well as a detective. We could hardly take a
+detective into our confidence in a matter of this kind, and not knowing
+everything, he might miss points that would give us a clew to the truth.
+I will start to-morrow. I shall tell my aunt that I am going away for a
+day or two to follow up some clew we have obtained that may lead to
+Walter's discovery. In a week you shall know whether this man is really
+what he claims to be."
+
+"Very well, Miss Purcell; then we will leave this matter in your hands."
+
+"By the way, doctor," Hilda Covington said, "we have taken Roberts into
+our confidence. We know that we can rely upon his discretion implicitly,
+and it seemed to us that we must have somebody we can trust absolutely
+to watch this man."
+
+"I don't think that you could have done better," he said. "I was going
+to suggest that it would be well to obtain his assistance. From what I
+have heard, very few of these private detectives can be absolutely
+relied upon. I do not mean that they are necessarily rogues, who would
+take money from both sides, but that, if after trying for some time they
+consider the matter hopeless, they will go on running up expenses and
+making charges when they have in reality given up the search. What do
+you propose that he shall do?"
+
+"I should say that, in the first place, he should watch every evening
+the house where Simcoe lives, and follow up everyone who comes out and
+ascertain who they are. No doubt the great majority of them will be
+clubmen, but it is likely that he will be occasionally visited by some
+of his confederates."
+
+"I think that is an excellent plan. He will, of course, also follow him
+when he goes out, for it is much more likely that he will visit these
+fellows than that they should come to him. In a case like this he would
+assuredly use every precaution, and would scarcely let them know who he
+is and where he resides."
+
+"No doubt that is so, doctor, and it would make Roberts' work all the
+easier, for even if they came to the man's lodgings he might be away,
+following up the track of someone who had called before him."
+
+Netta returned at the end of four days.
+
+"I have not succeeded," she said, in answer to Hilda's inquiring look as
+she came in. "The man is certainly well known at Stowmarket as John
+Simcoe; but that does not prove that he is the man, and just as he
+deceived your uncle he may have deceived the people down there. Now I
+will go upstairs and take off my things, and then give you a full
+account of my proceedings.
+
+"My first step," she began on her return, "was, of course, to find out
+what members of the Simcoe family lived there. After engaging a room at
+the hotel, which I can assure you was the most unpleasant part of the
+business, for they seemed to be altogether unaccustomed to the arrival
+of young ladies unattended, I went into the town. It is not much of a
+place, and after making some little purchases and inquiring at several
+places, I heard of a maiden lady of that name. The woman who told me of
+her was communicative. 'She has just had a great piece of luck,' she
+said. 'About ten months back a nephew, whom everyone had supposed to
+have been lost at sea, came home with a great fortune, and they say that
+he has behaved most handsomely to her. She has always bought her Berlin
+wool and such things here, and she has spent three or four times as much
+since he came home as she did before, and I know from a neighbor, of
+whom she is a customer, that the yards and yards of flannel that she
+buys for making up into petticoats for poor children is wonderful. Do
+you know her, miss?' I said that I did not know her personally, but that
+some friends of mine, knowing that I was going to Stowmarket, had asked
+me to inquire if Miss Simcoe was still alive. I said casually that I
+might call and see her, and so got her address.
+
+"I then went to call upon her. She lives in a little place called Myrtle
+Cottage. I had been a good deal puzzled as to what story I should tell
+her. I thought at first of giving myself out as the sister of the young
+lady to whom her nephew was paying his addresses; and as we knew
+nothing of him except that he was wealthy, and as he had mentioned that
+he had an aunt at Stowmarket, and as I was coming down there, I had been
+asked to make inquiries about him. But I thought this might render her
+so indignant that I should get nothing from her. I thought, therefore, I
+had better get all she knew voluntarily; so I went to the house,
+knocked, and asked whether Miss Simcoe was in. I was shown by a little
+maid into the parlor, a funny, little, old-fashioned room. Presently
+Miss Simcoe herself came in. She was just the sort of woman I had
+pictured--a kindly-looking, little old maid.
+
+"'I do not know whether I have done wrong, Miss Simcoe,' I said, 'but I
+am a stranger here, and having over-worked myself at a picture from
+which I hope great things, I have been recommended country air; and a
+friend told me that Stowmarket was a pretty, quiet, country town, just
+the place for an over-worked Londoner to gain health in, so I came down
+and made some inquiries for a single lady who would perhaps take me in
+and give me a comfortable home for two or three months. Your name has
+been mentioned to me as being just the lady I am seeking."
+
+"'You have been misinformed,' she said, a little primly. 'I do not say
+that a few months back I might not have been willing to have entertained
+such an offer, but my circumstances have changed since then, and now I
+should not think for a moment of doing so.'
+
+"Rising from my seat with a tired air, I said that I was much obliged to
+her, but I was very sorry she could not take me in, as I was sure that I
+should be very comfortable; however, as she could not, of course there
+was an end of it.
+
+"'Sit down, my dear,' the old lady said. 'I see that you are tired and
+worn out; my servant shall get you a cup of tea. You see,' she went on,
+as I murmured my thanks and sat down, 'I cannot very well do what you
+ask. As I said, a few months ago I should certainly have been very glad
+to have had a young lady like yourself to stay with me for a time; I
+think that when a lady gets to my age a little youthful companionship
+does her good. Besides, I do not mind saying that my means were somewhat
+straitened, and that a little additional money would have been a great
+help to me; but everything was changed by the arrival of a nephew of
+mine. Perhaps you may have heard his name; he is a rich man, and I
+believe goes out a great deal, and belongs to clubs and so on.'
+
+"I said that I had not heard of him, for I knew nothing about society,
+nor the sort of men who frequented clubs.
+
+"'No, of course not, my dear,' she said. 'Well, he had been away for
+twenty years, and everyone thought he was dead. He sailed away in some
+ship that was never heard of again, and you may guess my surprise when
+he walked in here and called me aunt.'
+
+"'You must have been indeed surprised, Miss Simcoe,' I said; 'it must
+have been quite a shock to you. And did you know him at once?'
+
+"'Oh, dear, no! He had been traveling about the world, you see, for a
+very long time, and naturally in twenty years he was very much changed;
+but of course I soon knew him when he began to talk.'
+
+"'You recognized his voice, I suppose?' I suggested.
+
+"'No, my dear, no. Of course his voice had changed, just as his
+appearance had done. He had been what he called knocking about, among
+all sorts of horrible savages, eating and drinking all kinds of queer
+things; it made my blood run cold to listen to him. But I never asked
+any questions about these things; I was afraid he might say that when he
+was among the cannibals he used to eat human flesh, and I don't think
+that I could like a man who had done that, even though he was my
+nephew.'
+
+"'Did he go out quite as a boy, Miss Simcoe?' I asked.
+
+"'Oh, no! He was twenty-four, I think, when he went abroad. He had a
+situation in the bank here. I know that the manager thought very highly
+of him, and, indeed, he was everywhere well spoken of. My brother
+Joshua--his father, you know--died, and he came in for two or three
+thousand pounds. He had always had a great fancy for travel, and so,
+instead of looking out for some nice girl and settling down, he threw up
+his situation and started on his travels.'
+
+"'Had his memory been affected by the hot suns and the hardships that he
+had gone through?' I asked.
+
+"'Oh, dear! not at all. He recognized everyone almost whom he had known.
+Of course he was a good deal more changed than they were.'
+
+"'They did not recognize him any more than you did?'
+
+"'Not at first,' she said. 'When a man is believed to have been dead for
+twenty years, his face does not occur to old friends when they meet an
+apparent stranger.'
+
+"'That is quite natural,' I agreed. 'What a pleasure it must have been
+to him to talk over old times and old friends!'
+
+"'Indeed it was, my dear. He enjoyed it so much that for three days he
+would not move out of the house. Dear me! what pleasant talks we had.'
+
+"'And you say, Miss Simcoe, that his coming has quite altered your
+position?'
+
+"'Yes, indeed. The very first thing he said after coming into the house
+was that he had come home resolved to make me and my sister Maria
+thoroughly comfortable. Poor Maria died some years ago, but of course he
+did not know it. Then he said that he should allow me fifty pounds a
+year for life.'
+
+"'That was very kind and nice indeed, Miss Simcoe,' I said.
+
+"By this time, seeing that my sympathy was with her, her heart opened
+altogether to me, and she said that she felt sure that her nephew would
+not like it were she to take in a lodger, and might indeed consider it a
+hint that he might have been more liberal than he was. But she invited
+me to stay three days with her while I was looking about for suitable
+lodgings. I found that her house was a regular rendezvous for the
+tabbies of the neighborhood. Every afternoon there were some four or
+five of them there. Some brought work, others came in undisguisedly to
+gossip. Many of these had known John Simcoe in his younger days, and by
+careless questioning I elicited the fact that no one would have
+recognized him had it not been for Miss Simcoe having told them of his
+arrival.
+
+"The manager of the bank I rather shrank from an encounter with, but I
+managed to obtain from Miss Simcoe a letter her nephew had written to
+her when he was away from home a short time before he left England, and
+also one written by him since his return. So far as I could see, there
+was not the slightest resemblance between them.
+
+"I thought that I might possibly get at someone less likely to be on his
+guard than the bank manager, and she happened to mention as an
+interesting fact that one of the clerks who had entered the bank a lad
+of seventeen, only a month or two before her nephew left, was now
+married to the daughter of one of her gossips. I said that her story had
+so deeply interested me that I should be glad to make his acquaintance.
+
+"He came with his wife the evening before I left. He was very chatty and
+pleasant, and while there was a general conversation going on among the
+others, I said to him that I was a great student of handwriting, and I
+flattered myself that I could tell a man's character from his
+handwriting; but I owned that I had been quite disconcerted by two
+letters which Miss Simcoe was kind enough to show me from her nephew,
+one written before he left the bank, the other dated three or four
+months ago.
+
+"'I cannot see the slightest resemblance between the two,' I said, 'and
+do not remember any instance which has come under my knowledge of the
+handwriting of any man or woman changing so completely in the course of
+twenty years. The one is a methodical, business sort of writing, showing
+marks of steady purpose, regularity of habits, and a kindly disposition.
+I won't give you my opinion of the other, but the impression that was
+left upon my mind was far from favorable.'
+
+"'Yes, there has been an extraordinary change,' he agreed. 'I can
+recollect the former one perfectly, for I saw him sign scores of letters
+and documents, and if he had had an account standing at the bank now I
+should without question honor a check so signed. No doubt the great
+difference is accounted for by the life that Mr. Simcoe has led. He told
+me himself that for years, at one time, he had never taken a pen in
+hand, and that he had almost forgotten how to write; and that his
+fingers had grown so clumsy pulling at ropes, rowing an oar, digging for
+gold, and opening oysters for pearls, that they had become all thumbs,
+and he wrote no better than a schoolboy.'
+
+"'But that is not the case, Mr. Askill,' I said; 'the writing is still
+clerkly in character, and does not at all answer to his own
+description.'
+
+"'I noticed that myself, and so did our chief. He showed me a letter
+that he had received from Simcoe, asking him to run up for a few days to
+stay with him in London. He showed it to me with the remark that in all
+his experience he had never seen so great and complete a change in the
+handwriting of any man as in that of Mr. Simcoe since he left the bank.
+He considered it striking proof how completely a man's handwriting
+depends upon his surroundings. He turned up an old ledger containing
+many entries in Simcoe's handwriting, and we both agreed that we could
+not see a single point of resemblance.'
+
+"'Thank you,' I said; 'I am glad to find that my failure to recognize
+the two handwritings as being those of the same man has been shared by
+two gentlemen who are, like myself in a humble way, experts at
+handwriting.'
+
+"The next morning I got your letter, written after I had sent you the
+address, and told Miss Simcoe that I was unexpectedly called back to
+town, but that it was quite probable that I should ere long be down
+again, when I would arrange with one or other of the people of whom she
+had kindly spoken to me. That is all I have been able to learn, Hilda."
+
+"But it seems to me that you have learned an immense deal, Netta. You
+have managed it most admirably."
+
+"At any rate, I have got as much as I expected, if not more; I have
+learned that no one recognized this man Simcoe on his first arrival in
+his native town, and it was only when this old lady had spread the news
+abroad, and had told the tale of his generosity to her, and so prepared
+the way for him, that he was more or less recognized; she having no
+shadow of doubt but that he was her long-lost nephew. In the three days
+that he stopped with her he had no doubt learned from the dear old
+gossip almost every fact connected with his boyhood, the men he was most
+intimate with, the positions they held, and I doubt not some of the
+escapades in which they might have taken part together; so that he was
+thoroughly well primed before he met them. Besides, no doubt they were
+more anxious to hear tales of adventure than to talk of the past, and
+his course must have been a very easy one.
+
+"Miss Simcoe said that he spent money like a prince, and gave a dinner
+to all his old friends, at which every dainty appeared, and the
+champagne flowed like water. We may take it as certain that none of his
+guests ever entertained the slightest doubt that their host was the man
+he pretended to be. There could seem to them no conceivable reason why a
+stranger should come down, settle an income upon Miss Simcoe, and spend
+his money liberally among all his former acquaintances, if he were any
+other man than John Simcoe.
+
+"Lastly, we have the handwriting. The man seems to have laid his plans
+marvelously well, and to have provided against every unforeseen
+contingency; yet undoubtedly he must have altogether overlooked the
+question of handwriting, although his declaration that he had almost
+forgotten how to use his pen was an ingenious one, and I might have
+accepted it myself if he had written in the rough, scrambling character
+you would expect under the circumstances. But his handwriting, although
+in some places he had evidently tried to write roughly, on the whole is
+certainly that of a man accustomed at one time of his life to clerkly
+work, and yet differing as widely as the poles from the handwriting of
+Simcoe, both in the bank ledger and in the letter to his aunt.
+
+"I think, Hilda, that although the matter cannot be decided, it
+certainly points to your theory that this man is not the John Simcoe who
+left Stowmarket twenty years ago. He attempted, and I think very
+cleverly, to establish his identity by a visit to Stowmarket, and no
+doubt did so to everyone's perfect satisfaction; but when we come to go
+into the thing step by step, we see that everything he did might have
+been done by anyone who happened to have a close resemblance to John
+Simcoe in figure and some slight resemblance in face, after listening
+for three days to Miss Simcoe's gossip."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+AN ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+"I cannot wait for Dr. Leeds to come round," Hilda said the next morning
+at breakfast. "You and I will pay him a visit in Harley Street. I am
+sure that he will not grudge a quarter of an hour to hear what you have
+done."
+
+"What mystery are you two girls engaged in?" Miss Purcell asked, as she
+placidly poured out the tea.
+
+"It is a little plot of our own, aunt," Netta said. "We are trying to
+get on Walter's track in our own way, and to be for a time amateur
+detectives. So far we have not found any decisive clew, but I think that
+we are searching in the right direction. Please trust us entirely, and
+we hope some day we shall have the triumph of bringing Walter back, safe
+and sound."
+
+"I pray God that it may be so, my dear. I know that you are both
+sensible girls, and not likely to get yourselves into any silly scrape."
+
+"I don't think we are, aunt; but I am afraid that neither of us would
+consider any scrape a foolish one that brought us even a little bit
+nearer to the object of our search. At any rate, aunt, it will reassure
+you to know that we are acting in concert with Dr. Leeds, of whom I know
+that you entertain the highest opinion."
+
+"Certainly I do. Of course I am no judge whatever as to whether he is a
+good doctor, but I should think, from what Dr. Pearson says, that he
+must, in the opinion of other medical men, be considered an
+exceptionally clever man for his age; and having seen him for four
+months and lived in close contact with him, I would rather be attended
+by him than by anyone else I have ever met. His kindness to the General
+was unceasing. Had he been his son, he could not have been more patient
+and more attentive. He showed wonderful skill in managing him, and was
+at once sympathetic and cheerful. But, more than that, I admired his
+tact in filling the somewhat difficult position in which he was placed.
+Although he was completely one of the family, and any stranger would
+have supposed that he was a brother, or at least a cousin, there was
+always something in his manner that, even while laughing and chatting
+with us all, placed a little barrier between us and himself; and one
+felt that, although most essentially a friend, he was still there as the
+General's medical attendant.
+
+"It was a difficult position for a man of his age to be placed in. Had
+he been like most of the doctors we knew in Germany, a man filled with
+the idea that he must always be a professor of medicine, and impressing
+people with his learning and gravity, it might have been easy enough.
+But there is nothing of that sort about him at all; he is just as
+high-spirited and is as bright and cheerful as other young men of about
+the same age, and it was only when he was with the General that his
+gentleness of manner recalled the fact that he was a doctor. As I say,
+it was a difficult position, with only an old woman like myself and two
+girls, who looked to him for comfort and hope, who treated him as if he
+had been an old friend, and were constantly appealing to him for his
+opinion on all sorts of subjects.
+
+"I confess that, when he first came here with Dr. Pearson, I thought
+that it was a very rash experiment to introduce a young and evidently
+pleasant man to us under such circumstances, especially as you, Hilda,
+are a rich heiress and your own mistress; and feeling as I did that I
+was in the position of your chaperon, I must say that at first I felt
+very anxious about you, and it was a great relief to me when after a
+time I saw no signs, either on his part or yours, of any feeling
+stronger than friendship springing up."
+
+Hilda laughed merrily.
+
+"The idea never entered into my mind, aunt; it is funny to me that so
+many people should think that a young man and a young woman cannot be
+thrown together without falling in love with each other. At present,
+fortunately, I don't quite understand what falling in love means. I like
+Dr. Leeds better, I think, than any young man I ever met, but I don't
+think that it can be in the least like what people feel when they fall
+in love. Certainly it was always as uncle's doctor, rather than as a
+possible suitor for my hand--that is the proper expression, isn't
+it?--that I thought of him."
+
+"So I was glad to perceive, Hilda; and I was very thankful that it was
+so. Against him personally I had nothing to say, quite the contrary; but
+I saw that he was greatly attached to a profession in which he seems
+likely to make himself a fine position, and nothing could be more
+uncomfortable than that such a man should marry a girl with a fine
+country estate. Either he would have to give up his profession or she
+would have to settle down in London as the wife of a physician, and
+practically forfeit all her advantages."
+
+Hilda again laughed.
+
+"It is wonderful that all these things should never have occurred to me,
+aunt. I see now how fortunate it was that I did not fall in love with
+him. And now, Netta, as we have finished breakfast, we will put on our
+things at once and go and consult our physician in ordinary. We have a
+fair chance of being the first to arrive if we start immediately. I told
+Roberts to have the carriage at the door at half-past nine, and he does
+not begin to see patients until ten."
+
+"Bravo! Miss Purcell," Dr. Leeds exclaimed, when she had given him an
+account of her mission. "Of course there is nothing absolutely proved,
+but at least it shows that his identity is open to doubt, since none of
+the people he had known recognized him at first sight, and of course all
+his knowledge of them may have been picked up from the gossiping old
+lady, his aunt. Something has been gained, but the evidence is rather
+negative than positive. It is possible that he is not the man that he
+pretends to be; though at present, putting aside the question of
+handwriting, we must admit that the balance of probability is very much
+the other way. To begin with, how could this man, supposing him to be an
+impostor, know that John Simcoe was born in Stowmarket, and had
+relatives living there?"
+
+"I forgot to mention that, Dr. Leeds. An advertisement was inserted in
+the county paper, saying that if any relatives of John Simcoe, who left
+England about 1830, would communicate with someone or other in town they
+would hear something to their advantage. I was told this by one of Miss
+Simcoe's friends, who saw it in the paper and brought it in to her. She
+was very proud of having made the discovery, and regarded herself quite
+in the light of a benefactor to Miss Simcoe. I remarked, when she told
+me, that it was curious he should have advertised instead of coming down
+himself to inquire. Miss Simcoe said that she had expressed surprise to
+him, and that he had said he did so because he should have shrunk from
+coming down, had he not learned there was someone to welcome him."
+
+"Curious," Dr. Leeds said thoughtfully. "We may quite put it out of our
+minds that the reason he gave was the real one. A man of this kind would
+not have suffered any very severe shock had he found that Stowmarket and
+all it contained had been swallowed up by an earthquake. No, certainly
+that could not have been the reason; we must think of some other. And
+now, ladies, as this is the third card I have had brought in since you
+arrived, I must leave the matter as it stands. I think that we are
+getting on much better than we could have expected."
+
+"That advertisement is very curious, Netta," Hilda said as they drove
+back. "Why should he have put it in? It would have been so much more
+natural that he should have gone straight down."
+
+"I cannot think, Hilda. It did not strike me particularly when I heard
+of it, and I did not give it a thought afterwards. You see, I did not
+mention it, either to you or Dr. Leeds, until it flashed across my mind
+when we were talking. Of course I did not see the advertisement itself,
+but Miss Simcoe told me that there had been a good deal of discussion
+before she answered it, as some of them had thought that it might be a
+trick."
+
+"When was it he went down?"
+
+"It was in August last year; and it was in the first week in September
+that he came here."
+
+"He went down to get or manufacture proof of his identity," Hilda said.
+"As it turned out, uncle accepted his statement at once, and never had
+the smallest doubt as to his being John Simcoe. The precaution,
+therefore, was unnecessary; but at the same time it certainly helps him
+now that a doubt has arisen. It would have been very strange if a man
+possessing sufficient means to travel in India should have had no
+friends or connections in England. I was present when he told my uncle
+that he had been down to see his aunt at Stowmarket, and in the spring
+he brought a gentleman who, he said, was manager of the Stowmarket Bank,
+in which he had himself been at one time a clerk. So you see he did
+strengthen his position by going down there."
+
+"It strengthens it in one way, Hilda, but in the other it weakens it. As
+long as no close inquiries were made, it was doubtless an advantage to
+him to have an aunt of the same name in Stowmarket, and to be able to
+prove by means of a gentleman in the position of manager of the bank
+that he, John Simcoe, had worked under him three or four and twenty
+years ago. On the other hand, it was useful to us as a starting-point.
+If we had been utterly in the dark as to Simcoe's birthplace or past
+career, we should have had to start entirely in the dark. Now, at any
+rate, we have located the birthplace of the real man, and learned
+something of his position, his family, and how he became possessed of
+money that enabled him to start on a tour round the world. I adhere as
+firmly as before to the belief that this is not the real man, and the
+next step is to discover how he learned that John Simcoe had lived at
+Stowmarket. At any rate it would be as well that we should find the
+advertisement. It might tell us nothing, but at the least we should
+learn the place to which answers were to be sent. How should we set
+about that?"
+
+"I can get a reader's ticket for the British Museum, because the chief
+librarian was a friend of uncle's and dined with him several times,"
+Hilda replied. "If I write to him and say that I want to examine some
+files of newspapers, to determine a question of importance, I am sure
+that he will send me a ticket at once. I may as well ask for one for you
+also. We may want to go there again to decide some other point."
+
+Hilda at once wrote a note and sent Tom Roberts with it to the Museum,
+and he returned two hours later with the tickets.
+
+"There are three Suffolk papers," the chief assistant in the Newspaper
+Department said courteously, on their sending up the usual slip of
+paper. "Which do you want?"
+
+"I do not know. I should like to see them all three, please; the numbers
+for the first two weeks in August last."
+
+In a few minutes three great volumes were placed on the table. These
+contained a year's issue, and on turning to the first week in August
+they found that the advertisement had appeared in all of the papers.
+They carefully copied it out, and were about to leave the library when
+Netta said:
+
+"Let us talk this over for a minute or two before we go. It seems to me
+that there is a curious omission in the advertisement."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Don't you see that he does not mention Stowmarket? He simply inquires
+for relations of John Simcoe, who was supposed to have been lost at sea.
+It would certainly seem to be more natural that he should put it only in
+the paper that was likely to be read in Stowmarket, and surely he would
+have said 'relatives of John Simcoe, who left Stowmarket in the year
+1830.' It looks very much as if, while he knew that Simcoe was a
+Suffolk man, he had no idea in what part of the county he had lived."
+
+"It is very curious, certainly, Netta; and, as you say, it does seem
+that if he had known that it had been Stowmarket he would have said so
+in the advertisement. Possibly!" Hilda exclaimed so sharply that a
+gentleman at an adjoining table murmured "Hush!" "he did did not know
+that it was in Suffolk. Let us look in the London papers. Let us ask for
+the files of the _Times_ and _Standard_."
+
+The papers were brought and the advertisement was found in both of them.
+
+"There, you see," Netta said triumphantly, "he still says nothing about
+Suffolk."
+
+She beckoned to the attendant.
+
+"I am sorry to give you so much trouble, but will you please get us the
+files of three or four country papers of the same date. I should like
+them in different parts of the country--Yorkshire, for instance, and
+Hereford, and Devonshire."
+
+"It is no trouble, miss," he replied; "that is what we are here for."
+
+In a few minutes the three papers were brought, and Netta's triumph was
+great when she found the advertisement in each of them.
+
+"That settles it conclusively," she said. "The man did not know what
+part of the country John Simcoe came from, and he advertised in the
+London papers, and in the provincial papers all over the country."
+
+"That was a splendid idea of yours, Netta. I think that it settles the
+question as to the fact that the theory you all laughed at was correct,
+and that this man is not the real John Simcoe."
+
+When they got back, Hilda wrote a line to Dr. Leeds:
+
+     "DEAR DOCTOR: I do think that we have discovered beyond doubt that
+     the man is an impostor, and that whoever he may be, he is not John
+     Simcoe. When you can spare time, please come round. It is too long
+     to explain."
+
+At nine o'clock that evening Dr. Leeds arrived, and heard of the steps
+that they had taken.
+
+"Really, young ladies," he said, "I must retire at once from my post of
+director of searches. It was an excellent thought to ascertain the exact
+wording of the advertisement, and the fact that the word Stowmarket did
+not appear in it, and that it was inserted in other county papers, was
+very significant as to the advertiser's ignorance of John Simcoe's
+birthplace. But the quickness with which you saw how this could be
+proved up to the hilt shows that you are born detectives, and I shall be
+happy to sit at your feet in future."
+
+"Then you think that it is quite conclusive?"
+
+"Perfectly so. The real John Simcoe would, of course, have put the
+advertisement into the county paper published nearest to Stowmarket, and
+he would naturally have used the word Stowmarket. That omission might,
+however, have been accidental; but the appearance of the advertisement
+in the London papers, and as you have seen, in provincial papers all
+over England, appears to me ample evidence that he did not know from
+what county Simcoe came, and was ready to spend a pretty heavy amount to
+discover it. Now, I think that you should at once communicate with Mr.
+Pettigrew, and inform him of your suspicion and the discovery that you
+have made. It is for him to decide whether any steps should be taken in
+the matter, and, if so, what steps. As one of the trustees he is
+responsible for the proper division of the estates of General Mathieson,
+and the matter is of considerable importance to him.
+
+"I think now, too, that our other suspicions should also be laid before
+him. Of course, these are greatly strengthened by his discovery. John
+Simcoe, who saved your uncle's life at the risk of his own, was scarcely
+the sort of man who would be guilty of murder and abduction; but an
+unknown adventurer, who had passed himself off as being Simcoe, with
+the object of obtaining a large legacy from the General, may fairly be
+assumed capable of taking any steps that would enable him to obtain it.
+If you'd like to write to Mr. Pettigrew and make an appointment to meet
+him at his office at three o'clock to-morrow afternoon, I will be here
+half an hour before and accompany you."
+
+The lawyer was somewhat surprised when Dr. Leeds entered the office with
+the two ladies, but that astonishment became stupefaction when they told
+their story.
+
+"In the whole of my professional career I have never heard a more
+astonishing story. I own that the abduction of the child at that
+critical moment did arouse suspicions in my mind that this Mr. Simcoe,
+the only person that could be benefited by his disappearance, might be
+at the bottom of it, and I was quite prepared to resist until the last
+any demand that might be made on his part for Walter to be declared to
+be dead, and the property handed over to him. But that the man could
+have had any connection whatever with the illness of the General, or
+that he was an impostor, never entered my mind. With regard to the
+first, it is still a matter of suspicion only, and we have not a shadow
+of proof to go upon. You say yourself, Dr. Leeds, that Dr. Pearson, the
+General's own medical attendant, and the other eminent physicians called
+in, refused absolutely to accept your suggestion, because, exceptional
+as the seizure and its effects were, there was nothing that absolutely
+pointed to poison. Unless we can obtain some distinct evidence on that
+point, the matter must not be touched upon; for even you would hardly be
+prepared to swear in court that the General was a victim to poison?"
+
+"No. I could not take my oath to it, but I certainly could declare that
+the symptoms, to my mind, could be attributed to poison only."
+
+"In the case of the abduction of the boy," the lawyer went on, "the only
+absolute ground for our suspicion is that this man and no one else would
+have benefited by it; and this theory certainly appears to be, after
+the discoveries you have made, a very tenable one. It all comes so
+suddenly on me that I cannot think of giving any opinion as to the best
+course to be adopted. I shall, in the first place, consult Mr. Farmer,
+and in the next place shall feel it my duty to take my co-trustee,
+Colonel Bulstrode, into my confidence, because any action that we may
+take must, of course, be in our joint names. He called here the other
+day and stated to me that he regarded the whole matter of Walter's
+abduction to be suspicious in the extreme. He said he was convinced that
+John Simcoe was at the bottom of it, his interest in getting the boy out
+of the way being unquestionable, and that we must move heaven and earth
+to find the child. He agreed that we can do nothing about carrying out
+the will until we have found him. I told him of the steps that we have
+been taking and their want of success. 'By gad, sir,' he said, 'he must
+be found, if we examine every child in the country.' I ventured to
+suggest that this would be a very difficult undertaking, to which he
+only made some remark about the cold-bloodedness of lawyers, and said
+that if there were no other way he would dress himself up as a
+costermonger and go into every slum of London. Whether you would find
+him a judicious assistant in your searches I should scarcely be inclined
+to say, but you would certainly find him ready to give every assistance
+in his power."
+
+The next day, at three o'clock, Colonel Bulstrode was announced. He was
+a short man, of full habit of body. At the present moment his face was
+even redder than usual.
+
+"My dear Miss Covington," he burst out, as he came into the room, "I
+have just heard of all this rascality, and what you and your friend Miss
+Purcell have discovered. By gad, young ladies, I feel ashamed of myself.
+Here am I, Harry Bulstrode, a man of the world, and, as such, considered
+that this affair of the man Simcoe being made heir in case of the
+child's death and the simultaneous disappearance of the boy to have been
+suspicious in the extreme, and yet I have seen no way of doing
+anything, and have been so upset that my temper has, as that rascal
+Andrew, my old servant, had the impudence to tell this morning, become
+absolutely unbearable. And now I find that you two girls and a doctor
+fellow have been quietly working the whole thing out, and that not
+improbably my dear old friend was poisoned, and that the man who did it
+is not the man he pretended to be, but an infernal impostor, who had of
+course carried the child away, and may, for anything we know, have
+murdered him. It has made me feel that I ought to go to school again,
+for I must be getting into my second childhood. Still, young ladies, if,
+as is evident, I have no sense to plan, I can at least do all in my
+power to assist you in your search, and you have only to say to me,
+'Colonel Bulstrode, we want an inquiry made in India,' and I am off by
+the first P. and O."
+
+"Thank you very much, Colonel," Hilda said, trying to repress a smile.
+"I was quite sure that from your friendship for my dear uncle you would
+be ready to give us your assistance, but so far there has been no way in
+which you could have aided us in the inquiries that we have made.
+Indeed, as Dr. Leeds has impressed upon us, the fewer there are engaged
+in the matter the better; for if this man knew that we were making all
+sorts of inquiries about him, he might think it necessary for his safety
+either to put Walter out of the way altogether, or to send him to some
+place so distant that there would be practically no hope whatever of our
+ever discovering him. At present I think that we have fairly satisfied
+ourselves that this man is an impostor, and that the real John Simcoe
+was drowned, as supposed, in the ship in which he sailed from India. Who
+this man is, and how he became acquainted with the fact that John Simcoe
+saved my uncle's life in India, are mysteries that so far we have no
+clew to; but these matters are at present of minor importance to us.
+Before anything else we want to find where Walter is hidden, and to do
+this we are going to have this man watched. He cannot have carried off
+Walter by himself, and, no doubt, he meets occasionally the people who
+helped him, and who are now hiding Walter. It is scarcely probable that
+they come to his lodgings. He is not likely to put himself into anyone's
+power, and no doubt goes by night in some disguise to meet them. As, of
+course, he knows you perfectly well, it would be worse than useless for
+you to try to follow him. That is going to be done by Tom Roberts."
+
+"Well, my man Andrew might help him," the Colonel said. "Simcoe has
+often dined with me at the club, but he never came to my chambers. One
+man cannot be always on the watch, and Andrew can take turns with
+Roberts. He is an impudent rascal, but he has got a fair share of sense;
+so, when you are ready, if you will drop me a line, he shall come here
+and take his instructions from you."
+
+"Thank you very much, Colonel. That certainly would be of assistance. It
+is only of an evening that he would be wanted, for we are quite agreed
+that these meetings are sure to take place after dark."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+VERY BAD NEWS.
+
+
+A month passed. Tom Roberts and Andrew watched together in Jermyn
+Street, the former with a cap pulled well down over his face and very
+tattered clothes, the latter dressed as a groom, but making no attempt
+to disguise his face. During that time everyone who called at the house
+in Jermyn Street was followed, and their names and addresses
+ascertained, one always remaining in Jermyn Street while the other was
+away. The man they were watching had gone out every evening, but it was
+either to one or the other of the clubs to which he belonged, or to the
+theater or opera.
+
+"You will trace him to the right place presently, Roberts," Hilda said
+cheerfully, when she saw that he was beginning to be disheartened at the
+non-success of his search. "You may be sure that he will not go to see
+these men oftener than he can help. Does he generally wear evening
+clothes?"
+
+"Always, miss."
+
+"I don't think there is any occasion to follow him in future when he
+goes out in that dress; I think it certain that when he goes to meet
+these men he will be in disguise. When you see him come out dressed
+altogether differently to usual, follow him closely. Even if we only
+find where he goes it will be a very important step."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the seventh week after the disappearance of Walter, Mr. Pettigrew
+came in one morning at eleven o'clock. His air was very grave.
+
+"Have you heard news, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda asked.
+
+"I have very bad news. Mr. Comfrey, a lawyer of not the highest
+standing, who is, I have learnt, acting for this fellow, called upon
+me. He said, 'I am sorry to say that I have some painful news to give
+you, Mr. Pettigrew. Yesterday the body of a child, a boy some six or
+seven years old, was found in the canal at Paddington. It was taken to
+the lockhouse. The features were entirely unrecognizable, and the police
+surgeon who examined it said that it had been in the water over a month.
+Most of its clothing was gone, partly torn off by barges passing over
+the body; but there still remained a portion of its underclothing, and
+this bore the letters W. R. The police recognized them as those of the
+child who has been so largely advertised for, and, as my client, Mr.
+Simcoe, had offered a thousand pounds reward, and as all information was
+to be sent to me, a policeman came down, just as I was closing the
+office, to inform me of the fact.
+
+"'I at once communicated with my client, who was greatly distressed. He
+went to Paddington the first thing this morning, and he tells me that he
+has no doubt whatever that the remains are those of Walter Rivington,
+although he could not swear to his identity, as the features are
+altogether unrecognizable. As I understand, sir, that you and Miss
+Covington were the guardians of this unfortunate child, I have driven
+here at once in order that you may go up and satisfy yourselves on the
+subject. I understand that an inquest will be held to-morrow.'"
+
+Hilda had not spoken while Mr. Pettigrew was telling his story, but sat
+speechless with horror.
+
+"It cannot be; surely it cannot be!" she murmured. "Oh, Mr. Pettigrew!
+say that you cannot believe it."
+
+"I can hardly say that, my dear; the whole affair is such a terrible one
+that I can place no bounds whatever to the villainy of which this man
+may be capable. This may be the missing child, but, on the other hand,
+it may be only a part of the whole plot."
+
+"But who else can it be if it has Walter's clothes on?"
+
+"As to that I can say nothing; but you must remember that this man is an
+extraordinarily adroit plotter, and would hesitate at nothing to secure
+this inheritance. There would be no very great difficulty in obtaining
+from some rascally undertaker the body of a child of the right age,
+dressing him up in some of our ward's clothes, and dropping the body
+into the canal, which may have been done seven weeks ago, or may have
+been done but a month. Of course I do not mean to say that this was so.
+I only mean to say that it is possible. No. I expressed my opinion, when
+we talked it over before, that no sensible man would put his neck in a
+noose if he could carry out his object without doing so; and murder
+could hardly be perpetrated without running a very great risk, for the
+people with whom the child was placed would, upon missing it suddenly,
+be very likely to suspect that it had been made away with, and would
+either denounce the crime or extort money by holding a threat over his
+head for years."
+
+"Yes, that may be so!" Hilda exclaimed, rising to her feet. "Let us go
+and see at once. I will take Netta with me; she knows him as well as I
+do."
+
+She ran upstairs and in a few words told Netta the news, and in five
+minutes they came down, ready to start.
+
+"I have told Walter's nurse to come with us," Hilda said. "If anyone can
+recognize the child she ought to be able to do so. Fortunately, she is
+still in the house."
+
+"Now, young ladies," the lawyer said before they started, "let me
+caution you, unless you feel a moderate certainty that this child is
+Walter Rivington, make no admission whatever that you see any
+resemblance. If the matter comes to a trial, your evidence and mine
+cannot but weigh with the court as against that of this man who is
+interested in proving its identity with Walter. Of course, if there is
+any sign or mark on the body that you recognize, you will acknowledge it
+as the body of our ward. We shall then have to fight the case on other
+grounds. But unless you detect some unmistakable mark, and it is
+extremely unlikely that you will do so in the state the body must be in,
+confine yourself to simply stating that you fail to recognize it in any
+way."
+
+"There never was any mark on the poor child's body," Hilda said. "I have
+regretted it so much, because, in the absence of any descriptive marks,
+the chance of his ever being found was, of course, much lessened."
+
+The lawyer had come in a four-wheeled cab, and in this the party all
+took their places. Not a word was spoken on the way, except that Hilda
+repeated what Mr. Pettigrew had said to the nurse. It was with very
+white faces that they entered the lockhouse. The little body was lying
+on a board supported by two trestles. It was covered by a piece of
+sailcloth, and the tattered garments that it had had on were placed on a
+chair beside it. Prepared as she was for something dreadful, the room
+swam round, and had Hilda not been leaning on Mr. Pettigrew's arm she
+would have fallen. There was scarce a semblance of humanity in the
+little figure. The features of the face had been entirely obliterated,
+possibly by the passage of barges, possibly by the work of simple decay.
+
+"Courage, my dear!" Mr. Pettigrew said. "It is a painful duty, but it
+must be performed."
+
+The three women stood silent beside the little corpse. Netta was the
+first to speak.
+
+"I cannot identify the body as that of Walter Rivington," she said. "I
+don't think that it would be possible for anyone to do so."
+
+"Is the hair of the same color?" the policeman who was in charge of the
+room asked.
+
+"The hair is rather darker than his," Netta said; "but being so long in
+the water, and in such dirty water, it might have darkened."
+
+"That was never Master Walter's hair!" the nurse exclaimed. "The darling
+had long, soft hair, and unless those who murdered him cut it short, it
+would not be like this. Besides, this hair is stiffer. It is more like
+the hair of a workhouse child than Master Walter's."
+
+"That is so," Hilda said. "I declare that I not only do not recognize
+the body as that of my ward, but that I am convinced it is not his."
+
+"Judging only by the hair," Mr. Pettigrew said, "I am entirely of your
+opinion, Miss Covington. I have stroked the child's head many times, and
+his hair was like silk. I have nothing else to go by, and am convinced
+that the body is not Walter Rivington's."
+
+They then looked at the fragments of clothes. In two places they were
+marked "W. R."
+
+"That is my marking, miss," the nurse said, after closely examining the
+initials. "I could not swear to the bits of clothes, but I can to the
+letters. You see, miss, I always work a line above the letters and
+another below them. I was taught to do it so when I was a girl in our
+village school, and I have always done it since. But I never saw anyone
+else mark them so. You see the letters are worked in red silk, and the
+two lines in white. The old woman who taught us said that it made a
+proper finish to the work. Yes, Miss Covington, I can swear to these
+things being Master Walter's."
+
+"You could not swear to their being those in which he went out the
+morning he was lost, nurse?"
+
+"I can, sir, because there is nothing missing except what he had on. I
+have all his things properly counted, and everything is there."
+
+At this moment there was a little stir outside, and Hilda glanced down
+and whispered to Netta:
+
+"Let down your fall; I do not want this man to recognize you."
+
+Just as she did so John Simcoe entered. He bowed to Hilda.
+
+"I am sorry, indeed, to meet you under such painful circumstances."
+
+"I beg you not to address me, sir," she said haughtily. "I wish to have
+no communication with or from you. Your coming here reminds me of the
+thirty-seventh verse of the nineteenth chapter of St. John. You can look
+it out, sir, if you happen to have a Bible at home. Fortunately it is
+not wholly applicable, for we are all absolutely convinced that this
+poor little body is not that of General Mathieson's grandson."
+
+So saying she stepped out of the little house, followed by the others;
+leaving John Simcoe white with passion.
+
+"You should not have shown your hand so plainly, Miss Covington."
+
+"I could not help it," the girl said. "He has called a dozen times at
+the house and has always received the message, 'Not at home,' and he
+must know that I suspect him of being Walter's abductor."
+
+"What is the verse you referred him to, Hilda?" Netta said. "I confess
+that I do not know any verse in St. John that seems to be at all
+applicable to him."
+
+"The quotation is, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.'"
+
+Netta could not help smiling. Mr. Pettigrew shook his head.
+
+"You are really too outspoken, Miss Covington, and you will get yourself
+into trouble. As it is, you have clearly laid yourself open to an action
+for libel for having practically called the man a murderer. We may think
+what we like, but we are in no position to prove it."
+
+"I am not afraid of that," she said. "I wish that he would do it; then
+we should have all the facts brought out in court, and, even if we could
+not, as you say, prove everything, we could at least let the world know
+what we think. No, there is no chance of his doing that, Mr. Pettigrew."
+
+"It is fortunate for us, Miss Covington, that our clients are for the
+most part men. Your sex are so impetuous and so headstrong that we
+should have a hard time of it indeed if we had to take our instructions
+from them."
+
+"Mr. Pettigrew, you will please remember that there are three of my sex
+in this cab, and if you malign us in this way we will at once get out
+and walk."
+
+The old lawyer smiled indulgently.
+
+"It is quite true, my dear. Women are always passionately certain that
+they are right, and neither counsel nor entreaty can get them to
+believe that there can be any other side to a case than that which they
+take. Talk about men ruining themselves by litigation; the number that
+do so is as nothing to that of the women who would do so, were they to
+get as often involved in lawsuits! When Dickens drew the man who haunted
+the courts he would have been much nearer the mark had he drawn the
+woman who did so. You can persuade a man that when he has been beaten in
+every court his case is a lost one; but a woman simply regards a hostile
+decision as the effect either of great partiality or of incompetence on
+the part of the judge, and even after being beaten in the House of Lords
+will attend the courts and pester the judges with applications for the
+hearing of some new points. It becomes a perfect mania with some of
+them."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Pettigrew. I would certainly carry my case up to the
+highest court, and if I were beaten I would not admit that I was in the
+wrong; still, I do not think that I should pester the poor old judges
+after that. I suppose we shall all have to come up again to-morrow to
+the inquest?"
+
+"Certainly. Nurse has recognized the clothes, and I suppose you all
+recognize the marks, Miss Covington?"
+
+"Yes; I have no doubt whatever that the clothes are Walter's."
+
+"Of course we shall be represented by counsel," Mr. Pettigrew went on.
+"We must not let the jury find that this is Walter's body if we can
+possibly prevent it."
+
+"You think that they will do so?"
+
+"I am afraid of it. They will know nothing of the real circumstances of
+the case; they will only know that the child has been missing for nearly
+two months, and that, in spite of large rewards, no news has been
+obtained of him. They will see that this child is about the same age,
+that the clothes in which it was found are those worn by the missing
+boy. They will themselves have viewed the body and have seen that
+identification is almost impossible. This man will give his evidence to
+the effect that he believes it to be Walter Rivington's body. We shall
+give it as our opinion that it is not; that opinion being founded upon
+the fact that the few patches of hair left on the head are shorter and
+coarser than this was. To us this may appear decisive, but the counsel
+who will, no doubt, appear for Simcoe, will very legitimately say this
+fact has no weight, and will point out that no real judgment can be
+formed upon this. The child was missing--probably stolen for the sake of
+its clothes. Seeing the description in the handbills and placards, the
+first step would be to cut off its hair, which disposes of the question
+of length, and, as he will point out, hair which, when very long, seems
+soft and silky, will stand up and appear almost bristly when cropped
+close to the head. I am afraid that, in the face of all that we can say,
+the coroner's jury will find that the body is Walter's. As to the cause
+of death they will probably give an open verdict, for even if the
+surgeon has found any signs of violence upon the body, these may have
+been inflicted by passing barges long after death."
+
+"Will you have it brought forward that Simcoe has an interest in proving
+the body to be Walter's?"
+
+"I think not. There would be no use in beginning the fight in the
+coroner's court. It will all have to be gone into when he applies to the
+higher courts for an order on the trustees of the will to proceed to
+carry out its provisions. Then our case will be fully gone into. We
+shall plead that in the first place the will was made under undue
+influence. We shall point to the singularity of the General's mysterious
+attack, an attack which one of the doctors who attended him at once put
+down to poison, and that at the moment of the attack Simcoe was sitting
+next to him at dinner. We shall point to the extraordinary coincidence
+that the child who stood between Simcoe and the inheritance disappeared
+on the evening when the General was _in extremis_, and, lastly, we shall
+fire our last shot by declaring that the man is not the John Simcoe
+named in the will, but is an impostor who assumed his name and traded
+upon his brave action on the General's behalf.
+
+"But I do not want the fight to begin until we are in a better position
+than at present to prove what we say. As yet, however satisfactory to
+us, we have not got beyond the point of conjecture and probabilities,
+and I trust that, before we have to fight the case, we shall obtain some
+absolute facts in support of our theory. The man would be able at
+present to put into court a number of highly respectable witnesses from
+Stowmarket, and of officers he has met here, who would all testify to
+his being John Simcoe, and as against their evidence our conjectures
+would literally go for nothing. No doubt you will all receive notices to
+attend this evening. The policeman took your names and addresses, and
+will have told the officer in charge of the case the nature of the
+evidence you will probably give. And please remember that, in giving
+evidence, you must carefully abstain from saying anything that would
+lead the jury to perceive that you have any personal feeling against
+Simcoe, for they would be likely to put down your declaration of
+inability to recognize the body as a result of a bias against him. Do
+not let it be seen that there is any personal feeling in the matter at
+all."
+
+The summonses arrived that evening and the next morning they drove to
+the coroner's court, Miss Purcell accompanying them. They found Mr.
+Pettigrew awaiting them at the door.
+
+"There is another case on before ours," he said, "and I should advise
+you to take a drive for half an hour, and, when you come back, to sit in
+the carriage until I come for you. The waiting room is a stuffy little
+place, and is at present full of witnesses in the case now on, and as
+that case is one of a man killed in a drunken row, they are not of a
+class whom it is pleasant to mix with."
+
+When they returned, he again came out. "I have just spoken to the
+coroner and told him who you are, and he has kindly given permission for
+you to go up to his own room. The case he has now before him may last
+another half hour."
+
+It was just about that time when Mr. Pettigrew came up and said that
+their case was about to commence, and that they must go down and take
+their places in court. This was now almost empty; a few minutes before
+it had been crowded by those interested in the proceedings, which had
+terminated in the finding of manslaughter against four of those
+concerned in the fray. The discovery of a child's body in the canal was
+far too common an event to afford any attraction, and with the exception
+of the witnesses, two counsel seated in the front line facing the
+coroner, and two or three officials, there was no one in court. As soon
+as the little stir caused by the return of the jury from viewing the
+body had ceased, the coroner addressed them.
+
+"We shall now, gentlemen of the jury, proceed to the case of the body of
+the child said to be that of Walter Rivington, which was found under
+very strange and suspicious circumstances near this end of the canal.
+You will hear that the child was missing from his home in Hyde Park
+Gardens on the 23d of October, and for his discovery, as some of you are
+doubtless aware, large sums have been offered. The day before yesterday
+the drags were used for the purpose of discovering whether another
+child, who was lost, and who had been seen going near the bank, had been
+drowned. In the course of that search this body was brought up. You have
+already viewed it, gentlemen. Dr. MacIlvaine will tell you that it has
+certainly been a month in the water, perhaps two or three weeks longer.
+Unfortunately the state of the body is such that it is impossible now to
+ascertain the cause of death, or whether it was alive when it fell in,
+or was placed in, the water. Fortunately some of its clothes still
+remain on the body, and one of the witnesses, the nurse of the missing
+boy, will tell you that the marks upon them were worked by herself, and
+that she can swear to them. Whether any other matters will come before
+you in reference to the case, which, from the fact that the child was
+grandson of the late General Mathieson and heir to his property, has
+attracted much attention, I cannot say. The first witness you will hear
+is the lock-keeper, who was present at the finding of the body."
+
+Before the witness was called, however, one of the counsel rose and
+said:
+
+"I am instructed, sir, to appear to watch the proceedings on behalf of
+Mr. John Simcoe, who, by the death of Walter Rivington, inherits under
+the will of the late General Mathieson."
+
+The coroner bowed. The other counsel then rose.
+
+"And I, sir, have been instructed by Mr. Pettigrew and Colonel
+Bulstrode, the trustees under the will, the former gentleman being also
+joint guardian with Miss Hilda Covington of the missing child, to watch
+the case on their behalf."
+
+There was again an exchange of bows, and the lock-keeper then entered
+the box. His evidence was given in few words. He simply deposed to
+assisting in dragging the canal, and to the finding of the body.
+
+"Have you any questions to ask the witness?" the coroner said, turning
+to the barristers.
+
+The counsel employed by Mr. Pettigrew rose.
+
+"Yes, sir; I have a few questions to ask. Now, Mr. Cousins, you say that
+you took part in dragging the canal. You are in charge of the drags, are
+you not?"
+
+"Yes, sir; they are always kept in readiness at the lockhouse."
+
+"How came you to use the drags? I suppose you don't take them down and
+spend a day or two in dragging the canal unless you have reason for
+supposing that a body is there."
+
+"No, sir. The afternoon before a woman came up crying and said that her
+child had fallen into the water. He had gone out in the morning to play,
+and when dinner-time came and he didn't return she searched everywhere
+for him, and two children had just told her that they were playing with
+him on the bank of the canal, and that he had fallen in. They tried to
+get him out, but he sank, and they were so frightened that they ran home
+without saying anything. But they thought now that they had better tell.
+I said that she had better go to the police station and repeat her
+statement, and they would send a constable to help me. She did that, and
+came back with the policeman. It was getting late then, but we took a
+boat and dragged the canal for two or three hours. The next morning she
+came again, and said that the boys had shown her just where her child
+fell in, and we dragged there and found this body. We brought it ashore,
+and after we had carried it to the lockhouse we set to work again, but
+could not find any other body."
+
+"What became of the woman?"
+
+"She was with us till we fetched up this body. When she saw it she ran
+away crying, and did not come back again."
+
+"You have not seen her since, Mr. Cousins?"
+
+"No, sir; I have not seen her since. I believe the constable made
+inquiries about her."
+
+"Thank you, I have nothing more to ask."
+
+The policeman then entered the box and gave his evidence shortly, as to
+assisting in the operation of dragging and to finding the body.
+
+"About this woman who gave the alarm," the barrister asked. "Have you
+seen her, constable?"
+
+"No, sir; not since the body was found. Thinking it strange that she did
+not come back, I reported it at the station. She had given the name of
+Mary Smith and an address in Old Park. I was told to go round there, but
+no such person was known, and no one had heard of a child being lost. On
+my reporting this, inquiries were made all round the neighborhood; but
+no one had heard of such a woman, nor of a missing child."
+
+"This is a very strange circumstance, sir, and it looks as if the whole
+story of the drowning child was a fabrication. The fact that the body of
+the child whose death we are considering was found close to the spot
+would certainly seem to point to the fact that some person or persons
+who were cognizant of the fact that this body was there were for some
+reasons anxious that it should be found, and so employed this woman to
+get the drags used at that point in order that the body might be brought
+to light."
+
+"It is certainly a very strange business," the coroner said, "and I hope
+that the police will spare no efforts to discover this woman. However,
+as she is not before us, we must proceed with the case."
+
+Then the officer of the court called out the name of Mary Summerford,
+and the nurse went into the witness box.
+
+"I understand, Mary Sommerford, that you were nurse to Walter
+Rivington?"
+
+"I was, sir."
+
+"Will you tell the jury when you last saw him, and how it was that he
+was lost?"
+
+She told the story as she had told it to Hilda on the day that he was
+missing.
+
+"You have seen the clothes found on the body. Do you recognize them as
+those that he was wearing when you last saw him?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"How do you recognize them?"
+
+"Because his initials are worked in two places. I worked them myself,
+and can swear to them."
+
+"You cannot recognize the body, nurse?"
+
+"I do not believe it is the body of my young master," she said; "his
+hair was lovely--long and silky. What hair remains on the body is very
+short, and what I should call stubbly."
+
+"But the hair might have been cut short by the people who stole him,"
+the coroner said. "It is the first precaution they would take to evade
+the search that would at once be set on foot."
+
+"Yes, sir, but I don't think that it would have grown up so stiff."
+
+"My experience of workhouse children," the coroner remarked, "is that
+whatever the hair they may have had when they entered the house, it is
+stiff enough to stand upright when cut close to the head. There is
+nothing else, is there, which leads you to doubt the identity of the
+child?"
+
+"No, sir, I cannot say that there is; but I don't believe that it is
+Master Walter's body."
+
+Hilda, Netta, and Mr. Pettigrew all gave their evidence. The two former
+stated that they identified the clothes, but, upon the same ground as
+the nurse, they failed to recognize the body as that of Walter
+Rivington. All were asked if they could in any way account for the
+finding of the child's body there. The question had been foreseen, and
+they said that, although they had used every means of discovering the
+child, they had obtained no clew whatever as to his whereabouts from the
+time that he was stolen to the time they were summoned to identify the
+body.
+
+"You quite assume that he was stolen, and not that he wandered away, as
+children will do when their nurses are gossiping?"
+
+"We are convinced that he was stolen, sir, because the search was begun
+so momentarily after he was missed that he could hardly have got out of
+sight, had he merely wandered away on foot. Notice was given to the
+police an hour after he disappeared, and every street in this part of
+London was scoured immediately."
+
+"Children of that age, Miss Covington, have often a fancy for hiding
+themselves; and this child may have hidden somewhere close until he saw
+his nurse pass by, and then made off in the opposite direction. The spot
+where the child's body was found is little more than a quarter of a mile
+from the corner where he was missed. He might have wandered up there,
+found himself on the canal bank, and childlike, have begun to play, and
+so slipped into the water."
+
+John Simcoe was the last witness called. He gave his evidence to the
+effect that he had seen the body, and that personally he saw no reason
+to doubt that it was that of Walter Rivington.
+
+His counsel then rose.
+
+"You are, I believe, Mr. Simcoe, owing to the death of this poor child,
+the principal legatee under the will of General Mathieson?"
+
+"I am sorry to say that I am. The whole business has caused me immense
+distress. I have felt that, being the only person that would benefit by
+the child's death, those who did not know me would have a suspicion that
+I might have had a hand in his mysterious disappearance."
+
+"You have taken an active part in the search for him?"
+
+"I offered a reward of one thousand pounds for any information that
+would lead to his discovery, and I believe that I have traveled up and
+down every obscure slum in London in hopes of lighting upon him."
+
+"Even without the provision in the will which made you next heir you
+benefited by it, did you not?"
+
+"I did, most munificently. General Mathieson had himself informed me
+that I should find, by his will, that he had not been ungrateful for a
+service that I rendered him many years ago; but I was not aware of the
+sum that he had left me. As to the distant contingency of inheriting in
+case of the child's death, I was altogether ignorant of it; but had I
+known it, it would in no way have affected me. The little fellow was a
+fine healthy child, and, therefore, the thought that he might not live
+to come of age would never have entered my mind."
+
+As the other counsel had no question to ask, the evidence was now
+concluded.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, you have heard the evidence," the coroner said. "Dr.
+MacIlvaine has told you, as indeed you might judge for yourselves on
+viewing the body, that it is impossible, in its advanced state of
+decomposition, to say whether the child was alive or dead at the time he
+fell, or was placed in the canal. As to who were the guilty persons who
+beguiled the child away, if he was beguiled, we have no shadow of
+evidence, and it may well be that he was stolen for the sake of his
+clothes. The cutting short of his hair certainly points to the truth of
+this theory, as does also the fact that no vestige has been found of his
+upper clothing. It is probable that some woman enticed him away, and
+kept him for some time with her, and then, when she became alarmed by
+the search made for him, carried him in his sleep from the house, and
+perhaps laid him down by the canal, thinking that he would be found
+there in the morning, and that the poor child awoke in the dark,
+wandered about, and fell into the canal.
+
+"However, this is only theory; but it is at least supported by the
+mysterious incident of the unknown woman who, by means of a tale which
+appears beyond doubt to have been wholly fictitious, caused the water at
+that spot to be dragged. The fact that on the second day she pointed out
+almost the exact point where the body was found would seem to show that
+the child could scarcely have fallen in the water, as she suggested, for
+in that case she could not have known the precise spot. It would seem,
+then, more likely that either the child died a natural death, perhaps
+from confinement or bad treatment, or possibly that, terribly alarmed at
+the search that was being maintained, he was put out of the way and then
+thrown into the canal at this spot. In that case we may admit that it is
+certainly strange that she should risk discovery by the course she took,
+and I can only account for it on the ground that she had been, ever
+since his death, suffering from remorse, and possibly she may have
+thought that she might in some sort of way atone for her conduct were
+she to point out where the child was, and so secure for him Christian
+burial. That, however, is not before us at present, and I see no
+advantage in an adjournment for an indefinite time until this mystery is
+solved. The police have taken the matter in hand, and will spare no
+pains to discover the woman. If they do so, undoubtedly proceedings will
+be taken in another court. The point that we have to consider is who
+this child was, and how he came to his death. Unfortunately we are
+absolutely without any evidence of what became of him from the time he
+got lost up to the discovery of his body, and I think that you cannot do
+otherwise than find an open verdict.
+
+"As to the question of identity, there can, I think, be no shadow of
+doubt. The clothes in which he was found prove him beyond question to
+have been Walter Rivington, although the body itself is absolutely
+beyond identification. I do not think that you need give any weight to
+the nurse's failure to recognize him, or to her opinion about the hair.
+She is naturally reluctant to acknowledge, even to herself, that the
+child which was lost by her inadvertence is dead, and the ladies would
+be equally reluctant to admit that all hope was over."
+
+The jury put their heads together, and there was evidently no difference
+of opinion, for in two or three minutes they sat down again and the
+foreman stood up.
+
+"You have decided on your verdict?" the coroner asked.
+
+"We have, sir. We find that the body is that of Walter Rivington, and
+that he was found dead in the canal, but how he came there and by what
+means he came by his death, there is no evidence to show."
+
+"Thank you, gentlemen; that is precisely the verdict that I should
+myself have given."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A FRESH CLEW.
+
+
+"Just the verdict that I expected," Mr. Pettigrew said, as he and the
+ladies issued from the courthouse.
+
+"I suppose that it is for the best, Mr. Pettigrew, but it seems hard,
+when we could have said so much, to be obliged to hold our tongues
+altogether."
+
+"No doubt you will have an opportunity later on, Miss Covington. Our
+tongues are tied until we can obtain some sort of proof to go upon. We
+cannot go into court with merely suspicions; we must get facts. All we
+have done at present is to obtain some sort of foundation on which to
+work; but facts we shall, I hope, get ere long from what we may discover
+of this fellow's movements. He is likely to be less careful now that it
+has been decided that Walter is dead. He is doubtless well aware of the
+fact that trustees have a year given them before proceeding to carry out
+the provisions of a will, and, therefore, for that time he will keep
+quiet. At the end of the year his solicitor will write us a courteous
+letter, asking when we shall be in a position to distribute the estate
+in accordance with the provisions of the will. We shall reply that we
+are not in a position to do so. Then, after a time, will come letters of
+a more and more peremptory character, and at last a notice that they are
+about to apply to the courts for an order for us to act upon the
+provisions of the will. About two years after the General's death the
+matter will probably come on. I may say that I have already sent checks
+to all the small legatees."
+
+"Thank you, I was aware of that, because Tom Roberts came to me
+yesterday with his check for two hundred pounds," and said, "Look here,
+Miss Covington; you said you meant to keep me on just the same as in the
+General's time, so this won't be of any use to me, and I should like to
+spend it in any way that you think best to find out what has become of
+Master Walter.' Of course I told him that the money could not be spent
+in that way, and that the work that he was doing was of far greater use
+than ten times that sum would be."
+
+"I will send you your check to-morrow, Miss Covington. The sum we have
+paid to the people who have been searching, and all other expenses that
+may be incurred, will, of course, come out of the estate. You have not
+as yet settled, I suppose, as to your future plans?"
+
+"No, except that I shall certainly keep on the house in Hyde Park
+Gardens for the present. It is, of course, ridiculously large for me,
+but I don't want the trouble of making a move until I make one
+permanently, and shall therefore stay here until this matter is finally
+cleared up. Miss Purcell has most kindly consented to remain as my
+chaperon, and her plans and those of her niece will depend upon mine."
+
+They had sent away their carriage when they entered the court, and they
+walked quietly home, Mr. Pettigrew returning at once to his office. The
+next morning Tom Roberts accosted Hilda as she entered the breakfast
+room, with a face that showed he had news.
+
+"We have traced him down to one of his places at last, miss. I said to
+Andrew, 'We must keep a special sharp look out to-night, for like
+enough, now that the inquest is over, he will be going to talk over the
+matter with his pals.' Well, miss, last night, at half-past nine, out he
+comes. He wasn't in evening dress, for although, as usual, he had a
+topcoat on, he had light trousers and walking boots. He did not turn the
+usual way, but went up into Piccadilly. We followed him. I kept close
+behind him, and Andrew at a distance, so that he should not notice us
+together. At the Circus he hailed a cab, and as he got in I heard him
+say to the driver, 'King's Cross Station.' As soon as he had gone off
+Andrew and I jumped into another cab, and told the man to drive to the
+same place, and that we would give him a shilling extra if he drove
+sharp.
+
+"He did drive sharp, and I felt sure that we had got there before our
+man. I stopped outside the entrance, Andrew went inside. In five minutes
+he arrived, paid the driver his fare, and went in. I had agreed to wait
+two or three minutes outside, while Andrew was to be at the ticket
+office to see where he booked for. I was just going in when, to my
+surprise, out the man came again and walked briskly away. I ran in and
+fetched Andrew, and off we went after him. He hadn't more than a
+minute's start, and we were nearly up to him by the time he had got down
+to the main road. We kept behind him until we saw him go up Pentonville
+Hill, then Andrew went on ahead of him and I followed. We agreed that if
+he looked back, suspicious, I should drop behind. Andrew, when he once
+got ahead, was to keep about the same distance in front of him, so as to
+be able to drop behind and take it up instead of me, while I was to
+cross over the road if I thought that he had discovered I was following
+him.
+
+"However, it did not seem to strike him that anyone was watching him,
+and he walked on briskly until he came to a small house standing by
+itself, and as he turned in we were in time to see that the door was
+opened to him by a man. Andrew and I consulted. I went in at the gate,
+took my shoes off, and went round the house. There was only a light in
+one room, which looked as if there were no servants. The curtains were
+pulled together inside, and I could see nothing of what was going on. He
+stopped there for an hour and a half, then came out again, hailed a cab
+halfway down the hill, and drove off. Andrew and I had compared watches,
+and he had gone back to Jermyn Street, so that we should be able to know
+by the time the chap arrived whether he had gone anywhere else on his
+way back. When I joined him I found that the man must have driven
+straight to the Circus and then got out, for he walked in just twenty
+minutes after I had seen him start."
+
+"That is good news indeed, Roberts. We will go and see Mr. Pettigrew
+directly after breakfast. Please order the carriage to be round at a
+quarter to ten."
+
+Netta was as pleased as her friend when she heard that a step had been
+made at last.
+
+"I am sick of this inaction," she said, "and want to be doing something
+towards getting to the bottom of the affair. I do hope that we shall
+find some way in which I can be useful."
+
+"I have no doubt at all that you will be very useful when we get fairly
+on the track. I expect that this will lead to something."
+
+After Tom Roberts had repeated his story to Mr. Pettigrew, Hilda said:
+
+"I brought Roberts with me, Mr. Pettigrew, that he might tell the story
+in his own way. It seems to me that the best thing now would be to
+employ a private detective to find out who the man is who lives in Rose
+Cottage. This would be out of the line of Tom Roberts and Colonel
+Bulstrode's servant altogether. They would not know how to set about
+making inquiries, whereas a detective would be at home at such work."
+
+"I quite agree with you," the lawyer said. "To make inquiries without
+exciting suspicion requires training and practice. An injudicious
+question might lead to this man being warned that inquiries were being
+made about him and might ruin the matter altogether. Of course your two
+men will still keep up their watch. It may be that we shall find it is
+of more use to follow the track of this man than the other. But you must
+not be too sanguine; the man at Rose Cottage may be an old acquaintance
+of Simcoe. Well, my dear," he went on, in answer to a decided shake of
+the head on Hilda's part, "you must call the man by the only name that
+he is known by, although it may not belong to him. I grant that the
+manner in which he drove into King's Cross station and then walked out
+on foot would seem to show that he was anxious to throw anyone who
+might be watching him off the scent, and that the visit was, so to
+speak, a clandestine one. But it may relate to an entirely different
+matter; for this man may be, for aught we know, an adept in crime, and
+may be in league with many other doubtful characters."
+
+"It may be so, Mr. Pettigrew, but we will hope not."
+
+"Very well, my dear," the lawyer said. "I will send for a trustworthy
+man at once, and set him to work collecting information regarding the
+occupant of the cottage. And now I have a point upon which I wish to ask
+your opinion. I have this morning received a letter from this man's
+solicitor, asking if we intend to undertake the funeral of the body
+which the coroner's jury have found to be that of Walter Rivington; and
+announcing that, if we do not, his client will himself have it carried
+out."
+
+"What do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda said hesitatingly. "We may be
+wrong, you know, and it may be Walter's body."
+
+"I have been thinking it over," the lawyer replied, "and I must say it
+is my opinion that, as we have all stated our conviction that it is not,
+we should only stultify ourselves if we now undertook the funeral and
+put a stone, with his name on, over the grave. If we should at any time
+become convinced that we have been wrong, we can apply for a faculty to
+remove the coffin to the family vault down in Warwickshire."
+
+"If we could do that I should not mind," Hilda said; "but even the
+possibility of Walter being buried by the man who we firmly believe was
+the cause of his death is terrible."
+
+"Yes, I can quite understand your feelings, but I think that it is
+necessary that the family should make a protest against its being
+supposed that they recognize the child, by declining to undertake the
+funeral. No protest could well be stronger."
+
+"If you think that, Mr. Pettigrew, we certainly had best stand aside
+and let that poor child be buried by this man."
+
+Two days later they were driving in the Row. It was Hilda's first
+appearance there since the General's death, and, after talking it over
+with Netta, she now appeared there in order to show that she was
+perfectly convinced that the child which had been found in the canal was
+not her little cousin. The details of the proceedings of the coroner's
+court had, of course, been read by all her friends, and her appearance
+in the park would be the best proof that she could give that the family
+were absolutely convinced that the body was not that of Walter.
+
+Miss Purcell and Netta were with her. The latter had on, as usual, a
+thick veil. This she always wore when driving through any locality where
+she might meet John Simcoe.
+
+"That is the man," Hilda said to her in a sharp tone; "the farther of
+those two leaning on the rail the other side of the road."
+
+As Hilda fixed her eyes on the man she saw him give a sudden movement.
+Then he said to the man next to him:
+
+"Do you see that girl in deep mourning? It is that little vixen, Hilda
+Covington. Confound her, she is at the bottom of all this trouble, and I
+believe she would give ten thousand out of her own pocket to checkmate
+me."
+
+The carriage was opposite to them now. Hilda looked straight in front of
+her, while Netta, who was sitting with her back to the horses, took up
+the watch.
+
+"She would have to be sharp indeed to do that," the other man said. "So
+far everything has gone without a hitch, and I don't see a single weak
+point in your case. The most troublesome part has been got over."
+
+And now some carriages going the other way cut off the view, and Netta
+could read no further. She drew a long breath as Hilda's eyes turned
+towards her.
+
+"What did you read?" the latter asked.
+
+Netta repeated what she had caught, and then Hilda took up the
+conversation.
+
+"It is quite evident that this man, whoever he is, is an accomplice. He
+is a gentlemanly-looking man, and I fancy that he sat in the stalls near
+to us one evening this spring. However, it is quite clear that he is a
+confederate of Simcoe. Just repeat his words over again. They were in
+answer to his remark that I would give ten thousand pounds to be able to
+checkmate him."
+
+Netta repeated the answer of Simcoe's companion.
+
+"You see, Netta, there is something to find out that would checkmate
+him; that is quite evident. He thinks that I cannot find it out. It must
+be, I should think, that Walter is kept in hiding somewhere. It could
+not mean that he had killed my uncle, for he would hardly tell that to
+anyone, and so put himself in their power."
+
+"It may mean that you cannot find out that he is not John Simcoe," Netta
+suggested.
+
+"Possibly; but he cannot know we suspect that."
+
+"It might be about the last will, Hilda."
+
+The latter shook her head.
+
+"We have never thought that there could be anything wrong about it. The
+will was drawn up by Colonel Bulstrode's lawyers, and they knew my uncle
+by sight; besides, all the legacies were exactly the same as in the
+other will, the signature and the written instructions were in his
+handwriting, and he signed it in the solicitor's office in the presence
+of two of their clerks. No, I don't think he can possibly mean that. It
+must be either Walter's abduction or that he is not John Simcoe, and I
+should say that the former is much the more likely. You see, he had no
+need of an accomplice in the matter of getting evidence as to identity,
+whereas he did need an accomplice in the carrying off of Walter. I
+should say that he is far too clever a man to let anyone into any of his
+secrets, unless he needed his assistance. I wonder who the man with him
+can be. He is dressed in good style, and I have certainly met him
+somewhere. I believe, as I said, it was at the opera. I should have
+thought that a man of that class is the last Simcoe would choose as a
+confederate."
+
+Miss Purcell looked from one to the other as they talked. She had by
+this time been taken completely into their confidence, but had refused
+absolutely to believe that a man could be guilty of such wickedness as
+that which they suspected. On their return home they found a letter
+awaiting them from Mr. Pettigrew:
+
+     "MY DEAR MISS COVINGTON [it ran]: My detective has not yet finished
+     his inquiries, but has at least discovered that the proprietor of
+     Rose Cottage, for they say that the place belongs to him, is
+     somewhat of a mystery to his neighbors. He lives there entirely
+     alone. He goes out regularly in a morning, it is supposed to some
+     occupation in the City. No tradesmen ever call at the door; it is
+     supposed that he brings home something for his breakfast and cooks
+     it for himself, and that he dines in the City and makes himself a
+     cup of tea in the evening, or else that he goes out after dark.
+     Sometimes, of summer evenings, he has been seen to go out just at
+     twilight, dressed in full evening costume--that is to say, it is
+     supposed so, for he wore a light overcoat--but certainly a white
+     necktie, black trousers, and patent leather boots. Of course, in
+     all this there is nothing in itself absolutely suspicious. A man
+     engaged in the City would naturally enough take his meals there,
+     and may prefer to do everything for himself to having the bother of
+     servants. Also, if his means permit it, he may like to go to
+     theaters or places of amusement, or may go out to visit business
+     friends. I have, of course, directed the detective to follow him to
+     town and find out what is his business, and where employed. I will
+     let you know result to-morrow."
+
+The next day brought the letter.
+
+     "The man's name is William Barens. He has a small office on the
+     third floor of a house of business in Great St. Helens, and on the
+     doorway below his name is the word 'accountant,' The housekeeper
+     knows nothing about him, except that he has occupied the room for
+     the last twelve years, and that he is a gentleman who gives no
+     trouble. He always puts his papers away at night in his safe, so
+     that his table can be properly dusted. She knows that he has
+     clients, as several times, when he has been away for his dinner
+     hour, she has been asked when he would return. He is a well-spoken
+     gentleman, though not as particular about his dress as some; but
+     liberal with his money, and gives her as handsome a tip at
+     Christmas as some people who have three or four rooms, and, no
+     doubt, think themselves much finer people. This certainly does not
+     amount to much. By the way, the old woman said that she knew he was
+     employed by several tradesmen in the neighborhood to keep their
+     books for them."
+
+Two days later there was another communication:
+
+     "MY DEAR MISS COVINGTON: My man has taken a step which I should
+     certainly have forbidden, had he told me beforehand of his
+     intention. He watched the man go out, and then, having previously
+     provided himself with instruments for picking locks, he opened the
+     door and went in. On the table were several heavy ledgers and
+     account books, all bearing the names of tradesmen in the
+     neighborhood, with several files of accounts, bills, and invoices.
+     These fully bore out what the woman had told him. Besides the
+     chairs, table, and safe, the only other articles of furniture in
+     the room were an office washing stand and a large closet. In the
+     latter were a dress suit and boots, and a suit of fashionable
+     walking clothes, so that it is evident that he often changed there
+     instead of going home. I am sorry to say that all this throws no
+     further light upon the man's pursuits, and had it not been for
+     Simcoe's visit to him, it would be safe to say that he is a
+     hard-working accountant, in a somewhat humble, but perhaps
+     well-paying line; that he is a trifle eccentric in his habits, and
+     prefers living a cheap, solitary life at home, while spending his
+     money freely in the character of a man about town in the evening. I
+     cannot say that the prospect in this direction seems hopeful. I
+     have told my man that for the present we shall not require his
+     services further."
+
+"It does not seem very satisfactory, certainly," Hilda said with a sigh;
+"I am afraid that we shall have to keep on watching Simcoe. I wish I
+could peep into his room as this detective did into that of the
+Pentonville man."
+
+"I don't suppose that you would find anything there, Hilda; he is not
+the sort of man to keep a memorandum book, jotting down all his own
+doings."
+
+"No," Hilda said with a laugh; "still, one always thinks that one can
+find something."
+
+Had Hilda Covington had her wish and looked into John Simcoe's room that
+morning, she would certainly have derived some satisfaction from the
+sight. He had finished his breakfast before opening a letter that lay
+beside him.
+
+"What a plague the old woman is with her letters! I told her that I
+hated correspondence, but she persists in writing every month or so,
+though she never gets any reply except, 'My dear Aunt: Thanks for your
+letter. I am glad to hear that you are well.--Your affectionate nephew.'
+Well, I suppose I must read it through."
+
+He glanced over the first page, but on turning to the second his eye
+became arrested, and he read carefully, frowning deeply as he did so.
+Then he turned back and read it again. The passage was as follows:
+
+     "I had quite an interesting little episode a day or two after I
+     last wrote. A young lady--she said her name was Barcum, and that
+     she was an artist--came in and asked if I would take her in as a
+     lodger. She was a total stranger to the place, and had come down
+     for her health, and said that some tradesman had recommended her to
+     come here, saying that, as a single lady, I might be glad to
+     accommodate her. Of course I told her that I did not take lodgers.
+     She got up to go, when she nearly fainted, and I could not do less
+     than offer her a cup of tea. Then we got very chatty, and as I saw
+     that she was really too weak to go about town looking for lodgings,
+     I invited her to stay a day or two with me, she being quite a lady
+     and a very pleasant-spoken one. She accepted, and a pleasanter
+     companion I never had. Naturally I mentioned your name, and told
+     her what adventures you had gone through, and how kind you were.
+     She was greatly interested, and often asked questions about you,
+     and I do think that she almost fell in love with you from my
+     description. She left suddenly on receipt of a letter that called
+     her up to town, saying that she would return; but I have not heard
+     from her since, and I am greatly afraid that the poor child must be
+     seriously ill. She was a pretty and intelligent-looking girl, with
+     dark eyes and hair, and I should say that when in good health she
+     must be very bright. Of course, she may have changed her mind about
+     coming down. I am sure she would have written if she had been
+     well."
+
+"Confound the old gossip!" John Simcoe said angrily, as he threw the
+letter down. "I wonder what this means, and who this girl can be? It is
+clear enough that, whoever she is, she was sent down there to make
+inquiries about me. It is that girl Covington's doing, I have no doubt,
+though it was not the minx herself, for the description does not tally
+at all. She has light brown hair and grayish sort of eyes. There is one
+comfort, she would learn nothing to my disadvantage from the old woman,
+nor, I believe, from anyone at Stowmarket. In fact, she would only get
+more and more confirmation of my story. I have no fear upon that score,
+but the thing shows how that girl is working on my track. As for the
+lawyer, he is an old fool; and if it hadn't been for her I would bet a
+hundred to one that he would never have entertained any suspicion that
+all was not right. It is her doing all through, and this is a piece of
+it. Of course she could have no suspicion that I was not John Simcoe,
+but I suppose she wanted to learn if there was any dark spot in my
+history--whether I had ever been suspected of robbing a bank, or had
+been expelled from school for thieving, or something of that sort. I
+begin to be downright afraid of her. She had a way of looking through
+me, when I was telling my best stories to the General, that always put
+me out. She disliked me from the first, though I am sure I tried in
+every way to be pleasant to her. I felt from the day I first saw her
+that she was an enemy, and that if any trouble ever did come it would be
+through her. I have no doubt she is moving heaven and earth to find
+Walter; but that she will never do, for Harrison is as true as steel,
+and he is the only man who could put them on the right track. Moreover,
+I have as much pull over him as he has over me. He has never had a doubt
+about my being John Simcoe; he doesn't know about the other affair, but
+only that Walter stood between me and the estate, and he was quite ready
+to lend me a hand to manage to get him out of the way. So in that
+business he is in it as deep as I am, while I know of a score of schemes
+he has been engaged in, any one of which would send him abroad for life.
+I expect those inquiries were made at Stowmarket to endeavor to find out
+whether any child had been sent down there. If so, Miss Covington is not
+so sharp as I took her to be. Stowmarket would be the very last place
+where a man, having relations and friends there, would send a child whom
+he wished to keep concealed. Still it is annoying, confoundedly
+annoying; and it shows that these people, that is to say Hilda
+Covington, are pushing their inquiries in every direction, likely or
+unlikely.
+
+"The only comfort is, the more closely they search the sooner they will
+come to the conclusion that the boy is not to be found. I believe that,
+though they declared they did not recognize the body, they had no real
+doubt about it, and they only said so because if they had admitted it,
+the trustees would have had no excuse for not carrying out the
+provisions of the will. That text the girl had the impudence to quote
+to me looked as if she believed the body was Walter's, and that I had
+killed him, though it may be that she only said it to drive me to
+bringing the whole business into court, by bringing an action against
+her for libel; but I am not such a fool as to do that. Just at present
+there is a lot of public feeling excited by the circumstances of the
+child's loss and the finding of the body, and even if I got a verdict I
+fancy that the jury would be all on the girl's side, and give me such
+trifling damages that the verdict would do me more harm than good. No,
+our game clearly is to let the matter rest until it has died out of the
+public mind. Then we shall apply formally for the trustees to be called
+upon to act. No doubt they will give us a great deal of trouble, but
+Comfrey says that he thinks that the order must be granted at last,
+though possibly it may be withheld, as far as the estate is concerned,
+for some years. At any rate I ought to get the ten thousand at once, as
+the question whether the boy is alive or dead cannot affect that in the
+slightest."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+NETTA ACTS INDEPENDENTLY.
+
+
+"It seems to me, Hilda, that somehow or other we are wasting our time,"
+Netta said one morning suddenly, as they were sitting together.
+
+"How do you mean, Netta?"
+
+"Well, you see, we relied a great deal on being able to overhear
+conversation from a distance; and, except those few words we gathered in
+the Park, we have absolutely done nothing that way."
+
+"But how can we do more than we are doing?"
+
+"I don't know; that is what is troubling me. You know, dear, that I am
+quite content to give up my own work to help you. At first, of course,
+aunt and I would have stayed here, at any rate for a time, to keep you
+company; but your uncle has been dead now for more than eight months,
+and time is going on. If I were really helping you I would stop, if it
+were five years; but in fact I am not helping you in the way we
+intended."
+
+"You are helping me, Netta!" Hilda exclaimed with tears in her eyes.
+"How should I have got on through all this sad time if you had not been
+here to comfort and cheer me?"
+
+"Yes, but the necessity for that is over. You have your friends, and
+though you don't go out yet, you often go to Lady Moulton's and some of
+your other friends', and they come to see you."
+
+"Yes, and you will never go with me, Netta, nor see them when they
+come."
+
+"No, dear; I have nothing in common with them. I do not know the people
+of whom you talk, and should simply sit there uncomfortably, so I prefer
+to be out of it altogether. Then I really miss my work. Ever since you
+came to us some eight years ago I have been teaching eight or ten hours
+a day. I like the work; it is immensely interesting, and I am happy in
+seeing my pupils improve."
+
+"And all this means," Hilda said sorrowfully, "you are going to say that
+it is time for you to go back."
+
+"No, it does not necessarily mean that--there is an alternative; I must
+either be doing something or go back."
+
+"But, as I said before, Netta, what can we do, more than we have done?"
+
+"That is what I have been thinking, Hilda. Anyhow, I mean to try to do
+something before I give it up and go to Germany again."
+
+"I warn you, Netta, that I shall be furious if you do that. I am my own
+mistress now, for Mr. Pettigrew will let me do as I like now I am
+nineteen, and am quite determined that our old plan shall be carried
+out, and that you shall start an institution like that of Professor
+Menzel somewhere near London. You have been twelve months away, your
+pupils have already taken to other teachers, and there cannot be the
+least occasion for your assistance in an institution that is now well
+stocked with teachers, while here you could do enormous good. Anyhow,
+whether you stay or not, I shall, as soon as all this is settled, take a
+large house standing in its own grounds, in some healthy place near
+London, and obtain teachers."
+
+"Well, we need not talk of that just yet," Netta said quietly; "it will
+be time enough when I have failed in carrying out my plans."
+
+"But what are your plans?"
+
+"I have not quite settled myself; and when I do I mean to work entirely
+in my own way, and shall say nothing about it until I come to you and
+say I have succeeded, or I have failed."
+
+Hilda opened her eyes in surprise.
+
+"But why should I be kept in the dark?"
+
+"Because, dear, you might not approve of my plans," Netta replied
+coolly.
+
+"You are not thinking of doing anything foolish, I hope?" Hilda
+exclaimed.
+
+"If it were foolish it would be excusable where the counsels of wisdom
+have failed," Netta laughed; and then more seriously, "Nothing would be
+foolish if it could possibly lead to the discovery of Walter's hiding
+place."
+
+That afternoon, when Hilda drove out with Miss Purcell to make some
+calls, Netta rang the bell, and when Tom Roberts came in she said:
+
+"I want to have a long talk with you, Roberts. But mind, what I say is
+to be kept a perfect secret between ourselves."
+
+"Yes, miss," he said in surprise.
+
+"Now, sit down," she went on; "we can talk more comfortably so. Now,
+Roberts, there is no doubt that we are not making much headway with our
+search."
+
+"That we are not, Miss Netta," he agreed. "I did think that we had
+gained something when we traced him to that house on Pentonville Hill,
+but it does not seem that anything has come of it, after all."
+
+"Then it is quite time that we took some other steps," she said
+decisively.
+
+"I am ready, miss," he replied eagerly. "You tell me what to do, and I
+am game to do it."
+
+"Well, there are two or three things I have in my mind. First of all, I
+want to be able to watch John Simcoe and this Pentonville man when they
+are talking together."
+
+"Yes, I understand," he said; "but how is it to be done?"
+
+"That is what I want to find out. Now, in the first place, about this
+house. Which way did the window look of the room where there was a
+light?"
+
+"That window was at the side of the house, miss; a little way round the
+corner. We noticed the light there, but there was another window looking
+out on the front. We did not see any light there, as the shutters were
+closed."
+
+"And you say that the curtains of the other window were pulled very
+close?"
+
+"Yes, they crossed each other most of the way down."
+
+"Now, the question in my mind, Roberts, is which would be easier--to cut
+a slit in the curtain, or to bore a hole in the shutter, or to take a
+brick out carefully from the side wall and then to deepen the hole until
+we got to the wall-paper, and then make a slight hole there?"
+
+Roberts looked at her with astonishment. "Do you really mean it, miss?"
+
+"Certainly I mean it; it seems to me that our only chance of ever
+finding Walter is to overhear those men's talk."
+
+"Then, miss, I should say that the simplest way would be to cut a window
+pane out."
+
+"Yes; but, you see, it is pretty certain that that curtain will not be
+drawn until they come in, and they would notice it at once. If we took
+out a pane in the front window the shutter would prevent our seeing or
+hearing, and the man would be sure to notice the pane was missing as he
+walked up from the gate to the house."
+
+"I should say, miss, that the best plan would be for me to manage to get
+into the house some time during the day and to hide in that room, under
+the table or sofa or somewhere, and listen to them."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"In the first place, Roberts, you would certainly be murdered if they
+found you there."
+
+"I would take my chance of that, miss; and you may be sure that I would
+take a brace of the General's pistols with me, and they would not find
+it such easy work to get rid of me."
+
+"That may be so," Netta said, "but if in the struggle you shot them
+both, our last chance of ever hearing of Walter would be gone. You
+yourself might be tried for murder, and it would be assumed, of course,
+that you were a burglar; for the explanation that you had broken into
+the house only to hear a conversation would scarcely be believed.
+Moreover, you must remember that we don't know how often these men
+meet. Simcoe has not been there since you tracked him there six months
+ago, and the only thing we have since found out is that the man I saw
+him with in the park is the man who lives in that house. It would never
+do for you to make an entrance into the house night after night and week
+after week, to run the risk of being detected there, or seized as you
+entered, or caught by the police as a burglar. No, as far as I can see,
+the only safe plan is to get out a brick very carefully in the side wall
+and to make a hole behind it through the paper. It might be necessary to
+make an entry into the house before this was done, so as to decide which
+was the best spot for an opening. A great deal would depend upon the
+paper in the room. If it is a light paper, with only a small amount of
+pattern upon it, any hole large enough to see through might be noticed.
+If it is a dark paper, well covered, a hole might be made without any
+fear of its catching the eye. You see, it must be a rather large hole,
+for, supposing the wall is only nine inches thick, a person standing
+outside could not see what was passing inside unless the hole were a
+good size."
+
+"But I doubt much if you would be able to hear them, Miss Netta."
+
+"No, I don't think that I should; especially as people talking of things
+of that sort, even if they had no great fear of being overheard, would
+speak in a low voice. But that would not matter if I could see their
+faces. I should know what they were saying."
+
+Roberts did not think it right to offer any remark on what appeared to
+him to be impossible, and he confined himself to saying in a respectful
+voice, "Indeed, Miss Netta."
+
+"I am stone-deaf," she said, "but have learned to read what people are
+saying from the movement of their lips."
+
+Although the "Indeed, miss," was as respectful as before, Netta saw that
+he did not in the slightest degree believe her.
+
+"Just go to the other end of the room, Roberts, and make some remark to
+yourself. Move your lips in the same way as if you were talking, but do
+not make any sound."
+
+Roberts, with military obedience, marched to the other end of the room,
+placed himself in a corner, and turned round, facing her. His lips
+moved, and, confident that she could not know what he was saying, he
+expressed his natural sentiments.
+
+The girl at once repeated the words: "Well, I'm jiggered! This is a rum
+start; Miss Netta has gone clean off her head."
+
+Roberts' jaw dropped, and he flushed up to the hair.
+
+"I am sure," he began; but he was stopped by the girl's merry laugh.
+
+"Do not apologize, Roberts; it was natural enough that you should be
+surprised. Well, you see I can do as I say. We will now go on with our
+talk."
+
+Greatly abashed, Tom Roberts returned to the chair, murmuring to himself
+as he sat down, "Well, I'm blowed!" when he was roughly recalled to the
+necessity of keeping his mouth shut by her quiet remark, "Never mind
+about being blowed at present, Roberts; let us talk over another plan.
+Who are the keepers of the house in Jermyn Street?"
+
+"It is kept by a man and his wife, miss. He has been a butler, I
+believe, and his wife was a cook. He waits upon the gentlemen who lodge
+there, and she cooks. They have a girl who sweeps and does the bedrooms
+and the scrubbing and that sort of thing."
+
+"What sort of a girl is she, Roberts?"
+
+"She seems a nice sort of young woman, miss. Andrew has spoken to her
+more than I have, because, you see, my get-up aint likely to take much
+with a young girl."
+
+"I suppose she is not very much attached to her place?"
+
+"Lor', no, miss; she told Andrew that she was only six months up from
+the country, and they don't pay her but eight pounds a year, and pretty
+hard work she has to do for it."
+
+"Well, Roberts, I want to take her place."
+
+"You want----" and Roberts' voice failed him in his astonishment.
+
+"Yes, I want to take her place, Roberts. I should think that if you or
+Andrew were to tell her that you have a friend up from the country who
+wants just such a place, and is ready to pay five pounds to get one, she
+might be ready to take the offer; especially as you might say that you
+knew of a lady who is in want of an under-housemaid and you thought that
+you could get her the place."
+
+"As to that, miss, I have no doubt that she would leave to-morrow, if
+she could get five pounds. She told Andrew that she hated London, and
+should go down home and take a country place as soon as she had saved up
+money to do so."
+
+"All the better, Roberts; then all she would have to do would be to say
+that she had heard of a place near home, and wanted to leave at once.
+She did not wish to inconvenience them, but that she had a cousin who
+was just coming up to London and wanted a place, and that she would jump
+at it. She could say that her cousin had not been in service before, but
+that she was a thorough good cleaner and hard worker."
+
+"And do you mean that you would go as a servant, Miss Netta? Why, it
+would not be right for you to do so."
+
+"Anything would be right that led to the discovery of Walter's hiding
+place, Roberts. I have been accustomed to teaching, and I have helped my
+aunt to look after the house for years, and I do not in the slightest
+degree mind playing the part of a servant for a short time, in order to
+try and get at the bottom of this matter. You think that it can be
+managed?"
+
+"I am sure it can be managed right enough, miss; but what Miss Covington
+would say, if she knew that I had a hand in bringing it about, I can't
+say."
+
+"Well, you won't be drawn into the matter. I shall say enough to my aunt
+to satisfy her that I am acting for the best, and shall simply, when I
+go, leave a note for your mistress, telling her that I have gone to work
+out an idea that I have had in my mind, and that it would be no use for
+her to inquire into the matter until she hears of me again."
+
+"What am I to tell Andrew, miss?"
+
+"Simply tell him that a young woman has been engaged to watch Simcoe in
+his lodgings. Then tell him the story he has to tell the girl. I shall
+want three or four days to get my things ready. I shall have to go to a
+dressmaker's and tell her that I want three or four print gowns for a
+young servant about my own figure, and as soon as they are ready I shall
+be ready, too."
+
+"Well, miss, I will do as you tell me, but I would say, quite
+respectful, I hope that you will bear in mind, if things goes wrong,
+that I was dead against it, and that it was only because you said that
+it was our only chance of finding Master Walter that I agreed to lend a
+hand."
+
+"I will certainly bear that in mind," Netta said with a smile. "Talk it
+over with Andrew to-night; but remember he is only to know that a young
+woman has been engaged to keep a watch on Simcoe."
+
+"He will be glad enough to hear, miss, that someone else is going to do
+something. He says the Colonel is so irritable because he has found out
+so little that there is no bearing with him."
+
+"The Colonel is trying," Netta laughed. "As you know, he comes here two
+or three times a week and puts himself into such rages that, as he
+stamps up and down the room, I expect to hear a crash and to find that
+the dining-room ceiling has fallen down. He is a thoroughly kind-hearted
+man, but is a dreadful specimen of what an English gentleman may come to
+after he has had the command of an Indian regiment for some years, and
+been accustomed to have his will obeyed in everything. It is very bad
+for a man."
+
+"It is a good deal worse for his servant, miss," Tom Roberts said, in a
+tone of deep sympathy for his comrade. "I doubt whether I could have
+stood it myself; but though Andrew expresses his feelings strong
+sometimes, I know that if you offered him a good place, even in
+Buckingham Palace, he would not leave the Colonel."
+
+Two days later Netta heard that the girl in Jermyn Street had joyfully
+accepted the offer, and had that morning told her master that she had
+heard that she was wanted badly at home, and that a cousin of hers would
+be up in a day or two, and would, she was sure, be very glad to take her
+place. The master agreed to give her a trial, if she looked a clean and
+tidy girl.
+
+"I shall be clean and tidy, Roberts; and I am sure I shall do no
+injustice to her recommendation."
+
+Roberts shook his head. The matter was, to his mind, far too serious to
+be joked about, and he almost felt as if he were acting in a treasonable
+sort of way in aiding to carry out such a project.
+
+On the following Monday Hilda, on coming down to breakfast, found a note
+on the table. She opened it in haste, seeing that it was in Netta's
+handwriting, and her eyes opened in surprise and almost dismay as she
+read:
+
+     "MY DARLING HILDA: I told you that I had a plan. Well, I am off to
+     carry it out. It is of no use your asking what it is, or where I am
+     going. You will hear nothing of me until I return to tell you
+     whether I have failed or succeeded. Aunt knows what I am going to
+     do."
+
+Hilda at once ran upstairs to Miss Purcell's room.
+
+"Where has Netta gone?" she exclaimed. "Her letter has given me quite a
+turn. She says that you know; but I feel sure that it is something very
+foolish and rash."
+
+"I thought that you had a better opinion of Netta's common sense," Miss
+Purcell said placidly, smiling a little at Hilda's excitement. "It is
+her arrangement, dear, and not mine, and I am certainly not at liberty
+to give you any information about it. I do not say that I should not
+have opposed it in the first instance, had I known of it, but I
+certainly cannot say that there is anything foolish in it, and I admit
+that it seems to me to offer a better chance of success than any plan
+that has yet been tried. I don't think there is any occasion for anxiety
+about her. Netta has thought over her plans very carefully, and has gone
+to work in a methodical way; she may fail, but if so I don't think that
+it will be her fault."
+
+"But why could she not tell me as well as you?" Hilda asked rather
+indignantly.
+
+"Possibly because she did not wish to raise hopes that might not be
+fulfilled; but principally, I own, because she thought you would raise
+objections to it, and she was bent upon having her own way. She has
+seconded you well, my dear, all through this business."
+
+"Yes, I know, aunt; she has been most kind in every respect."
+
+"Well, my dear, then don't grudge her having a little plan of her own."
+
+"I don't grudge her a bit," Hilda said impetuously, "and, as you are
+quite satisfied, I will try to be quite satisfied too. But, you see, it
+took me by surprise; and I was so afraid that she might do something
+rash and get into trouble somehow. You know really I am quite afraid of
+this man, and would certainly far rather run a risk myself than let her
+do so."
+
+"Of that I have no doubt, Hilda; but I am quite sure that, if the case
+had been reversed, you would have undertaken this little plan that she
+has hit upon, to endeavor to relieve her of a terrible anxiety, just as
+she is doing for you."
+
+"Well, I will be patient, aunt. How long do you think that she will be
+away?"
+
+"That is more than I can tell you; but at any rate she has promised to
+write me a line at least twice a week, and, should I think it right, I
+can recall her."
+
+"That is something, aunt. You cannot guess whether it is likely to be a
+week or a month?"
+
+Miss Purcell shook her head.
+
+"It will all depend upon whether she succeeds in hitting upon a clew as
+to where Walter is. If she finds that she has no chance of so doing she
+will return; if, on the other hand, she thinks that there is a
+probability that with patience she will succeed, she will continue to
+watch and wait."
+
+"Miss Netta is not ill, I hope, miss?" Roberts said, when he came in to
+clear the breakfast things away.
+
+"No she has gone away on a short visit," Hilda replied. Had she been
+watching the old soldier's face, she might have caught a slight
+contortion that would have enlightened her as to the fact that he knew
+more than she did about the matter; but she had avoided looking at him,
+lest he should read in her face that she was in ignorance as to Netta's
+whereabouts. She would have liked to have asked when she went; whether
+she took a box with her, and whether she had gone early that morning or
+late the evening before; but she felt that any questions of the sort
+would show that she was totally in the dark as to her friend's
+movements. In fact Netta had walked out early that morning, having sent
+off a box by the carrier on the previous Saturday when Hilda was out;
+Roberts having himself carried it to the receiving house.
+
+It was four or five days before Dr. Leeds called again.
+
+"Is Miss Purcell out?" he asked carelessly, when some little time had
+elapsed without her making her appearance.
+
+"Is that asked innocently, Dr. Leeds?" Hilda said quickly.
+
+The doctor looked at her in genuine surprise.
+
+"Innocently, Miss Covington? I don't think that I quite understand you."
+
+"I see, doctor, that I have been in error. I suspected you of being an
+accomplice of Netta's in a little scheme in which she is engaged on her
+own account." And she then told him about her disappearance, of the
+letter that she had received, and of the conversation with her aunt.
+Dr. Leeds was seriously disturbed.
+
+"I need hardly say that this comes as a perfect surprise to me, Miss
+Covington, and I say frankly a very unpleasant one. But the only
+satisfactory feature is that the young lady's aunt does not absolutely
+disapprove of the scheme, whatever it is, although it is evident that
+her approval is by no means a warm one. This is a very serious matter. I
+have the highest opinion of your friend's judgment and sense, but I own
+that I feel extremely uneasy at the thought that she has, so to speak,
+pitted herself against one of the most unscrupulous villains I have ever
+met, whose past conduct shows that he would stop at nothing, and who is
+playing for a very big stake. It would be as dangerous to interfere
+between a tiger and his prey as to endeavor to discover the secret on
+which so much depends."
+
+"I feel that myself, doctor, and I own that I'm exceedingly anxious.
+Aunt has had two short letters from her. Both are written in pencil, but
+the envelope is in ink, and in her usual handwriting. I should think it
+probable that she took with her several directed envelopes. The letters
+are very short. The first was: 'I am getting on all right, aunt, and am
+comfortable. Too early to say whether I am likely to discover anything.
+Pray do not fidget about me, nor let Hilda do so. There is nothing to be
+uneasy about.' The second was as nearly as possible in the same words,
+except that she said, 'You and Hilda must be patient. Rome was not built
+in a day, and after so many clever people have failed you cannot expect
+that I can succeed all at once.'"
+
+"That is good as far as it goes," the doctor said, "but you see it does
+not go very far. It is not until success is nearly reached that the
+danger will really begin. I do not mind saying to you that Miss Purcell
+is very dear to me. I have not spoken to her on the subject, as I wished
+to see how my present partnership was likely to turn out. I am wholly
+dependent upon my profession, and until I felt my ground thoroughly I
+determined to remain silent. You can imagine, therefore, how troubled I
+am at your news. Were it not that I have such implicit confidence in her
+judgment I should feel it still more; but even as it is, when I think
+how unscrupulous and how desperate is the man against whom she has,
+single-handed, entered the lists, I cannot but be alarmed."
+
+"I am very glad at what you have told me, doctor. I had a little hope
+that it might be so. It seemed to me impossible that you could be living
+for four months with such a dear girl without being greatly attracted by
+her. Of course I know nothing of her feelings. The subject is one that
+has never been alluded to between us, but I am sure that no girl living
+is more fitted than she is to be the wife of a medical man. I would give
+much to have Netta back again, but Miss Purcell is obdurate. She says
+that, knowing as she does what Netta is doing, she does not think that
+she is running any risk--at any rate, none proportionate to the
+importance of finding a clew to Walter's hiding place."
+
+"Will you ask her if she will write to her niece and urge her to return,
+saying how anxious you are about her? Or, if she will not do that,
+whether she will release her from her promise of secrecy, so that she
+may let us know what she is doing?"
+
+"I will go and ask her now; I will bring her down so that you can add
+your entreaties to mine, doctor."
+
+But Miss Purcell refused to interfere.
+
+"I consider Netta's scheme to be a possible one," she said, "though I am
+certainly doubtful of its success. But she has set her heart upon it,
+and I will do nothing to balk her. I do not say that I am free from
+anxiety myself, but my confidence in Netta's cleverness, and I may say
+prudence, is such that I believe that the risk she is running is very
+slight. It would be cruel, and I think wrong at the present moment, when
+above all things it is necessary that her brain should be clear, to
+distress and trouble her by interfering with her actions."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Miss Purcell," the doctor said thoughtfully.
+"Being totally in the dark in the matter, I am not justified in giving a
+decisive opinion, but I will admit that it would not conduce either to
+her comfort or to the success of her undertaking were we to harass her
+by interfering in any way with her plan, which, I have no doubt, has
+been thoroughly thought out before she undertook it. No one but a madman
+would shout instructions or warnings to a person performing a dangerous
+feat requiring coolness and presence of mind. Such, I take it, is the
+scheme, whatever it is, in which she is engaged; and as you are the only
+one who knows what that scheme is, I must, however reluctantly, abide by
+your decision. When Miss Covington tells you the conversation that we
+have had together you will recognize how deeply I am interested in the
+matter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+DOWN IN THE MARSHES.
+
+
+Comparatively few of those who nowadays run down to Southend for a
+breath of fresh air give a thought to the fact that the wide stretch of
+low country lying between the railroad and the Thames, from Pitsea to
+Leigh, was at one time, and that not so many centuries back, a mud flat,
+a continuation of the great line of sand that still, with but a short
+break here and there, stretches down beyond Yarmouth; still less that,
+were it not for the watchfulness of those who dwell upon it, it would in
+a short time revert to its original condition, the country lying below
+the level of higher water.
+
+Along the whole face of the river run banks--the work, doubtless, of
+engineers brought over by Dutch William--strong, massive, and
+stone-faced, as they need be to withstand the rush and fret of the tide
+and the action of the waves when, as is often the case, the east wind
+knocks up ridges of short, angry water in Sea Reach. Similarly, the
+winding creeks are all embanked, but here dams of earth are sufficient
+to retain within its bounds the sluggish water as it rises and falls.
+Standing on any of these, the farmhouses and little homesteads lie
+below, their eaves for the most part level with the top of the bank,
+though there are a few knolls which rise above the level of the tidal
+water.
+
+The most conspicuous objects are the brown sails of the barges, which
+seem to stand up in the midst of the brownish-green fields, the hulls
+being invisible. This cannot be called marsh land, for the ground is
+intersected by ditches, having sluices through which they discharge
+their water at low tide. Very fertile is the land in some spots,
+notably in Canvey Island, where there are great stretches of wheat and
+broad meadows deep with rich waving grass; but there are other places
+where the grass is brown and coarse, showing that, though the surface
+may be hard and dry, water lies not far below. Here a few cattle gather
+a scanty living, and the little homesteads are few and far between. Most
+of the houses are placed near the banks of the creeks. The barges serve
+as their wagons, and carry their hay up to London and bring down manure
+and other things required, or carry coal and lime to the wharves of
+Pitsea.
+
+A rare place was this in the old smuggling days, and indeed until quite
+lately the trade was carried on, though upon a reduced scale. Vessels
+drifting slowly up the river would show a light as they passed a barge
+at anchor or a bawley hanging to its trawl, a light would be shown in
+answer, and a moment later a boat would row off to the ship, and a score
+of tubs or a dozen bales of tobacco be quickly transferred, and before
+morning the contents would be stowed in underground cellars in some of
+the little farmhouses on the creeks, or be hidden away in the Leigh
+marshes.
+
+"Will Bill be in to-night with the barge?" a child asked a woman, as he
+came down from the bank to a not uncomfortable-looking homestead ten
+yards from its foot.
+
+"I told you that you are to call him uncle," the woman said sharply, but
+not unkindly. "I have told you so over and over again, child."
+
+"I generally do now, but one forgets sometimes."
+
+"There is never any saying"--the woman went on in reply to his
+question--"there is never any saying; it all depends on tide and wind.
+Sometimes they have to anchor and lose a tide, or maybe two. Sometimes
+they get a cargo directly they get into the Pool or at Rochester;
+sometimes they wait two or three days. They have been away four days
+now; they might have been here yesterday, but may not come till
+to-morrow. One thing is certain, whenever he do come he will want
+something to eat, and I hope that they will bring it with them, for
+there is nothing here but bread and bacon."
+
+"And do you think that I shall soon go home again, aunt?"
+
+"There is no saying," the woman said evasively. "You are very
+comfortable here, aint you?"
+
+"Oh, yes! There are the dogs and the ducks and the chickens, and uncle
+says that he will take me sometimes for a sail with him in the barge."
+
+"Yes, I expect it won't be long first. You know, I used to go with him
+regular till, as I have told you, my little Billy fell overboard one
+night, and we knew nothing of it until he was gone, and I have never
+liked the barge since. Besides, I have plenty to do here. But I am going
+across to Rochester very soon. It's a good place for shopping, and I
+want groceries and little things for myself and more things for you. I
+will take you with me, but you will have to promise to be very good and
+careful."
+
+"I will be careful," the child said confidently, "and you know that
+uncle said that when spring comes he will teach me to swim; and I shall
+like that, and if I tumble overboard it won't matter. He says that when
+I get a few years older I shall go with him regularly, and learn to
+steer and to manage the sails. I shall like that; but I should like to
+go back sometimes to see Hilda and Netta and my grandpapa."
+
+"Well, well, my dear, we will see about it; they can't take you at
+present. I think that they have gone away traveling, and may not be back
+for a long time. And mind, you know you are not to talk about them. Just
+when you are here with me I don't care; but you know uncle does not like
+it, and if anyone asks, you must say just what he told you, that your
+father and mother are dead, and that Uncle Bill has took you."
+
+"I shan't forget," the boy said. "I never do talk about it before him;
+it makes him angry. I don't know why, but it does."
+
+"But he is always kind to you, Jack?"
+
+"Oh, yes, he is very kind, and he often brings me things when he comes
+back; he brought me my dear little kitten. Pussy, where have you hidden
+yourself? Puss! puss!" And in answer a little ball of white fur bounded
+out from behind a chair, and the child was soon engaged in a game of
+romps with it.
+
+"It is a shame!" the woman said, as she watched them; "I don't mind the
+other things, but I never liked this. I wonder who the poor little chap
+is. By the way he talked when he first came, about his home and his
+nurse and horses and carriages, his friends must be rich people. Bill
+has never understood why they wanted to get rid of him; but I suppose
+that he was in somebody's way, and, as he never speaks of his father and
+mother, but only of those two girls and his grandfather, who seems to
+have been an invalid, I expect that he must have lost his father and
+mother before he can remember. Well, he will be right enough here; I
+should miss him dreadful if he were to go away; he seems to have taken
+the place of my little Billy. And Bill takes to him, too, wonderfully.
+He said the other day that when the boy grew up he would buy a barge, a
+new one of the best kind, and that some day it should be the boy's own.
+So he won't do so bad, after all."
+
+A stranger would have wondered at the comfort in the interior of the
+little farmhouse. The land round it was very poor. Three horses--which
+seemed as if they had nothing to do but to nibble the coarse grass--and
+a couple of cows wandered about on a few acres of land, inclosed by deep
+water ditches; a score or two of ducks and geese paddled in the mud in
+the bottom of the creek at low tide, or swam about in the water when it
+was up; and a patch of garden ground, attended to chiefly by the woman,
+surrounded the cottage. But all this would have afforded a scanty living
+indeed, were it not that the master, Bill Nibson, was the owner of the
+_Mary Ann_ barge, an old craft with a somewhat dilapidated sail, which
+journeyed up and down the river with more or less regularity, laden, for
+the most part, with manure, hay, lime, bricks, or coal. This he
+navigated with the aid of a lad of fourteen, a waif, whose mother, a
+tramp, had died by the roadside one bitter cold night four years before.
+Bill had been summoned on the coroner's jury and had offered to take the
+boy.
+
+"I can do with him on board the barge," he said; "he is only a little
+nipper now, but in a year or two he will be useful. The boy I have got
+wants to go to sea, and I shan't be sorry to get rid of him; he is
+getting too knowing for me altogether."
+
+As no one else wanted the boy he was handed over to Bill, and was now a
+sharp lad, who, never having been instructed in the niceties of right
+and wrong, and being especially ignorant that there was any harm in
+cheating Her Majesty's Customs, was in all things a useful assistant to
+his master. He had, indeed, very soon imbibed the spirit, not uncommon
+among the dwellers on the marshes, that if managed without detection,
+the smuggling of tobacco and spirits was a meritorious action,
+advantageous to the community at large, and hurting no one except that
+mysterious and unknown entity, the queen's revenue. He was greatly
+attached to Bill, and took an occasional thrashing as a matter of
+course; regarding him as having saved him from the workhouse and having
+put him in a fair way of making a man of himself.
+
+The next day at twelve o'clock the child, playing on the bank, ran in
+and reported that Joshua was coming along the bank, and in a few minutes
+the boy appeared.
+
+"Morning, missis," he said. "Master sent me on to say that the barge got
+into the haven this morning, and that she will come on with the evening
+tide. He sent me on with this lump of meat, and these rokers he got from
+a bawley which came in just as we were getting up sail off Grain Spit.
+He says he has got a barrel of beer on board, that he will land as he
+passes. He will be along about nine o'clock. Well, Jack, how are you?"
+
+"I am all right," the child said, "and so is Kitty. I am glad that you
+are back. How long are you going to stay?"
+
+"I suppose that it will take us a couple of days to unload. Master is
+going as usual to hire a couple of men to get the line out, so I shall
+be over here by breakfast. He says that I may as well do a job of
+digging in the garden, as he wants to get some things in before we get
+frosty nights. Have you any message for him, missis?"
+
+"You can tell him he may as well get a dish of eels from one of the
+Dutchmen there. I suppose there is one in the haven?"
+
+"Two of them, missis; he will be able to get them, for one of them is
+the _Marden_, and the skipper has always let master have some, though he
+won't sell an eel to anyone else."
+
+"Is there any business to be done?" the woman asked significantly.
+
+The boy nodded.
+
+"All right; tell him that I will get the horses in."
+
+The child was put to bed upstairs at seven o'clock, although he in vain
+petitioned to be allowed to stop up until the barge came along. He
+already knew, however, by experience, that his request was not likely to
+be granted, as when the barge came along after dark he was always put to
+bed, the woman telling him that Bill didn't like him to be up when he
+came in, as he wanted to have a talk with her in quiet, and to eat his
+supper in peace.
+
+An hour after dark the woman went out onto the bank and listened. In a
+quarter of an hour she heard the rattle of a block in the distance. She
+went down, stirred up the fire, and put on the kettle, and in twenty
+minutes the barge came along. The boat, instead of towing behind as
+usual, was alongside.
+
+"You take her on, Joshua," its owner said, as he quietly got into the
+boat; "run in where the water is deep alongside, a quarter of a mile
+this side Pitsea. I will come along and get on board there as soon as I
+have finished this job. Keep a sharp lookout on the banks; some of the
+coastguardsmen may be about. If they hail you and ask if I am on board,
+say I landed as we passed here, to have a cup of tea, and that I shall
+not be five minutes."
+
+Then he pushed the boat to shore. "Well, Betsy, how are you? I have got
+twenty kegs here, and five or six hundredweight of tobacco. I will get
+it up the bank, and you had better stow it away at once; I will lend you
+a hand as soon as it is all up."
+
+As fast as he could carry the kegs up the banks she slipped slings round
+them, two at a time, hooked them to a milkmaid's yoke, and went off with
+them to a shed which served as a stable and cowhouse in the winter.
+Against this was a rick of hay. Putting the kegs down she returned for
+more, and by the time that they were all in the stable her husband had
+finished his share of the work and had carried the heavy bales of
+tobacco to the shed. The three horses were already there.
+
+"Are you going to take them out at once?"
+
+"No, not until I come back. I must get on board the barge as soon as
+possible. We will bundle them all in, in case any of those fellows
+should come along."
+
+Three planks were removed from the side of the shed next to the stack,
+and an opening was seen. Some turf was taken up and a trapdoor exposed.
+The kegs and tobacco were speedily carried down into a large cellar, the
+trapdoor was closed, and the boards placed securely in position and
+fastened by six long screws. Then they returned to the house. The teapot
+and cups were on the table, the kettle was boiling, and in two or three
+minutes they were taking tea. Scarcely had they begun their meal when
+there was a knock at the door. Bill got up and opened it, and two
+coastguards entered.
+
+"We saw there was a light burning, and thought that you might be here,
+Bill. The wind is bitter cold."
+
+"Come in and have a cup of tea or a glass of rum, whichever you like
+best. As you say, the wind is bitter cold, and I thought that I would
+land and have a cup of tea. I shall catch the barge up before she gets
+to Pitsea."
+
+The coastguardsmen accepted the offer of a cup of tea, glancing
+furtively round the room as they drank it.
+
+"It is good tea."
+
+"'Tis that," Bill said, "and it has never paid duty. I got it from an
+Indiaman that was on the Nore three weeks ago. She transshipped part of
+her cargo on my barge and floated next tide. It was one of the best jobs
+I've had for some time, and stood me in fifty pounds and a pound or two
+of tea."
+
+"Perhaps a chest of it!" one of the men said with a laugh.
+
+"Well, well, I am not sure that it was not a chest. I like my cup of
+tea, and so does Betsy; and there is no getting tea like this at
+Stanford."
+
+They chatted for about ten minutes, when Bill remarked, "I must be
+going," and they went out together, and taking his place in his boat he
+rowed up the creek, while the coastguards continued their walk along the
+bank.
+
+"He is not a bad 'un, Tom," one of them said. "I guess he is like a good
+many of the others, runs a keg occasionally. However, his place has been
+searched half a dozen times, and nothing has been found. We have drunk
+many a glass of ale with him at the 'Lobster Smack' at Hole Haven, and I
+am sure I don't want to catch him unless there is some information to go
+on. The barge passed us half an hour ago, and I knew that it was no use
+looking in her, but of course when the boatswain said this afternoon,
+'Just follow that barge when she gets under way, and see if she goes on
+to Pitsea,' we had to do it; but the boat was late for us where the
+creek branches off round the island, and before we were across he must
+have got more than half an hour's start of us. And I am not sorry, Tom.
+We have got to do our duty, but we don't want to be at war with every
+good fellow on the marshes."
+
+"Right you are, Dick; besides, they are as slippery as eels. Who can
+tell what they have got under their lime or manure? Short of unloading
+it to the bottom there would be no finding it, if they had anything;
+and it is a job that I should not care for. Besides, there aint no place
+to empty it on; and we could not go and chuck a cargo overboard unless
+we were quite certain that we should find something underneath. As you
+say, I dare say Bill runs a keg or two now and then, but I don't suppose
+that he is worse than his neighbors; I have always suspected that it was
+he who left a keg of whisky at our door last Christmas."
+
+In the meantime Bill had overtaken his barge, and they soon had her
+alongside of the little wharf at Pitsea.
+
+"Tide is just turning. She will be aground in half an hour," he said.
+"As soon as you have got these mooring ropes fastened, you had better
+fry that steak and have your supper. I shall be over by seven o'clock in
+the morning. If Harvey and Wilson come alongside before that, tell them
+they can have the job at the usual price, and can set to work without
+waiting for me. It will be pretty late before I am in bed to-night."
+
+It was over a mile walk back to his cottage. As soon as he arrived he
+sat down to a hearty supper which his wife had prepared for him. He then
+got three pack-saddles out of the cellar, put them on the horses, and
+fastened four kegs on each horse. Tying one behind the other, he
+started, and in an hour the kegs were stowed in the cellars of four
+farmers near Stanford. It was midnight before he returned home. At
+half-past six he was down to breakfast.
+
+"Well, uncle, how are you?" he asked the child, who was already up.
+
+"I am not your uncle," the boy replied; "you are my uncle."
+
+"Ah, well, it's a way of speaking down here. It does not mean that
+anyone is one's uncle; it is just a way of speaking."
+
+The child nodded. He was learning many things.
+
+"Then it is a way of speaking when I call you uncle?"
+
+"No, no! That is different. A child like you would not call anyone
+uncle unless he was uncle; while a man my age calls anyone uncle."
+
+"That is funny, isn't it?"
+
+"Well, I suppose, when you think of it, it is; but, as I said, it is a
+way we have in this part of the country. Well, mother, have you got that
+fish nearly fried?"
+
+"It will be ready in five minutes. This roker is a very thick one. I put
+it on as soon as I heard you stirring, and it is not quite ready yet.
+That was a pretty near escape last night, Bill."
+
+"Yes; but, you see, they can hardly catch us unless they send men down
+in the afternoon. They cannot get along from the station without passing
+two or three creeks; and coming along with the tide, especially when
+there is a breath of wind to help her, we can do it in half the time.
+You see, I always get the things out from under the cargo and into the
+boat as we come along, so that the barge shall not be stopped."
+
+"But they might send down a boat from the Thames Haven station, Bill."
+
+"Yes; but then they don't know when the barge is in, or when it is going
+to start. So we get the best of them in that way. Besides, they have a
+good bit to go along the river face, and they have to cross a dozen deep
+cuts to get there. No, I have no fear of them, nor of the others either,
+as far as that goes. I have more than once had a word dropped, meant to
+put me on my guard, and instead of landing the things here have dropped
+them in a deep hole in the creek, where I could pick them up the next
+night I came in. Things have changed with us for the better, lass. Five
+years ago we had pretty hard work, with the farm and the old boat, to
+live at all comfortable; but since I have got into the swim things have
+changed with us, and I can tell you that I am making money hand over
+fist. I allow that there is a certain risk in it, but, after all, one
+likes it all the better for that. If the worst came to the worst they
+could but confiscate the old barge; if they gave me a heavy fine I could
+pay it, and if they gave me six months I could work it out, and buy a
+new barge and half a dozen farms like this on the day I came out."
+
+"But the other would be more serious, Bill?"
+
+"Well, yes; but I don't see any chance of that being found out. A gent
+comes to me at a spot we have settled on, say on the road halfway
+between Pitsea and Stanford; he hands me a box, sometimes two; I puts
+them on one of the horses, and rides over here with them; then I stows
+them away in that secret place off the store, where there aint a shadow
+of a chance of the sharpest-eyed coastguardsman ever finding them. They
+would be too delighted to light on the spirits and bacca to think of
+digging up the floor underneath. There they lie, till I take them down
+to the _Marden_. They put them into the eel tank, and next morning off
+she sails."
+
+"But you have had heavy cases brought once or twice?"
+
+"Only once--heavy enough to be troublesome. Ten cases there was then,
+each as heavy as a man could lift. It took me three journeys with three
+horses, and I had to dig a big hole in the garden to bury them till the
+_Marden_ had got rid of her eels, and was ready to sail again. Yes, that
+was a heavy job, and I got a couple of hundred pounds for my share of
+the business. I should not mind having such a job twice a week. A few
+months of that, and I could buy the biggest farm on this side of
+Essex--that is to say, if I could make up my mind to cut it and settle
+down as a farmer."
+
+"You will never do that, Bill; but you might settle down in Rochester,
+and buy half a dozen barges, with a tip-top one you would sail yourself.
+You might have a couple of men and a cabin forward, and a nice roomy
+place for yourself and me aft; and you could just steer when you liked,
+or sit down and smoke your pipe and watch her going through the fleet as
+we worked through the swatchway. That would be more your sort, Bill, and
+mine too. I know you have money enough laid by to get such a barge."
+
+"That is so, Betsy. I allow that I could do that. I have been thinking
+of it for some time, but somehow or other one never works one's self up
+to the right point to give it all up of a sudden and cut the old place.
+Well, I suppose one of these days I shall do it, if it is only to please
+you."
+
+"It would please me, you know, Bill. I don't see no harm in running the
+kegs or the bacca--it's what the people about here have been doing for
+hundreds of years--but I don't like this other business. You don't know
+what is in the cases, and you don't ask, but there aint much difficulty
+in guessing. And I don't much like this business of the child. I did not
+like it at all at first; but when I found that he had no father nor
+mother as he knew of, and so it was certain that no one was breaking
+their heart about him, I did not mind it; and I have taken to him, and
+he has pretty nearly forgotten about his home, and is as contented as if
+he had been here all his life. I have nothing more to say about him,
+though it is as certain as eggs is eggs that it has been a bad business.
+The boy has been cheated out of his money, and if his friends ever find
+him it is a nice row that we shall get into."
+
+"You need not bother yourself about that," the man said; "he aint more
+likely to be found here than if he was across the seas in Ameriky. We
+have had him near nine months now, and in another three months, if you
+were to put him down in front of his own house, he would not know it.
+Everyone about here believes as he is my nevvy, the son of a brother of
+yours who died down in the Midlands, and left him motherless. No one
+asks any questions about him now, no more than they does about Joshua.
+No, no; we are all right there, missis; and the hundred pounds that we
+had down with him, and fifty pounds a year till he gets big enough to
+earn his own grub on the barge, all helps. Anyhow, if something should
+happen to me before I have made up my mind to quit this, you know where
+the pot of money is hidden. You can settle in Rochester, and get him
+some schooling, and then apprentice him to a barge-owner and start him
+with a barge of his own as soon as he is out of his time. You bear it in
+mind that is what I should like done."
+
+"I will mind," she said quietly; "but I am as likely to be carried to
+the churchyard as you are, and you remember what I should like, and try,
+Bill, if you give up the water yourself, to see that he is with a man as
+doesn't drink. Most of the things we hears of--of barges being run down,
+and of men falling overboard on a dark night--are just drink, and
+nothing else. You are not a man as drinks yourself; you take your glass
+when the barge is in the creek, but I have never seen you the worse for
+liquor since you courted me fifteen years ago, and I tell you there is
+not a night when you are out on the barge as I don't thank God that it
+is so. I says to myself, when the wind is blowing on a dark night, 'He
+is anchored somewheres under a weather shore, and he is snug asleep in
+his cabin. There is no fear of his driving along through it and carrying
+on sail; there is no fear of his stumbling as he goes forward and
+pitching over'; and no one but myself knows what a comfort it is to me.
+You bring him up in the same way, Bill. You teach him as it is always a
+good thing to keep from liquor, though a pint with an old mate aint
+neither here nor there, but that he might almost as well take poison as
+to drink down in the cabin."
+
+"I will mind, missis; I like the child, and have got it in my mind to
+bring him up straight, so let us have no more words about it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A PARTIAL SUCCESS.
+
+
+Netta had been away three weeks when one morning, just as they were
+sitting down to breakfast, she suddenly came into the room. With a cry
+of joy Hilda ran into her arms.
+
+"You wicked, wicked girl!" she exclaimed. "I know that I ought not to
+speak to you. You don't deserve that I should even look at you, but I
+cannot help it."
+
+Miss Purcell embraced her niece more soberly, but Hilda saw by the
+expression of her face that her niece's return relieved her of a burden
+of anxiety which at times she had had difficulty in concealing.
+
+"In the first place, Netta, before I even give you a cup of tea, tell me
+if this is a final return, or whether you are going to disappear again."
+
+"That we will decide after you have heard my story," Netta said quietly.
+
+"And have you got any news of Walter?"
+
+"I am not sure; I think so. So you have kept my secret, aunt?"
+
+"I promised that I would, dear, and of course I have kept my word,
+though it was very difficult to resist Hilda's pleading. Dr. Leeds, too,
+has been terribly anxious about you, and not a day has passed that he
+has not run in for a few minutes to learn if there was any news."
+
+"I don't see why he should have known that I have been away."
+
+"Why, my dear," Hilda said, "coming here as often as he does, he
+naturally inquired where you were, and as I was uncertain how long you
+would be away, and as he had always been in our counsels, I could hardly
+keep him in the dark, even had I wished to do so. Now, my dear, let us
+know all about it; there can be no possible reason for keeping silent
+any longer."
+
+"Well, Hilda, the whole affair has been very simple, and there was not
+the least occasion for being anxious. I simply wanted to keep it quiet
+because I felt that you would raise all sorts of objections to the plan.
+We had, as you know, thought over a great many methods by which we might
+overhear a conversation between John Simcoe and the man on Pentonville
+Hill. But it seemed next to be impossible that it could be managed
+there. Suddenly the idea came into my brain that, as a servant at
+Simcoe's lodgings in Jermyn Street, I might have an excellent chance."
+
+Hilda gave an exclamation of horror.
+
+"My dear Netta, you never can really have thought of carrying this out?"
+
+"I not only thought of it, but did it. With a little management the girl
+there was got hold of, and as it fortunately happened that she did not
+like London and wanted to take a country situation, there was very
+little difficulty, and she agreed to introduce me as a friend who was
+willing to take her place. Of course, it took a few days to make all the
+arrangements and to get suitable clothes for the place, and these I sent
+by parcel delivery, and on the morning of the day that the girl was to
+leave presented myself at the house. The man and his wife were good
+enough to approve of my appearance. They had, it seemed, three sets of
+lodgers, one on each floor; the man himself waited upon them, and my
+work was to do their rooms and keep the house tidy generally."
+
+Again Hilda gave a gasp.
+
+"There was nothing much in that," Netta went on, without heeding her. "I
+used to do most of the house work when we were in Germany, and I think
+that I gave every satisfaction. Of course the chief difficulty was about
+my deafness. I was obliged to explain to them that I was very hard of
+hearing unless I was directly spoken to. Mr. Johnstone always answered
+the bells himself when he was at home. Of course, when he was out it
+was my duty to do so. When I was downstairs it was simple enough, for I
+only had to go to the door of the room of which I saw the bell in
+motion. At first they seemed to think that the difficulty was
+insuperable; but I believe that in other respects I suited them so well
+that they decided to make the best of it, and when her husband was out
+and I was upstairs Mrs. Johnstone took to answering the door bells, or
+if a lodger rang, which was not very often, for her husband seldom went
+out unless they were all three away, she would come upstairs and tell
+me. Johnstone himself said to me one day that I was the best girl he had
+ever had, and that instead of having to go most carefully over the
+sitting rooms before the gentlemen came in for breakfast, he found that
+everything was so perfectly dusted and tidied up that there was really
+nothing for him to do.
+
+"But oh, Hilda, I never had the slightest idea before how untidy men
+are! The way they spill their tobacco ash all over the room, and put the
+ends of their cigars upon mantelpieces, tables, and everywhere else, you
+would hardly believe it. The ground floor and the second floor were the
+worst, for they very often had men in of an evening, and the state of
+the rooms in the morning was something awful. Our man was on the first
+floor, and did not give anything like so much trouble, for he almost
+always went out in the evening and never had more than one or two
+friends in with him. One of these friends was the man we saw with him in
+the Row, and who, we had no doubt, was an accomplice of his. He came
+oftener than anyone else, very often coming in to fetch him. As he was
+always in evening dress I suppose they went to some club or to the
+theater together. I am bound to say that his appearance is distinctly
+that of a gentleman.
+
+"I had taken with me two or three things that I foresaw I should want.
+Among them was an auger, and some corks of a size that would exactly fit
+the hole that it would make. Simcoe's bedroom communicated with the
+sitting room, and he always used this door in going from one room to the
+other; and it was evident that it was only through that that I could get
+a view of what was going on. I did not see how I could possibly make a
+hole through the door itself. It was on one side, next to that where the
+fireplace was, and there was a window directly opposite, and of course a
+hole would have been noticed immediately. The only place that I could
+see to make it was through the door frame. Its position was a matter of
+much calculation, I can assure you. The auger was half an inch bore. I
+dared not get it larger, and it would have been hopeless to try and see
+anything with a smaller one, especially as the hole would have to be
+four or five inches long. As I sometimes went into the room when they
+were together, either with hot water or grilled bones, or something of
+that sort, I was able to notice exactly where the chairs were generally
+placed. Simcoe sat with his back to the bedroom door, and the other man
+on the other side of the hearthrug, facing him. I, therefore, decided to
+make the hole on the side nearest to the wall, so that I could see the
+other man past Simcoe. Of course I wanted the hole to be as low as
+possible, as it would not be so likely to be noticed as it would were it
+higher up. I chose a point, therefore, that would come level with my eye
+when I was kneeling down.
+
+"At about four o'clock in the afternoon they always went out, and from
+then till six Johnstone also took his airing, and I went upstairs to
+turn down the beds and tidy up generally. It was very seldom that any of
+them dined at home; I, therefore, had that two hours to myself. I got
+the line the hole should go by leaving the door open, fastening a stick
+to the back of a chair till it was, as nearly as I could judge, the
+height of the man's face, tying a piece of string to it and bringing it
+tight to the point where I settled the hole should start, and then
+marking the line the string made across the frame. Then there was a good
+deal more calculation as to the side-slant; but ten days ago I boldly
+set to work and bored the hole. Everything was perfectly right; I could
+see the head of the stick, and the circle was large enough for me to
+get all the man's face in view. Of course I had put a duster on the
+ground to prevent any chips falling onto the carpet.
+
+"I was a little nervous when I set to work to drill that hole; it was
+the only time that I felt nervous at all. I had beforehand drilled
+several holes in the shelves of cupboards, so as to accustom myself to
+use the auger, and it did not take me many minutes before it came
+through on the other side. The corks were of two sizes; one fitted
+tightly into the hole, the other could be drawn in or out with very
+little difficulty. I had gone out one day and bought some tubes of paint
+of the colors that I thought would match the graining of the door frame.
+I also bought a corkscrew that was about an inch and a half shorter than
+the depth of the hole. It was meant to be used by a cross-piece that
+went through a hole at the top. I had got this cross-piece out with some
+trouble, and tied a short loop of string through the hole it had gone
+through. I put the corkscrew into one of the smaller corks and pushed it
+through until it was level with the frame on the sitting-room side, and
+found that by aid of the loop of string I could draw it out easily. Then
+I put one of the larger corks in at the bedroom side of the hole and
+pushed it in until it was level with that side. Then I painted the ends
+of the corks to resemble the graining, and when it was done they could
+hardly be noticed a couple of feet away.
+
+"I had now nothing to do but to wait until the right moment came. It
+came last night. The man arrived about seven o'clock. Johnstone was out,
+and I showed him upstairs. Simcoe was already dressed, and was in the
+sitting room. I lost no time, but went into the bedroom, where the gas
+was burning, turned down the bed on the side nearest to the door, and
+then went round, and with another corkscrew I had ready in my pocket
+took out the inner cork, got hold of the loop, and pulled the other one
+out also. Even had I had my hearing, I could have heard nothing of what
+was said inside, for the doors were of mahogany, and very well fitted,
+and Johnstone had said one day that even if a man shouted in one room he
+would hardly be heard in the next, or on the landing. I pushed a wedge
+under the door so as to prevent its being opened suddenly. That was the
+thing that I was most afraid of. I thought that Simcoe could hardly move
+without coming within my line of sight, and that I should have time to
+jump up and be busy at the bed before he could open the door. But I was
+not sure of this, so I used the wedge. If he tried the door and could
+not open it, he would only suppose that the door had stuck and I could
+snatch out the wedge and kick it under the bed by the time he made a
+second effort.
+
+"Kneeling down, I saw to my delight that my calculations had been
+perfectly right. I could see the man's face well, for the light of the
+candles fell full upon it. They talked for a time about the club and the
+men they were going to dine with, and I began to be afraid that there
+was going to be nothing more, when the man said, 'By the way, Simcoe, I
+went down to Tilbury yesterday.' What Simcoe said, of course, I could
+not hear; but the other answered, 'Oh, yes, he is all right, getting
+quite at home, the man said; and has almost ceased to talk about his
+friends.' Then I saw him rise, and at once jumped up and went on turning
+down the bed, lest Simcoe should have forgotten something and come in
+for it. However, he did not, and two or three minutes later I peeped in
+again. The room was all dark, and I knew that they had gone. Then I put
+my corks in again, saw that the paint was all right, and went
+downstairs. I told Mrs. Johnstone that, if I could be spared, I should
+like to go out for two or three hours this morning to see a friend in
+service. It was the time that I could best be spared. I should have
+finished the sitting rooms by eight o'clock, and as none of the men have
+breakfast until about eleven, there was plenty of time for me to make
+the beds after I got back."
+
+Hilda was crying now. Her relief that hearing that Walter was alive and
+well was unbounded. She had absolutely refused to recognize the body
+found in the canal, but she could not but admit that the probabilities
+were all against her. It was certain that the clothes were his, the
+child's age was about the same, the body must have been in the water the
+right length of time, the only shadow of evidence to support her was the
+hair. She had taken the trouble to go to two or three workhouses, and
+found that the coroner's assertion that soft hair when cut quite close
+will, in a very short time, stand upright, was a correct one. She kept
+on hoping against hope, but her faith had been yielding, especially
+since Netta's absence had deprived her of the support that she obtained
+from her when inclined to look at matters from a dark point of view.
+
+"Oh, Netta," she cried, "how can I thank you enough! How happy the news
+has made me! And to think that I have been blaming you, while you have
+been doing all this. You cannot tell what a relief it is to me. I have
+thought so much of that poor little body, and the dread that it was
+Walter's after all has been growing upon me. I have scarcely slept for a
+long time."
+
+"I know, dear. It was because I saw that though you still kept up an
+appearance of hope, you were really in despair, and could tell from your
+heavy eyes when you came down of a morning that you had hardly slept,
+that I made up my mind something must be done. There was no hardship
+whatever in my acting as a servant for a month or two. I can assure you
+that I regarded it rather as fun, and was quite proud of the credit that
+my master gave me. Now, the question is, shall I go back again?"
+
+"Certainly not, Netta. You might be months there without having such a
+piece of luck again. At any moment you might be caught listening, or
+they might notice the hole that you made so cleverly. Besides, we have
+gained a clew now to Walter's hiding place. But even that is as nothing
+to me in comparison with having learned that he is alive and well, and
+that he has ceased to fret and is becoming contented in his new home. We
+can afford to wait now. Sooner or later we are sure to find him.
+Before, I pictured him, if still alive, as shut up in some horrible
+cellar. Now I can be patient. I think that we are sure to find him
+before long."
+
+"Well, I think, dear," Miss Purcell said quietly, "that we had better
+ring the bell and have some fresh tea made. Everything is perfectly
+cold, for it is three-quarters of an hour since it came up."
+
+Hilda rang the bell and gave the necessary orders.
+
+"Let Janet bring the things up, Roberts, and come back yourself when you
+have given the order. I want to send a line to Dr. Leeds. You will be
+delighted to hear that Miss Purcell has learned, at least, that Walter
+is alive and well; but mind," she went on, as the old soldier was about
+to burst out into exclamations of delight, "you must keep this
+altogether to yourself. It is quite possible that we have been watched
+as closely as we have been watching this man, and that he may in some
+way learn everything that passes here; therefore it must not be
+whispered outside this room that we have obtained any news."
+
+"I understand, miss. I won't say a word about it downstairs."
+
+Hilda scribbled a line in pencil to the doctor, saying that Netta was
+back and that she had obtained some news of a favorable description, and
+that, as she knew that at this hour he could not get away, she would
+come over with Netta at once to tell him what they had learned, and
+would be in Harley Street within half an hour of his getting the
+message.
+
+As soon as they had finished breakfast they drove to the doctor's. They
+were shown up into the drawing room, where Dr. Leeds joined them almost
+immediately.
+
+"We are not going to detain you more than two or three minutes," Hilda
+said, while he shook hands warmly with Netta. "You must come over this
+evening, and then you shall hear the whole story; but I thought that it
+was only fair that Netta should have the satisfaction of telling you
+herself what she had learned."
+
+"It is very little, but so far as it goes it is quite satisfactory, Dr.
+Leeds. I heard, or rather I saw, the man we suspected of being Simcoe's
+accomplice say, 'By the way, I ran down to Tilbury yesterday.' Simcoe
+then said something, but what I could not tell, as his face was hidden
+from me, and the man in reply said, 'Oh, yes, he is all right, and has
+almost ceased to talk about his friends.' Now you must be content with
+that until this evening."
+
+"I will be content with it," the doctor said, "if you will assure me
+that you are not going away again. If you will not, I will stop here and
+hear the whole story, even at the risk of a riot down in my waiting
+room."
+
+"No, she is not going away, doctor; she had not quite settled about it
+when she got back this morning, but I settled it for her. I will take
+care that she does not slip out of my sight till after you have seen her
+and talked it all over."
+
+"Then the matter is finally settled," Netta said, "for unless I go in
+half an hour's time I cannot go at all."
+
+"Then I will be patient until this evening."
+
+"Will you come to dinner, doctor?" Hilda said. "I have sent notes off to
+Mr. Pettigrew and Colonel Bulstrode to ask them to come, as I have news
+of importance to give them."
+
+"What will they do, Netta, when they find that you do not come back?"
+Hilda asked as they drove away.
+
+"That has puzzled me a good deal. I quite saw that if I disappeared
+suddenly they might take it into their heads that something had happened
+to me, and might go to the police office and say I was missing. But that
+would not be the worst. Simcoe might guess, when he heard that I had
+gone without notice and left my things behind me, that I had been put
+there to watch him. He certainly would not suspect that he could have
+been overheard, for he must know that it would be quite impossible for
+any words to be heard through the doors; still, he would be uneasy, and
+might even have the child moved to some other locality. So I have
+written a note, which we can talk over when we get in. Of course they
+may think that I have behaved very badly in throwing them over like
+this, but it is better that they should do that than they should think
+there was anything suspicious about it. My wages are due to-morrow; like
+the girl I succeeded, I was to have eight pounds a year. I have left my
+box open, so that the mistress can see for herself that there is none of
+the lodgers' property in it. There are two or three print dresses--I put
+on my Sunday gown when I came out--and the underclothes are all duly
+marked Jane Clotworthy."
+
+"What a name to take, Netta!"
+
+"Yes, I do not know how I came to choose it. I was thinking what name I
+would take when Clotworthy flashed across my mind. I don't think that I
+ever heard the name before, and how I came to think of it I cannot
+imagine; it seemed to me a sort of inspiration, so I settled on it at
+once."
+
+"Now, let me see the letter," Hilda asked, as soon as they returned
+home.
+
+"I hardly liked to write it," Netta said, "it is such a wicked story;
+but I don't see how a person can act as detective without telling
+stories, and, at any rate, it is perfectly harmless."
+
+"Oh, yes; it is quite certain, Netta, that you could not write and tell
+her that you have been in her house in disguise, and that, having found
+out what you wanted, you have now left her. Of course you must make up a
+story of some sort, or, as you say, Simcoe would at once suspect that
+you had been sent there to watch him. He might feel perfectly sure that
+no conversation could have been heard outside the room, but he could not
+be sure that you might not have been hidden under the table or sofa, or
+behind a curtain. When so much depends upon his thinking that he is
+absolutely safe, one must use what weapons one can. If you have any
+scruples about it, I will write the letter for you."
+
+"No, I do not think the scruples will trouble me," Netta laughed. "Of
+course, I have had to tell stories, and one more or less will not weigh
+on my mind. Here is the letter. If you can think of any better reason
+for running away so suddenly, by all means let me have it."
+
+The letter was written in a sprawling hand, and with many of the words
+misspelt. It began:
+
+     "DEAR MRS. JOHNSTONE: I am afraid you will think very badly of me
+     for leaving you so sudding, after you and Mr. Johnstone have been
+     so kind to me, but who should I meet at my friend's but my young
+     man. We were ingaged to be married, but we had a quarrel, and that
+     is why I came up to town so sudding. We has made it up. He only
+     come up yesterday, and is going down this morning, and nothing
+     would do but that I must go down with him and that we should get
+     married directly. He says that as the banns has been published
+     there aint any occasion to wait, and we might be married at the end
+     of the week, as he has got everything ready and is in good
+     employment. So the long and the short of it is, mam, that I am
+     going down with him home this afternoon. As to the wages that was
+     due to-morrow, of course I forfeit them, and sorry I am to give you
+     troubil, by leaving you without a girl. My box is not locked, plese
+     look in it and you will see that there aint nothing there that
+     isn't my own. In one corner you will find half a crown wrapped up
+     in paper, plese take that to pay for the carriage of the box, the
+     key is in the lock, and I send a labil to tie on."
+
+"What do you think of that, Hilda?"
+
+"I think it will do capitally. I don't think any better excuse could be
+made. But where will you have the box sent?"
+
+"That is what we must settle together. It would not do to send it down
+to some little village, for if the address was unknown it might be sent
+back again."
+
+"Yes; and if John Simcoe had any suspicions that the story was a false
+one he might go down there to make inquiries about Jane Clotworthy, and,
+finding no such name known there, and the box still lying at the
+station, his suspicion that he had been watched would become almost a
+certainty."
+
+"I should think that Reading would be a good place to send to it. 'Jane
+Clotworthy, Luggage Office, Reading.' Then I could go down myself and
+ask for it, and could bring it up by the next train."
+
+"Tom Roberts could do that, Netta; there is no reason why you should
+trouble about it."
+
+"I think that I had better go myself. It is most unlikely that Simcoe
+would send down anyone to watch who took the box away, but if he should
+be very uneasy he might do so. He would be sure to describe me to anyone
+that he sent, so that it would be better that I should go myself."
+
+"I think that your story is so plausible, Netta, that there is no risk
+whatever of his having any doubts about it, but still one cannot be too
+careful."
+
+"Then I will wind up the letter.
+
+     "'Begging your pardon for having left you in the lurch so sudding.
+     I remain, your obedient servant,
+
+     "'Jane Clotworthy.
+
+     "'P.S.--I am very sorry.
+
+     "'P.S.--Plese give my respects to Mr. Johnstone, and excuse
+     blots.'"
+
+Hilda burst into a fit of laughter as she glanced at the postscript.
+
+"That will do admirably, Netta," she said. "Now how had we better send
+it?"
+
+"I should think that your maid had better take it. You might tell her to
+ring at the bell, hand it to the woman, and come away at once, without
+talking, except saying 'I was told to give you this.' Then she would be
+well away before Mrs. Johnstone had mastered the contents of the note.
+It had better be sent off at once, for by this time they will be getting
+in a way."
+
+"I think that I had better send Roberts. No doubt Johnstone himself
+will be in, and will answer the door; and he might ask Lucy where she
+came from, and I don't want to tell her anything. Roberts could say that
+a young woman of his acquaintance, down Chelsea way, asked him to get on
+a 'bus and leave it for her. He can be trusted, if the man does detain
+him and ask him questions, to give sensible answers."
+
+The letter was sealed and Roberts called up.
+
+"Take a cab and go down with this to Jermyn Street," Hilda said. "I want
+it left at that house. If the man who opens the door asks you who you
+have brought it from, say from a young woman, a friend of yours, in a
+place down Chelsea way. I don't suppose that he will ask any other
+questions, and you had best say 'Good-morning,' and saunter off
+carelessly, as if, having done your errand, you had nothing else on
+hand. Of course you won't drive up to the door. Leave the cab round the
+corner, and come straight back here in it."
+
+"All right, miss," he answered.
+
+There was a little look of amusement in the man's face as he glanced at
+Netta that did not this time pass unnoticed by his mistress. She waited
+until the door had closed behind him, and then turned sharply on her
+friend.
+
+"I believe, Netta, you have had Roberts in your confidence all the time,
+and while we have all been working ourselves into a fever as to where
+you could be, he has known it all along."
+
+"One cannot work without accomplices," Netta laughed. "It was necessary
+that someone should make arrangements with the servant there for me to
+take her place, and who could I trust better than Roberts? I think
+Colonel Bulstrode's servant helped in the matter; at any rate, they
+managed it capitally between them. Of course it was Roberts who carried
+my box out that morning. You must not be angry with him, Hilda, for
+keeping it from you. I made him promise most faithfully that nothing
+should induce him to confess."
+
+"I shan't be angry with him, Netta, but you may be sure that I shall
+give him a little lecture and say that I will have no more meddling on
+his part, except by my express orders. It is really annoying, you know,
+to think that all this time we were fretting about you there was Roberts
+going about laughing in his sleeve."
+
+"Well, you know, Hilda, he has the discovery of Walter as much at heart
+as we have, and he has certainly not spared himself in the search for
+him."
+
+"No, that he has not. He is a faithful fellow, and I promise you that I
+won't be too hard on him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A DINNER PARTY.
+
+
+It was the first time that anyone had dined at the house in Hyde Park
+Gardens since General Mathieson's death, and it seemed strange to Hilda
+when Mr. Pettigrew, at her request, faced her at the table. The
+gentlemen had all arrived within a minute or two of each other, and no
+word had been said by Hilda as to the subject about which she had
+specially asked them there. The table was well lighted and bright with
+flowers, and the lawyer and Colonel Bulstrode were both somewhat
+surprised at the cheerful tone in which Hilda began to talk as soon as
+they sat down. It was, however, eight months since the house was first
+shut up, and though all had sincerely regretted the General's death, it
+was an old story now, and they were relieved to find that it was
+evidently not Hilda's intention to recall the past.
+
+During dinner the talk went on as usual, and it was not until the
+servants had left the room that Hilda said:
+
+"Now, Mr. Pettigrew, I have no doubt that both you and Colonel Bulstrode
+are wondering what the matter of importance about which I asked you to
+come here can be. It is rather a long story, so instead of going
+upstairs we will stop here. My news is great news. We have
+discovered--at least my friend Miss Purcell has discovered--that without
+doubt Walter is alive and well."
+
+An exclamation of surprise broke from Mr. Pettigrew and the Colonel.
+
+"By gad, that is great news indeed!" the latter exclaimed; "and I
+congratulate you most heartily. I had quite given up all hope myself,
+and although I would have fought that fellow to the last, I never had
+any real doubt in my mind that the child they fished out of the canal
+was General's Mathieson's grandson."
+
+"You astonish me indeed," Mr. Pettigrew said. "I own that, while I was
+able to swear that I did not recognize him, yet as a reasonable man I
+felt that the evidence was overpowering the other way. Though I would
+not dash your hopes by saying so, it appeared to me certain that, sooner
+or later, the courts would decide that the provisions of the will must
+be carried out. And so you discovered this, Miss Netta? May we ask how
+you did it?"
+
+"Netta wanted her share in the matter to remain a secret, Mr. Pettigrew;
+but I told her that was out of the question, and that it was quite
+necessary that you and Colonel Bulstrode should know the precise facts,
+for that, as a lawyer, you could not take any action or decide upon any
+course to be pursued unless you knew the exact circumstances of the
+case. However, she asked me, as she has given me the whole particulars,
+to tell the story for her. When I have done she will answer any
+questions you may like to ask."
+
+Hilda then repeated, almost word for word, the story Netta had told her.
+Mr. Pettigrew and the Colonel several times broke in with exclamations
+of surprise as she went on. Dr. Leeds sat grave and thoughtful.
+
+"Splendidly done!" Colonel Bulstrode exclaimed when she brought her
+story to an end. "It was a magnificent idea, and it must have needed no
+end of pluck to carry it out as you did. But how, by looking at a
+fellow's mouth through a hole, you knew what he said beats me
+altogether."
+
+"That part was very simple, Colonel Bulstrode," Netta said quietly. "I
+learned it by a new system that they have in Germany, and was myself a
+teacher in the institution. You may not know, perhaps, that I am
+stone-deaf."
+
+"You are not joking, Miss Purcell; are you?" the Colonel said, looking
+at her earnestly. "Why, I have talked to you a dozen times and it never
+struck me that you were in the slightest degree deaf."
+
+"I am absolutely so, as Miss Covington will tell you, and Mr. Pettigrew
+knows it also. Fortunately I did not lose my hearing until I was six
+years old, and I had not altogether lost the habit of speaking when I
+went out to Germany, three years later. Had I been born deaf and dumb I
+could have learned to understand what was said perfectly, but should
+never have spoken in a natural voice."
+
+"Well, it is wonderful altogether, and I should not have believed it if
+a stranger had told me. However, the great thing at present is that you
+have found out that the child is alive. We ought not to be long in
+laying hands on him now, Pettigrew, eh?"
+
+"I hope not, Colonel; but you must not be too sanguine about that; we
+have evidently very crafty scoundrels to deal with. Still, now that we
+feel sure that the child is alive and well, the matter is a
+comparatively straightforward one, and we can afford to work and wait
+patiently. Tilbury is only a bit of a village, but beyond that stretch
+great marshes--in fact, all South Essex as far as the mouths of the
+rivers Crouch, Blackwater, and Coln. He would say, 'I went down to
+Tilbury,' because Tilbury is the terminus of the railway. Possibly he
+may have crossed to Gravesend; possibly he may have gone inland to
+Upminster or some other village lying in that district; or he may have
+driven down as far as Foulness, which, so far as anybody knows anything
+about it, might be the end of the world. Therefore, there is a wide area
+to be searched."
+
+"But he can be followed when he goes down again, Mr. Pettigrew?"
+
+"Of course, my dear, that is what must be done, though there is no
+reason why we should not set about inquiries at once. But, you see, it
+is not so easy to follow a man about country roads as it is in the
+streets of London. No doubt he must drive or ride, unless, indeed,
+Walter is within two or three miles of the station, and you may be sure
+that if he sees a trap coming after him he will not go near the place
+where the child is. Possibly, again, he may not go near the place at
+all, but may meet someone who takes the money for the child's keep. It
+may be a bargeman who sails round to Harwich or somewhere along the
+south coast. It may be the steward of a steamer that goes regularly
+backwards and forwards to France.
+
+"I don't want to dishearten you, my dear," he broke off, as he saw how
+Hilda's face fell as he went on, "but, you see, we have not common
+rogues to deal with; their whole proceedings have shown an exceptional
+amount of coolness and determination. Although I own that I can see
+nothing absolutely suspicious in the way that last will was drawn up and
+signed, still I have never been able to divest my mind of an idea that
+there is something radically wrong about it. But putting aside the
+strange death of your uncle, we have the cunning way in which the boy
+was stolen, the complete success with which our search was baffled, the
+daring attempt to prove his death by what we now know must have been the
+substitution of the body of some other child of the same age dressed in
+his clothes. All this shows how carefully every detail must have been
+thought out, and we must assume that equal care will be shown to prevent
+our recovering the boy. Were they to suspect that they had been traced
+to Tilbury, and were watched there, or that any inquiries were being
+made in the neighborhood, you may be sure that Walter would be at once
+removed some distance away, or possibly sent abroad, perhaps to
+Australia or the States. There could be no difficulty about that. There
+are hundreds of emigrants going out every week with their families, who
+would jump at the offer of a hundred pounds for adopting a child, and
+once away it would be next to impossible ever to come upon his traces.
+So, you see, we shall need to exercise the most extreme caution in our
+searches."
+
+"I see, Mr. Pettigrew," Hilda said quietly, "that the difficulties are
+far greater than I ever dreamt of. It seemed to me that when we had
+found out that Walter was alive and well, and that Tilbury was, so to
+speak, the starting place of our search, it would be an easy matter to
+find him. Now I see that, except for the knowledge that he is alive, we
+are nearly as far off as ever."
+
+"I think Mr. Pettigrew is rather making the worst of things, Miss
+Covington," Dr. Leeds said, speaking for the first time. "No doubt the
+difficulties are considerable, but I think we have good heads on our
+side too, as Miss Purcell has proved, and I feel confident that, now
+that we have learned as much as we have done, we shall be successful in
+the end."
+
+"My opinion," Colonel Bulstrode said, "is that we ought to give these
+two fellows in custody as rogues, vagabonds, and kidnapers. Then the
+police will set to work to find out their antecedents, and at least
+while they are shut up they can do no harm. Gad, sir, we should make
+short work of them in India."
+
+"I am afraid that that would hardly do, Colonel Bulstrode," Mr.
+Pettigrew said mildly. "We have practically nothing to go upon; we have
+no evidence that a magistrate would entertain for a moment. The men
+would be discharged at once, and we should no doubt be served the next
+morning with a writ for at least ten thousand pounds' damages, and, what
+is more, they would get them; and you may be very sure that you would
+never find the child."
+
+"Then it is shameful that it should be so," the Colonel said warmly;
+"why, I served three years as a police officer in India, and when I got
+news that a dacoit, for instance, was hiding in a jungle near a village,
+down I would go, with a couple of dozen of men, surround the place, and
+make every man and woman a prisoner. Then the police would examine them,
+and let me tell you that they have pretty rough ways of finding out a
+secret. Of course I knew nothing about it, and asked no questions, but
+you may be sure that it was not long before they made someone open his
+mouth. Hanging up a man by his thumbs, for instance, freshens his memory
+wonderfully. You may say that this thorough way of getting at things is
+not according to modern ideas. I don't care a fig for modern ideas, and,
+as far as that goes, neither do the natives of India. My object is to
+find out the author of certain crimes; the villagers' object is to
+shield him. If they are obstinate, they bring it on themselves; the
+criminal is caught, and justice is satisfied. What is the use of police
+if they are not to catch criminals? I have no patience with the maudlin
+nonsense that prevails in this country, that a criminal should have
+every chance of escape. He is warned not to say anything that would
+incriminate himself, material evidence is not admitted, his wife mayn't
+be questioned. Why, it is downright sickening, sir. The so-called spirit
+of fairness is all on the side of the criminal, and it seems to me that
+our whole procedure, instead of being directed to punish criminals, is
+calculated to enable them to escape from punishment. The whole thing is
+wrong, sir--radically wrong." And Colonel Bulstrode wiped his heated
+forehead with a huge Indian silk handkerchief. Hilda laughed, Netta
+smiled, and Mr. Pettigrew's eyes twinkled.
+
+"There is a good deal in what you say, Colonel Bulstrode, though I
+cannot go with you in the matter of hanging men up by their thumbs."
+
+"Why, sir," broke in Colonel, "what is it? Their own native princes
+would have stretched them over a charcoal fire until they got the truth
+out of them."
+
+"So, possibly, would our own forefathers, Colonel."
+
+"Humph! They had a lot more common sense in those days than they have
+now, Mr. Pettigrew. There was no sentimentality about them; they were
+short and sharp in their measures. They were men, sir--men. They drank
+like men, and they fought like men; there was sterling stuff in them;
+they didn't weaken their bodies by drinking slops, or their minds by
+reading newspapers."
+
+"Well, Colonel Bulstrode," Hilda said, smiling, "if it is not contrary
+to your convictions, we will go upstairs and have a cup of tea. No doubt
+there is something to be said for the old days, but there is a good deal
+to be said on the other side of the question, too."
+
+When they went upstairs Dr. Leeds sat down by Netta.
+
+"I am afraid that you blame me for what I did, Dr. Leeds," she said
+timidly.
+
+"No, I do not blame you at all for doing it, but I do think that you
+ought to have consulted us all before undertaking it. Your intention was
+a noble one, but the risk that you ran was so great that certainly I
+should not have felt justified in allowing you to undertake it, had I
+had any voice in the matter."
+
+"But I cannot see that it was dangerous," the girl said. "He could not
+have knocked me down and beaten me, even if he had caught me with my eye
+at the peep-hole. He could only have called up Johnstone and denounced
+me as an eavesdropper, and at the worst I should only have been turned
+straight out of the house."
+
+"I do not think that that would have been at all his course of action. I
+believe, on the contrary, that although he would have spoken angrily to
+you, he would have said nothing to the lodging-house keeper. He would
+have at once guessed that you had not taken all this trouble merely to
+gratify a silly curiosity, but would have been sure that you had been
+employed as a spy. What he would have done I do not know, but he would
+certainly have had you watched as you watched him, and he would, in his
+conversation with his confederates, have dropped clews that would have
+sent us all off on wild-goose chases. I don't think that he would have
+ventured on getting you removed, for he would have known that he would
+have been suspected of foul play at once by those who had employed you.
+I hope you will give me a promise that you will never undertake any plan
+without consulting Miss Covington and myself. You can hardly realize
+what anxiety I have suffered while you have been away."
+
+"I will promise willingly, Dr. Leeds. I did not think anything of the
+danger, and do not believe even now there was any; but I do think that
+Hilda would not have heard of my going as a servant, and that you would
+not have approved of it. Still, as I saw no harm in it myself, I thought
+that for once I would act upon my own ideas."
+
+"There are circumstances under which no one need disapprove of a lady
+acting as a servant," he said quietly. "If a family misfortune has
+happened, and she has to earn her own living, I think that there are
+many who would be far happier in the position of a servant in a good
+family, than as an ill-paid and over-worked governess. The one is at
+least her own mistress, to a large extent, as long as she does her work
+properly; the other can never call her time her own. In your case,
+certainly, the kind object with which you undertook the task was a full
+justification of it, had you not been matching yourself against an
+unscrupulous villain, who, had he detected your disguise, would have
+practically hesitated at nothing to rid himself of you. It happened,
+too, in this case you were one of the few persons who could have
+succeeded; for, as you say, it would have been next to impossible for
+anyone unpossessed of your peculiar faculty to have overheard a
+conversation, doubtless conducted in a somewhat low voice, through such
+a hole as you made."
+
+"Then you don't think any worse of me for it?"
+
+"You need not be afraid of that," he said quietly. "My opinion is
+already so fixed on that subject that I doubt if anything you could do
+would shake it."
+
+Then he got up and walked across to where the others were chatting
+together.
+
+"Now, are we to have another council?" Hilda asked.
+
+"I think not," Dr. Leeds said; "it seems to me that the matter requires
+a great deal of thinking over before we decide, and fortunately, as the
+man went down to Tilbury only two days ago, he is not likely to repeat
+his visit for another month at least, possibly for another three months.
+Men like that do not give away chances, and he would probably pay for
+three months' board for the child at a time, so as to avoid having to
+make the journey oftener, however confident he might be that he was not
+watched."
+
+"I agree with you, Dr. Leeds," Mr. Pettigrew said. "It would never do to
+make a false step."
+
+"Still," Hilda urged, "surely there cannot be any need to wait for his
+going down again. A sharp detective might find out a good deal. He could
+inquire whether there was anyone at Tilbury who let out traps. Probably
+nothing beyond a gig or a pony-cart could be obtained there. He would,
+of course, hire it for a drive to some place within three or four miles,
+and while it was got ready would casually ask if it was often let; he
+might possibly hear of someone who came down from town--a bagman,
+perhaps, who hired it occasionally for calling upon his customers in the
+villages round."
+
+"I think that that is a capital suggestion," Mr. Pettigrew said. "I
+don't see why, while we are thinking over the best way to proceed, we
+should not get these inquiries made. They might be of some assistance to
+us. I will send a man down to-morrow or next day. As you say, it may
+give us something to go upon."
+
+Netta went down two days later to Reading. She had the box labeled to
+Oxford, and took a third-class ticket for herself. She had a suspicion
+that a man who was lolling on a seat on the platform looked closely at
+her, and she saw him afterwards saunter away towards the luggage office.
+When the train came in her box was put into the van, and she got out at
+the next station and returned by the first train to London, feeling
+satisfied that she would never hear anything more of the box.
+
+The next day a detective called who had been engaged earlier in the
+search for Walter and had frequently seen Hilda.
+
+"Mr. Pettigrew said, Miss Covington, that I had better come to you and
+tell you exactly what I have done. I went down to Tilbury yesterday. I
+took with me one or two cases made up like a traveler's samples, and I
+presently found that the man at the public house by the water had a
+pony-trap which he let. I went over to him and said that I wanted it for
+the day.
+
+"'How far are you going?' he asked.
+
+"'I am going to Stanford,' I said; 'then by a crossroad by Laindon to
+Hornchurch and back.'
+
+"'It is rather a long round for one day,' he said.
+
+"''Tis a long round,' I said. 'Well, maybe I might sleep at Hornchurch,
+and go on to Upminster.'
+
+"'You will have to pay a deposit of a couple of pounds,' he said,
+'unless you like to take a boy.'
+
+"I said I preferred driving myself, and that it was less weight for the
+pony. 'I suppose you often let it out?' I remarked.
+
+"'Pretty often,' he said; 'you see, there is no way of getting about
+beyond this. It would pay me to keep a better trap if it wasn't that
+commercials generally work this country in their own vehicles, and take
+the road from Barking through Dagenham, or else from Brentwood or
+Chelmsford or one of the other Great Eastern stations. There is one in
+your line comes occasionally; he goes by the same route you are taking,
+and always has the trap to himself. He travels for some spirit firm, I
+think; he always brings down a couple of cases of bottles.'
+
+"'That is my line too,' I said. 'He hasn't been here lately, I hope?'
+
+"'Well, yes, he was here three or four days ago; he is a pretty liberal
+chap with his samples, I should say, for he always comes back with his
+cases empty.' Of course I hired the pony and trap. I drove through New
+Tilbury, Low Street, and Stanford. I put up there for three or four
+hours. At each place I went to all the public houses, and as I marked
+the liquors cheap I got several orders. I asked at every place had
+anyone in my line been round lately, and they all said no, and nobody
+had noticed the pony cart; but of course that did not prove that he
+might not have driven through there."
+
+"You did not make any inquiries about a missing child?"
+
+"No, Miss Covington. Mr. Pettigrew particularly told me that I was not
+to make any inquiries whatever."
+
+"Yes, that is what we agreed upon, Bassett; we don't want to run the
+slightest risk of their suspecting that we are inquiring in that
+direction. My own idea is that you could do no harm if you went round
+several times, just as you did yesterday; and perhaps it would be better
+for you not to start from the same place, but to hire a vehicle and
+drive round the country, stopping at all the villages, and apparently
+trying to get orders for spirits or tobacco. That idea of yours is an
+excellent one, because your inquiry whether another man had been along
+in the same trade would seem natural. You might say everywhere that you
+had heard of his going round there, but that it did not look much like
+business driving a rickety little trap with a pony not worth fifty
+shillings. At any village public houses at which he stopped they could
+hardly help noticing it, and if you heard that he had put up there for
+an hour or two, it would certainly be something to go upon, and a search
+round there might lead to a result. However, do not go until you hear
+again from me. I will talk it over with Mr. Pettigrew, and see what he
+thinks of it."
+
+"It certainly seems to me that we might light upon a clew that way, Miss
+Covington, and if he were to happen to hear that another man in the same
+line had been there asking questions about him, it would seem natural
+enough, because of course a commercial would like to know what line
+another in the same branch was following, and how he was doing. Then I
+will wait your further orders. There would be sure to be traps to be
+hired at Barking or Rainham, and if there are not, I could get one at
+Bromley. Indeed, as I should want it for a day or two, it would be just
+as well to get it there as farther east, and I should be likely to get a
+better-looking turnout. In little places a man with a good turnout is
+more likely to do business than one who looks second-rate altogether. It
+seems a sort of credit to the place; and they would give him orders
+where they would not to a man who made no sort of show. I should say,
+miss, that as I shall be going over the ground more than once, it would
+be best to send on the goods I get orders for; they don't amount to very
+much, and I should get about the same price that I gave for them. I know
+a clerk in the firm whose liquors I took down. I told him that I was
+going down in that part of Essex, and asked if they would give me a
+commission on anything that I could sell. They said 'yes' willingly
+enough, and the clerk said I was a respectable man who could be trusted;
+and so it will cost nothing, and will open the way for my making another
+call. Of course when I am known there I can ask questions more freely,
+sit in the bar-parlor, smoke a cigar with the landlord, and so on."
+
+"I think that is an excellent idea. Well, at any rate you shall hear in
+the course of a day or two."
+
+Miss Purcell had gone on quietly with her knitting and uttered no
+remarks while the man was present. Immediately he had left, she said, "I
+think, Netta, that we shall gradually get at it."
+
+"Yes, I think so; that man seems really a sharp fellow. I had quite lost
+all faith in detectives, but I see that when they have really got
+something to go upon, they know how to follow it up."
+
+Hilda wrote a long letter to Mr. Pettigrew, and received three words in
+answer: "By all means." So Bassett was written to and told to continue
+his career as a commercial traveler, but to abstain altogether, for the
+present, from any questions about the boy.
+
+Ten days later Mr. Pettigrew forwarded a letter that he had received
+from Bassett, which was as follows:
+
+     "SIR: I have to report that I have for the last fortnight been
+     engaged in driving about the country in accordance with Miss
+     Covington's instructions. The only place where I can ascertain that
+     the pony and cart from Tilbury was noticed about that time was at
+     Stanford. My inquiries there before had failed, but after dining at
+     the inn, I went out into the yard behind, and asked the helper
+     whether the same trap that I drove over in from Tilbury had been
+     there since.
+
+     "'Not since you were here last,' he said; 'at least if it was you
+     as drove the pony over somewhere about three weeks ago. I did not
+     see you then, I was doing a job over at the cowhouse. That pony
+     aint been here since then, though he was here two days before. The
+     man put him up for three or four hours, and hired a horse from the
+     landlord to ride over to Billericay. He must have gone cross
+     country, I should say, by the mud on its legs. However, he tipped
+     me a bob, so I cleaned it up and said nothing to master; but the
+     horse was all in a lather and must have been taken along at a
+     hunting pace all the way.' Waiting further orders,
+
+     "I remain,
+     "Yours respectfully,
+     "H. BASSETT."
+
+Mr. Pettigrew came down himself in the evening.
+
+"Well, Miss Covington, I think that the scent is getting warm. Now is
+the time that you must be very cautious. I think we may take it that the
+child is somewhere within ten or twelve miles of Stanford, north or east
+of it. The man was away for over three hours, and he rode fast. It's not
+likely that the horse was anything out of the way. However, allowing for
+half an hour's stay somewhere, I think we may take twelve miles as the
+limit. Still, a circle of twelve miles' radius covers a very large area.
+I have been looking up the map since that man set about inquiring down
+there. Twelve miles would include the whole of the marshes as far as
+Leigh. It goes up to Brentwood, Billericay, Downham, and touches
+Rayleigh; and in that semicircle would be some sixty or seventy
+villages, large and small."
+
+"I have been looking at the map too, Mr. Pettigrew, and it does not seem
+to me at all likely that he would go near the places that you first
+mentioned; they are quite close to the Great Eastern Railway, by which
+he would have traveled, instead of going round such an enormous detour
+by Tilbury and Stanford."
+
+"One would think so, my dear, certainly; but, you see, a man having the
+least idea that he was watched, which I admit we have no reason for
+believing that this fellow has, would naturally choose a very circuitous
+route. However, I think that we need hardly try so far to the north, to
+begin with; I should say that the area of our search need go no farther
+north than Downham, and that between a line running west from that place
+and the river the child is most likely to be hidden."
+
+"I should say, Mr. Pettigrew, that the detective might engage four or
+five fellows who could act separately in villages on each of the roads
+running from Stanford east or northeast. The villages should be at least
+two miles away from Stanford, because he might start by one road and
+then turn off by another. But in two miles he would probably settle down
+on the road he was going to follow and we should, therefore, get the
+general direction of Walter's hiding place. Then, as soon as he passed,
+the watcher should follow him on foot till he met him coming back. If he
+did meet him, he would know that at any rate he had been farther; if he
+did not meet him, he would know that he had turned off somewhere between
+him and the village that he had passed. Netta and I have been talking
+the matter over, and it seems to us that this would be the best plan,
+and that it would be as well, also, to have a man to watch at Tilbury
+Station; because he may possibly choose some entirely different route
+the next time he comes, and the men in the villages, not knowing that he
+had come down at all, might be kept there for a month waiting for his
+next visit."
+
+"You and your friend have certainly put your heads together to good
+purpose," the old lawyer said, "and I do not see any better plan than
+you suggest. You had better have Bassett down here, and give him your
+instructions yourself."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Pettigrew; and I shall be glad if you will write a line to him
+to-night, for in three days it will be a month since this man last went
+down, or at any rate since we know that he went down. Of course, it may
+be three months before he goes again, and if he does not come in four or
+five days the men must be recalled; for although each of them could stop
+in a village for a day or two under the pretense of finding work in the
+neighborhood, they certainly could not stop for a month."
+
+"Very well, I leave you a free hand in the matter, altogether, Miss
+Covington; for frankly I acknowledge that you are vastly more likely to
+ferret the thing out than I am."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+A BOX AT THE OPERA.
+
+
+"I tell you what it is, Simcoe," Harrison said two months later, "this
+affair of yours is getting to be a good deal more troublesome than I
+bargained for. It all looked simple enough; one only had to pick up a
+child, drive him in a cab across London, then down in a trap to Pitsea,
+hand him over to a man I knew would take good care of him, and take the
+payments for him when they became due, which would be no trouble, as I
+had to see the man occasionally on my own business. Of course I expected
+that there would be a big hue and cry for him, but I had no fear
+whatever of his being found. Then I managed through another man to get
+that body from the workhouse undertaker, and you managed the rest easily
+enough; but I tell you that the matter is getting a good deal hotter
+than I ever thought it would.
+
+"I told you that I had been followed several times after leaving your
+place, and one morning when I went out early I saw footmarks, showing
+that someone had been walking round my house and trying to look in at
+the windows. I have a strong suspicion that I have been followed to my
+office, and I know that someone got in there one day at my dinner hour.
+I know, because I always fasten a piece of thread, so that if the door
+is opened it breaks it. There is nothing there that anyone could make
+anything of, but it is just as well to know if anyone has been prying
+about. The woman of the house was sure that she had not been in there,
+nor had she let anyone in; so the lock must have been picked. Of course
+anyone is liable to have his office robbed when he is out and it is
+empty; but nothing was taken, and if a common thief had found nothing
+else he would probably have made off with my dress suit, which would
+have brought him a sov. in a second-hand clothes shop.
+
+"You know I have an excessive objection to being watched. I have had
+nothing on hand lately, at any rate nothing that has come off, but I
+might have had, you know. Well, yesterday I was going down to see my man
+in the marshes, and to tell him that likely enough I should bring
+something down to him next week. I got out of the train at Tilbury, and,
+as you know, there are not a dozen houses anywhere near the station.
+Now, I have a habit of keeping my eyes open, and I saw a man sitting on
+an old boat. What called my attention particularly to him was that he
+was turned half round watching the entrance to the station as I came
+out. You can always tell whether a man is watching for someone, or
+whether he is merely looking generally in that direction, and this man
+was certainly watching for someone. The instant his eye fell upon me he
+turned round and stared at the river. The path to the public house lay
+just behind him. Now, it would be natural that hearing a footstep a man
+doing nothing would look round and perhaps say a word--ask the time, or
+something of that sort. Well, he didn't turn round. Now, it is my habit,
+and a very useful one, always to carry a glass of about the size of a
+folded letter in my pocket. Instead of going on to the public house I
+turned off from the path and walked away from the river. When I had got
+some little distance I took out my glass, and still walking along, I
+held it up so that I could see in it what was going on behind. The man
+was standing up, watching me. I put the glass in my pocket and dropped
+my handkerchief. I stooped down to pick it up, of course partly turning
+as I did so, and saw that he had instantly dropped into a sitting
+position again, with his back to me.
+
+"That was good enough. I turned, cut across the fields, went straight
+back to the station and took the next ferry-boat to Gravesend, and came
+back that way. It is quite clear to me that not only is this girl on
+the track still, but the chase is getting to be a very hot one, and
+that not only are they watching you, but they are watching me, and have
+in some way or other, though how, I cannot guess, found out that I go
+down to Tilbury, and have accordingly sent a man down to follow me. Now,
+I tell you frankly, I will have no more to do with the matter--that is
+to say, as far as going down on your business. As I have told you, I
+have always managed my own affairs so well that the police and I have no
+acquaintance whatever; and I am not going to be spied upon and followed
+and have the 'tecs upon my track about an affair in which I have no
+interest at all, except that, you having stood by my brother, I was glad
+to do you any service I could. But this is getting serious. I don't like
+it. I have told you I have business with the man, and get things off
+abroad through him that I should have great trouble in getting rid of in
+any other way; but unless in quite exceptional cases, these things are
+so small that they could be hidden away for months without much risk of
+their being found, however sharp the hunt after them might be. As I am
+in no way pressed for money I can afford to wait, though I own that I
+like to get the things off my hands as soon as I can, and as I
+considered that I ran practically no risk in going down with them into
+Essex, I never kept them at my house. However, for a time I must do so.
+I must tell you that when I am going down I always write beforehand and
+make an appointment for him to have his barge at the wharf at Pitsea,
+and I send my letter addressed to him: 'Mr. William Nibson, barge _Mary
+Ann_, care of Mr. Scholey, Spotted Horse, Pitsea.' You had better write
+to him in future. You need not put anything inside the envelope except
+notes for twenty-five pounds, and the words, 'For the child's keep for
+six months.' I need not say that you had better disguise your writing,
+both on the envelope and on the inside, and it is best that you should
+get your notes from some bookmaker on a race-course. You tell me you
+often go to races now and do a little betting. They are not the sort of
+men who take the numbers of the notes they pay out, and it would be
+next to impossible for them to be traced to you."
+
+"Thank you, Harrison; you have behaved like a true pal to me, and I am
+ever so much obliged to you. I quite see what you mean, and indeed it is
+as much for my interest as yours that you should not go down there any
+more. Confound that girl Covington! I am sure she is the moving spirit
+of it all. I always felt uneasy about her from the first, and was sure
+that if there was any trouble it would come from her. I wonder how the
+deuce she ever found out that you went down to Tilbury."
+
+"That beats me too, Simcoe. As you may guess, I am always most cautious
+about it, and always take a very roundabout way of going to the
+station."
+
+"I have been uneasy ever since that girl at our place left so suddenly.
+A fortnight afterwards we found that there was a hole bored through the
+doorpost. Of course it might have been bored before I went there; but in
+that case it is curious that it was never noticed before. I cannot help
+thinking that she did it."
+
+"Yes, you told me; but you said that you tried the experiment, and found
+that when your man and his wife were talking there in a loud voice, and
+you had your ear at the hole, you could not catch a single word."
+
+"Yes, that was certainly so. I could hear them talking, but I could not
+make out a word of their conversation. Still it is evident that somebody
+has been trying to hear. I cannot help thinking that it was that girl,
+though both Johnstone and his wife spoke very highly of her. Certainly
+the story she told them was true to a certain extent, for when they sent
+the box down to Reading I sent a man down there to watch, and she called
+to fetch it, and my man found out that she labeled it 'Oxford,' and took
+it away with her on the down train. As he had no directions to follow
+her farther he came back. After we found the hole I sent him down again;
+but he never came upon her traces, though he inquired at every village
+near Oxford."
+
+"She may have been put there as a spy," the other said; "but as it is
+evident that she couldn't hear through that hole, it is clear that she
+could not have done them any good. That is, I suppose, why they called
+her off; so the puzzle still remains how they got on my track at
+Tilbury. I should like to have a good look at this Covington girl. I can
+admire a clever wench, even when she is working against me."
+
+"There is 'The Huguenots' at Her Majesty's to-night, the first time this
+season. She very often goes in Lady Moulton's box, and it is likely
+enough that she will go to-night. It's the third box from the stage, on
+the first tier; I will go down to Bond Street and see if I can get hold
+of a box opposite, on the second or third tier. The money will be well
+laid out, for I should very much like you to study her face, and I won
+enough at pool at the club this afternoon to pay for it."
+
+"Very well, then I will come round to your place. I really am curious to
+see the girl. I only caught a passing glimpse of her in the park that
+day."
+
+Simcoe was not wrong in his conjecture, for Hilda dined at Lady
+Moulton's, and they took their places in the latter's box just as the
+first bar of the overture sounded. She was in half mourning now, and in
+black lace, with white camellias in her hair and breast, was, as Netta
+had told her before starting, looking her best.
+
+"That is the girl," Simcoe exclaimed, as she went forward to the front
+of the box.
+
+"Well, there is no denying that she is good-looking," the other said, as
+he turned his glasses upon her; "there is not a better-looking woman in
+the house. Plenty of self-possession too," he added, as Hilda took her
+seat and at once, in apparent ignorance that any glasses were upon her,
+took her own lorgnettes from their case and proceeded calmly to scan the
+stalls and boxes, to see who among her numerous acquaintances were
+there. As her eyes fell upon the two men sitting nearly opposite to her,
+her glasses steadied, then after a minute she lowered them.
+
+"Lady Moulton, I regard it as a providence that you brought me here
+this evening. Do you see those two men there in the box nearly opposite,
+in the second tier? Well, one of the men is Simcoe, to whom my uncle
+left all his property if Walter should not live to come of age, and who
+I am absolutely convinced carried the child away."
+
+"I see them, my dear; they are staring at you. I suppose they are as
+much interested in you as you in them."
+
+Hilda again put her glasses to her eyes.
+
+"She has just told Lady Moulton who I am," Simcoe said.
+
+"She has a clever face, Simcoe--broad across the chin--any amount of
+determination, I should say. Ah! there, she is getting up to make room
+for somebody else."
+
+"Stay where you are, my dear," Lady Moulton said, putting her hand on
+Hilda's arm; "there is plenty of room for three."
+
+"Plenty," she replied; "but I want to watch those two men, and I cannot
+keep my glasses fixed on them while I am sitting in the front row."
+
+"Hardly, my dear," Lady Moulton said with a smile. "Well, have your own
+way."
+
+A fourth lady came in almost immediately. She took the third chair in
+the front, and Hilda, sitting half in the shade, was able to devote
+herself to her purpose free from general observation. She had already
+heard that Simcoe's companion had apparently suspected that he was
+watched, and had returned to town at once without speaking to anyone at
+Tilbury. She felt that he would probably henceforth choose some other
+route, and the chances of following him would be greatly diminished. The
+opportunity was a fortunate one indeed. For months she had been hoping
+that some day or other she could watch these men talking, and now, as it
+seemed by accident, just at the moment when her hopes had fallen, the
+chance had come to her.
+
+"She has changed her place in order to have a better look at us," John
+Simcoe said, as she moved. "She has got her glasses on us."
+
+"We came to stare at her. It seems to me that she is staring at us,"
+Harrison said.
+
+"Well, I should think that she knows my face pretty well by this time,"
+Simcoe laughed. "I told you she has a way of looking through one that
+has often made me uncomfortable."
+
+"I can quite understand that. I noticed myself that when she looked at
+us, without her glasses, there was a curious intentness in her
+expression, as if she was taking stock of every point about us. She
+cannot be the girl who has been to your lodging."
+
+"Certainly not," the other said; "I know her a great deal too well for
+her to try that on. Besides, beyond the fact that the other was a
+good-looking girl too--and, by the way, that she had the same trick of
+looking full in your face when you spoke--there was no resemblance
+whatever between them."
+
+The curtain now drew up, and silence fell upon the house, and the men
+did not speak again until the end of the first act. They then continued
+their conversation where they had left it off.
+
+"She has moved, and has been attending to the opera," Simcoe said; "but
+she has gone into the shade again, and is taking another look at us."
+
+"I am not given to nervousness, but upon my word those glasses fixed
+upon me make me quite fidgety."
+
+"Pooh, man! she is not looking at you; she is looking at me. I don't
+know whether she thinks that she can read my thoughts, and find out
+where the child is hidden. By the way, I know nothing about this place
+Pitsea. Where is it, and which is the best way to get there?"
+
+"You can drive straight down by road through Upminster and Laindon. The
+place lies about three miles this side of Benfleet. There are only about
+half a dozen houses, at the end of a creek that comes up from Hole
+Haven. But I should not think of going near the house. The latter,
+directed as I told you, is sure to find the man."
+
+"Oh, I am not thinking of going! but I shall get a man to watch the
+fellows they sent down to watch you, and if I find that they seem to be
+getting on the right track, I shall run down at all hazards and take him
+away."
+
+"Your best plan by far will be to go with him, on board Nibson's barge,
+up to Rochester. No doubt he can find some bargeman there who will take
+the boy in. Or, what would perhaps be better, hire a trap there, and
+drive him down to Margate or Ramsgate. There are plenty of schools
+there, and you might get up a yarn about his being a nephew of yours,
+and leave him there for a term or two. That would give you time to
+decide. By this time he will have but a very faint remembrance of his
+life in town, and anything that he may say about it will certainly meet
+with no attention."
+
+"Would it be as well to do it at once, do you think?" Simcoe asked.
+
+"No; we have no idea how many people they may have on the watch, and it
+would be only running unnecessary risks. Stick to the plan that we have
+already agreed on, of communicating only by writing. But I think your
+idea of sending two or three sharp fellows down there to find out what
+the party are doing is really a good one."
+
+Hilda lowered her glasses as the curtain rose again. "Oh, Lady Moulton!"
+she whispered, "I have found out all that I have been so long wanting to
+know. I believe now that in three days I shall have the child home
+again."
+
+Lady Moulton turned half round.
+
+"How on earth have you found that out, Hilda? Are you a wizard indeed,
+who can read men's thoughts in their faces? I always thought that there
+was something uncanny about you, ever since that day of my fete."
+
+To Harrison's relief, Miss Covington did not turn her glass towards him
+again during the evening. When the curtain fell on the next act a
+gentleman, to whom Lady Moulton had nodded in the stalls, came in. After
+shaking hands with her and her friends, he seated himself by the side
+of Hilda.
+
+"Miss Covington," he said, "I have never had an opportunity of speaking
+to you since that fete at Lady Moulton's. I have understood that the
+gypsy on that occasion was engaged by you, and that there was, if you
+will excuse me saying so, some little mystery about it. I don't wish to
+pry into that, but if you should ever see the woman again you will
+oblige me very greatly by telling her that I consider I owe her a deep
+debt of gratitude. She said something to me then that made a tremendous
+impression upon me, and I do not mind telling you it brought me up with
+a round turn. I had been going ahead a great deal too fast, and I see
+now that, had I continued on the same course, I should have brought
+absolute ruin upon myself, and blighted my life in every way. The shock
+she gave me by warning me what would come if I did not give up cards and
+racing showed me my utter folly, and on that day I swore never to touch
+a card or lay a penny upon a horse for the rest of my life. When I tell
+you that I have completely pulled myself round, and that, by the aid of
+an old uncle, to whom I went and made a clean breast of all, I am now
+straight in every way, and, as you may have heard, am going to be
+married to Miss Fortescue in a fortnight, you may guess what deep reason
+I have to be grateful to this gypsy woman of yours, and how I hope that,
+should you come across her again, you will tell her so, and should there
+be any possible way in which I can prove my gratitude, by money or
+otherwise, I shall be delighted to do so."
+
+"I will tell her, Captain Desmond," the girl said in a low voice. "I am
+sure that it will make her happy to know that she did some good that
+evening. I do not think that she is in need of money or assistance of
+any kind, but should she be so I will let you know."
+
+"And do you really mean that you have discovered where General
+Mathieson's grandson is living?" Lady Moulton asked, as they rose to
+leave their seats when the curtain fell.
+
+"I think so; I am almost sure of it."
+
+Lady Moulton had heard a good deal from Hilda as to the situation. Mr.
+Pettigrew had strongly impressed upon both Hilda and Colonel Bulstrode
+that it was very important that the contents of the will should not be
+talked about. "We don't want our private affairs discussed in the press
+and made the subject of general talk," he had said, and it was only to
+Lady Moulton that Hilda had spoken freely of the matter, so far as the
+discovery of the new will, the change that had been made, and the
+singularity of Walter being missing. She had also mentioned her belief
+that Simcoe was at the bottom of this, but had breathed no words of her
+suspicion that the General had come to his death by foul play, or of her
+own conviction that Simcoe was an impostor, although there had been some
+talk in the clubs over the matter, for Colonel Bulstrode was by no means
+so discreet as Hilda, and among his intimate friends spoke his mind with
+great vehemence and strength of language as to General Mathieson having
+made so singular a disposition of his property, and he made no secret of
+his suspicion that Simcoe was at the bottom of Walter's disappearance.
+Thus the matter had gradually gone the round of the clubs; but it was
+not until Simcoe's own counsel had drawn from him the fact that Walter's
+death would put him into possession of the estate that the public in
+general learned the facts.
+
+"It was a clever move," Mr. Pettigrew had said, talking it over with his
+partner. "No doubt he was afraid that the question would be asked by our
+counsel, and he thought that it was better that the fact should come
+voluntarily from himself. His best plan by far was to brazen it out. No
+doubt nine men out of ten will consider that the affair is a very
+suspicious one, and some of them will give him the cold shoulder; but
+whatever their opinions, they dare not express them without laying
+themselves open to an action for libel, while, on the other hand, the
+fact that a man is heir to a good estate will always cause a good many
+to rally round him. Not the best of men, you know, but enough to
+prevent his being a lonely figure in a club.
+
+"Yes, I think he was certainly well advised to declare his heirship
+voluntarily, instead of having it drawn from him. He must have known, of
+course, that sooner or later the matter would be made public, and it is
+better for him to get the talk and gossip over now instead of the matter
+being known for the first time when he begins to take legal steps to
+compel us to put him into possession of the estate."
+
+"What on earth did you mean, Hilda," Lady Moulton said, as the door of
+the carriage was closed and they drove off from Her Majesty's, "by
+saying that you had discovered a clew by which you might in a few days
+find your little cousin?"
+
+"I cannot tell you exactly how I discovered it. At present it is a
+secret that both my mother and uncle charged me to keep, but when these
+troubles are over I will explain it all to you, though I should
+certainly do so to no one else."
+
+"Well, I suppose I must be content with that, Hilda. But it certainly
+does seem extraordinary to me that by merely seeing two men in a box on
+the other side of the house you should have obtained a clew to what you
+have for a year now been trying to get at."
+
+"It does seem extraordinary, Lady Moulton, but it really is not so, and
+I hope to convince you that I am right by producing Walter in a week
+from the present time."
+
+"I hope you will, Hilda. I sincerely hope so, both for the child's sake,
+yours, and my own. Of course, when he is found there will be no possible
+reason for your keeping yourself shut up as you have done. I have missed
+you very much, and shall be very glad to have you under my wing again."
+
+"Thank you for saying so, Lady Moulton; but so far as I have formed my
+plans, they are that Walter's trustees shall either let or sell the
+house in Hyde Park Gardens, and that I shall go down for a time with him
+into the country. I have had a great deal of anxiety this last year,
+and I shall be very glad of complete rest for a time."
+
+"That is reasonable enough, my dear, but I do hope that you are not
+thinking of burying yourself in the country for good. There, I am at
+home. Good-night, Hilda; thanks for the lift. It is not often my horses
+or my coachmen have a night off during the season."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+NEARING THE GOAL.
+
+
+"I suppose Miss Netta is in bed?" Hilda asked, as she entered the house.
+
+"Yes, miss; she and Miss Purcell went to their rooms soon after ten
+o'clock."
+
+Hilda ran upstairs to Netta's room.
+
+"Are you awake, Netta?" she asked, as she opened the door.
+
+"Well, I think I was asleep, Hilda; I didn't intend to go off, for I
+made sure that you would come in for a chat, as usual, when you got
+back; but I think I must have dozed off."
+
+"Well, if you had been so sound asleep that I had had to violently wake
+you up, I should have done so. I have had my chance, Netta. Simcoe and
+his friend were in a box opposite to ours, and I have learned where
+Walter is."
+
+"That is news indeed," Netta exclaimed, leaping up; "that is worth being
+awakened a hundred times for. Please hand me my dressing-gown. Now let
+us sit down and talk it over comfortably."
+
+Hilda then repeated the whole conversation that she had overheard.
+
+"Splendid!" Netta exclaimed, clapping her hands; "and that man was
+right, dear, in feeling uncomfortable when your glasses were fixed on
+his face, though he little guessed what reason he had for the feeling.
+Well, it is worth all the four years you spent with us to have learned
+to read people's words from their lips. I always said that you were my
+best pupil, and you have proved it so now. What is to be done next?"
+
+"We shall need a general council for that!" Hilda laughed. "We must do
+nothing rash now that success seems so close; a false move might spoil
+everything."
+
+"Yes, we shall have to be very careful. This bargeman may not live near
+there at all; though no doubt he goes there pretty often, as letters are
+sent there for him. Besides, Simcoe may have someone stationed there to
+find out whether any inquiries have been made for a missing child."
+
+"Yes, I see that we shall have to be very careful, Netta, and we must
+not spoil our chances by being over hasty."
+
+They talked for upwards of an hour, and then went to their beds. The
+next morning Roberts took a note to Dr. Leeds. It contained only a few
+lines from Hilda:
+
+     "MY DEAR DR. LEEDS: We have found a most important clew, and are
+     going to have a consultation, at which, of course, we want you to
+     be present. Could you manage to be at Mr. Pettigrew's office at
+     three o'clock? If so, on hearing from you, I will send to him to
+     make an appointment."
+
+The answer came back:
+
+     "I congratulate you heartily, and will meet you at three o'clock at
+     Pettigrew's office."
+
+A note was at once sent off to the lawyer's to make the appointment, and
+the girls arrived with Miss Purcell two or three minutes before the
+hour, and were at once shown into Mr. Pettigrew's room, where Mr. Farmer
+immediately joined them.
+
+"I will wait a minute or two before I begin," Hilda said. "I have asked
+Dr. Leeds to join us here. He has been so very kind throughout the whole
+matter that we thought it was only fair that he should be here."
+
+"Certainly, I thoroughly agree with you. I never thought that terrible
+suspicion of his well founded, but he certainly took immense pains in
+collecting information of all sorts about these native poisons, and
+since then has shown the greatest desire to assist in any way."
+
+A minute later Dr. Leeds was shown in.
+
+"Now, Miss Covington," Mr. Farmer said, "we are ready to hear your
+communication."
+
+Hilda then related what she had learned at the opera.
+
+"Really, Miss Covington," Mr. Farmer continued, "it is a thousand pities
+that you and your friend cannot utilize your singular accomplishment in
+the detective line. You ought to make a fortune by it. I have, of
+course, heard from my partner of the education that you had in Germany,
+and of your having acquired some new system by which you can understand
+what people are saying by watching their lips, but I certainly had no
+conception that it could be carried to such an extent as you have just
+proved it can. It is like gaining a new sense. Now I suppose you have
+come to us for advice as to what had best be done next."
+
+"That is it, Mr. Farmer. It is quite evident to us that we must be
+extremely careful, for if these people suspect that we are so far on
+their track, they might remove Walter at once, and we might never be
+able to light upon a clew again."
+
+"Yes, I see that. Of course, if we were absolutely in a position to
+prove that this child has been kept down near Pitsea with their
+cognizance we could arrest them at once; but, unfortunately, in the
+words you heard there was no mention of the child, and at present we
+have nothing but a series of small circumstantial facts to adduce. You
+believe, Mr. Pettigrew tells me, that the man who calls himself John
+Simcoe is an impostor who has no right to the name, and that General
+Mathieson was under a complete delusion when he made that extraordinary
+will. You believe that, or at any rate you have a suspicion that, having
+got the General to make the will, he administered some unknown drug that
+finally caused his death. You believe that, as this child alone stood
+between him and the inheritance, he had him carried off with the
+assistance of the other man. You believe that the body the coroner's
+jury decided to be that of Walter Rivington was not his, and that the
+child himself is being kept out of the way somewhere in Essex, and you
+believe that the conversation that you most singularly overheard related
+to him.
+
+"But, unfortunately, all these beliefs are unsupported by a single legal
+fact, and I doubt very much whether any magistrate would issue a warrant
+for these men's arrest upon your story being laid before him. Even if
+they were arrested, some confederate might hasten down to Pitsea and
+carry the child off; and, indeed, Pitsea may only be the meeting-place
+of these conspirators, and the child may be at Limehouse or at Chatham,
+or at any other place frequented by barges. Therefore we must for the
+present give up all idea of seizing these men. Any researches at Pitsea
+itself are clearly attended by danger, and yet I see no other way of
+proceeding."
+
+"It seems," Dr. Leeds said, "that this other man, who appears to have
+acted as Simcoe's agent throughout the affair, took the alarm the other
+day, and instead of taking a trap as usual from Tilbury, returned to the
+station, took the ferry across to Gravesend, and then, as we suppose,
+came up to town again, told Simcoe that he found he was watched, and
+that Simcoe must himself take the matter up. Evidently, by what Miss
+Covington overheard, he had instructed him where and how to communicate
+with this bargeman, or in case of necessity to find him. I should think
+that the first step would be to withdraw the men now on watch, for it is
+possible that they may also send down men to places in the locality of
+Pitsea. In point of fact, your men have been instructed to make no such
+inquiries, but only to endeavor to trace where Simcoe's agent drives to.
+Still, I think it would be as well to withdraw them at once, as they can
+do no further good."
+
+Mr. Pettigrew nodded.
+
+"I know nothing of Pitsea," the doctor went on, "but I do know Hole
+Haven. When I was walking the hospital, three or four of us had a little
+sailing-boat, and used to go out from Saturday until Monday morning.
+Hole Haven was generally the limit of our excursions. It is a snug
+little harbor for small boats, and there is a comfortable old-fashioned
+little inn there, where we used to sleep. The coastguards were all
+sociable fellows, ready to chat with strangers and not averse to a small
+tip. Of course the same men will not be there now, nor would it be very
+safe to ask questions of them; for no doubt they are on friendly terms
+with the men on the barges which go up and down the creek. I might,
+however, learn something from them of the ways of these men, and I
+should think that, on giving my card to the petty officer in charge, I
+could safely question him. I don't suppose that he would know where this
+man Nibson has his headquarters. If he lives at Rochester, or Chatham,
+or at Limehouse, or Shadwell, he certainly would not know him; but if he
+lives at Pitsea he might know him. I fancy they keep a pretty sharp
+lookout on the barges. I know that the coastguard told me that there was
+still a good deal of smuggling carried on in the marshes between Leigh
+and Thames Haven. I fancy, from what he said, that the Leigh fishermen
+think it no harm to run a few pounds of tobacco or a keg of spirit from
+a passing ship, and, indeed, as there are so many vessels that go ashore
+on the sands below, and as they are generally engaged in unloading them
+or helping them to get off, they have considerable facilities that way.
+At any rate, as an old frequenter of the place and as knowing the
+landlord--that is to say if there has been no change there--no suspicion
+could fall upon me of going down there in reference to your affair.
+To-day is Friday. On Sunday morning, early, I will run down to
+Gravesend, hire a boat there, and will sail down to Hole Haven. It will
+be an outing for me, and a pleasant one; and at least I can be doing no
+harm."
+
+"Thank you very much indeed, Dr. Leeds," Hilda said warmly; "that is a
+splendid idea."
+
+On Sunday evening Dr. Leeds called at Hyde Park Gardens to report his
+day's work.
+
+"I think that my news is eminently satisfactory. I saw the petty officer
+in command of the coastguard station, and he willingly gave me all the
+information in his power. He knew the bargee, Bill Nibson. He is up and
+down the creek, he says, once and sometimes twice a week. He has got a
+little bit of a farm and a house on the bank of the creek a mile and a
+half on this side of Pitsea. They watch him pretty closely, as they do
+all the men who use the creek; there is not one of them who does not
+carry on a bit of smuggling if he gets the chance.
+
+"'I thought that was almost given up,' I said. 'Oh, no; it is carried
+on,' he replied, 'on a much smaller scale than it used to be, but there
+is plenty of it, and I should say that there is more done that way on
+the Thames than anywhere else. In the first place, Dutch, German, and
+French craft coming up the channels after dark can have no difficulty
+whatever in transferring tobacco and spirits into barges or
+fishing-boats. I need hardly say it is not ships of any size that carry
+on this sort of business, but small vessels, such as billy-boys and
+craft of that sort. They carry their regular cargoes, and probably never
+bring more than a few hundredweight of tobacco and a dozen or so kegs of
+spirits. It is doubtful whether their owners know anything of what is
+being done, and I should say that it is generally a sort of speculation
+on the part of the skipper and men. On this side the trade is no doubt
+in the hands of men who either work a single barge or fishing-boat of
+their own, or who certainly work it without the least suspicion on the
+part of the owners.
+
+"'The thing is so easily arranged. A man before he starts from Ostend or
+Hamburg, or the mouth of the Seine, sends a line to his friends here, at
+Rochester or Limehouse or Leigh, "Shall sail to-night. Expect to come up
+the south channel on Monday evening." The bargeman or fisherman runs
+down at the time arranged, and five or six miles below the Nore brings
+up and shows a light. He knows that the craft he expects will not be up
+before that time, for if the wind was extremely favorable, and they made
+the run quicker than they expected, they would bring up in Margate Roads
+till the time appointed. If they didn't arrive that night, they would do
+so the next, and the barge would lay there and wait for them, or the
+fishermen would go into Sheerness or Leigh and come out again the next
+night.
+
+"'You might wonder how a barge could waste twenty-four or forty-eight
+hours without being called to account by its owners, but there are
+barges which will anchor up for two or three days under the pretense
+that the weather is bad, but really from sheer laziness.
+
+"'That is one way the stuff comes into the country, and, so far as I can
+see, there is no way whatever of stopping it. The difficulty, of course,
+is with the landing, and even that is not great. When the tide turns to
+run out there are scores, I may say hundreds, of barges anchored between
+Chatham and Gravesend. They generally anchor close in shore, and it
+would require twenty times the number of coastguards there are between
+Chatham and Gravesend on one side, and Foulness and Tilbury on the
+other, to watch the whole of them and to see that boats do not come
+ashore.
+
+"'A few strokes and they are there. One man will wait in the boat while
+the other goes up onto the bank to see that all is clear. If it is, the
+things are carried up at once. Probably the barge has put up some flag
+that is understood by friends ashore; they are there to meet it, and in
+half an hour the kegs are either stowed away in lonely farmhouses or
+sunk in some of the deep ditches, and there they will remain until they
+can be fished up and sent off in a cart loaded with hay or something of
+that sort. You may take it that among the marshes on the banks of the
+Medway and Thames there is a pretty good deal done in the way of
+smuggling still. We keep a very close eye upon all the barges that come
+up here, but it is very seldom that we make any catch. One cannot seize
+a barge like the _Mary Ann_, that is the boat belonging to Nibson, with
+perhaps sixty tons of manure or cement or bricks, and unload it without
+some specific information that would justify our doing so. Indeed, we
+hardly could unload it unless we took it out into the Thames and threw
+the contents overboard. We could not carry it up this steep, stone-faced
+bank, and higher up there are very few places where a barge could lie
+alongside the bank to be unloaded. We suspect Nibson of doing something
+that way, but we have never been able to catch him at it. We have
+searched his place suddenly three or four times, but never found
+anything suspicious.'
+
+"'May I ask what family the man has?' I said.
+
+"He shook his head. 'There is his wife--I have seen her once or twice on
+board the barge as it has come in and out--and there is a boy, who helps
+him on the barge--I don't know whether he is his son or not. I have no
+idea whether he has any family, but I have never seen a child on the
+barge.'
+
+"All this seemed to be fairly satisfactory. I told him that we suspected
+that a stolen child was kept in Nibson's house, and asked him whether
+one of his men off duty would, at any time, go with me in a boat and
+point out the house. He said that there would be no difficulty about
+that. My idea, Miss Covington, was that it would be by far the best plan
+for us to go down with a pretty strong party--that is to say, two or
+three men--and to go from Gravesend in a boat, arriving at Hole Haven at
+eleven or twelve o'clock at night. I should write beforehand to the
+coastguard officer, asking him to have a man in readiness to guide us,
+and then row up to the house. In that way we should avoid all chance of
+a warning being sent on ahead from Pitsea, or from any other place where
+they might have men on watch.
+
+"I mentioned this to the officer, and he said, 'Well, I don't see how
+you could break into the man's house. If the child is not there you
+might find yourself in a very awkward position, and if Nibson himself
+happened to be at home he would be perfectly justified in using
+firearms.' I said of course that was a point I must consider. It is
+indeed a point on which we must take Mr. Pettigrew's opinion. But
+probably we shall have to lay an information before the nearest
+magistrate, though I think myself that if we were to take the officer
+into our confidence--and he seemed to me a bluff, hearty fellow--he
+would take a lot of interest in the matter, and might stretch a point,
+and send three or four men down after dark to search the place again for
+smuggled goods. You see, he has strong suspicions of the man, and has
+searched his place more than once. Then, when they were about it, we
+could enter and seize Walter. Should there be a mistake altogether, and
+the child not be found there, we could give the officer a written
+undertaking to hold him free in the very unlikely event of the fellow
+making a fuss about his house being entered."
+
+The next morning Hilda again drove up with Netta to see Mr. Pettigrew.
+
+"We must be careful, my dear; we must be very careful," he said. "If we
+obtain a search warrant, it can only be executed during the day, and
+even if the coastguards were to make a raid upon the place, we, as
+civilians, would not have any right to enter the house. I don't like the
+idea of this night business--indeed, I do not see why it should not be
+managed by day. Apparently, from what Dr. Leeds said, this Hole Haven is
+a place where little sailing-boats often go in. I don't know much of
+these matters, but probably in some cases gentlemen are accompanied by
+ladies, and no doubt sometimes these boats go up the creeks. Now, there
+must be good-sized boats that could be hired at Gravesend, with men
+accustomed to sailing them, and I can see no reason why we should not go
+down in a party. I should certainly wish to be there myself, and think
+Colonel Bulstrode should be there. You might bring your two men, and get
+an information laid before an Essex magistrate and obtain a warrant to
+search this man's place for a child supposed to be hidden there. By the
+way, I have a client who is an Essex magistrate; he lives near
+Billericay. I will have an information drawn out, and will go myself
+with it and see him; it is only about five miles to drive from Brentwood
+Station. If I sent a clerk down, there might be some difficulty,
+whereas, when I personally explain the circumstances to him, he will, I
+am sure, grant it. At the same time I will arrange with him that two of
+the county constabulary shall be at this place, Hole Haven, at the time
+we arrive there, and shall accompany us to execute the warrant. Let me
+see," and he turned to his engagement book, "there is no very special
+matter on for to-morrow, and I am sure that Mr. Farmer will see to the
+little matters that there are in my department. By the way, it was a
+year yesterday since the General's death, and we have this morning been
+served with a notice to show cause why we should not proceed at once to
+distribute the various legacies under his will. I don't think that
+refers to the bequest of the estates, though, of course, it may do so,
+but to the ten thousand pounds to which Simcoe is clearly entitled. Of
+course, we should appear by counsel in any case; but with Walter in our
+hands we can bring him to his knees at once, and he will have to wait
+some time before he touches the money. We cannot prevent his having
+that. He may get five years for abducting the child, but that does not
+affect his claim to the money."
+
+"Unless, Mr. Pettigrew, we could prove that he is not John Simcoe."
+
+"Certainly, my dear," the lawyer said, with an indulgent smile. "Your
+other theories have turned out very successful, I am bound to admit; but
+for this you have not a shadow of evidence, while he could produce a
+dozen respectable witnesses in his favor. However, we need not trouble
+ourselves about that now. As to the abduction of the child, while our
+evidence is pretty clear against the other man, we have only the fact
+against Simcoe that he was a constant associate of his, and had an
+immense interest in the child being lost. The other man seems to have
+acted as his intermediary all through, and so far as we actually know,
+Simcoe has never seen the child since he was taken away. Of course, if
+Walter can prove to the contrary, the case is clear against him; but
+without this it is only circumstantial, though I fancy that the jury
+would be pretty sure to convict. And now, how about the boat? Who will
+undertake that? We are rather busy at present, and could scarcely spare
+a clerk to go down."
+
+"We will look after that, Mr. Pettigrew; it is only an hour's run to
+Gravesend, and it will be an amusement for us. We will take Roberts down
+with us. What day shall we fix it for?"
+
+"Well, my dear, the sooner the better. I shall get the warrant
+to-morrow, and there is no reason why the constable should not be at
+Hole Haven the next day, at, say, two in the afternoon. So if you go
+down to-morrow and arrange for a boat, the matter may as well be carried
+out at once, especially as I know that you are burning with anxiety to
+get the child back. Of course this rascal of a bargeman must be
+arrested."
+
+"I should think that would depend partly on how he has treated Walter,"
+Hilda said. "I don't suppose he knows who he is, or anything of the
+circumstances of the case; he is simply paid so much to take charge of
+him. If he has behaved cruelly to him it is of course right that he
+should be punished; but if he has been kind to him I don't see why he
+should not be let off. Besides, we may want him as a witness against the
+others."
+
+"Well, there is something in that. Of course we might, if he were
+arrested, allow him to turn Queen's evidence, but there is always a
+certain feeling against this class of witness. However, we needn't
+discuss that now. I suppose that we ought to allow an hour and a half or
+two hours to get to this place from Gravesend, but you can find that out
+when you hire the boat. Of course, it will depend a good deal on which
+way the tide is. By the way, you had better look to that at once; for if
+it is not somewhere near high tide when we get to Hole Haven there may
+not be water enough to row up the creek."
+
+He called in one of the clerks, and told him to go out to get him an
+almanac with a tide-table.
+
+"I want to know when it will be high water the day after to-morrow at
+Gravesend," he said.
+
+"I can tell you that at once, sir. When I came across Waterloo Bridge
+this morning at a quarter to nine the tide was running in. I should say
+that it was about half-flood, and would be high about twelve o'clock. So
+that it will be high about half-past one o'clock on Wednesday. It is
+about three-quarters of an hour earlier at Gravesend. I don't know
+whether that is near enough for you, sir?"
+
+"Yes, that is near enough, thank you. So, you see," he went on after the
+clerk had left the room, "the tide will be just about high when you get
+to Gravesend, and you will get there in about an hour, I should say. I
+don't know exactly how far this place is, but I should say seven or
+eight miles; and with a sail, or, if the wind is contrary, a couple of
+oars, you will not be much above an hour, and I should think that there
+will be still plenty of water in the creek. You had better see Colonel
+Bulstrode. As joint trustee he should certainly be there."
+
+They drove at once to the Colonel's and found him in. He had not heard
+of the discovery Hilda had made, and was greatly excited at the prospect
+of so soon recovering Walter, and bringing, as he said, "the rascals to
+book."
+
+The next morning they went down with Roberts to Gravesend, to engage a
+large and roomy boat with two watermen for their trip. Just as they were
+entering Hyde Park Gardens, on their return, a man passed them. Roberts
+looked hard at him, and then said, "If you don't want me any more now,
+miss, I should like to speak to that man; he is an old fellow-soldier."
+
+"Certainly, Roberts. I shall not want you again for some time."
+
+Roberts hurried after the man. "Sergeant Nichol," he said, as he came up
+to him, "it is years since I saw you last."
+
+"I remember your face, if I do not remember your name," the man said.
+
+"I am Tom Roberts. I was in your company, you know, before you went onto
+the staff."
+
+"I remember you now, Roberts," and the two shook hands heartily. "What
+are you doing now? If I remember right, you went as servant to General
+Mathieson when you got your discharge."
+
+"Yes; you see, I had been his orderly for two or three years before, and
+when I got my discharge with my pension, I told him that I should like
+to stop with him if he would take me. I was with him out there for five
+years after; then I came home, and was with him until his death, and am
+still in the service of his niece, Miss Covington, one of the young
+ladies I was with just now. And what are you doing?"
+
+"I am collector for a firm in the City. It is an easy berth, and with my
+pension I am as comfortable as a man can wish to be."
+
+So they chatted for half an hour, and when they parted Roberts received
+a hearty invitation to look in at the other's place at Kilburn.
+
+"Both my boys are in the army," he said, "and likely to get on well. My
+eldest girl is married, my youngest is at home with her mother and
+myself; they will be pleased to see you too. The missus enjoys a gossip
+about India, and is always glad to welcome any old comrade of mine."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+WALTER.
+
+
+The wind was westerly, and the boat ran fast down the river from
+Gravesend; Roberts and Andrew, both in civilian clothes, were sitting in
+the bows, where there were stowed a large hamper and a small
+traveling-bag with some clothes. One waterman sat by the mast, in case
+it should be necessary to lower sail; the other was aft at the tiller.
+The men must have thought that they had never had so silent and grave a
+pleasure party before: two elderly gentlemen and two girls, none of whom
+seemed inclined to make merry in any way. Colonel Bulstrode, indeed,
+tried hard to keep up a conversation about the ships, barges, and other
+craft that they met, or which lay at anchor in the stream, and recalling
+reminiscences of trips on Indian rivers.
+
+Netta was the only one of his hearers who apparently took any interest
+in the talk. To her the scene was so new that she regarded everything
+with attention and pleasure, and looked with wonder at the great ships
+which were dragged along by tiny tugs, wondered at the rate at which the
+clumsy-looking barges made their way through the water, and enjoyed the
+rapid and easy motion with which their own boat glided along. Mr.
+Pettigrew was revolving in his mind the problem of what should next be
+done; while Hilda's thoughts were centered upon Walter, and the joy that
+it would be to have him with her again.
+
+"This is Hole Haven," the boatman in the stern said, as a wide sheet of
+water opened on their left.
+
+"Why don't you turn in, then?" Colonel Bulstrode asked.
+
+"There is scarce water enough for us, sir; they are neap tides at
+present, and in half an hour the sands will begin to show all over
+there. We have to go in onto the farther side--that is, where the
+channel is. You see those craft at anchor; there is the landing, just in
+front of the low roof you see over the bank. That is the 'Lobster
+Smack,' and a very comfortable house it is; and you can get as good a
+glass of beer there as anywhere on the river."
+
+As they turned into the creek they saw two constables on the top of the
+bank, and at the head of the steps stood a gentleman talking with a
+coastguard officer.
+
+"That is my friend, Mr. Bostock," Mr. Pettigrew said. "He told me that,
+if he could manage it, he would drive over himself with the two
+constables. I am glad that he has been able to do so; his presence will
+strengthen our hands."
+
+A coast guard boat, with four sailors in it, was lying close to the
+steps, and the officer came down with Mr. Bostock, followed by the two
+constables. The magistrate greeted Mr. Pettigrew and took his place in
+the boat beside him, after being introduced to the two ladies and the
+Colonel. The officer with the two constables stepped into the coastguard
+boat, which rowed on ahead of the other.
+
+"I could not resist the temptation of coming over to see the end of this
+singular affair, of which I heard from Mr. Pettigrew," Mr. Bostock said
+to Hilda. "The officer of the coastguard is going on, partly to show us
+the way to the house, and partly because it will be a good opportunity
+for him to search the place thoroughly for smuggled goods. He tells me
+that the barge is up the creek now; it went up yesterday evening. So we
+may find the fellow at home."
+
+"Now, my men," Colonel Bulstrode said to the boatmen, "we have got to
+follow that boat. You will have plenty of time for beer when you get
+there, and a good lunch besides. So pull your hardest; we have not got
+very far to go. Can either of you men row?"
+
+[Illustration: "I AM A MAGISTRATE OF THE COUNTY OF ESSEX."--_Page 289._]
+
+"I can pull a bit," Roberts said, and, aided by the sail and the
+three oars, the boat went along at a fair rate through the water, the
+coastguard boat keeping a short distance ahead of them. After a quarter
+of an hour's rowing the bargeman's house came in view. The revenue
+officer pointed to it.
+
+"Now, row your hardest, men," Colonel Bulstrode said; "we have but a
+hundred yards further to go."
+
+The two boats rowed up to the bank together; Mr. Bostock sprang out, as
+did the constables and sailors, and ran up the bank, the others
+following at once. As they appeared on the bank a boy working in the
+garden gave a shrill whistle; a man immediately appeared at the door and
+looked surprised at the appearance of the party. He stepped back a foot,
+and then, as if changing his mind, came out and closed the door after
+him.
+
+"I am a magistrate of the County of Essex," Mr. Bostock said, "and I
+have come to see a warrant executed for the search of your house for a
+child named Walter Rivington, who is believed to be concealed here, and
+who has been stolen from the care of his guardians."
+
+"I know nothing of any child of that name," the man replied, "but I have
+a child here that I am taking care of for a gentleman in London; I have
+had him here for just a year, and no one has made any inquiries about
+him. You are welcome to enter and see if he is the one you are in search
+of. If he is, all that I can say is that I know nothing about his being
+stolen, and shall be very sorry to lose him."
+
+He stood aside, and the two constables entered, followed closely by
+Hilda. The latter gave a cry of joy, for seated on the ground, playing
+with a box of soldiers, was Walter. She would hardly have known him
+anywhere else. His curls had been cut short, his face was brown and
+tanned, and his clothes, although scrupulously clean, were such as would
+be worn by any bargeman's boy at that age. The child looked up as they
+entered. Hilda ran to him, and caught him up in her arms.
+
+"Don't you know me, Walter? Don't you remember Cousin Hilda?"
+
+"Yes, I remember you," the child said, now returning her embrace. "You
+used to tell me stories and take me out in a carriage for drives. Where
+have you been so long? And where is grandpapa? Oh, here is Netta!" and
+as Hilda put him down he ran to her, for during the four months spent in
+the country she had been his chief playmate.
+
+"I have learned to swim, Netta. Uncle Bill has taught me himself; and he
+is going to take me out in his barge some day."
+
+The woman, who had come in with her arms covered with lather, from the
+little washhouse adjoining the house, now came forward.
+
+"I hope, miss, that there is nothing wrong," she said to Hilda. "We have
+done our best for the little boy, and I have come to care for him just
+as if he had been my own; and if you are going to take him away I shall
+miss him dreadful, for he is a dear little fellow," and she burst into
+tears.
+
+Walter struggled from Netta's arms, and ran to the woman, and, pulling
+her by the apron, said:
+
+"Don't cry, Aunt Betsy; Jack is not going away from you. Jack will stay
+here; he likes going in a barge better than riding in a carriage."
+
+"Well, Miss Covington," Mr. Bostock said, "the recognition appears to be
+complete on both sides; now what is the next step? Do you give this man
+into custody for unlawfully concealing this child and aiding and
+abetting in his abduction?"
+
+"Will you wait a minute while I speak to Mr. Pettigrew?" she said; and
+they went out of the house together.
+
+"Well, what do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?"
+
+"I have been thinking it over all the way as we came down," the lawyer
+said. "Of course, we have no shadow of proof that this man was aware who
+the child was, and, in fact, if he had seen the placards offering
+altogether fifteen hundred pounds for his recovery, we must certainly
+assume that he would have given him up; for however well he may have
+been paid for taking charge of him, the offer would have been too
+tempting for a man of that kind to have resisted. No doubt he had strong
+suspicions, but you can hardly say that it amounted to guilty knowledge
+that the child had been abducted. If Walter had been ill-treated I
+should have said at once, 'Give him into custody'; but this does not
+seem to have been the case."
+
+"No; they have evidently been very kind to him. I am so grateful for
+that that I should be sorry to do the man any harm."
+
+"That is not the only point," the lawyer went on. "It is evident that
+the other people very seldom come down here, and from what you heard, in
+future Simcoe is going to write. If we arrest this man the others will
+know at once that the game is up. Now, if you will take the child away
+quietly, we can tell the man that he shall not be prosecuted, providing
+that he takes no steps whatever to inform his employers that the child
+is gone; even if one of them came down here to see the child, the wife
+must say that he is away on the barge. Anyhow, we shall have ample time
+to decide upon what steps to take against Simcoe, and can lay hands upon
+him whenever we choose; whereas, if he got an inkling that we had
+discovered the child, he and his associate would probably disappear at
+once, and we might have lots of trouble to find them."
+
+"Yes, I think that would be a very good plan, Mr. Pettigrew. I will ask
+him and his wife to come out."
+
+"That will be the best way, my dear. We could hardly discuss the matter
+before Bostock."
+
+Hilda went in. As soon as she spoke to the man and his wife Mr. Bostock
+said, "If you want a conference, Miss Covington, I will go out and leave
+you to talk matters over."
+
+He and the two constables withdrew, and Mr. Pettigrew came in.
+
+"Now, my man," he began, "you must see that you have placed yourself in
+a very awkward position. You are found taking care of a child that has
+been stolen, and for whose recovery large rewards have been offered all
+over the country. It is like the case of a man found hiding stolen
+goods. He would be called upon to account for their being in his
+possession. Now, it is hardly possible that you can have been ignorant
+that this child was stolen. You may not have been told so in words, but
+you cannot have helped having suspicions. From what the child no doubt
+said when he first came here, you must have been sure that he had been
+brought up in luxury. No doubt he spoke of rides in a carriage, of
+servants, his nurse, and so on. However, Miss Covington is one of the
+child's guardians, and I am the other, and we are most reluctant to give
+you in charge. It is evident, from the behavior of the child, and from
+the affection that he shows to yourself and your wife, that you have
+treated him very kindly since he has been here, and these toys I see
+about show that you have done your best to make him happy."
+
+"That we have, sir," the man said. "Betsy and I took to him from the
+first. We have no children of our own, none living at least, and we have
+made as much of him as if he had been one of our own--perhaps more. We
+have often talked it over, and both thought that we were not doing the
+fair thing by him, and were, perhaps, keeping him out of his own. I did
+not like having anything to do with it at first, but I had had some
+business with the man who gave him to me, and when he asked me to
+undertake the job it did not seem to me so serious an affair as it has
+done since. I am heartily sorry that we have had any hand in it; not
+only because we have done the child harm, but because it seems that we
+are going to lose him now that we have come to care for him as if he was
+our own."
+
+"Of course you played only a minor part in the business, Nibson. We
+quite understand that, and it is the men who have carried out this
+abduction that we want to catch. Do you know the name of the man who
+brought the child to you?"
+
+"I don't, sir. He knows where to find me, but I have no more idea than a
+child unborn who he is or where he lives. When he writes to me, which he
+generally does before he comes down, which may be two or three times a
+month, or may be once in six months, he signs himself Smith. I don't
+suppose that is his right name, but I say fairly that if I knew it, and
+where he lived, I would not peach upon him. He has always been straight
+with me in the business I have done with him, and I would rather take
+six months for this affair than say anything against him."
+
+"We are not asking you at present to say anything against him, and he is
+not the principal man in this business. I believe he is only acting as
+agent for another more dangerous rascal than himself. We are not
+prepared at the present moment to arrest the chief scoundrel. Before we
+do that we must obtain evidence that will render his conviction a
+certainty. We have reason to believe that this man that you know will
+not come down for some time, and that you will receive the money for the
+child's keep by post; but if we abstain altogether from prosecuting you
+in this matter, you must give us your word that you will not take any
+steps whatever to let them know that the child is no longer with you. He
+says that you promised to take him out in your barge. Well, if by any
+chance this man--not your man, but the other--comes down here, and wants
+to see the child, you or your wife will lead him to believe that he is
+on board your barge. It will also be necessary that, if we do arrest
+them, you should enter as a witness to prove that the man handed the
+child over to you. You could let it be seen that you are an unwilling
+witness, but the evidence of the handing over of the child will be an
+absolute necessity."
+
+"All right, sir, I will undertake that. There is no fear of my letting
+him know that the child has gone, for I don't know where to write him;
+and if he or the other should come down, if I am here I shall have no
+difficulty in keeping it from him that the child has gone, for my man
+has never set foot in this house. He just meets me on the road near
+Pitsea, says what he has to say, and gives me what he has to give me,
+and then drives off again. Of course, if I am summoned as a witness, I
+know that the law can make me go. I remember now that when he gave me
+the child he said he was doing it to oblige a friend of his, and he may
+be able to prove that he had nothing to do with carrying it off."
+
+"That is as it may be," the lawyer said dryly. "However, we are quite
+content with your promise."
+
+"And I thank you most heartily, you and your wife," Hilda Covington said
+warmly, "for your kindness to the child. It would have made me very
+happy all this time if I could have known that he was in such good
+hands, but I pictured him shut up in some vile den in London, ill
+treated, and half starved. He has grown very much since he has been with
+you, and looks a great deal more boyish than he did."
+
+"Yes, he plays a good deal with my barge boy, who has taken to him just
+as we have."
+
+"Well, your kindness will not be forgotten nor unrewarded, Mr. Nibson."
+
+"I'm sure we don't want any reward, miss; we have been well paid. But
+even if we hadn't been paid at all after the first month, we should have
+gone on keeping him just the same."
+
+"Now, Walter," Hilda said, "we want you to come home with us; we have
+all been wanting you very badly. Nurse and Tom Roberts have been in a
+terrible way, and so has Dr. Leeds. You remember him, don't you? He was
+very kind to you all the time that you were down in the country."
+
+The child nodded. "I should like to see Tom Roberts and nurse, but I
+don't want to go away. I am going out in the barge soon."
+
+"Well, dear, I dare say that we shall be able to arrange for you to come
+down sometimes, and to go out in it, especially as you have learned to
+swim. We are going away now in a boat."
+
+"I often go out in the boat," Walter pouted. "I go with Joshua; he is a
+nice boy, Joshua is, and I like him."
+
+"Well, dear, we will see what we can do for Joshua."
+
+"You are sure that I shall come back and go out in the barge?"
+
+"Quite sure, dear; and perhaps I will go out with you, too."
+
+"Yes, you must go, like a good boy," Mrs. Nibson said. "You know, dear,
+that I shall always love you, and shall be very, very glad if the ladies
+can spare you to come down to see me sometimes. You won't forget me,
+will you?"
+
+"No, Aunt Betsy, I shall never forget you; I promise you that," the
+child said. "And I don't want to go away from you at all, only Cousin
+Hilda says I must."
+
+Mr. Pettigrew went out to tell Mr. Bostock that they should not give
+Nibson into custody.
+
+"The principal scoundrels would take the alarm instantly," he said,
+"and, above all things, we want to keep them in the dark until we are
+ready to arrest them. It will be much better that we should have this
+man to call as a witness than that he should appear in the dock as an
+accomplice."
+
+"I think that you are right there," the magistrate agreed; "and really,
+he and his wife seem to have been very kind to the child. I have been
+talking to this young barge boy. It seems he is no relation of these
+people. His mother was a tramp, who died one winter's night on the road
+to Pitsea. He was about ten or eleven years old then, and they would
+have sent him to the workhouse; but Nibson, who was on the coroner's
+jury, volunteered to take him, and I dare say he finds him very useful
+on board the barge. At any rate, he has been well treated, and says that
+Nibson is the best master on the river. So the fellow must have some
+good in him, though, from what the coastguard officer said, there are
+very strong suspicions that he is mixed up in the smuggling business,
+which, it seems, is still carried on in these marshes. Well, no doubt
+you have decided wisely; and now, I suppose, we shall be off."
+
+At this moment they were joined by the coastguard officer.
+
+"He has done us again," he said. "We have been investigating these
+outhouses thoroughly, and there is no question that he has had smuggled
+goods here. We found a clever hiding-place in that cattle-shed. It
+struck me that it was a curious thing that there should be a stack of
+hay built up right against the side of it. So we took down a plank or
+two, and I was not surprised to find that there was a hollow in the
+stack. One of the men stamped his foot, and the sound showed that there
+was another hollow underneath. We dug up the ground, and found, six
+inches below it, a trapdoor, and on lifting it discovered a hole five or
+six feet deep and six feet square. It was lined with bricks, roughly
+cemented together. It is lucky for him that the place is empty, and I
+should think that after this he will go out of the business for a time.
+Of course we cannot arrest a man merely for having a hidden cellar; I
+fancy that there are not many houses on the marshes that have not some
+places of the sort. Indeed, I am rather glad that we did not catch him,
+for in other respects Nibson is a decent, hard-working fellow. Sometimes
+he has a glass or two at the 'Lobster Smack,' but never takes too much,
+and is always very quiet and decent in his talk. I doubt whether the men
+would have found that hiding-place if I had not been there; they all
+know him well, and would not get him into a scrape if they could help
+it, though there are some fellows on the marshes they would give a
+month's pay to catch with kegs or tobacco."
+
+The door of the house opened, and the three women and Nibson came out
+with Walter, who was now dressed in the clothes that they had brought
+down for him.
+
+While the others were getting ready to enter the boat the officer took
+Nibson aside.
+
+"You have had a close squeak of it, Nibson; we found your hiding-place
+under the stack, and it is lucky for you that it was empty. So we have
+nothing to say to you. I should advise you to give it up, my man; sooner
+or later you are bound to be caught."
+
+The man's brow had darkened as the officer began, but it cleared up
+again.
+
+"All right," he said; "I have been thinking for the last half hour that
+I shall drop the business altogether, but when a man once gets into it,
+it is not so easy to get out. Now that you have found that cellar, it is
+a good excuse to cut it. I can well say that I dare not risk it again,
+for that, after so nearly catching me, you would be sure to keep an
+extra sharp eye on me in the future."
+
+"You give me your word for that, Nibson?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I swear off it altogether from the present day."
+
+"Good. I will take your word for it, and you can go in and come out as
+you like without being watched, and you need not fear that we shall pay
+you another visit."
+
+Walter went off in fair spirits. The promise that he should come down
+again and see his friends and have a sail in the barge lessened the pang
+of leaving, and as Hilda's and Netta's faces came more strongly back to
+him, as they talked to him and recalled pleasant things that had almost
+faded from his memory, he went away contentedly, while Betsy Nibson went
+back to the house and had what she called "a good cry." She too,
+however, cheered up when her husband told her how narrow an escape he
+had had, and how he had given his word that he would drop smuggling
+altogether.
+
+"That makes my mind easier than it has been for years, Bill. And will
+you give up the other thing, too? There may not be much harm in running
+kegs and bacca, but there is no doubt about its being wrong to have
+anything to do with stolen goods and to mix yourself up with men who
+steal them."
+
+"Yes, I will give that up, too, Betsy; and, as soon as I have time to
+look round, I will give an order for a new barge to be built for me. I
+have been ashamed of the old thing for a long time past with her patched
+sails. Of course, she suited my purpose, for when the other barges kept
+on their course it gave me a good excuse for anchoring; but it aint
+pleasant to have every barge passing you. There is old Joe Hargett; he
+said the other day that, if I ever thought of getting a new barge, he
+would give a hundred for her. He has got a set of decent sails, and he
+is a pretty handy carpenter, and no doubt he will make her look decent
+again. A hundred pounds aint much, but it will help. I can get a new one
+complete, sails and all, for fourteen or fifteen hundred, and have a
+hundred or two left in the bag afterwards. I tell you what, Betsy, I
+will get an extra comfortable cabin made, and a place forward for
+Joshua. It will be dull for you here now the child is gone, and it would
+be a sight more comfortable for us both to be always together."
+
+"That it will, Bill," she said joyfully. "I was always very happy on
+board till we lost our Billy. I took a dislike to it then, and was glad
+enough to come here; but I have got over it now, and this place is very
+lonely during the long winter nights when you are away."
+
+Then they talked over the barge, and how the cabin should be fitted up,
+and, in spite of having lost Walter, the evening was a pleasant one to
+them.
+
+That was not the only conversation that took place that day with
+reference to a new barge for Bill Nibson. As they rowed up against the
+tide, Hilda said:
+
+"We must do something for that bargeman, Colonel Bulstrode. I am sure we
+cannot be too grateful to him and his wife for their treatment of
+Walter. Think how different it might have been had he fallen into bad
+hands. Now he looks the picture of health; the change in the life and
+the open air has done wonders. You know, Dr. Leeds said that the officer
+of the coastguard had told him that Nibson's barge was one of the oldest
+and rottenest crafts on the river. Now, I propose that we buy him a new
+one. What would it cost, Colonel Bulstrode?"
+
+"I have not the slightest idea," the Colonel replied; "it might cost
+five hundred pounds, or it might cost five thousand, for all I know."
+
+"I will ask the waterman," Hilda said, and raising her voice she said,
+"How much do barges cost when they are new?"
+
+"From ten or eleven hundred up to fifteen," the man said.
+
+"Does that include sails and all?"
+
+"Yes, miss; down to the boat."
+
+"Who is considered the best barge-builder?"
+
+"Well, there are a good many of them, miss; but I should say that Gill,
+of Rochester, is considered as good as any."
+
+"What do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda said. "Should we, as Walter's
+guardians, be justified in spending this money? Mind, I don't care a bit
+whether we are or not, because I would buy it myself if it would not be
+right for us to use his money."
+
+"I am afraid that it would not be right," Mr. Pettigrew said. "As a
+trustee of the property, I should certainly not feel myself justified in
+sanctioning such a sum being drawn, though I quite admit that this good
+couple should be rewarded. I cannot regard a barge as a necessary;
+anything in reason that the child could require we should be justified
+in agreeing to. Of course, whatever may be his expenses at a public
+school, we should pay them without hesitation; but for a child of that
+age to give a present of fifteen hundred pounds would be altogether
+beyond our power to sanction."
+
+"Very well," Hilda said decidedly, "then I shall take the matter into my
+own hands, and I shall go down to Rochester to-morrow and see if these
+people have a barge ready built. I don't know whether they are the sort
+of things people keep in stock."
+
+"That I can't say, my dear. I should think it probable that in slack
+times they may build a barge or two on speculation, for the purpose of
+keeping their hands employed, but whether that is the case now or not I
+don't know. If these people at Rochester have not got one you may hear
+of one somewhere else. I want you all to come up to the office one day
+next week to talk over this matter of the order Simcoe is applying
+for--for us to carry out the provisions of the will--at any rate, as far
+as his legacy is concerned."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Pettigrew, I will come up any time that you write to me,
+but you know that I have very strong opinions about it."
+
+"I know your opinions are strong, as ladies' opinions generally are,"
+Mr. Pettigrew said with a smile; "but, unfortunately, they are much more
+influenced by their own view of matters than by the legal bearing of
+them. However, we will talk that over when we meet again."
+
+The arrival of Walter occasioned the most lively joy in Hyde Park
+Gardens. Hilda had written to his nurse, who had gone home to live with
+her mother when all hope of finding Walter had seemed to be at an end,
+to tell her that he would probably be at home on Wednesday evening, and
+that she was to be there to meet him. Her greeting of him was rapturous.
+It had been a source of bitter grief to her that he had been lost
+through a momentary act of carelessness on her part, and the relief that
+Hilda's letter had caused was great indeed. The child was scarcely less
+pleased to see her, for he retained a much more vivid recollection of
+her than he did of the others. He had already been told of his
+grandfather's death, but a year had so effaced his memory of him that he
+was not greatly affected at the news. In the course of a few hours he
+was almost as much at home in the house as if he had never left it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+A NEW BARGE.
+
+
+The next morning Hilda went down to Rochester with Netta, Tom Roberts
+accompanying them. They had no difficulty in discovering the
+barge-builder's. It seemed to the girls a dirty-looking place, thickly
+littered as it was with shavings; men were at work on two or three
+barges which seemed, thus seen out of the water, an enormous size.
+
+"Which is Mr. Gill?" Hilda asked a man passing.
+
+"That is him, miss," and he pointed to a man who was in the act of
+giving directions to some workmen. They waited until he had finished,
+and then went up to him.
+
+"I want to buy a barge, Mr. Gill," Hilda said.
+
+"To buy a barge!" he repeated in surprise, for never before had he had a
+young lady as a customer.
+
+Hilda nodded. "I want to give it to a bargeman who has rendered me a
+great service," as if it were an everyday occurrence for a young lady to
+buy a barge as a present. "I want it at once, please; and it is to be a
+first-class barge. How much would it cost?"
+
+The builder rubbed his chin. "Well, miss, it is a little unusual to sell
+a barge right off in this way; as a rule people want barges built for
+them. Some want them for speed, some want them for their carrying
+capacity."
+
+"I want a first-class barge," Hilda replied. "I suppose it will be for
+traffic on the Thames, and that he will like it to be fast."
+
+"Well, miss," the builder said slowly, for he could not yet quite
+persuade himself that this young lady was really prepared to pay such a
+sum as a new barge would cost, "I have got such a barge. She was
+launched last week, but I had a dispute with the man for whom I built
+her, and I said that I would not hold him to his bargain, and that he
+could get a barge elsewhere. He went off in a huff, but I expect he will
+come back before long and ask me to let him have her, and I should not
+be altogether sorry to say that she is gone. She is a first-class barge,
+and I expect that she will be as fast as anything on the river. Of
+course, I have got everything ready for her--masts, sails, and gear,
+even down to her dingey--and in twenty-four hours she would be ready to
+sail. The price is fifteen hundred pounds," and he looked sharply at
+Hilda to see what effect that communication would have. To his great
+surprise she replied quietly:
+
+"That is about the sum I expected, Mr. Gill. Can we look at her?"
+
+"Certainly, miss; she is lying alongside, and it is nearly high tide."
+
+He led the way over piles of balks of timber, across sloppy pieces of
+ground, over which at high tide water extended, to the edge of the
+wharf, where the barge floated. She was indeed all ready for her mast;
+her sides shone with fresh paint, her upper works were painted an
+emerald green, a color greatly in favor among bargemen, and there was a
+patch of the same on her bow, ready for the name, surrounded by gilt
+scrollwork.
+
+"There she is, miss; as handsome a barge as there is afloat."
+
+"I want to see the cabin. What a little place!" she went on, as she and
+Netta went down through a narrow hatchway, "and how low!"
+
+"It is the usual height in barges, miss, and the same size, unless
+especially ordered otherwise."
+
+"I should like the cabin to be made very comfortable, for I think the
+boatman will have his wife on board. Could it not be made a little
+larger?"
+
+"There would be no great difficulty about that. You see, this is a
+water-tight compartment, but of course it could be carried six feet
+farther forward and a permanent hatchway be fixed over it, and the
+lining made good in the new part. As to height, one might put in a
+good-sized skylight; it would not be usual, but of course it could be
+done."
+
+"And you could put the bed-place across there, could you not, and put a
+curtain to draw across it?"
+
+"Yes, that could be managed easy enough, miss; and it would make a very
+tidy cabin."
+
+"Then how much would that cost extra?"
+
+"Forty or fifty pounds, at the outside."
+
+"And when could you get it all finished, and everything painted a nice
+color?"
+
+"I could get it done in a week or ten days, if you made a point of it."
+
+"I do make a point of it," Hilda said.
+
+"What do you say to our leaving this bulkhead up as it is, miss, and
+making a door through it, and putting a small skylight, say three feet
+square, over the new part? You see, it will be fifteen feet wide by six
+feet, so that it will make a tidy little place. It would not cost more
+than the other way, not so much perhaps; for it would be a lot of
+trouble to get this bulkhead down, and then, you see, the second hand
+could have his bunk in here, on the lockers, and be quite separate."
+
+"Isn't there a cabin at the other end?"
+
+"Well, there is one, miss; you can come and look at it. That is where
+the second hand always sleeps when the bargeman has got his wife on
+board."
+
+"I think that it would be better to have the second hand sleep there,"
+Hilda said. "This is very rough," she went on, when she inspected the
+little cabin forward; "there are all the beams sticking out. Surely it
+can be made more comfortable than this."
+
+"We could matchboard the timbers over if you like, but it is not usual."
+
+"Never mind, please do it; and put some lockers up for his clothes, and
+make it very comfortable. Has the barge got a name yet?"
+
+"Well, miss, we have always called her the _Medway_; but there is no
+reason that you should stick to that name. She has not been registered
+yet, so we can call her any name you like."
+
+"Then we will call her the _Walter_," Hilda said, for the girls had
+already settled this point between them.
+
+"And now, Mr. Gill, I suppose there is nothing to do but to give you a
+check for fifteen hundred pounds, and I can pay for the alterations when
+I come down next Monday week. Can you get me a couple of men who
+understand the work--bargees, don't you call them? I want them to take
+her as far as Hole Haven and a short way up the creek."
+
+"I can do that easily enough," the builder said; "and I promise you that
+everything shall be ready for sailing, though I don't guarantee that the
+paint in the new part of the cabin will be dry. All the rest I can
+promise. I will set a strong gang of men on at once."
+
+A few days later Hilda wrote a line to William Nibson, saying that she
+intended to come down with the child on the following Monday, and hoped
+that he would be able to make it convenient to be at home on that day.
+
+"She is not long in coming down again, Betsy," he said, when on the
+Friday the barge went up to Pitsea again, and he received the letter,
+which was carried home and read by his wife, he himself being, like most
+of his class at the time, unable to read or write. "I suppose the child
+pined in his new home, and she had to pacify him by saying that he
+should come down and see us next week. That will suit me very well. I
+have a load of manure waiting for me at Rotherhithe; it is for Farmer
+Gilston, near Pitsea, so that I shall just manage it comfortably. Next
+week I will go over to Rochester and see if I can hear of a good barge
+for sale."
+
+On the following Monday morning the girls again went down to Rochester,
+this time taking Walter with them; having the previous week sent off
+three or four great parcels by luggage train. Roberts went to look for a
+cart to bring them to the barge-builder's, and the girls went on alone.
+
+"There she lies, miss," Mr. Gill said, pointing to a barge with new
+tanned sails lying out in the stream; "she is a boat any man might be
+proud of."
+
+"She looks very nice indeed," Hilda said, "though, of course, I am no
+judge of such things."
+
+"You may be sure that she is all right, Miss Covington."
+
+"Is the paint dry, down below?"
+
+"Yes. I saw that you were anxious about it, so put plenty of drier in.
+So that, though she was only painted on Saturday morning, she is
+perfectly dry now. But you are rather earlier than I had expected."
+
+"Yes; we have sent a lot of things down by rail. Our man is getting a
+cart, and I dare say they will be here in a quarter of an hour."
+
+The things were brought on a large hand-cart, and as soon as these were
+carried down to the boat they went off with Mr. Gill to the barge.
+
+"There, miss," he said, as he led the way down into the cabin; "there is
+not a barge afloat with such a comfortable cabin as this. I put up two
+or three more cupboards, for as they will sleep in the next room there
+is plenty of space for them."
+
+Except in point of height, the cabin was as comfortable a little room as
+could be desired. It was painted a light slate color, with the panels of
+the closets of a lighter shade of the same. The inner cabin was of the
+same color. A broad wooden bedstead extended across one end, and at the
+other were two long cupboards extending from the ceiling to the floor.
+The skylight afforded plenty of light to this room, while the large one
+in the main cabin gave standing height six feet square in the middle.
+
+"It could not have been better," Hilda said, greatly pleased.
+
+"Well, miss, I took upon myself to do several things in the way of
+cupboards, and so on, that you had not ordered, but seeing that you
+wanted to have things comfortable I took upon myself to do them."
+
+"You did quite right, Mr. Gill. This big skylight makes all the
+difference in height. I see that you have painted the name, and that you
+have got a flag flying from the masthead."
+
+"Yes; bargemen generally like a bit of a flag, that is to say if they
+take any pride in their boat. You cannot trade in the barge until you
+have had it registered; shall I get that done for you?"
+
+"Yes, I should be very much obliged if you would."
+
+"And in whose name shall I register it? In yours?"
+
+"No; in the name of William Nibson. If you want his address it is Creek
+Farm, Pitsea."
+
+"Well, miss, he is a lucky fellow. I will get it done, and he can call
+here for the register the first time he comes up the Medway."
+
+Roberts was sent ashore again for a number of hooks, screws, and a few
+tools.
+
+"Now, Mr. Gill, we are quite ready to start. We shall get things
+straight on the voyage."
+
+"You will have plenty of time, miss; she will anchor off Grain Spit till
+the tide begins to run up hard. You won't be able to get up the creek
+till an hour before high tide."
+
+"That won't matter," Hilda said; "it will not be dark till nine."
+
+"You can get up the anchor now," the builder said to two men who had
+been sitting smoking in the bow.
+
+The barge's boat was lying bottom upwards on the hatches and another
+boat lay behind her.
+
+"This boat does not belong to her, Mr. Gill; does she?" Hilda asked.
+
+"No, miss; that is the men's boat. When they have got the barge to where
+she is to be moored, they will row down to Hole Haven, and get a tow up
+with the first barge that comes down after the tide has turned. How
+will you be coming back, Miss Covington?"
+
+"We have arranged for a gig to be at Hole Haven at eight o'clock to
+drive us to Brentwood, where we shall take train to town. We shall not
+be up before half-past eleven, but as we have our man with us that does
+not matter; besides, the carriage is to be at the station to meet the
+train."
+
+The girls and Walter watched the operation of getting up the anchor and
+of setting the foresail and jib. They remained on deck while the barge
+beat down the long reach past the dockyards, and then with slackened
+sheets rounded the wooded curve down into Gillingham Reach, then,
+accompanied by Roberts, they went below. Here they were soon hard at
+work. The great packages were opened, and mattresses and bedclothes
+brought out.
+
+"This reminds one of our work when you first came to us," Netta laughed,
+as they made the bed.
+
+"Yes, it is like old times, certainly. We used to like to work then,
+because we were doing it together; we like it still more to-day, because
+not only are we together, but we are looking forward to the delight that
+we are going to give."
+
+Carpets were laid down, curtains hung to the bed, and a wash-hand stand
+fixed in its place. A hamper of crockery was unpacked and the contents
+placed on the shelves that had been made for them, and cooking utensils
+arranged on the stove, which had been obtained for them by the builder.
+By this time Roberts had screwed up the hooks in the long cupboards, and
+in every spot round both cabins where they could be made available. Then
+numerous japanned tin boxes, filled with tea, sugar, and other
+groceries, were stowed away, and a large one with a label, "Tobacco,"
+placed on a shelf for Bill Nibson's special delectation. Curtains that
+could be drawn were fixed to the skylights, looking-glasses fastened
+against the walls, and by the time that the barge neared Sheerness their
+labors were finished. Then the forward cabin was similarly made
+comfortable. Walter had assisted to the best of his power in all the
+arrangements, and when he became tired was allowed to go up on deck, on
+his promise to remain quiet by the side of the helmsman.
+
+"Now I think that everything is in its place," Hilda said at last, "and
+really they make two very pretty little rooms. I can't say that the one
+in the bow is pretty, but at any rate it is thoroughly comfortable, and
+I have no doubt that Joshua will be as pleased with it as the Nibsons
+are with theirs. Oh, dear, how dusty one gets! and we never thought of
+getting water on board for the jugs."
+
+On going up on deck, however, they observed two barrels lashed together.
+
+"Are those water?" Hilda asked the man at the tiller.
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"How do you get it out? I don't see a tap."
+
+"You put that little pump lying by the side into the bunghole. I will do
+it for you, miss."
+
+"Now we will go downstairs and tidy up, and then come and sit up here
+and enjoy ourselves," said Hilda.
+
+When they were below they heard a rattle of the chain, and, on going up,
+found that the barge had come to anchor in the midst of some thirty or
+forty others. The foresail had been run down and the jib lowered, but
+the great mainsail, with its huge, brightly painted sprit, was still
+standing. Roberts now opened a hamper that had been left on deck, and
+produced luncheon. Cold meat and beer were handed to the two watermen,
+who went up into the bow to eat it. An hour later the tide began to
+slacken, and many of the barges got up sail.
+
+"Shall we get up the anchor, ma'am?" one of the watermen asked.
+
+"There's plenty of time, is there not?" Hilda asked.
+
+"Yes, ma'am, but we thought that you would like to see how she goes with
+the others."
+
+"Yes, I should like that," Hilda said, and in a few minutes the barge
+was under sail again.
+
+"She is a clipper, and no mistake," the man at the tiller said, as one
+by one they passed the barges that had started ahead of them, and Walter
+clapped his hands in delight.
+
+"We may as well go down to the lower end of the Hope, miss. We shall
+have plenty of time to get back again before there is water enough for
+us in the creek."
+
+For three hours they sailed about, the girls enjoying it as much as
+Walter.
+
+"I do think, Netta, that I shall have to buy a barge on my own account.
+It is splendid, and, after all, the cabins are large enough for
+anything."
+
+"You had better have a yacht," Netta laughed. "You would soon get tired
+of always going up and down the river."
+
+"One might do worse," Hilda said. "Of course, now we shall give up that
+big house in Hyde Park Gardens, which is ridiculous for me and the boy.
+We have each got a country house, and when we want a thorough change I
+would infinitely rather have a yacht than a small house in town. I don't
+suppose that it would cost very much more. Besides, you know, it is
+arranged that I am always to have rooms at your house at the institute.
+That is to be the next thing seen after; you know that is quite agreed
+upon."
+
+"I shall be glad to be at work again," Netta said. "Now that Walter is
+found, there is certainly nothing to keep us any longer in town."
+
+"I know that it must have been horribly dull for you, Netta, but you see
+that you are partly to blame yourself for refusing to go out with me."
+
+"That would have been duller still," Netta laughed. "I should have been
+a long time before I got to know people, and there is no good in knowing
+people when you are going right away from them in a short time, and may
+never meet them again."
+
+At last the men said that there would be water enough to get up the
+creek.
+
+"We shan't be able to sail up, miss; you see, the wind will be right in
+our teeth. But that don't matter; we can pole her up. The tide will
+take us along, and we shall only have to keep her straight and get her
+round the corners."
+
+"Are you sure that there will be water enough?"
+
+"Yes, miss. You see, she is empty, and doesn't draw much more than a
+foot of water."
+
+As they entered the haven the head sails were dropped and the mainsail
+brailed up. The tide was running in strong, and, as the men had said,
+they had nothing to do but to keep the barge in the deepest part of the
+channel.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"How do you think they will be coming, Bill?" Betsy Nibson said, as she
+joined her husband, who was standing on the bank dressed in his Sunday
+clothes.
+
+"I cannot say, Betsy; if I had known I should have gone to meet them.
+They cannot drive here from Pitsea, but must walk; and, of course, I
+would have been there if I had been sure of their coming that way. But I
+should think most likely that they will drive to the haven and come up
+by boat."
+
+"There is a new barge coming up the creek," Joshua said. "You can see
+that she is new by her spars and sails."
+
+"That's so, boy," Bill agreed. "She has got a flag I haven't seen before
+at her masthead. It is white, and I think there are some red letters on
+it--her name, I suppose. 'Tis not often that a new barge comes up to
+Pitsea. She is a fine-looking craft," he went on, as a turning in the
+creek brought her wholly into view. "A first-class barge, I should say.
+Yes, there is no doubt about her being new. I should say, from the look
+of her spars, she cannot have made many trips up and down the river."
+
+"She has got a party on board," Mrs. Nibson said presently. "There are
+two women and a child. Perhaps it's them, Bill. They may have some
+friend in the barge line, and he has offered to bring them down, seeing
+that this is a difficult place to get at."
+
+"I believe you are right, Betsy. They are too far off to see their
+faces, but they are certainly not barge people."
+
+"They are waving their handkerchiefs!" Betsy exclaimed; "it is them,
+sure enough. Well, we have wondered how they would come down, but we
+never thought of a barge."
+
+The three hurried along the bank to meet the barge. Walter danced and
+waved his hat and shouted loudly to them as they approached.
+
+"You did not expect to see us arrive in a barge, Mrs. Nibson," Hilda
+called out as they came abreast of them.
+
+"No, indeed, miss; we talked it over together as to how you would come,
+but we never thought of a barge."
+
+"It belongs to a friend of ours, and we thought that it would be a
+pleasant way of coming. She is a new boat. You must come on board and
+have a look at her before we land."
+
+In a few minutes the barge was alongside the bank, opposite the house. A
+plank was run across and Walter scampered over it to his friends.
+
+"Bless his little face!" Mrs. Nibson said, as she lifted him up to kiss
+her. "What a darling he looks, Bill! And he has not forgotten us a bit."
+
+"He could not well forget in a week," Bill said, rather gruffly, for he,
+too, was moved by the warmth of the child's welcome. "Well, let us go on
+board and pay our respects. She is a fine barge, surely; and she has got
+the same name as the child."
+
+"Why, it is not 'Jack,'" his wife said, looking up.
+
+"Jack!" her husband repeated scornfully. "Didn't they call him Walter
+the other day? Go on, wife; the lady is waiting at the end of the plank
+for you."
+
+Mrs. Nibson put the child down and followed him across the plank,
+smoothing her apron as she went.
+
+"My best respects, miss," she said, as Hilda shook hands with her
+warmly.
+
+"We are glad to see you again, Mrs. Nibson, and hope that you have not
+missed Walter very much."
+
+"I cannot say that I have not missed him a good deal, miss, but,
+luckily, we have had other things to think about. We are giving up the
+farm; it is lonesome here in the winter, and I am going to take to barge
+life again."
+
+"Well, what do you think of this barge, Mr. Nibson?" Hilda asked.
+
+"I allow she is a handsome craft, and she ought to be fast."
+
+"She is fast. We have been sailing about until there was enough water in
+the creek, and we have passed every barge that we have come near. She is
+comfortable, too. Come below and look at her cabin."
+
+"Well, I never!" Mrs. Nibson said, pausing in astonishment at the foot
+of the ladder. "I have been in many barge cabins, but never saw one like
+this." Her surprise increased when the door of the bulkhead was opened
+and she saw the sleeping cabin beyond. "Did you ever, Bill?"
+
+"No, I never saw two cabins in a barge before," her husband said. "I
+suppose, miss, the owner must have had the cabin specially done up for
+his own use sometimes, and the crew lived forward."
+
+"There is a place forward for the second hand," she replied, "and I
+suppose the owner will sleep here."
+
+"Of course it is a loss of space, but she will carry a big load, too.
+Who is the owner, miss, if I may make so bold as to ask?"
+
+"The registered owner is William Nibson," Hilda said quietly.
+
+The bargeman and his wife gazed at each other in astonishment.
+
+"But," he said hesitatingly, "I have never heard of any owner of that
+name."
+
+"Except yourself, Nibson."
+
+"Yes, except myself; but I am not an owner, as I have sold the _Mary
+Ann_."
+
+"There is no other owner now," she said, "that I know of, of that name.
+The barge is yours. It is bought as testimony of our gratitude for the
+kindness that you have shown Walter, and you see it is named after
+him."
+
+"It is too much, miss," said Bill huskily, while his wife burst into
+tears. "It is too much altogether. We only did our duty to the child,
+and we were well paid for it."
+
+"You did more than your duty," Hilda said. "The money might pay for food
+and shelter and clothes, but money cannot buy love, and that is what you
+gave, both of you; and it is for that that we now pay as well as we
+can."
+
+"Miss Covington should say 'I,'" Netta broke in, "for it is her present
+entirely. Walter's trustees could not touch his money for the purpose,
+and so she has done it herself."
+
+"Hush, Netta! You should have said nothing about it," Hilda said; and
+then, turning to Nibson, went on, "I am his nearest relative--his only
+relative, in fact--besides being his guardian, and, therefore, naturally
+I am the most interested in his happiness; and as, fortunately, I am
+myself very well off, I can well afford the pleasure of helping those
+who have been so good to him. Please do not say anything more about it.
+Now we will go on deck for a few minutes, and leave you and your wife to
+look round. We will show Joshua his cabin."
+
+So saying, she and Netta went on deck. Joshua, led by Walter, was just
+crossing the plank. He had not received a special invitation, and he
+felt too shy to go on board with these ladies present. Walter, however,
+had run across to him, and at last persuaded him to come.
+
+"Well, Joshua," Hilda said, as she reached him, "what do you think of
+the barge?"
+
+"She is as good a one as ever I seed," the boy said.
+
+"Well, Joshua, she belongs to Mr. Nibson."
+
+"To Bill?" Joshua exclaimed. "You don't mean it, miss."
+
+"I do mean it," she said; "this is his barge."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't have thought that Bill was that artful!" Joshua
+exclaimed almost indignantly. "Fancy his keeping it from the missis and
+me that he had been and bought a new barge! But she is a fine one, there
+aint no doubt about that."
+
+"Come forward and look at your cabin, Joshua. I think you will say that
+it is more comfortable than usual."
+
+"Well, I am blowed!" the boy ejaculated, as he followed her down the
+ladder and looked round. "Why, it is a palace, that is wot it is; it is
+more comfortable than the master's cabin aft in most barges. And what a
+bed! Why, it is soft enough for a hemperor."
+
+"There are no sheets, Joshua. They told me that the men never use sheets
+in barges."
+
+"Lor' bless you! no, ma'am. We mostly stretch ourselves on the locker
+and roll ourselves up in a blanket, if we are lucky enough to have one.
+Why, I don't know as I shan't be afraid of getting into that bed, though
+I does take a header in the water every morning. There are lockers on
+both sides, too, and a basin. Who ever heard of such a thing as a basin?
+Why, miss, we allus washes in the pail on deck."
+
+"Well, I should think that it would be a good deal more comfortable to
+wash down here in a basin on a cold morning."
+
+"Well, I suppose it might, miss; it be sharp sometimes outside. Why,
+there is oilcloth all over the floor, and a mat to wipe one's feet at
+the bottom of the ladder, and a rug by the side of the bed! I never did
+see such things. Bill must have gone clean off his chump. Well, I am
+blessed!"
+
+"It is Miss Covington who has given Bill the barge and seen to its being
+fitted up," Netta said, "and she has done her best to make your cabin as
+comfortable as possible, because you have been so kind to Walter."
+
+"And I hope to do some more for you, Joshua, when I can see my way to do
+it. You will find two or three suits of clothes for your work in those
+lockers. I do not know that they will quite fit, but I dare say if they
+don't Mrs. Nibson can alter them for you, and you will find shirts and
+warm underclothing, and so on, in that cupboard."
+
+Joshua sat down suddenly on a locker, completely overpowered with what
+seemed to him the immensity of his possessions.
+
+There the girls left him, and they went up on deck again.
+
+Going aft, they sat down and talked for a few minutes, and were then
+joined by Nibson and his wife. The latter still bore traces of tears on
+her cheeks, and there was a suspicious redness about Bill's eyes.
+
+"We won't try to say what we would like to say," the man began, "'cause
+we could not say it, but we feels it just the same. Here we are with
+everything man or woman could wish for, ready to hand."
+
+"As I have said before, Nibson, please do not say anything more about
+it. It has made me quite as happy to get this barge for you, and to make
+it comfortable, as it can do you both to receive it. And now we will go
+ashore."
+
+In the house they found that tea was ready, save pouring the water into
+the pot. A ham and a couple of cold chickens were on the table, and jam
+and honey were specially provided for Walter. Joshua did not make one of
+the party. After recovering from the contemplation of his own cabin he
+had gone aft and remained in almost awe-struck admiration at the comfort
+and conveniences there, until summoned by Bill to take his place and
+help to get the new boat into the water, and to row the ladies down to
+Hole Haven.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+A CRUSHING EXPOSURE.
+
+
+The case of the application by John Simcoe for an order for the trustees
+of the will of the late General Mathieson to carry its provisions into
+effect was on the list of cases for the day. Tom Roberts was walking up
+and down in Westminster Hall, waiting for it to come on, when he saw a
+face he knew.
+
+"Hullo, Sergeant Nichol, what brings you here?"
+
+"Just curiosity, Roberts. I happened to see in the list of cases one of
+Simcoe against the trustees of General Mathieson. 'What,' I said to
+himself, 'Simcoe? That is the name of the chap who saved General
+Mathieson's life.' I remember their being both brought into cantonment,
+as well as if it were yesterday. I was with Paymaster-Sergeant
+Sanderson, the fellow who bolted a short time afterwards with three
+hundred pounds from the pay-chest and never was heard of afterwards. We
+heard that Simcoe was drowned at sea; and sorry we all were, for a
+braver fellow never stepped in shoe leather, and there was not a man
+there who did not feel that he owed him a debt of gratitude for saving
+the brigadier's life. So when I saw the paper I said to myself, 'Either
+the man was not drowned at all, or he must be some relation of his. I
+will go into court and have a look at him.'"
+
+"It is the same man, but I am sorry to say that, though he may be as
+brave as a lion, he is a rogue. But you can see him without going into
+court. That is him, talking with the man in a wig and gown and that
+little man in black, who is, I suppose, his lawyer. He knows me, so I
+won't go near him; but you can walk as close as you like to him, and
+take a good look at him."
+
+Not content with looking once, Sergeant Nichol passed him backwards and
+forwards three times. When he rejoined Roberts the latter saw that he
+looked flushed and excited.
+
+"What is it, sergeant?"
+
+"I don't believe it is Simcoe at all," the sergeant said. "It is that
+man Sanderson I was speaking about just now. Several of us noticed how
+like he was to Simcoe, but the expression of their faces was different.
+Simcoe was five or six years younger, and had a pleasant expression;
+Sanderson had a hard face. None of us liked him, he was a man one could
+never get friendly with; you might be in the same mess for years and not
+know more about him at the end than you did at the beginning. Of course,
+they would both be changed a good deal by this time, but I don't believe
+that Simcoe would have grown so as to be like this man; and I am sure
+that Sanderson would. He had a mark on him that I should know him by.
+One day when he was a recruit his musket went off, and the ball went
+through his left forearm. It was only a flesh wound, but it left a
+blackened scar, and I will bet all that I am worth that if you turned up
+that fellow's sleeve you would find it there."
+
+"That is very important, sergeant. I will go and tell my young lady; she
+is talking with her lawyers and Colonel Bulstrode at the other end of
+the hall."
+
+Hilda clapped her hands.
+
+"What do you say now, Mr. Pettigrew? I was right, after all. Bring your
+friend up, Roberts, and let us hear his story ourselves."
+
+Sergeant Nichol was fetched, and repeated the story that he had told to
+Roberts.
+
+"Thank you very much, sergeant," the barrister said. "Please remain here
+while we talk it over. What do you think of this, Mr. Pettigrew?"
+
+"It would seem to explain the whole matter that has puzzled us so. I did
+not tell you, because it was not in my opinion at all necessary to the
+case, that Miss Covington has always maintained that the man was not
+Simcoe, and so positive was she that her friend, Miss Purcell, went down
+to Stowmarket to make inquiries. It was certainly believed by his
+friends there that he was Simcoe, and this to my mind was quite
+conclusive. But I am bound to say that it did not satisfy Miss
+Covington."
+
+"May I ask, Miss Covington, why you took up that opinion in the first
+place?"
+
+"Because I was convinced that he was not the sort of man who would have
+risked his life for another. After Miss Purcell came back from
+Stowmarket we found out that just before he called on my uncle he
+advertised for relatives of the late John Simcoe, and that the
+advertisement appeared not in the Suffolk papers only, but in the London
+and provincial papers all over the country; and it was evident, if this
+man was John Simcoe, he would not advertise all over England, instead of
+going down to Stowmarket, where his family lived, and where he himself
+had lived for years. He received a reply from an old lady, an aunt of
+John Simcoe's, living there, went down and saluted her as his aunt, at
+once offered to settle a pension of fifty pounds a year on her, and
+after remaining for three days in her house, no doubt listening to her
+gossip about all John Simcoe's friends, went and introduced himself to
+them. There was probably some resemblance in height and figure, and an
+absence of twenty years would have effected a change in his face, so
+that, when it was found that his aunt unhesitatingly accepted him, the
+people there had no doubt whatever that it was their old acquaintance.
+Therefore, this in no way shook my belief that he was not the man.
+
+"It turns out now, you see, that there was another man at Benares at the
+time who was remarkably like him, and that this man was a scoundrel and
+a thief. When he deserted no doubt he would take another name, and
+having doubtless heard that John Simcoe was dead, and remembering the
+remarks made as to his likeness to him, he was as likely to take that
+name as any other, though probably not with any idea of making any
+special use of it. When in England he may have heard General
+Mathieson's name mentioned, and remembering that Simcoe had saved the
+life of the General, may have thought that the name and the likeness
+might enable him to personate the man. He first set about establishing
+his identity by going down to Stowmarket, and after that it was easy. I
+have thought it all over so many times that although it never struck me
+that there might have been at Benares some man bearing a striking
+resemblance to John Simcoe, all the rest is exactly as I had figured it
+out to my mind. Now I will leave you, gentlemen, to decide what use you
+will make of the discovery, while I go and tell my friends of it."
+
+The seats allotted to the general public were empty, as a case of this
+sort offered but slight attraction even to the loungers in the hall, but
+a large number of barristers were present. It had been whispered about
+that there were likely to be some unexpected developments in the case.
+The counsel engaged on both sides were the leaders of the profession,
+who could hardly have been expected to be retained in a mere case of a
+formal application for an order for trustees to act upon a will.
+
+"The facts of the case, my lord," the counsel who led for John Simcoe
+commenced, "are simple, and we are at a loss to understand how the
+trustees of the late General Mathieson can offer any opposition to our
+obtaining the order asked for. Nothing can be more straightforward than
+the facts. The late General Mathieson, early in March, 1852, made a
+will, which was duly signed and witnessed, bequeathing, among other
+legacies, the amount of ten thousand pounds to Mr. John Simcoe, as a
+mark of his gratitude for his having saved him from a tiger some twenty
+years before in India. The act was one of heroic bravery, and Mr. Simcoe
+nearly lost his own life in saving that of the General."
+
+He then related with dramatic power the incidents of the struggle.
+
+"There is, then, no matter of surprise that this large legacy should
+have been left to Mr. Simcoe by the General, who was a man of
+considerable wealth. The bulk of the property was left to his grandson,
+and in the event of his dying before coming of age it was to go to a
+niece, a Miss Covington, to whom only a small legacy was left; she being
+herself mistress of an estate and well provided for. Two months
+afterwards the General, upon reflection, decided to enlarge his gift to
+Mr. Simcoe, and he, therefore, in another will named him, in place of
+Miss Covington, who was amply provided for, his heir in the event of his
+grandson's death. I may say that the second will was not drawn up by the
+solicitors who had framed the first will. Probably, as often happens,
+the General preferred that the change he had effected should not be
+known until after his death, even to his family solicitors. He,
+therefore, went to a firm of equal respectability and standing, Messrs.
+Halstead & James, who have made an affidavit that he interviewed them
+personally on the matter, and gave them written instructions for drawing
+up his will, and signed it in their presence.
+
+"I may say that in all other respects, including the legacy of ten
+thousand pounds, the wills were absolutely identical. The trustees,
+after waiting until the last day permitted by law, have, to our client's
+surprise, proved the first of these two wills, ignoring the second; on
+what ground I am at a loss to understand. As my client is entitled to
+ten thousand pounds under either will it might be thought that the
+change would make little difference to him; but unhappily the
+circumstances have entirely changed by the fact that the General's
+grandson was lost or stolen on the day before his death, and in spite of
+the most active efforts of the police, and the offer of large
+rewards--my client, who was deeply affected by the loss of the child,
+himself offering a thousand pounds for news of his whereabouts--nothing
+was heard of him until two months after his disappearance, when his body
+was found in the canal at Paddington, and after hearing evidence of
+identification, and examining the clothes, which all parties agreed to
+be those of the missing child, the jury returned a verdict that the body
+was that of Walter Rivington, and that there was no proof of how he came
+by his end.
+
+"As the residence of General Mathieson was in Hyde Park Gardens, no
+doubt the poor child strolled away from the care of a careless nurse,
+came to the canal, and, walking near the bank, fell in and was drowned.
+No one could have been more grieved than my client at this, and although
+it practically put him into possession of a large property, he would, I
+am sure, gladly forfeit a large portion of it rather than come into
+possession of it in so melancholy a manner. I have not heard of the
+slightest reason why the last will of General Mathieson should be put
+aside. I believe that no question could arise as to his state of mind at
+the time that it was made. It may be that a plea of undue influence may
+be raised, but this, to those who knew the General, would appear absurd.
+He was a man of active habits, and vigorous both in mind and body. Here
+was no case of a man living in the house and influencing an old
+gentleman approaching his dotage. They met only at clubs and at dinners;
+and although the General was rightly and naturally attached to Simcoe,
+he was certainly not a man to be influenced against his will. I beg,
+therefore, to ask, my lord, that you will pronounce in favor of this
+second will, and issue an order to the trustees to carry out its
+provisions forthwith."
+
+"But upon the face of your appeal to the court, Sir Henry, there is no
+question as to the validity of the will you propound set up by the
+trustees?"
+
+"None, my lord. In fact, at the time the case was put down we were
+ignorant that there would be any attempt on the part of the trustees to
+dispute the second will, and that they should do so came upon us as a
+surprise. However, at a consultation between my learned friend and
+myself just before we came into court, it was agreed that, if your
+lordship would permit it, we would take the two matters at once. One of
+the trustees is a member of the firm who are and have been the family
+lawyers of General Mathieson, and of his father before him, for a long
+period of years. They are gentlemen of well-known honor, who are, I am
+sure, as anxious as we are to obtain from your lordship a judicial
+decision on which they can act."
+
+"It is irregular," the judge said, "but as both parties seemed agreed
+upon it, it will doubtless save much expense to the estate if the whole
+matter can be settled at once. I will permit the whole matter to be
+taken. Now, brother Herbert, we will hear you on the other side."
+
+"I am sorry to say, my lord, that it will be impossible for me to
+imitate my learned brother in the brevity with which he opened the case.
+So far from the facts being extremely simple, they are, I may say, of a
+very complicated nature. We own that we have no explanation to offer
+with regard to the second will. It was strange, very strange, that
+General Mathieson, a man of methodical habits, having just drawn up his
+will, should go to another firm of solicitors and draw up a fresh one,
+but the fact that the whole of the minor bequests are the same in the
+two wills is certainly a very strong proof, as also is the fact that the
+instructions for drafting the will were written by the General himself,
+or, at any rate, by someone intimately acquainted with the contents of
+that will, which we admit was difficult to believe could be the case, as
+the will, from the time it was signed by the General, has not been out
+of Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew's hands until it was taken for probate the
+other day.
+
+"Now, my lord, I trust that you will allow me a certain amount of
+license while I go into this somewhat singular story. Twenty-three years
+ago, General Mathieson's life was saved in India by Mr. John Simcoe. Mr.
+Simcoe himself was seriously wounded, and when he recovered somewhat he
+was recommended by the surgeon who attended him to go down to Calcutta
+at once and take a sea voyage. He did so, and embarked upon the ship
+_Nepaul_, which was lost in a terrible gale in the Bay of Bengal a few
+days later, with, as was supposed, all hands. Twenty years passed, and
+then to the surprise, and I may say to the delight of the General, who
+had much grieved over the loss of his preserver, Mr. Simcoe presented
+himself. For a moment the General did not recognize him; but it was not
+long before he became convinced of his identity, for he knew the
+officers who had been at the station at the time, and was well up in the
+gossip of the place, and the General at once hailed him as the man who
+had saved his life, introduced him to many friends, got him put up at a
+good club, and became, I may say, very fond of him. Mr. Simcoe brought
+up a friend or two who had known him at Stowmarket, where he had an aunt
+still living, and the result of all this was that the General requested
+Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew to draw up a new will bequeathing to John
+Simcoe the sum of ten thousand pounds.
+
+"Then came the singular episode of the second will. A fortnight later,
+when at dinner at his club, the General was smitten with a strange kind
+of fit, from which he recovered, but only lived for a few months, a
+half-paralyzed invalid. He was attended during that time by Dr. Leeds--a
+gentleman with a very high reputation, and now practicing in Harley
+Street as a consulting physician. The General was brought up to town,
+but broke down during the journey and died two days later.
+
+"Now we come to the second strange fact in this strange case. A day
+before his death his grandson, Walter Rivington, was missing. The
+efforts of the police, aided by a number of private detectives, failed
+to obtain any clew to the child until a body was found in the canal at
+Paddington. That the body was dressed in some of the clothes worn by the
+child when carried off was unquestionable; but the three persons who
+knew Walter Rivington best, namely, Miss Covington, a friend of hers
+named Miss Purcell, who had been all the summer assisting her to nurse
+General Mathieson, and the child's own nurse, all declared that the body
+was not that of the General's grandson. They were unable to adduce
+anything in support of this belief beyond the fact that the hair of the
+child found was short and to some extent bristly, whereas that of Walter
+Rivington was long and silky. The jury, however, adopted the view of the
+coroner that hair, however soft, when cut close to the skull will appear
+more or less bristly, and gave a verdict to the effect that the body was
+that of Walter Rivington. Miss Covington and her friends refused to
+accept the verdict, and continued their search for the child.
+
+"Without occupying your attention by going into details, my lord, I may
+briefly say that a close watch was set on Mr. Simcoe, and it was found
+that he was exceedingly intimate with a man of whom no one seemed to
+know anything; and before I go further I will ask, my lord, that you
+will give orders that Mr. Simcoe shall not leave the court until I have
+finished."
+
+"You are not asking without strong reason, I trust, brother Herbert?"
+
+"Certainly not, my lord."
+
+The order was, therefore, given. Simcoe grew very white in the face, but
+otherwise maintained an air of stolid indifference.
+
+"I will now go back for a moment, my lord. General Mathieson was
+attended by three of the leading physicians in London at the time of his
+seizure. The symptoms were so peculiar that in all their experience they
+had not met a similar case. Dr. Leeds, however, differed from them, but
+being their junior could not press his opinion; but he told them that
+his opinion was that the fit was due to the administration of some drug
+unknown to the British Pharmacopoeia, as the effects were precisely
+similar to those in cases that he had read of in Africa and among other
+savage people, where a poison of this kind was used by the native fetich
+men or wizards. That opinion was confirmed rather than diminished by the
+subsequent progress of the malady and the final death of his patient.
+The one man who could benefit by the General's death was sitting next to
+him at dinner at the time of his seizure, and that man, according to
+his own statement, had been for many years knocking about among the
+savages of the South Sea Islands and the islands of the Malay
+Archipelago.
+
+"I do not accuse John Simcoe of this crime, but I need hardly say that
+the mere possibility of such a thing heightened the strong feeling
+entertained by Miss Covington that Simcoe was the author of the
+abduction of Walter Rivington. She and her devoted friend, Miss Purcell,
+pursued their investigations with unflagging energy. They suspected that
+the man who was very intimate with Simcoe had acted as his agent in the
+matter, and a casual remark which was overheard in a singular manner,
+which will be explained when the case goes into another court, that this
+man was going to Tilbury, gave them a clew. Then, in a manner which many
+persons might find it very hard to believe, Miss Covington learned from
+a conversation between the two men, when together in a box at Her
+Majesty's Theater, that the lad was in charge of a bargeman living near
+the little village of Pitsea, in Essex. From that place, my lord, he was
+brought last week, and Miss Covington will produce him in court, if your
+lordship wishes to see him. Thus, then, it is immaterial to us whether
+your lordship pronounces for the first or second will.
+
+"But, my lord, I have not finished my story. Under neither of the wills
+does that man take a farthing. The money was left to John Simcoe; and
+John Simcoe was drowned over twenty years ago. The man standing over
+there is one William Sanderson, a sergeant on the paymaster's staff at
+Benares when the real John Simcoe was there. There happened to be a
+resemblance between this man and him, so strong that it was generally
+remarked upon by his comrades. This man Sanderson deserted soon after
+Simcoe was drowned, taking with him three hundred pounds of the
+paymaster's money. There was a sharp hue and cry after him, but he
+managed to make his escape. All this is a certainty, but we may assume
+without much difficulty that the man changed his name as soon as he got
+to Calcutta, and nothing was more likely than that he should take the
+name of John Simcoe, whom he had been told that he so strongly
+resembled.
+
+"For twenty years we hear nothing further of William Sanderson, nor do
+we hear when he returned to London. Probably he, in some way or other,
+came across the name of General Mathieson, and remembering what John
+Simcoe had done for the General, he, on the strength of his personal
+likeness, and the fact that he had, for twenty years, gone by that name,
+determined to introduce himself to him, with the result you know. He was
+clever enough to know that he must answer questions as to his history
+before he left England, and it was desirable to obtain witnesses who
+would, if necessary, certify to him. But he knew nothing of Simcoe's
+birthplace or history; so he inserted advertisements in a great number
+of London and provincial newspapers, saying that the relations of the
+John Simcoe who was supposed to have been drowned in the Bay of Bengal
+in the year 1832 would hear of something to their advantage at the
+address given. A maiden aunt, living at Stowmarket, did reply. He went
+down there at once, rushed into her arms and called her aunt, and told
+her that it was his intention to make her comfortable for life by
+allowing her fifty pounds per annum. He stayed with her for three days,
+and during that time obtained from her gossip full details of his
+boyhood and youth, his friends and their occupation, and he then went
+out and called upon John Simcoe's old companions, all of whom took him
+on his own word and his knowledge of the past and his recognition by his
+aunt.
+
+"So things might have remained. This man, after undergoing what
+punishment might be awarded to him for his abduction of Walter
+Rivington, could have claimed the ten thousand pounds left him by
+General Mathieson, had it not been that, by what I cannot but consider a
+dispensation of Providence, an old comrade of his, Staff-Sergeant
+Nichol, was attracted to the hall this morning by seeing the name of
+Simcoe and that of General Mathieson coupled in the cause list. This
+man was in the hall talking to his professional advisers, and Nichol,
+walking close to him, to see if he could recognize the man whom he had
+last seen carried wounded into Benares, at once recognized in the
+supposed John Simcoe the deserter and thief, Sergeant Sanderson. He
+passed him two or three times, to assure himself that he was not
+mistaken. Happily the deserter had a mark that was ineffaceable; he had,
+as a recruit, let off his rifle, and the ball had passed through the
+fleshy part of the forearm, leaving there, as Sergeant Nichol has
+informed me, an ineffaceable scar, blackened by powder. If this man is
+not Sergeant Sanderson, and is the long-lost John Simcoe, he has but to
+pull up the sleeve of his left arm and show that it is without scar."
+
+The man did not move; he was half stunned by the sudden and terrible
+exposure of the whole of his plans. As he did not rise the counsel said:
+
+"My lord, I must ask that you give an order for the arrest of this man,
+William Sanderson, as a deserter and a thief; also upon the charge of
+conspiring, with others, the abduction of Walter Rivington."
+
+"Certainly, brother Herbert," the judge said, as he saw that the accused
+made no motion to answer the challenge of the counsel. "Tipstaff, take
+that man into custody on the charge of aiding in the abduction of Walter
+Rivington. As to the other charge, I shall communicate with the
+authorities of the India Office, and leave it to them to prosecute if
+they choose to do so. After this lapse of years they may not think it
+worth while to do so, especially as the man is in custody on a still
+graver charge."
+
+The tipstaff moved toward the man, who roused himself with a great
+effort, snatched a small glass ball from a pocket inside his waistcoat,
+thrust it between his teeth, and bit it into fragments, and, as the
+officer laid his hand upon him, fell down in a fit. Dr. Leeds, who had
+come in just as the trial began, rose to his feet.
+
+"I am a doctor, my lord. My name is Leeds, and the opinion I held of
+the cause of General Mathieson's death is now proved to be correct. The
+symptoms of this fit are precisely similar to those of General
+Mathieson's seizure, and this man has taken some of the very poison with
+which he murdered the General."
+
+For a minute Sanderson struggled in violent convulsions, then, as Dr.
+Leeds bent over him, his head fell back suddenly. Dr. Leeds felt his
+pulse and then rose to his feet.
+
+"My lord," he said, "the case is finally closed. He has gone to a higher
+judgment seat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+A LETTER FROM ABROAD.
+
+
+Three days later, when Hilda returned from a drive, she found that Dr.
+Leeds was in the drawing room with Miss Purcell and Netta, whose face at
+once told what had happened.
+
+"I have asked the question at last, Miss Covington," Dr. Leeds said,
+coming forward to shake hands, "and Netta has consented to be my wife."
+
+"I am heartily glad. That you would ask her I knew from what you told
+me; and although I knew nothing of her thoughts in the matter, I felt
+sure that she would hardly say no. Netta, darling, I am glad. Long ago I
+thought and hoped that this would come about. It seemed to me that it
+would be such a happy thing."
+
+"Auntie said just the same thing," Netta said, smiling through her
+tears, as Hilda embraced her. "As you both knew, you ought to have given
+me some little hint; then I should not have been taken quite by
+surprise. I might have pretended that I did not quite know my own mind,
+and ask for time to think it over, instead of surrendering at once."
+
+"But you did make a condition, Netta," Dr. Leeds laughed.
+
+"Not a condition--a request, if you like, but certainly not a
+condition."
+
+"Netta said that her heart was greatly set on the work she had always
+looked forward to, and she hoped that I should let her do something in
+that way still. Of course I have heard you both talk over that institute
+a score of times, and I was as much impressed as yourselves with the
+enormous boon that it would be. I should be sorry indeed that the plan
+should be given up. I need hardly say that in the half hour we have had
+together we did not go deeply into it, but we will have a general
+council about it, as soon as we can get down to plain matter of fact.
+Netta can talk it over with you, and I can talk it over with her; and
+then we can hold a meeting, with Miss Purcell as president of the
+committee."
+
+But matters were not finally settled until the ladies were established
+at Holmwood with Walter, and Dr. Leeds came down for a short holiday of
+two or three days. Then the arrangements were made to the satisfaction
+of all parties. A large house, standing in grounds of considerable
+extent, was to be taken in the suburbs of London, Netta was to be lady
+superintendent, her aunt assisting in the domestic arrangements. Miss
+Purcell insisted that her savings should be used for furnishing the
+house. Hilda was to put in as a loan, for the others would receive it in
+no other way, five thousand pounds for working capital. She determined
+to take a house near the institute, so that she could run in and out and
+assist Netta in teaching. Dr. Leeds was to drive up every morning to
+Harley Street, where his work was over by two o'clock, except when he
+had to attend consultations. No arrangements would be necessary about
+the house, as this was the residence of his partner, and he only had his
+own set of rooms there. He was steadily making his way, and to his
+surprise already found that the report in the papers of his successful
+diagnosis of the cause of General Mathieson's death had resulted in a
+considerable addition to his practice, as a number of people consulted
+him on obscure, and in many cases fanciful, maladies, in which they had
+come to entertain the idea that they were suffering from the effects of
+poison.
+
+Now that she was going to assist at the institution and had no intention
+of entering society again in London, Hilda had no longer any objection
+to the power she had acquired being known, and, when questioned on the
+subject of the trial, made no secret of the manner in which she had
+made the discovery at the opera, and mentioned that she was going to
+assist in an institution that was about to be established for teaching
+the system by which she had benefited to deaf children.
+
+The matter excited considerable interest in medical circles, and by the
+time that the institution was ready the number of applicants was greater
+than could be entertained. By this time Dr. Leeds and Netta were
+married. The engagement was a short one, and the wedding took place
+within two months of their going down into the country with Hilda. Being
+anxious that as many as possible should participate in the benefits of
+the system, the doors of the institute were at once opened to outdoor
+pupils, who were boarded in the neighborhood. Six of Netta's pupils in
+Hanover were brought over as teachers, and a few weeks from its being
+opened the institution was in full swing. As Dr. Leeds wished that no
+profit whatever be made by the undertaking, in which desire he was
+cordially joined by his wife and Hilda, the charges were extremely low,
+except in the case of children of wealthy parents, the surplus in their
+case being devoted to taking in, free of payment, children of the poor.
+
+Before Netta's marriage the interest in the Mathieson case was revived
+by the appearance of a letter in the principal London papers. All search
+for the man who had assisted Sanderson in the abduction of the child had
+been fruitless. He had probably taken steps to receive information of
+how matters were going on in court, and long before an officer arrived
+at Rose Cottage with a warrant for his arrest he had left, and the
+police had failed to find any trace of his subsequent movements. The
+letter bore the simple heading, "United States," and ran as follows:
+
+     "To the Editor.
+
+     "SIR: I scarcely know why I write this letter, but I suppose even
+     an habitual criminal does not care to remain under an unjust
+     suspicion. I acknowledge that I come under that category, and that
+     my life has been spent in crime, although never once has suspicion
+     attached to me, until I became mixed up in the Simcoe-Mathieson
+     affair. I wish to state solemnly that I was absolutely ignorant
+     that the name John Simcoe was an assumed one. That was the name he
+     gave me when I first knew him, and I believed that he was, as he
+     represented, the man who had saved General Mathieson's life from a
+     tiger. That he had subsequently lived a rough life in the South
+     Seas I was aware, for he came to me with a message sent by a
+     brother of mine when at the point of death. The man had been a chum
+     of his out there and had gallantly carried him off when he had
+     received the wound from which he subsequently died, in a fight with
+     a large body of natives. I have absolute assurance that this was
+     true, for my brother would never have sent anyone to me except
+     under altogether extraordinary circumstances. The man called on me
+     when he first returned to England, but I saw little of him for the
+     first two years, and then he came to me and said that he had looked
+     up General Mathieson, and that the General had taken to him, and
+     put him down in his will for ten thousand pounds. He said that
+     General Mathieson was worth a hundred thousand, and that he had
+     planned to get the whole. Not being in any way squeamish, I agreed
+     at once to help him in any way in my power.
+
+     "His plan briefly was that he should obtain a fresh will,
+     appointing him sole heir to the General's estate in the event of a
+     boy of six or seven years old dying before he came of age. He had
+     somehow obtained a copy of the General's will, and had notes in the
+     General's handwriting. There were two things to be done, first that
+     he should get instructions for the draft of the will drawn up in
+     precise imitation of the General's handwriting, containing all the
+     provisions of the former will, except that he was made heir in
+     place of Miss Covington in the event of his grandson's death. There
+     are a dozen men in London who can imitate handwriting so as to
+     defy detection, and I introduced him to one of them, who drew up
+     the instructions. Then I introduced him to a man who is the
+     cleverest I know--and I know most of them--at getting up disguises.
+
+     "He had already ascertained that the General had on one occasion
+     been for a minute or two in the offices of Messrs. Halstead &
+     James. They would, therefore, have a vague, and only a vague,
+     remembrance of him. He had obtained a photograph of the General,
+     who was about his own height and figure, and although there was no
+     facial resemblance, the man, by the aid of this photograph,
+     converted him into a likeness of the General that would pass with
+     anyone who had seen him but once casually. So disguised, he went to
+     the offices of these solicitors, told a plausible story, and gave
+     them the written instructions. In the meantime he had been
+     practicing the General's signature, and being a good penman had got
+     to imitate it so accurately that I doubt if any expert would have
+     suspected the forgery. The lawyers were completely deceived, and he
+     had only to go there again three days later, in the same disguise,
+     and sign the will.
+
+     "So much for that. Then came the General's seizure. I most solemnly
+     declare that I had no shadow of suspicion that it was not a natural
+     fit, and that if I had had such a suspicion I should have chucked
+     the whole thing over at once, for though, as I have said, an
+     habitual criminal, that is to say, one who plans and directs what
+     may be called sensational robberies, I have always insisted that
+     the men who have worked under me should go unprovided with arms of
+     any kind, and in no case in which I have been concerned has a drop
+     of blood been shed. As to the carrying off of the boy, it was
+     entirely managed by me. I had agents, men on whom I could rely, as
+     a word of mine would have sent them to penal servitude for life. We
+     knew that suspicion would fall upon Simcoe, and that it was
+     important that he should be able to account for every hour of his
+     time. Therefore, on the day the child was carried away he went down
+     to Stowmarket, while I managed the affair and took the child down
+     to the place where he was hidden in the Essex marshes. It was I
+     also who made the arrangements by which the body of the child about
+     the same age, who had died in the workhouse, was placed in the
+     canal in some of the clothes the missing heir had worn when taken
+     away. I owe it to myself to say that in all this there was no
+     question of payment between this man and myself. I am well off, and
+     I acted simply to oblige a man who had stood by the side of my
+     brother to death. Whether his name was Simcoe or Sanderson mattered
+     nothing to me; I should have aided him just the same. But I did
+     believe that it was Simcoe, and that, having risked his life to
+     save that of General Mathieson, he had as good a right as another
+     to his inheritance. He never hinted to me that it would be a good
+     thing if the child was got rid of altogether. He knew well enough
+     that if he had done so I would not only have had nothing to do with
+     it, but that I would have taken steps to have put a stop to his
+     game altogether. Now I have only to add that, having fairly stated
+     the part that I bore in this affair, I have nothing more to say,
+     except that I have now retired from business altogether, and that
+     this is the last that the world will hear of William Sanderson's
+     accomplice."
+
+For four or five years Hilda Covington devoted much of her time to
+assisting Netta Leeds in her work, but at the end of that time she
+married. Her husband was a widower, whose wife had died in her first
+confinement. His name was Desmond. He sold out of the army, and Hilda
+never had reason to regret that she had played the part of a gypsy woman
+at Lady Moulton's fete.
+
+Walter grew up strong and healthy, and is one of the most popular men of
+his county. His early love for the water developed, and he served his
+time as a midshipman in one of Her Majesty's ships, and passed as a
+lieutenant. He then retired from the service and bought a fine yacht,
+which he himself commanded. His friends were never able to understand
+why he allowed his nominal skipper, William Nibson, to take his wife on
+board, and gave up two cabins for their accommodation. The barge
+_Walter_ passed into the hands of Joshua, who, for many years, sailed
+her most successfully. He is now an elderly man, and his four sons are
+skippers of as many fine barges, all his own property.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE FAMOUS HENTY BOOKS
+
+The Boys' Own library
+
+12mo, Cloth
+
+
+G. A. Henty has long held the field as the most popular boys' author.
+Age after age of heroic deeds has been the subject of his pen, and the
+knights of old seem very real in his pages. Always wholesome and manly,
+always heroic and of high ideals, his books are more than popular
+wherever the English language is spoken.
+
+Each volume is printed on excellent paper from new large-type plates,
+bound in cloth, assorted colors, with an attractive ink and gold stamp.
+Price 50 Cents.
+
+    A Final Reckoning
+          A Tale of Bush Life in Australia
+
+    Among the Malay Pirates
+
+    By England's Aid
+          The Freeing of the Netherlands
+
+    By Right of Conquest
+          A Tale of Cortez in Mexico
+
+    Bravest of the Brave
+          A Tale of Peterborough in Spain
+
+    By Pike and Dyke
+          The Rise of the Dutch Republic
+
+    By Sheer Pluck
+          A Tale of the Ashantee War
+
+    Bonnie Prince Charlie
+          A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden
+
+    Captain Bayley's Heir
+          A Tale of the Gold Fields of California
+
+    Cat of Bubastes
+          A Story of Ancient Egypt
+
+    Colonel Thorndyke's Secret
+
+    Cornet of Horse
+          A Tale of Marlborough's Wars
+
+    Facing Death
+          A Tale of the Coal Mines
+
+    Friends, though Divided
+          A Tale of the Civil War in England
+
+    For Name and Fame
+          A Tale of Afghan Warfare
+
+    For the Temple
+          A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem
+
+    In Freedom's Cause
+          A Story of Wallace and Bruce
+
+    In the Reign of Terror
+          The Adventures of a Westminster Boy
+
+    In Times of Peril   A Tale of India
+
+    Jack Archer   A Tale of the Crimea
+
+    Lion of St. Mark
+          A Tale of Venice in the XIV. Century
+
+    Lion of the North
+          A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus
+
+    Maori and Settler
+          A Tale of the New Zealand War
+
+    Orange and Green
+          A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick
+
+    One of the 28th   A Tale of Waterloo
+
+    Out on the Pampas
+          A Tale of South America
+
+    Rujub the Juggler
+
+    St. George for England
+          A Tale of Crecy and Poictiers
+
+    Sturdy and Strong
+
+    True to the Old Flag
+          A Tale of the Revolution
+
+    The Golden Canon
+
+    The Lost Heir
+
+    The Young Colonists
+          A Tale of the Zulu and Boer Wars
+
+    The Young Midshipman
+
+    The Dragon and the Raven
+          A Tale of King Alfred
+
+    The Boy Knight
+          A Tale of the Crusades
+
+    Through the Fray
+          A Story of the Luddite Riots
+
+    Under Drake's Flag
+          A Tale of the Spanish Main
+
+    With Wolfe in Canada
+          The Tale of Winning a Continent
+
+    With Clive in India
+          The Beginning of an Empire
+
+    With Lee in Virginia
+          A Story of the American Civil War
+
+    Young Carthaginian
+          A Story of the Times of Hannibal
+
+    Young Buglers
+          A Tale of the Peninsular War
+
+    Young Franc-Tireurs
+          A Tale of the Franco-Prussian War
+
+
+
+
+FLAG OF FREEDOM SERIES
+
+By CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL
+
+Volumes Illustrated, Bound in Cloth, with a very Attractive Cover, Price
+$1.25 per Volume, or Set of Five in Box for $6.00
+
+
+BOYS OF THE FORT; or, A Young Captain's Pluck
+
+Captain Bonehill is at his best when relating a tale of military
+adventure, and this story of stirring doings at one of our well-known
+forts in the Wild West is of more than ordinary interest. The young
+captain had a difficult task to accomplish, but he had been drilled to
+do his duty, and he did it thoroughly. Gives a good insight into army
+life of to-day.
+
+
+THE YOUNG BANDMASTER; or, Concert Stage and Battlefield
+
+In this tale Captain Bonehill touches upon a new field. The hero is a
+youth with a passion for music, who, compelled to make his own way in
+the world, becomes a cornetist in an orchestra, and works his way up,
+first, to the position of a soloist, and then to that of leader of a
+brass band. He is carried off to sea and falls in with a secret-service
+cutter bound for Cuba, and while in that island joins a military band
+which accompanies our soldiers in the never-to-be-forgotten attack on
+Santiago. A mystery connected with the hero's inheritance adds to the
+interest of the tale.
+
+
+OFF FOR HAWAII; or, The Mystery of a Great Volcano
+
+Here we have fact and romance cleverly interwoven. Several boys start on
+a tour of the Hawaiian Islands. They have heard that there is a treasure
+located in the vicinity of Kilauea, the largest active volcano in the
+world, and go in search of it. Their numerous adventures will be
+followed with much interest.
+
+
+A SAILOR BOY WITH DEWEY; or, Afloat in the Philippines
+
+The story of Dewey's victory in Manila Bay will never grow old, but here
+we have it told in a new form--not as those in command witnessed the
+contest, but as it appeared to a real, live American youth who was in
+the navy at the time. Many adventures in Manila and in the interior
+follow, giving true-to-life scenes from this remote portion of the
+globe. A book that should be in every boy's library.
+
+
+WHEN SANTIAGO FELL; or, The War Adventures of Two Chums
+
+Captain Bonehill has never penned a better tale than this stirring story
+of adventures in Cuba. Two boys, an American and his Cuban chum, leave
+New York to join their parents in the interior of Cuba. The war between
+Spain and the Cubans is on, and the boys are detained at Santiago de
+Cuba, but escape by crossing the bay at night. Many adventures between
+the lines follow, and a good pen-picture of General Garcia is given. The
+American lad, with others, is captured and cast into a dungeon in
+Santiago; and then follows the never-to-be-forgotten campaign in Cuba
+under General Shafter. How the hero finally escapes makes reading no
+wide-awake boy will want to miss.
+
+
+Press Opinions of Captain Bonehill's Books for Boys
+
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+the reason that they are thoroughly up-to-date and true to life. As a
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+
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+thoroughly at home. We are certain that the boys will look eagerly for
+the Bonehill war tales."--_Weekly Messenger._
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+[Illustration]
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+MRS. L. T. MEADE'S
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+FAMOUS BOOKS FOR GIRLS
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+THE FOLLOWING ARE THE TITLES
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+    The Children of Wilton Chase
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+    Bashful Fifteen
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+    Betty: A Schoolgirl
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+    Four on an Island
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+    Out of the Fashion
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+    The Palace Beautiful
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+    Polly, a New-Fashioned Girl
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+    Temptation of Olive Latimer
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+    A Ring of Rubies
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+    A World of Girls
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+    A Girl in Ten Thousand
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+    A Young Mutineer
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+    The Children's Pilgrimage
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+    The Girls of St. Wode's
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+    Light o' the Morning
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+    Bad Little Hannah
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+    A Little Mother to the Others
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+    Merry Girls of England
+
+
+    THE MERSHON COMPANY
+    156 Fifth Ave., New York
+    Rahway, N. J.
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+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Heir, by G. A. Henty
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