Little suspecting the interest which his movements were causing
elsewhere, Jeffreys, on the appointed Wednesday, presented himself at
Messrs. Wilkins & Wilkins' office. He was so much changed by eight
months' misery and privation that no ordinary acquaintance would have
recognised in the broken-down, haggard man who entered the office the
once robust and stalwart librarian of Wildtree. Even Percy would have
had to look at him twice to make sure.
Mr Wilkins looked up curiously at his visitor.
"Ah," said he, "you have called in reference to that advertisement about
Gerard Forrester. Quite so. Let me see. I have your letter here, Mr
--"
"It is not necessary to know my name," said Jeffreys.
"Just as you please. Of course, as you say you were at Bolsover School
with Forrester, and were the cause of his accident, it is hardly worth
while making a mystery of it."
"I forgot that. My name is John Jeffreys."
"Thank you. It is a very proper thing of you to offer to assist us in
our search, and I shall be glad if in the end you should become entitled
to the reward which has been offered."
"I would not touch a farthing of it," said Jeffreys, with a scorn that
astonished the lawyer.
"Well, that's your affair. I can understand you have some remorse for
what has occurred, and would be glad to help, reward or no reward."
"I would give my life to find young Forrester. Has anything been heard
of him?"
"Not much, though we have been able to trace him rather farther than you
did. We found a day or two ago a mention of the case of a lad suffering
from the results of an accident such as he appears to have met with in
one of the medical papers at the time. The case was reported as having
been treated at Middlesex Hospital, and I find on inquiry there that in
the December of that year Gerard Forrester was a patient under treatment
for some months, and in the May following was discharged as incurable.
That, you see, was more than eighteen months ago."
Jeffreys felt his heart thump excitedly as he listened. It was little
enough, but it seemed at least to bring him six months nearer to the
object of his search.
"After that," said Mr Wilkins, "we are unable to discover anything.
The address entered against his name in the hospital books, which was
probably that of his old nurse, cannot now be found, as the street has
been pulled down a year ago, and no one recollects him. I saw the
surgeon at the hospital, who remembered the case, and he explained to me
that the boy when he left there might have lived a month or twenty
years. In any case he would always have to lie on his back. It would
be possible, he said, for him to use his hands--indeed, he believed
during the last week or two of his stay in the hospital he had amused
himself with drawing."
"He was considered good at drawing at Bolsover," put in Jeffreys.
"So he may possibly have been able to earn a living of some sort. The
strange thing is that he does not appear to have written to any one. He
might have communicated with his former head-master, or some of his
grandmother's friends at Grangerham, but he has not. According to
Colonel--to my client's account, he does not even appear to have written
to his father, though it is possible a letter may have miscarried there.
You have heard, no doubt, that his father died in action in Afghanistan
in January?"
"Yes, I heard that--very gallantly."
"Yes; in fact, the boy would, I believe, if he could be found, be
entitled to a pension, besides what little property his father left.
The account of the action, as well as our advertisements, have been in
the papers. If Gerard is alive, he is probably somewhere beyond the
reach of the press, and for my own part I cannot see how he can be in
any but destitute circumstances."
This was all there was to say. But Mr Wilkins' task was not yet done.
He had been instructed to ascertain, if possible, something of Jeffreys'
present condition, and to sound him as to his willingness to see again
some of the friends of his old life.
"I am afraid," said he, "you too have had reverses, Mr Jeffreys."
"Never mind me, please," replied he.
"You are living near here?"
"No."
"You must excuse me if I take an interest in you--as a former
schoolfellow of young Forrester's. You have come through much since
then?"
"Not more than I deserve," said Jeffreys, fidgeting.
"My client, I think, would have been glad to see you; but as you made a
point of this interview being confidential, I was not justified in
asking him to be present."
"Oh no. I don't want to see any one."
"It would be a great help to my client, who is a stranger in London, if
you, who know Forrester, would assist him."
"Who is your client, may I ask?"
"My client," said Mr Wilkins, resolved to make the venture, "is a
Colonel Atherton, an old comrade of Captain Forrester, who has
undertaken to try and find the boy and provide for him."