A DEMONSTRATION IN FORCE
Hugo was dissatisfied. So far, beyond a miserable ten pounds to buy some
clothes, he had got no money out of Jan; and he was getting bored.
To be sure, he still had most of the ten pounds, for he had gone and
ordered everything in the market-town, where the name of Ross was
considered safe as the Bank of England. So he hadn't paid for anything.
Then there was that fellow Ledgard--what did he want hanging about,
pretending to fish? He was after Jan and her money, that was his game.
But however clear Peter Ledgard's nefarious intentions might be, Hugo
confessed his sister-in-law puzzled him. She wasn't nearly as much
afraid of him as he had expected. She was always gentle and courteous,
but under the soft exterior he had occasionally felt a rock of
determination, that was disconcerting.
He had ceased to harp upon the string of his desolation. Somehow Jan
contrived to show him that she didn't believe in it, and yet she never
said one word to which he could take exception.
It was awkward that his own people were all of them so unsympathetic
about the children. His father and mother declared themselves to be too
old to undertake them unless Hugo could pay liberally for their board
and for a thoroughly capable nurse. Neither of his sisters would
entertain the idea at all; and both wrote pointing out that until Hugo
was able to make a home for them himself, he would be most foolish to
interfere with the arrangements of a devoted aunt who appeared not only
willing but anxious to assume their entire maintenance.
He had told his people that his health forced him to relinquish his work
in India. His brothers-in-law, although they had no idea of the real
cause, thought there was something fishy about this, and were
unsympathetic.
Peter got at the doctor, and the doctor declared sea-air to be the one
thing necessary to insure Hugo's complete restoration to health. Jan
happened to mention that her brother-in-law's people lived in Guernsey,
close to the shore. The doctor said he couldn't do better than go and
stay with them, and that the journey wouldn't hurt him a bit.
Still Hugo appeared reluctant to leave Wren's End.
Peter came one day and demanded a business talk with him. It was a most
unpleasant conversation. Peter declared on Jan's behalf that she was
quite ready to help him to some new start in life, but that if it meant
a partnership in any rubber plantation, fruit-farm, or business of any
sort whatsoever, the money required must be paid through her lawyer
directly into the hands of the planter, farmer, or merchant concerned.
Hugo declared such an offer to be an insult. Peter replied that it was
a great deal better than he deserved or could expect; and that he,
personally, thought Miss Ross very silly to make it; but she did make
it, and attached to its acceptance was a clause to the effect that until
he could show he was in a position to maintain his family in comfort, he
was to give their aunt an undertaking that he would not interfere with
her arrangements for the welfare of the children.
"I see no reason," said Hugo, "why you should interfere between my
sister-in-law and me, but, of course, any fool could see what you're
after. _You_ want her money, and when you've married her, I suppose my
poor children are to be thrown out into the street, and me too far off
to see after them."
"Up to now," Peter retorted, "you have shown no particular desire to
'see after' your children. Why are you such a fool, Tancred? Why don't
you thankfully accept Miss Ross's generous offer, and try to make a
fresh start?"
"It's no business of yours what I do."
"Certainly not, but your sister-in-law's peace and happiness is my
business, because I have the greatest admiration, respect and liking for
her."
"_Les beaux yeux de sa cassette_," growled Hugo.
"You _are_ an ass," Peter said wearily. "And you know very little of
Miss Ross if you haven't seen by this time ..." Peter stopped.
"Well, go on."
"No," said Peter, "I won't go on, for it's running my horses on a rock.
Think it over, that's all. But remember the offer does not remain open
indefinitely."
"Well, and if I choose to refuse it and go to law and _take_ my
children--what then?"
"No court in England would give you their custody."
"Why not?"
"Because you couldn't show means to support them, and we could produce
witnesses to prove that you are not a fit person to have the custody of
children."
"We should see about that."
"Well, think it over. It's your affair, you know." And Peter went away,
leaving Hugo to curse and bite his nails in impotent rage. Peter really
was far from conciliatory.
Jan needed a fright, Hugo decided; that's what she wanted to bring her
to heel. And before very long he'd see that she got it. She shouldn't
shelter herself for ever behind that supercilious beast, Ledgard. Hugo
was quite ready to have been pleasant to Jan and to have met her more
than half-way if she was reasonable, but since she had chosen to bring
Ledgard into it, she should pay. After all, she was only a woman, and
you can always frighten a woman if you go the right way about it. It was
damned bad luck that Ledgard should have turned up just now. It was
Ledgard he'd got to thank that Fay had made that infamously unjust will
by which she left the remnant of her money to her children and not to
her husband. Oh yes! he'd a lot to thank Ledgard for. Well, he wouldn't
like it when Jan got hurt. Ledgard was odd about women. He couldn't
bear to see them worried; he couldn't bear to see Fay worried,
interfered then. A blank, blank, blank interfering chap, Ledgard was.
_What Jan needed was a real good scare._
They suggested Guernsey. Well, he'd go to Guernsey, and he wouldn't go
alone. Hugo thoroughly enjoyed a plot. The twilight world that had been
so difficult and perplexing to poor Fay had for him a sort of exciting
charm. Wren's End had become dreadfully dull. For the first week or two,
while he felt so ill, it had been restful. Now its regular hours and
ordered tranquillity were getting on his nerves. All those portraits of
his wife, too, worried him. He could go into no room where the lovely
face, with youth's wistful wonder as to what life held, did not confront
him with a reminder that the wife he had left to die in Bombay did not
look in the least like that.
There were few things in his life save miscalculation that he regretted.
But he did feel uncomfortable when he remembered Fay--so trustful
always, so ready to help him in any difficulty. People liked her; even
women liked her in spite of her good looks, and Hugo had found the world
a hard, unfriendly place since her death.
The whole thing was getting on his nerves. It was time to shuffle the
cards and have a new deal.
He packed his suit-case which had been so empty when he arrived, and
waited for a day when Peter had taken Jan, Meg and the children for a
motor run to a neighbouring town. He took care to see that Earley was
duly busy in the kitchen garden, and the maids safely at the back of the
house. Then he carried it to the lodge gate himself and waited for a
passing tradesman's cart. Fortune favoured him; the butcher came up with
(had Hugo known it) veal cutlets for Hugo's own dinner. Hugo tipped the
butcher and asked him to leave the suit-case at the station to be sent
on as carted luggage to its address.
Next morning he learned that Tony was to go with Earley to fetch extra
cream from Mr. Burgess' farm.
It was unfortunate that he couldn't get any of Tony's clothes without
causing comment. He had tried the day before, but beyond a jersey and
two little vests (which happened to be little Fay's), he had been unable
to find anything. Well, Jan would be glad enough to send Tony's clothes
when he let her know where they were to be sent. Tony had changed a good
deal from the silent, solemn child he had disliked in India. He was
franker and more talkative. Sometimes Hugo felt that the child wasn't
such a bad little chap, after all. But the very evident understanding
between Jan and Tony filled Hugo with a dull sort of jealousy. He had
never tried to win the child, but nevertheless he resented the fact that
Tony's attitude to Jan and Meg was one of perfect trust and
friendliness. He never looked at them with the strange judging, weighing
look that Hugo hated so heartily.
He strolled into the drive and waited. Meg and Jan were busy in the
day-nursery, making the little garments that were outgrown so fast.
Little Fay was playing on the Wren's lawn and singing to herself:
The fox went out one moonlight night,
And he played to the moon to give him light,
For he had a long way to tlot that night
Before he could leach his den-oh.
Hugo listened for a minute. What a clear voice the child had. He would
like to have taken little Fay, but already he stood in wholesome awe of
his daughter. She could use her thoroughly sound lungs for other
purposes than song, and she hadn't the smallest scruple about drawing
universal attention to any grievance. Now Tony would never make a scene.
Hugo recognised and admired that quality in his queer little son. He did
not know that Tony already ruled his little life by a categorical
imperative of things a sahib must not do.
At the drive gate he met Earley carrying the can of cream, with Tony
trotting by his side.
"I'm going into the village, Tony, and Auntie Jan says you may as well
come with me for company. Will you come?"
Tony looked dubious. Still, he remembered that Auntie Jan had said he
must try and be kind to poor Daddie, who had been so ill and was so sad.
"All right," he said with a little sigh, and took the hand Hugo held
out.
"He'll be quite safe with me, Earley," Hugo said with a pleasant smile.
"Miss Ross knows I'm going to take him."
Nevertheless Earley went to the back door and asked Hannah to inform her
mistress that "Mr. Tancred had taken Mazter Tony along of 'im."
Hannah was busy, and serene in her conception of Hugo as the sorrowing
widower, did not think the fact that Tony had gone for a walk with his
own father was worth a journey to the day-nursery.
"How would you like a ride down to the junction?" Hugo said. "I believe
we could just catch a train if we take the omnibus at 'The Green Hart.'
I want to make inquiries about something for Auntie Jan."
Tony loved trains; he had only been twice to the junction since he came
to Wren's End; it was a fascinating place. Daddie seemed in an agreeable
mood this morning. Auntie Jan would be pleased that he should be nice to
him.
It all fell out as if the fates had arranged things for Hugo. They saw
very few people in the village; only one old woman accompanied them in
the bus; he heard his father ask for a ticket to the junction, and they
arrived without incident of any kind.
The junction, however, was busy. There were quite a lot of people, and
when Hugo went to the ticket-office he had to stand in a queue of others
while Tony waited outside the long row.
Suddenly Tony began to wonder why his father should go to the
ticket-office at all to inquire for a parcel. Tony was observant, and
just because everything was so different from things in India small
incidents were impressed upon his mind. If his father was going on
anywhere else, he wasn't going; for Peter had promised to take them out
in his car again that afternoon. When Hugo reached the window of the
ticket-office Tony heard something about Paddington.
That decided him. Nothing would induce him to go to Paddington.
He pushed his way among the crowd and ran for dear life up the stairs,
and over the bridge to the other platform where the train for Amber
Guiting was still waiting, lonely and deserted. He knew that train. It
went up and down all day, for Amber Guiting was the terminus. No one was
on the platform as he ran along. With the sure instinct of the hunted he
passed the carriages with their shut doors. Right at the end was a van
with empty milk-cans. He had seen a porter putting them in the moment
the train stopped. Tony darted into the van and crouched down between
the milk-cans and the wall. He thought of getting into one of them. The
story of Morgiana and the Forty Thieves was clear in his mind, for Meg
had told it to them the night before. But the cans were so high and
narrow he decided that it was impossible. Someone slammed the door of
the van. There came a bump and a jar, and the train moved out onto a
siding till it should go back to Amber Guiting when the 1.30 from London
came in. Tony sat quite still in the dark, stuffy van. His little heart
was beating with hammer strokes against his ribs, but his face expressed
nothing but scorn.
Again his father had lied to him. Again he had said he was going to do
one thing when he fully intended to do another. The pleasantness, the
kindliness, the apparent desire for Tony's society were a cheat. Tony
spoke rapidly to himself in Hindustani, and by the time he had finished
expressing his views Hugo Tancred hadn't a shred of character left.
He didn't know when the train would go back to Amber Guiting. It might
not be till evening. Tony could wait. Some time it would go back, and
once in that dear, safe place all would be well.
He disliked the sound of Paddington; it had to do with London, he knew.
He didn't mind London, but he wasn't going there with his father, and no
Meg and no Jan and no little Fay and no kind sahibs who were _real_
sahibs.
He was very hungry, and his eyes grew a bit misty as he thought of
little Fay consuming scones and milk at the "elevens" Meg was always so
careful they should have.
A new and troubling thought perturbed him. Did Auntie Jan know he had
gone at all? Would she be frightened? Would she get that look on her
dear face that he couldn't bear to see? That Auntie Jan loved them both
with her whole heart was now one of the fixed stars in Tony's firmament
of beliefs. He began to think that perhaps it would be better for Auntie
Jan to give his father some of her twinkly things and let him go away
and leave them in peace; but he dismissed that thought as cowardly and
unworthy of a sahib.
Oh, dear! it was very long sitting in the dark, scrunched up behind
those cans. He must tell himself stories to pass the time; and he
started to relate the interminable legend of Cocky-locky and Henny-Penny
who by their superior subtlety evaded the snares set for them by
Toddy-Loddy the fox. He felt a sort of kinship with those harried fowls.
Gradually the constant repetition of the various other birds involved,
"Juckie-Puckie, Goosie-Loosie, Turkey-lurkey and Swannie-Lonnie," had a
soothing effect, and Tony fell asleep.
* * * * *
Meanwhile Hugo had hunted through every corner of the four platforms; he
had even gone to look for the Amber Guiting train, but was told it
always was moved on to a siding directly it had discharged its
passengers.
It was mysterious, it was profoundly annoying, but it was not, to Hugo,
alarming. He suspected that Peter Ledgard was in some way mixed up in
it; that he, himself, had been shadowed and that Peter had stolen Tony
in the crowd. In his mistrustful wrath he endowed Peter with such
abnormal foresight and acumen as he certainly did not possess.
It really was an impossible situation. Hugo could not go about asking
porters and people for a lost child, or the neighbourhood would be
roused. He couldn't go back to Wren's End without Tony, or there would
be the devil to pay. He even got a porter to look in every carriage of
the side-tracked train for a mythical despatch-case, and accompanied him
in his search. Naturally they didn't seek a despatch-case in the van.
He had lost his train, but there was another, very slow, about
three-quarters of an hour later, and this he decided to take. He would
telegraph to Jan from London. Somehow he was not in the least concerned
about the fate of Tony. Peter and Peter's car had something to do with
this mysterious disappearance. He was sure of that.
Well, if this particular deal had failed, he must shuffle the cards and
deal again. In any case Jan should see that where his children were
concerned he was not to be trifled with.
He was sorry, though, he had bought the half-ticket for Tony, and to ask
them to take it back might cause comment.
As the slow train steamed out from the junction Hugo felt a very
ill-used man.
* * * * *
At eleven o'clock Anne Chitt brought in the tray with two cups of milk
and a plate of Hannah's excellent scones.
"Please go into the kitchen garden and ask Master Tony to come for his
lunch," Jan said.
Presently Anne returned. "Master Tony ain't in the garden, miss; and
'Annah says as 'e most likely ain't back yet, miss."
"Back! Back from where?"
"Please, miss, 'Annah says as 'is pa've took him with him down the
village."
Jan laid her sewing on the table and got up.
"Is Earley in the garden?"
"Yes, miss. I ast Earley an' 'e says the same as 'Annah. Mr. Tancred
'ave took Master Tony with 'im."
Anne went away, and Jan and Meg, who had stopped her machining to
listen, stared at each other across the table.
"I suppose they'll be back directly," Jan said uneasily. "I'll go and
ask Earley when Hugo took Tony."
"He got up to breakfast to-day for the first time," Meg remarked
irrelevantly.
Jan went out into the Wrens' garden and through Anthony's gate. She
fumbled at the catch, for her hands trembled.
Earley was picking peas.
"What time did Mr. Tancred take Master Tony?" she asked.
"Just as we got back from fetchin' the cream, miss. I should say as it
was about 'alf-past nine. He did meet us at the lodge, and took the
young gentleman with 'im for company--'e said so."
"Thank you, Earley," Jan said quietly.
Earley looked at her and over his broad, good-natured face there passed
a shade of misgiving. "I did tell Hannah to let you know the minute I
cum in, miss."
"Thank you," Jan said again; "that's quite right."
"Be you feelin' the 'eat, miss?" Earley asked anxiously. "I don't think
as you ought to be out without an 'at."
"No, I expect not. I'll go and get one."
By lunch time there was still no sign of Hugo and Tony; and Jan was
certainly as much scared as even Hugo could have wished.
Meg had been down to the village and discovered that Hugo and Tony had
gone by bus to the junction in time for the 10.23.
Peter was playing golf with Squire Walcote on a little course he had
made in some of his fields. It was impossible to go and hunt for Peter
without giving away the whole situation, and Jan was loth to do that.
She and Meg stared at one another in dismayed impotence.
Jan ordered the pony-carriage; she would drive to the junction, leaving
a note for Peter at "The Green Hart," but it was only too likely he
would lunch with the Walcotes.
"You must eat something," said Meg. "There's a train in at a quarter to
two; you'd better meet that before you go to the junction; the guard
might be able to tell you something."
At lunch little Fay wept because there was no Tony.