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MISER FAREBROTHER.
A Novel.
BY B. L. FARJEON,
AUTHOR OF "GREAT PORTER SQUARE," "GRIF," "IN A SILVER SEA," "THE
HOUSE OF WHITE SHADOWS," ETC.
_IN THREE VOLUMES._
VOL. III.
LONDON:
WARD & DOWNEY,
12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1888.
[_Dramatic rights protected and reserved._]
PRINTED BY
KELLY AND CO., GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C.;
AND MIDDLE MILL, KINGSTON-ON-THAMES.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I.--A BAD BUSINESS 1
II.--THE DIAMOND BRACELET 8
III.--SISTER AND BROTHER 18
IV.--JEREMIAH IN TRIBULATION 29
V.--MISER FAREBROTHER THREATENS JEREMIAH 46
VI.--A DREAM OF AN ANGEL 71
VII.--BETTER THAN ANY DAY-DREAM 77
VIII.--PHOEBE IN PERIL 90
IX.--FRED CORNWALL TO THE RESCUE 106
X.--THE INQUEST 118
XI.--THE TRIAL AND VERDICT--EXTRACTED FROM A POPULAR
DAILY PAPER 144
XII.--DICK GARDEN TO THE RESCUE 170
XIII.--THE DIAMOND BRACELET AGAIN 186
XIV.--RICHARD GARDEN MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF FANNY
LETHBRIDGE 203
XV.--A STRANGE EXPERIMENT 216
XVI.--JEREMIAH AND HIS MOTHER DISAPPEAR 224
XVII.--CHIEFLY CONCERNING FANNY 238
XVIII.--A LIFE AND DEATH STRUGGLE 249
XIX.--OFF FOR THE HONEY-MOON 260
MISER FAREBROTHER.
CHAPTER I.
A BAD BUSINESS.
At ten o'clock on this morning Captain Ablewhite, unannounced, and
without knocking at the door, walked into Jeremiah's room in the hotel
at which he had taken up his quarters. Jeremiah was still in bed.
Closing the door carefully behind him and turning the key, Captain
Ablewhite drew a chair to the side of the bed and sat down.
"This is a bad business," said Captain Ablewhite.
Jeremiah was in a parlous condition. His face was haggard; his eyes were
bloodshot; he was shaking like a man in a palsy.
"This is a bad business," repeated Captain Ablewhite, "You are too much
upset to reply. But why, oh, _why_ have you lost your head?"
Jeremiah put his hand up, feebly and despairingly, and passed it
vacantly over his forehead.
"I have here," said Captain Ablewhite, plunging his hands into the
pockets of his gorgeous dressing-gown, "a pick-me-up. It will pull you
round, and then we can talk."
He produced two bottles--one containing the pick-me-up, the other soda.
Taking a large tumbler from a table he poured a good dose of the
pick-me-up into it, and then uncorked the soda, which he emptied into
the glass.
"Drink this."
Jeremiah drank it, and almost instantly became for a while
clear-brained.
"Better?" asked Captain Ablewhite.
"A great deal better," replied Jeremiah.
Then, for the third time, the jovial Captain--he was as fresh as a
two-year-old--said, "This is a bad business."
And still, clear-headed as he now was, Jeremiah did not know what to say
in answer to a very plain statement of fact.
"Let me see," said Captain Ablewhite, taking out his pocket-book.
"There is nothing like looking a difficulty straight in the face. It is
not a bit of good shirking it. What you've got to do is to meet it--and,
Mr. Jeremiah Pamflett, meet it you must. Now, then, for the facts. You
brought down with you to Doncaster a very comfortable sum of ready
money. How much?"
"Two thousand pounds," replied Jeremiah.
"That is right. Speak clearly and plainly. Two thousand pounds. If I had
that in my pocket at the present moment, I would double it before the
day is over. There's a race to be run--however, let that pass."
"What race?" cried Jeremiah. "Is it a certainty?"
"It is a certainty," said Captain Ablewhite, solemnly. "I've got the tip
for the Scurry Stakes, my lad, and the horse can't lose."
"But why not give it to me?" asked Jeremiah, in great excitement. "I
could make everything right--everything--everything...." His voice
trailed off into a whimper.
"Why don't I give it to you?" said Captain Ablewhite, very calmly.
"Because I am beginning to lose my opinion of you. Let me tell you,
though: you may justify it yet if you are not thoroughly white-livered."
"I will, I will!" exclaimed Jeremiah. "Only give me the tip--give me the
tip!"
"Not if I know it. This little affair I will keep to myself, and I'll
sweep the market. You've let too many good things slip by this week.
Come, now, confess: if you had stuck to your 'system,' how much would
you have won? Don't put me off. You've gone all through it, and you know
the figures to the fraction of a shilling."
Jeremiah struck his forehead with his hand. "I should have won seven
thousand pounds."
"Exactly. And you did not win it because you weren't game, and because
you allowed yourself to be led away. What is the good of a man unless he
has the courage of his opinions? Before midnight I'm going to try you;
I'm going to see whether you're worth trying to save (because you are in
a frightful hole, you know, and there's no telling what will happen to
you if you continue to show the white feather), or whether I shall let
you go to the dogs. It depends upon me, old chap. Oppose me, show
ingratitude, try to prove that you're cleverer than I am, and the odds
are that you will have seven years--not less--perhaps fourteen. Oh, you
are clever, you are! Make no mistake, you _are_ clever; but you want
nerve! Why, if you had been open with me--if you had told me honestly
what your system was--we might both have made fortunes. But that's
neither here nor there. Things are as they are, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are," sighed Jeremiah.
"Shall I go on?"
"Yes."
"Well, then. You brought down two thousand pounds with you, and you
blued it. Eh?"
"Yes."
"I don't ask you where you got the money from. It is no business of
mine, and I will have nothing to do with it. I have my ideas, but I'll
keep them to myself. Having lost your two thousand pounds, you get me to
introduce you to a book-maker, who took your bets in the expectation of
paying you if you won, and receiving from you if you lost. And you did
business with him in a false name."
"I didn't get you," protested Jeremiah; "you offered to introduce me;
and it was at _your_ suggestion I used the name of Farebrother."
Captain Ablewhite rose and said, "Good-morning."
"No, no," cried Jeremiah, piteously; "don't desert me!"
"Did I introduce you, or did you ask me to introduce you?" demanded
Captain Ablewhite.
"I asked you--I asked you!" whined Jeremiah.
"And did you use Farebrother's name upon my suggestion? Be careful, old
chap."
"At my own suggestion," faltered Jeremiah.
"Good," said Captain Ablewhite, resuming his seat. "You made bets with
him, and you are in his books over three thousand pounds. Is that
correct?"
"Yes."
"I have I O U's for another two thousand pounds. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"It is a satisfaction. You hold acceptances of mine for close on that
amount, and the entire amount of cash I have received from you is about
one-fourth of that amount."
"Business is business," groaned Jeremiah.
"All right. I didn't complain, and I don't. You and I are pretty well
squared on that account. Taking it altogether, you have lost this week
some seven thousand pounds, when you might have won as much."
"Oh, Lord!" gasped Jeremiah.
"You may clasp your head till you're blue in the face, and _that_ won't
get you out of the hole. Do you want to get out of it?"
"Yes; of course I do."
"Then," said Captain Ablewhite, enigmatically, "take the 1.33 train to
London. You will get there at five o'clock. Have a bath and a sensible
dinner, and meet me outside the Langham Hotel, on the opposite side of
the road, at nine o'clock to-night. It may be in my power to save you.
No words. If you do not obey me I have done with you. Yes or no?"
"Yes," said Jeremiah.