"Here! Hi! Hold hard!"
Pierce Leigh paid no heed to the hails which reached his ears as he was
crossing Bedford Square one morning; but he stopped short and turned
angrily when a hand was laid heavily upon his shoulder, to find himself
face to face with Claud Wilton, who stood holding out his hand.
"I saw you staring up at Uncle Robert's old house, but it's of no use to
look there."
"What do you mean, sir?" said Leigh sternly.
"Get out! You know. Well, aren't you going to shake hands?"
There was something so frank and open in the young man's look and manner
that Leigh involuntarily raised his hand, and before a flash of
recollection could telegraph his second intent it was seized and wrung,
vigorously.
"That's better, Doctor," cried Claud. "How are you?"
"Oh, very well," said Pierce shortly.
"Well, you don't look it. No, no, don't give a fellow the cold shoulder
like that. I say, I came ever so long ago and called on the new people
here, for I thought perhaps she might have been to her old home, but it
was only a fancy. No go; she hadn't been there."
"You will excuse me, Mr Wilton," said Pierce, coldly; "I am busy this
morning--a patient. I wish you good day."
"No, you don't. I've had trouble enough to find you, so no cold
shoulder, please. It's no good, for I won't lose sight of you now. I
say: it was mean to cut away from Northwood like you did."
"Will you have the goodness to point out which road you mean to take,
Mr Wilton," said Leigh, wrathfully, "and then I can choose another?"
"No need, Doctor; your road's my road, and I'll stick to you like a
`tec'."
Leigh's eyes literally flashed.
"There, it's of no use for you to be waxy, Doctor, because it won't do a
bit of good. I've got a scent like one of my retrievers; and I've run
you down at last."
"Am I to understand then, sir, that you intend to watch me?" said Leigh,
sternly.
"That's it. Of course I do. I've been at it ever since you left the
old place. When I make up my mind to a thing I keep to it--stubborn as
pollard oak."
"Indeed," said Leigh, sarcastically; "and now you have found me, pray
what do you want?"
"Jenny!" said Claud, with the pollard oak simile in voice and look.
"Confound your insolence, sir!" cried Leigh, fiercely. "How dare you
speak of my sister like that?"
"'Cause I love her, Doctor, like a man," and there was a slight quiver
in the speaker's voice; but his face was hard and set, and when he spoke
next his words sounded firm and stubborn enough. "I told her so, and I
told you so; and whether she'll have me some day, or whether she won't,
it's all the same, I'll never give her up. She's got me fast."
In spite of his anger, Leigh could not help feeling amused, and Claud
saw the slight softening in his features, and said quickly: "I say, tell
me how she is."
"My sister's health is nothing to you, sir, and I wish you good
morning."
He strode on, but Claud took step for step with him, in spite of his
anger.
"It's of no use, Doctor, and you can't assault me here in London. I
shall find out where you live, so you may just as well be civil. Tell
me how she is."
Leigh made no reply, but walked faster.
"Her health nothing to me," said Claud, in a low, quick way. "You don't
know; and I shan't tell you, because you wouldn't believe, and would
laugh at me. I say, how would you like it if someone treated you like
this about Kate?"
"Silence, sir! How dare you!" thundered Leigh, facing round sharply and
stopping short.
"Don't shout, Doctor; it will make people think we're rowing, and
collect a crowd. But I say, that was a good shot; had you there.
Haven't found her yet, then?"
"My good fellow, will you go your way, and let me go mine?"
"In plain English, Doctor, no, I won't; and if you knock me down I'll
get up again, put my hands in my pockets, and follow you wherever you
go. I shan't hit out again, though I am in better training and can use
my fists quicker than, you can, and I've got the pluck, too, as I could
show you. Do just what you like, call me names or hit me, but I shan't
never forget you're Jenny's brother. Now, I say, don't be a brute to a
poor fellow. It ain't so much of a sin to love the prettiest, dearest,
little girl that ever breathed."
"Will you be silent?"
"Oh, yes, if you'll talk to a fellow. You might be a bit more feeling,
seeing you're in the same boat."
"You insufferable cad!" cried Leigh, furiously.
"Yes, that's it. Quite right--cad; that's what I am, but I'm trying to
polish it off, Doctor. I say, tell me how she is. She was so bad."
"My sister has quite recovered."
"Hooray!" cried Claud, excitedly. "But, I say--the ankle. How is it?"
"Look here, my good fellow, you must go. I will not answer your
questions. Are you mad or an idiot?"
"Both," said Claud, coolly. "I say, you know, about that ankle. I
believe you were so savage that night that you kicked it and broke it."
"What!" cried Leigh, excitedly. "My good fellow, what do you take me
for?"
"Her brother, with an awful temper. Her father would not treat me like
you do, if he was alive. It was a cowardly, cruel act for a man to do."
"You are quite mistaken, sir," said Leigh, coldly, as he wondered to
himself that he should be drawn out like this. "My sister was
unfortunate enough to sprain her ankle."
"Glad of it," said Claud, bluntly. "I was afraid it was your doing, and
whenever I see you it sets my monkey up and makes me want to kick you.
Well, you've told me how she is, and that's some pay for all my hunting
about in town. I say, there's another chap down at Northwood stepped
into your shoes already. The mater has had him in for the guv'nor's
gout. He caught a cold up here with the hunting for Kate. It turned to
gout, and I've had all the hunting to do. Now you and I will join hands
and run her down."
Leigh made an angry gesture, which was easy enough to interpret--"How am
I to get rid of this insolent cad?"
Claud laughed.
"You can't do it," he said. "I say, Doctor, sink the pride, and all
that sort of thing. It's of no use to refuse help from a fellow you
don't like, if he's in earnest and means well. Now, just look here.
'Pon my soul, it's the truth. Kate Wilton has got a hundred and fifty
thou., and your sister hasn't got a penny. I'm not such a fool as you
think, for I can read you like a book. You were gone on Cousin Kate
long before you were asked to our house, and you'd give your life to
find her; and, mind, I don't believe it's for the sake of her money.
Well, I'm doing all I can to find her, and have been ever since you came
away. Why? I'll tell you. Because it will please little Jenny, who
about worships you, though you don't deserve it. And I tell you this,
Doctor: if I had found her I'd have come and told you straight--if I
could have found you, for Jenny's sake."
Leigh looked at him fixedly, trying hard to read the young man's face,
but there was no flinching, no quivering of eyelid, or twitch about the
lips. Claud gazed at him with a straightforward, dogged look which
carried with it conviction.
"Look here," sud Claud, "I haven't found out where she is."
"Indeed?" said Leigh, guardedly.
"But I've found out one thing."
With all the young doctor's mastery of self, he could not help an
inquiring glance.
Claud saw it, and smiled.
"She did not go off with Harry Dasent I found out that."
Leigh remained silent.
"Ara now look here. I've gone over it all scores of times, trying to
think out where she can be, and that there's some relation or friend she
bolted off to so as to get away from us, but I can't fix it on anyone,
and go where I will, from our cousins the Morrisons down to old
Garstang--who's got the guv'nor under has thumb, and could sell us up
to-morrow if he liked--I can't get at it. But the scent seems to be
most toward old Garstang, and I mean to try back there. The guv'nor
said it was his doing, to help Harry Dasent, but that's all wrong.
Those two hate one another like poison, and I can't make out any reason
which would set Garstang to work to get her away. He'd do it like a
shot to get her money, but he can't touch that, for I've read the will
again. Nobody but her husband can get hold of that bit of booty, and I
wish you may get it. I do, 'pon my soul. Still, I'm growing to think
more and more that foxy Garstang's the man."
They had been walking steadily along side by side while this
conversation was going on, and at last, fully convinced that Claud would
not be shaken off, and even if he were would still watch him, Leigh
walked straight on to his new home, and stopped short at a door whereon
was a new brass plate, while the customary red bull's-eyes were in the
lamp like danger signals to avert death and disease--the accidents of
life's great railway.
"Now, Mr Wilton," he said, shortly, "you have achieved your purpose and
tracked me home."
"And no thanks to you," said Claud, with one of his broad grins. "Won't
ask me in, I suppose?"
"No, sir, I shall not."
"All right I didn't expect you would. Of course I should have found you
out some time from the directories."
"My name is not in them, sir."
"Oh, but it soon would be, Doctor. I say, shall you tell her you have
seen me?"
"For cool impudence, Mr Claud Wilton," said Leigh, by way of answer, "I
have never seen your equal."
"'Tisn't impudence, Doctor," said Claud, earnestly; "it's pluck and
bull-dog. I haven't been much account, and I don't come up to what you
think a fellow should be."
"You certainly do not," said Leigh, unable to repress a smile.
"I know that, but I've got some stuff in me, after all, and when I take
hold I don't let go."
He gave Leigh a quick nod, and thrusting his hands into his pockets,
walked right on, without looking back, Leigh watching him till he turned
a corner, before taking out a latch-key and letting himself into the
house.
"The devil does not seem so black as he is painted, after all," he said,
as he wiped his feet, and at the sound Jenny, quite without crutches,
came hurrying down the stairs.
"Oh, Pierce, dear, have you been to those people in Bedford Street?
They've been again twice, and I told them you'd gone."
"Ugh!" ejaculated Leigh. "What a head I have! Someone met me on the
way, and diverted my thoughts. I'll go at once."
And he hurried out.