"Six shillings third class; eighteen shillings first class. Going this
way saves one pound four."
Percy said, "Yes, sir," and subsided moodily into the corner of the
carriage opposite to his companion, and but little was said on the
journey up. Mr William Forth Burge took the boy to a quiet hotel, and
wrote a letter or two, as it was too late to do any business that night.
The next morning Percy was left in the coffee-room to look furtively
over the sporting news in the _Standard_ while his new friend went off
to see Mr Geringer, who, on hearing his business, seemed greatly
displeased at any one else meddling with the Thornes' affairs; and
though he did not refuse to go with his visitor to intercede for Percy,
he put him off till the next afternoon, and Percy's champion left his
office chuckling to himself.
"Asks me to wait till next day," he said, "so that he may go and see the
state of the market for himself. Won't do, Mr Geringer, sir. That's
not William Forth Burge's way of doing business." And he went straight
to the firm, gave his card, and was shown in to Mr Spark, a dull, heavy
man, remarkable in the business for his inertia.
Yes, of course they should prosecute Percy Thorne, if that was what the
visitor wanted to know; and if the said visitor wanted to know anything
else, would he be kind enough to be quick, for Mr Spark's time was very
valuable?
"Quick as you like, sir," said Mr William Forth Burge, who showed the
new side of his character. "I've been in trade, and I know what's what.
Now, sir, I'm the friend of the boy's sister; father dead--mother a
baby. Business is business. Prosecute the boy, and you put him in
prison, and spend more money; you get none back. Forgive him, and take
him on again, and, if it's fifty pounds, I'll pay what's lost."
Then followed a long argument, out of which Mr William Forth Burge came
away a hundred pounds poorer, and with Percy Thorne free to begin the
world again, but handicapped with a blurred character.
That evening they were back at Plumton.
"But there's going to be no prosecution, or anything of that sort, Miss
Thorne; and, till we hear of something to suit him, he shall stop at my
house and do clerk's work in my office."
"But I feel sure you have been paying away money to extricate him from
this terrible difficulty, Mr Burge," cried Hazel.
"Well, and suppose I have," he said, smiling; "I've a right to do what I
like with my own money, and it's all spent for the benefit of our
schools."
"But, Mr Burge," cried Hazel eagerly, and speaking with the tears
running down her cheeks, "how can I ever repay you?"
"Oh, I'll send in my bill some day," he said hastily. "But as I was
going to say, Master Percy shall stay at my place for the present. I
could easily place him at a butcher's or a meat salesman's, but that
ain't genteel enough for a boy like him. So just you wait a bit and--"
"See," he would have said, but all this time he had been backing towards
the door to avoid Hazel's thanks, and he escaped before his final word
was spoken.
"There's something about that man I don't quite like," said Mrs Thorne
as soon as their visitor had gone.
"Not like him, dear?" cried Hazel wonderingly.
"No, my dear; there's a sort of underhandedness about him that isn't
nice."
"But, my dear mother, he has been up to town on purpose to extricate
Percy from a great difficulty, and, I feel sure," said Hazel warmly, "at
a great expense to himself."
"Yes, that's it!" exclaimed Mrs Thorne triumphantly. "And you mark my
words, Hazel, if he don't try to make us pay for it most heavily some
day."
"Oh, really, mother dear!"
"Now, don't contradict, Hazel, because you really cannot know so well as
I do about these things. Has he not taken Percy to his house?"
"Yes, dear."
"Then you will see if he doesn't make that boy a perfect slave and
drudge, and work him till--Well, there now, how lucky! What can have
brought Edward Geringer down now?"
Hazel turned pale, for at her mother's exclamation she had turned
sharply, just in time to see Mr Geringer's back as he passed the
window, and the next moment his knock was heard at the door.
"Well, my dear," exclaimed Mrs Thorne, as Hazel stood looking greatly
disturbed, "why don't you go and let Mr Geringer in? And, for goodness
sake, Hazel, do be a little more sensible this time. Edward Geringer
has come down, of course, on purpose to see you, and you know why."
Further speech was cut short by the children relieving their sister of
the unpleasant duty of admitting the visitor, who came in directly
after, smiling and looking bland, with one of the little girls on each
side.
"Ah, Hazel!" he exclaimed, loosing his hold of the children.
Hazel tried to master the shrinking sensation that troubled her, and
shook hands. Her manner was so cold that Geringer could not but observe
it; still, he hid his mortification with a smile, and turned to Mrs
Thorne.
"And how are you, my dear madam?" he exclaimed effusively as he took
both the widow's hands, to stand holding them with a look that was a
mingling of respect and tenderness, the result being that the widow
began to sob, and it was some little time before she could be restored
to composure.
"I had a visit," he said at last, "from a gentleman who resides in this
place, and upon thinking over your trouble I have engaged to go with him
to-morrow afternoon to see poor Percy's employers; but I felt bound to
run down here first and have a little consultation with you both before
taking any steps."
He glanced at Hazel, and their eyes met; and Hazel read plainly that she
was the price of his interference to save Percy, and as she mentally
repeated his letter, she met his eye bravely, while her heart throbbed
with joy as she felt ready to give him a triumphant look of defiance.
He started, in spite of himself, as Mrs Thorne exclaimed--
"It is just like you, Mr Geringer--so kind and thoughtful! But Mr
William Forth Burge has settled the matter with those dreadful people.
They kept a great deal of it from me, but I know all, now it is well
over; and it is very kind of you, all the same."
"I try to be kind," he said bitterly, "but my kindness seems to be
generally thrown away. Miss Thorne, I am going to the hotel to stay
to-night. A note will bring me back directly. Mrs Thorne, you must
excuse me now."
He spoke in a quiet very subdued voice, and left the house, lest they
should see the mortification he felt and he should burst out into a fit
of passionate reproach, so thoroughly had he hoped that, by coming down,
he might work Percy's trouble to his own advantage, and gain so great a
hold upon Hazel's gratitude that he might still win the life-game he had
been playing so long. But this was check and impending mate, and had he
not hurried away he felt that he would have lost more ground still.
He walked up to the hotel in a frame of mind of no very enviable
character, fully intending to stay for a few days; but on reaching the
place he found that it was possible to catch the night-train back to
town.
"Better let her think I am offended now," he muttered. "It is the best
move I can make;" and he went straight back to the station, so for the
present Hazel saw him no more, and to her great relief.
Percy only came to the cottage once a week, saying that Mr William
Forth Burge kept him hard at work writing, and he should be very glad to
get a post somewhere in town, for he was sick of Plumton, it was so
horribly slow, and Mr William Forth Burge was such a dreadful cad.
Percy's stay proved to be shorter than he expected, for at the end of a
month he was one morning marched up to Ardley, and brought face to face
with George Canninge, who was quiet and firm with him, asking him a few
sharp questions, and ending by giving him a couple of five-pound notes
and a letter to a shipping firm in London, the head of which firm told
him to come into the office the very next day, and was very short, but
informed him that his salary as clerk would begin at once at sixty
pounds a year, and that if he did his duty he should rise.