AN UNGRATEFUL PARENT
When his work was done the next day, Jack Danby found Dick Crawford
waiting for him.
"Jack," said the Assistant Scout-Master, "I don't want to raise any
false hopes in you, but I think we're on the verge of finding out
something about you--about who you really are, and all that."
"How, Dick? I'd give anything if that were true!"
"We were awfully stupid not to think of it last night, Jack. You know
that pretty girl, that Miss Burton, who was on the burning launch? She
wasn't like the others--we all saw that. She wasn't their sort at all!
Well, she said she was with them because she believed that they were
going to be able to lead her to someone that her father had been
searching for."
"You mean I might be the one they were looking for, Dick?"
"I don't know, Jack, but it looks possible. Not that she might not be
looking for someone else. But she was with these people, and one of
those men had a letter about you from the lawyer up at Woodleigh. I
don't believe they really meant to lead her to you at all. I think
that there are people who are spending their time in making it
impossible for those who are really interested in you to get any trace
of you."
"Then why should they have told her they could find me, if it really is
I she's looking for?"
"They might think it better to fool her, Jack, than to let her deal
with people who would treat her honestly. If she thought they were
helping her, and trying to earn a reward, if there is one, she and her
father would be unlikely to go to anyone else. And as long as they
could convince her that they were doing their best they would be in
complete control of the situation, you see."
"That certainly sounds as if it might be right, Dick. What do you
think we'd better do?"
"Go and see Mr. Burton and his daughter right away. I'm certain of one
thing: that girl is all right. She's true and honest, no matter what
sort of people may have deceived her and have induced her to fall into
their plans and ways. She thinks she's doing the right thing. Depend
on that!"
"I think you're right about her, Dick. I thought she was different
from the others at once. She was so plucky and so cool, and she helped
Pete all she could when he swam ashore with her, instead of getting
frightened and making it harder, as the old woman did. She was all
right."
"Well, we'll go there right away. They're at the Hotel Lincoln.
That's the best hotel in town, you know, so I guess they're people who
are pretty well to do."
They had not long to wait at the hotel before they were asked to go up
to the suite of rooms occupied by Mr. Burton and his daughter.
The girl, who looked much better, naturally, since she had had a good
rest, and a change of clothing, greeted them with a good deal of
friendly interest, but her father, who walked with a stick, seemed to
be querulous and inclined to distrust them.
"A fine lot of people we've run into since we've come here!" he said.
"Molly, who are these people?"
"Mr. Crawford warned me against Broom and his wife, father," she said.
"I told you of that. And this is Jack Danby, who helped to save us all
from the launch."
"Well, what do you want? What do you want?" asked Mr. Burton,
peevishly. "Money? I'll give you some--but don't come bothering me!"
"I don't want any of your money, sir, and neither does Danby," said
Dick, indignant and surprised by this reception. He looked at the
girl. She seemed to be as angry as he was himself, and had flushed
until her face was a bright pink. He thought she looked even prettier
than before, but she also looked frightened, as if, while angry, she
dared not provoke her father further by seeming to resent what he said.
"We came here," said Dick, facing the old man, "because we have an idea
that we can help you in your search. You are looking for a boy, are
you not?"
"Yes, yes!" said the old man. "It's a wild goose chase--we'll never
find him! It's a cousin of Molly's--my daughter--and my nephew. A
worthless young scamp, probably, even if he's alive. No use looking
for him--let him stay lost, I say! He's less trouble that way."
"The reason I say that I think we may be able to help you, sir, is that
we think the gang that had your daughter with them yesterday are on the
trail of the boy you are looking for. Can you not tell us what you
know of his movements?"
"I don't see why I should! You're probably just another of the
blackmailing crowd that's been after my money since I was fool enough
to allow myself to be persuaded to look for the boy. He was stolen
from my brother's house when he was a very small boy. We had reason to
suspect a man who had a grudge against my brother. That's the only
clue we have."
"That's not worth very much by itself, sir. But it happens that I know
of a boy who was mysteriously brought up by an old man. He knows
nothing of his parentage. But he does know, and his friends know,
also, that there are people who know all about him, and that these
people are very anxious to keep him from learning the truth about
himself. And these people who have been trying to locate this boy
lately are connected with the ones who were with your daughter last
night--people with whom no young woman ought ever to be trusted by her
father!"
Dick was furious by this time at the way in which Mr. Burton treated
him, and he forgot, for the moment, the respect due to age and
infirmity. He regarded Burton as a careless father, who should be made
to understand that he had been criminally careless in allowing so
beautiful a girl to be left in the power of wretches like those who had
been on the boat when it took fire, and he had no mind to be polite and
diplomatic.
"Get out of my room, you impudent young rascal!" shouted Mr. Burton
when he realized what Dick was saying. "Don't you think I can see
through your game, eh?"
He shook his stick threateningly at Dick.
"I'm not afraid of you, sir," said Dick. "I told the truth, and I
think you know it. We're not going to stay here--but I warn you that
you may be sorry before this business is cleared up. You'll trust a
scoundrel like Broom, and yet, when we come to you with an offer to
help you in your search, you insult us!"
Molly Burton, frightened and distressed by the turn matters had taken,
tried to make peace, but her efforts were of no avail. Her father
ordered the two of them out of his rooms, and they could do nothing but
go.
"Well, we didn't gain much by going there," said Dick. "I'm sorry I
lost my temper, Jack, but it would have been pretty hard not to, when
he was talking and acting that way."
"I wonder if he can really be my uncle, though, Dick. I don't know
that I'd be so crazy to have him for a relative, but I would like to
think that pretty girl was my cousin!"
"She's all right, isn't she, Jack? But we have gained something, at
any rate. We've got some sort of a starting point. Now, if we can get
Captain Haskin to help us, we may be able to start with the time when
you turned up at Woodleigh, and trace some of Old Dan's movements. In
that way, you see, it may be possible to get at the truth. It's a
little more than we knew before we went to see them, at any rate."
"I think if we could see Miss Burton alone, Dick, she would treat us
better, and tell us anything she knew."
"I'm sure of that, Jack. I'll try to see her, too. It seems wrong to
try to do anything of that sort without letting her father know, but we
haven't any choice. He certainly wouldn't allow her to see me if he
knew that she was planning anything of that sort. I'll try that in the
morning."
But in the morning when Dick went to the hotel, he was told that Mr.
Burton and his daughter were gone, and that they had left no address.
No one at the hotel could give him any idea of where they might be
found, and they had left no orders, it was said, about the forwarding
of any letters that might come for them. Dick, resourceful as he was,
felt that he was facing a blind wall. There was nothing more for him
to do. He could only wait, and trust that chance, or the detective
abilities of Captain Haskin, would enable him to pick up the trail
again.
Jack Danby, needless to say, was bitterly disappointed when he heard
what Dick had to tell him the next evening, after his fruitless effort
to see the Burtons again. Jack had never wavered in his belief that
some time he would settle the mystery of his birth, that had worried
him ever since he had been able to understand that he was set apart
from others. To see a chance now and then just as he felt that he was
about to read the secret have that chance vanish, was doubly hard. It
was worse than if he had never had the hope of success.
But he tried hard not to let Dick Crawford see how badly the incident
made him feel. Dick had done what he had for the best, and he had
honestly thought that there was a chance for Jack's great ambition to
be realized. He felt as disappointed as did Jack himself.
"Gee, Jack," he said, "who'd ever guess that a sweet girl like that
would have such an old curmudgeon of a father? He's the limit! But
there's nothing we can do right away. I think Captain Haskin will be
able to find out where they came from, and where they've gone to
without any trouble--that's the sort of thing detectives are supposed
to be able to do."
"But if the old gentleman won't help us at all it's going to be pretty
hard to get anything done. I've seen crusty old fellows like that
before. When they've been deceived in a person it takes a long time
before they're willing to trust anyone else--and, of course, you can't
blame them so very much, at that.
"I'm not going to give up, Dick, anyhow. I'm surer than ever now that
the secret of who I am is worth a lot of trouble, and I'll find out
what it is if I never do anything else!"
"At that rate you're bound to win, Jack. Keep on trying."