We have to inform you that the court has upheld the Duke of
Montvillier's title to the ownership of the Silver Streak Mine, and we
are instructed that an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States
would in the light of recent happenings be unadvisable. The Duke who
unexpectedly arrived at New York on board the _Kron Prinz Olaf_, is
returning to Europe immediately.
Awaiting your favour,
We are, etc.
He read the letter again and was extremely vexed.
In contrast to his own cloudy visage, the face of Mr. Hal Tanneur who
burst in upon him was radiant.
"We've got it, governor," he chuckled and waved a paper. "Saw old
Middleton----"
"What, what, what?" snapped his parent.
"64--all that desirable property," quoted the young man. "Old Middleton
was a bit shy of parting. Said the Duke promised to be a useful tenant.
I offered L800, wouldn't take it, offered L900, wouldn't look at it, got
it for L1,050."
"Good boy," commended his father, and grew more cheerful. "At any
rate," he said, "we can clear this bounder out of the neighbourhood:
what about Alicia?"
Hal frowned terribly.
"I've done my best to show her what a silly step she's taking. Had a
little talk with her----"
"Tact--I hope you used tact. Tact is everything in business," warned
Sir Harry.
"Rather!" said the other complacently, "I think I know a little about
handling women. I got her on her tenderest side. I pointed out people
would say she was marrying for a title, showed her how these mixed
marriages never turned out well. As I said, 'My dear Alicia, you know
nothing absolutely about this chap except what he tells you himself, the
chances are that he's married already.'"
"That was right," approved his father.
"I said, 'You don't even know that he's a Duke--his name's in De Gotha,
I grant you, but how do you know he's the man?'"
"What did she say?" demanded Sir Harry.
Hal shrugged his shoulders despairingly.
"She talked--like a woman," he said, with the air of one given to the
coining of epigrams. "In so many words told me to mind my own
business--in fact, governor, told me to go to the devil."
"Good heavens!" said the scandalized knight.
"Well," modified his son, "she didn't exactly say so, but that was the
impression she gave me."
Sir Harry clicked his lips impatiently.
"This is gratitude!" he said bitterly. "After what I've done----" He
paused to recollect his acts of beneficence, failed to recall any
remarkable feat of generosity on his part, coughed, frowned, and
repeated with increased bitterness--"Gratitude, bah!" He relapsed into
gloomy silence, then reached out his hand for the document Hal had
flourished.
"But this shall end," he said with splendid calmness; "we will bundle
out this dam--confounded American Duke and his cowboy friend, bag and
baggage. Smith shall serve him with a notice--has he paid his rent?"
"No," shouted Hal gleefully, "it was due the day he left for America and
the Yankee person has overlooked it apparently."
Sir Harry nodded.
"Hal, my boy," he said lowering his voice, "how much money in solid cash
do you think this wretched man has cost me?" The importance in his
father's tone impressed the young man.
"A million?" he hazarded.
Sir Harry was annoyed, with the annoyance of a bargain hunter whose
purchase is undervalued by an appraising friend.
"Don't be a fool!" he begged, "a million! Do you think I could sit down
and tamely submit to the loss of a million? No----"
Hal made another guess.
"A thousand?"
"Sixty thousand," said his father impressively, "sixty thousand pounds
or three hundred thousand dollars!"
Hal whistled.
"Absolutely taken out of my pocket, just as though the scoundrel had
broken in to 'Hydeholme' and stolen it!" Sir Harry did not think it
necessary to explain that the sum in question was the Duke's lawful
property, and that his crime had consisted in establishing his legal
claim to it.
"I need hardly say," Sir Harry went on "that if Alicia marries this
person, it will be without my approval. Indeed I must seriously
consider the question of altering the terms of my will." He said this
very gravely.
"Were you leaving her much, governor?"
Sir Harry coughed.
"It is not so much a question of actual value as the thought behind the
legacy," he explained; "one should not measure love by the standard of
value received, but by the sentiment which inspires the gift--I have
often regretted," he added thoughtfully, "that the practise of
bequeathing mourning rings has gone out of fashion--they were
inexpensive but effective."
Hal yawned.
"What about this Duke feller?" he demanded.
Sir Harry pursed his lips.
"He is on his way back--arrives at Liverpool to-morrow. Out first
business is to clear him out of Brockley. To make the place too hot to
hold him. He has chosen to match his wits against mine, to range
himself with my--er--opponents. He shall discover that I am not to be
despised."
There was something very complacent in Sir Harry's review of the
situation that aroused the admiration of his son.
"He'll find you're a bit of a nut to crack, governor," he said.
Sir Harry smiled not ill-pleased with the implied compliment.
"If you will sit down, Hal, I will outline my plan of campaign."
Hal sat down.