"MR GEORGE HARRINGTON."
"Who's that? What's that?" cried Saul Harrington sharply, as he saw by
Gertrude's agitation that there was something particular on the way.
"It's Master George come, sir," said the old housekeeper.
"What?" he roared; and his face turned sallow. "Impossible!"
Gertrude stood trembling, with the card in her hand, the name thereon
seeming to play strange tricks, and growing larger and then dying away,
till it seemed to be hidden in a mist, while a chaos of thoughts ran
confusedly through her brain. At one moment she looked upon the coming
of this stranger with dread, for a stranger he was to her; the next her
heart began to beat, and her cheeks flushed, as she recalled that he was
her affianced husband, and that he had come to protect her from this
man, and that henceforth she would be safe.
She was brought back to the present by the old housekeeper, who, for the
second time, touched her arm.
"Miss Gertrude, ma'am, don't you hear me?" she said. "What shall I tell
him?"
"I--I--"
"Stop!" cried Saul sharply. "You are a young unprotected girl, and as
the executors are not here, Gertie, I look upon it as my duty to see
after your welfare. How do we know that this is George Harrington? Let
me look at that card."
He snatched the card from the trembling girl's fingers, and scowled as
he read the inscription, though he could gather nothing from that.
"Here, I'll go down and see what he's like. It may be some impostor."
He had reached the door when Gertrude flushed up, and seemed in her
decisive action to have changed from girl to woman.
"Stop, Mr Harrington!" she said; "this would not be the way to welcome
my poor dead guardian's grandson, and I think it is due to me that you
should refrain."
"What!" he cried, staggered for the moment by her manner and bearing, as
she crossed to a writing-table. "Nonsense, girl; you know nothing of
the ways of the world. I'll meet this man, and see what he is like."
Gertrude took no notice, but wrote two telegrams, and handed them to the
housekeeper.
"Send them at once," she whispered, and she turned to the door, where
Saul's hand was raised to stop her, but there was a low growl from close
at hand, Saul started and shrank away, leaving the door free; but before
Gertrude was half way to the room, with the dog close at her heels, Saul
had followed, and entered the dining-room just as the keen-looking,
sun-browned, and well-dressed man, who had stood gazing at old
Harrington's portrait, turned quickly and advanced to meet the agitated
girl.
"How do you do?" he said, in a sharp decisive way, as he held out both
hands, Gertrude placing hers within them, to be retained, as the
stranger looked at her searchingly, and evidently with satisfaction.
"There you need not tell me," he continued, "you're Gertrude, I know. I
say, quite a shock to me to come back too late. That's the old man, I
suppose?"
He nodded towards the portrait as, without moving her eyes from his,
Gertrude replied:
"Yes, that is uncle's--I mean dear guardian's portrait."
"Like him?"
"Oh, so very like," replied Gertrude, "I can almost fancy sometimes he
is looking down at me from the wall."
"Ah," exclaimed the other, giving a quick glance up at the picture and
back to Gertrude, whose hands he still held, and pressed warmly. "Of
course I don't remember. Quite a little shaver when I went over
yonder."
Saul, who stood glowering at the pair, half mad with rage and
disappointment, winced at these words, but setting his teeth hard, he
said quietly:
"Have you just arrived?"
"Reached Liverpool last night. Came on this morning. Very rough
passage. Who are you?"
"I," said Saul, forcing a smile--"well, I am--here is my card."
He did not finish his sentence, but drew a card from his case.
"Mr Saul Harrington," read the stranger. "Let's see, I think I have
heard of you?"
"Well, I should presume so," replied Saul stiffly.
"I was right up the country when grandfather's last letter came," said
the new-comer hastily, "but I got back to 'Frisco, and then across to
New York, and took boat soon as I could, and here I am. Didn't stop
about much luggage, so as to be quick. Can I stay here?"
"Stay here?" said Gertrude, withdrawing her hands. "Oh, yes, it is your
own house."
"Ah, to be sure, I suppose so," cried the young man sharply; and as he
spoke his dark eyes were running from one to the other, and then to the
dog, which kept on sniffing at him uneasily. "Won't bite, will he?"
"Oh no. Lie down, Bruno," cried Gertrude hastily.
"Don't know so much about that," said Saul; "he can bite sometimes."
"Well, he'd better keep his fangs out of me," said the young man, with
an involuntary movement of the hand beneath the back of his morning
coat.
"You'll excuse me," interposed Saul, taking a step forward, "but you are
a perfect stranger to us, sir."
"Natural-lee," said the young man. "Never met before, of course."
"Then will you be good enough to give me some proofs that you are the
gentleman whose card you sent up."
"Eh? Proofs? Oh, yes. No, I won't. Look here, sir, this is a curious
welcome; pray, who are you?"
"I gave you my card, sir."
"Yes, of course, Saul Harrington--Mr Saul Harrington. But that don't
explain--yes, it does, you're a cousin. The old man said something
about you in his last letter."
"And in the others," said Saul sharply.
"Of course."
"Have you the letters?"
"I told you I had, didn't I? Am I to show them to you?"
"Stop," cried Gertrude quietly.
"Eh? Stop!" cried Saul fiercely. "How do we know that this is not an
impostor?"
"A what," roared the young man fiercely.
"Stop, if you please," said Gertrude. "Mr Saul Harrington is only a
visitor here, Mr George, and has no right to make such a demand of
you."
"Mind what you are saying," cried Saul angrily.
"I am minding what I am saying, sir. You have no right to ask such
questions."
"What? Not in your behalf?"
"No, sir," interposed their visitor sharply, as he took his cue from
Gertrude; "no right at all."
"I was not speaking to you," said Saul roughly; and the two men stood
glowering at each other, Saul having rather the best of it, till
Gertrude spoke hastily, in dread of a quarrel:
"If there is any need for Mr George Harrington to prove his identity,
it should be to Mr Hampton and Doctor Lawrence."
"Who are they?" said the young man sharply.
"My dear guardians," replied Gertrude.
"Seems rather a strange thing," said the young man, giving Gertrude a
reproachful look, and then metaphorically setting up his hackles as he
turned defiantly upon Saul, "that I come back to England, at my
grandfather's invitation, to my own place, and find some one, who has no
right, beginning to dictate to me as to what I am to do."
"I don't know about dictating," said Saul, who grew more calm as the
stranger became excited; "but you don't suppose, sir, that I, as my
uncle's representative, am going to stand by and let a perfect stranger
enter upon the place, and take possession. What proof have I that you
are George Harrington?"
"Proof? Didn't I send up my card?"
"Card!" cried Saul contemptuously.
"Oh, if that isn't enough I can give you plenty more proofs," cried the
young man quickly.
"Stop, Mr George Harrington," said Gertrude, warmly espousing his
cause. "Mr Saul Harrington assumes too much. I am my guardian's
representative at The Mynns till his grandson comes and takes
possession. I decline, then, to let you be treated in this uncalled-for
way."
"Thank you, my dear, thank you," cried the young fellow sharply. "Now,
Mr Saul Harrington, what have you got to say to that?"
"Gertrude, you'll repent this," cried Saul, whose jealous rage and
disappointment swept away the calm manner he had assumed.
"Perhaps so. But if she does, I suppose it's no business of yours, sir.
He has no right to bully you, has he, my dear?"
Gertrude flinched a little at this over-friendly, familiar way; but she
thought to herself that George Harrington had led a rough life out in
the West, and it was well meant. She could not help leaning, too,
towards the man who had, she felt, a right to champion her, and he had
come now to protect her and defend her against one whom now she
literally loathed.
She replied then eagerly:
"None whatever, Mr George. This is your home, too, and he has no right
to interfere upon your taking possession."
She held out her hand to him, and looked him frankly in the eyes, as she
said quickly:
"I'm very glad you have come."
"Thank ye, my dear, thank ye. I'm rather rough, but you must not mind
that. Been hunting, and gold-digging, and living in camp. Soon rub off
the corners. It's very nice and kind of you to speak so well as you
have."
He took the hand she held out, drew it through his arm, and kept it in
quiet possession, as he turned with an insolent look of triumph upon
Saul.
"Now, Mr What's-your-name, do you live here?"
"No," said Saul sharply, and he returned the other's defiant look, and
felt hard pressed to keep back his jealous rage as he saw Gertrude rest
calmly, with her hand in that of the new-comer. "No--not yet," he added
to himself.
"Well, then, my dear sir, as I do--in future--and as I have come a very
long journey, and am tired and hungry, and want to talk to miss here,
perhaps you'll be good enough to take your hat and get out."
Saul's eyes flashed, and his cheeks became of an uglier pallor, as he
listened to this speech, which bore a strong resemblance to that of one
of the late Mr Chucks, the boatswain, of "Peter Simple" fame. For it
was all refinement at the beginning, and wandered off into argot that
was the very reverse.
"I am not accustomed to be ordered out of this house, sir," said Saul in
a low voice, full of suppressed rage; "and I refuse to go until I have
seen your credentials."
"What!"
"And I'm not going to be bullied," said Saul. "Your cowboy manners
don't frighten me; and if it wasn't for the lady here, whom, in spite of
her preference for an utter stranger, I am bound to protect, I'd just
take you and show you how to behave in an English house."
"Would you, sir? Then look here. Out in the West, from where I came,
we have no policemen and magistrates at every corner, ready to do all
our dirty work. We do it ourselves, and carry with us all that is ready
and necessary for the job."
He advanced menacingly towards Saul; and as he took his first step, his
hand dropped Gertrude's, and he put it behind him.
"George Harrington! For Heaven's sake?"
"Yes, yes, of course," he cried laughingly, taking her hand, laying it
upon his arm, and stroking it gently. "I forgot. He riled me, and I
felt as if I was back among the roughs out yonder. There, I don't want
to quarrel, Mr Saul Harrington. I suppose we are uncles and cousins or
something of the kind. Shake hands, and let's have a glass of something
to show we are not bad friends. I suppose there is something in the
house--eh, my dear?"
"Yes, but--"
"Look here, sir," cried Saul, ignoring the proffered hand, "I am not
frightened by your Yankee, bullying ways, and I tell you what it is--"
Saul Harrington did not tell the new-comer what it was, for the door
opened, and Doctor Lawrence came in hastily.
"What's the matter?" he cried. "Some one ill?"
"Yes, old gentleman," said the stranger banteringly. "This chap--Mr
Saul Harrington I think he calls himself--has got a fit."
Doctor Lawrence gazed sharply at the speaker, and then placed his
glasses upon his nose, as Gertrude withdrew her arm and hurriedly
crossed to the doctor's side.
"Yes, sir," cried Saul fiercely, "a fit of indignation. I refused to--"
"Oh, look here, let's have an end of this. I don't know who you are,
old gentleman."
"My name is Lawrence."
"Well, then, Mr Lawrence--Oh, I know; you are my grandfather's
executor."
"One of them, sir."
"Well, I've come home at my grandfather's wish, and I find he's dead,
and this man ready here to bully, and order, and insist upon my showing
my papers."
"Hum, my dear, don't be alarmed," said the doctor quietly; and then he
turned to the last speaker. "You come as a stranger, sir, and it will
be quite necessary for you to give ample proof that you are Mr George
Harrington."
"Of course, old gentleman, of course."
"To me and my colleague, Mr Hampton; but I think Mr Saul Harrington
might have waited till those who have a right to question come upon the
spot. Lucky I came down."
"You got my telegram?" said Gertrude.
"Telegram? No, my dear. I left home two hours ago. Now, Mr Saul,
what have you to say?"
"Oh, I do not want to interfere," said Saul quickly. "But there was no
one here to protect Miss Bellwood."
"Surely she needed no protection?" said the doctor, looking from one to
the other.
"How do you know that, sir, when a man comes here assuming to be my
cousin."
"Assuming!" cried the new-comer very fiercely.
"Yes, assuming, sir. You refused to show any credentials."
"Oh, no, I didn't, and I don't. But when a fellow begins to bully me,
and to come the high-handed, I hit back. Look here, Mr Lawrence, has
this Mr Saul Harrington any right to insist upon my clearing up to
him?"
"None whatever, sir."
"That's enough. As to my refusing--not such a fool. Only we learn too
much out in the West to begin opening out to every one who says, `I'm
the proper moral custom-house officer: give up your keys.'"
"I only interfered as the executors were not present," said Saul
Harrington. "If this gentleman is what he professes to be, I shall only
be too glad to give him the hand of welcome."
"Thank ye for nothing. Now then, I'm hungry, so don't let's have any
more jaw."