THE WICKED COMPACT.
"It appears to me, Mr. Rugg, that you have prospered," said the lady.
"That's where you're right, ma'am, and you couldn't be righter."
"I'm as poor as I can be."
"So am I," said the tramp, adding, with a cunning look, "but times will
be better now."
"Why will they be better?" asked Mrs. Middleton, suspiciously.
"Tony won't see me want when he comes into ten thousand a year."
"Who said he was coming into it?" demanded the lady, coldly.
"You said he was the heir."
"He hasn't got the estate, and I don't mean he shall have it."
"How will you prevent that ma'am?"
Mrs. Middleton again put her hand on the man's tattered coat sleeve,
and in a voice scarcely above a whisper, said:
"Mr. Rugg, you must prevent it."
"How can I prevent it?" asked the tramp, with an assumption of
innocence.
"I take it, you are not a religious man?"
"Not much," answered the tramp, with a short laugh.
"You are not afraid--to do wrong?"
"Yes, I am, ma'am; but if I was paid for it I might not mind."
"You shall be paid, and paid well."
"What do you want me to do?"
Mrs. Middleton said, with slow significance:
"This boy is in my way. Don't you think he might manage to get sick and
die?"
"Perhaps he might," said Rudolph, who did not appear to be shocked at
the suggestion.
"Couldn't you manage it?" she asked, her eyes fixed upon the tramp.
"I might," he answered, shrewdly, "if it was going to do me any good."
"Then the only question is as to pay," she continued.
"That's about it ma'am. It's a big risk, you know. I might get caught,
and then money wouldn't do me much good."
"Nothing venture, nothing have. You don't want to be a pauper all your
life?"
"No, I don't," answered the tramp with energy. "I'm tired of tramping
round the country, sleeping in barns and under hay-stacks, and picking
up meals where I can. I've had enough of it."
"Do as I wish, and you need never suffer such privations again," said
the tempter.
"How much will you give me?" asked Rudolph, in a business-like manner.
"Five hundred dollars down and five hundred dollars income as long as
you live."
This was good fortune of which Rudolph had never dreamed, but he
understood how to make the best of the situation.
"It is not enough," he said, shaking his head.
"Not enough!" exclaimed Mrs. Middleton, with a look of displeasure.
"Why, it seems to me very liberal. You can live comfortably all your
life just for doing one thing."
"A thing which may bring me to the gallows. It's all very well to talk,
but I can't risk my neck for that."
The lady was not surprised. She had expected that she would be
compelled to drive a bargain, and and she had named a sum less than she
was willing to pay.
"You see," continued Rudolph, "it's going to be a great thing for
you. You'll be sure of a big estate and an income of two thousand
pounds--that's ten thousand dollars--a year, and it'll be me that gives
it to you."
"You overestimate your services, Mr. Rugg," she said, coldly. "If I
decline to proceed further the estate will be mine."
"Not if I bring on the boy, and say he's the real heir."
"I shall deny it," said the lady, composedly, "and challenge you to the
proof."
"You will?" queried the tramp, disconcerted.
"Of course I shall."
"Then I'll prove it," he continued, in tone of triumph.
"Who will believe you?" asked Mrs. Middleton, quietly.
"Why shouldn't they?"
"You are a tramp, and a discreditable person. Your appearance would be
against you. I suspect the boy is one of the same sort."
"No, he isn't. I don't like him overmuch, but he's a handsome chap,
looks the gentleman every inch, even if he is dressed a little shabby."
"I should charge you with conspiracy, Mr. Rugg. You'd find it uphill
work fighting me without influence and without money. To begin with,
how would you get over to England?"
As presented by Mrs. Middleton, certainly the chances did not look
flattering.
But an idea occurred to Rudolph, and he instantly expressed it:
"Then, if there ain't no danger from me or the boy, why do you offer me
anything to put him out of the way?"
Mrs. Middleton hesitated.
"I may as well tell you," she said, after a moment's pause. "I take it
for granted you will keep the matter secret."
"Of course I will."
"Then it is this: I married Mr. Harvey Middleton to secure a home and a
position. I didn't love him."
"Quite right, ma'am."
"I was a poor governess. It was a great thing for me to marry Mr.
Middleton."
"I should think so."
"I made him a good wife. He had no reason to complain of me, and when
he died he left me in charge of the estate."
"For the boy?"
"Yes, for the boy, and this has given me trouble."
"He hasn't never troubled you."
"Not yet, and but for one thing I would not have come to America in
search of him."
"What is that?"
"That is the secret I am going to tell you. I want to marry again."
The tramp whistled.
Mrs. Middleton frowned, but went on:
"This time I love the man I want to marry. He is from an excellent
family, but he is a younger son, and has little or nothing himself. If
the estate were mine absolutely, there would be no opposition on the
part of his family to his marrying me to-morrow, but with the knowledge
that the boy may turn up at any time, nothing will be done."
"I see," said the tramp, nodding.
"But for this, I never would have stirred in the matter at all. I did
not think it probable that the boy would ever hear of his inheritance."
"He don't even know who he is," said Rudolph.
"You never told him, then?" said the lady in a tone of satisfaction.
"No. What was the good?"
"There was no good, and you did wisely. Now I have told you how matters
stand, and I renew the offer which I made you a few minutes since."
"It is too little," said the tramp, shaking his head.
"Tell me what you expect. Mind, I don't say that I will meet your views
if they are extravagant. Still I might agree to pay you a little more."
"I want just double what you offered me, ma'am."
"Why, that's extortion."
"That's as you choose to consider it, ma'am. It'll leave you money
enough. It's one-tenth."
"Suppose I refuse."
"Then I'll go and see a lawyer, and he'll tell me what I had better do."
"Even if you succeeded, and got the boy in possession, do you think he
would give you any more than I offered?"
This was a consideration which had not occurred to the tramp. He had
only thought of punishing the lady for not acceding to his terms. He
asked himself, moreover, did he really wish Tony to come into such a
piece of good fortune, and that after the boy had been instrumental in
having him arrested. No, anything but that! He decided to work for Mrs.
Middleton, and make the best terms he could.
"I'll tell you what I'll do ma'am," he said. "I'll say eight hundred
dollars down, and the same every year."
To this sum Mrs. Middleton finally agreed.
"You say you know where the boy is?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then there need be no delay."
"Only a little. But I shall want some money. I haven't a penny."
Mrs. Middleton took out her purse.
"Here are a hundred dollars," she said. "The rest shall be paid you
when you have earned it."
Rudolph rose to go, and as he went down stairs thoughtfully, he said to
himself:
"That woman's a case if ever there was one. How coolly she hires me to
kill the boy. I don't half like the job. It's too risky. But there's
money in it, and I can't refuse. The first thing is to find him!"