JACK SPEAKS HIS MIND.
A dead silence followed our hero's declaration to remain with Mrs.
Ruthven until Dr. Mackey had proved his claim to Jack in a court of law.
"This is a fine way to talk!" ejaculated the surgeon at last. "A fine
way, truly!"
"I mean what I say!" declared Jack. "Mother, am I right or wrong?" And
he turned pleadingly to Mrs. Ruthven.
"Dr. Mackey will certainly have to establish his claim to you before I
give you up, Jack," replied the lady of the plantation quickly. "You
see, I have adopted him legally, and he has been as dear to me as though
he were my own flesh and blood."
"Well--er--of course, in one way, your decision does you credit, madam,"
answered the surgeon lamely. "You have done a great deal for the lad,
and for that I must be as thankful as he is. When I have proved my claim
I will pay you back all the money you have spent upon him."
"I shall not wish a cent, sir."
"Yet I shall insist, madam."
"Are you wealthy?" asked Marion curiously.
"Yes, Miss Ruthven--or I will be as soon as I have proven my identity.
As yet I have been able to do but little. Let me add, Mackey is not my
real name."
"What is your real name?" questioned Mrs. Ruthven.
"I will reveal that later, when I have taken the proper steps in law to
obtain the vast property which is rightfully coming to me. You see, when
I disappeared, so to speak, nearly eleven years ago, my property went
into the hands of distant relatives, and they hate to give it up, and
are just as anxious to prove me an impostor as you seem to be."
"I am not anxious to prove you an impostor, Dr. Mackey; my heart is
wrapped up in Jack, that is all. If he is your son, I will rejoice that
he will be well off."
"I don't want to be rich; I would rather stay with you," put in our hero
quickly, and he meant what he said.
"Your affection for your foster mother does you credit, Jack," said the
doctor smoothly.
"She has been the best of mothers to me; so why shouldn't I love her?"
"True, my son, true. But it is strange that you have no warm feeling for
me--such as I have for you."
"You are a stranger to me."
"I trust your feeling towards me changes, for I want my only son to love
me."
At this Jack was silent, and instead of looking at the man he looked at
Mrs. Ruthven and at Marion. Then, unable to control his feelings, he
rushed from the room, mounted the stairs, and burst into his own
apartment, where he threw himself on the bed, wet as he was, to give
himself up to his misery.
"I don't want that man for a father!" he cried, over and over again,
half tearfully and with set teeth. "I don't want him! He isn't a bit
like anybody I could love! Oh, how I wish I had never set eyes on him!"
"It is a great shock to Jack, and to all of us," was Mrs. Ruthven's
comment, after the lad was gone.
"My reception here has been a great shock to me," said the doctor
bluntly. "My own son runs away from me."
"He had some trouble with you a couple of weeks ago."
"Pooh, that was nothing! I had almost forgotten it."
"Jack does not forget such things easily. Moreover, he is slow to make
friends with anybody."
"He doesn't know the chances he is throwing away. Were it not that he is
my son, and my heart goes out toward him, I would never bother him."
"What chances has he?" asked Marion.
"I shall be very rich; and, not only that, our family has a famous name
in England, with a title attached. Jack may some day be a nobleman."
"I reckon he'd rather be an American," answered Marion.
"Well, there is no accounting for tastes," said the surgeon dryly. "And
you evidently have him well drilled in."
"What actual proofs have you that Jack is your son?" asked Mrs. Ruthven,
after a painful pause.
"I have a number of private papers; also the marriage certificate which
proves that I married Jack's mother. More than that, I expect soon to
meet an old college chum who knows much of the past, and who can testify
in my behalf."
"Well, on my own account and on Jack's, I feel that I must make you
prove your claim, Dr. Mackey. It will be hard enough to give up the boy
when I am assured that he is really your own."
"I will not discuss the situation further," cried the doctor, moving
stiffly toward the door. "But unless you wish me to take immediate steps
to take Jack from you, you must make me one promise."
"And what is that, sir?"
"That you will not spirit the boy away from this plantation, so that he
cannot be brought into court when wanted."
"I will promise that. I do not wish to do anything contrary to law."
"Then that is all for the present, Mrs. Ruthven, and I will bid you
good-day."
"When do you expect to come back again?"
"As soon as my duties will permit. The Yankees are pressing us hard, and
I cannot neglect my duties as a surgeon in our army."
In a moment more the doctor was gone. Mrs. Ruthven watched him out of
sight, then sank in a chair, all but overcome. Old Ben saw her and came
up, hat in hand, his honest face full of genuine grief.
"Missus, dis am de worst wot I eber did heah," he said. "De idea, dat
dat man wants to take our Jack away! It am dreadful!"
"Yes, Ben; I do not know how I can endure it."
"He don't look like Jack one bit; not one bit, missus!"
"I know it, Ben. He says Jack resembles his brother Walter."
"Maybe he dun nebber had a brudder Walter."
"Evidently you do not believe him?"
"No, I don't."
"Where did you meet him?"
"He cum to de boathouse, and got me to row him ober to de wrack."
"You took him there. What did he want at the wreck?"
"I dunno dat, missus. He tole me to go away fer an hour or so. He went
below in de wrack, out ob sight."
"Perhaps he was after something belonging to the past. Did he bring
anything away with him?"
"I aint suah about dat, missus. When I rowed him ashore he had a tin box
hidden away under his coat, but he might have had dat when I took him
ober."
"How large a box?"
"About dis size," and Ben held out his hands.
"He wouldn't be likely to take such a box to the wreck with him. He must
have found it on the ship," went on Mrs. Ruthven, with interest.
"Where could he find it, missus? De folks around yeah has tuk everyt'ing
off dat wrack long ago."
"Perhaps not. To tell the truth, Ben, I do not like that man's manner at
all."
"No more do I, missus. He's got a bad eye, he has," responded the
colored man warmly.
"If you see him again, Ben, I wish you would watch him closely."
"I will do it, missus. Yo' can trust Ole Ben."
"You may be able to learn something important."
"If I do, I'll bring de news to yo' directly, missus."
"Perhaps you had better follow him now," went on Mrs. Ruthven suddenly.
"If he goes to the battlefield, you can come back."
"I will, missus," and in a moment more Ben was off.
Meanwhile Marion had gone up to Jack's room and knocked on the door. At
first there was no answer, and the girl knocked again.
"Who is it?" came in a half-choked voice.
"It is I, Marion. Can't I come in?"
"Yes," answered Jack, and Marion entered the room and sat down beside
our hero on the bed.
"Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry for you!" was all she could say.
"Marion, do you honestly think that man is my father?" he questioned
anxiously.
"I don't know what to say, Jack. It's all so strange."
"If he was my father it seems to me I ought to feel differently toward
him."
"Perhaps it's the shock, Jack."
"No, it isn't. I could never love that man as a son ought to love his
father," went on our hero impetuously.
"Hush! you mustn't talk so!"
"I can't help it. I hated that man when we met on the bridge--and--and I
hate him still!"
"Oh, Jack!"
"It's true, Marion. I don't see why he wanted to come here. I was happy
enough, with you and mother."
"He hasn't taken you away yet, Jack. Mother will make him prove his
claim first, never fear. She feels as badly almost as do you."
"To me the whole story sounds unreasonable, Marion. If there is a big
fortune in the background, that man may only be scheming to get it."
"But, if that is true, why doesn't he ignore you and keep the money for
himself?"
"I don't know--excepting it may be that he wants me in order to make his
claim stronger, or something like that. I don't know much about law."
"Neither do I. But if it comes to the worst, mother will get a lawyer
and make that man prove everything he says."
The two talked the matter over for a while, and gradually Jack grew
calmer. But look at it from every possible light, he could not make
himself believe that Dr. Mackey was his father.
Presently Mrs. Ruthven entered the chamber and also sat down to comfort
our hero.
"He is certainly a strange man," said she, referring to the surgeon. "He
went to the wreck and was aboard alone for some time, so Old Ben tells
me."
"What did he do?"
"Ben doesn't know."
"I shall visit the wreck again before long and make a search," said
Jack.
The three talked the matter over for several hours, but reached no
further conclusions. Jack expected the doctor back the next day, but he
did not appear, nor did he show himself for some time to come. In the
meantime things of great importance happened.