RADCLIFF.
Lord Betterson now came out of the house, calm and stately, but with
something of the look in his eye, as he turned it upon his nephew, which
Jack had observed when it menaced Peakslow at the gap of the fence.
"Ah, Radcliff! you have returned? Why don't you alight?" And he touched
his hat to Jack.
"Your nephew may tell you the reason, if he will," Jack replied.
"The long and the short of it is this," said Radcliff, betraying a good
deal of trouble, under all his assumed carelessness: "When I was on my
way home, a few weeks ago, this young man asked me to drive in some deer
for him. He gave me his horse to ride. I made a mistake, and rode him
too far."
"You, Radcliff!" said Lord Betterson, sternly; while Mrs. Betterson went
into hysterics on Vinnie's shoulder, and was taken into the house.
"We thought of Rad when you described him," Rufe said to Jack. "But we
couldn't believe he would do such a thing."
[Illustration: JACK AND HIS JOLLY PRISONER.]
"'Twas the most natural thing in the world," Rad explained. "I was
coming home because I was hard up. I didn't steal the horse,--he was put
into my hands; it was a breach of trust, that's all you can make of it.
Necessity compelled me to dispose of him. With money in my pocket, what
was the use of my coming home? I took my clothes out of pawn, and was
once more a gentleman. Money all gone, I spouted my clothes again,--fell
back upon this inexpensive rig,--took to the country, remembered I had a
home, and was making for it, when this young man overtook me just now,
and gave me a seat in his buggy."
"The matter appears serious," said Lord Betterson. "Am I to understand
that you have taken my nephew prisoner?"
"He can answer that question," said Jack.
"Well, I suppose that is the plain English of it," replied Radcliff.
"Come, now, Uncle Lord! this ain't the first scrape you've got me out
of; fix it up with him, can't you?"
"It is my duty to save the honor of the name; but you are bent on
destroying it. Will you please to come into the house with my nephew,
and oblige me?" Betterson said to Jack.
"Certainly, if you wish it," Jack replied. "Get down, Radcliff. Be
quiet, Lion! I was never in so hard a place in my life," he said to the
boys, as they followed Rad and his uncle into the house. "I never
dreamed of his being your cousin!"
"He's a wild fellow,--nothing very bad about him, only he's just full
of the Old Harry," said Rufe. "I guess father'll settle it, somehow."
Meanwhile, Mrs. Betterson had retired to her room, where Vinnie was
engaged, with fan and hartshorn, in restoring--not her consciousness,
for that she had not lost, but her equanimity.
"Lavinia!" she said brokenly, at intervals, "Lavinia dear! don't think I
intended to deceive you. It was, perhaps, too much the ideal Radcliff I
described to you,--the Betterson Radcliff, the better Betterson
Radcliff, if I may so speak; for he is, after all, you know, a--but that
is the agony of it! The name is disgraced forever! Fan me, Lavinia
dear!"
"I don't see how the act of one person should disgrace anybody else,
even of the same name," Vinnie replied.
"But--a Betterson!" groaned Caroline. "My husband's nephew! Brought back
here like a reprobate! The hartshorn, Lavinia dear!"
Hard as it was freely to forgive her sister for holding up to her so
exclusively the "ideal Radcliff" in her conversations, Vinnie continued
to apply the fan and hartshorn, with comforting words, until Link came
in and said that Jack wished her to be present in the other room.
"Don't leave me, Lavinia dear!" said Caroline, feeling herself utterly
helpless without Vinnie's support.
"If we open this door between the rooms, and you sit near it, while I
remain by you,--perhaps that will be the best way," said Vinnie.
The door was opened, showing Jack and Rad and Mr. Betterson seated, and
the boys standing by the outer door. Rad was trying hard to keep up his
appearance of gay spirits, chucking Chokie under the chin, and winking
playfully at Rufe and Wad. But Jack and Lord were serious.
"I have reasons for wanting you to hear this talk, Vinnie," said Jack.
"I was just telling Mr. Betterson that you had met his nephew before,
and he was quite surprised. It seems to me singular that you never told
your friends here of that adventure."
"I suppose I know what you mean," spoke up Caroline. "And I confess that
_I_ am at fault. Lavinia dear did tell me and the girls of a young man
beguiling her to a public-house in Chicago, and offering her wine; and
Cecie whispered to me that she was sure it must have been Radcliff; but
I couldn't, I wouldn't believe a Betterson could be guilty of--Fan me,
Lavinia dear!"
Vinnie fanned, and Caroline went on,--
"'T was I who cautioned the children against saying anything disparaging
of Radcliff's character in Lavinia dear's presence. I had such faith in
the stock! and now to think how I have been deluded! The hartshorn,
Lavinia dear!"
"Seems to me you make a pile of talk about trifles!" Radcliff said with
a sneer. "I owe an apology to this young lady. But she knows I meant no
harm,--only my foolish fun. As for the horse, the owner has got him
again; and so I don't see but it's all right."
"It's all right enough, as far as I am concerned," said Jack. "I won't
say a word about the trouble and expense you put me to. But, whether
taking my horse as you did was stealing or not, you sold him, you
obtained money under false pretences, you swindled an honest man."
"Well, that can't be helped now," said Radcliff, with a scoffing laugh.
"A feller is obliged sometimes to do things that may not be exactly on
the square."
"I don't know about anybody's being obliged to go off and play the
gentleman (if that's what you call it), and have a good time (if there's
any good in such a time), at somebody else's expense. I call such
conduct simply scoundrelism," said Jack, his strong feeling on the
subject breaking forth in plain speech and ringing tones. "And I
determined, if I ever caught you, to have you punished."
"O, well! go ahead! put it through! indulge!" said Radcliff, folding his
arms, and stretching out his legs with an air of easy and reckless
insolence, but suddenly drawing up one of them, as he noticed the tear
Lion's teeth had made. "Guess I can stand it if the others can. What do
you say, Uncle Lord? Give me up as a bad job, eh?"
"Hem!" Lord coughed, and rubbed his chin with his palm. "If this sort of
conduct is to continue, the crisis may as well come now, I suppose, as
later; and, unless you give a solemn pledge to alter your course, I
shall let it come."
"O, I'll give the solem'est sort of a pledge!" Radcliff replied.
"You will notice--ahem!--a change in our family," Lord went on. "The
boys have applied themselves to business,--in plain terms, gone to work.
Although I have said little on the subject, I have silently observed,
and I am free to confess that I have been gratified. Since our
circumstances are what they are, they have done well,--I may add, they
have done nobly."
"Fan me, Lavinia dear!" whispered Caroline.
"Hey, boys? what's got into you?" said Radcliff, really astonished.
Lord put up his hand, to prevent the boys from answering, and
continued,--
"Your unusually long absence, I am persuaded, has had a wholesome
effect. But to the presence of new elements in the family I attribute
the better state of things, in a large measure." Lord indicated Lavinia,
by a gracious wave of the hand, adding, "Though a man of few words, I am
not blind, and I am not ungrateful."
This recognition of her influence, before Jack and the whole family,
brought the quick color to Vinnie's cheeks and tears to her eyes. She
was surprised by what Lord said, and still more surprised that any words
of his could touch her so. He had hitherto treated her with civil,
quiet reserve, and she had never been able to divine his secret thought
of her. Nor had she cared much, at first, what that might be; but day by
day she had learned to know that under all his weaknesses there was
something in his character worthy of her esteem.
"If you choose to fall into the new course of things, Radcliff, you will
be welcome here, as you always have been. Not otherwise."
And again Jack was reminded of the look and tone with which he had seen
Lord Betterson confront Peakslow at the gap of the fence.
"Of course I'll fall in, head over heels," said Radcliff, with a laugh,
and a look at Vinnie, which Jack did not like. "I think I shall fancy
the new elements, as you call 'em."
Jack started up, with sparkling eyes; but, on an instant's reflection,
bridled his tongue, and settled down again, merely giving Vinnie a swift
glance, which seemed to say, "If he has any more of his _fun_ with you,
I'll--"
"No more trifling," said Betterson. "If you stay, you will come under
the new _regime_. That means, in plain speech--work; we all work."
"Oh!" gasped poor Caroline, and reached out helplessly to her sister.
"The hartshorn, Lavinia dear!"
"I'll stay, and I'll work,--I'll do as the rest do," said Radcliff. "But
when the Philadelphia partners pony up, of course I have my dividend."
"A word here," said Lord, "is due to our friends. By the Philadelphia
partners, my nephew means the relatives who occasionally send us money.
Now, as to his dividend: when he came into our family, it was with the
understanding that he would be clothed and educated at the expense of
those connections. Accordingly, when money has been sent to me, a
portion has always gone to him. As soon as he gets money, it burns him
till he goes off and squanders it. When it is gone, he comes home here,
and waits for another supply."
Then Jack spoke up.
"I say, when the next supply comes, eighty dollars of it--if there's as
much--should be paid over to that truckman he swindled. I insist upon
that."
Radcliff snapped his fingers. "That's a foolish way of doing business!"
"Foolish or not," cried Jack, "you shall agree to it."
"You have anticipated me," remarked Betterson, with a high courtesy
contrasting with Jack's haste and heat. "I was about to propose a
similar arrangement. Radcliff's money passes through my hands. I will
see to it,--the truckman shall be paid. Do you agree, Radcliff? If not,
I have nothing more to urge."
"Of course I agree, since I can't help myself. But next time I have a
horse to dispose of," Radcliff added with a derisive smile at Jack, "I
shall go farther. So take care!"
"No need of giving me that warning," Jack made answer, rising to his
feet. He went over and stood by Vinnie, and looked back with strong
distrust upon the jeering Radcliff. "I don't know that I do right, Mr.
Betterson; but I'll leave him here, if you say so."
"I think it best, on the whole," Mr. Betterson replied.
"O, bosh!" cried Radcliff, giving Jack a sinister look. "You and I'll be
better acquainted, some day! Come, boys, show me what you've been about
lately. And, see here, Rufe,--haven't I got a pair of pants about the
house somewhere? See how that dog tore my trousers-leg! I'll pay _him_
my compliments, too, some time!"
As he was walking out of the house, Lion at the door gave a growl. Jack
silenced the dog, and then took leave. Vinnie urged him to stay to
supper.
"It will be ready in five minutes," she said; "I was just going to set
the table when you came."
But Jack replied, with a bitter smile, that he believed his appetite
would be better after a ride of a few miles in the open air.
"Look out for the scamp!" he whispered in her ear; and then, with brief
good-byes to the rest, he sprang into the buggy, called Lion to a seat
by his side, and drove away.