tell the story I have already attempted to sketch here, dwelling
bitterly on Dick's heartless selfishness and cruelty, and piteously on
his own incredible sufferings, while Uncle Marmaduke, lolling back in
his armchair with an attempt (which was soon abandoned) to retain a
smile of amused scepticism on his face, heard him out in complete
silence and with all due gravity.
Indeed, Paul's manner left him no room for further unbelief. His tale,
wild and improbable as it was, was too consistent and elaborate for any
schoolboy to have invented, and, besides, the imposture would have been
so entirely purposeless.
When his brother-in-law had come to the end of his sad history, Paradine
was silent for some time. It was some relief to know that the darkest
secrets of his life had not been ferreted out by a phenomenally sharp
nephew; but the change in the situation was not without its
drawbacks--it remained to be seen how it might affect himself. He
already saw his reign in Westbourne Terrace threatened with a speedy
determination unless he played his cards well.
"Well," he said at last, with a swift, keen glance at Paul, who sat
anxiously waiting for his next words; "suppose I were to say that I
think there may be something in this story of yours, what then? What is
it you want me to do for you?"
"Why," said Paul, "with all you owe to me, now you know the horrible
injustice I have had to bear, you surely don't mean to say that you
won't help me to right myself?"
"And if I did help you, what then?"
"Why, I should be able to recover all I have lost, of course," said Mr.
Bultitude. He thought his brother-in-law had grown very dull.
"Ah, but I mean, what's to become of _me_?"
"You?" repeated Paul (he had not thought of that). "Well, hum, from what
I know and what you know that I know about your past life, you can't
expect me to encourage you to remain here?"
"No," said Uncle Marmaduke. "Of course not; very right and proper."
"But," said Paul, willing to make all reasonable concessions, "anything
I can do to advance your prospects--such as paying your passage out to
New York, you know, and so on--I should be very ready to do."
"Thank you!" said the other.
"And even, if necessary, provide you with a small fund to start afresh
upon--honestly," said Paul; "you will not find me difficult to deal
with."
"It's a dazzling proposition," remarked Paradine drily. "You have such
an alluring way of putting things. But the fact, is, you'll hardly
believe it, but I'm remarkably well off here. I am indeed. Your son, you
know, though not you (except as a mere matter of form), really makes, as
they say of the marmalade in the advertisements, an admirable
substitute. I doubt, I do assure you, whether you yourself would have
received me with quite the same warmth and hospitality I have met with
from him."
"So do I," said Paul; "very much."
"Just so; for, without your admirable business capacity and
extraordinary firmness of character, you know, he has, if you'll excuse
my saying so, a more open guileless nature, a more entire and touching
faith in his fellow-man and brother-in-law, than were ever yours."
"To say that to me," said Paul hotly, "is nothing less than sheer
impudence."
"My dear Paul (it does seem deuced odd to be talking to a little shrimp
like you as a grown-up brother-in-law. I shall get used to it presently,
I daresay). I flatter myself I am a man of the world. We're dealing with
one another now, as the lawyers have it, at arm's length. Just put
yourself in my place (you're so remarkably good at putting yourself in
other people's places, you know). Look at the thing from my point of
view. Accidentally dropping in at your offices to negotiate (if I could)
a small temporary loan from anyone I chanced to meet on the premises, I
find myself, to my surprise, welcomed with effusion into what I then
imagined to be your arms. More than that, I was invited here for an
indefinite time, all my little eccentricities unmentioned, overlooked. I
was deeply touched (it struck me, I confess, at one time that you must
be touched too), but I made the best use of my opportunities. I made hay
while the sun shone."
"Do you mean to make me lose my temper?" interrupted Paul. "It will not
take much more."
"I have no objection. I find men as a rule easier to deal with when they
have once lost their temper, their heads so often go too. But to return:
a man with nerve and his fair share of brains, like myself, only wants a
capitalist (he need not be a millionaire) at his back to conquer the
world. It's not by any means my first campaign, and I've had my
reverses, but I see victory in my grasp, sir, in my grasp at last!"
Paul groaned.
"Now you--it's not your fault, I know, a mere defect of constitution;
but you, as a speculator, were, if I may venture to put it so, not worth
your salt; no boldness, no dash, all caution. But your promising son is
a regular whale on speculation, and I may tell you that we stand in
together in some little ventures that would very probably make your hair
stand on end--_you_ wouldn't have touched them. And yet there's money in
every one of them."
"_My_ money!" said Paul savagely; "and it won't come out again."
"You don't know much about these things, you see," said Marmaduke; "I
tell you I have my eye on some fine openings for capital."
"Your pockets always were very fine openings for capital," retorted
Paul.
"Ha, ha, deuced sharp that! But, to come to the point, you were always a
sensible practical kind of a fellow, and you must see, that, for me to
back you up and upset this young rascal who has stepped into your
slippers, might be morally meritorious enough, but, treating it from a
purely pecuniary point of view, it's not business."
"I see," said Mr. Bultitude heavily; "then you side against me?"
"Did I ever say I would side against you? Let us hear first what you
propose to do."
Paul, upon this, explained that, as he believed the Stone still retained
its power of granting one wish to any other person who happened to get
hold of it, his idea was to get possession of it somehow from Dick, who
probably would have it about him somewhere, and then pass it on to some
one whom he could trust not to misuse it so basely.
"A good idea that, Paul, my boy," said Paradine, smiling; "but you
don't imagine our young friend would be quite such an idiot as not to
see your game! Why, he would pitch the Stone in the gutter or stamp it
to powder, rather than let you get hold of it."
"He's quite capable of it," said Paul; "in fact, he threatened to do
worse than that. I doubt if I shall ever be able to manage it myself;
but what am I to do? I must try, and I've no time to lose about it
either."
"I tell you this," said Marmaduke, "if you let him see you here, it's
all up with you. What you want is some friend to manage this for you,
some one he won't suspect. Now, suppose I were willing to risk it for
you?"
"You!" cried Paul, with involuntary distrust.
"Why not?" said Marmaduke, with a touch of feeling. "Ah, I see, you
can't trust me. You've got an idea into your head that I'm a
thorough-paced rascal, without a trace of human feeling about me. I
daresay I deserve it, I daresay I do; but it's not generous, my boy, for
all that. I hope to show you your mistake yet, if you give me the
chance. You allow yourself to be prejudiced by the past, that's where
you make your mistake. I only put before you clearly and plainly what it
was I was giving up in helping you. A fellow may have a hard cynical
kind of way of putting things, and yet, take my word for it, Paul, have
a heart as tender as a spring chicken underneath. I believe I'm
something like that myself. I tell you I'm sorry for you. I don't like
to see a family man of your position in such a regular deuce of a hole.
I feel bound to give you a lift out of it, and let my prospects take
their own chance. I leave the gratitude to you. When I've done, kick me
down the doorsteps if you like. I shall go out into the world with the
glow of self-approval (and rapid motion) warming my system. Take my
advice, don't attempt to tackle Master Dick yourself. Leave him to me."
"If I could only make up my mind to trust you!" muttered Paul.
"The old distrust!" cried Marmaduke; "you can't forget. You won't
believe a poor devil like me can have any gratitude, any
disinterestedness left in him. Never mind, I'll go. I'll leave it to
you. I'll send Dick in here, and we shall see whether he's such a fool
as you think him."
"No," said Paul, "no; I feel you're right; that would never do."
"It would be for my advantage, I think," said the other, "but you had
better take me while I am in a magnanimous mood, the opportunity may
never occur again. Come, am I to help you or not? Yes or no?"
"I must accept," said Paul reluctantly; "I can't find Boaler now, and it
might take hours to make him see what I wanted. I'll trust to your
honour. What shall I do?"
"Do? Get away from this, he'll be coming in here very soon to see me.
Run away and play with the children or hide in the china
closet--anything but stay here."
"I--I must be here while you are managing him," objected Paul.
"Nonsense!" said Paradine angrily. "I tell you it will spoil all, unless
you--who's that? it's his step--too late now--dash it all! Behind that
screen, quick--don't move for your life till I tell you you may come
out!"
Mr. Bultitude had no choice; there was just time to set up an old
folding screen which stood in a corner of the room and slip behind it
before the door opened.
It might not be the highest wisdom to trust everything to his new ally
in this manner; but what else could he do, except stand by in forced
inactivity while the momentous duel was being fought out? Just then, at
all events, he saw no other course.
18. _Run to Earth_
"The is noon in this hous schuld bynde me this night."
--_The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn._
Dick burst open the door of the billiard-room rather suddenly, and then
stood holding on to the handle and smiling down upon his relative in a
happy and affectionate but rather weak manner.
"So here you are!" he said. "Been lookin' for you everywhere. What's
good of shutting 'self in here? Come up and play gamesh. No? Come in and
have shupper. I've had shupper."
"So I perceive," observed Uncle Marmaduke; and the fact was certainly
obvious enough.
"Tell y'what I did," giggled the wretched Dick. "You know I never did
get what I call regular good blow out--always some one to shay 'had
quite 'nough' 'fore I'd begun. So I thought this time I would have a
tuck-in till--till I felt tired, and I--he-he-he--I got down 'fore
anybody elsh and helped myshelf. Had first go-in. No one to help to
thingsh. No girlsh to bother. It was prime! When they've all gone up
again you and me'll go in and have shome more, eh?"
"You're a model host," said his uncle.
"It's a good shupper," Dick went on. "I ought to know. I've had some of
everything. It'sh almost too good for kids. But it'sh a good thing I
went in first. After I'd been in a little time I saw a sponge-cake on
the table, and when I tried it, what d'ye think I found? It was as full
inside of brandy-an'-sherry as it could be. All it could do to shtand! I
saw d'rectly it washn't in condition come to table, and I said, 'Take it
away! take it away! It'sh drunk; it'sh a dishgraceful sight for
children!' But they wouldn't take it away; sho I had to take it away.
But you can't take away a whole tipshy-cake!"
"I am quite sure you did your best," murmured Paradine.
"Been having such gamesh upstairs!" said Dick, with another giggle.
"That lil' Dolly Merridew's jolly girl. Not sho nice as Dulcie, though.
Here, you, let'sh go up and let off fireworksh on balcony, eh? Letsh
have jolly lark!"
"No, no," said his uncle. "You and I are too old for that sort of thing.
You should leave the larks to the young fellows."
"How do you know I'm too old for sorterthing?" said Dick, with an
offended air.
"Well, you're not a young man any longer, you know. You ought to behave
like the steady old buffer you look."
"Why?" demanded Dick; "why should I behave like shteady ole buffer, when
I don't feel shteady ole buffer? What do you want shpoil fun for? Tell
you I shall do jus' zackly wharriplease. And, if you shay any more, I'll
punch y' head!"
"No, no," said his uncle, slightly alarmed at this intimation. "Come,
you're not going to quarrel with me, I'm sure!"
"All ri'," said Dick. "No; I won' quarrel. Don' wanter quarrel anybody."
"That's right," said Paradine. "I knew you were a noble fellow!"
"Sho I am," said Dick, shaking hands with effusion. "Sho are you. Nearly
ash noble 'sh me. There, you're jolly good fellow. I say, I've goo' mind
tell you something. Make you laugh. But I won't; not now."
"Oh, you can tell me," said Marmaduke. "No secrets between friends, you
know."
"Shan't tell you now," said Dick. "Keep shecret little longer."
"Do you know, my friend, that there's something very odd about you I've
noticed lately? Something that makes me almost fancy sometimes you're
not what you pretend to be."
Dick sat down heavily on one of the leather benches placed against the
wall.
"Eh, what d'you shay?" he gasped. "Shay tharragain."
"You look to me," said Marmaduke slowly, "like some one excellently made
up for the part of heavy father, without a notion how to play it. Dick,
you young dog, you see I know you! You can't take me in with all this.
You'd better tell me all about it."
Dick seemed almost sobered by this shock.
"You've found me out," he repeated dully. "Then it's all up. If you've
found me out, everybody elsh can find me out!"
"No, no; it's not so bad as that, my boy. I've better eyes than most
people, and then I had the privilege of knowing your excellent father
rather well once upon a time. You haven't studied his little
peculiarities closely enough; but you'll improve. By the way, where _is_
your excellent father all this time?"
"He's all right," said Dick, beginning to chuckle. "He-he. He's at
school, he is!"
"At school. You mean to say you've put him to school at his time of
life! He's rather old for that sort of thing, isn't he? They don't take
him on the ordinary terms, do they?"
"Ah," said Dick, "that'sh where it is. He isn't old, you see, now, to
look at."
"Not old to look at! Then how on earth---- I should like to know how you
managed all that. What have you been doing to the poor gentleman?"
"That'sh my affair," said Dick. "An' if I don' tell you you won' find
that out anyway!"
"There's only one way you could have done it," said Paradine, pretending
to hesitate. "It must have been done by some meddling with magic. Now
what---- Let me see--yes---- Surely the Stone I brought your poor mother
from India was given to me as a talisman of some sort? You can't have
been sharp enough to get hold of that!"
"How did you know?" cried Dick sharply. "Who told you?"
"I am right, then? Well, you are a clever fellow. I should like to know
how you did it, now?"
"Did it with the Shtone," said Dick, evidently discomposed by such
unexpected penetration, but unable to prevent a little natural
complacency. "All my own idea. No one helped me. It--it washn't sho bad
for me, wash it?"
"Bad! it was capital!" cried Marmaduke enthusiastically. "It was a
stroke of genius! And so my Indian Stone has done all this for you.
Sounds like an Arabian Night, by Jove! By-the-by, you don't happen to
have it about you, do you? I should rather like to look at it again.
It's a real curiosity after this."
Paul trembled with anxiety. Would Dick be induced to part with it? If
so, he was saved! But Dick looked at his uncle's outstretched hand, and
wagged his head with tipsy cunning.
"I dareshay you would," he said, "but I'm not sho green as all that.
Don't let that Stone out of my hands for anyone."
"Why, I only wanted to look at it for a minute or two," said Marmaduke;
"I wouldn't hurt it or lose it."
"You won' get chance," said Dick.
"Oh, very well," said Paradine carelessly, "just as you please, it
doesn't matter; though when we come to talk things over a little, you
may find it better to trust me more than that."
"Wha' do you mean?" said Dick uneasily.
"Well, I'll try to explain as well as I can, my boy (drink a little of
this soda water first, it's an excellent thing after supper); there,
you're better now, aren't you? Now, I've found you out, as you see; but
only because I knew something of the powers of this Stone of yours, and
guessed the rest. It doesn't at all follow that other people, who know
nothing at all, will be as sharp; if you're more careful about your
behaviour in future--unless, unless, young fellow----" and here he
paused meaningly.
"Unless what?" asked Dick suspiciously.
"Unless I chose to tell them what I've found out."
"What would you tell them?" said Dick.
"What? Why, what I know of this talisman; tell them to use their eyes;
they wouldn't be very long before they found out that something was
wrong. And when one or two of your father's friends once get hold of the
idea, your game will be very soon over--you know that as well as I do."
"But," stammered Dick, "you wouldn't go and do beastly mean thing like
that? I've not been bad fellow to you."
"The meanness, my dear boy, depends entirely upon the view you take of
it. Now, the question with me, as a man of honour (and I may tell you an
over-nice sense of honour has been a drawback I've had to struggle
against all my life), the question with me is this: Is it not my plain
duty to step in and put a stop to this topsy-turvy state of things, to
show you up as the barefaced young impostor you are, and restore my
unhappy brother-in-law to his proper position?"
"Very well expressed," thought Paul, who had been getting uncomfortable;
"he has a heart, as he said, after all!"
"How does that seem to strike you?" added Paradine.
"It shtrikes me as awful rot," said Dick, with refreshing candour.
"It's the language of conscience, but I don't expect you to see it in
the same light. I don't mind confessing to you, either, that I'm a poor
devil to whom money and a safe and respectable position (all of which I
have here) are great considerations. But whenever I see the finger of
duty and honour and family affection all beckoning me along a particular
road, I make a point of obeying their monitions--occasionally. I don't
mean to say that I never have bolted down a back way, instead, when it
was made worth my while, or that I never will."
"I wonder what he's driving at now," thought Paul.
"I don't know about duty and honour, and all that," said Dick; "my head
aches, it's the noise they're making upstairs. Are you goin' to tell?"
"The fact is, my dear boy, that when one has had a keen sense of honour
in constant use for several years, it's like most other articles, apt to
become a little the worse for wear. Mine is not what it used to be,
Dicky (that's your name, isn't it?). Our powers fail as we grow old."
"I don' know what you're talking about!" said Dick helplessly. "Do tell
me what you mean to do."
"Well then, your head's clear enough to understand this much, I hope,"
said Paradine a little impatiently, "that, if I did my duty and exposed
you, you wouldn't be able to keep up the farce for a single hour, in
spite of all your personal advantages--you know that, don't you?"
"I shpose I know that," said Dick feebly.
"You know too, that if I could be induced--mind, I don't say I can--to
hold my tongue and stay on here and look after you and keep you from
betraying yourself by any more of these schoolboy follies, there's not
much fear that anyone else will ever find out the secret----"
"Which are you going to do, then?" said Dick.
"Suppose I say that I like you, that you have shown me more kindness in
a single week than ever your respectable father has since I first made
his acquaintance? Suppose I say that I am willing to let the sense of
honour and duty, and all the rest of it, go overboard together; that we
two together are a match for Papa, wherever he may be and whatever he
chooses to say and do?"
There was a veiled defiance in his voice that seemed meant for more than
Dick, and alarmed Mr. Bultitude; however, he tried to calm his
uneasiness and persuade himself that it was part of the plot.
"Will you say that?" cried Dick excitedly.
"On one condition, which I'll tell you by-and-by. Yes, I'll stand by
you, my boy, I'll coach you till I make you a man of business every bit
as good as your father, and a much better man of the world. I'll show
you how to realise a colossal fortune if you only take my advice. And
we'll pack Papa off to some place abroad where he'll have no holidays
and give no trouble!"
"No," said Dick firmly; "I won't have that. After all, he's my
governor."
"Do what you like with him then, he can't do much harm. I tell you, I'll
do all this, on one condition--it's a very simple one----"
"What is it?" asked Dick.
"This. You have, somewhere or other, the Stone that has done all this
for you--you may have it about you at this very moment--ah!" (as Dick
made a sudden movement towards his white waistcoat) "I thought so! Well,
I want that Stone. You were afraid to leave it in my hands for a minute
or two just now; you must trust me with it altogether."
Paul was relieved; of course this was merely an artifice to recover the
Garuda Stone, and Marmaduke was not playing him false after all--he
waited breathlessly for Dick's answer.
"No," said Dick, "I can't do that; I want it too."
"Why, man, what use is it to you? it only gives you one wish, you can't
use it again."
Dick mumbled something about his being ill, and Barbara wishing him well
again.
"I suppose I can do that as well as Barbara," said his uncle. "Come,
don't be obstinate, give me the Stone; it's very important that it
should be in safe hands."
"No," said Dick obstinately; he was fumbling all the time irresolutely
in his pockets; "I mean to keep it myself."
"Very well then, I have done with you. To-morrow morning I shall step up
to Mincing Lane, and then to your father's solicitor. I think his
offices are in Bedford Row, but I can easily find out at your father's
place. After that, young man, you'll have a very short time to amuse
yourself in, so make the best of it."
"No, don't leave me, let me alone for a minute," pleaded Dick, still
fumbling.
At this a sudden suspicion of his brother-in-law's motives for wishing
to get the Stone into his own hands overcame all Paul's prudence. If he
was so clever in deceiving Dick, might he not be cheating _him_, too,
just as completely? He could wait no longer, but burst from behind the
screen and rushed in between the pair.
"Go back!" screamed Paradine. "You infernal old idiot, you've ruined
everything!"
"I won't go back," said Paul, "I don't believe in you. I'll hide no
longer. Dick, I forbid you to trust that man."
Dick had risen in horror at the sudden apparition, and staggered back
against the wall, where he stood staring stupidly at his unfortunate
father with fixed and vacant eyes.
"Badly as you've treated me, I'd rather trust you than that shifty
plausible fellow there. Just look at me, Dick, and then say if you can
let this cruelty go on. If you knew all I've suffered since I have been
among those infernal boys, you would pity me, you would indeed.... If
you send me back there again, it will kill me.... You know as well as I
do that it is worse for me than ever it could be for you.... You can't
really justify yourself because of a thoughtless wish of mine, spoken
without the least intention of being taken at my word. Dick, I may not
have shown as much affection for you as I might have done, but I don't
think I deserve all this. Be generous with me now, and I swear you will
never regret it."
Dick's lips moved; there really was something like pity and repentance
in his face, muddled and dazed as his general expression was by his
recent over-indulgence, but he said nothing.
"Give papa the Stone by all means," sneered Paradine. "If you do, he
will find some one to wish the pair of you back again, and then, back
you go to school again, the laughing-stock of everybody, you silly young
cub!"
"Don't listen to him, Dick," urged Paul. "Give it to me, for Heaven's
sake; if you let him have it, he'll use it to ruin us all."
But Dick turned his white face to the rival claimants and said, getting
the words out with difficulty: "Papa, I'm shorry. It is a shame. If I
had the Shtone, I really would give it you, upon my word-an'-honour I
would. But--but, now I can't ever give it up to you. It'sh gone. Losht!"
"Lost!" cried Marmaduke. "When, where? When do you last recollect seeing
it? you must know!"
"In the morning," said Dick, twirling his chain, where part of the cheap
gilt fastening still hung.
"No; afternoon. I don't know," he added helplessly.