Roger Ingleton, Minor Part 22

"Right? Do you suppose I'm made of lodgers! 'Aint you talking about the singing chap--Armstrong he called himself, but at the Hall they called him Signor something--Francisco or the likes of that."

The captain p.r.i.c.ked his ears with a vengeance, and in his eagerness rattled the keys encouragingly in his trouser pocket.

"That won't do," said he. "I must have come to the wrong place after all. What sort of looking man was he, and where did he come from?"

"He'd got a pair of arms would knock you into the middle of next week, and when he went down to the Hall--"

"Which Hall?"

"The 'Dragon' Music-Hall--what, don't you know it! go on with you--when he went there he flashed it with an eye-gla.s.s. Lor', you should 'ave heard him sing! He'd a made your hair curl; it was lovely."

"Ah! he wore an eye-gla.s.s and sang, did he?" said the captain. "And where did he come from, and what became of him when he left you?"

"Come from? I don't know. The other end of the world, I fancy myself.

Where he went to I don't know neither. I fancy myself he took up with a bad lot at the Hall, and turned me up. Howsomever, I got my dues out of him, so it's no concern of mine. There you are, mister. Now, what have you got for me?"

The captain looked doubtful and shook his head.

"I'm afraid it's not right after all," said he. "It doesn't correspond with the particulars I have. Had you no other lodgers?"

"What did I tell you," snarled the woman, perceiving she was to be done out of her reward after all. "Come, are you going to give me what you promised or not? If you 'aint, clear out of here, my beauty, or I'll break every bone of your ugly body."

And since, with a stick in her hand, she looked very like putting her threat into execution, the captain beat a hasty retreat, chuckling to himself at the thought of his own excellent cleverness.

"Upon my word," said he to himself as he strolled westward, "I am having a most interesting time. What a versatile genius my co-trustee appears to be--a tutor to an heir, a defaulting and rusticated undergraduate, a penniless music-hall cad. Dear, dear! what a curious settlement of scores we shall have, to be sure--or rather, should have had, had our poor dear Roger remained with us. Heigho! what a curious sensation it will be, to be sure, to own a fortune."

At the hotel the porter met him with a telegram. He expected as much.

He could guess what was inside. It really seemed waste of energy to open it.

But he must go through with his melancholy functions, and he therefore took a seat in the hall and composed his face for the worst.

"Thankful to say good night; fever abated, all hopeful.

"Rosalind."

Captain Oliphant turned pale, crushed the pink paper viciously in his hands, and uttered an exclamation which called forth the sympathy of the hotel servants who loitered in the hall.

"Poor gentleman," said the lady manager to her clerk, "he's got some bad news in that telegram."

He had indeed.

CHAPTER TEN.

ROBERT RATMAN, ESQUIRE, GENTLEMAN.

The next morning, as Captain Oliphant, somewhat depressed by the good news of last might was, attempting to write to his dear cousin expression his thankfulness for the mercies vouchsafed to their precious boy, he was considerably disturbed to feel himself slapped on the shoulder and hear a voice behind him exclaim--

"Got you, my man. How are you, Teddy!"

The captain turned with, a startled face, and confronted a stylishly- dressed man of about thirty-five, who, but for the dissipated look of his eyes and the vulgarity of his ornaments, might have pa.s.sed for a gentleman. He wore a light suit--diamonds and turquoises blazed from his fingers, a diamond stud flashed from his s.h.i.+rt front, and from his heavy watch chain hung a bunch of seals and charms enough to supply half a dozen, men of ordinary pretensions His light hat was tilted at an angle on his head, his brilliant kid boots sparkled beneath the snow- white "spats," and the lavender gloves he flourished in his hands were light enough for a ball-room.

Once he might have been a handsome man. There were still traces of determination about his mouth, his nose was finely cut, and his l.u.s.treless eyes still retained occasional flashes of their old spirit.

There was a recklessness in his face and demeanour which once, when it belonged to an honest man, might been attractive; and when he took off his hat and you saw the well-shaped head with its crisp curly hair, you could not help feeling that you saw the ruin of a fine fellow.

It was when he began to talk that you would best understand what a ruin it was. He was chary of his oaths and loose expressions--but when he spoke the words came out vulgarly, with a sleepy, half-tipsy drawl, which jarred on the ear.

Any words from the lips of Robert Ratman, however, would have jarred on the ears of Captain Oliphant.

"Aren't you glad to see me?" said the new arrival, putting his hat cheerfully on the writing-table and helping himself to an easy-chair.

"As usual, writing _billets doux_ to the ladies! Ah, Teddy, my boy, at your time of life too! Now, for a youngster like me--"

"I thought you would not be able to leave Southampton till the end of the week?"

"Couldn't resist the temptation of giving you a pleasant surprise. Why, Teddy, you look exactly as if you thought it was the arm of the law on your shoulder and heard the rattle of the handcuffs. Never mind.

They're all safe. I know where they keep them."

"Ratman," said the captain, "you have a very poor idea of humour. You have made me blot my letter, and I shall have to write it over again."

"Take your time, old boy. No hurry. I shall not be going away for six months or so."

Captain Oliphant came to the conclusion he had better finish the letter with the blot than attempt a new one. Having done so, he put it in his pocket, and turned with a good show of coolness to his guest.

"When do we run down to Maxfield?" inquired the latter.

"Not for some time. There is illness in the house. You must wait."

"Oh, I don't mind if you don't. Who is the invalid? Young Croesus?"

"Yes--dangerously ill. I expect every day to hear that it is all over."

Ratman laughed.

"Order two suits of black while you're about it. But, Teddy, my boy, doesn't it strike you you'd be more usefully employed down there than here? It seems unfeeling of a guardian to be enjoying himself in town while his ward is _in extremis_ at home, doesn't it? Who is nursing him?"

"My daughter, chiefly."

Ratman laughed coa.r.s.ely.

"Ho, ho, clever Teddy! You've left a deputy to look after your interests, have you? Poor boy--no wonder you expect news of him!"

Captain Oliphant, crimson and trembling, rose to his feet.

"Ratman!" muttered he between his teeth, "I may be all you take me for-- but don't talk of my daughter. She--she,"--and he almost choked at the word--"she is as good as I--and you--are black. Talk about me if you like--but forget that I have children of my own."

"My dear boy, you are quite amusing. I will make a point of forgetting the interesting fact. So the boy is being well looked after?"

"Too well," replied the captain, pulling himself together after his last outbreak. "The doctor is daft about him; and besides him, as I told you, there is the tutor."