The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly Part 90

"No. It was under the fresco, in a pedestal. I 'd engage to make it good for thirty s.h.i.+llings," broke in Cutbill.

"Well, we 'll not dispute that The essential point is that Pracontal's scruples would not permit him to proceed to an act of depredation, but that Cutbill had more resolution. He wanted to determine the fact."

"Say that he wanted to win his money, and you 'll be nearer the mark,"

interposed Cutbill.

"Whichever way we take it, it amounts to this: Pracontal would not be a housebreaker, and Cutbill had no objection to become one. I cannot give you the details of the infraction--perhaps _he_ will."

Cutbill only grunted, and the other went on--"However he obtained entrance, he made his way to the place indicated, smashed the wall, and dragged forth a box with four or five thick volumes, which turned out to be the parish registries of Portshandon for a very eventful period, at least a very critical one for us; for, if the discovery loses Mr.

Cutbill his fifty pounds, it places the whole estate in jeopardy."

"That's the worst of it," cried Cutbill. "My confounded meddling has done it all."

"When my lawyer came to hear what had occurred, and how, he lost no time in taking measures to proceed against Cutbill for a felony; but Master C. had got away, and was already hiding in Germany, and our meeting on the steamboat here was a mere hazard. He was bound for--where was it, Cutbill?"

"Albania. I want to see the salt mines. There 's something to be done there now that the Turks are not sure they 'll own the country this time twelvemonth."

"At all events, it 's better air than Newgate," said Jack.

"As you politely observe, sir, it's better air than Newgate. By the way, you've been doing a little stroke of work as a jailbird, latterly; is it jolly?"

"No; it ain't exactly jolly; it's too monotonous for that. And then the diet."

"Ah, there's the rub! It's the skilly, it's the four-ounce system, I 'm afraid of. Make it a good daily regimen, and I 'll not quarrel with the mere confinement, nor ask for any extension of the time allotted to exercise."

"I must say," said Jack, "that, for a very acute and ingenious gentleman, this same piece of burglary was about one of the stupidest performances I ever heard of."

"Not so fast, admiral, not so fast. I stood on a double event. I had lent Pracontal a few hundreds, to be repaid by as many thousands if he established his claim. I began to repent of my investment, and my bet was a hedge. Do you see, old fellow, if there were no books, I pocketed a hundred and fifty. If the books turned up, I stood to win on the trial. You may perceive that Tom Cutbill sleeps like a weazel, and has always one eye open."

"Was it a very friendly part, then, to lend a man money to prosecute a claim against your own friend?" asked Jack.

"Lord love ye, I'd do that against my brother. The man of business and the desk is one thing, the man of human feelings and affections is another. If a man follows any pursuit worth the name of a pursuit, the ardor to succeed in it will soon swamp his scruples; aye, and not leave him one jot the worse for it. Listen to me a minute. Did you ever practise fly-fis.h.i.+ng? Well, can you deny it is in principle as ign.o.ble a thing as ever was called sport? It begins in a fraud, and it finishes with a cruelty; and will you tell me that your moral nature, or any grand thing that you fancy dignifies you, was impaired or stained when you landed that eight-pound trout on the gra.s.s?"

"You forget that men are not trout, Master Cutbill."

"There are a good number of them gudgeons, I am happy to say," cried he. "Give me a light for my cigar, for I am sick of discussion. Strange old tumble-down place this--might all be got for a song, I 'd swear.

What a grand speck it would be to start a company to make a watering place of it: 'The Baths of Cattaro, celebrated in the time of Diocletian'--eh? Jack, does n't your mouth water at the thought of 'preliminary expenses'?"

"I can't say it does. I've been living among robbers lately, and I found them very dull company."

"The sailor is rude; his manners smack of the c.o.c.kpit," said Cutbill, nudging Augustus in the side. "Oh, dear, how I 'd like a commission to knock this old town into a bathing machine."

"You'll have ample time to mature your project up at the villa. There, you see it yonder."

"And is that the British flag I see waving there? Wait a moment till I master my emotion, and subdue the swelling feelings of my breast."

"I 'll tell you what, Master Cutbill," said Jack, sternly, "if you utter any stupid rubbish against the Union Jack, I'll be shot if I don't drop you over the sea-wall for a ducking; and, what's more, I 'll not apologize to you when you come out."

"Outrage the second. The naval service is not what I remember it."

"Here come the girls," said Augustus. "I hear Julia's merry laugh in the wood."

"The L'Estrange girl, isn't it?" asked Cutbill; and though Jack started and turned almost as if to seize him, he never noticed the movement.

"Miss L'Estrange," said Augustus Bramleigh.

"Why didn't you say she was here, and I'd not have made any 'bones'

about stopping? I don't know I was ever as spooney as I was about that girl up at Albano. And did n't I work like a negro to get back her two thousand pounds out of that precious coal mine? Aye, and succeeded too.

I hope she knows it was Tom Cutbill saved the s.h.i.+p. Maybe she 'll think I 've come to claim salvage."

"She has heard of all your good-nature, and is very grateful to you,"

said Gusty.

"That's right; that's as it ought to be. Doing good by stealth always strikes me as savoring of a secret society. It's Thuggee, or Fenian, or any other dark a.s.sociation you like."

"I'll go forward and meet them, if you'll permit me," said Augustus, and, not waiting a reply, hurried on towards the wood.

"Look here, Master Jack," said Cutbill, stopping short and facing round in front of him. "If you mean as a practice to sit upon me, every occasion that arises, just please to say so."

"Nothing of the kind, man; if I did, I promise you once would be quite enough."

"Oh, that's it, is it?"

"Yes, that's it."

"Shake hands, then, and let us have no more squabbling. If you ever find me getting into shoal-water, and likely to touch a sandbank, just call out 'Stop her!' and you 'll see how I 'll reverse my engine at once. It's not in my line, the locomotives, but I _could_ drive if I was put to it, and I know well every good lesson a man acquires from the practice."

"What do you think of this cause of ours, Cutty; how does it look to your eyes?"

"Just as dark as thunder! Why you go to trial at all next term I can't make out. Pracontal's case is clear as noonday. There's the proof of the marriage,--as legal a marriage as if an archbishop celebrated it,--and there 's the registry of birth, and there is, to confirm all, old Bramleigh's letters. If you push on after such a show of danger signals as these, it is because you must like a smash."

"You'd strike, then, without firing a shot?"

"To be sure I would, if it was only to save the expense of the powder; besides, Pracontal has already declared, that if met by an amicable spirit on your brother's part, there are no terms he would not accede to, to secure recognition by your family, and acceptance as one of you."

"I 'm sure I don't see why he should care for it."

"Nor I, for the matter of that. If there's a lot in life I 'd call enviable, it would be to be born in a foundling hospital, and inherit ten thousand a year. A landed estate, and no relations, comes nearer to my ideas of Paradise than anything in Milton's poems."

"Here they come," cried Jack, as a merry group issued from the road, and came joyously forward to meet them.

"Here's this good fellow Tom Cutbill come to spend some days with us,"

said Jack, as the girls advanced to greet him.

"Is n't it kind of him?" said Cutbill; "is n't it like that disinterested good-nature that always marks him? Of course I'm heartily welcome! how could it be otherwise? Miss Bramleigh, you do me proud.

Miss Julia, your slave. Ah, your reverence! let's have a shake of your devout paw. Now I call this as pleasant a place for a man to go through his sentence of transportation as need be. Do the ladies know what I'm charged with?"

"They know nothing, they desire to know nothing," said Augustus. "When we have dined and had our coffee, you shall make your own confession; and that only if you like it, and wish to disburden your conscience."