"Come right up, Steve!" he called.
Stephen came. His uncle ushered him into the room, closed the door, and turned the key.
"Stevie," he said, kindly, "I"m glad to see you. Take off your things and set down."
The boy accepted the invitation only to the extent of throwing his hat on the table. He did not sit or remove his overcoat. He was pale, his eyes were swollen and red, his hair was disarranged, and in all respects he looked unlike his usual blase and immaculate self. His forehead was wet, showing that he had hurried on his way to the boarding house.
The captain regarded him pityingly.
"Set down, Stevie," he urged. "You"re all het up and worn out."
His nephew paid no attention. Instead he asked a question.
"You know about it?" he demanded.
"Yes, Stevie; I know."
"You do? I--I mean about the--the Akrae Company and--and all?"
"Yes. I know all about all of it. Do set down!"
Stephen struck his closed fist into the palm of his other hand. He wore one glove. What had become of the other he could not have told.
"You do?" he shouted. "You do? By gad! Then do you know what it means?"
"Yes, I know that, too. Now, Stevie, be a good boy and set down and keep cool. Yes, I want you to."
He put his hands on his nephew"s shoulders and forced him into a chair.
"Now, just calm yourself," urged the captain. "There ain"t a mite of use workin" yourself up this way. I know the whole business, and I can"t tell you--I can"t begin to tell you how sorry I feel for you. Yet you mustn"t give up the ship because--"
"Mustn"t give up!" Stephen was on his feet again. "Why, what are you talking about? I thought you said you knew! Do you think that losing every cent you"ve got in the world is a _joke_? Do you think that--See here, do you know who this shareholder is; this fellow who"s going to rob us of all we own? Who is he?"
"Didn"t Mr. Sylvester tell you?"
"He said that there was such a man and that he had the estate cinched.
He told us about that note and all the rest. But he wouldn"t tell the man"s name. Said he had been forbidden to mention it. Do you know him?
What sort of fellow is he? Don"t you think he could be reasoned with?
Hasn"t he got any decency--or pity--or--"
He choked, and the tears rushed to his eyes. He wiped them angrily away with the back of his glove.
"It"s a crime!" he cried. "Can"t he be held off somehow? Who _is_ he? I want to know his name."
Captain Elisha sadly shook his head. "I"m afraid he can"t, Stevie," he said. "He"s got a legal right to all "Bije left, and more, too. It may be he won"t be too hard; perhaps he"ll ... but there," hastily. "I mustn"t say that. We"ve got to face the situation as "tis. And I can"t tell you his name because he don"t want it mentioned unless it"s absolutely necessary. And we don"t, either. We don"t want--any of us--to have this get into the papers. We mustn"t have any disgrace."
"Disgrace! Good heavens! Isn"t there disgrace enough already? Isn"t it enough to know father was a crook as well as an idiot? I"ve always thought he was insane ever since that crazy will of his came to light; but to steal! and then to leave a paper proving it, so that we"ve got to lose everything! His children! It"s--"
"Now hold on, boy! Your dad didn"t mean to take what didn"t belong to him--for good, that is; the note proves that. He did do wrong and used another man"s money, but--"
"Then why didn"t he keep it? If you"re going to steal, steal like a man, I say!"
"Steve, Steve! steady now!" The captain"s tone was sterner. "Don"t speak that way. You"ll be sorry for it later. I tell you I don"t condemn your father ha"f so much as I pity him."
"Oh, shut up! You make me sick. You talk just as Caro does. I"ll never forgive him, no matter how much she preaches, and I told her so. Pity!
Pity him! How about pity for _me_? I--I--"
His over-wrought nerves gave way, and, throwing himself into the chair, he broke down completely and, forgetting the manhood of which he was so fond of boasting, cried like a baby. Captain Elisha turned away, to hide his own emotion.
"It"s hard," he said slowly. "It"s awfully hard for you, my boy. I hate to see you suffer this way." Then, in a lower tone, he added doubtfully.
"I wonder if--if--I wonder--"
His nephew heard the word and interrupted.
"You wonder?" he demanded, hysterically; "you wonder what? What are you going to do about it? It"s up to you, isn"t it? You"re our guardian, aren"t you?"
"Yes, Stevie, I"m your guardian."
"Yes, you are! But no one would guess it. When we didn"t want you, you wouldn"t leave us for a minute. Now, when we need you, when there isn"t a soul for us to turn to, you stay away. You haven"t been near us. It"s up to you, I say! and what are you going to do about it? What are you going to _do_?"
His uncle held up his hand.
"S-shh!" he said. "Don"t raise your voice like that, son! I can hear you without that, and we don"t want anybody else to hear. What am I goin" to do? Stevie, I don"t know exactly. I ain"t made up my mind yet."
"Well, it"s time you did!"
"Yes, I guess likely "tis. As for my not comin" to see you, you know the reason for that. I"d have come quick enough, but I wa"n"t sure I"d be welcome. And I told your sister only "tother day that--by the way, Steve, how is she? How is Caroline?"
"She"s a fool!" The boy sprang up again and shook his fist. "She"s the one I"ve come here to speak about. If we don"t stop her she"ll ruin us altogether. She--she"s a d.a.m.ned fool, I tell you!"
"There! there!" the captain"s tone was sharp and emphatic. "That"s enough of that," he said. "I don"t want to hear you call your sister names. What do you mean by it?"
"I mean what I say. She _is_ a fool. Do you know what she"s done? She"s written Mal Dunn all about it! I"d have stopped her, but I didn"t know until it was too late. She"s told him the whole thing."
"She has? About "Bije?"
"Well, perhaps she didn"t tell him father was a thief, but she did tell that the estate was gone--that we were flat broke and worse."
"Hum!" Captain Elisha seemed more gratified than displeased. "Hum!...
Well, I kind of expected she would. Knowin" her, I kind of expected it."
"You did?" Stephen glared in wrathful amazement. "You expected it?"
"Yes. What of it?"
"What _of_ it? Why, everything! Can"t you see? Mal"s our only chance. If she marries him she"ll be looked out for and so will I. She needn"t have told him until they were married. The wedding could have been hurried along; the Dunns were crazy to have it as soon as possible. Now--"
"Hold on, Steve! Belay! What difference does her tellin" him make? Maybe she hasn"t mentioned it to you, but I had a talk with your sister the other mornin". She thinks the world of Malcolm, and he does of her. She told me so herself. Of _course_ she"d go to him in her trouble. And he"ll be proud--yes, and glad to know that he can help her. As for the weddin", I don"t see that this"ll have any effect except to hurry it up a little more, maybe."