"He went home by train this morning. I sat in his place all the time, not at the back."
He paused thoughtfully. An idea that had been dimly forming in his brain, took alarming shape. A small companion at the Union had lately been sent out as a page to a kindly family. Christopher wondered if that was the meaning of all these strange adventures for him. At the same time he was conscious of so vast a sense of disappointment that he was compelled to put his Fate to the test at once. He jerked out the inquiry with breathless abruptness.
"Am I going to be your page?"
"Page?" Aymer Aston echoed the words with consternation; then held out his hand to the child.
"Didn"t my father tell you?" he asked.
A kind of nervous exasperation seized on Christopher. He was tired, overwrought, puzzled and baffled.
"No one tells me anything," he said petulantly, blinking hard to keep back the tears; "they just took me."
"Do you want to be a page boy?"
"No." It was emphatic to the point of rudeness.
Aymer put his arm round him and drew him near, laughing.
"You are not going to be a page," he said, "you are going to be"--he hesitated--"to be my own boy--just as if you were my son. I"ve adopted you."
"Why?"
Christopher"s dark eyes were fixed on the blue ones and then he saw the scar for the first time. It interested him so much he hardly heard Aymer"s slow answer when it came.
"I have a great deal of time on my hands, and I should have liked a son of my own. As I can"t have that I"ve adopted you. Don"t you think you can like me?"
Christopher looked round the room and back at the sofa. The voice was kind and the arm that was round him gripped him firmly; also, Mr.
Aston had said he lived here too. That was rea.s.suring. He was not quite certain how he felt towards this strangely fascinating man, but he was quite sure of his sentiments towards Mr. Aston.
"Mr. Aston lives here, doesn"t he?"
"Yes; do you like him best?"
"I like him very much," said Christopher truthfully, and added considerately, "You see, I"ve known him longer, haven"t I?"
"You must like me too."
Christopher was too young to read the pa.s.sionate hunger in the voice and the look. It was gone in a moment.
Aymer released him, laughing.
"Is there anyone else?" asked the boy, looking vaguely round.
"Anyone else living here? Only the servants."
"I don"t mean that." A puzzled look came into his face. "I mean--there was Mrs. Moss and Grannie Jane, and Mrs. Sartin and Jessy and mother."
Then he recollected Mr. Aston"s prohibition and got red and embarra.s.sed.
"You mean--a woman," said Aymer in a strangely quiet voice.
Christopher noticed the scar again, clear and distinct. Aymer took out a cigarette and lit it carefully. Christopher watched dumbly. He wanted to cry: for no reason that he could discover. Presently Aymer turned to him as he sat on a low chair by the side of the wide sofa and put his arm round him again.
"I"m sorry, little Christopher," he said rather huskily, perhaps because he was smoking, "but I"m afraid I can"t give you that, old chap. We only--remember them here."
The tired child yielded to the slight pressure of the arm--his head dropped against his new friend--the room was very quiet--only Mr.
Aymer must have been mistaken. It seemed to Christopher a thin black-clad woman was in the room--somewhere--she was looking at Aymer and would not see him at first--then she turned her head--he called "Mother," and opened his eyes to find Mr. Aymer bending over him.
When Mr. Aston had returned and found Aymer smoking composedly with one arm round the sleeping boy, he had pointed out with great care the enormity of a small child being out of bed at eleven o"clock.
Aymer put down his cigarette and looked at his charge.
"Vespasian did come for him," he confessed; "I thought it a pity to wake him till you came. It"s just as I feared," he added with a.s.sumed pathos, "you have had first innings and I shall have to take a second place."
"It"s only just that he got used to me: I hardly talked to him at all," pleaded Mr. Aston humbly, and Aymer laughed. Whereupon Christopher woke up, rubbing his eyes, and smiled sleepily at Mr.
Aston.
"I gave him the message, not just at once, but almost."
His first friend sat down and drew him to his knee.
"Well, what do you think of my big boy?" asked Mr. Aston. "I"ve been scolding him for not sending you to bed."
Christopher looked from one to the other with solemn eyes, blinking in the light.
"Scolding him? Isn"t he too big to be scolded?"
The men laughed and involuntarily glanced at each other in a curiously conscious manner.
"He does not think anyone too big to scold," sighed Aymer resignedly.
"Father, about the name: I"d rather tell him to-night." His voice was a little hurried. Mr. Aston glanced at him questioningly.
"As you like, Aymer--if he"s not too sleepy to listen. Are you, Christopher?"
"I"m not tired," answered Christopher, valiantly blinking sleep out of his eyes.
It was Aymer who spoke, slowly and directly. Mr. Aston kept his eyes on the boy and tried not to see his son.
"What is your real name, Christopher, do you know?"
"James Christopher Hibbault, but they calls me Jim, except him."
In his sleepiness and agitation the boy had dropped back into country dialect. Aymer winced.
"That is the only name you know? Well, Christopher, it"s a good name, but all the same I want you to forget it at present. I want you to call yourself always, Christopher Aston. Do you think you can remember?"
The newly-named one stood silent, puzzling out something in his mind.
"Will it make me not belong to mother?" he said at last.