"Poor Miss Ross! But why does she have him there?"
"Oh, it"s a long story--and here we are at the junction, and I"m not going on first to Amber Guiting--so there!"
Jan in the pony-cart was waiting outside when Meg came from the little station. Captain Middleton followed in her train, laden with parcels like a Father Christmas.
He packed her and the parcels in, covered both the ladies with the dust-holland, announced that he had bought a charger, and waited to get into the Manor motor till they had driven out of the station.
They neither of them spoke till they had turned into the road. Then Jan quoted softly: "When I go to see my poor little papa, I shall go by train _by myself_."
CHAPTER XXV
A DEMONSTRATION IN FORCE
Hugo was dissatisfied. So far, beyond a miserable ten pounds to buy some clothes, he had got no money out of Jan; and he was getting bored.
To be sure, he still had most of the ten pounds, for he had gone and ordered everything in the market-town, where the name of Ross was considered safe as the Bank of England. So he hadn"t paid for anything.
Then there was that fellow Ledgard--what did he want hanging about, pretending to fish? He was after Jan and her money, that was his game.
But however clear Peter Ledgard"s nefarious intentions might be, Hugo confessed his sister-in-law puzzled him. She wasn"t nearly as much afraid of him as he had expected. She was always gentle and courteous, but under the soft exterior he had occasionally felt a rock of determination, that was disconcerting.
He had ceased to harp upon the string of his desolation. Somehow Jan contrived to show him that she didn"t believe in it, and yet she never said one word to which he could take exception.
It was awkward that his own people were all of them so unsympathetic about the children. His father and mother declared themselves to be too old to undertake them unless Hugo could pay liberally for their board and for a thoroughly capable nurse. Neither of his sisters would entertain the idea at all; and both wrote pointing out that until Hugo was able to make a home for them himself, he would be most foolish to interfere with the arrangements of a devoted aunt who appeared not only willing but anxious to a.s.sume their entire maintenance.
He had told his people that his health forced him to relinquish his work in India. His brothers-in-law, although they had no idea of the real cause, thought there was something fishy about this, and were unsympathetic.
Peter got at the doctor, and the doctor declared sea-air to be the one thing necessary to insure Hugo"s complete restoration to health. Jan happened to mention that her brother-in-law"s people lived in Guernsey, close to the sh.o.r.e. The doctor said he couldn"t do better than go and stay with them, and that the journey wouldn"t hurt him a bit.
Still Hugo appeared reluctant to leave Wren"s End.
Peter came one day and demanded a business talk with him. It was a most unpleasant conversation. Peter declared on Jan"s behalf that she was quite ready to help him to some new start in life, but that if it meant a partnership in any rubber plantation, fruit-farm, or business of any sort whatsoever, the money required must be paid through her lawyer directly into the hands of the planter, farmer, or merchant concerned.
Hugo declared such an offer to be an insult. Peter replied that it was a great deal better than he deserved or could expect; and that he, personally, thought Miss Ross very silly to make it; but she did make it, and attached to its acceptance was a clause to the effect that until he could show he was in a position to maintain his family in comfort, he was to give their aunt an undertaking that he would not interfere with her arrangements for the welfare of the children.
"I see no reason," said Hugo, "why you should interfere between my sister-in-law and me, but, of course, any fool could see what you"re after. _You_ want her money, and when you"ve married her, I suppose my poor children are to be thrown out into the street, and me too far off to see after them."
"Up to now," Peter retorted, "you have shown no particular desire to "see after" your children. Why are you such a fool, Tancred? Why don"t you thankfully accept Miss Ross"s generous offer, and try to make a fresh start?"
"It"s no business of yours what I do."
"Certainly not, but your sister-in-law"s peace and happiness is my business, because I have the greatest admiration, respect and liking for her."
"_Les beaux yeux de sa ca.s.sette_," growled Hugo.
"You _are_ an a.s.s," Peter said wearily. "And you know very little of Miss Ross if you haven"t seen by this time ..." Peter stopped.
"Well, go on."
"No," said Peter, "I won"t go on, for it"s running my horses on a rock.
Think it over, that"s all. But remember the offer does not remain open indefinitely."
"Well, and if I choose to refuse it and go to law and _take_ my children--what then?"
"No court in England would give you their custody."
"Why not?"
"Because you couldn"t show means to support them, and we could produce witnesses to prove that you are not a fit person to have the custody of children."
"We should see about that."
"Well, think it over. It"s your affair, you know." And Peter went away, leaving Hugo to curse and bite his nails in impotent rage. Peter really was far from conciliatory.
Jan needed a fright, Hugo decided; that"s what she wanted to bring her to heel. And before very long he"d see that she got it. She shouldn"t shelter herself for ever behind that supercilious beast, Ledgard. Hugo was quite ready to have been pleasant to Jan and to have met her more than half-way if she was reasonable, but since she had chosen to bring Ledgard into it, she should pay. After all, she was only a woman, and you can always frighten a woman if you go the right way about it. It was d.a.m.ned bad luck that Ledgard should have turned up just now. It was Ledgard he"d got to thank that Fay had made that infamously unjust will by which she left the remnant of her money to her children and not to her husband. Oh yes! he"d a lot to thank Ledgard for. Well, he wouldn"t like it when Jan got hurt. Ledgard was odd about women. He couldn"t bear to see them worried; he couldn"t bear to see Fay worried, interfered then. A blank, blank, blank interfering chap, Ledgard was.
_What Jan needed was a real good scare._
They suggested Guernsey. Well, he"d go to Guernsey, and he wouldn"t go alone. Hugo thoroughly enjoyed a plot. The twilight world that had been so difficult and perplexing to poor Fay had for him a sort of exciting charm. Wren"s End had become dreadfully dull. For the first week or two, while he felt so ill, it had been restful. Now its regular hours and ordered tranquillity were getting on his nerves. All those portraits of his wife, too, worried him. He could go into no room where the lovely face, with youth"s wistful wonder as to what life held, did not confront him with a reminder that the wife he had left to die in Bombay did not look in the least like that.
There were few things in his life save miscalculation that he regretted.
But he did feel uncomfortable when he remembered Fay--so trustful always, so ready to help him in any difficulty. People liked her; even women liked her in spite of her good looks, and Hugo had found the world a hard, unfriendly place since her death.
The whole thing was getting on his nerves. It was time to shuffle the cards and have a new deal.
He packed his suit-case which had been so empty when he arrived, and waited for a day when Peter had taken Jan, Meg and the children for a motor run to a neighbouring town. He took care to see that Earley was duly busy in the kitchen garden, and the maids safely at the back of the house. Then he carried it to the lodge gate himself and waited for a pa.s.sing tradesman"s cart. Fortune favoured him; the butcher came up with (had Hugo known it) veal cutlets for Hugo"s own dinner. Hugo tipped the butcher and asked him to leave the suit-case at the station to be sent on as carted luggage to its address.
Next morning he learned that Tony was to go with Earley to fetch extra cream from Mr. Burgess" farm.
It was unfortunate that he couldn"t get any of Tony"s clothes without causing comment. He had tried the day before, but beyond a jersey and two little vests (which happened to be little Fay"s), he had been unable to find anything. Well, Jan would be glad enough to send Tony"s clothes when he let her know where they were to be sent. Tony had changed a good deal from the silent, solemn child he had disliked in India. He was franker and more talkative. Sometimes Hugo felt that the child wasn"t such a bad little chap, after all. But the very evident understanding between Jan and Tony filled Hugo with a dull sort of jealousy. He had never tried to win the child, but nevertheless he resented the fact that Tony"s att.i.tude to Jan and Meg was one of perfect trust and friendliness. He never looked at them with the strange judging, weighing look that Hugo hated so heartily.
He strolled into the drive and waited. Meg and Jan were busy in the day-nursery, making the little garments that were outgrown so fast.
Little Fay was playing on the Wren"s lawn and singing to herself:
The fox went out one moonlight night, And he played to the moon to give him light, For he had a long way to tlot that night Before he could leach his den-oh.
Hugo listened for a minute. What a clear voice the child had. He would like to have taken little Fay, but already he stood in wholesome awe of his daughter. She could use her thoroughly sound lungs for other purposes than song, and she hadn"t the smallest scruple about drawing universal attention to any grievance. Now Tony would never make a scene.
Hugo recognised and admired that quality in his queer little son. He did not know that Tony already ruled his little life by a categorical imperative of things a sahib must not do.
At the drive gate he met Earley carrying the can of cream, with Tony trotting by his side.
"I"m going into the village, Tony, and Auntie Jan says you may as well come with me for company. Will you come?"