"No--not right away, father--we"ll talk of that later." He was still in the dark as to how it had come about. All he knew was that for the first time in all his life his father had asked his pardon, and for the first time in his life the barrier which held them apart had been broken down.
The colonel braced himself in his seat in one supreme effort to get himself in hand. One of his boasts was that he had never lost his self-control. Harry rose to his feet and stood beside him. St. George, trembling from his own weakness, a great throb of thankfulness in his heart, had kept his place in his chair, his eyes turned away from the scene. His own mind had also undergone a change. He had always known that somewhere down in Talbot Rutter"s heart--down underneath the strata of pride and love of power, there could be found the heart of a father--indeed he had often predicted to himself just such a coming together. It was the boy"s pluck and manliness that had done it; a manliness free from all truckling or cringing. And then his tenderness over the man who had of all others in the world wronged him most! He could hardly keep his glad hands off the boy.
"You will go home with me, of course, won"t you, Harry?" He must ask his consent now--this son of his whom he had driven from his home and insulted in the presence of his friends at the club, and whom he could see was now absolutely independent of him--and what was more to the point absolutely his own master.
"Yes, of course, I"ll go home with you, father," came the respectful answer, "if mother isn"t coming in. Did she or Alec say anything to you about it before you left?"
"No, she isn"t coming in to-day--I wouldn"t let her. It was too early when I started. But that"s not what I mean," he went on with increasing excitement. "I want you to go home with me and stay forever; I want to forget the past; I want St. George to hear me say so! Come and take your place at the head of the estate--I will have Gorsuch arrange the papers to-morrow. You and St. George must go back with me to-day. I have the large carryall--Matthew is with me--he stopped at the corner--he"s there now."
"That"s very kind of you, father," Harry rejoined calmly, concealing as best he could his disappointment at not being able to see his mother.
"Yes! of course you will go with me," his father continued in nervous, jerky tones. "Please send the servant for Matthew, my coachman, and have him drive up. As for you, St. George, you can"t stay here another hour.
How you ever got here is more than I can understand. Moorlands is the place for you both--you"ll get well there. My carriage is a very easy one. Perhaps I had better go for Matthew myself."
"No, don"t move, Talbot," rejoined St. George in a calm firm voice wondering at Talbot"s manner. He had never seen him like this. All his old-time measured talk and manner were gone; he was like some breathless, hunted man pleading for his life. "I"m very grateful to you but I shall stay here. Harry, will you kindly go for Matthew?"
"Stay here!--for how long?" cried the colonel in astonishment, his glance following Harry as he left the room in obedience to his uncle"s request.
"Well, perhaps for the balance of the winter."
"In this hole?" His voice had grown stronger.
"Certainly, why not?" replied St. George simply, moving his chair so that his guest might see him the better. "My servants are taking care of me. I can pay my way here, and it"s about the only place in which I can pay it, and I want to tell you frankly, Talbot, that I am very happy to be here--am very glad, really, to get such a place. No one could be more devoted than my Todd and Jemima--I shall never forget their kindness."
"But you"re not a pauper?" cried the colonel in some heat.
"That was what you were once good enough to call me--the last time we met. The only change is that then I owed Pawson and that now I owe Todd," he replied, trying to repress a smile, as if the humor of the situation would overcome him if he was not careful. "Thank you very much, Talbot--and I mean every word of it--but I"ll stay where I am, at least for the present."
"But the bank is on its legs again," rebounded the colonel, ignoring all reference to the past, his voice gaining in volume.
"So am I," laughed St. George, tapping his lean thighs with his transparent fingers--"on a very shaky pair of legs--so shaky that I shall have to go to bed again pretty soon."
"But you"re coming out all right, St. George!" Rutter had squared himself in his chair and was now looking straight at his host. "Gorsuch has written you half a dozen letters about it and not a word from you in reply. Now I see why. But all that will come out in time, I tell you.
You"re not going to stay here for an hour longer." His old personality was beginning to a.s.sert itself.
"The future doesn"t interest me, Talbot," smiled St. George in perfect good humor. "In my experience my future has always been worse than my past."
"But that is no reason why you shouldn"t go home with me now and let us take care of you," Rutter cried in a still more positive tone. "Annie will be delighted. Stay a month with me--stay a year. After what I owe you, St. George, there"s nothing I wouldn"t do for you."
"You have already done it, Talbot--every obligation is wiped out,"
rejoined St. George in a satisfied tone.
"How?"
"By coming here and asking Harry"s pardon--that is more to me than all the things I have ever possessed," and his voice broke as he thought of the change that had taken place in Harry"s fortunes in the last half hour.
"Then come out to Moorlands and let me prove it!" exclaimed the colonel, leaning forward in his eagerness and grasping St. George by the sleeve.
"No," replied St. George in appreciative but positive tones--showing his mind was fully made up. "If I go anywhere I"ll go back to my house on Kennedy Square--that is to the little of it that is still mine. I"ll stay there for a day or two, to please Harry--or until they turn me out again, and then I"ll come back here. Change of air may do me good, and besides, Jemima and Todd should get a rest."
The colonel rose to his feet: "You shall do no such thing!" he exploded.
The old dominating air was in full swing now. "I tell you you WILL come with me! d.a.m.n you, St. George!--if you don"t I"ll never speak to you again, so help me, G.o.d!"
St. George threw back his head and burst into a roar of laughter in which, after a moment of angry hesitation, Rutter joined. Then he reached down and with his hand on St. George"s shoulder, said in a coaxing tone--"Come along to Moorlands, old fellow--I"d be so glad to have you, and so will Annie, and we"ll live over the old days."
Harry"s re-entrance cut short the answer.
"No father," he cried cheerily, taking up the refrain. He had seen the friendly caress and had heard the last sentence. "Uncle George is still too ill, and too weak for so long a drive. It"s only the excitement over my return that keeps him up now--and he"ll collapse if we don"t look out--but he"ll collapse in a better place than this!" he added with joyous emphasis. "Todd is outside, the hack is at the gate, and Jemima is now waiting for him in his old room at home. Give me your arm, you blessed old cripple, and let me help you downstairs. Out of the way, father, or he"ll change his mind and I"ll have to pick him up bodily and carry him."
St. George shot a merry glance at Harry from under his eyebrows, and with a wave of his hand and a deprecating shake of his head at the colonel said:
"These rovers and freebooters, Talbot, have so lorded it over their serfs that they"ve lost all respect for their betters. Give me your hand, you vagabond, and if you break my neck I"ll make you bury me."
The colonel looked on silently and a sharp pain gripped his throat.
When, in all his life, had he ever been spoken to by his boy in that spirit, and when in all his life had he ever seen that same tenderness in Harry"s eyes? What had he not missed?
"Harry, may I make a suggestion?" he asked almost apologetically. The young fellow turned his head in respectful attention: "Put St. George in my carriage--it is much more comfortable--and let me drive him home--my eyes are quite good in the daytime, after I get used to the light, and I am still able to take the road. Then put your servant and mine in the hack with St. George"s and your own luggage."
"Capital idea!" cried Harry enthusiastically "I never thought of it!
Attention company! Eyes to the front, Mr. Temple! You"ll now remain on waiting orders until I give you permission to move, and as this may take some time--please hold on to him, father, until I get his chair" (they were already out on the landing--on the very plank where Harry had pa.s.sed the night) "you"ll go back to your quarters... Here sir, these are your quarters," and Harry dragged the chair into position with his foot. "Down with you... that"s it... and you will stay here until the baggage and hospital train arrives, when you"ll occupy a front seat in the van--and there will be no grumbling or lagging behind of any kind, remember, or you"ll get ten days in the calaboose!"
Pawson was on the curbstone, his face shining, his semaph.o.r.e arms and legs in action, his eyes searching the distance, when the two vehicles came in sight. He had heard the day boat was very late, and as there had been a heavy fog over night, did not worry about the delay in their arrival.
What troubled him more was the change in Mr. Temple"s appearance. He had gone away ruddy, erect, full of vigor and health, and here he was being helped out of the carriage, pale, shriveled, his eyes deep set in his head. His voice, though, was still strong if his legs were shaky, and there seemed also to be no diminution in the flow of his spirits. Wesley had kept that part of him intact whatever changes the climate had made.
"Ah, Pawson--glad to see you!" the invalid called gaily extending his hand as soon as he stood erect on the sidewalk. "Back again, you see--these old derelicts bob up once in a while when you least expect them." And he wrung his hand heartily. "So the vultures, it seems, have not turned up yet and made their roost in my nest. Most kind of you to stay home and give up your business to meet me! You know Colonel Talbot Rutter, of Moorlands, I presume, and Mr. Harry Rutter--Of course you do!
Harry has told me all about your midnight meeting when you took him for a constable, and he took you for a thief. No--please don"t laugh, Pawson--Mr. Rutter is the worst kind of a thief. Not only has he stolen my heart because of his goodness to me, but he threatens to make off with my body. Give me your hand, Todd. Now a little lift on that rickety elbow and I reckon we can make that flight of steps. I have come down them so many times of late with no expectation of ever mounting them again that it will be a novelty to be sure of staying over night. Come in, Talbot, and see the home of my ancestors. I am sorry the Black Warrior is all gone--I sent Kennedy the last bottle some time ago--pity that vintage didn"t last forever. Do you know, Talbot, if I had my way, I"d have a special spigot put in the City Spring labelled "Gift of a once prominent citizen," and supply the inhabitants with 1810--something fit for a gentleman to drink."
They were all laughing now; the colonel carrying the pillows Todd had tucked behind the invalid"s back, Harry a few toilet articles wrapped in paper, and Matthew his cane--and so the cortege crawled up the steps, crossed the dismantled dining-room--the colonel aghast at the change made in its interior since last he saw it--and so on to St. George"s room where Todd and Jemima put him to bed.
His uncle taken care of--(his father had kept on to Moorlands to tell his mother the good news)--Harry mounted the stairs to his old room, which Pawson had generously vacated.
The appointments were about the same as when he left; time and poverty had wrought but few changes. Pawson, had moved in a few books and there was a night table beside the small bed with a lamp on it, showing that he read late; but the bureau and shabby arm-chair, and the closet, stripped now of the young attorney"s clothes to make room for the wanderer"s--(a scant, sorry lot)--were pretty much the same as Harry had found on that eventful night when he had driven in through the rain and storm beside his Uncle George, his father"s anathemas ringing in his ears.
Unconsciously his mind went back to the events of the day;--more especially to his uncle"s wonderful vitality and the blissful change his own home-coming had wrought not only in his physique, but in his spirits. Then his father"s shattered form, haggard face, and uncertain glance rose before him, and with it came the recollection of all that had happened during the previous hours: his father"s brutal outburst in the small office and the marvellous effect produced upon him when he learned the truth from Alec"s lips; his hurried departure in the gray dawn for the ship and his tracing him to Jemima"s house. More amazing still was his present bearing toward himself and St. George; his deference to their wishes and his willingness to follow and not lead.
Was it his ill-health that had brought about this astounding reformation in a man who brooked no opposition?--or had his heart really softened toward him so that from this on he could again call him father in the full meaning of the term? At this a sudden, acute pain wrenched his heart. Perhaps he had not been glad enough to see him--perhaps in his anxiety over his uncle he had failed in those little tendernesses which a returned prodigal should have shown the father who had held out his arms and asked his forgiveness. Why was he not more affected by the sight of his suffering. When he first saw his uncle he had not been able to keep the tears back--and yet his eyes were dry enough when he saw his father. At this he fell to wondering as to the present condition of the colonel"s mind. What was he thinking of in that lonely drive. He must be nearing Moorlands by this time and Alec would meet him, and later the dear mother--and the whole story would be told. He could see her glad face--her eyes streaming tears, her heart throbbing with the joy of his return.
And it is a great pity he could not have thus looked in upon the autocrat of Moorlands as he sat hunched up on the back seat of the carryall, his head bowed, the only spoken words being Matthew"s cheery hastening of his horses. And it is even a greater pity that the son could not have searched as well the secret places of the man"s heart: such clearings out of doubts and misgivings make for peace and good fellowship and righteousness in this world of misunderstanding.
That a certain rest had come into Rutter"s soul could be seen in his face--a peace that had not settled on his features for years--but, if the truth must be told, he was far from happy. Somehow the joy he had antic.i.p.ated at the boy"s home-coming had not been realized. With the warmth of Harry"s grasp still lingering in his own and the tones of his voice still sounding in his ears, try as he might, he yet felt aloof from him--outside--far off. Something had snapped in the years they had been apart--something he knew could never be repaired. Where there had once been boyish love there was now only filial regard. Down in his secret soul he felt it--down in his secret soul he knew it! Worse than that--another had replaced him! "Come, you dear old cripple!"--he could hear the voice and see the love and joy in the boy"s eyes as he shouted it out. Yes, St. George was his father now!
Then his mind reverted to his former treatment of his son and for the hundredth time he reviewed his side of the case. What else could he have done and still maintain the standards of his ancestors?--the universal question around Kennedy Square, when obligations of blood and training were to be considered. After all it had only been an object lesson; he had fully intended to forgive him later on. When Harry was a boy he punished him as boys were punished; when he became a man he punished him as men were punished. But for St. George the plan would long since have worked. St. George had balked him twice--once at the club and once at his home in Kennedy Square, when he practically ordered him from the house.
And yet he could not but admit--and at this he sat bolt upright in his seat--that even according to his own high standards both St. George and Harry had measured up to them! Rather than touch another penny of his uncle"s money Harry had become an exile; rather than accept a penny from his enemy, St. George had become a pauper. With this view of the case fermenting in his mind--and he had not realized the extent of both sacrifices until that moment--a feeling of pride swept through him.
It was HIS BOY and HIS FRIEND, who had measured up!--by suffering, by bodily weakness--by privation--by starvation! And both had manfully and cheerfully stood the test! It was the blood of the DeRuyters which had put courage into the boy; it was the blood of the cavaliers that had made Temple the man he was. And that old DeRuyter blood! How it had told in every glance of his son"s eyes and every intonation of his voice! If he had not acc.u.mulated a fortune he would--and that before many years were gone. But!--and here a chill went through him. Would not this still further separate them, and if it did how could he restore in the shortest possible time the old dependence and the old confidence? His efforts so far had met with almost a rebuff, for Harry had shown no particular pleasure when he told him of his intention to put him in charge of the estate: he had watched his face closely for a sign of satisfaction, but none had come. He had really seemed more interested in getting St. George downstairs than in being the fourth heir of Moorlands--indeed, it was very evident that he had no thought for anybody or anything except St. George.