When I returned from my morning stroll, I heard voices in the dining-room, and looked in to see how Kitty was. Well, she was--in brief, there was a scene going on. Miss Kitty, her cheeks crimson and her eyes bright, was standing with her back to the window; and facing her, half angry and half embarra.s.sed, was Jim. "Hoity, toity, you two!" I said, closing the door behind me. "These are early times for this kind of thing. What is up?"
"I"ll be hanged if I know, sir!" Jim answered, looking rather foolish.
"What have you got there, my dear?" I continued, for Kitty had one hand behind her, and I was not slow to connect this hand with the expression on her pretty face.
"He knows," she said, trembling with anger--the little vixen.
"I know nothing!" Jim returned sheepishly. "I came in, and when I--Kitty flew out and attacked me, don"t you see, sir?"
"Very well, my dear," I answered, "if you do not feel able to explain, Jim had better go. Only, if he goes now, of course I cannot say when he will come back."
"I will come back, Kitty, whenever you want me," said the young fool.
"Shut your mouth, sir," I shouted. "Now, Kitty, attend to me. What is it?"
"Ask him--to whom he gave his photograph at Frome!" she said, in a breathless sort of way.
"His photograph? Why, that is just what we were talking about yesterday," I replied sharply. "I thought it did not interest you, my girl, when I told you all about it last night."
"That photograph!"--with withering contempt--"I do not mean _that!_ Do you think I suspect him of _that?_" She stepped forward as though to go to him, and her face altered wonderfully. Then she recollected herself and fell back. "No," she said coldly, "to what woman, sir, did you give your photograph at Frome?"
"To no woman at all," he said emphatically.
"Then look at this!" she retorted. She held out as she spoke a photograph, which I identified at once as the portrait we had seen at Gold"s, or a copy of that one. I s.n.a.t.c.hed it from Jim. "Where did you get this, my girl?" I asked briskly.
"It came this morning--with another letter from that woman," she murmured.
I think she began to feel ashamed of herself; and in two minutes I got the letter from her. It was written by the same hand as the letter of the day before, and was, like it, unsigned. It merely said that the writer, in proof of her good faith, enclosed a photograph which Master Jim--that gay Lothario!--had given her. We were still looking at the letter, when the Colonel came in. I explained the matter to him, and I will answer for it, before he understood it, Kitty was more ashamed of herself than ever.
"This photograph and the one at Gold"s are facsimiles," said he thoughtfully. "That is certain. And both come from Frome. Doesn"t it seem probable that the gentleman who obtained Jim"s photograph for his own purpose last year--to send to Gold--printed off more than one copy? And having this one by him, and wishing to cause mischief between Kitty and Jim, thought of this and used it? The sender is, therefore, some one who pa.s.sed his examination last year and is still at Frome."
Jim shook his head.
"If he pa.s.sed, sir, he would not be at Bulcher"s now," he said.
"On second thoughts he may not be," the Colonel replied. "He may have sent the two letters to Frome to a confidential friend with orders to post them. Wait--wait a minute," my old chum added, looking at me with a new light in his eyes. "Where have I seen a letter addressed to Frome--within the last day or two? Eh? Wait a bit."
We did wait; and presently the Colonel announced his discovery in a grim voice.
"I have it," he said. "It is that scoundrel, Farquhar!"
"Farquhar!" I said. "What do you mean, Colonel?"
"Just that, Major, just that. Do you remember him knocking against you in the hall at the club the day before yesterday? He dropped a letter, and I picked it up. It was addressed--I could not help seeing so much--to Frome."
"Well," Jim said slowly, "he was at Bulcher"s, and he pa.s.sed last year."
"And the letter," continued the Colonel in his turn, "was in a large envelope--an envelope large enough to contain a cabinet photograph."
There was silence in the room. Kitty"s face was hidden. Jim moved at last--towards her? No, towards the door. He had his hand on it when the Colonel observed him.
"Stop!" he said sharply. "Come back, my boy. None of that. The Major and I will deal with him."
Jim lingered with his hand on the door.
"Well, sir," he said, "I will only----"
"Come back!" roared the Colonel, but with a smile in his eyes as he looked at his boy. "You will stop here, you lucky dog, you. And I hope this will be a lesson to you not to give your photograph to young ladies at Frome!"
If Kitty squirmed a little at that, she deserved it. I said before that a woman"s faith is a wonderful thing. But when there is another woman in the case--umph!
"Mr. Farquhar, sir? Yes, sir, he is in the house," the club porter said, turning in his gla.s.s case to consult his book. "I believe he went upstairs to the drawing-room, sir."
"Thank you," the Colonel replied, and he glanced at me and I at him; and then, fixing our hats on tightly, and grasping our sticks, we went upstairs.
We were in luck, as it turned out, for not only was Farquhar in the drawing-room, but there was no one else in the long, stiff, splendid room. He looked up from his writing, and saw us piloting our way towards him between the chairs and tables. And I think he turned green. At any rate, my last doubt left me at the sight of his face.
"A word with you, Mr. Farquhar," the Colonel said grimly, keeping a tight hand on my arm, for I confess I had been in favour of more drastic measures. "It is about a photograph."
"A photograph?" the startled wretch exclaimed, his mouth ajar.
"Well, perhaps I should have said two photographs," the Colonel replied gravely; "photographs of my son which are lying, one in the possession of Major Bratton, and one in the alb.u.m of a friend of yours, Mr. Isaac Gold."
He tried to frame the words, "A friend of mine!" and to feign astonishment and stare us down. But it was a pitiable attempt, and his eyes sank. He could only mutter, "I do not know--any Gold. There is some mistake."
"Perhaps so," the Colonel answered smoothly. "I hope there is some mistake. But let me tell you this, Mr. Farquhar. Unless you apply within a week for leave to resign your commission, I shall lay certain facts concerning these photographs before the Commander-in-Chief and before the mess of your regiment. You understand me, I am sure. Very well. That is all I wish to say to you."
Apparently he had nothing to say to us in return. And we were both glad to turn our backs on that baffled, spiteful face, in which the horror of discovery strove with the fear of ruin. It is ill striking a man when he is down, and I was glad to get out of the house and breathe a purer air.
We had no need to go to the Commander-in-Chief. Lieutenant Farquhar applied for leave to resign within the week, and Her Majesty obtained, I think, a better bargain in Private Isaac Gold, who, following the Colonel"s advice, enlisted about this time. He is already a corporal, and, aided by an education rare in the ranks, bids fair to earn a sergeant"s stripes at an early date. He has turned over a new leaf--the Colonel always maintained that he had a keen sense of honour; and I feel little doubt that if he ever has the luck to rise to Farquhar"s grade, and bear the Queen"s commission, he will be a credit to it and to his friend and brother officer--the Colonel"s boy.
Not, mind you, that I think he will ever be as good a fellow as Jim!
No, no.
A GOOD MAN"S DILEMMA
A GOOD MAN"S DILEMMA