"Did you, Bertram, did you? You oughtn"t to have done that. Though I can understand the temptation. But don"t waste this on fireworks."
"Oh no," said Bertram. "I"m going to buy Miss Moxley a parrot, because we lost hers."
"Are you, Bertram?" John exclaimed with some emotion. "That shows a fine spirit, my boy. I"m very pleased with you."
"Yes," said Bertram, "because then with what you gave V we"ll buy a monkey at the same time."
"Good heavens," cried John, turning pale. "A monkey?"
"That will be nice, won"t it, Uncle John?" Viola asked, tenderly.
But perhaps it would escape from an upper window like the parrot, John thought, before Christmas.
When the children had been sent upstairs and Mrs. Worfolk had gone back to Hampstead, John told his brother that he should not stop to dinner after all.
"Oh, all right," George said. "But I had something to talk over with you. Those confounded children put it clean out of my mind. I had a strange letter from Mama this week. It seems that Hugh has got into rather a nasty fix. She doesn"t say what it is, and I don"t know why she wrote to me of all people. But she"s evidently frightened about Hugh and asks me to approach you on his behalf."
"What on earth has he been doing now?" asked John, gloomily.
"I should think it was probably money," said George. "Well, I told you I"d had a lot of worry lately, and I _have_ been very worried about this news of Hugh. Very worried. I"m afraid it may be serious this time. But if I were you, old chap, I should refuse to do anything about it. Why should he come to you to get him out of a sc.r.a.pe? You"ve done enough for him, in my opinion. You mustn"t let people take advantage of your good nature, even if they are relations. I"m sorry my kids have been a bit of a nuisance, but, after all, they are still only kids, and Hugh isn"t.
He"s old enough to know better. Mama says something about the police, but that may only be Hugh"s bluff. I shouldn"t worry myself if I were you. It"s no good for us all to worry."
"I shall go and see Hugh at once," John decided. "You"re not keeping anything from me, George? He"s not actually under arrest?"
"Oh, no, you won"t have to visit any more police stations to-night,"
George promised. "Hugh is living with his friend, Aubrey Fenton, at 22 Carlington Road, West Kensington."
"I shall go there to-night," John declared.
He had almost reached the front door when George called him back.
"I"ve been trying to work out a riddle," he said, earnestly. "You know there"s a medicine called Easton"s Syrup? Well, I thought ... don"t be in such a hurry; you"ll muddle me up ... and I shall spoil it...."
"Try it on Major Downman," John advised, crossly, slamming the door of Halma House behind him. "Fatuous, that"s what George is, utterly fatuous," he a.s.sured himself as he hurried down the steps.
CHAPTER VIII
John decided to walk from Earl"s Court to West Kensington. Being still in complete ignorance of what Hugh had done, he had a presentiment that this time it was something really grave, and he was now beginning to believe that George knew how grave it was. Perhaps his decision to go on foot was not altogether wise, for he was tired out by a convulsive day, and he had never experienced before such a fathomless sinking of the stomach on the verge of being mixed up in a disagreeable family complication, which was prolonged by the opportunity that the walk afforded him for dismal meditation. While he hurried with bowed head along one ill-lighted road after another a temptation a.s.sailed him to follow George"s advice and abandon Hugh, and not merely Hugh, but all the rest of his relations, a temptation that elaborated itself into going back to Church Row, packing up, and escaping to Arizona or British East Africa or Samoa. In the first place, he had already several times vowed never more to have anything to do with his youngest brother; secondly, he was justified in resenting strongly the tortuous road by which he had been approached on his behalf; thirdly, it might benefit Hugh"s morals to spend a week or two in fear of the ubiquitous police, instead of a few stay-at-home tradesmen; fourthly, if anything serious did happen to Hugh, it would serve as a warning to the rest of his relations, particularly to George; finally, it was his dinner hour, and if he waited to eat his dinner before tackling Hugh, he should undoubtedly tackle him afterward in much too generous a frame of mind.
Yes, it would be wiser to go home at once, have a good dinner, and start for Arizona to-morrow morning. The longer he contemplated it, the less he liked the way he had been beguiled into visiting Hugh. If the--the young bounder--no, really bounder was not too strong a word--if the young bounder was in trouble, why could he not have come forward openly and courageously to the one relation who could help him? Why had he again relied upon his mother"s fondness, and why had she, as always, chosen the indirect channel by writing to George rather than to himself?
The fact of the matter was that his mother and George and Hugh possessed similar loose conceptions of integrity, and now that it was become a question of facing the music they had instinctively joined hands. Yet George had advised him to have nothing more to do with Hugh, which looked as if his latest game was a bit too strong even for George to relish, for John declined to believe that George possessed enough of the spirit of compet.i.tive sponging to bother about trying to poach in Hugh"s waters; Hilda or Eleanor might, but George.... George was frightened, that was it; obviously he knew more than he had told, and he did not want to be exposed ... it would not astonish him to learn that George was in the business with Hugh and had invented that letter from Mama to invoke his intervention before it was too late to save himself. What could it all be about? Curiosity turned the scale against Arizona, and John pressed forward to West Kensington.
The houses in Carlington Road looked like an over-crowded row of tall, thin men watching a football match on a cold day; each red-faced house had a tree in front of it like an umbrella and trim, white steps like spats; in a fantastic mood the comparison might be prolonged indefinitely, even so far as to say that, however outwardly uncomfortable they might appear, like enthusiastic spectators, they were probably all aglow within. If John had been asked whether he liked an interior of pink lampshades and bra.s.s gongs, he would have replied emphatically in the negative; but on this chill November night he found the inside of number 22 rather pleasant after the street. The maid looked doubtful over admitting him, which was not surprising, because an odor of hot soup in the hall and the c.h.i.n.k of plates behind a closed door on the right proclaimed that the family was at dinner.
"Will you wait in the drawing-room, sir?" she inquired. "I"ll inform Mr.
Touchwood that you"re here."
John felt a grim satisfaction in thus breaking in upon Hugh"s dinner; there was nothing so well calculated to disturb even a tranquil conscience as an unexpected visit at such an hour; but the effect upon guilt would be....
"Just say that a gentleman wishes to speak to him for a minute. No name," he replied.
The walk through the dim streets, coupled with speculations upon the various crimes that his brother might have committed, had perhaps invested John"s rosy personality with an unusual portentousness, for the maid accepted his instructions fearfully and was so much fl.u.s.tered by them that she forgot to turn up the gas in the drawing-room, of which John was glad; he a.s.sured himself that the heavily draped room in the subdued light gave the final touch to the atmosphere of horror which he aimed at creating; and he could not resist opening the door to enjoy the consternation in the dining-room just beyond.
"What is it?"
A murmur from the maid.
"Well, you"d better finish your soup first. I wouldn"t let my soup get cold for anybody."
There followed a general buzz from the midst of which Hugh emerged, his long, sallow face seeming longer than usual in his anxiety, his long, thin neck craning forward like an apprehensive bird"s, and his bony fingers clutching a napkin with which he dusted his legs nervously.
"Like a flag of truce," John thought, and almost simultaneously felt a sharp twinge of resentment at Hugh"s daring to sport a dinner jacket with as much effrontery as if his life had been as white as that expanse of shirt.
"Good Lord," Hugh exclaimed when he recognized his brother. "I thought you were a detective, at least. Come in and have some grub, won"t you?
Mrs. Fenton will be awfully glad to see you."
John demurred at the invitation. Judging by what he had been told about Mrs. Fenton"s att.i.tude toward Hugh, he did not think that Touchwood was a welcome name in 22 Carlington Road.
"Aubrey!" Hugh was shouting. "One of my brothers has just blown in."
John felt sure that the rapid feminine voice he could faintly hear had a distinct note of expostulation in it; but, however earnest the objection, it was at once drowned in the boisterous hospitality of Aubrey, who came beaming into the hall--a well set up young man of about twenty-five with a fresh complexion, gla.s.ses, an opal solitaire in his shirt, and a waxy white flower in his b.u.t.tonhole.
"Do come in," he begged, with an encouraging wave of his napkin. "We"ve only just begun."
Although John felt that by dining in this house he was making himself an accessory after the still undivulged fact, he was really so hungry by now that he could not bring himself to refuse. He knew that he was displaying weakness, but he compounded with his austere self by arguing that he was more likely to arrive at the truth if he avoided anything in the nature of precipitate action.
Mrs. Fenton did not receive her guest as cordially as her son; in fact, she showed plainly that she resented extremely his having been invited to dinner. She was a well-preserved woman and reminded John of a pink crystallized pear; her frosted transformation glistened like encrusted sugar round the stalk, which was represented by a tubular head ornament on the apex of the carefully tended pyramid; her greeting was sticky.
"My son"s friend has spoken of you," Mrs. Fenton was saying, coldly, in reply to John"s apologies for intruding upon her like this. He for his part was envying her ability to refer to Hugh without admitting his individual existence, when somebody kicked him under the table, and, looking up, he saw that Hugh was frowning at him in a cautionary manner.
"I"ve already met your brother, the writer," his hostess continued.
"My brother, James?" asked John in amazement. He could not envisage James in these surroundings.
"No, I have not had the pleasure of meeting him _yet_. I was referring to the dramatist, who has dined with me several times."
"But," John began, when another kick under the table silenced him.
"Pa.s.s the salt, will you, George, old boy?" Hugh said loudly.
John"s soup was cold, but in the heat of his suppressed indignation he did not notice it. So George had been masquerading in this house as himself; no wonder he had not encouraged the idea of an interview with Hugh. Evidently a dishonest outrage had been perpetrated in his name, and though Hugh might kick him under the table, he should soon obtain his revenge by having Hugh kicked out of the house. John took as much pleasure in his dinner that evening as a sandbag might have taken in being stuffed with sand. He felt full when it was over, but it was a soulless affair; and when Mrs. Fenton, who had done nothing except look down her nose all through the meal, left the table, he turned furiously upon Hugh.
"What does this gross impersonation mean?" he demanded.
Aubrey threw himself figuratively between the brothers, which only seemed to increase John"s irritation.