"I asked you to come down," he said, "because I am getting a little worried about you."
"Worried about me, uncle?" she said, in surprise.
He nodded.
The two men had gone off to Jasper"s study, and she was alone with her uncle.
"When I lunched with you the other day at the Savoy," he said, "I spoke to you about your marriage, and I asked you to defer any action for a fortnight."
She nodded.
"I was coming down to see you on that very matter," she said. "Uncle, won"t you tell me why you want me to delay my marriage for a fortnight, and why you think I am going to get married at all?"
He did not answer immediately, but paced up and down the room.
"May," he said, "you have heard a great deal about me which is not very flattering. I lived a very rough life in South Africa, and I only had one friend in the world in whom I had the slightest confidence. That friend was your father. He stood by me in my bad times. He never worried me when I was flush of money, never denied me when I was broke. Whenever he helped me, he was content with what reward I offered him. There was no "fifty-fifty" with Bill Nuttall. He was a man who had no ambition, no avarice--the whitest man I have ever met. What I have not told you about him is this: He and I were equal partners in a mine, the Gwelo Deep. He had great faith in the mine, and I had none at all. I knew it to be one of those properties you sometimes get in Rhodesia, all pocket and outcrop. Anyway, we floated a company."
He stopped and chuckled as at an amusing memory.
"The pound shares were worth a little less than sixpence until a fortnight ago."
He looked at her with one of those swift, penetrating glances, as though he were anxious to discover her thoughts.
"A fortnight ago," he said, "I learned from my agent in Bulawayo that a reef had been struck on an adjoining mine, and that the reef runs through our property. If that is true, you will be a rich woman in your own right, apart from the money you get from me. I cannot tell whether it is true until I have heard from the engineers, who are now examining the property, and I cannot know that for a fortnight. May, you are a dear girl," he said, and laid his hand on her arm, "and I have looked after you as though you were my own daughter. It is a happiness to me to know that you will be a very rich woman, because your father"s shares was the only property you inherited from him. There is, however, one curious thing about it that I cannot understand."
He walked over to the bureau, unlocked a drawer, and took out a letter.
"My agent says that he advised me two years ago that this reef existed, and wondered why I had never given him authority to bore. I have no recollection of his ever having told me anything of the sort. Now you know the position," he said, putting back the letter and closing the drawer with a bang.
"You want me to wait for a better match," said the girl.
He inclined his head.
"I don"t want you to get married for a fortnight," he repeated.
May Nuttall went to bed that night full of doubt and more than a little unhappy. The story that John Minute told about her father--was it true?
Was it a story invented on the spur of the moment to counter Frank"s plan? She thought of Frank and his almost solemn entreaty. There had been no mistaking his earnestness or his sincerity. If he would only take her into his confidence--and yet she recognized and was surprised at the revelation that she did not want that confidence. She wanted to help Frank very badly, and it was not the romance of the situation which appealed to her. There was a large sense of duty, something of that mother sense which every woman possesses, which tempted her to the sacrifice. Yet was it a sacrifice?
She debated that question half the night, tossing from side to side. She could not sleep, and, rising before the dawn, slipped into her dressing gown and went to the window. The rain had ceased, the clouds had broken and stood in black bars against the silver light of dawn. She felt unaccountably hungry, and after a second"s hesitation she opened the door and went down the broad stairs to the hall.
To reach the kitchen she had to pa.s.s her uncle"s door, and she noticed that it was ajar. She thought possibly he had gone to bed and left the light on, and her hand was on the k.n.o.b to investigate when she heard a voice and drew back hurriedly. It was the voice of Jasper Cole.
"I have been into the books very carefully with Mackensen, the accountant, and there seems no doubt," he said.
"You think--" demanded her uncle.
"I am certain," answered Jasper, in his even, pa.s.sionless tone. "The fraud has been worked by Frank. He had access to the books. He was the only person who saw Rex Holland; he was the only official at the bank who could possibly falsify the entries and at the same time hide his trail."
The girl turned cold and for a moment swayed as though she would faint.
She clutched the jamb of the door for support and waited.
"I am half inclined to your belief," said John Minute slowly. "It is awful to believe that Frank is a forger, as his father was--awful!"
"It is pretty ghastly," said Jasper"s voice, "but it is true."
The girl flung open the door and stood in the doorway.
"It is a lie!" she cried wrathfully. "A horrible lie--and you know it is a lie, Jasper!"
Without another word, she turned, slamming the door behind her.
CHAPTER IX
FRANK MERRILL AT THE ALTAR
Frank Merrill stepped through the swing doors of the London and Western Counties Bank with a light heart and a smile in his eyes, and went straight to his chief"s office.
"I shall want you to let me go out this afternoon for an hour," he said.
Brandon looked up wearily. He had not been without his sleepless moments, and the strain of the forgery and the audit which followed was telling heavily upon him. He nodded a silent agreement, and Frank went back to his desk, humming a tune.
He had every reason to be happy, for in his pocket was the special license which, for a consideration, had been granted to him, and which empowered him to marry the girl whose amazing telegram had arrived that morning while he was at breakfast. It had contained only four words:
Marry you to-day. MAY.
He could not guess what extraordinary circ.u.mstances had induced her to take so definite a view, but he was a very contented and happy young man.
She was to arrive in London soon after twelve, and he had arranged to meet her at the station and take her to lunch. Perhaps then she would explain the reason for her action. He numbered among his acquaintances the rector of a suburban church, who had agreed to perform the ceremony and to provide the necessary witnesses.
It was a beaming young man that met the girl, but the smile left his face when he saw how wan and haggard she was.
"Take me somewhere," she said quickly.
"Are you ill?" he asked anxiously.
She shook her head.
They had the Pall Mall Restaurant to themselves, for it was too early for the regular lunchers.
"Now tell me, dear," he said, catching her hands over the table, "to what do I owe this wonderful decision?"
"I cannot tell you, Frank," she said breathlessly. "I don"t want to think about it. All I know is that people have been beastly about you. I am going to do all I possibly can to make up for it."