"I do not think, sir, that whatever you may have heard concerning the lady in question is to her detriment," he could not refrain from remarking.
"All that I have heard is very favourable, I admit. Understand that I say nothing against the lady. What I object to is the principle of a young man being in love. Why court unhappiness? You"ll meet with sufficient of it in the world, I can a.s.sure you. Look at me! Should I be what I am if I had saddled myself with a woman and her worries of society, frocks, children, petty jealousies, flirtations, and the thousand and one cares and annoyances which make a man"s life a burden to him.
"No. Take my advice, and let those fools who run after trouble go their own way. Sentimentalists may write screeds and poets sonnets, but you"ll find, my boy, that the only true friend you"ll have in life is your own pocket."
Charlie was not in the humour to be lectured, and more especially upon his pa.s.sionate devotion to Maud. He was annoyed that Statham should have found it out, and yet, knowing the wide-reaching sources of information possessed by the old millionaire, it was scarcely to be wondered at.
"Of course," he admitted, somewhat impatiently, "there is a good deal of truth in your argument, even though it be a rather blunt one. Yet are not some men happy with the love of a good wife?"
"A few--alas! a very few," Statham replied. "Think of our greatest men.
Nearly all of them have had skeletons in their cupboards because of their early infatuations. Of some, their domestic unhappiness is well-known. Others have, however, hidden it from the world, preferring to suffer than to humiliate themselves or admit their foolishness," he said, with a calm cynicism. "To-day you think me heartless, without sentiment, because you are inexperienced. Twenty years hence recollect my words, and you will be fully in accord with me, and probably regret deeply not having followed my advice."
With his thin hand he turned over some papers idly, and then, after a moment"s pause, his manner changed, and he said, with a good-humoured laugh:
"You won"t listen to me, I know, Rolfe. So what is the use of expounding my theory?"
"It is very valuable," the young man declared, deferentially. "I know that you are antagonistic towards women. All London is aware of that."
"And they think me eccentric--eh?" he laughed. "Well, I do not want them. Society I have no use for. It is all too shallow, too ephemeral, and too much make-believe. If I wished to go into Society to-morrow, it would welcome me. The door of every house in this neighbourhood would be opened to me. Why? Because my money is the key by which I can enter.
"The most exclusive set would be delighted to come here, eat my dinners, listen to my music, and borrow my money. But who among the whole of that narrow, fast-living little world would care to know me as a poor man? I have known what it is to be poor, Rolfe," he went on; "poorer than yourself. The world knows nothing of my past--of the romance of my life. One day, when I am dead, it may perhaps know. But until then I preserve my secret."
He was leaning back in his padded chair, staring straight before him, just as he had been an hour ago.
"Yes," he continued; "I recollect one cold January night, when I pa.s.sed along the pavement yonder," and jerked his finger in the direction of the street. "I was penniless, hungry, and chilled to the bone. A man in evening-dress was coming from this very house, and I begged from him a few coppers, for I had tasted nothing that day, and further, my poor mother was dying at home--dying of starvation. The man refused, and cursed me for daring to beg charity. I turned upon him and cursed him in return; I vowed that if ever I had money I would one day live in his house. He jeered at me and called me a maniac.
"But, strangely enough, my words were prophetic. My fortune turned. I prospered. I am to-day living in the house of the man who cursed me, and that man himself is compelled to beg charity of me! Ah, yes!" he exclaimed suddenly, rising from his chair with a sigh. "The world little dreams of what my past has been. Only one man knows--the man whom you told me, Rolfe, a little time ago, is in England and alive."
"What--the man Adams?" exclaimed Rolfe, in surprise.
"Yes," replied his employer, in a hoa.r.s.e, changed voice. "He knows everything."
"Things that would be detrimental to you?" asked his private secretary slowly.
"He is unscrupulous, and would prove certain things that--well, I--I admit to you in strictest confidence, Rolfe, that it would be impossible for me to face."
Charlie stared at him in utter amazement.
"Then you have satisfied yourself that what I told you is correct?"
"I disbelieved you when you told me. But I no longer doubt."
"Why?"
"Because I have seen him to-day--seen him with my own eyes. He was standing outside, there against the railings, watching the house."
"And did he see you?"
"He saw and recognised me."
Charlie gave vent to a low whistle. He recognised the seriousness of the situation. As private secretary he was in old Statham"s confidence to a certain extent, but never before had he made such an admission of fear as that he had just done.
"Where is he now?"
"I don"t know. Gone to prepare his coup for my ruin, most probably,"
was the old man"s response, in a strained unnatural voice. "But listen, Rolfe. I have told you to-day what I would tell no other man. In you I have reposed many confidences, because I know you well enough to be confident that you will never betray them."
"You honour me, sir, by those words," the young man said. "I endeavour to serve you faithfully as it is my duty. I am not forgetful of all that you have done for my sister and myself."
"I know that you are grateful, Rolfe," he said, placing his bony hand upon the young man"s shoulder. "Therefore I seek your aid in this very delicate affair. The man Adams has returned from the grave--how, I do not know. So utterly bewildering is it all that I was at first under the belief that my eyes were deceiving me--that some man had been made up to resemble him and to impose upon me. Yet there is no imposture.
The man whom I know to be dead is here in London, and alive!"
"But did you actually see him dead?" asked Rolfe, innocently.
Old Statham started quickly at the question.
"Er--well--no. I mean, I didn"t exactly see him dead myself," he faltered.
"Then how are you so very positive that he died?"
"Well, there was a funeral, a certificate, and insurance money was, I believe, paid."
"That does not prove that he died," remarked Rolfe. "I thought I understood you to say distinctly when we spoke of it the other day that you had actually stood beside the dead body of John Adams, and that you had satisfied yourself that life was extinct."
"No! no!" cried the old man, uneasily, his face blanched. "If I led you to suppose that, I was wrong. I meant to imply that, from information furnished by others, I was under the belief that he had died."
Charlie Rolfe was silent. Why had his employer altered his declaration so as to suit the exigencies of the moment?
He raised his eyes to old Sam"s countenance, and saw that it was the face of a man upon whom the shadow of a crime had fallen.
CHAPTER TWELVE.
IN WHICH A WOMAN"S HONOUR IS AT STAKE.
"John Adams has seen you!" exclaimed Rolfe, slowly. "Therefore the situation is, I understand, one of extreme peril. Is that so?"
"Exactly," responded the millionaire, in a thin, weak voice. "But by your aid I may yet extricate myself."
The younger man saw that the other was full of fear. Never had he seen his employer so nervous and utterly unstrung. The mystery of it all fascinated him. Statham had unwittingly acknowledged having been present at the presumed death of John Adams, and that in itself was a very suspicious circ.u.mstance.
"Whatever a.s.sistance I can give I am quite ready to render it," he said, little dreaming what dire result would attend that offer.
"Ah, yes!" cried the old man, thankfully, grasping his secretary"s hand.
"I knew you would not refuse, Rolfe. If you succeed I shall owe my life to you; you understand--my life!" And he looked straight into the young man"s face, adding, "And Samuel Statham never forgets to repay a service rendered."
"I look for no repayment," he said. "You have been so very good to my sister and myself that I owe you a deep debt of grat.i.tude."
"Ah! your sister. Where is she now?"