Cursed by a Fortune Part 13

"Oh, there, there, my dear, don't look like that," cried Mrs Wilton.

"I'm not a bit cross. Why, you're all of a flutter. I wasn't blaming you, my dear, only that naughty Claud. It was very rude of him, indeed.

Really, Claud, my dear, it is not gentlemanly of you. Poor Kate is quite alarmed."

"Then you shouldn't have come peeping," cried the oaf, with a boisterous laugh.

"Claud! for shame! I will not allow it. It is not respectful to your mamma. Now, come in, both of you. Mr Garstang is here--with your father, Claud, my love; and I wish you to be very nice and respectful to him, for who knows what may happen? Kate, my dear, I never think anything of money, but when one has rich relatives who have no children of their own, I always say that we oughtn't to go out of our way to annoy them. Henry Dasent certainly is my sister's child, but one can't help thinking more of one's own son; and as Harry is nothing to Mr Garstang, I can't see how he can help remembering Claud very strongly in his will."

"Doesn't Claud wish he may get it!" cried that youth, with a grin. "I'm not going to toady old Garstang for the sake of his coin."

"n.o.body wishes you to, my dear; but come in; they must be done with their business by now. Come, my darling. Why, there's a pretty bloom on your cheeks already. I felt that a little fresh air would do you good. They're in the library; come along. We can go in through the verandah. Don't whistle, Claud, dear; it's so boyish."

They pa.s.sed together out of the farther door of the conservatory into the verandah, and as they approached an open window, a smooth bland voice said:

"I'll do the best I can, Mr Wilton; but I am only the agent. If I stave it off, though, it can only be for a short time, and then--Ah, my dear child!"

John Garstang, calm, smooth, well-dressed and handsome, rose from one of the library chairs as Kate entered with her aunt, and held out both his hands: "I am very glad to see you again--very, very sorry to hear that you have been so ill. Hah!" he continued, as he scrutinised the agitated face before him in a tender fatherly way, "not quite right yet, though," and he led her to a chair near the fire. "That rosy tinge is a trifle too hectic, and the face too transparently white. You must take care of her, Maria Wilton, and see that she has plenty of this beautiful fresh air. I hope she is a good obedient patient."

"Ve-ry, ve-ry, good indeed, John Garstang, only a little too much disposed to keep to her room."

"Oh, well, quite natural, too," said Garstang, smiling. "What we all do when we are ailing. But there, we must not begin a discussion about ailments. I'm very glad to see you again, though, Kate, and congratulate you upon being here."

"Thank you, Mr Garstang," she replied, giving him a wistful look, as a feeling of loneliness amongst these people made her heart seem to contract.

"Well, Wilton, I don't think we need talk any more about business?"

"Oh, we're not going to stay," cried Mrs Wilton. "Come, Kate, my child, and let these dreadful men talk."

"By no means," said Garstang; "sit still, pray. We shall have plenty of time for anything more we have to say over a cigar to-night, for I've come down to throw myself upon your hospitality for a day or two."

"Of course, of course," said Wilton, quickly; "Maria has a room ready for you."

"Yes, your old room, John Garstang; and it's beautifully aired, and just as you like it."

"Thank you, Maria. You aunt always spoils me, Kate, when I come down here. I look upon the place as quite an oasis in the desert of drudgery and business; and at last I have to drag myself away, or I should become a confirmed sybarite."

"Well, why don't you?" said Claud. "Only wish I had your chance."

"My dear Claud, you speak with the voice of one-and-twenty. When you are double your age you will find, as I do, that money and position and life's pleasures soon pall, and that the real enjoyment of existence is really in work."

"Walker!" said Claud, contemptuously.

Garstang laughed merrily, and while Wilton and his wife frowned and shook their heads at their son, he turned to Kate.

"It is of no use to preach to young people," he said, "but what I say is the truth. Not that I object to a bit of pleasure, Claud, boy. I'm looking forward to a few hours with you, my lad--jolly ones, as you call them, and as I used. How about the pheasants?"

"More than you'll shoot."

"Sure to be. My eye is not so true as it was, Maria."

"Stuff! You look quite a young man still."

"Well, I feel so sometimes. What about the pike in the lake, Claud?

Can we troll a bit?"

"It's chock full of them. The weeds are rotten and the pike want thinning down. Will you come?"

"Will I come! Indeed I will; and I'd ask your cousin to come on the lake with us to see our sport, but it would not be wise. How is the bay?"

"Fit as a fiddle. Say the word and I'll have him round if you're for a ride."

"After lunch, my dear, after lunch," said Mrs Wilton.

"Yes, after lunch I should enjoy it," said Garstang.

"Two, sharp, then," said Claud.

"Yes, two, sharp," replied Garstang, consulting his watch. "Quarter to one now."

"Yes, and lunch at one."

"By the way," said Garstang, "Harry said he had been down here, and you gave him some good sport. I'm afraid I have made a mistake in tying him down to the law."

Wilton moved uneasily in his chair and darted an angry look at his wife, who began to fidget, and looked at Kate and then at her son.

Garstang did not seem to notice anything, but smiled blandly, as he leaned back in his chair.

"Oh, yes, he blazed away at the pheasants," said Claud, sneeringly; "but he only wounded one, and it got away."

"That's bad," said Garstang. "But then he has not had your experience, Master Claud. It's very good of you, though, James, to have him down, and of you, Maria, to make the boy so welcome. He speaks very gratefully about you."

"Oh, it isn't my doing, John Garstang," said the lady, hurriedly; "but of course I am bound to make him welcome when he comes;" and she uttered a little sigh as she glanced at her lord again, as if feeling satisfied that she had exonerated herself from a serious charge.

"Ah, well, we'll thank the lord of the manor, then," said Garstang, smiling at Kate.

"Needn't thank me," said Wilton, gruffly. "I don't interfere with Claud's choice of companions. If you mean that I encourage him to come and neglect his work you are quite out. You must talk to Claud."

"I don't want him," cried that gentleman.

"But I think I understood him to say that you had asked him down again."

"Not I," cried Claud. "He'd say anything."

"Indeed! I'm sorry to hear this. In fact, I half expected to find him down here, and if I had I was going to ask you, James, if you thought it would be possible for you to take him as--as--well, what shall I say?--a sort of farm pupil."

"I?" cried Wilton, in dismay. "What! Keep him here?"

"Well--er--yes. He has such a penchant for country life, and I thought he would be extremely useful as a sort of overlooker, or bailiff, while learning to be a gentleman-farmer."

"You keep him at his desk, and make a lawyer of him," said Wilton sourly. "He'll be able to get a living then, and not have to be always borrowing to make both ends meet. There's nothing to be made out of farming."