Only One Love, or Who Was the Heir Part 70

Then he turned and walked homeward.

"One step in the right direction," he muttered. "Take care, Master Jack; I shall outwit you yet."

As he ascended the stairs of his chambers, Slummers came out to meet him.

"There is a--person waiting for you, Mr. Stephen," he said.

Stephen stopped, and his hand closed on the bal.u.s.trade; his thoughts flew to Laura Treherne.

"A--woman, Slummers?"

"No, sir, a man," said Slummers.

"Very good," said Stephen, with a breath of relief. "Who is it--do you know?"

Slummers shook his head.

"A rough sort of man, sir; says he has come on business. He has been waiting for hours."

"I am very sorry," said Stephen, aloud and blandly, for the benefit of the visitor. "I am sorry to have kept anyone waiting. But it is rather late----"

He entered the room as he spoke, and started slightly, for standing in the center of the apartment was Gideon Rolfe.

Notwithstanding the start Stephen came forward with outstretched hand and a ready smile of welcome.

"My dear Mr. Rolfe, I am indeed sorry that you should have been kept so long. If I had only known that you were coming----"

Gideon Rolfe waived all further compliment aside with a gesture of impatience.

"I wished to see you," he said. "Time is no object to me."

Stephen shut the door carefully and stood in a listening att.i.tude. He knew it was of no use to ask his visitor to sit down.

"You have come to inquire about your daughter?"

"No, I have not," said Gideon Rolfe, calmly. "I know that she is well--I see her daily. I came to remind you of our contract--I came to remind you of your promise that no harm should come near her."

Stephen smiled and shook his head.

"And I trust no harm has come near her, my dear Mr. Rolfe."

"But I say that it has," said Gideon Rolfe, coldly. "I have watched her daily and I know."

"To what harm do you allude?" asked Stephen, bravely.

"Do you deny that the young man Jack Newcombe is near her?"

"Oh," said Stephen, and he drew a long breath.

Then he commenced untying the scarf, his acute brain hard at work.

Here was an instrument ready to his hand, if he chose to use it properly.

"Oh, I understand. No, I do not deny it; I wish that I could do so, for your sake and for Una's," he said gravely.

"Speak plainly," said Gideon Rolfe, hoa.r.s.ely.

"I will," said Stephen. "Plainly then, Mr. Newcombe has chosen to fall in love with--your daughter! That accounts for his constant attendance upon her."

Gideon Rolfe's face worked.

"I will take her back," he said, grimly.

Stephen smiled.

"Softly, softly. There are two to that bargain, my dear Mr. Rolfe. For Miss Una to go back to a state of savagery in Warden Forest is impossible. You, who have seen her in her new surroundings, and the change they have wrought in her, must admit that."

Gideon Rolfe wiped the perspiration from his brow.

"I know that she is changed," he said. "She is like a great lady now. I see her dressed in rich silks and satins, and coming and going in carriages, with servants to wait upon her, and I know that she is changed, and that she has forgotten the friends of her childhood--forgotten those who were father and mother to her----"

"You wrong Miss Una," said Stephen, smoothly. "Not a day pa.s.ses but she inquires for you and deplores your absence----"

"But," went on Gideon, as if he had not been interrupted, "I have not forgotten her, nor my promise to her mother. In a weak moment, moved by your threats more than your persuasions, I consented to part with her, but I would rather she were dead than that should happen--which you say will happen."

"Pardon me," said Stephen, blandly, and with an evil smile. "I said that Mr. Newcombe had fallen in love with her; I did not say that he would marry her. _I_ would rather she were dead than that should happen," and he turned his face for one moment to the light.

It was pale even to the lips, the eyes gleaming with resolute purpose.

Gideon Rolfe looked at him in silence for a moment.

"I do not understand," he said, in a troubled voice.

"Let me make it clear to you," said Stephen. "Against my will and wish these two have met and become acquainted. Against my will and wish that acquaintance has ripened into"--he drew a long breath as if the word hurt him--"into love, or what they mistake for love. Thus far it has gone, but it must go no further. I am at one with you there. You and I must prevent it. You cannot do it alone, you know. You have no control over Miss Una; you who are not her father and in no way related to her."

Gideon Rolfe set his teeth hard.

"You see," said Stephen, with a haggard smile, "alone you are helpless.

Be sure of that. If you move in the matter without me, I will declare the secret of her birth. Stop! be calm! But you and I can put an end to this engagement."

"They are engaged?" muttered Gideon Rolfe.

Stephen smiled contemptuously.

"My good friend, this matter has pa.s.sed beyond your strength. Leave it to me. Yes, they are engaged; the affair has gone so far, but it must go no further. While you have been lurking outside area gates and behind carriages I have been at work, and I will stop it. I am not too proud to accept your aid, however. When the time comes I will ask your aid. Give me an address to which to write to you."

Gideon Rolfe, with a suspicious air, drew a piece of paper from his pocket and wrote an address.

"This will find you?" said Stephen. "Good. When the time comes I will send for you; meanwhile"--and he smiled--"you can go on haunting area gates and watching carriages, but be sure of one thing, that this marriage shall never take place."