A Crooked Path Part 22

With an oppressive sense of embarra.s.sment, Katherine went out into the hall, and confronted a short, slight young man with exceedingly tight trousers, a colored cambric tie, and a general air of being on the turf.

He held a white hat in one hand, and on the other, which was ungloved, he wore a large seal ring. Katherine did not know how to say that her uncle would not see him, but the stranger took the initiative.

"Aw--I have done myself the honor of coming in person to take Mr.

Liddell's instructions, as Mr. Newton was called out of town by very particular business yesterday morning. I rather hoped he might return last night, but a communication this morning informs us he will be detained till this afternoon, not reaching town till 9.30 P.M. I am prepared to execute any directions in my partner's stead."

He spoke with an air of condescension, as if he did Mr. Liddell a high honor, and made a step forward. Katherine did not know what to say. It was terrible to keep this consequential little man in the hall, and there was literally nowhere else to take him.

"I am so sorry, but my uncle is very unwell and nervous. I do not think he could see any one but Mr. Newton, who is an old friend, you know,"

she added, deprecatingly.

"I am his legal adviser too," returned the young man, with a slightly offended air. "I am the senior partner and head of the house, and the worse Mr. Liddell is, the greater the necessity for his giving instructions respecting his will."

"I will tell him Mr. Newton is away," said Katherine, courteously; "and--would you mind sitting down here? I am quite distressed not to have any better place to offer you, but I cannot help it."

"It is of no consequence," returned the young lawyer, struck by her sweet tones and simple good-breeding, yet looking round him at the worn oil-cloth and shabby stair-carpeting with manifest amazement.

"Mr. Newton is out of town, and does not return till late this evening,"

said Katherine, returning to the irate old man. "This gentleman says he is the head of the firm, and will do your bidding in Mr. Newton's stead."

"Tell him he shall do nothing of the kind," returned Mr. Liddell, in a weak, hoa.r.s.e, impatient voice. "I saw him once, and I know him; he is an ignorant, addle-pated jackanapes. He shall not muddle my affairs; send him away; I can wait for Newton. I don't suppose I am going to die to-night."

And Katherine, blushing "celestial rosy red," hied back to the smart young man, who was reposing himself on the only seat the entrance boasted, and conjecturing that if this fine, fair, soft-spoken girl was to be the old miser's heir, she would be almost deserving of his own matrimonial intentions.

"My uncle begs me to apologize to you, Mr. Stephens, but he is so much accustomed to Mr. Newton, and in such a nervous state, that he would prefer waiting till that gentleman can come."

"Oh, very well; only I wish I had known before--I came up here at some inconvenience; and also wish Mr. Liddell could be persuaded that delays are dangerous."

"The delay is not for very long. I am sorry you had this fruitless trouble. Mr. Liddell is very weak."

"I am sure if anything could restore him, it would be the care of such a nurse as you must be," with a bow and a grin.

"Thank you; good-morning," said Katherine, with such an air of decided dismissal that the young senior partner at once departed.

Mr. Liddell fretted and fumed for an hour or two before he had exhausted himself sufficiently to sit still and listen to Katherine's reading; and after he had apparently sunk into a doze, he suddenly started up and exclaimed: "That idiot, young Stephens, will never think of sending to his house. Write--write to Newton's private residence."

"I think Mr. Stephens will, uncle. He seemed anxious to meet your wishes."

"Don't be a fool--do as I bid you! Get the paper and pen. Are you ready?"

"I am."

"Dear sir, Let nothing prevent your coming to me to-morrow," he dictated; "I want to make my will. It is important that affairs be not left in confusion. Yours truly. Give me the pen," he went on, in the same breath. "I can sign as well as ever. Now go you yourself and put this in the post. I do not trust that woman--they all stop and gossip, and I want this to go by the next despatch."

Katherine, always thankful to be in the air, went readily enough. She was distressed to find how the nervous uneasiness of yesterday was growing on her. The perpetual companionship of the grim old skeleton, her uncle, was making her morbid, she thought; she must ask leave to go and spend a day at home to see how her mother was getting on, to refresh herself by a game of romps with the children. Why, she felt absolutely growing old!

When she re-entered the house she found, much to her satisfaction, that the doctor was with Mr. Liddell; and after laying aside her out-door dress, she went to the parlor.

"I have been advising Mr. Liddell to try the effect of a few gla.s.ses of champagne," said the former, who was looking rather grave, Katherine thought. "But as there is none in his cellar, he objects. Now you must help me to persuade him. I am going on to a patient in Regent's Park, and shall pa.s.s a very respectable wine-merchant's on my way; so I shall just take the law into my own hands and order a couple of bottles for you. Consider it medicine. It is wonderful how much more generally champagne is used than when you and I were young, my dear sir!" etc., etc., he went on, with professional cheerfulness. But Mr. Liddell did not heed him much.

"He is very weak. The action of the heart is extremely feeble," said the doctor, when Katherine followed him to the door. "Try and make him take the champagne."

Another day dragged through; then Katherine, rather worn with the constant involuntary sense of watching which had strained her nerves all day, slept soundly and dreamlessly. She woke early next morning, and was soon dressed. Mrs. Knapp reported Mr. Liddell to be still slumbering.

"But law, miss, he have had a bad night--the worst yet, I think. He was dreaming and tossing from side to side, and then he would scream out words I couldn't understand. I made him take some wine between two and three, but I do not think he knew me a bit. I have had a dreadful night of it."

Katherine expressed her sympathy, and did what she could to lighten the good woman's labors.

Mr. Liddell, however, though he looked ghastly, seemed rather stronger than usual. He insisted on getting up, and came into the sitting-room about eleven.

It was a cold morning, with a thick, drizzling rain. Katherine made up the fire to a cheerful glow, and by her uncle's directions placed pen, ink and paper on the small table he always had beside him. Then he uttered the accustomed commanding "Read," and Katherine read.

Suddenly he interrupted her by exclaiming, "Give me the deaths first."

It had been a whim of his latterly to have this lugubrious list read to him every day.

Katherine had hardly commenced when she descried Mr. Newton's well-known figure advancing from the garden gate.

"Ah, here is Mr. Newton!" she exclaimed.

"Ha! that is well," cried her uncle, with shrill exultation. "Now--now all will go right."

The next moment the lawyer was shown in, and having greeted them, proceeded to apologize for his unavoidable absence. "Here I am, however, sir," he concluded, "at your service."

"Go--leave us," said Liddell, abruptly yet not unkindly, to Katherine; then, as she left the room, "Finish the deaths for me, will you, before we go to business. She had just read the first two. Read--make haste!"

Somewhat surprised, Mr. Newton took up the paper and continued: "On the 30th September, at Wimbledon, universally regretted, the Rev. James Johnson, formerly minister of "Little Bethel, Bermondsey." On October 1st, at her residence, Upper Clapton, Esther, relict of Captain Doubleday, late of the E. I. C. Service. On the 2nd instant, at Bournemouth, Peter Fergusson, of Upper Baker Street, in the seventy-fifth year of his age."

"Fergusson dead! and he is three years my junior! Now it is all mine--all!--all! I shall be able to settle it as I like. I haven't eaten and drunk in vain. I'm strong, quite strong. All the papers are there, in my bureau. I'll show them to you. Aha! I thought I'd outlive him! I was determined to outlive him!"

With an uncanny laugh he struggled to his feet, and attempted to walk to his bedroom, his stick in one hand and the keys he had taken from his pocket in the other. For a few steps he walked with a degree of strength that astonished Newton; then he gave a deep groan, staggered, and fell to the ground with a crash.

Newton rushed to raise him, which he did with some difficulty. The noise brought the servant to his a.s.sistance.

"Go! fetch Dr. Bilhane," said Mr. Newton, as soon as they had laid the helpless body on the bed. "Though I doubt if he can do anything. The old man is gone."

CHAPTER IX.

"TEMPTATION."

To Katherine, who was in her own room, the sound beneath came with a subdued force, and knowing Mr. Newton was with him, she thought it better to stay where she was, for it never struck her that Mr. Liddell had fallen.

When, therefore, Mrs. Knapp, with that eagerness to spread evil tidings peculiar to her cla.s.s, rushed upstairs to announce breathlessly that she was going for the doctor, but that the poor old gentleman was quite dead, Katherine could not believe her.

She quickly descended to the parlor, where she found Mr. Newton standing by the fire, looking pale and anxious.