King of the Castle Part 46

"I have no money in hand," he said abruptly.

"All nonsense, my dear sir; don't trifle with a man. You must be rolling in coin. One thou, please."

"I tell you I have no money."

"Very well, then, my dear sir, very well; be good enough to get it. I shall rely upon you, for I must have some within a week."

He turned right round and walked to the door again, and then turned and said smilingly--

"Sorry to trouble you, but may your men row me ash.o.r.e?"

"Yes, of course. But stop. Look here, Gellow."

"Very sorry to have worried you, Mr Glyddyr. One thou, please, within seven days."

"But it will be inconvenient. I can't raise the money in the time. I-- look here. Why, confound the man! Here, Gellow!"

There was no reply, and angry, mortified, humbled by his impecunious position, Glyddyr hurried on to the deck, and found that his visitor was already in the boat, and several yards away from the yacht's side.

"Look here, Gellow," he cried.

"Eh? Please write. Can't stop. Be just able to catch the next train and get in by to-morrow morning. Pull away, my lads; a shilling a-piece for beer if you look sharp."

Glyddyr ground his teeth with rage as he gazed after his spider, and felt how thoroughly he had been bound up like a fly of fashion in the wretched schemer's web.

He could have yelled after him to come back, but his men were on deck and in the boat which bore his tyrant away; and in those moments the man seemed to live a life of repentance for having placed himself in the power of such a creature as this. As it was, he could only stand looking at the receding boat in a nonchalant manner, and then turn slowly round, and descend to the cabin.

"What am I to do?" he said to himself. "I must write to him apologetically, and ask for time. No; I can't do it. I'd sooner suffer anything than be humbled further by the wretched cad!"

He flung himself in an easy-chair, and began to agitate it to and fro, grinding his teeth the while with rage.

"If I could only borrow the money! If I could only get hold of enough to clear myself from this brute, I could--"

He stopped short, and sat staring before him through one of the little open round port windows over the glittering sea, at the Fort, which stood up clearly cut and grey in the vivid sunshine; and as he gazed at the great castellated building, a strange idea came to him, one which made him picture the interior of that study as it appeared to him on the occasion of his entering through the window to find Gartram lying there insensible upon the floor.

"A thousand within seven days," he muttered to himself, and once more he glanced sharply round to see whether he was overheard.

He rose and paced the little cabin, only a few strides and a turn, but no idea came.

One moment he was for following Gellow, and pleading to him for time, the next the thought seemed too degrading, and he shrank from having to plead and humble himself before the common, insolent man who had him in his power.

"If he would only leave me alone I should soon be in a position to clear myself off, for Gartram is as rich as Croesus."

As that thought came to him, he saw again the interior of the study and the open safe.

"And of course that is a mere nothing," he thought; "the eccentric old fellow would not have much of his money there. A thousand pounds. Why, it would be a trifle to him, and if I asked him he would lend it in an instant."

Glyddyr stopped short in his argument there.

"Would he lend it in an instant?"

"No," said Glyddyr to himself directly afterwards. "He is too keen and hard a man. His idea is that I am above all money troubles, and if I try him it will be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

No; it would be ruin to attempt that and destroy all."

With the impression upon him, though, that, he would get out of his dilemma by Gellow repenting, knowing as he did that the sharp, sordid money-maker would calculate his chances of repayment too accurately to run any risks, Glyddyr returned on deck, to find that the gig had just returned from the sh.o.r.e after landing his incubus.

Springing in, he signed to the men to give way, and had himself rowed across to the rough pier, where he hesitated for a few minutes as to what he should do.

The sight of Chris Lisle striding along the cliff road decided him. A malicious look came into his face, and, thrusting his hands down in his pockets, he began to saunter along the pier, taking the short cut which led to Gartram's private path, cut in a zig-zag up the cliff face, a direction which would only be taken by one going up to the Fort.

It was meant for Chris to see, and he saw it, suffering just as his rival intended, for there was a painful sting in the thought that this stranger should be free to come and go, while he, who had had the run of the place from boyhood, should be forbidden to approach.

Chris was no dissembler, there was no diplomatic concealment of the feelings in his actions; he suffered, and he showed that he did as he encountered Glyddyr at the intersection of their ways, and retorted with a fierce look of anger when Glyddyr pa.s.sed him with a supercilious smile full of contempt.

"How I could enjoy wringing that dog's neck!" said Chris to himself.

"He is going up there to the Fort to be made welcome and caressed, and treated as if he belonged to them, and--Oh, it does make me feel savage!"

He turned up into the stiff slope running away to the cliff top, and in a short time was where he could look down on the Fort and get glimpses of the garden, where, to his infinite rage and pain, he soon after caught the glint of a white dress, then of one of the palest blue, and directly after there was a third party to form a trio, which sauntered up and down till he could bear it no longer, and walked right on.

"It's of no use," he said to himself; "I must see Claude and ask her what it all means. I can't go on like this, seeing that man go to and fro as if he were accepted. It is too hard to be borne."

He threw himself down at the top of the cliff, and lay gazing out to sea as he tried to settle his next proceedings. One thing was certain; he must see Claude, and come to a thorough understanding about their future. Then perhaps he could wait.

But how was he to obtain an interview?

Mary Dillon.

No; she had refused point blank to act against her uncle's wishes, though she sympathised with both of them.

Claude would not meet him, nor yet correspond, but had told him to wait.

"And who can wait at a time like this?" he cried. "If she only would not be quite so obedient," he continued, though all the time he knew in his heart that he loved her the more for her fulfilment of her fathers commands.

No; it was of no use to think that she would consent to meet him by appointment, and there was no one person whom he cared to trust.

"It is so degrading," he said, "to have to place yourself and her at the mercy of some common, vindictive kind of creature, who has to be paid."

He was out of sight of the garden now, and its occupants, for he shrunk from watching Claude and her companion; but he was still well within view of a portion of the Fort and its defences.

"It is all very well," he thought, as he threw himself back, with his straw hat off, and his hands behind his head; "but if a clever, resolute burglar made up his mind to get into the old man's stronghold after all was locked up, how easy it would be. Why, I could climb up the sea-face quickly enough, and over the south wall, and then there is nothing to hinder one but the moat, across which a man might wade in a pair of fishing-stockings."

A curious tingling sensation here attacked Chris Lisle, and the colour mounted into his cheek at the thoughts which came rushing through his brain.

Suppose he played the part of burglar, not to obtain any of the old man's h.o.a.rded-up coin, but that which was the sole desire of his life?

Claude would never consent to a meeting, but if he took her by surprise, and once more clasped her in his arms, she could not really be so very angry, for she loved him; of that there could, after all, be no doubt, and for the sake of that sweet delight he would risk her displeasure.

It would only be right, for he would be showing her how his heart was hers, and hers alone.

The cliff face? A bit dangerous, but he could do it easily, even the wall. Bah! he could climb a higher wall than that, while as to the drop of water in Gartram's moat, if he couldn't have waded it, he could have swam it, and would a thousand times so as to be once more near her.