King of the Castle Part 72

"I tell you I couldn't go to the house with that old man lying there dead," cried Glyddyr, with a half-suppressed shudder.

"Look at him!" cried Gellow angrily, "shivering and shaking as if he had been on the drink for six months. Not afraid of a dead man, are you?"

"Your language is revolting," cried Glyddyr pa.s.sionately.

"Well, ain't it enough to make any man revolt? Why, you ought to have hold there; you ought to have taken possession and looked after everything. It's as good as your own. Oh, where would you be if I didn't look after you. Now, then: you'd better get over there at once."

"No," said Glyddyr, "not yet;" and, in spite of himself, he shuddered, and then glanced at his visitor to see if it had been noticed.

"Look at him! Why, the old man isn't there now. There, I won't bully you, dear boy. I see how it is. Ring the bell; have in the steward, and let me mix you a pick-me-up. You're down, regularly down. I'll soon wind you up, and set you going again. I'm like a father to you."

Glyddyr obeyed in a weak, helpless way, ringing for the steward, and then ordering in the spirits.

"Bring in the _liqueurs_ too, my lad--Curacoa, Chartreuse, anything.-- You want me now, old fellow, but you must take care. You're as white as wax, and your hand's all of a tremble. It won't do. You don't drink fair. Now, as soon as your man brings in the tackle, I'll give you a dose, and then you've got to go over yonder."

"No," said Glyddyr hoa.r.s.ely, "no: not to-day."

"Yes, to-day. You don't want two chaps cutting the ground from under your feet.--Hah, that's your sort, steward. Better than being aboard ship, and having to put your hand in your pocket every time you want a drink. Needn't wait."

The man left the little saloon, and Gellow deftly concocted a draught with seltzer and _liqueurs_, which Glyddyr took with trembling hand, and tossed off.

"Talk about making a new man!" cried Gellow. "You feel better already, don't you?"

Glyddyr nodded.

"Of course you do. Now, then, let's take the boat and go over yonder.

I'm curious to see the place."

"No: impossible," said Glyddyr, flushing.

"Not a bit impossible. Come on, and I'll back you up."

"No: I will not take you there."

"Coming round more and more," said Gellow, laughing. "Well, will you go alone?"

"Not to-day."

"You'll leave those two chaps to oust you out of what is your own?"

"No. I'll go and call."

"When?"

"Now: at once."

"That's your sort," cried Gellow. "Never you say I'm not your friend."

Ten minutes later the boat was manned, and Glyddyr was ready to step in, but Gellow laid his hand upon his arm, and drew him back.

"Don't," he said, almost with tears in his eyes; "don't go like that, dear boy."

"What do you mean?"

"Go and change that tie. If you haven't got a black one, put on a white."

Glyddyr obeyed him sullenly, and changed his tie before starting, while his visitor went down into the saloon, helped himself to a cigar, and took up a gla.s.s and the brandy decanter.

"A nip wouldn't do me any harm," he said with a laugh, and, removing the stopper, poured out a goodly dram.

It was half-way to his lips when he stopped, and poured it back.

"No," he said quickly, "I want a clear head now; I can enjoy myself when I've got Master Glyddyr quite in trim."

He went on deck, to begin smoking and asking questions of the two men left on board; but all the time he had an eye on Glyddyr's boat, watching it till it reached the pier-steps, and then he was able to see its owner at intervals, till he disappeared among the houses.

After this, Gellow went below and used the binocular, fixing it upon the Fort till he made out Glyddyr approaching the house, where he stood in the entry for a few moments talking to a servant, and then turned away.

Gellow set down the gla.s.s, thrust his hands in his pockets, and stood with the cigar in the exact centre of his lips, puffing away rapidly--"For all the world like a steam launch," said one of the men left on board when talking about it afterwards--till Glyddyr came on board.

"Out," said the latter laconically.

"Fashionable slang for engaged with another chap," said Gellow, with a sneer.

Glyddyr turned upon him fiercely.

"Don't be waxey, dear boy," said Gellow; "but it was quite time I came down."

The progress of affairs at the Fort had been business-like meanwhile.

"I beg your pardon, miss."

"It is nothing, Woodham; come in," said Claude quietly, as the woman was withdrawing after giving an unheeded tap, and entering the room.

"Mr Trevithick's compliments, ma'am, and would you see him in the study?"

"Yes, at once," said Claude; and both thought how she had seemed to change during the past few weeks, from the slight girl into the dignified woman. "Come, Mary."

"Isn't it private business?" said Mary, shrinking back strangely.

"Yes, dear; our private business," said Claude, and they pa.s.sed out, Sarah Woodham holding open the door.

Claude gave her an affectionate smile, and crossed to the study; and, as the door closed after them, Sarah Woodham stood alone in the doorway, with her hands clasped and eyes closed as she muttered softly--

"And let me live for her--die for her, grateful for her undeserved love, in expiation--oh, my G.o.d, in expiation!"