Two Boys and a Fortune Part 10

"I wonder if I ought to telegraph to mother," was his next thought.

Then he heard the door of the elevator slide back, and the next instant Scott Bowman appeared, accompanied by a short man with side whiskers and spectacles.

CHAPTER IX

THE MYSTERY ABOUT SYDNEY

The boys stood by in anxious suspense while the doctor made his examination.

"It is utter collapse from severe mental strain," he said after a minute. "He will come around presently."

He wrote out a prescription and gave it to Scott to take out for him and then turned to Rex.

"You are Mr. Pell's brother, I believe?" he said.

"Yes," answered Rex, for the fact that there was no blood relation between them was one that very seldom recurred to the boys' minds.

"Then perhaps you will be able to a.s.sign some cause for this seizure.

Was Mr. Pell excited by anything in particular when it took him?"

Rex hesitated. Remembering how Sydney had been affected by learning that he had revealed the facts about Mr. Tyler's will to Scott, he felt that he ought not to speak of the matter to any one else.

"Yes, he was excited by a-- a family affair," he replied, hoping this was all he need say on the matter.

"Humph!" muttered the physician, and he not only took another critical look at Sydney's face, but favored Rex with a long stare, too.

"Will he be well enough to go down to Marley to-night?" asked the latter.

"You live out of town then?" returned the doctor. "There's no place where you could take him here in the city?"

"None, but a hotel," rejoined Rex. "And I'm sure my mother would rather have him home."

At this point Sydney stirred and opened his eyes. He looked first at the doctor, frowned deeply, and then as Rex came forward within his range of vision, he beckoned the boy to him.

Rex hurried over and knelt by his side.

"Who is that?" asked Sydney.

"It's a doctor. You fainted or something and Scott went out to get him. How do you feel?"

"Pretty weak, but ask him to step into the next room a minute. I want to speak to you."

"Doctor, will you mind waiting in the next room a minute? My brother wants to see me about something."

Rex was afraid the physician might feel offended or else object to leaving his patient, but he said, "Why, certainly," and then came over to take a close look at the young lawyer before leaving him.

As soon as he had gone Sydney put out one arm and pa.s.sing it around Rex's neck, drew the boy's ear close to his mouth.

"Did I say anything while I was unconscious?" he whispered.

"No," replied Rex, mystified. "Nothing at all. But what does all this mean, Syd? What is worrying you so terribly?"

"Don't let it worry you and then it will worry me less. What time is it?"

"Half past five."

"Then we ought to catch the six o'clock train."

"But you're not strong enough to go now," objected Rex. "You're as pale as a ghost."

"Am I?" A wan smile lit up Sydney's face for an instant "Well, then, exercise will perhaps bring some of the color back. You can call the doctor in now and we'll see what he says."

Scott arrived with the filled prescription just as Rex brought the physician back into the room. Sydney objected to lying on the floor any longer and they helped him to a chair.

"Yes, you can go home if you don't do any walking," said the doctor after another examination.

"All right, I can go down in the elevator, get a carriage from the hotel across the street and ride right up to the station. You rush down and engage one, Rex. Scott will stay here and help the doctor down with me. Then he can go along with us. Don't lose any time, Reggie."

With an immensely relieved mind Rex hurried off to execute the commission. He had really feared at one time that Sydney was going to die.

He was rallying rapidly now. When he entered the coach he took out his pocketbook and paid the doctor for his services.

"We owe you something, Scott," he added after they had started, "for what you got at the drug store."

Scott protested, but was in the end obliged to take what he had paid out.

"It's been an exciting afternoon for you fellows," remarked Sydney, and Rex could not help but notice that while his tone was light, his face was still pale and that be did not look at them while he was speaking.

"I want you to promise me one thing, though. That you will not speak of my fainting spell at home, or you either, Scott. I have a particular reason for asking that favor."

Both boys promised to respect his wishes, and then Sydney quickly changed the subject to the Bowmans' trip, asking at what hotels they were going to stop, and so on until the carriage reached the station.

He seemed so much better by this time that when he met a friend on the train and took a seat with him, Rex and Scott almost forgot that he had been ill.

They found places together near by, but neither said much during the short ride. Rex felt that Scott must be thinking of how Sydney had broken in upon his revelation of their inheritance, and wondering what it could mean. He couldn't explain it, so he thought best not to broach the subject.

And as this filled so large a part of his thoughts there was nothing else he cared to talk about. After all his trip to Philadelphia had not been productive of any results. He knew no more now than when he started about the extent of Mr. Tyler's fortune.

When they reached Marley, Sydney took a hack that always waited at the station, and he and Rex rode down to the Pellery, Scott living close to the station in the other direction.

"Do you feel all right, Syd?" asked Rex during the ride.

Sydney nodded without making any reply, and soon they reached home.

Rex was unusually silent during dinner. He looked up in surprised fashion when he learned that Sydney had gone off without his breakfast that morning. Sydney explained that it was due to urgent business in town. Rex wondered what the family would think if they knew about the scene at the office that afternoon.

n.o.body said anything about Mr. Tyler after Sydney had admitted that he died before he left him the previous night. Rex was the one most likely to discourse on the subject, but now he had his reasons for not broaching it.

The next morning Sydney did not go to the city. He devoted himself to making arrangements for Mr. Tyler's burial. The death was published in all the Philadelphia papers, and the Pells expected that some one might come down, claiming to be a relative.