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The Queen's Scarlet, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 8. Another Turn Of The Wheel |
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_ CHAPTER EIGHT. ANOTHER TURN OF THE WHEEL As if heartily ashamed of his weakness, Jerry suddenly straightened himself up, and turned angrily upon the miller. "Don't you never go and say you saw me making such a fool of myself!" he cried. The man shook his head. "Think it's any good to go up to the town for a boat?" "If you want to drown yourself," was the reply. "I wouldn't trust myself in no boat till the water goes down. I shouldn't mind the rowing down; but you'd never know where you'd got to, and be capsized on a willow stump, or against some hedge, before you had gone a mile." "But we might find him," said Jerry, looking piteous once more. "Ay, you might find him, my lad. There's no knowing." "But you think we should not?" "Sure of it!" Jerry turned away without a word, leaving the miller staring blankly at the spot where the old place had stood, and hurried back toward the town. "Past seven!" he muttered, "and all those boots and shoes waiting. Breakfast'll have to be late." It sounded strange, but it was quite natural for him to mix up his daily work with this business; and upon reaching the house, as if feeling satisfied that there was no more to be done, he hurried about over his valeting, beginning with Mr Draycott, but found that he was not in his room. The tutor came, though, five minutes later, and, meeting his man, exclaimed with animation: "Better news, Brigley." "No, sir," said Jerry, shaking his head. "Worse--much worse!" "How dare you, sir?" cried the tutor, irritable from a sleepless night. "I tell you the news is better, and we have hopes." "And I tell you, sir, that the news is worse." Mr Draycott stared at his man, and began to frown. Strange suspicions attacked him as he saw that Jerry looked rough and unkempt. His hair was not brushed; he had evidently not washed that morning, and his Oxford mixture coat was marked by flour. "By the way, sir," said the tutor, angrily, "where have you been? I rang twice, to send you to the doctor's, but the bell was not answered. Were you not up?" "Not up, sir? Oh, yes; I was up and out long enough ago!" "Out?" "Yes, sir," said Jerry, speaking very sturdily and solemnly; and he related all that he had seen, with the result that the tutor sank into the nearest chair, looking ghastly, and with his lips moving, but not uttering a sound. Jerry stood looking down at him sadly, and at the end of a few minutes he filled a glass from a waterbottle and handed the water to his master, who swallowed it hurriedly. "This is too dreadful," said the latter, huskily; "too dreadful! But are you sure, my man--are you sure?" "Yes, sir, sure enough!" replied Jerry, with a hoarse sob. "The miller saw him just before." "A terrible business--a terrible business! I thought we were beginning to see daylight again; but--poor weak rash boy!--this is ten times worse!" "Yes, sir--a hundred times!" said Jerry, with a groan; and master and man gazed in each other's eyes for some time in silence, till Mr Draycott gave a start. "I am so stunned and helpless with this trouble upon trouble," he cried huskily, "that I can hardly think--I can hardly believe it true. Tell me what you have done. You gave notice to the police, of course?" "The police, sir?" said Jerry, with a vacant look. "No; I never thought of that!" "And you have not given the alarm--sent people down the river in boats?" Jerry shook his head in a weary, helpless way. "Quick, then; do something, man!" cried Mr Draycott, wildly. "Run to the station and tell the inspector; they will take steps at once." "I--I thought you would want to hush it up, sir." "Hush it up, man!" cried the tutor, angrily. "You are crazy!" "Yes, sir, pretty nigh," said Jerry, pitifully. "My head feels as if it won't go; and I don't know what I'm saying half my time." "I beg your pardon, Brigley," cried the tutor. "I spoke too hastily. I quite understand your feelings; but steps must be taken instantly. The truth must be known--the cruel truth!" he added, with a groan. "Yes; what is it?" There was a tap at the chamber door, and Jerry went to open it. "Please tell master that the London doctor has come in from the hotel and wants to see him directly." "Ah, yes," said the tutor, who had heard every word; "I thought he would come early. Go on to the station, Brigley; tell them poor Sir Richard must be found. I'll go down to see the doctor." Each departed upon his mission, and half an hour after the London surgeon took his departure, confirming his colleague's opinion that a great change for the better had taken place in Mark Frayne. "Youth, my dear sir--youth! He has rallied wonderfully, and I feel that we may hope." "But you will stop for the day?" said Mr Draycott, anxiously. "There is not the slightest need, my dear sir. My colleague yonder will, unless something very unforeseen happens, pull him through." "But if anything unforeseen does happen?" said Mr Draycott, nervously. "Then telegraph to me, and I will come down at once. But I don't think you need fear, Mr Draycott, and I congratulate you upon the happy turn things have taken. Good-morning. I shall hurry off to catch an early train." "Congratulate me upon the happy turn things have taken!" groaned the tutor, wiping his moist face. "Poor boy! poor boy! I ought to have seen him again. It was more than the high-spirited lad could bear." "Yes, sir; that's it." "You back, Brigley? Was I thinking aloud?" "Yes, sir; and I heard every word." "But the police?" "They were off at once, sir. They're going to hire a big boat and try and find him; but the inspector shook his head. He says he thinks it means being washed away to sea." That was a sad day at the tutor's, Richard Frayne's yellow-pupils going to and fro in the silent house talking of the cousins, and canvassing Richard Frayne's act from different points of view. The news soon spread, too, in the town; for the setting-off of the police with a couple of stout boatmen and the drags was enough to set the place in a ferment. There were plenty there, too, ready to talk of the position, as everything leaked out by degrees, and formed an exciting topic to add to that of the previous day, during which some hundreds had flocked down to the ruins to see the spot where the two pupils had fought and one had been killed--so it was firmly believed. Now the journeys were in the other direction--down the flooded river--but here the remains of the bridge and the spot where the mill had stood were the only things which rewarded their enterprise; for the police-boat had been swept down for miles, and it was not till dark that the men returned by rail to report that they could do nothing in the fierce, rushing waters till the flood was at an end. That evening, to Jerry's great disgust, a crowd of idlers gathered on the opposite side of the road to stare at the tutor's house, where the blinds were drawn down, as if they secured great satisfaction in gaping and whispering one to the other. "Oh!" he muttered, "if I could only have my way!" Mr Shrubsole, the second doctor, undertook to stay at the house that night, in case of any relapse on the part of Mark, and to the tutor's great satisfaction, for he had fallen into a nervous state, wandering about the place and giving the pupils a fresh theme of conversation to occupy the dreary, slow-dragging time. Jerry caught the inspector as he came out of Mr Draycott's study, and signalled him into the pantry. "Then you did nothing?" he said. "Yes, we did," said the inspector, grimly; "we saved our lives, which was about all we could do. I only went for the name of the thing, Mr Brigley--thankye, I'll say port. Of course, I went--ah! very nice full glass or wine. People's so ready to say, 'Where are the police?' that, if we hadn't gone, they'd ha' been ready to think the poor young gent was hanging on by the branch of a tree and we wouldn't go and save him. But I put it to you--well, thankye, Mr Brigley, I won't say no; didn't know you kept such a port as that." "It won't be long before the water goes down?" "No. Not it. Goes down, you know, as quickly as it goes up; but don't you expect too much, sir." "You think you won't find him?" "Yes; that's it," said the inspector. "Why, look at the way the water was rushing along! Of course, he may be picked up right away down where the tide rises--Limesmouth or Dunkney--or about there; but I say it's very doubtful." "Ah!" sighed Jerry. "Poor young chap! The times I've stopped outside listening to him on the flute, or blowing that cornet, or scraping away at the fiddle. Wonderful power of music in those fingers of his and lips." "And now all still, and stiff, and cold!" groaned Jerry. "Hold up, man--hold up!" said the inspector, kindly. "Life is short, you know; but we never expected this--did we?" Jerry shook his head. "And so the other young gent's getting better, is he?" Jerry nodded. "Yes, the doctor told me. I thought we'd got a big interesting case on there. Sensible?" Jerry shook his head. "Ah! That's what the doctor said, and that he might not be really sensible for weeks. Narrow squeak for him, eh?" "Yes." "Fancy! That poor young chap nearly killing him!" "And serve him right!" shouted out Jerry, angrily. "Mr Frayne must have made him so mad he couldn't bear himself, and he hit out hard. It was only an accident, after all." "But we should have been in it, Mr Brigley, even if he got off; and there would have been the inquest, too. Things have been a bit quiet here lately." "Well, you'll have your inquest, after all," said Jerry, bitterly. "Humph! Not so sure, sir. But it's a very, very sad business, Mr Brigley, and I must be going now. Thank you. Quite refreshing, sir! Good-night; and wish you well out of the trouble." "Wish us well out of the trouble!" growled Jerry, bitterly. "As if there ever would be any way out of it. On'y to think--him upstairs getting better, and his people telegraphing to say they'll come over at once, and his cousin lying there out in the cold river, who knows how deep? It only wanted this to make me wish--" Jerry did not finish his sentence, but took a letter out of his pocket, read it through, and uttered a derisive laugh. "Yes; it only wanted this to help make me happy. Well, it wasn't so very much, but it's gone; and serve me right for being such a fool!" Just then a bell rang, and he went to answer it. "The doctor says we need not sit up, Brigley," said his master, sadly. "You are tired. I shall want you no more to-night. The nurse will get anything the doctor requires." "Beg pardon, sir," said Jerry. "Mr Frayne, sir?--now?" "Sleeping, I believe, Brigley. Good-night!" "No; a bad night!" said Jerry. "Poor S'Richard! I'd give anything to see him again!" _ |
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