CHAPTER XX. A LOST CLUE.
|What would you advise me to do, Mr. Sturgis?" asked Bernard as he wasdressing the next morning.
"I advise you to leave Professor Puffer. He seems to be a thoroughly badman. You will be in danger as long as you remain with him."
"I will take your advice, though this will throw me upon my ownresources. I think I can make a living in some way, though I should knowbetter how to go about it in America."
"How much money have you got?"
"About twenty dollars."
"That won't last you long. I must see what I can think of for you. Firstof all, you mustn't stay in Liverpool. Professor Puffer would probablymake an effort to get you into his clutches."
"Where would you advise me to go?"
"To London. I shall leave directly after breakfast and you can go upwith me."
"I shall be glad to go with one who has been there before. But I mustkeep out of the way of the professor."
"I will arrange matters for you. When you are dressed, go at once to thestation of the London and Northwestern Railway. You will find arestaurant close by where you can get breakfast. Then go to the waitingroom, where I will join you before the next train starts."
Bernard followed the directions of his friend, and Mr. Sturgis went downto breakfast. Professor Puffer was already in the coffee room.
"Where is my ward?" he asked abruptly.
"I can't tell you, sir," returned Nelson Sturgis coolly.
"Didn't he pass the night with you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then you should know where he is."
"I have already told you that I don't know."
"Do you think he has left the hotel?"
"I think it quite probable."
"Did he tell you where he was going?"
"No."
"I believe you are deceiving me," said Professor Puffer angrily.
"And I am sure that you are impertinent. I may feel inclined to pullyour nose."
Nelson Sturgis was a tall, athletic man, and Professor Puffer waspersuaded that he could carry out his threat if he was so minded.Accordingly he thought it best to desist.
After breakfast Mr. Sturgis summoned a hotel attendant.
"Here is half a crown," he said. "Go to the chamber of my young friend,Bernard Brooks, and bring his satchel to my room."
"All right, sir."
This was done without the observation of Puffer, or he would haveprevented the removal of Bernard's luggage.
Mr. Sturgis called a hackney coach, had his luggage put on, includingBernard's satchel, and drove to the railway station.
"Well, Bernard, I have brought your satchel," he said.
"Thank you, sir. I was wondering what I should do without it."
"I had no idea of leaving it with the professor. Now I will securetickets to London."
"What will be the price?"
"Never mind. I will undertake to get you to London free of expense toyourself. Afterwards we will consult about your plans."
Just as the train was starting, Professor Puffer reached the station,and from the platform espied his ward in the act of leaving him.
"Stop!" he called out, shaking his fist at the receding train.
"Good-by, Professor Puffer!" said Bernard with a smile and a wave of thehand.
Puffer in his anger, ran a few steps, talking violently.
"My ward is running away," he said to a policeman. "Can't you stop thetrain?"
"No; I can't."
"But I want to get him back."
"Then you'll have to go before a magistrate."
"Where is that train going?"
"To London."
"Then I'll go, too. When is the next train?"
"At twelve o'clock, sir."
Professor Puffer returned to the hotel at once, packed his trunk, andenrolled himself as a passenger on the noon train.
"If that fellow escapes me," he said with an ugly look, "he'll have tobe pretty smart. I won't have it said that a boy of his age has got thebetter of me." Mr. Sturgis bought first class tickets, and Bernard foundhimself in a handsomely upholstered compartment only large enough tohold eight passengers.
The doors were locked after they started, which struck Bernard aspeculiar.
"I like our American cars better," he said.
"So do I, but they are not so exclusive. The English like to beexclusive."
It was an express train, and deposited them in London in a few hours.
"Now, Bernard," said Mr. Sturgis, "I think it will be well for us to goto different hotels. I shall go to the Charing Cross, but this is aprominent hotel, and should you go there you could easily be traced."
"Where shall I go?"
"There is a comfortable family hotel in Arundel Street, Strand. Thecharges, including room and board, are only about six shillings per day,or a dollar and a half in American money. At the Charing Cross they arehigher."
"Then I will go to Arundel Street."
"Very well. When you reach London I will see you started for yourhotel."
"Shan't I see you again, sir?"
"Yes, I will call around in the evening. By the way, I have thought of away to put Professor Puffer off the track."
"How is that, sir?"
"He will very likely question some of the hackmen. I will therefore takeyou with me to the Charing Cross. Then we will dismiss the hackman, andyou can take a cab from there to Arundel Street." This precaution waswell taken. When Professor Puffer reached London he began to interviewthe hackmen.
"I had two friends arrive by the nine o'clock train," he said, "agentleman and a boy of sixteen." Then he described them.
"They neglected to tell me at what hotel they intended to stop. Do anyof you remember seeing them?"
"Yes, sir," replied one cabby. "I took them to the Charing Cross."
"Thank you," said Puffer, in a tone of satisfaction. "That is just whatI wanted to find out. Here's a shilling."
"Thank you, sir. You are a gentleman."
"And you may take me to the Charing Cross. I shall probably find themthere."
"I should make a good detective," thought the professor complacently, ashe rolled through the streets. "Master Bernard Brooks will find that hehasn't made much in his attempt to outwit me. Indeed I am better off forit, as he has been obliged to pay his own fare to London."
When he reached the hotel, he inquired at the office: "Is there anAmerican gentleman named Sturgis here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Where is he now?"
"In the dining-room, taking dinner."
Professor Puffer smiled maliciously.
"Doubtless Bernard will be with him," He reflected. "They will be rathersurprised to see me."
He walked into the dining-room and looked around.
His search was partially rewarded.
At a table near the window sat Nelson Sturgis with a substantial dinnerbefore him, but Bernard was not with him.
"He is somewhere in the hotel," thought the professor. "Meanwhile I willpay my respects to Mr. Sturgis."
"I hope I see you well, Mr. Sturgis," said the professor, with anironical smile.
"Thank you, I am quite well," answered Sturgis composedly.
"You see I have reached London not far behind you."
"So I see."
"Did you and my ward have a pleasant journey?"
"Very pleasant."
"I am indebted to you for paying his traveling expenses."
"You can reimburse me if you like."
"You must excuse me. I only pay the boy's bills when he is travelingwith me."
"Just as you like."
"I will now relieve you of the charge which, without my permission, youhave undertaken. Will you be kind enough to notify Bernard that I havecome for him?"
"Why do you give me that commission?" asked Sturgis, arching his brows."Are you under the impression that Bernard is with me?"
"Certainly. Isn't he?"
"No."
"Isn't he stopping at this hotel?"
"He is not."
"Where, then, is he? I have positive information that he came here withyou."
"From whom did you obtain the information?"
"From the hackman who drove you here," answered Professor Puffertriumphantly.
"Then I can't deny it," said Sturgis, with affected chagrin.
"Of course you can't. It wasn't much trouble to get on your track. I amsharper than you probably anticipated."
"Very true, Professor Puffer."
"Now I will thank you to tell me where Bernard is. Of course you know?"
"I can guess."
"So I supposed."
"But I don't propose to tell."
"That is of very little importance. He is in this hotel. I have tracedhim here."
"He is not here now, however. He is in a different part of London."
"Is this true?" asked Professor Puffer, his jaw dropping.
"Quite true, I assure you. By the way, Professor Puffer, you may besharp, but I think I am a match for you. And now, if you kindly leaveme, I will resume my dinner."