The Mynns' Mystery

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

  "IT'S HIM; IT'S HIM!"

  "Come in."

  Mrs Denton entered timidly, looking nervously at the stranger, and thensaid deprecatingly:

  "Mrs Hampton sent me, sir, to say she should be glad to speak to you,sir."

  "Yes, yes, of course. Well, sir, I have heard all you wanted to say?"

  "No, not yet," cried the young man excitedly. "I say, old lady, youremember me?"

  The old woman looked at him wistfully, and shook her head.

  "No, sir, no," she said.

  "Oh, yes, you do," he cried merrily. "Don't you remember washing mewhen I was a little chap in a sort of tin bath with spots on it, redspots, and the inside was white, with shiny places, where the paint hadcome off."

  The old woman gazed at him wildly.

  "You remember? The bottom curved up and as I stood on it, gave way, andthen came up again with a loud bump."

  She still gazed at him silently, while he seemed to be trying to evokeold memories.

  "Yes, to be sure, and you put me to bed in a great four-post affair,with heavy tassels and bobs round the top, and they swung to and fro,and--to be sure, yes, you set a great night-shade full of round holes onthe floor, with a tin cup of water in it, and a long thin rushlight inthe middle. Oh, yes, I remember seeing those holes reflected on thewall."

  "Yes, my dear," cried the old woman excitedly, "and it has never beenused since. No, Mr Hampton, sir, there are no long rushlights now."

  "Come, sir," cried the young man excitedly, "we are beginning to feelbottom after all."

  "But--but--" faltered the old woman, and then stopped.

  "Why, my dear old lady," cried the young man, taking her withered hands,"I can remember you holding my little palms together as I knelt on thebed, and teaching me to say a kind of prayer. Let me see, what was it--I've never heard it since--yes, that's it:

  "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, God bless the bed that I lay on, Four corners to my bed, Six angels round me spread, Two at head, two at feet, And two to guard me while I sleep."

  The poor old woman's jaw dropped, her eyes dilated, and her hands wentup, as the speaker went on, and as he ended the simple, pious olddoggerel, she burst into a hysterical fit of sobbing as she cried:

  "Yes, yes, yes, it is--it is him, sir. Oh, my dear, dear boy; and yougrowed to be such a fine young man. It is you, Master George. ThankGod! Thank God!"

  She flung her arms about his neck, and he held her to his breast,kissing her withered old brow as he patted her cheek gently, ignorant ofthe fact that Mrs Hampton and Gertrude had followed to the open door,and were waiting impatiently for the old woman's return.

  "Come, old granny," cried the young man, "this is more like coming home.Heaven bless all memories, say I."

  "Yes, my dear," sobbed the old woman, looking at him proudly, as shelaid her hands on his breast, and gazed in his face.

  "And--Ha, ha, ha! The sugar drops you made me, and--by Jove, yes.What's become of the old fruit-knife, and the white needle-case, andthat bit of sweet root you used to keep in that big old pocket. Don'tyou remember? You gave them to me to play with."

  The old woman uttered a little laugh full of childish delight as shebent sidewise, thrust one arm through an opening, raked about, and, asplayfully as if she were dealing with a child, brought out by degreesthe articles he had named, all preserved as old folk do preserve suchthings, and in addition a little square tin box, with grotesque headsstamped thereon.

  "But you don't recollect that?" she said playfully.

  "Yes, I do," he cried eagerly; "it's the one out of which I spilt allthe pins."

  "May we come in?" said Mrs Hampton, in her stern, harsh voice.

  "Yes, yes, ma'am," cried the old woman excitedly. "Miss Gertrude, mydear, oh, be quick! It's him; it's him; and me not to have known himdirectly I saw his face."

  A short, dry cough from the lawyer checked her, as, flushed andtrembling with excitement, Gertrude stood once more in the room.

  "Yes, yes, Denton," said the old lawyer; "this is all very goodevidence, but--"

  "Oh, it's him, sir! it's him! Miss Gertrude, we've all been dreadfullycheated. It's him; it's him!"

  "Mrs Denton, have the goodness to be silent," said Mr Hampton sternly.

  "Yes, yes, granny," said the young man, laying his arm caressingly onher shoulder; "be quiet now and wait. By-and-bye I hope to convince allhere as strongly as I have convinced you."

  "You shall have fair play, sir," said the lawyer gravely. "I regret tobe compelled to treat you as I do; and I regret also that I mustwithhold all confidence in what you have said. I can only say, sir,that you have impressed me most favourably."

  "And I'm sure _you_ never drink, my dear?" cried Denton.

  "Mrs Denton?"

  "I beg pardon, sir; it's only that I'm so glad to see his bonny faceagain."

  "I shall," continued the old lawyer--

  "Excuse me for interposing, sir," said the young man excitedly, for hehad flushed as he met Gertrude's eyes fixed wonderingly, and yet with apleased expression upon his. "You are a lawyer, and the ways of the laware said to be slow. The case is this--"

  He spoke at the old lawyer, but he looked at Gertrude the while.

  "I'm George Harrington, and during my illness the man I trusted has,believing me dead, come over and robbed me of my birthright. The firstthing to be done is to bring us face to face."

  "Yes," assented Mrs Hampton; "to bring them face to face."

  Gertrude drew a long breath, and it seemed as if a terrible load hadbeen lifted from her breast.

  "Without confronting the man who, I say, has imposed upon you all, andwhom I believe to be Dan Portway, I have no means of proving who I am--save by the tattooed marks."

  "Which he possesses, too," said the lawyer gravely.

  "What! Oh, there must be an end to this. He claims to be GeorgeHarrington. I, George Harrington, say that he is a liar and impostor.Now, then, I am ready to confront him. Where is this man?"

  There was a dead silence in the room.