CHAPTER II
"Here is a letter from Morris Thornton," said Silwood, shooting a keen,swift glance at his partner, but it escaped the other's notice.
Francis Eversleigh's thoughts, in fact, played pleasantly around his sonGilbert and Kitty Thornton, or if he had seen that look it might havestartled him out of the complacent musings which forecast a fortunateending only.
"Yes," he said, rather apathetically. For though the mention of the nameof Kitty's father chimed in agreeably with his reflections, the firmreceived communications frequently from Morris Thornton--which was onlynatural, as he was by far the most important client it possessed, andtherefore the arrival of this particular letter excited no specialinterest in his breast. "Is it more money for investment?" he inquired,tranquilly.
But Silwood did not answer the question. Instead of doing so, he scannedthe letter with those little, sharp eyes of his, while his smooth,pallid face was as void of expression as a block of stone.
"What does Morris say?" asked Eversleigh, after a pause.
"Did you see Miss Kitty this morning?" Silwood queried, ignoring theother's words; moreover, he spoke in such a tone as was significant ofthe relations between the two partners--it suggested the idea that hewas accustomed to direct Eversleigh, and not to be directed by him.
"Certainly, I saw her this morning," replied Eversleigh, beginning towonder a little.
"Did she have nothing to tell you about her father?"
"She did not allude to him at all."
"Do you happen to know if she received a letter from him this morning?"
"I'm pretty sure she did not; if she had, she would doubtless havementioned it," said Eversleigh, looking blankly at the questioner. "Butwhat are you driving at, Cooper?" he asked.
"Morris Thornton informs us in this letter that he is coming back toEngland----"
"Indeed!" cried Eversleigh, breaking in; "that's good news. I shall bevery glad to see him again."
And there was a pleasant smile on Eversleigh's face.
"Yes, he's coming home," Silwood went on; "but he doesn't state exactlywhen. I thought he probably would write Miss Kitty about the same timethat he wrote us, giving the precise date--say, of his sailing from NewYork; he generally comes by that route."
"I should think he has written her," said Francis Eversleigh, "but shehad not received a letter this morning up to the time of my leavingSurbiton, so far as I know. Did the letter to us come by the firstdelivery or the second? If it came by the latter, then most likely shewould get her letter, if there was one for her, by it also. But thatwould be after I had left Surbiton."
"That's it, I believe," observed Silwood, who had been examining thepostmarks on the envelope in which Thornton's letter had been enclosed;"our letter came by the second delivery. I am convinced that when youreturn to Surbiton you will find Miss Kitty has heard from her father.He will certainly have told her when to expect him, and we must get toknow the exact date he specifies; it is most important."
"It is certainly very odd," remarked Eversleigh, leisurely and withoutmuch curiosity, "that so business-like a man as Morris does not give apositive date either for leaving New York or for arriving here; but Idon't know, after all, that it is so particularly important. Theimportant thing, of course, is that he is coming back again, and I'mheartily pleased to hear it. He's been away a long time without aholiday at home--seven years, isn't it? Kitty was only fourteen,"continued Eversleigh, in a vein of reminiscence, "when he left her in mywife's charge, and now she is twenty-one. How happy the news will makethe child! Strange he doesn't mention a date--strange, as you say,Cooper. But can't you make a pretty fair guess at the approximate datefrom his letter? You haven't yet told me what he says in it. What doeshe say?"
Cooper Silwood glanced at the letter as if to refresh his memory, yet heknew its contents so perfectly that he could have repeated it word forword.
"He tells us," said Silwood, deliberately, "that the reason for hisreturning to England is the state of his health, which is now mostprecarious."
"Dear me!" interrupted Eversleigh, with lively concern.
"He says he is subject to exceedingly serious heart-trouble, and hasbeen warned by his doctor that he may not have long to live."
"Good Heavens!" ejaculated Eversleigh, his face suddenly grown grave.The friendship between him and Morris Thornton had lasted many years;indeed, they had been boys together at Rugby, and the sad tidings painedhim greatly. "Poor Morris!" he said, in a low, hushed voice; "howdreadful! I thought I should be so glad to see him once more, but--butthis is too terrible--too terrible!"
Silwood had been almost as much of a friend to the doomed man as hispartner, but he uttered no words of regret, far less of sorrow. WhileEversleigh was speaking, he turned away, with a slight gesture ofimpatience, and fixed his eyes on some shelves filled with law-books.
There was a short silence, and then Eversleigh, still in that small,hushed voice, asked if there was anything more in Thornton's letter.
"He intends to consult Sir Anthony Mortimer, the great heart specialist,but he has no real hope of recovery," replied Silwood, with anotherglance at the letter. "Then he goes on to say that he will devote thewhole of the time left him to putting all his affairs in thorough order,so that Miss Kitty will have no trouble in the future. He thanks us forthe care and judgment we have shown in investing the sums of money hehas from time to time remitted us from Canada, and, as a matter of form,he would like to check over the securities, certificates of shares,etc., we hold for him. He concludes by stating that when his agents haverealized the remainder of his estate in British Columbia the proceedswill be placed in our hands, and that he will leave instructions to thiseffect."
Though Eversleigh had asked for the information Silwood thus gave him,his mind was so stunned by the grave news concerning the condition ofhis friend that he hardly took in what his partner said. Silwood sawthat Eversleigh was not following him. He now spoke sharply andabruptly, so that Eversleigh was compelled to listen.
"Morris, I take it," said he, "wishes to make an examination into hisaffairs--an investigation, one might call it; _that_ is the meaning ofhis desire to check over the securities, certificates of shares, etc.,in our hands."
"Well, it's very natural in the circumstances," observed Eversleigh."Poor Morris! Poor fellow! To have fought all these long years for hisfortune--to have won--and now to be robbed of the fruits of thestruggle; it must be bitter--bitter! Such a fine fortune, too! Thanks toyour financial ability, Cooper," continued Eversleigh, with returningcomplacency, "his estate is in a highly satisfactory condition;everything is in apple-pie order; he will be delighted with youradmirable management. It's a great fortune," he added, meditatively."What we hold of it, Cooper, is something like a quarter of a million,is it not?"
"Yes, yes," assented Silwood, speaking rapidly. "Francis," he went on,his manner for the first time showing a trace of nervousness, his speecha touch of incoherence, "that's what I must talk to you about--there's avery good reason why I am so anxious as to the date of Morris Thornton'sarrival--something must be done at once."
"What do you mean, Cooper?" asked Eversleigh, his attention aroused; "Idon't understand you."
Silwood had up to this point been standing; he now seated himself andgazed fixedly at his partner, on whose face was to be seen someuneasiness but no great alarm--rather a vague wonder.
"Frank," said Silwood, steadily, and now master of himself, "prepareyourself--I have something to say--I have a confession to make."
As he heard these words, Eversleigh, with a sudden movement, pushed hischair back from the table. Fearful of what was coming, he stared atSilwood, his mild eyes big with surprise and terror.
"What is it?" he stammered, in increasing agitation--"what is it?" Andhe jumped up to his feet excitedly, exclaiming, "A confession to make!You! Am I going out of my senses? My God! What do you mean, Cooper?"
"What I mean is this," said Silwood, keeping his eyes fastenedsnake-like on Everslei
gh as if to magnetize him: "when Morris Thorntoncomes to look into his affairs and ask for the securities and so forthwe are supposed to hold----"
"Supposed to hold!" cried Eversleigh, in tremulous accents.
"When he asks us for his property he will discover----"
"No, no, no--never that, Cooper!" interrupted Eversleigh, at lastperceiving the other's drift.
"He will discover that his estate has vanished; it does not exist," saidSilwood.
"What!" ejaculated Eversleigh, staring wildly at his partner, and stillonly half believing his ears, still only half comprehending the sweepof the calamity in which he was involved.
"The truth is, Frank, that, unknown to you, I've been speculating on theStock Exchange, and I've lost everything, or practically everything. Ifwe were called upon to-day," Silwood went on in a hard, penetrating tonewhich forced conviction on the mind of the miserable man to whom hespoke, "to produce our clients' securities, bonds, shares and monies, weshould have very little to give them--the bulk has disappeared."
"We are defaulters," moaned Eversleigh, in accents of horror. And as hespoke, realizing and overwhelmed by the disaster that had overtaken him,the big, soft man seemed to shrivel and shrink up. With a pitiful sound,plaintive, appealing, like the cry of a hurt child, he covered his facewith his hands and sank into his seat.
"Some years ago," Silwood resumed, "I was tempted to speculate. Itappeared to be a certainty, but I lost. To gain back what I hadventured, I speculated again, with no better result. And this happenedover and over again. I did not always lose, or I might have becomediscouraged. So I kept hoping and hoping to right myself, but I onlysank deeper and deeper in the mire."
While Silwood was speaking, a dark painful flush overspread Eversleigh'sface, then the blood ebbed slowly away from it, and left the cheeksdeathly pale.
"I have put off telling you of our position," continued Silwood, in thesame measured, monotonous, curiously callous voice that he had spoken induring most of the interview, "but the early coming--he may be here anyday--of Morris Thornton compels me to state exactly how we stand. Yousee now why I am so anxious to know the date of his return to England."
Eversleigh slowly raised his head and looked at Silwood the reproach,anger, and rage he felt but could not express--he was so overcome, sodazed, that his tongue could not find words. He saw with appallingclearness, as in a flash of lightning, all that Silwood's disclosuremeant--dishonour, ruin, and the convict's cell for himself, the brand ofshame and infamy for his family. He had blindly trusted Silwood allthese years, and, though he himself had taken not a penny of theclients' funds, the law would hold him equally guilty with his partner.
"Something must be done," urged Silwood.
"There is only one thing to do," said Eversleigh, finding words at last;"we must make the truth known at once."
"No," said Silwood, emphatically; "that would be sheer folly; it will besoon enough to act in that way when we must. Besides, is there no schemethat we can devise to----"
"What scheme could be devised?"
"I have thought of one," said Silwood, and for several minutes he spoketo Eversleigh in low tones of persuasion, but Eversleigh refused toagree to what he proposed.
"No," said Eversleigh, finally; "I'll never consent to that--never, comewhat may."
"Think it over, Frank," Silwood pressed him--"think it over calmly; and,in any case, there is no need for precipitancy."
"If I did my duty," said Eversleigh, with a groan, "I should hand youand myself over to the police!"
"That would be madness," replied Silwood. "Think of it, man! You willnever be such a fool."
Eversleigh rose to his feet with a sudden pathetic dignity.
"Leave me!" he commanded Silwood; "I can bear no more."
And Cooper Silwood hesitated, then obeyed. When he was gone out of theroom, Eversleigh sat staring, staring at the door.
It seemed to him incredible, impossible, that a few brief minutes couldwork such havoc, such disaster, such irremediable ruin. Only a shorttime before, that fine young man, that handsome and debonair son of his,of whom he was so proud, had stood in this room, and had gone awaysmiling and hopeful; and now----
Eversleigh felt like one in a nightmare falling through immeasurabledepths.