CHAPTER XXX
JACINTA CAPITULATES
The _Carsegarry_ was not a fast vessel. Like most of the ocean trampspecies, she had been built to carry the largest possible cargo on avery moderate consumption of coal, and speed was a secondaryconsideration. She had also been in the warmer seas for some time, withthe result that every plate beneath her water-line was foul, and as shefell in with strong northwest breezes, she was an unusually long whileon the way to Liverpool. Austin was thus not astonished to find a letterfrom Jefferson, written four or five days after he left Las Palmas,waiting him at Farquhar's brokers, which made it evident that hiscomrade had got to work again.
He smiled a trifle grimly as he read it, for he fancied that itsoptimistic tone had cost Jefferson--who alluded to his apprehensionsabout his arm very briefly--an effort, for the fact that he was asked tocable as soon as he had seen a doctor appeared significant. The rest ofthe letter concerned financial affairs.
"We have had a rough preliminary survey, and the result is distinctlyencouraging," he read. "After making a few temporary repairs I expect tobring her on to Liverpool, and there is every reason to believe we candispose of her for a good round sum. I could have got AL10,000, ex-cargo,as she lies here. Palm oil, it also appears, is scarce and dear, at upto AL30 the ton, from which it seems to me that your share shouldapproximate AL7,000. I have to mention that Brown is on his way toLiverpool and wants you to communicate with him at the addressenclosed."
This was satisfactory as far as it went. The only trouble was thatAustin was very uncertain whether he would live to spend what he had sohardly earned. His arm had become exceedingly painful during the voyage,and after a consultation with the ship broker he telephoned an eminentspecialist.
"I will expect you at two o'clock," the doctor said. "If it appearsadvisable, we can, of course, avail ourselves, as you suggest, of anyviews the Tropical Disease men may favour us with. In the meanwhile, Iwill arrange for a gentleman who has made considerable progress insimilar researches to meet you."
Austin went out of the broker's office with three hours to spare, andwandered aimlessly about the city in a state of tense suspense. He feltthat he could not sit still, and in any case he was dubious as towhether he was warranted in going back to the hotel. Indeed, he wonderedwhether he had any right to be at large at all, and after a while hungabout the wharves, where there was less chance of any one coming intoperilous contact with him. He had never spent such a morning in hislife, and decided that what he had done and borne in Africa was notworth mention by comparison. Still, the hours dragged by, and at last heset out for the specialists' surgery without daring to wonder what theresult would be, and found two gentlemen awaiting him there. One ofthem, who had grey hair and very keen eyes, motioned him to a chair.
"Now," he said, "before we proceed to an examination it might be betterif you told us concisely what happened to you in Africa."
Austin, who sat down, did so, and wondered a little that he was able tospeak coherently and quietly, for every nerve in him seemed tinglingwith tense anxiety. Then the man with the grey hair asked him a fewterse questions about the negro's appearance, and when he had describedit as well as he could remember, glanced at his companion.
"Do you recognise the symptoms?" he said.
"No," said the other man, who was younger. "There are one or twocomplaints not unusual in that country which appear to somewhat resembleit, but they are seldom so virulent. I would like to talk to Mr. Austinabout it later, but in the meanwhile----"
"Exactly," and the specialist made a little gesture. "Mr. Austin is, nodoubt, anxious to hear our opinion. If you will permit me----"
He drew the jacket gently over Austin's swollen arm, and the latter, whoheld it out, bare to the shoulder, felt the perspiration start from himas he watched the doctors bend over the limb. They said nothing for aspace of seconds, and Austin fancied he would remember that time whilehe lived. Then, to his astonishment, the grey-haired man glanced at hiscompanion with a little smile.
"I fancy this case has lost its special interest to you?" he said.
The other man nodded. "It has," he said. "Our views evidently coincide."
"I would venture to point out that any decision you may have arrived atis, naturally, of considerable importance to me," said Austin, a triflesharply.
The specialist smiled again. "I expect you will be pleased to hear thatit is not a peculiarly African disease you are suffering from. It is, infact, no more than a by no means infrequent form of blood poisoning."
Austin gasped, and felt his heart beat furiously from relief, and thespecialist waited a moment or two before he went on. "It is evident thatyou had several lacerations on your lower arm--made by corroded iron, orsomething of the kind."
"I tore the skin rather frequently working cargo, and when the scars hadpartly healed opened up rather a nasty wound by falling on the steamer'srail."
"Exactly. The result is not astonishing in the case of a man weakened byfever who has attempted to work harder than is advisable in a countrylike the one you mention. In the meanwhile, this arm is going to giveyou trouble, and I should recommend you to go into the private ward ofthe ---- hospital. I will telephone them if that would suit you?"
Austin said he placed himself in the doctor's hands, and half an hourlater was being driven to the hospital, where the other man, who wasapparently anxious to know more about the negro, asked permission tovisit him. He also came in due time, but, so far as Austin couldascertain, never quite decided what the negro was suffering from, thoughhe admitted that there were African troubles of the kind which wereinfectious.
In the meanwhile, Austin realised how much he needed rest, and how heavythe strain he had borne had been. He did not even want to read, and waslanguidly content to sit still and think of nothing, until one day, whenit was evident that his arm was healing, a nurse came in to announce avisitor.
"If it's that doctor man, you can tell him I can't remember anythingmore about the nigger, and don't mean to try," he said.
The nurse laughed. "It isn't," she said. "It's a little gentleman withgold-rimmed spectacles."
Austin started. "Ah!" he said. "Will you please tell them to send himin?"
In a few more minutes Brown came in, and, sitting down, shook his headreproachfully.
"You have really given your friends a good deal of anxiety, and I wasalmost afraid I would have to go back without learning what had becomeof you," he said. "Still, though I know the thing isn't, fortunately,what you thought it was, the first question is, how are you?"
"Recovering," said Austin, with a smile. "I understand that my arm willbe all right again very shortly. It was a very usual trouble. As youseem to recognise, I let my imagination run away with me."
"I am very pleased to hear it. Why didn't you cable?"
"I understood that you had left Las Palmas, and Jefferson was on thepoint of doing so. I could scarcely suppose there was any one else whocared enough about what happened to me to make it necessary."
Brown looked at him with a curious little smile which Austin founddisconcerting. "There are Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel. I almost thinkJacinta would have liked to know that you and Jefferson were under amisapprehension, too. Still, that is, perhaps, not very important, afterall. I suppose Jefferson told you that he expects to get a good deal forthe _Cumbria_ and her cargo?"
"I was pleased to hear that my share might amount to AL7,000."
Brown took off his glasses and held them in one hand, which, as Austinknew, was a trick of his when he had anything on his mind.
"I am going to take a liberty," he said. "Have you decided yet what youwill do with it?"
"No. That was one of the points I meant to wait a little beforegrappling with."
"Well," said Brown, reflectively, "there is something I could suggest,but I would like to ask another question." He stopped a moment, andtapped the palm of one hand with his glasses. "Why did you go out toAfrica?"
"Wouldn't the chance of winnin
g AL5,000, which was what Jeffersonestimated my share would be, appear a sufficient reason?"
"No," said Brown drily. "Not to me. When he first made you the offer youwouldn't go."
"I went, however, when I heard that he was sick. It was then a verynatural thing. That ought to satisfy you."
"I scarcely think it does."
"Then, if I had any other reasons, though I am not exactly admitting it,they concern myself alone."
Brown made a little gesture. "Well," he said, "I don't suppose itmatters in the meanwhile. You have once or twice asked my advice, andnow you have some AL7,000, and, I understand, don't know how to lay itout to the best advantage."
"Exactly. I don't feel the least desire to undertake the heaving off ofany more steamers."
Brown leaned forward, and tapped his hand with the glasses. "Anenterprising man could do a good deal with AL7,000. It would, forexample, buy him, we'll call it, a third share in a certain ratherprofitable fruit and wine business in Las Palmas. That is, of course, onthe understanding that he devoted his whole time and energy to it."
Austin gazed at him in blank astonishment for a moment or two, and thena red flush crept into his face.
"I fancy a third share in the business you are evidently alluding towould be worth a good deal more than that," he said.
"Probably," said Brown, with a trace of dryness. "That is, I might getmore for it, but I have no intention of offering it to everybody. Iwould like to ask your careful attention for a minute or two, Mr.Austin."
He stopped a moment, and his tone had changed when he proceeded. "Thereis nothing to be gained by hiding the fact that I am getting old, and Ibegin to feel that I would like to take my life a little more easily,"he said. "Indeed, I want somebody I could have confidence in to do thehardest work for me. I made the business--and I am a little proud of it.It would not please me to let go of it altogether--and, as a matter offact, I have been warned that if I retired to England, the climate wouldprobably shorten my life for me. You are, perhaps, aware that I came outto the Canaries originally because my constitution is not an excellentone."
He stopped again, and added, with a certain significance: "I have,however, been told that my ailments are not likely to prove hereditary.Well, as I mentioned, I do not want to give the business up entirely,and it would be a matter of grief to me to see it go to pieces in thehands of an incompetent manager. That is why I have made you the offer."
Austin met his gaze steadily, though the flush was still in his face. "Iscarcely think anybody would call me an enterprising business man, thatis, at least, from the conventional English point of view."
Brown chuckled softly. "I believe you know as well as I do that a man ofthat kind would not be of the least use in Spain. They would drive himcrazy, and he would probably have insulted half his clients pastforgiveness before he had been a month among them. Now, you understandthe Spaniards, and, what is as much to the purpose, they seem to likeyou."
Austin sat still, looking at him, and at last he saw that Brown'sreserve was breaking down. His hands seemed to be trembling a little,and there were other signs of anxiety about him.
"I don't know why you have made me that offer, sir," he said. "Theremust be plenty of men more fitted to be the recipient of it."
"It is, at least, wholly unconditional," and Brown made a little gesturethat curiously became him. "I may say that I had already satisfiedmyself about you, or I should never have made it."
"Then," said Austin, a trifle hoarsely, "I can only thank you--andendeavour to give you no cause for being sorry afterwards that you fixedon me."
They had a little more to say, but the nurse appeared during the courseof it and informed Brown that the surgeon was coming to dress Austin'sarm.
"Just a minute," said the latter. "Will you be kind enough to pass methat pad and pencil?"
She gave it to him, and he scribbled hastily, and then tore off thesheet and handed it to Brown.
"I wonder if that message meets with your approval, sir?" he said.
Brown put on his glasses, and smiled as he read: "Miss Brown,Casa-Brown, Las Palmas. Ran away without a cause. Almost well. May Icome back as your father's partner?"
Brown chuckled softly, though there was a curious and somewhat unusualgentleness in his eyes.
"It has my full approbation, though, considering the cable company'scharges, isn't it a trifle loquacious?"
"Does that matter?" asked Austin.
Brown laughed, and grasped the hand he held out. "No," he said, "I don'tsuppose it does. After all, these things only happen once in the averagelifetime. Well, I must evidently go now, but I will come back to seewhat Jacinta says to-morrow."
He went out, and that night Austin got Jacinta's answer.
"Come!" was all it said, but Austin was well content, and, though he wasnot a very sentimental man, went to sleep with the message beneath hispillow.
It was, however, rather more than three weeks later when, as ayellow-funnelled mailboat slid into Las Palmas harbour, Austin, leaningdown from her rail, saw Jacinta and Mrs. Hatherly in one of the crowdingboats below. The little lady discreetly remained where she was, and whenJacinta came up the ladder Austin met her at the head of it. She flasheda swift glance into his face, and then for a moment turned hers aside.
"Ah!" she said, "you have forgotten what I said to you, and you arereally well again?"
Austin laughed, a quiet, exultant laugh. "I was never particularly ill,but you know all that, and we have ever so much more pleasant things totalk about," he said. "In the meanwhile, I fancy we are blocking up thegangway."
Holding the hand she had given him, he drew her behind the deck-housemasterfully, and looked down on her with a little smile.
"I almost think you are pleased to see me back," he said.
"Ah!" said Jacinta, "if you only knew what the past few weeks have costme."
Austin, laying both hands on her shoulders, stooped and kissed hertwice. "That was worth going to Africa for, and if Jefferson had onlybought the _Cumbria_ sooner I would have ventured to do as much ever solong ago."
There was apparently nobody else on that side of the deck-house, andJacinta, who did not shake his grasp off, looked up at him with shiningeyes.
"You are quite sure of that?" she said.
"The wish to do so was almost irresistible the first time I saw you. Ithas been growing stronger ever since."
Jacinta laughed softly, though the crimson was in her cheeks. "Still,you would have mastered it. You were always discreet, you know, and thatwas why at last I--who have hitherto told all my friends what they oughtto do--had to let some one else make it clear how much I wanted you.Now, you are going to think very little of me after that?"
"My dear," said Austin, "you know there was only one thing which couldhave kept me away from you."
"As if that mattered," and Jacinta laughed scornfully. "Now, stoop alittle, though, perhaps, I shouldn't tell you, and if you hadn't gone toAfrica, of course, I shouldn't have done it. I knew when you went awayhow badly I wanted you--and I would have done anything to bring youback, however much it cost me."
A couple of seamen carrying baggage appeared from behind the deck-housejust then, which naturally cut short their confidences, and Austin madehis way with Jacinta's hand upon his arm towards the boat. He was atrifle bewildered, as well as exultant, for this was quite a newJacinta, one, in fact, he had never encountered before. She gave himanother proof of it when he made an observation that afforded her theopening as they were rowed across the harbour.
"No," she said, quite disregarding Mrs. Hatherly, "I am not going togive you any advice or instructions now you belong to me. After managingeverybody else's affairs successfully for ever so long I made adeplorable mess of my own, you see."
"Then what am I to do when we have difficulties to contend with?" saidAustin. "We may have a few now and then."
"You," said Jacinta sweetly, "will have to get over them. I know you cando that now, and I am just going to wat
ch you and be pleased witheverything. Isn't that the correct attitude, Mrs. Hatherly?"
The little lady beamed upon them both. "It is rather an old-fashionedone, my dear," she said. "Still, I am far from sure that it doesn't workout as well as the one occasionally adopted by young women now."
THE END.