CHAPTER IX.
While riding back to Hanley Hall, Mr. Stafford imparted to Martin someinformation which changed the aspect of the trip for the latter, fromdismal recklessness to hopeful anxiety--his anxiety being to get toHanley Hall as soon as possible.
They had the compartment to themselves, and Mr. Stafford remarked thedismal, down-hearted expression of Martin's countenance.
"I'm afraid, my boy," he said, quizzically, "you need some of the sametonic as is helping Fred."
"What is that?"
"A good, jolly, pretty girl!"
Martin's gloom became intensified, and more to keep the conversationgoing than anything else, his companion continued:
"I don't suppose you are aware Fred has become engaged to be marriedsince his return. Lucky dog! He's got one of the best, jolliest andsweetest girls in Lancashire! It was all Kate's work though, for we knewnothing about it until she arrived." (Here Martin became deeplyinterested, and beamed on the speaker something after the manner of thesun bursting from behind a cloud.) "It seems they were a good deal toeach other for some time before he went to Australia, but theyquarrelled and that sent him off. She was inclined to flirt a bit, andhe was inclined to be jealous. But you should see them now! I'll behanged if it don't make me feel young again just to see it! Of course, Idon't pretend to see anything, and you must not pretend to know anythinguntil you are told."
Martin readily agreed to the restriction placed upon him, and for thebalance of their journey Mr. Stafford had no reason to complain of hiscompanionship. Indeed, the old gentleman could not understand the suddentransformation which had taken place, and on their arrival at HanleyHall both were in high spirits.
They found Carden in the drawing-room, surrounded by a half dozenladies, to whom he had evidently been narrating some deeply interestingtale, for their entrance was not noticed until they had almost reachedthe group sitting in a half circle about his chair. He, sitting facingthe door, had of course seen them, but went on for a minute or two.Stopping suddenly he said, pointing at Martin:
"And there, ladies, stands the hero of the occasion!"
There was a general turning of heads instantly. Mr. Stafford roared withlaughter, while Martin actually blushed--which caused the old gentlemanrenewed merriment as he exclaimed:
"Come, come, Fred! This is really too bad! Spare the hero's blushes!"
Everybody joined in the laugh this time--even Martin himself--which putall on a more friendly footing than an hours ordinary conversation wouldhave done.
Among the ladies to whom Martin was introduced was a Miss Fleming--the"tonic." Where he had seen her before he could not recall, but that hehad seen her Martin felt positive. At length his curiosity got thebetter of him and as he was seated beside her at the table that eveninghe asked,
"Miss Fleming, I have been puzzling myself all the afternoon about you.I seem to recall your face, but cannot recall where I last saw it. Doyou remember ever meeting me?"
Miss Fleming, looked at him in surprise, looked at him reflectively,tried to look wise, and finally shook her pretty head negatively. No,she had not seen him before--that is, she could not remember it if shehad--"But then, one meets so many during season, you know, Mr. Martin."
Mr. Martin did not know anything much about "the season," but he didknow Miss Fleming's face was in some way familiar.
On her part, Miss Fleming was delighted to have "the hero of theoccasion" for a neighbor, and plied him with questions--"just to drawhim out," as she explained confidentially to the other ladies in thedrawing-room while awaiting the gentlemen. Her questions were put withsuch a pretty show of shrewdness that Martin could not refrain fromsmiling, and catching him once she said, poutingly:
"Now, if you aren't mean! Here Fred's been saying all sorts of nicethings about you, and I have been thinking--never mind what, and youhave been laughing at me all the time!"
This rebuke was audible only to the person addressed, but the wholetable--heard her next remark.
"Why, Mr. Martin! You've got Kate's ring!" Then glancing at Kate'shand--she sat just opposite; "Oh! I beg your pardon, Mr. Martin! Butit's like it, anyhow!"
There was a general smile at her confusion, and to cover it Martin saidthere was quite a history attached to the ring. He had not seen Kate'sring, and when Miss Fleming mentioned it Kate's hand was beneath thelevel of the table.
"History!" echoed the vivacious little sprite. "Then I'll forgive youfor laughing at me, if you will promise to tell me all about it."
Martin laughingly promised, and forgot all about it until the gentlemenjoined the ladies in the drawing-room. Once there, however, he foundthat not only Miss Fleming, but all the rest of the ladies were waitingfor the story, and surrounded him immediately on his entering the room.The other gentlemen laughed at his predicament and Carden advised him tobegin at once.
"You might as well go ahead, Dick," he said "if Jennie--Miss Flemingwants a thing, she always wants it bad, and generally gets it, too."
"Very well--I suppose I might as well surrender. Now pay strictattention, Miss Fleming.
"Well, some twenty years ago there died a New York merchant--a man ofgreat wealth. His wife had died a year previous and to his son, a childof three or four, he left his entire property. At the time of his death,Mr. Hall was living in the country. He had retired from business a fewyears before and the people in the vicinity knew very little about himor his affairs. Therefore, when his brother-in-law, who was appointedexecutor under the will, disposed of the property and carried off theboy Richard, no one was enough interested to inquire what became of him.
"The brother-in-law, whose name was Hardy, had a son of about the sameage as the boy Richard Hall, and from the day he left his country homeyoung Hall was taught to call himself Hardy, while young Hardy, then aninnocent party to the scheme, was taught to call himself Hall.
"In the envelope containing the will was a letter from Mr. Hall to hisson which was not to be opened until he had attained the age ofeighteen. This, of course, the unscrupulous executor opened, and foundit to be a request from the father that the son on attaining hismajority should fulfill a compact made with his former partner, who hadremoved to England relating to the marriage of----"
As may be readily imagined, Mr. Stafford was growing somewhat interestedby this time. At this point he could restrain himself no longer.
"Mr. Martin!" he exclaimed. "Are you--but hang it! You can't beinventing! Where the deuce did you learn all this?"
Martin and Carden and the friends of the Stafford's stared at him insurprise. Martin, however, quickly noted that neither Mrs. Stafford norKate did, although both looked a little excited.
"The story is a short one, Mr. Stafford, and if you wait a minute or twolonger you will know it all."
"Oh, yes! Please, Mr. Stafford! Don't spoil it! Go on, Mr. Martin!"
Notwithstanding his excitement, Mr. Stafford could not help laughing atJennie's appeal, and nodded to Martin to go on.
"I was saying this letter related to the marriage of the boy RichardHall and the daughter of his father's former partner. Well, the boy didnot seem to take kindly to his new name, and Hardy finally shipped himto his brother in the West, where he was so ill-used that at the age offifteen he ran away and grew to manhood among cowboys and miners. He hada good memory, and retained a lively recollection of his uncle'sendeavors to change his identity, and at the age of twenty-one returnedto New York. Here chance favored him for in some way--how I cannottell--he came across his uncle, now an old man in abject poverty. Hisson, of whose whereabouts he knew nothing, had squandered every dollarof the large estate left by Mr. Hall. He gave young Hall all he hadremaining, and that was the letter relating to the marriage compact.Leaving New York, Hall went to California, where I met him and fromwhence we traveled to Australia, where we met George Carden, Fred'suncle, who took a great fancy to Hall. In return Hall confided to Mr.Carden his history and also his papers. Mr. Carden was unknown to me atthat time, and as I was doing well on
my claim I did not join them whenthey moved further up the river. Here Hall met his death at the hands ofa ruffian who preyed on the miners. The trouble occurred one Sunday, andI happened to come along just then, being on my way to visit my twofriends, and I thus came to hear Hall's story, Mr. Stafford, for helived for some time after he was shot."
"But the man who shot him died immediately after the shooting--didn'the, Dick?"
It was Carden who spoke, and even the women could understand his wordsas they saw the grim smile and the cruel expression of Martin's usuallycalm countenance as he replied:
"Yes, I believe he died just one minute after."
The ladies shuddered and moved closer together.
"After Hall's death," continued Martin, "Old Carden, as he was called,lived alone and away from the other miners. It was current report in thecamp that the 'old man' was rich. It was known that he owned valuableproperty in and about Melbourne and Sydney and Hall when dying told meto warn him that it was known that he carried L20,000 worth of diamondsin a belt about his waist. I did so, but without saving him. He wasfound dead shortly after, and the belt and everything else, except a fewsmall bags of dust, was gone."
Martin stopped as though through with his story, but Miss Flemingrecalled him with:
"But you haven't said a word about the ring, Mr. Martin!"
"Oh, yes! I had forgotten! Hall gave me the ring and requested me tofind the lady with its mate and inform her family of the circumstancesof his death. He left her what little he had made--a matter of two orthree thousand pounds, which I am still waiting to give her, but as hername and all other information regarding her was contained in the letterstolen with Carden's papers, I am still looking for her."