Part 19 (1/2)
”You can both speak right out; only be quick about it,” Thomas Savine told him.
”It is tolerably simple, and while I sympathize with you, I must not disguise the truth,” said the keen-eyed, lean-faced American. ”Though Mr. Savine will partly recover from this attack, his career as an active man is closed. His heart may hold out a few years longer, if you follow my instructions, or it may at any time fail him--if he worries over anything, it certainly will. In any case, he will never be strong again. Mental powers and physical vigor have been reduced to the lowest level by over-work and excessive, if intermittent, indulgence in what I may call a very devilish drug--a particular Chinese preparation of opium, not generally known even on this opium-consuming coast. Under its influence he may still be capable of spasmodic fits of energy, but while each dose will a.s.sist towards his dissolution, I dare not--at this stage--recommend complete deprivation.
I have arranged with your own adviser as to the best treatment known to modern science, but fear it cannot prove very efficacious. That's about all I can tell you in general terms, gentlemen.”
”It is worse than I feared,” said Thomas Savine, leaning forward in his chair, with his elbows on the table, and his chin in his hands. Before the two doctors withdrew, the Canadian said:
”He is anxious to see Mr. Thurston, and in an hour or so it could do no harm. I will rejoin you shortly, Mr. Savine.”
The door closed behind them, and Thomas Savine looked straight at Thurston as he observed: ”I know little about his business, but shall have to look into it for his daughter's sake. You will help me?”
”Yes,” replied Geoffrey. ”It seems out of place now, but I cannot honestly co-operate with you without mentioning a conditional promise your brother made to me. Perhaps you can guess it.”
”I can,” said Savine, stretching out his hand. ”I won't say that I hadn't thought Helen might have chosen among the highest in the Dominion just because it wouldn't be true, but you'll have my good wishes if you will see my poor brother through his immediate difficulties at least. You had Mrs. Savine's approval long ago.”
After a pause, he added, ”There is one part of Julius's trouble Helen must never know.”
The two men's fingers met in a grip that was more eloquent than many protestations, and Geoffrey went out into the moaning wind and, bareheaded, paced to and fro until he was summoned to the sick man's room. The few days that had pa.s.sed since he had seen his employer had set their mark upon Savine. The sick man lay in his plainly-furnished room. With bloodless lips, drawn face, and curiously-glazed eyes, he was strangely different from his usual self, but he looked up with an attempt at his characteristic smile as Geoffrey approached. At a signal, the nurse slipped away.
”I asked them to tell you, so you might know the kind of man I am,”
said Savine. ”You have got to exercise that partners.h.i.+p option one way or another right now. It is not too late to back out, and I wouldn't blame you.”
”I should blame myself to my last day if I did, sir,” answered Geoffrey, trying to hide the shock he felt, and Savine beckoned him nearer.
”It's a big thing you are going into, but you'll do it with both eyes wide open,” he declared. ”For the past few years Julius Savine has been a shadow, and an empty name, and his affairs are mixed considerably. Reckless contracts taken with a muddled brain and speculation to make up the losses, have, between them, resulted in chaos. I'm too sick to value what I own, and no accountant can. I ran things myself too long, and no one was fit to take hold when I slackened my grip. But there's still the business, and there's still the name, and the one man in this province I can trust them to is you.
I should have let go before, but I was greedy--greedy for my daughter's sake.”
”It is comprehensible.” Geoffrey spoke with conviction. ”So far as I can serve you, you can command me.”
”I know it,” was the answer. ”What's more, I feel it in me that you will not lose by it. Lord, how hard it is, but there's no use whining when brought up sharp by one's own folly. But see here, Geoffrey Thurston, if Helen will take you willingly I can trust her to you; but if, when I go under, she looks beyond you, and you attempt to trade upon her grat.i.tude or her aunt's favor, my curse will follow you.
Besides, if I know Helen Savine, she will be able to repay you full measure should you win her so.”
For just a moment the old flame of quick anger burned in Geoffrey's eyes. Then he responded.
”I regret you even imagine I could take an dishonorable advantage of your daughter. G.o.d forbid that I should ever bring sorrow upon Miss Savine. All I ask is a fair field and the right to help her according to her need.”
”Forgive me!” returned Savine. ”Of late I have grown scared about her future. I believe you, Thurston; I can't say more. I felt the more sure of you when you told me straight out about what was born in you.
Lord, how I envied you! The man who can stand those devils off can do most anything. It was when my wife died they got their claws on me. I was trying to forget my troubles by doing three men's work, but you can't fool with nature, and I'd done it too long already. Anyway, when I couldn't eat or sleep, they had their opportunity. At first they made my brain work quicker, but soon after I fell in with you I knew that, unless he had a good man beside him, Savine's game was over. But I wouldn't be beaten. I was holding on for Helen's sake to leave her a fortune and a name.
”All this is getting monotonous to you but let me finish when I can.”
Savine waited a moment to regain his breath. ”I cheated the nurse and doctor to-day, and I'll be very like a dead man to-morrow. You must go down to my offices and overhaul everything; then come right back and we'll see if we can make a deal. I'll have my proposition fixed up straight and square, but this is the gist of it. While doing your best for your own advantage, hold Julius Savine's name clean before the world, win the most possible for Helen out of the wreck, and rush through the reclamation scheme--which is the key to all.”
”As you said--it's a big undertaking, but I'll do my best,” began Geoffrey, but Savine checked him.
”Go down and see what you make of things. Maybe the sight of them will choke you off. I'll take no other answer. Send Tom to me,” he commanded.
It was the next day when Geoffrey had an interview with Helen, who sent for him. She was standing beside a window when he came in. She looked tall in a long somber-tinted dress which emphasized the whiteness of her full round throat and the pallor of her face. The faint, olive coloring of her skin had faded; there were shadows about her eyes. At the first glance Geoffrey's heart went out towards her. It was evident the verdict of the physicians had been a heavy shock, but he fancied that she was ready to meet the inevitable with undiminished courage.
Still, her fingers were cold when, for a moment, they touched his own.