Part 5 (2/2)
d.i.c.k smiled.
”Unfortunately, I'm not keen on sailing; and I must say that living on board a small, damp boat gets monotonous. Now, if you would land me where one could get a game of cards in the evening, or--”
”Where they had a bar?”
”Precisely. A bar with a fetching girl in it.”
”It wouldn't work,” said Andrew firmly. ”I remember what happened when I landed you at Douglas--and a poaching escapade with some Creetown quarrymen on the same cruise. You have a talent for getting into trouble. Well, if you won't come with me, I'll have to make Appleyard my headquarters for a time.”
”I hope you will,” d.i.c.k replied with feeling. ”Has it ever struck you that Appleyard might be yours?”
Andrew's face grew stern.
”Appleyard belongs to you and, what's more, you belong to it. It's your duty to pull yourself together and take care of the estate, to marry and bring up your children to be a credit to your name. Instead, you're dragging it in the dirt, making shabby betting men and turf sharpers your friends, and, I'm half afraid, getting into speculative money-lenders' hands.”
d.i.c.k winced and Andrew saw that his random shot had scored.
”If you're in difficulties, I might raise a hundred pounds or so,” he went on. ”If, as I suspect, that isn't half enough, we'll go and see Mackellar before you get in too deep.”
Mackellar was the acting executor of d.i.c.k's father's will.
”I'll think over it,” d.i.c.k answered; and there was something that puzzled Andrew in his expression.
”Very well. Did you tell Staffer what the doctor said?”
”I wasn't quite as frank with him as I've been with you; one isn't proud of being a lame duck. Still, I imagine he has a pretty accurate notion of how things are with me.”
”Then he ought to pull you up; he has the power.”
”That's doubtful. I don't think you're quite fair to Staffer. I might have got a stepfather of a very different kind.”
”It might have been better if you had,” Andrew dryly rejoined.
d.i.c.k flushed.
”I wish you'd leave Staffer alone; I won't have him run down.”
”I didn't mean to run him down,” Andrew said.
”Well, perhaps you didn't consciously. You'd try to conquer your prejudices, but you're antagonistic.”
Andrew gave d.i.c.k a shrewd glance.
”I wonder how Staffer feels about me?” he ventured.
”You're not likely to find out,” d.i.c.k answered with a laugh. ”I suppose he has his failings, but he never gives himself away.”
When Andrew went to his room that night he sat beside his window for a long time, with a thoughtful frown. The task he had undertaken would not be an easy one.
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