Part 3 (1/2)

”Yes, poor fellow. My brother lived up to the mark, perhaps a little too much so; but who was to foresee such a calamity as this?”

After a little more discussion the party broke up,--the lawyer gathering together the papers and Mr. Wilton's will with a half sigh, as he said,--

”This is so much waste paper now. It is a melancholy story, and there are hundreds like it. Nothing but losses all round.”

Dr. Loftus Wilton strolled out into the grounds when he was left alone.

He would put off talking to the children till the next day, he thought, and there was no immediate necessity to do so. He was sorry for them; but he had a large family, and a hard fight to provide for them out of a professional income as a doctor in a fas.h.i.+onable watering-place, where much was required in the way of appearance, and people were valued very much by what they wore, and very little by what they were. The summer was always a flat time at Roxburgh, and hence Dr. Loftus Wilton could better afford the time away from his practice. ”There are good schools at Roxburgh for the small boys, and the two girls could get advantages,”

he thought; ”but then Anna will not trouble herself about poor Arthur's family. In fact, she would not care to have them there. Still, I must do my duty. She and Emily never did hit it off. Anna thought she patronized her; and now it would be the other way, poor things.” And then Dr.

Wilton lighted another cigar and paced up and down the garden, till at last he found himself on the wooden bridge, and in the stillness of the summer evening heard voices. He went on, and came upon the lake, on the bank of which three black figures were sitting--Salome and her two elder brothers. The opportunity was too good to be lost, and knocking the ashes off his cigar end, Dr. Wilton descended, saying,--

”The very people I wanted to see.--Here, Reginald, my boy, stop--Raymond, I mean.”

But Raymond, at the sight of his uncle, had suddenly left his seat, and, with his hands in his pockets, had disappeared in the tangled shrubbery which led away from the lake on the other side.

Reginald, however, stopped when his uncle called, and Salome, rising, said,--

”Did you want us, Uncle Loftus?” The pale, tear-stained face and little slight figure, in its black, sombre dress, touched Dr. Wilton.

”Yes, my dear; I came to talk with you and your eldest brother, as--well, as reasonable people. Sit down, Salome,” and he drew her towards him on the bench.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”'Sit down, Salome', and Dr. Wilton drew her toward him on the bench.” _Page 33._]

”You know, my dear,” he began, ”you know you will have to leave Maplestone at once,--the sooner for all of you the better, I think,--for the place is in the possession of your poor father's creditors. Now, my dear, listen to me.”

”I am listening, Uncle Loftus,” Salome said.

”I cannot do much for you, for I have a large family and many expenses; but I have been thinking Roxburgh would be a good place for you all to live in. The small boys could go to school, and--”

”I mean to teach Carl and Hans, Uncle Loftus. There are Raymond and Reginald. Reginald is not fourteen.”

”Oh, well, Reginald must have a year or two more, I suppose. But Raymond is well over sixteen; he must work for his living.”

”And there is Ada, Uncle Loftus,--she must go on with her lessons.”

”My dear, I am afraid _must_ is a word we shall have to leave alone now.

It is what you can afford out of your poor mother's income, not what you _must_ have. Now I want you to ask her what she thinks of my plan. If she approves it, I will look for a small furnished lodging, somewhere in Roxburgh, and I will speak to your Aunt Anna--only you must get your mother's mind about it first. I shall see her to-morrow before I leave, and you can prepare her for my proposition. You must take heart, my dear. Things may brighten.”

”Nothing can bring father back,” said Salome pa.s.sionately. ”I could bear anything if only I had him. To have worked so hard for us, and then to die ruined and broken-hearted!”

Dr. Wilton had nothing to say except, ”My dear, don't fret--pray don't.

From what I have observed as a medical man, I think your poor father's life would not have been a long one at the best. He had a slight attack, you know, two years ago, when I advised him to go abroad for a few weeks for entire rest. And this fearful blow was too much for him--brought on the last attack of paralysis, which proved fatal. Your brothers ought not to have gone off in that way.”

”I am here, Uncle Loftus,” Reginald said. ”I have heard every word; I am ready to do anything to help my mother,” he continued, drawing himself upright from the long gra.s.s where he had been lying full length.

”That's a brave little man,” Dr. Wilton said. ”I wish your brother may show the same good feeling.” And then he relighted his cigar, and went over the bridge again.