Mr. Mamble, whose resilient constitution Gilly could not but envy, had very soon recovered from his malaise, and had got up from his bed on the previous evening in time to work his way steadily through two glazed veal olives, a collop of beef, part of a leg of pork, two helpings of ratafia pudding, and a felly. He told Gilly, after this repast, that he was now in bang-up form; and after selecting two apples from a dish on the side-table, which he set aside to be consumed when pangs or hunger should attack him later in the evening, he settled down before the fire, and poured forth a jumbled history of his life and its trials to his sympathetic host. From this recital Gilly gathered that his mother had died when he was still in short-coats, and that his remaining parent, who seemed to have prospered exceedingly in his business, had set his heart and his considerable energy on to the task of turning his heir into an out-and-out gentleman. To this end he had engaged Mr. Snape, whose unenviable duty it was to instruct Tom in every branch of a gentleman’s education, to keep him out of mischief and low company, and to guard him from the chances of chills or infection. Mr. Snape appeared to be a joyless individual, whom the Duke found no difficulty at all in disliking. He very soon perceived that Tom’s lot was worse than his own had been, for whereas Lord Lionel was naturally untroubled by considerations of gentility, and had been quite as determined that his nephew should learn to clean his own guns, saddle and bridle his horses (and even shoe them), carve joints, and protect himself with his fists, as that he should acquire a proper knowledge of the Humanities, Mr. Mamble was morbidly anxious that Tom should engage on no occupation which might lead supercilious persons to suppose that he was not born into the haut ton. Consequently, poor Tom, himself unaffected by social ambitions, had been fenced in on all sides, his natural bents frowned upon, and his overflowing spirits curbed. The Duke, listening to him, felt real pity stir his heart, and thought that if he could lighten the lot of this oddly likeable boy he would have performed the first meritorious action of his life. Whatever the outcome of his interview with Mr. Liversedge, he would, he supposed, be journeying back to London within two days. If the zealous Mr. Snape had not by that time tracked his pupil down, he would take him to London, and from Sale House write a letter to Mr. Mamble, informing him that, having picked Tom up on the road, he had carried him to town, and would render him up to his parent whenever that busy gentleman could spare the time to visit the Metropolis. The Duke knew the world well enough to be sure that the knowledge that his son had fallen into noble company would suffice to allay Mr. Mamble’s wrath; and he had little doubt that if he chose to put himself to the trouble of doing it he could persuade Mr. Mamble to dismiss Mr. Snape, and send his son to school. If, on the other hand, Mr. Snape arrived in Baldock before he had left for London, the Duke, who had never made the least push to deal with his own tutor, anticipated no difficulty in dealing with Tom’s. As for the desirability of setting an anxious parent’s mind at rest without loss of time, he dismissed this without compunction. It would ill become him, he thought, to waste any consideration on Tom’s father when he had none for his own far more estimable uncle. If Lord Lionel stood in need of a lesson, so, in greater measure, did Mr. Mamble, and he should have it. Meanwhile, he would keep Tom safely out of harm’s way—and heaven alone knew what harm Tom would plunge into if allowed to wander about the countryside alone and gratify his longing to see all the sights of London.
Tom, whose mind knew no half-shades, had swiftly passed from suspicion of his benefactor to wholehearted admiration for him. His scruples having been relieved by the Duke’s promise to render a strict account of any financial transaction incurred on his behalf to his father, he accepted a guinea to spend with alacrity, and assured the Duke of his ability to amuse himself while he was absent on his own affairs.
Accordingly, the Duke set out once more on his quest of the Bird in Hand, choosing this time to go by the pike-road as far as to the cross-road leading to Shefford. He was obliged to traverse some distance down a rough lane, but a little way beyond the village of Arlesey the Bird in Hand came into sight, a solitary alehouse standing amongst some tumbledown outhouses and barns, and displaying a weather-beaten and much obliterated sign on two rusty chains which creaked when the wind swayed them. The house was a small one, and might from its situation have been supposed to have catered merely for farm-labourers. It had a neglected appearance, but an impression that it was slightly sinister the Duke attributed to his imagination. He drew up, and alighted from the gig, tethering the cob to a post. At this hour of the day there were no signs of life about the inn, and when he reached the door, and entered the tap-room into which it led, he found no one there. The room was small, and foetid, with the fumes of stale smoke from countless clay pipes, and the droppings of gin and ale. The Duke’s nostrils curled fastidiously, and he walked over to an inner door, and pushed it open, calling: “House! house!”
After a prolonged pause, a spare individual in a plush waistcoat shining with grease shuffled out from the nether regions of the hostelry, and stood staring at the Duke with his mouth open and his watery eyes popping out of their sockets. Several teeth were missing from his jaw, and a broken nose added nothing to the comeliness of his face. The sight of a well-dressed stranger within the precincts of the inn appeared to bereave him of all power of speech.
“Good afternoon!” said the Duke pleasantly. “Have you a Mr. Liversedge staying at this inn?”
The man in the plush waist coat blinked at him, and said enigmatically: “Ah!”
The Duke drew out his pocket-book, and produced from it his cousin’s card. “Be so good as to take that up to him!” he said.
The man in the plush waistcoat wiped his hand mechanically on his breeches, and took the card, and stood holding it doubtfully, and still staring at the Duke. The sight of the pocket-book had made his eyes glisten a little, and the Duke could only be glad that he had had the forethought to leave the bulk of his money at the White Horse. The presence of the pistol in his pocket was also a comfort.
He was just about to request his bemused new acquaintance to bestir himself, when a door apparently leading out to the stableyard opened, and a burly man with grizzled hair and a square, ill-shaven countenance appeared upon the scene. He cast the Duke a swift, suspicious look out of his narrowed eyes, and asked in a wary tone what his business might be. The man in the plush waistcoat mutely held out Mr. Ware’s elegantly engraved visiting-card.
“I have business with Mr. Liversedge,” said the Duke.
This piece of information seemed to afford the newcomer no gratification, for he shot another and still more suspicious look at Gilly, and removed the card from his henchman’s hand. It took him a little time to spell out the legend it bore, but he did it at last, and it seemed to the Duke that although his suspicion did not abate, it became tinged with uneasiness. He fixed his eyes, which held no very pleasant expression, on the Duke, and palpably weighed him up. Apparently he saw nothing in the slight, boyish figure before him to occasion more than contempt, for his uneasy look vanished, and he gave a hoarse chuckle, and said: “Ho! It is, is it? Well, I dunno, but I’ll see.”