They had lived very quietly.
But there was a child; people had seen him wheeled about in a
perambulator. He had disappeared. I suspected my stepmother at once;
and I hurried back to Beauleigh. It had bucked me up, don't you know,
to think that I had a child. I had it out with my stepmother; and what
do you think she told me?"
"Can't guess; but I'm laying odds that it doesn't surprise me," said
Lord Crosland.
"She said that the fact of my having a son and heir would stand in the
way of my making the marriage she hoped. That the boy was in the hands
of a respectable couple, where I need never hope to find him; that he
would be brought up in the station of life suitable to his mother's
having been the daughter of a Tutor. My word, I did talk about the
firm of Stryke & Wigram!"
"I should think you must have," said Lord Crosland.
"I lost no time, but put the matter in the hands of a crack Private
Inquiry Agency. When they learned what I was doing, I'm hanged if my
stepmother and uncle Bumpkin didn't stop my allowance." He laughed
ruefully. "However, I kept the inquiries going by selling my two
horses, my jewellery, my guns, and my clothes. That's why I'm in these
rags. But no good came of it; the private detective discovered
nothing, and charged me nearly three hundred for discovering it.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25