Johnstone of the Border. Bindloss Harold
left him behind. She was cleverer and more composed than he; she grasped things at once while he clumsily searched for their meaning. The old frank confidence and the comradeship were no longer possible, but in essentials she had not changed. The world could never spoil Elsie's freshness nor blunt her keen honesty.
After a while she came and sat down near where he stood in the shadowy recess of the great hearth.
"I believe you were trying to hide, and we must have a talk," she said. "I'm half afraid I brought you home from Canada."
"No," Andrew replied awkwardly; "anyway, not altogether. I felt that I ought to come back, even if there's nothing I can do. Still, of course, if I can be of help here – "
Elsie's eyes were soft as she looked at him.
"Yes, I know; you're a good friend, Andrew, but I was alarmed when I wrote. After what the army doctors told him, Dick went to see a specialist in Harley Street, and he must have got a plain warning, for he was depressed and quiet for some time. Things are serious when Dick's cast down."
"Do you know what the doctor said?"
"No; Dick wouldn't tell me. I'm not sure that he told Uncle Arnold much."
"Ah!"
Andrew was silent for a moment.
"Has he been indulging in any rashness since then?"
"No, nothing fresh; but I'm afraid he's heavily in debt. His allowance is very large, but he tried to borrow money a few days after he got it." Elsie's color grew deeper as she continued: "I've seen him quite unsteady at luncheon; and the worst is that it's telling on his health."
"Looks bad; I must see what I can do. But it's awkward, because Staffer's really responsible for him. Has he tried to pull Dick up?"
"Yes, in a way," Elsie answered with a thoughtful air. "Still, I don't think it disturbs him as it ought to when he sees that he hasn't done much good. He's witty when he should be firm – and I've sometimes imagined that Dick feels rather flattered than ashamed after the talk."
"I understand. What Dick really needs is a good kicking for being fool enough to try to copy Staffer."
"Couldn't you take him away for a time in the boat?"
"I'll try, but he's not fond of sailing. Then it's a delicate matter. If one could make Staffer understand – "
Elsie gave him a steady look.
"No; I think you'd better not. Uncle Arnold's very kind; mother and I owe him a good deal, and he likes Dick. For all that, he doesn't seem to feel it's his duty to take much trouble – "
Andrew knew she was not saying all that she thought; but he did not press her.
"I will try to find a way," he said. "And now tell me how things have been going since I left."
While they were talking, Dick came up; and not long afterward the two men found themselves alone in the smoking-room.
Andrew put his hands on Dick's shoulders and held him off at arm's length.
"You strike me as not being quite up to the mark," he said.
"Do I?" Dick grinned. "You've been talking to Elsie!"
"I have; and I'm sorry to hear the doctors didn't think you very well. Hadn't you better tell me about it?"
"I suppose I must. You're a persistent fellow, but you don't often take the superior moral tone. Well, as I'd been in the officers' training corps, I applied for a commission, and they sent me up to a medical board. One doctor asked me some catchy questions, and, being quite inexperienced, I fell into the trap. The consequence was I didn't pass."
"You didn't learn much about yourself from him?"
"Not much! It was he who got the information. But when he'd finished he offered me a scrap of advice – I'd better see a private doctor at once."
"Did you?"
Dick chuckled.
"Instead, I went up to London and tried to join one of the special battalions. I was wiser this time, and told their medical examiner nothing I could help. I thought I'd made a good impression; but at last he looked at me pretty hard. 'I admire your keenness, but you won't do,' he said. I told him I was a bit off color, but I'd play golf all day and drink nothing but soda-water, and then come back to him in a month. 'It would be of no use; I'd go to Harley Street now,' he said."
"I hope you did," Andrew remarked with a frown.
Dick lighted a cigarette.
"Yes; I went. I'll spare you technicalities; for that matter, I've forgotten them; but, after all, I didn't get much of a shock. It seems my heart's gone a bit rocky."
"Go on," said Andrew.
"Well, if I give up everything I like and live like an ascetic, I may get over the trouble, though I think the fellow doubted it. On the other hand, I may get worse and drop off suddenly."
"Unless you steady down."
"Yes; he hinted something of the kind."
Andrew said nothing for a few moments. He was fond of his cousin; and, besides, he had promised Dick's father to look after the boy. He felt that he had been neglectful; and he wished now that he had more tact. He had a duty ahead of him, and he did not know how to discharge it.
"The proper course is obvious," he began somewhat awkwardly. "Suppose you come down the Galloway coast with Whitney and me? It's early for the black geese, but there are ducks about."
Dick 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," Dick 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."
Dick 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 Dick's father's will.
"I'll think over it," Dick 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.
Dick 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 Dick a shrewd glance.
"I wonder how