Reuben sat up the livelong night. The light dawned after the brief
interval of darkness, very brief in June, the sun came out, the cries
and bustle in the streets gradually set in, and London had begun
another day. At six o'clock Reuben lay down on his bed for an hour,
and then got himself a bit of breakfast--which he could not eat. His
master did not come.
Fearing he knew not what, and attaching more importance, in his vague
uneasiness, to Robert's having stayed out than he might have done at
another time, at nine o'clock Reuben betook himself to Mr. Piggott's.
That gentleman did not live in very fashionable lodgings, and his
address was usually given at his club, not there. Reuben, however,
knew it. Some time before, Reuben had gone on a fishing tour, to catch
what information he could as to the private concerns of Mr. Piggott
and Colonel Haughton, and had found out where each lived.
The slipshod servant who came to the door could say nothing as to
whether Mr. Dalrymple was staying the night there; all she knew was,
that Mr. Piggott "warn't up yet." Reuben inquired as to the locality
of Mr. Piggott's chamber, went up to it without opposition, and
knocked at the door; a sharp, loud knock.
"Who's there?"
Another knock, sharper still.
"Come in."
Reuben walked in at once. "Sir," was his unceremonious address, "do
you know anything of my master?"
"I!" cried Mr. Piggott, when he had recovered his surprise, and
speaking from the midst of his bedclothes. "I do not. Why?"
"I thought you might know, sir, as you took him out last night. He
said he was going to play with you and Colonel Haughton. He has not
returned home, which I think very strange; and, as there is some
important business waiting for him, I want to find him."
Reuben spoke out freely. But the "important business" was only an
invention. He did not care to betray how uneasy he was, yet wanted an
excuse for inquiring. Poor man! the fate of his early master lay
ominously on his mind.
"He left us last night between twelve and one o'clock; to go home, as
I suppose," said Mr. Piggott, somewhat taken aback.
"Between twelve and one, sir?"
"Close upon one it may have been; it had not struck. I know nothing
more."
"Did he go home with Colonel Haughton?"
"That I am sure he did not. Colonel Haughton and I walked away
together. I left the colonel at his own door."
"Away from Jermyn Street, I suppose you mean, sir!"
"You have no right to suppose anything of the kind," roared Mr.
Piggott, aroused to anger. "What is it to you? Go out, and shut the
door."
Reuben did as he was bid; there seemed to be no use in staying. He
sought out Colonel Haughton, who (remembering past events) was civil,
and who possibly felt some undefined uneasiness at the disappearance
of Robert. His story was the same as Piggott's--that the young man had
left them a little before one o'clock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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