“They are not yours, are they not?” returned Raeburn. “And you could
not share them with anybody, couldn’t you? Well now, that is what I
call a pity; for here am I obliged to take you to the station. The
police—think of that,” he continued; “think of the disgrace for your
respectable parents; think,” he went on, taking Harry by the wrist;
“think of the Colonies and the Day of Judgment.”
“I cannot help it,” wailed Harry. “It is not my fault. You will not
come with me to Eaton Place?”
“No,” replied the man, “I will not, that is certain. And I mean to
divide these playthings with you here.”
And so saying he applied a sudden and severe torsion to the lad’s
wrist.
Harry could not suppress a scream, and the perspiration burst forth
upon his face. Perhaps pain and terror quickened his intelligence, but
certainly at that moment the whole business flashed across him in
another light; and he saw that there was nothing for it but to accede
to the ruffian’s proposal, and trust to find the house and force him to
disgorge, under more favourable circumstances, and when he himself was
clear from all suspicion.
“I agree,” he said.
“There is a lamb,” sneered the gardener. “I thought you would recognise
your interests at last. This bandbox,” he continued, “I shall burn with
my rubbish; it is a thing that curious folk might recognise; and as for
you, scrape up your gaieties and put them in your pocket.”
Harry proceeded to obey, Raeburn watching him, and every now and again
his greed rekindled by some bright scintillation, abstracting another
jewel from the secretary’s share, and adding it to his own.
When this was finished, both proceeded to the front door, which Raeburn
cautiously opened to observe the street. This was apparently clear of
passengers; for he suddenly seized Harry by the nape of the neck, and
holding his face downward so that he could see nothing but the roadway
and the doorsteps of the houses, pushed him violently before him down
one street and up another for the space of perhaps a minute and a half.
Harry had counted three corners before the bully relaxed his grasp, and
crying, “Now be off with you!” sent the lad flying head foremost with a
well-directed and athletic kick.
When Harry gathered himself up, half-stunned and bleeding freely at the
nose, Mr. Raeburn had entirely disappeared. For the first time, anger
and pain so completely overcame the lad’s spirits that he burst into a
fit of tears and remained sobbing in the middle of the road.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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