Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Nobility -- Fiction; Romanies -- Fiction
"Ah, now you talk common sense. It is a pity you don't bring it to bear
in the case of Silver, whom you trust because you have benefited him.
Good-day, you very unsophisticated person. I shall see you again--"
"In London as Hubert Pine," said the millionaire abruptly, and Miss
Greeby, with a good-humored shrug, marched away, swinging her stick and
whistling gayly. She was very well satisfied with the knowledge she had
obtained, as the chances were that it would prove useful should Lambert
still hanker after the unattainable woman. Miss Greeby had lulled Pine's
suspicions regarding the young man's love for Agnes, but she knew in her
heart that she had only done so by telling a pack of miserable lies.
Now, as she walked back to The Manor, she reflected that by using her
secret information dexterously, she might improve such falsehood into
tolerable truth.
Pine flung himself down again when she departed, and coughed in his
usual violent manner. His throat and lungs ached, and his brow was wet
with perspiration. With his elbows on his knees and his face between his
hands, he sat miserably thinking over his troubles. There was no chance
of his living more than a few years, as the best doctors in Europe and
England had given him up, and when he was placed below ground, the
chances were that Agnes would marry his rival. He had made things as
safe as was possible against such a contingency, but who knew if her
love for Lambert might not make her willing to surrender the millions.
"Unless Garvington can manage to arouse her family pride," groaned Pine
drearily. "She sacrificed herself before for that, and perhaps she will
do so again. But who knows?" And he could find no answer to this
question, since it is impossible for any man to say what a woman will do
where her deepest emotions are concerned.
A touch on Pine's shoulder made him leap to his feet with the alertness
of a wild animal on the lookout for danger. By his side stood Chaldea,
and her eyes glittered, as she came to the point of explanation without
any preamble. The girl was painfully direct. "I have heard every word,"
she said triumphantly. "And I know what you are, brother."
"Why did you come here?" demanded Pine sharply, and frowning.
"I wanted to hear what a Romany had to do with a Gorgio lady, brother.
And what do I hear. Why, that you dwell in the Gentile houses, and take
a Gentile name, and cheat in a Gentile manner, and have wed with a
Gentile romi. Speaking Romanly, brother, it is not well."
"It is as I choose, sister," replied Pine quietly, for since Chaldea had
got the better of him, it was useless to quarrel with her. "And from
what I do good will come to our people."
Chaldea laughed, and blew from her fingers a feather, carelessly picked
up while in the thicket which had concealed her eavesdropping. "For
that, I care that," said she, pointing to the floating feather slowly
settling. "I looks to myself and to my love, brother."
"Hey?" Pine raised his eyebrows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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