An Old Man's Secret. A novel

Front matter

&c NEW NOVELS IN THE PRESS. I. In Two Vols. Price 21s. SHOT! By the Author of " Cecil Forester," &o. II. In Three Vols. Price 31s. 6d. A TROUBLED STREAM. By the Author of " The Cliffords of Oakley," " Constance Dale," &c. III. ••r~*H In Three Vols. Price 31s. 6d. OUR BLUE JACKETS AFLOAT AND ASHORE. By F. C. ARMSTRONG, Author of "The Two Midshipmen," "The Naval Lieutenant," F. J. ACRES I Having purchased the business of the General Furnishing Company, 24 and 25, Baker Street, W., INVITES ATTENTION TO HIS MAGNIFICENT STOCK OF CABINET FURNITURE, UPHOLSTERY, CAEPBTS, &c C . , One of the largest and most comprehensive in the Trade, and replete with every requisite in first-class Furniture, at the most Moderate Prices. ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUES FREE BY POST. F. J. ACRES, 24 and 25, BAKER STREET, W. AN OLD MAN'S SECRET.

A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES. BT FRANK TROLLOTE, Author of " A Right-Minded Woman," &c. VOL. III. fonkn: T. CAUTLEY NEWBY, PUBLISHER, 30, WELBECK STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, 1866. [the right of translation is reserved.] AJNs OLD MAN'S SECRET.

Chapter I

" Felony ! rank felony !" exclaimed Brown low, as he entered the room. " Barker, you can bear witness. That desk, my rightful property, is unlawfully withheld from me ; I demand its surrender." " A demand," returned Colonel Vaughan ; " I take leave to resist, and moreover request you to say how it came into the possession of your brother. It was the property of the late Colonel Meredith, at whose death it should have passed into the hands of his son, Mr. Edward Meredith." VOL. III. B "Colonel Meredith !" repeated Brownlow, in evident astonishment. "Yes. I said Colonel Meredith, whose initials and crest are engraven on the lid and on a watch and seal, which I believe you also demand. Let us understand each other. The young man, so long supposed to be the son of your brother, was the only child of Colonel Meredith.

Your knowledge of this truth and of the nefarious means by which your relative's fraud was committed gave you power to enrich yourself at cost of his happiness, and eventually of his life. I am resolved to discover how such infamous deception was effected, and to expose the abettors, unless you, by a full confession, shield the memor y of your brother from shame, and yourself from the punishment you merit. If you, by timely disclosures, establish Edward in his rights, your previous misdeeds shall be forgiven ; but, remember, the hour of grace gone by, the law must take its course." " The law shall take its course, sir," returned Brownlow, whose manner was totally at variance with his quivering voice. " That law will restore me my property. I care no thing for initials or crests. The watch and desk were bought by my brother at a sale, and may have been Colonel Meredith's, or anybody else's for what I know or care.

As for the boy, he must be clever who could find him a father and a fortune. You are not the man, I tell you. What was my brother's is mine; once more I demand that desk.'' " You have my answer, sir," returned the Colonel, coldly. "Very well," rejoined Brownlow. "Barker, I call you to witness," — but Barker, who had gradually moved from his companion nearer the Colonel, responded only in broken sentences, " I shall witness nothing ! why should I? — you only want to make me your tool, and then cast me off as you have done before. I am an honest man, though poor, and I do B not like to stand by when a fair offer is made, and see you throw away the only chance of keeping off your ruin." " My ruin ! what do you mean by that ?" exclaimed Brownlow, darting a furious glance at his late associate.

" I mean," retorted Barker, " that you had better make a clean breast. The young man will, no doubt, behave honourably and liberally to whoever helps him to his own." " For that, I will answer," rejoined the Colonel. " Then, sir, I will be that man," said Bar ker, eagerly. " You need not clench your fist at me, Brownlow, I must and will tell what I know. Your brother was confidential servant to Colonel Meredith, who, when dying, committed his infant son, and much property (that desk amongst the rest) to his servant's care, enjoining him to go to Eng land, seek out Lady Maud Cavendish (the Colonel started) and deliver a letter to her." " A letter ! — what else, I wonder !" cried Brownlow, with a sneer. " That may be enough — there it is, with the seal unbroken," retorted Barker, giving the Colonel a letter-case.

"There are other papers which, no doubt, will confirm all I have said. I make no terms ; I know I am dealing with a gentleman." " And I hope he knows that he is dealing with a villain !" exclaimed Brownlow, pas sionately — " a sneak, who would say or swear anything to get money. But you have made a mistake, Barker ; you should have stuck to me, instead of meanly trying to curry favour with my enemies, who will throw you aside like a squeezed orange, when they have sucked the few brains you possess. That letter-case you stole." " No, Mr. Brownlow," replied Barker, with a slight revulsion of feeling, " I did not steal it; your brother, in his haste and alarm, that morning he came here to meet you, left it in his bureau. I found it, and put it with other papers, which I should have given to him, but for that event which deprived me of a kind master, the like of whom I shall never see again," added the hypocrite, pretending to shed tears.

" Since which you have kept it in your own hands, like the traitorous villain you are," responded the angry Brownlow. "I. did," was the curt reply ; "but only for the purpose of giving it into the hands of whoever had the best claim. Now, Colonel Vaughan has it, and there will be justice done to all. Brownlow, you had better own the truth at once." " What should I own ?" stammered Brown low. " It is plain that you are scheming to make your own market, and want to draw me into saying what will help youbut I am no puppet, whose strings you can pull. I shall take counsel." "Yes," retorted Barker, "with your friend Pike ; he whom you set as a spy on me, and who put into your head what brought you here to bully your poor brother, and cause his death. You cared not, so that you pro fitted ; and now, you would make me your catspaw, but you may find the cat can and will scratch."

" Cats have been hung up by the neck before now," cried the angry Brownlow, " and the gallows may be your end, for all your cunning ! I say it was robbery, and nothing else, to secrete that letter-case ; and the receiver of stolen goods," looking defiantly at the Colonel, " is little, if any, better than the thief." " If that remark is aimed at me, sir," observed the Colonel, coolly, " remember, I am not responsible for the means by which Mr. Barker became possessed of this case ; but if, as he has stated, it contains a letter long wrongfully withheld from the person to whom it is addressed, I feel bound to see that it is delivered to Lady Maud Cavendish 5 and also, on the part of Edward Meredith, to examine the other papers. Whatever may appertain only to your late brother, shall be restored to you.

This examination may possibly compromise both him and you; therefore, you had better make such revela tions as may render examination useless." " You are very peremptory, sir," replied Brownlow, in a subdued tone ; " you might, at least, give me time to think." " Thought cannot be required, when you have only to speak the truth," was the cold observation of the Colonel. " But truth is not always to be spoken," returned his antagonist, vainly attempting a laugh. " I have told you no lies yet, which is more than your pitiful informer there can say. He has played his cards badly, as he will find out, too late to repair the blunder. That letter-case is none of yours, and if you keep it you must stand the consequences. I have no more to say, 'and shall find fitter occupa tion elsewhere, as you may learn to your cost."

Having uttered this threat, Brownlow turned to quit the room, but was stopped, to his surprise and dismay, by the approach of his wife, accompanied by Mrs. Brewer. " How now," he muttered, " my wife and that meddling housekeeper ! what ill wind has blown them here;" and spite of his effrontery, he changed colour as the}' ad vanced. " There now, Brownlow, don't be stopping up the doorway," cried his wife, "for here we are and here we intend to remain. Servant, sir," dropping a curtsey to the Colonel, as she hastily bustled into the room; "how d'ye do, Mr. Jacobs? — nay, don't go — (for the curate was retreating in some alarm at the sight of her companion, who scowled at him) — don't be afraid, we are not come on your account, but only to tell the truth. That desk, b sir,"— addressing the Colonel,— " now just be quiet, Brownlow, till I've said my say— ■ that desk my late brother-in-law, long ago, told this good woman here, Mrs. Brewer, was, in case of his death, to be given to Mr. Edward ; and no sooner did word come of her poor master's end than she removed it into her own room, like a wise and prudent woman as she is, and there it remained till I told her to look up the young gentleman's books and clothes ; for every thing I had made up my mind to send ; and she, knowing pretty well by that time that I was to be trusted, told me of the desk ; and, says I, ' let it go to him, by all means, and say nothing about it to nobody,' and I sat down to write a kind note to send with it.

Close as we thought our selves, that prying fellow Barker, who had been hunting the house over, high and Ioav, to find that very desk, got the truth of the matter out of the half-witted lad who brought it here, and nothing would serve his turn but to tell Brownlow — as if I cared for that — ■ and must needs set his wits to work to get it back a_rain." " His wits were at fault," cried Mrs. Mild may, laughing, " hard as he tried, he found his match." " And glad I am it was so," continued Mrs. Brownlow, with a nod at the landlady, " still more glad I am that I found out the errand Barker and my foolish husband were bent upon. It would be something more than folly, Brownlow, to take from the poor young man that which Mrs; Brewer here can witness was meant for him as his right; aye, and more than that, I am sadly afraid — perhaps all we have, if justice was done — but if you know that it is so — (turning and speaking to her husband) — and I am much inclined to believe you do, never hesitate to give up all.

Ill got wealth cannot do good. You were never the better for the money you used to get from your brother; it was always lost in some wild scheme or other. As for me and the lads, never mind us ; I can work as I did before ; the boys have been brought up to get an honest living, and an honest living let it be. We shall none of us want friends, if we do what is right." " For that I will engage," said the Colonel, speaking kindly and warmly, " and when I tell you that the young man, in whom you take so kind an interest, has been kept from his rights by the late Mr. Brownlow, who was servant to his father — " " Then Mr. Edward was not my brother in-law's son after all !" interrupted Mrs. Brownlow, " not born in honest wedlock, I knew— but not his child at all. Well, I thought as much." " And so did I, always !" responded Mrs. Brewer.

" Master never was fond of him ; never treated him like a son. Mr. Jacobs knows that." " Yes, so far I can conscientiously attest," observed the tutor. " He was austere, unjust." " That matters not," interrupted Brown low. " The boy was not even a natural child, and therefore had no claim on my brother's property." " Your brother's property," repeated his wife, shaking her head ; " his master's, I am afraid." " Of that there can be no question," said the Colonel. " There is question, and there will be question," retorted Brownlow. " I say the pro perty was my brother's, and is now mine ; how got I care not!" " You care not !" exclaimed his wife, in dignantly. " Would you then keep what be longs to another? — can you look me in the face, aqd say your brother came honestly by his riches?" " That is not my affair," replied her husband, carelessly.

" It is, and shall be your affair," returned his wife, reddening, " or you are no longer husband of mine. You know well enough how the truth is, — do right, and a blessing will go with you; do wrong, and a curse will follow. You are silent. Then I have but one way — to go back to the old home in Tabernacle Bow, and bring up my boys to be better men than their father. To stay in yonder great house would be misery. I should expect the roof to fall and crush us, and every morsel I put in my mouth would choke me. James, James, think better, and take the straight path." " Let me add my entreaties to those of your good, excellent wife," said the Colonel. " Let me adjure you," pleaded the curate, in solemn tones, " in His holy name, whose eye is upon us, to restore the orphan to his inheritance — to free your soul from the guilt of retaining what is not justly yours."

"Dear clever man," ejaculated Mrs. Brewer, wiping her eyes, " he speaks like one inspired?" "Be advised, Brownlow," added Barker, in a whining tone, " if we have done wrong, do not let us be obstinate in error, and the past will be forgiven." " Speak for yourself, mongrel," cried Brownlow, casting a furious look at his emissary, " ray answer is, that what was my brother's is now mine, and take it who can." " The power may not be wanting, sir," said the Colonel, sternly ; " the proof is pro bably in my hands." " What, in that pocket-book ?" cried Mrs. Brownlow. " Look, Mrs. Brewer, is not that the case ? " "The very same," replied the housekeeper, " which my poor master told me to give pri vately to Mr. Edward, in case of anything happening to him, but though I found the desk readily enough, I could not find that."

" Another had forestalled you," remarked Brownlow, with a coarse laugh, " the sly Mr. Barker, whom the Colonel trusts, notwithstanding." " That then was the reason of his locking himself in his room," exclaimed Mrs. Brown low, " I only wish I had bui-st open the door, instead of just peeping through the keyhole. I saw him, sure enough, looking over papers which, when I taxed him with his meanness, he said were his own, and I had no proof against his word. I see now how it is, James, he has sold vou." "Hold your tongue, silly woman," inter rupted her husband, " I stand on my right, of which neither force nor fraud (looking furiously at the Colonel and Barker) shall deprive me. Come along, I have staid too long here." The unhappy wife, overpowered by her husband's persistence in crime, sank fainting on a chair, as he left the room.

The Colonel hastily dismissed Barker, whose humble supplications he deferred to a more convenient season, and added his efforts to those of Mrs. Mildmay to console the sorrow-stricken woman. She revived to reiterate her determination to return to her former abode, in order to rescue her sons from the influence of bad advice and example. This resolution was warmly com mended by the Colonel, who added to his commendation assurances of assistance, both from himself and her young friend, to whose brightening prospects she listened with in terest and delight. Comforted and re-assured, she regained her composure, partook of the refreshment offered with peremptory kind ness by Mrs. Mildmay, after which she went with Mrs. Brewer to begin preparations for leaving the scene of her trouble and mor tification.

Her husband, she intimated, would scarcely venture to gainsay her will. " The grey mare is the better horse there, Colonel," said Mrs. Mildmay, as the two women left the house, " except as to the cash, and there the fore-horse will yet make a stand, or I am much mistaken. But, dear me, you must be famished; my old friend, I can see, is longing for his dinner, and my bit of roast is quite done — overdone, I am afraid — for Margery is a poor hand at cook ing. Let me lay a cloth, and put it before you, such as it is — homely, of course — but that you will excuse." " I shall gladly take you at your word," replied the Colonel, " for I am hungry, and wish to remain your guest to look over the contents of this case, which has reached its proper destination. The papers may furnish a clue to our researches."

Chapter II

Ample justice was done to the repast placed by the delighted hostess on the table, after which she drew forth some choice old wine, reserved for particular occasions or special favourites, and was about to withdraw, when the Colonel kindly asked her to remain and witness the examination of the papers. In the letter-case, worn and shabby, as if its late owner had always carried it about him, was found the letter addressed to Lady Maud Cavendish, discoloured by age, but, as Barker had said, with unbroken seal. Then came sundry loose memoranda of dividends to be received on stock and other securities, amongst which was a private journal, the occasional record, as it appeared, of events which the stings of a goaded con science forbade being buried in oblivion. " Alas, for poor human nature ! " observed the Colonel, glancing over its pages, "this man, once, perhaps, upright and trustworthy, was devoid of that innate principle which would have enabled him to resist temptation.

Here is the first entry : — s_L" ' Sunday — midnight. The dear, good master whom I have served so long and faith fully has just expired, — struck down by the fearful sickness which has swept away nearly all but me and that poor boy, who may also be dead in a few hours. In this lone spot, where there is no one to consult — none to speak a word of comfort — the silence and desolation strike terror to my soul. " ' My master charged me with his dying breath to take the child and treasure to Ens: land. All his hopes here having been crushed by the loss of her he loved, he hoped by change of scene to forget the past ; and now for him all is past ; shall I not strive to fulfil his last solemn command — to obey him who has so nobly rewarded my former services, and who died in the belief that this, the last of all, would be faithfully performed?

" ' The boy droops daily — is sick almost to death ! The ayah has no hope of him, and does nothing but cry. Should he die ! — the effects ! — the jewels ! whose would they be ? The poor Colonel told me not long before he died he had no relations, — who then would have the best right ? I must think of this, but not now. " ' The boy still lingers, but the ayah has taken the disease, and the whole burden is thrown on me — a sad and feverish time — how will it end ? poor child, he suffers much ; death would be a blessed relief. " ' A horrid dream! — or was it not rather a waking delusion of the evil spirit who once took the form of a serpent ? — now without form — a whispering voice only- — yet what a whisper ! to quench the flickering spark — to release a tortured innocent from his torment. " ' I will not listen, — I will defy the tempter!

" ' The boy is better, the ayah dead. To escape from this abode of pestilence is urgent.' " ' Our lengthened travel is at an end, and we are safely lodged in Bombay, — and now to determine on that future which has occu pied my mind during my long and toilsome journey. My young charge is better. That he will live and thrive can scarcely now be doubted. He has learned to call me father, and it is morally certain the poor Colonel would have wished me to be in the place of a father. Why should I not assume that character, and with it that guardianship over both person and fortune which strangers might not so well discharge ? The care of the child necessarily includes that of the treasure which, should he live to be of age, can be transferred to him; meanwhile, it is safest in my keeping. Doing this cannot be called imposture, or only so in name.

It inflicts no injury, but is rather designed to prevent it. " 'The boy calls me papa, and the people believe him to be my son. I know the colonel is reported to have died unmarried. His death is variously reported as caused by cholera, or as the deed of assassins by whom he was also plundered. I know nothing, being only deputed to make arrangements after his departure, which the suddenness of his removal obliged him to leave unfinished. Thus all is obscurity, which casts no shade on me. To-morrow we sail for England.' ' " If he had been drowned coming he would only have had his deserts— the scoundrel !" cried Mrs. Mildmay, as the Colonel ceased reading; ''but then, to be sure, the dear child might have been drowned too." " He was spared, we will hope, forlongand lasting good," rejoined the Colonel; " but let us proceed with this history of temptation and crime, — " ' I have assumed the rank of gentleman, and having money to support my pretensions no one doubts me.

I have introduced Edward as my son, and no one disbelieves me but my brother, who, after looking closely at him and asking questions without end as to his mother, shook his head and said he did not credit my word. His suspicion, I think, was roused by the diamonds, which, not knowing the value of, I asked him to bring a jeweller to pur chase, since which he has been trying by every means to ferret out the real state of the case. I must decamp suddenly to get out of his way.' " ' A fatality seems to pursue me. This estate, where I hoped to live in peace, after shifting several times to escape from him who tracks me with the keenness and ferocity of a bloodhound, turns out to be in the neighbour hood of that lady to whom my master desired me to take the boy. She is proud, and ad mits no visitors without an introduction, which I have not sought or would accept.

The pompous rector hinted at his influence, wondering at my seclusion ; therefore, not to give rise to troublesome conjectures, I allow Edward to visit at the rectory, where he has picked up an addition to the irregular educa tion of former years, and now I have been so foolish as to take a tutor for him ; but I am safe, for, right-minded himself, he suspects no wrong in others.' " VOL. HI. c " True enough that," interrupted Mrs. Mild may, looking kindly on Jacobs. " ' Edward may be more dangerous, and I must be wary to check all disposition on his part to penetrate into secrets he must never know.' " "Shame! shame!" again exclaimed the irate hostess, "I have no patience to listen." The Colonel smiled, and continued reading. " ' He goes to the hall, which I know not how to prevent, and I am told he is attracted by a pretty face.

This must be looked to.' " A shade passed over the reader's face, and deepened as he turned to the next page, saying — « The writing is so blurred and blotted here, as scarcely to be deciphered — but, what is this ? something truly important—' I am undone,' he writes, ' my villain brother, on my last journey to London, dogged me to the bank, and mixing in the crowd at the counter, saw me affix my name to the dividend amount of the stock, the receiptfor which I found amongst my master's papers, — when he whispered in my ear, — "how long has your name been Edward Meredith ? " I thought I must have dropped — gold has sealed his lips for the present — how long, who can say ? — could I have foreseen this ! — but the past is irrevocable — the future, a hell on earth! ' " " Miserable, misguided man !

" cried Jacobs, " what must his sufferings have been ? " " Not the half of what he deserved," answered Mrs. Mildmay, " but hush ! there's more to come." " Not much," returned the Colonel, " this entry is the last, — " ' I am lost ; my cruel brother has again c traced me, and vows vengeance unless I buy him off with the gold I coveted, — alas! to my ruin. Yet I have resources he knows not of, and atonement I must and will make — in spite of his threats, and the vigilance of his spy — to the youth whose looks re proach me— whose voice is so like his who left him to my protection. Protection ! — he lives and breathes, and alas! shames me by those virtues I have vainly tried to stifle in their birth. When I am dead he will receive — ' "Here, most unfortunately, the guilty record ends," said the Colonel, "what a tale of crime and remorse !

The wealth, for which the wretched man bartered his integrity, became his bane, his curse — " "The villain, the double-dyed villain," ex claimed the wrathful hostess, " and to die in his bed when he should have been hung up by the neck ! " " It would seem," observed the thoughtful Colonel, " that the forgery he committed brought him within the penalty of the law. The threat of exposure was, in reality, the secret power ofthe brother, who was not less guilty." "No question of it, Colonel," responded Mrs. Mildmay, " one's as bad as the other, if not worse ; but Mr. Edward will come to have his rights, and that rogue, Brownlow, earn the halter he has been trying for. I would walk a score miles, gladly, to see him tucked up-" " But the wife, the lads," urged the more merciful Jacobs ;" my pupil is too humane to pursue the husband and father, even if he were not the brother of one whose memory (notwithstanding his many sins) a once reputed son would not like to see dishonoured.

If he sinned deeply, let us hope his sufferings have been accepted as some expiation." " A Christian hope, Mr. Jacobs," said the Colonel, "and well befits the lips of a Christian minister ; yet, I fear, from the absence of any testementary paper, that the contrition of the wrong doer stopped short of restitution. .There may be a will somewhere, and the dread of that may perhaps induce Brownlow to com promise, though I shrink from negotiating with such a man." " The rascal ! " exclaimed Mrs. Mildmay, "surely, Colonel, you will not let him keep his ill-gotten booty." " I doubt if we can prevent it," replied the Colonel. " The letter to Lady Maud is still unread, and that may throw further light on his evil doings, though I am afraid not to the extent the law will require. My next step must be to deliver the letter on which so much of the future seems to depend."

" But you will never give up the diamonds, to be sure, Colonel ? — and in that case Mr. Edward need not surely be banished to that weary India, from which those who go come back (if they ever do), poor, shrivel led, yellow chaps, past all enjoyment — but I beg ten thousand pardons! — I forgot you, and the General too, who would kill me on the spot if he heard me." "Hardly that, Mrs. Mildmay, for he is neither shrivelled nor yellow, but plump and red enough, in all conscience." " And you, Colonel, though not so stout and rosy as the General — " " Look pretty well, for an old Indian, you would say ? I trust at least to have energy and health enough to see our young friend righted, and the wrong-doers punished. The intended voyage shall be delayed, and in the meantime I advise our friend here to forego his purposed enterprise and to continue his labours where I believe they may bring forth fruit more enduring than in that distant land to which he would devote them."