CHAPTER XVI.
UNDER A CLOUD.
t comes to this, Oscar. I myself believe in you. You have been careless, easy-going, lax, but I have full faith in your integrity. Yet it comes to this: you will have to make up your mind to be under a cloud for the present. Without some sort of proof it would be useless to drag in Cyril’s name. With pain I say to you that I myself greatly fear the sin does lie at Cyril’s door. But with your memory uncertain, and his absolute denial of being concerned in the matter, it seems hopeless to seek to bring it home. It would be a source of bitterness at home, and would almost break my mother’s heart.”
“I would much rather bear the blame myself than that that should happen,” said Oscar in a broken voice; but North made a little impatient gesture.
“Don’t take it like that,” he said. “I have no patience with one person bearing blame for another—the innocent for the guilty, letting the scamp go off free—when he could be caught. But in this case there seems at present no way of getting at him. I don’t want to say harsh things of my own brother, but I have had one or two shocks with regard to him during these past six months, and that is why I do not find it difficult to regard him as the culprit. But you are not without blame, Oscar. I cannot acquit you, though I shall never believe that you had any hand in the abduction of the money. You haven’t it in you. But you ought to take your duties to yourself and others more seriously; and when money is entrusted to you, nothing should ever induce you to place it in any hands but those for whom it was given you. It is a breach of trust, whether you think of it in that light or not.”
Oscar was very humble; he had talked the whole matter out with North, and had kept back nothing. It had been an immense relief to him, and he was deeply grateful for the faith reposed in him by his cousin. North believed in him; he shared his fear that Cyril was the real defaulter, yet he did not see, as things now stood, how it could be brought home to him; and for Oscar to seem to try and shelter himself behind a vague accusation brought against his own kinsman seemed a most undesirable line of action. Oscar was almost relieved not to be forced to take it. With his temperament it seemed easier to bear odium and suspicion than to try and fasten them upon others.
“You must leave the matter in my hands,” said North, after a long silence. “I will see my father and make the best I can out of the case. It’s a serious bit of business, look at it as you will. And if he acquits you of any embezzlement, he must perforce know that there is somebody else not to be trusted in his employ. It will be hard on you all, Oscar; and it will be a part of your punishment to know that this difficulty could not have arisen but for your easy-going ways, of which I have warned you before.”
“Yes,” answered Oscar, “I can see now how wrong I have been. I deserve to suffer. But I hope nobody else will fall under suspicion. The other fellows in the office have really nothing to do with it. I am as certain as possible that——”
“Yes, yes, I know; and, Oscar, I shall not let the matter rest without trying to get at the real truth. And my father is too just a man to believe any person guilty without proof. But his confidence in your trustworthiness must be in some sort shaken. I do not believe he will think you have robbed him, but he must think that by your carelessness you have allowed him to be robbed, and, indeed, Oscar, whether Cyril be the defaulter or not, it is in a way the truth.”
Oscar winced, but he accepted the rebuke humbly. North sat silent awhile staring into the fire, and then said thoughtfully and rather gravely—
“But I shall not let the matter rest there. I shall do my utmost to unravel the mystery. We have one possible chance. My father has the numbers of the bank-notes. They may be difficult to trace after this lapse of time, but it is possible we may be able to hear something of them.”
“And you will try—even though—it might be—Cyril?”
“Of course I shall try,” answered North. “Do you think I want others to bear the blame, even though the real defaulter may be a brother? Besides, Oscar, if it is true, as I sometimes fear, that Cyril is getting into dangerous company and dangerous ways, do you believe that it is true kindness to seek to shelter him at the expense of truth? Discovery and exposure at the outset have been the saving of many a young man in like circumstances. I don’t know whether you know anything about Cyril’s goings on just now, but I have an impression that he is getting amongst a set of betting and racing men, and that these frequent journeys to London, ostensibly to read at the British Museum, have in reality a very different object.”
“I know very little about Cyril now,” answered Oscar. “He was friendly at first, and used to invite me to go about with him, but latterly I have been busy; and I found too much card-playing among his friends for my taste—or my pocket. For several months I have seen very little of him.”
North’s mouth looked set and grim.
“If he is taking to play, and attending race meetings, as I fear, it would easily account for his desire for money, although my father has been liberal to him; and I know he has given him extra help latterly, believing it to go in fees or something for this law reading. I hope I do not wrong Cyril when I express strong doubts whether the bulk of it is used for such purposes at all.”
Oscar saw by all this that North was seriously disturbed about his brother, and he was able to understand then why it was that he had from the first been disposed to think Cyril might have had a hand in the abduction of the money. It was a comfort to him to feel that North’s trust in him was not shaken, but he knew that he had a bad time before him both at home and in the office.
Nor was he mistaken. That a sum of forty pounds and over had been made away with, and a counterfeit receipt given for it, were facts there was no blinking. And it was known that Oscar had received the money, and could give no satisfactory account of what he had done with it.
His fellow-clerks, with whom he was popular, did not suspect him of theft, but concluded he had been swindled by some fellow at Jones and Wright’s.
“He is so easy-going, he’d never notice or care so long as he got any sort of receipt,” they said one to the other; but Oscar knew he had never paid the money over, and disliked the thought that blame should attach to anybody through him.
His uncle said very little to him, but his manner became more cold and formal; and before long a new confidential clerk was introduced in the place of Curtis, Mr. Tom remarking in the hearing of the junior clerks—
“I had hoped not to fill that place, but to let the younger men already here have the chance of working up to it; but I find it does not do to be without an experienced and trustworthy head.”
Of Cyril Oscar saw almost nothing for a whole week. He went off to London, with the excuse of his law studies, and did not return till the talk about the lost money had pretty well blown over.
Oscar begged his uncle to take the forty pounds from his own small fortune, held in trust till his majority, now quickly approaching, but he had only received an ambiguous reply to his request. His aunt continued to treat him kindly, but he could feel the difference in her manner, and Raby was rather inclined to ignore him altogether.
“It is so very disagreeable to have to talk about one’s family,” she said. “Of course everybody knows something unpleasant has happened, and I have had to tell the Bensons all about it. Lionel thinks Oscar had much better be shipped off to the Colonies; I almost wish father would get him away from here. It’s so disagreeable having him always about. One does not like to be unkind, but one can’t trust him or like him.”
That was how Raby felt, and showed it in her manner. She was of course much influenced by what the Bensons thought, and they naturally concluded that Oscar was guilty.
“Lots of young fellows get into hobbles, and then make a grand fiasco getting out,” Lionel had said. “I know Oscar got amongst some card-playing fellows once. Cyril does too, for that matter; but Cyril can afford it, he has plenty of money. Most likely Oscar got into a hole, and was tempted to get out of it by hook or by crook as he could. But I think it’s a mistake his staying on here. He’d be happier and do better in a fresh place. That’s my opinion, if you want it.”
Nobody but Raby did particularly want it. She, however, took her cue from Lionel, and she somewhat influenced her mother, and altogether Oscar’s present life was not a very happy one. He did his best to be patient and cheerful, and strove hard to conquer the tendency in his temperament which had been the indirect cause of all this trouble.
North was uniformly kind and encouraging, and showed him that his efforts were not unobserved, and he had his brighter days also in between the dark ones; as when Ray once asked him to drive her across to spend Saturday afternoon with May Lawrence, and talked to him quite pleasantly and freely the whole way.
It was a delightful change to him to get right away from the town and its associations, and May was pleased to see them, asked innumerable questions about Sheila, and wished she could be out in such a beautiful place and climate.
Rather to the surprise of Ray and Oscar, though apparently not to that of their young hostess herself, North walked in about tea-time, and was very cordially received by May.
From their talk they were evidently on excellent terms, and it was plain that it was no unusual thing for North to spend his free afternoon here, though his family knew nothing of his movements except that he always took a long walk on Saturday afternoons.
He left before his sister, as he preferred walking to the back seat of the little phaeton; and when he was gone May said with something rather like enthusiasm—
“I do think there is something very fine about your brother, Ray; he is so different from most of the young men one sees. He has such a lot to do and think of. Life is all work with him and not play. I don’t mean just money-getting. He wants to make things thrive, of course; but he wants just as much to do good to the work-people and teach them to live better lives and care for higher things. I’m so tremendously interested in it all. I suppose you do a lot to help him?”
Ray rather stared and then laughed.
“I think North must talk more to you than he does at home. I know he has some hobbies of his own, and spends a lot of evenings at the club and lecture-room; but I don’t know much about the details. North isn’t much of a one to talk.”
“He talks a good bit to me,” said May. “It’s awfully interesting. If I were his sister I should want to do a lot. He always speaks of you as his favourite sister, Ray.”
Ray coloured with pleasure, for North was decidedly her hero, although she did not know so very much about the way in which his spare time was spent. Like many men who work hard in one groove, North was reticent at home of his doings, and even to Ray he only spoke rather vaguely of the plans and projects in his mind. Working, not talking, was distinctly North’s forte, and Ray wondered how it had come to pass that May had broken down his reserve and won his confidence.
“I thought it was Cyril who came here to talk—not North,” she said. “Cyril always speaks as though he were very intimate here.”
May slightly tossed her head, and her lip curled; she seemed about to speak rather scornfully, but recollecting herself she answered quietly—
“Cyril does not come very often now, and I think his talk is more interesting to himself than to other people, for it is mostly about himself. I hope you don’t mind my saying that much, Ray; but indeed it is true.”
“Oh, I know!” answered Ray, laughing good-temperedly. “We all know that Cyril is a bit of a poser, or whatever you call it. But I think our confidence in him as a hero got rather a shock on one occasion. It’s not the fashion at home to poke fun at Cyril; but I’m sure other people must laugh at him often!”
Ray laughed as she spoke, and May joined in; the two girls were very fairly intimate by this time, for May had never dropped her friends in the town since those summer days when the friendship had grown and flourished.
“She is a nice girl,” said Ray, as she and Oscar drove away. “I once began to think I might have her for a sister-in-law, but I don’t think that is going to come off. Indeed, I almost hope not! Cyril is not half good enough for her!”
Oscar was silent; the subject of Cyril was painful to him. Ray glanced at him, and then said suddenly—
“Oscar, North has told me something about how things stand; he has told me more than the rest know. I have an awful fear that Cyril is worse than any of us have ever thought! Sometimes I am quite miserable about it, and you getting the blame in a way. It is too bad!”
“I think people have been very kind to me,” said Oscar slowly, “and we do not know anything against Cyril.”
“We know he was a coward once, and told a lie to screen himself! That was quite bad enough. Oscar, I sometimes feel that a man who could do all that could do much worse if the temptation were strong enough. North says the same.”
“North is a very generous fellow—a very fine fellow!” cried Oscar, with sudden enthusiasm; “and I hope he is going to get his reward—some day!”
“His reward? What do you mean?” asked Ray quickly.
“Didn’t it come into your head to-day? It did into mine. I think Miss Lawrence may be, perhaps, your sister-in-law still!”
“Oh,” cried Ray, with wide-open eyes, “do you really think so? I never thought of such a thing! Yet really it might be. But what would Cyril say?”
(To be continued.)