“If she does meet Jack, it will come out all right, won’t it, Clarence? Now that he is to be Earl of Noxton one of these days, with fine estates and a big rentroll, it won’t frighten him if Bertha is poor.”
“Not a bit,” said Clarence. “But here’s the fix I’m in. Bertha never goes to father, but confides all her troubles to me. She expects me to manage it in some way so that she can go. I told her I would, and I don’t dare go to Buckholme until I can.”
“Then it’s lucky for you, Clarence, that you have a wife with a head, as you expressed it. If you will let me manage the affair, it will come out all right.”
“You can do just as you like, Jennie. How much money will you want?”
“Oh, not a great deal. Let me see. In the first place she will wish to take her wardrobe with her. Now, it won’t do for her to pack up her things at Buckholme. Mrs. Liloquist was moaning to-day because she has a vacant room next to ours. These lodging-house keepers are always in a fret and worry. Now, I will make her happy by telling her that a cousin of yours is coming to London from the country and wants a room for a week at least. Now you will have to play your part, Clarence. You must go out to Buckholme every night and be very attentive to Bertha. I won’t be jealous. Every morning when you come in fetch in some of Bertha’s wardrobe. I will do her packing for her, and when the important day arrives she must tell your father that she is coming to London to do some shopping and you must offer her your services to escort her.”
“Well, I never heard anything like it,” cried Clarence. “You ought to be a detective in Scotland Yard.”
“Well, if you had read as many detective stories as I have, you would not think I have told you much of a plot after all; however, who knows but that it may turn out to be a big one in the end?”
“Well,” said Clarence, “after her luggage is packed and she is here, what are you going to do next?”
“Why, I am going to Paris with her. I have never done anything in my life that will please me so much as to outwit your father.”
“He is a pretty shrewd one,” remarked Clarence.