"I want a word with you," said Mr. Andrews, "before you go out. Sit down for a moment. Have you heard any talk of the new railway lately?"
The man smiled, and shook his head. "That is as dead as a door-nail," he said in a lower tone.
"Not if what I have heard this morning is true. Now I want you to send a confidential telegram to Barclay about this. He will understand what I mean, but they won't at the post office, and you understand I don't want the news to be the town talk yet."
The old man nodded. "It will make a deal of difference to this office if it should be true," he remarked.
"Yes, it will. But I also want to find out which of the two lads is making himself the talk of the place over that new billiard saloon. Do you think you could find out for me whether it is Lady Mary's son or the lad that will be benefited if this railway comes through the town? Lady Mary's son is a little chap, thin and delicate-looking, but our lad is a tall, strapping fellow. Be particular that you do not confuse the one with the other, and if it is necessary to spend a little money in pressing the enquiry, it can go down as office expenses. You understand, Phillips?"
"Oh, yes, sir! I think I know what you want, and you may trust me for making sure of my facts before I bring you the information."
Then Mr. Andrews wrote his telegram to a confidential agent in London, and before he left the office to return home that evening he heard that the information he had received might be relied upon. So that now it only depended upon the report he heard as to how Arthur was spending his time in the evenings, whether he should exercise all his skill and power to rescue the property that nominally belonged to him, or whether he should let things drift to the end that was inevitable—foreclosure by those who held it as security for money lent, that had simply been wasted in idle indulgence by its late owners.
[CHAPTER X]
THE NEW RAILWAY
A FORTNIGHT passed. Arthur's face had lost all trace of the blows he had received in trying to rescue his cousin, and Adrian was once more lounging about the streets of the town, although everybody had heard by this time that he was going to Oxford as soon as the necessary arrangements had been made.