Sam was silent.
“I say, you have not succeeded?”
“I heard what you said, father,” replied Sam surlily.
“I knew it would be so,” cried his father. “It’s all because you would be so rash, and ready to believe that you know everything. Now if you had gone down as I advised, on a visit, everything would have been as easy as a glove. You could have stayed there two or three days with your cousin now your uncle is in London.”
“Oh, then you knew Uncle Richard was in London?”
“Of course I did, or I shouldn’t have let you go, sir. And then you could have come back with what we wanted decently, and not come crawling into the house as if you had been found out committing a theft, and the detectives were after you.”
Sam gave a sudden jump and glanced at the door, but laughed it off directly with a sneer.
“Don’t be absurd, father,” he said. “Of course I only went on a very honest mission—for you.”
It was James Brandon’s turn to wince now, and as he saw his son’s sneering laugh he turned upon him angrily.
“It’s my own fault,” he cried, “for trusting such an idiot. I might have known what would be the consequences; but I thought you were growing up into a man whom I could trust with important business.”