“And something has happened to you, too, young man, if the story is true at all.”
“Oh, I hope not,” said Thorndyke; “that wouldn’t be right. What have I ever done, and I owe him everything! No, Aleck, I want you to take everything, and just let me stay and help you always; that is more than I deserve.”
“Tut,” said Aleck, “we’ll see, my boy; but if you shouldn’t stay by, the old ship would go down on very short notice; you know well enough, I was never anything more than the tail of the comet, since I undertook this business.”
“The story,” as Aleck called it, was quite true, and thanks to all the toil Uncle Ralph had expended upon his affairs, those last few weeks, Aleck stepped into his new dignities with very little perplexity or trouble.
Some people shook their heads and said they were a young set of hands left at Halliday’s, to steer such a craft as that. But they soon found that higher authorities did not think so; the physicians’ patronage came in just the same, so the rest of the world concluded to give up their doubts, and popular as Aleck and Thorndyke had always been, it was more than ever the thing to go to Halliday’s.
So all went on smoothly and well, only they missed Uncle Ralph more than they could tell. But as time wore on, Thorndyke, who was always watching Aleck, thought he saw more of a shadow in his face than even his loss could account for; it was not natural for Aleck to look as if his thoughts were busy with something outside, while people and things close by were forgotten, or only attended to as if they disturbed him. But once or twice when Thorndyke tried to sound him, or even ventured to ask what he was thinking about, he got for answer a sudden lighting up of Aleck’s face, and the old gay laugh that had been music to Thorndyke so many times.
“Thinking about you, old fellow!” he would say, and put his hands on Thorndyke’s shoulders a moment, and for a little while seemed to have come back again. But not for long. He had told the truth, as he always did, and he was thinking about Thorndyke; but that was not all, and the thinking went on, until at last the problem was worked out, questions were settled, and Aleck came back to stay. This time Thorndyke asked no questions; only a quick look and a smile passed between him and Aleck, and they understood each other perfectly. But Aleck had something to say, if Thorndyke did not ask, only not quite yet.
“Not yet,” he said to himself. “I must wait for his birthday; and after waiting all these years, a few months wont count for much.”