‘Read it,’ said he. ‘You must see me through each stage of this, so that we need never have to mention it to each other again.’
Roger read it. It was from Gilbert, and the paper on which it was written was stamped, ‘Thorsgarth, Bradstane-upon-Tees.’
‘There are two precious rascals together under the same roof,’ was Roger’s unspoken comment before he began to read.
But his face changed as he perused the lines. The note was short, but strong in its very baldness and simplicity; as unlike Gilbert’s ordinary soft politeness as the inflexible decisiveness of Michael in the same matter had been unlike his usual conduct.
Gilbert asked Michael for an interview. ‘Though you have treated me like a dog,’ he said, ‘I will show you things so that they shall be right, if you will see me. I can make it straight, too, though you do not think so.’ After a few more phrases of a similar kind, he concluded—‘Do not be hasty in your reply. Think well before you refuse what I ask, for if you do, I shall never ask again. I can make it right, and the whole future of both of us may depend upon your answer.’
Roger read this twice over to himself, and looked at Michael, who had gone to his desk and was writing quickly. As soon as he had finished, he came again to Roger and handed him his letter, which ran—
‘I have received your note, and decline to see you or hold any communication with you. Your possessions are, I believe, at the Red Gables. I shall not be there to-morrow, and you will be at liberty to fetch away what you choose of your belongings. After that you cfannot be admitted there.
Michael Langstroth.’
‘Michael,’ said Roger, holding both these documents in his hand, and speaking very earnestly, ‘forgive me for even seeming to meddle in your affairs. Gilbert has a meaning under that note of his. Won’t you think twice before you send that answer to him?’
‘I did all the thinking about him that I shall ever give to him again, yesterday,’ said Michael, trenchantly. ‘Do you suppose I spent all yesterday shut up in that room without coming to some definite conclusions upon matters in general and in particular? That is the answer I mean him to have, and that is the answer I shall send him.’