I never made a more rash promise in all my life than when I under took to Mr Smith to break the news of his discovery to Jack.
It had appeared so simple at the time, but when the moment came the task seemed to be one bristling with difficulties on every hand. All that day the sense of the coming ordeal haunted me, and even the custody of the petty-cash could not wholly divert my mind.
I was therefore quite relieved that evening, on returning to the lodgings, to hear as I ascended the stairs voices speaking in our room, and to find that Jack had a visitor. I should, at least, get some time to recover the wits which the near approach of my ordeal had scattered.
For a moment I wondered whether Jack’s visitor could be Mr Smith himself. It was a man’s voice, and unless it were Mr Smith or Mr Hawkesbury, I was at a loss to guess who it could be.
To my astonishment I found, on entering the room, that the visitor was no other than my uncle!
Whatever had brought him here?
Jack looked as if his tête-à-tête had not been a very cheerful one, for he jumped up at my arrival with evident joy, and cried, “Oh, here you are at last! Here’s your uncle, Fred, come to see you. He was afraid he would have to go before you got back.”
This, at least, was a comfort. My uncle was not going to stay all night.
I went up in a most dutiful manner to my relative, and hoped he was well.
“Yes,” he replied, in his usual frigid way. “You seem surprised to see me. But as I had business in town I found out this place, and came to look you up.”