Chapter Eleven.
Awkward Questions.
The sun, when it peeped through the blinds next morning, found Mr Robert Ratman wide awake. His was one of those active minds which do not waste unnecessary time in sluggish repose, but, on the contrary, do a principal part of their most effective brain-work while other people are asleep.
“Snug enough so far,” said he to himself, turning over on his side. “The place will suit me after all. Capital table, easy-going hostess, charming young Bohemian to amuse me, money going about, and all that. Teddy wants stirring up. I shall have to flick him a bit. He’ll go well enough when he’s once started, but he’s wasting his time here disgracefully. Eight months since he came, and absolutely nothing done! The boy’s not buried, the mother’s not married, and the tutor’s not had his month’s notice, (Like to see this precious tutor, by the way.) Upon my honour, it’s about time I came and opened shop here.”
And with a grunt he got out of bed, and began to array himself preparatory to a stroll round the park before breakfast.
It was a delicious September morning. The birds, hardly convinced that the summer was over, were singing merrily in the trees. The hum of the not distant ocean droned solemnly in the air. The sunlight played fitfully with the gold of the harvest fields, and the lowing cattle in the meadows added their music to nature’s peaceful morning anthem.
Mr Ratman was only half alive to the beauties of nature. He was considerably more impressed with the substantial masonry of the manor house, with the size of the timber, the appointments of the stables, and the acreage of the park. They all spelt money to him—suggesting a good deal more behind.
“Teddy’s certainly a man to be looked after,” said he to himself. “He’s wasting his time scandalously. Yet he’s clever in his way, is Edward. He has tucked his family into the big bed snugly, and made the most of his chance that way. Why—”
He had reached this pleasant stage in his reflections when something darted round from a side-walk and collided with him suddenly.