Comethup nodded. “Forgive me,” he said; “I had not thought of that. Will you permit me——”
“You are ever generous, my dear nephew,” murmured Mr. Robert Carlaw as he thrust the flimsy banknotes into his waistcoat pocket. “Once more I can hold up my head before my fellows; once more I can feel that I am not wholly dependent on my son. Good-night, my dear friend; good-night!”
Comethup was halfway home when some curious feeling made him turn in the direction of ’Linda’s house. The town was quiet, and no one was in sight in any of the streets through which he passed; he crept in through the garden and went and stood under the balcony, looking up at the house, which was in complete darkness. And as he looked there came back to him the words she had uttered; not the words of comfort he had tried so resolutely to hold before him, but those others which held a vague fear for him, “What would you do if you found I did not love you?”
CHAPTER XX.
THE DESERTION OF A PARENT.
Comethup saw but little of his cousin during the week which followed. Once or twice he met him, riding wildly about in some of the country lanes on a horse he had hired, on which occasions he drew rein with a shout, and generally announced that he was having “a splendid time,” and that he would be able to go back to work feeling much better for the holiday.
During that week, too, Comethup was left very much with the captain, for ’Linda, without warning, broke several engagements she had made to go out with them, pleading afterward that she had had headaches or that there had been work to be done. One evening, as Comethup, after waiting all day in the hope of seeing her, was making his way to her house he met his cousin Brian swinging out through the gates. They stopped, in mutual surprise, and then Brian linked his arm in that of the other and began to lead him away.
“What a lucky meeting!” he exclaimed. “I was just wondering what I was to do with myself all the evening, and how I was to pass the time until I could decently go to bed. Come along. What shall we do?”