Suddenly the sound of a footstep caused them to start and fly asunder. There, close to the open French-window, stood Captain Bowood, glaring from one to the other of them. Miss Brandon gave vent to a little shriek and fled from the room. The Captain came forward, a fine frenzy in his eye. ‘Who the deuce may you be, sir?’ he spluttered, although he had recognised Charley at the first glance.
‘I have the honour to be your very affectionate and obedient nephew, sir.’
The Captain’s reply to this was an inarticulate growl. Next moment, his eye fell on the discarded wig. ‘And what the dickens may this be, sir?’ he asked as he lifted up the article in question on the end of his cane.
‘A trifle of property, sir, belonging to your affectionate and obedient nephew;’ and with that he took the wig off the end of the cane and crammed it into his pocket.
‘So, so. This is the way, you young jackanapes, that you set my commands at defiance, and steal into my house after being forbidden ever to set foot in it again! You young snake-in-the-grass! You crocodile! It would serve you right to give you in charge to the police. How do I know that you are not after my spoons and forks? Come now.’
‘I am glad to find, sir, that your powers of vituperation are in no way impaired since I had the pleasure of seeing you last. Time cannot wither them.—Hem! I believe, sir, that you have had the honour of twice paying my debts, amounting in the aggregate to the trifling sum of five hundred pounds. In this paper, sir, you will find twenty-five sovereigns, being my first dividend of one shilling in the pound. A further dividend will be paid at the earliest possible date.’ As Mr Summers spoke thus, he drew from his waistcoat pocket a small sealed packet and placed the same quietly on the table.
The irate Captain glanced at the packet and then at his imperturbable nephew. The cane trembled in his fingers; for a moment or two he could not command his voice. ‘What, what!’ he cried at last. ‘The boy will drive me crazy. What does he mean with his confounded rigmarole? Dividend! Shilling in the pound! Bother me, if I can make head or tail of his foolery!’
‘And yet, sir, both my words and my meaning were clear enough, as no doubt you will find when you come to think them over in your calmer moments.—And now I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning; and I hope to afford you the pleasure of seeing me again before long.’ Speaking thus, Charles Summers made his uncle a very low bow, took up his hat, and walked out of the room.
‘There’s insolence! There’s audacity!’ burst out the Captain as soon as he found himself alone. ‘The pleasure of seeing him again—eh? Only let me find him here without my leave—I’ll—I’ll—— I don’t know what I won’t do!—And now I come to think of it, it looks very much as if he and Miss Saucebox were making love to each other. How dare they? I’ll haul ’em both up before the Vice-chancellor.’ Here his eye fell on the packet on the table. He took it up and examined it. ‘Twenty-five sovereigns, did he say? As if I was going to take the young idiot’s money! I’ll keep it for the present, and send it back to him by-and-by. Must teach him a lesson. Do him all the good in the world. False hair and spectacles, eh? Deceived his old uncle finely. Just the sort of trick I should have delighted in when I was a boy. But Master Charley will be clever if he catches the old fox asleep a second time.’ He had reached the French-window on his way out, when he came to a sudden stand, and gave vent to a low whistle. ‘Ha, ha! Lady Dimsdale and Mr Boyd, and mighty taken up with each other they seem. Well, well. I’m no spoil-sport. I’ll not let them know I’ve seen them. Looks uncommonly as if Dan Cupid had got them by the ears. A widow too! All widows ought to be labelled “Dangerous.”’ Smiling and chuckling to himself, the Captain drew back, crossed the room, and went out by the opposite door.