Saying this, Mr Fluke turned round on his stool, and applied himself to his work without another parting word to Owen, who, making the best of his way through the office, hastened out at the door. He looked up and down the street, wondering whether John would have got tired and gone away, but John was too faithful a friend to do that. He had merely crossed over the street, keeping his eye on Paul Kelson, Fluke and Company’s office. Seeing Owen, John hastened over to meet him.
“Well, what news, Owen?” he asked, without uttering a word of complaint at the time he had been kept waiting.
Owen described his interview with Simon Fluke.
“Not very promising,” observed John; “I suspect that Simon Fluke’s heart is very like what David thought it might be, hard as a rock, or he would have shown more interest in you when he heard that you were Susan Fluke’s grandson. However, we will do as he asks, and send for the book, and in the meantime you and I’ll go and see this big city of London. There’s the Tower, and Exeter Change, the British Museum, Saint Paul’s, and Westminster Abbey, and other places I have heard speak of. The Tower is not far from here—we passed it as we came along; we will go and see that first.”
On their way, however, they began to feel very hungry, and were thankful to find an eating-house where they could satisfy their appetites. The fare was not of the most refined character, nor were the people who came in. Two or three, seeing at a glance that John was fresh from the country, offered to show him and his son the way about London.
“Maybe you’d like to take a glass for good fellowship,” said one of the men who addressed him.
But John, suspecting the object of the offer, declined it, as he did others subsequently made him, and taking Owen by the hand, he gladly got out of the neighbourhood. They made but a short visit to the Tower, as John was anxious to get back to the “Green Dragon,” that he might write to David for the book.
“We will show it to the suspicious old gentleman, but we must take care he does not keep it,” said John. “I don’t think, Owen, you must raise your hopes too high. If he gives you the cold shoulder, you will not be worse off than you were before, and you shall come back with me. You will not be left without friends while father, David, and I are alive, so cheer up whatever happens.”
John, who, although country-born and bred, had his wits about him, managed to see as many of the sights of London as he intended. Owen was much interested by all he saw, and the days passed quickly by. The important volume, which was, he hoped, to convince Simon Fluke of his relationship, safely arrived one evening, and he and John the following morning set off with it to Wapping. John insisted on remaining outside while Owen had his interview with Simon Fluke, and ascertained whether any employment was to be given him.
“If I find you are comfortably settled, then I shall go home happy in my mind,” said John; “if not, as I said before, you shall come back with me; I won’t leave you alone in this big city.”