AN ALLOWANCE
IN spite of the horrors of the day and the tea-drinking of the night, John slept the sleep of infancy.He was awakened by the maid, as it might have been ten years ago, tapping at the door.The winter sunrise was painting the east; and as the window was to the back of the house, it shone into the room with many strange colours of refracted light.Without, the houses were all cleanly roofed with snow; the garden walls were coped with it a foot in height; the greens lay glittering.Yet strange as snow had grown to John during his years upon the Bay of San Francisco, it was what he saw within that most affected him.For it was to his own room that Alexander had been promoted; there was the old paper with the device of flowers, in which a cunning fancy might yet detect the face of Skinny Jim, of the Academy, John's former dominie; there was the old chest of drawers; there were the chairs - one, two, three - three as before.Only the carpet was new, and the litter of Alexander's clothes and books and drawing materials, and a pencil-drawing on the wall, which (in John's eyes) appeared a marvel of proficiency.
He was thus lying, and looking, and dreaming, hanging, as it were, between two epochs of his life, when Alexander came to the door, and made his presence known in a loud whisper.
John let him in, and jumped back into the warm bed.
'Well, John,' said Alexander, 'the cablegram is sent in your name, and twenty words of answer paid.I have been to the cab office and paid your cab, even saw the old gentleman himself, and properly apologised.He was mighty placable, and indicated his belief you had been drinking.Then Iknocked up old Macewen out of bed, and explained affairs to him as he sat and shivered in a dressing-gown.And before that I had been to the High Street, where they have heard nothing of your dead body, so that I incline to the idea that you dreamed it.'
'Catch me!' said John.
'Well, the police never do know anything,' assented Alexander; 'and at any rate, they have despatched a man to inquire and to recover your trousers and your money, so that really your bill is now fairly clean; and I see but one lion in your path - the governor.'
'I'll be turned out again, you'll see,' said John, dismally.
'I don't imagine so,' returned the other; 'not if you do what Flora and I have arranged; and your business now is to dress, and lose no time about it.Is your watch right? Well, you have a quarter of an hour.By five minutes before the half-hour you must be at table, in your old seat, under Uncle Duthie's picture.Flora will be there to keep you countenance; and we shall see what we shall see.'
'Wouldn't it be wiser for me to stay in bed?' said John.
'If you mean to manage your own concerns, you can do precisely what you like,' replied Alexander; 'but if you are not in your place five minutes before the half-hour I wash my hands of you, for one.'
And thereupon he departed.He had spoken warmly, but the truth is, his heart was somewhat troubled.And as he hung over the balusters, watching for his father to appear, he had hard ado to keep himself braced for the encounter that must follow.
'If he takes it well, I shall be lucky,' he reflected.
'If he takes it ill, why it'll be a herring across John's tracks, and perhaps all for the best.He's a confounded muff, this brother of mine, but he seems a decent soul.'
At that stage a door opened below with a certain emphasis, and Mr.Nicholson was seen solemnly to descend the stairs, and pass into his own apartment.Alexander followed, quaking inwardly, but with a steady face.He knocked, was bidden to enter, and found his father standing in front of the forced drawer, to which he pointed as he spoke.
'This is a most extraordinary thing,' said he; 'I have been robbed!'
'I was afraid you would notice it,' observed his son; 'it made such a beastly hash of the table.'
'You were afraid I would notice it?' repeated Mr.Nicholson.
'And, pray, what may that mean?'
'That I was a thief, sir,' returned Alexander.'I took all the money in case the servants should get hold of it; and here is the change, and a note of my expenditure.You were gone to bed, you see, and I did not feel at liberty to knock you up; but I think when you have heard the circumstances, you will do me justice.The fact is, I have reason to believe there has been some dreadful error about my brother John; the sooner it can be cleared up the better for all parties; it was a piece of business, sir - and so I took it, and decided, on my own responsibility, to send a telegram to San Francisco.Thanks to my quickness we may hear to-night.
There appears to be no doubt, sir, that John has been abominably used.'
'When did this take place?' asked the father.
'Last night, sir, after you were asleep,' was the reply.
'It's most extraordinary,' said Mr.Nicholson.'Do you mean to say you have been out all night?'
'All night, as you say, sir.I have been to the telegraph and the police office, and Mr.Macewen's.Oh, I had my hands full,' said Alexander.
'Very irregular,' said the father.'You think of no one but yourself.'
'I do not see that I have much to gain in bringing back my elder brother,' returned Alexander, shrewdly.
The answer pleased the old man; he smiled.'Well, well, Iwill go into this after breakfast,' said he.
'I'm sorry about the table,' said the son.
'The table is a small matter; I think nothing of that,' said the father.
'It's another example,' continued the son, 'of the awkwardness of a man having no money of his own.If I had a proper allowance, like other fellows of my age, this would have been quite unnecessary.'
'A proper allowance!' repeated his father, in tones of blighting sarcasm, for the expression was not new to him.'Ihave never grudged you money for any proper purpose.'
'No doubt, no doubt,' said Alexander, 'but then you see you aren't always on the spot to have the thing explained to you.
Last night, for instance - '
'You could have wakened me last night,' interrupted his father.
'Was it not some similar affair that first got John into a mess?' asked the son, skilfully evading the point.
