Charles Rex - Ethel May Dell (i love reading .TXT) 📗

the horse-pond round the corner if I felt that way. So you'd better keep as civil as possible. It won't make a mite of difference to me, but it may to you."
Bunny sat down, breathing hard. His cigarette fell to the ground and he stooped for it, but Jake, still holding his shoulder, stooped also, picked it up and flung it straight out of the window.
"You smoke too many of 'em," he said, as he did it.
"Damn you!" said Bunny in a voice of concentrated fury.
He would have sprung to his feet, but Jake's hands were upon him like iron clamps and kept him seated.
He spoke, his voice soft, unhurried, even humorous. "I'm only a beastly groom, you know, Bunny. You don't expect good manners from me, do you?"
Bunny shrank a little, as if something in the words pierced him. Jake's eyes, very bright but wholly free from anger looked straight into his. For some reason he ceased to strain against the compelling hands and sat passive.
There followed a somewhat tense silence before he said, "Well, go on! I knew you wanted to row me about something. What's it all about?"
His voice was sullen but his attitude was no longer hostile. He looked ashamed.
Jake sat down suddenly on the edge of the writing-table. "Say, Bunny!" he said gently. "Do you know you're the only man in the world that can send me to perdition and not have his teeth knocked down his throat for his officiousness?"
Bunny looked up at him, and in a moment, like the flash of sunshine from behind a cloud, he was smiling. "Oh, get out, Jake. I suppose you're going to wipe the floor with me now. I didn't mean it and I'm sorry. Let's get on from there!"
His hand gripped Jake's hard. There was something very winning about him at the moment, something that appealed strongly to the older man though he did not instantly reply. He kept the boy's hand in his for a moment, and his eyes were very kindly as he looked into the thin young face.
"Guess you know I'm pretty fond of you, my son," he said at length, "but I don't figure to let you go to the devil unhindered on that account."
Bunny whistled. "Who's going? Oh, don't be an ass, Jake, will you?"
"No, I won't," said Jake, "at least not the soft variety. Reckon I've been too soft with you, Bunny, as long as I've known you."
Bunny stirred restlessly in his chair. "Think so?" he said. "Well, it's a good fault, old chap. I can't stand bullying from anyone--makes me see red at once."
"I know," Jake said. "I've never bullied you anyway. But I'm on the war-path now, and you've got to take your physic whether you like it or not. Say, Bunny, how much money did you drop at the races this afternoon?"
"What's that to you?" said Bunny.
Jake's face hardened a little. "Well, I expected that," he said. "Afraid to tell me, eh?"
"Not in the least afraid," said Bunny. "I dispute your right to know, that's all."
"I see." Jake regarded him with a very direct scrutiny. "I'm to be kept in my place, is that it?"
Bunny coloured. "That's the fourth time you've called me a bounder since we came in. What do you mean by it, Jake?"
"What do I mean?" Jake spoke rather sadly. "Well, maybe that's just what I do mean, Bunny. You're beginning to bound."
"Rot!" said Bunny, though he coloured more deeply than before. "You know there isn't another fellow anywhere that I respect as I respect you. But--dash it, Jake!--you must let me grow."
"I want you to," said Jake. "But for the Lord's sake, grow straight!" He reached out and took Bunny by the shoulder. "I'm going to ask a big thing of you, sonny, but I guess I shall know by the way you take it how much your respect for me is worth."
"What is it?" said Bunny.
"Just this." Jake leaned forward; there was speculation in his look. "I want you to chuck racing--altogether--for a year. There!"
"Chuck racing!" Bunny sat up very straight. "Jake! Why on earth should I?"
Jake's hand closed upon him. He was smiling a little but there was something relentless behind his smile. "Oh, just to please me," he said. "That's all."
Bunny stared at him. "Chuck racing!" he said again. "Jake, you're mad!"
"No, I guess not," said Jake imperturbably. "I'm not arguing any against racing. Played straight, it's the best game in the world. I'm just asking a personal favour of you. There's nothing to be hurt about in that."
There was an ominous gleam in Bunny's eyes. He looked as if he were on the verge of open rebellion, but with his last words Jake's steady arm suddenly went round his shoulders and gave him a hard, brotherly squeeze.
"Don't do it if you're going to hate me for it!" he said. "Reckon I can't afford that. I knew it was a gamble when I started. If I can't win, I'll back out right now."
"Jake!" Quick feeling sounded in Bunny's voice. He turned sharply, and for an instant his cheek was against the kindly hand with the old boyish gesture of affection. Then he looked Jake full in the eyes and laughed. "Jake, I say, don't be a beast! You know I'll do anything under the sun to please you."
"You'll do this?" said Jake.
"Tell me why first!" said Bunny.
"Because I want to know if you've got the grit for one thing. And for another--that girl who has just come here is a gambler to the backbone, and I won't have her encouraged."
"How on earth do you know that?" said Bunny. "Did Charlie tell you?"
"No." Jake's voice was grim. "You don't suppose I'd take his word for anything, do you? I saw it in her face this afternoon. I know that gambling fever, and she--well, I'm inclined to think she's had it in one form or another all her life."
"She's quite a nice kid," said Bunny condescendingly.
Jake smiled, but the firmness remained. "She's not your sort, Sir Bernard Brian," he remarked. "And I rather guess she could teach you more than you could teach her."
"What do you mean?" said Bunny.
Jake turned aside to shut the window in preparation for departure. "Well, sonny," he said in a marked drawl, "I guess I mean just that. If you aren't sharp enough to draw your own conclusions, that's none of my business." He turned round and looked at Bunny with absolute directness. "And that other proposition of mine,--did I understand you to fall in with it?"
"Chuck racing for a year, you mean?" Bunny got up. His face was still red, but it showed no resentment. "It's rather much, isn't it, Jake?"
"Too much?" questioned Jake.
Bunny hesitated. "Well, a year! Make it three months!" he said coaxingly.
Jake came to him, square and resolute. "I'll make it six months, Bunny," he said, "if you can tell me you didn't drop more than fifty pounds this afternoon."
Bunny turned crimson. "This afternoon was an exception," he said hastily.
"I thought so," said Jake dryly.
"But--damn it!--it's rather a heavy penalty to pay," protested Bunny. He thrust out an impulsive hand. "I say, let me off, old feller! I won't do it again."
Jake's fingers closed and held. He said nothing, merely waited.
And very suddenly--after his own headlong fashion--Bunny made unconditional surrender. "Oh, get out, you beastly groom!" he said, and wrung Jake's hand with all the force he could muster. "All right! It's done!"
Jake made an odd movement as of tension relaxed though none had been apparent in his bearing. He struck Bunny on the shoulder the blow of a friend.
"That's the biggest thing you've ever done for me, pard," he said with a smile. "Reckon I shan't forget it. Take it out of me next time!"
"You bet I will!" said Bunny.
He linked his arm through Jake's and gripped it hard. His eyes were shining as they passed out together into the gathering dusk. He had made a considerable sacrifice, but Jake had the gift of making him realize that it was worth while.


CHAPTER VIII
THE ALLY

A squeal of childish laughter echoed down the long passage that led from the nurseries, followed by a shuffling sound along the floor.
"Hold tight!" cried a voice, a gay, boyish voice, "I'm going to gallop!"
There followed a tremendous scrambling along the corridor and shrieks of delight from three excited children. Jake, who had just mounted the stairs, paused in his progress; but in a moment there came a dramatic sound indicative of collapse, and immediately there arose cries of dismay. He turned an intervening corner and came upon the newly-arrived guest quite prone upon the floor with his three little girls scuffling in delighted agitation over her inert body.
He hesitated to interrupt the game, but in an instant Betty the youngest had spied him and uttered a shrill cry of welcome. The heap upon the floor swiftly resolved itself into four separate beings, and the newcomer sprang up with the litheness of a squirrel and met him with a free grace that was not without a suggestion of defiance.
He held out his hand to her. He understood the defiance and replied to it with characteristic directness.
"Guess you thought me a rough sort of animal when we met in the paddock this afternoon," he said. "I'm sorry. It was Bunny I was up against--not you."
"Not me?" said Toby, her wide eyes lifted quite openly to his. "Sure?"
He pinched the slim young hand without ceremony. Somehow she took him by storm--this girl with the open brow and curiously pathetic face. "Well, not so much you," he said. "Bunny knows that gambling on a big scale is against the law for children of his age."
"Oh, I see," said Toby. She smiled and slipped her hand free. "Well, I'm years older than he is, so that doesn't apply to me. Bunny wasn't doing any gambling either."
"I gathered that," said Jake.
She stopped and lifted Molly the second child, partially veiling her own face with the little girl's soft curls. "Then you are up against me," she said.
"No, I'm not," Jake's voice held a queer, compassionate note. "We won't quarrel till we know each other better anyway. I see you're pretty intimate with the youngsters already."
"Oh, that's easy, isn't it?" said Toby. "Babies always take you at your face value. They are never prejudiced beforehand. There's never any handicap of that sort with babies."
Betty was clamouring at her knees. She bent and lifted her also, bracing her slight form to a double burden of which Jake instantly relieved her, gathering both children into his own strong arms.
"You're not to do that ever again," he said, with the authority of the man accustomed to obedience. "Understand?"
"Why not?" said Toby.
He turned to carry the two babies to the nursery. "Because I say it," he said briefly.
"Oh, but that's no reason," said Toby, with light assurance.
Eileen at her side looked up in shocked amazement. "Not if Daddy says so?" she questioned.
Toby stooped and swung her up to her shoulder. "You little featherweight! Daddy's only a man!" she said.
"Quite true," said Jake deliberately. "The sort of man who means what he says--always, and sees that he gets it."
"What a frightful undertaking!" laughed Toby. "Then if you told me to go to blazes you'd see that I went?"
There was a pause. Eileen's little hands locked themselves nervously under Toby's chin. Perhaps she was aware of a certain electricity in the atmosphere. She was plainly not at her ease.
Jake's voice sounded, very quiet and distinct, from the