A Crooked Path Part 12

"I am awfully afraid he will want me to go and read to him every day, for when I was directing one of the letters he said, as though to himself, 'If she can read and write for me I need not buy a new pair of spectacles.' It would be too dreadful to be with that cynical hyena every day."

"Oh, when he gets a good servant he will not want you."

"I hope not."

"Now come, you must have your supper, dear. I am sure you have earned it. We will have it quietly together before Ada comes back. I feel so relieved, I shall be able to eat now."

CHAPTER V.

"INTO THE SHADOWS."

To avoid Mrs. Frederic Liddell's almost screaming curiosity was not easy, and to appease it Kate a.s.sumed an air of frankness, saying that she believed Mr. Liddell merely wished to test her powers as secretary, and that she hoped she had not succeeded too well.

"Oh, you lazy thing! You really ought to try and get in with him.

Oughtn't she, Mrs. Liddell?"

"Yes, certainly, if she can; but I fancy it will not be so easy. What are you going to do to-day, Ada?"

"Oh, nothing"--in a rather discontented tone. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I am obliged to go into town on a matter of business, and I want to take Katherine."

"Well, I will look after the boys"--condescendingly, as if it were not her legitimate business. "But I really think you worry too much about those tiresome publishers. They would think more of you if you troubled them less. Your mother looks pale and f.a.gged, Katherine."

"Yes, she does indeed," looking anxiously at her.

"I am afraid the publishers would leave me too utterly undisturbed if I left them alone," returned Mrs. Liddell, smiling, and leaving the suggestion uncontradicted. This conversation took place at breakfast.

Mother and daughter made the journey cityward very silently, both a good deal occupied conjecturing what conditions John Liddell could possibly mean to impose. Perhaps only a very high rate of interest, which would cost no small effort to spare from their narrow income.

Mr. Newton received his visitors directly their names were sent up to him. His was an eminent firm; their offices, light, clean, well furnished, an abode which impressed those who entered with the idea of fair dealing, and forbade the notion of dark dusty corners moral or physical.

Katherine's quick eyes took in the aspect of the place: the bookshelves, where stores of legal learning in calf-bound volumes were ranged: the various brown tin boxes with names in white paint suggestive of the t.i.tle-deeds "of all the land"; the big knee-hole table loaded with papers; the heavy chairs upholstered in the best leather for the patients who came to be treated; and Mr. Newton himself, more intensely cleaned up and starched than ever, in an oaken seat of mediaeval form.

He rose and set chairs for Mrs. Liddell and her daughter himself; then he rustled among his papers, and spoke down a tube.

"Ahem!" he began. "Your brother-in-law, madam, is a man of peculiar character, but by no means without discrimination. Thank you"--to a clerk who brought in a long folded paper and laid it beside him, disappearing quickly. "By no means without discrimination," repeated Mr.

Newton. "Unfortunately the love of money grows on a childless man, and his terms for the loan you require may not meet your approbation."

"Pray what are they?" asked Mrs. Liddell.

"My client will accept a bill of sale on your furniture as security, but he will give you a period of eighteen months to repay him, and he will charge ten per cent.; but if you agree to another condition, which I will explain, he will be content with five per cent."

"This must be a severe condition," said Mrs. Liddell, with a slight smile.

"No; it may prove a fortunate condition," said the lawyer, with some hesitation. "In short, I have persuaded Mr. Liddell to allow me to choose him a respectable servant at fair wages. The state into which he has fallen is deplorable. I felt it my duty to remonstrate with him, and he is not averse to my influence. I therefore pressed upon him the necessity of having a better cla.s.s of housekeeper, a person who could read to him and write for him, and would be above drink and pilfering."

"What did he say to that?" asked Katherine, with a bright, amused look.

"He said, very decidedly: 'I will have that girl you say is my niece to be my housekeeper and reader. She gave me the best and cheapest dinner I ever ate; her letter to my stock-broker brought me luck; and I will pay ready money for everything, so she shall not be able to leave books unpaid. If she comes I will be content with five per cent, on the loan, which must do instead of salary; and if she refuses, why, so do I.' An ungracious speech, Mrs. Liddell, but there is the condition."

"Do you mean my brother-in-law will refuse to help me if my daughter does not go to manage his house?"

"So he says."

"But did you not say at first that he would take ten per cent, without this sacrifice?"

"_He_ said so at first; then this plan seemed to strike him, and he was very firm about it."

"It is an awful place to go to." The words burst from Katherine's lips before she could stop herself.

"I can hardly agree to such a condition as this," cried Mrs. Liddell.

"And I must urge you not to reject it," said Mr. Newton, impressively, "for the sake of your daughter and grandsons. I must point out that by refusing you not only deprive yourself of the temporary aid you require, but you cut off your daughter from all chance of winning over her uncle by the influence of her presence. Propinquity, my dear madam--propinquity sometimes works wonders; and Mr. Liddell has a great deal in his power. I would not encourage false hopes, but this is a chance you may never have again--a chance of sharing her uncle's fortune. If she refuses, he will never see her again."

Silence ensued. The choice was a grave difficulty. Mrs. Liddell looked at Katherine, and Katherine looked at the carpet.

Suddenly Katherine looked up quickly, and said, in a clear, decided voice: "I will go. I will undertake the office of secretary and housekeeper--at least until my mother pays off this loan."

"Katie, my child, how shall you be able to bear it?"

"Miss Liddell has decided wisely and well," said the lawyer. "I earnestly hope--nay, I believe--she will reap a rich reward for her self-sacrifice."

"But, Mr. Newton, I cannot consent without some reflection. I too have some conditions to impose."

"And they are?" put in Newton, uneasily.

"I cannot define them all clearly on the spur of the moment; but I must have leave to go and see my daughter whenever I choose, and she must have the right to spend one day in the week at home."

"This might be arranged," said the lawyer, thoughtfully. "Be brave, my dear madam. Sacrifice something of the present to secure future good."

"Provided we do not pay too high a price for a doubtful benefit. It will be terrible for a young girl to be the bond-slave of such a man as John Liddell."

"Well, mother, I am quite willing to undertake the task. Not that I am going to be a bond-slave, but as soon as you have paid your debt, I shall consider myself free."

"By that time, my dear young lady, I hope you will have made yourself of so much importance to your uncle that he will make it worth your while to stay," exclaimed Newton, who was evidently actuated by a friendly feeling toward both mother and daughter.

"He must bribe high, then," returned Kate, laughing.

"Then may I inform Mr. Liddell that you accept his proposition? and you are prepared to begin your duties at once! Remember he considers his acceptance of five instead of ten per cent, frees him from the necessity of paying you any salary."

"Surely the laborer is worthy of his hire," said Mrs. Liddell.

"No doubt of it, madam; but the case is a peculiar one."