Daddy's Girl Part 44

Ogilvie went straight to town. When he arrived at Victoria he took a hansom and drove to the house of the great doctor who had last seen Sibyl. Sir Henry Powell was at home. Ogilvie sent in his card and was admitted almost immediately into his presence. He asked a few questions, they were straight and to the point, and to the point did the specialist reply. His last words were:

"It is a question of time; but the end may come at any moment. There never was any hope from the beginning. From the first it was a matter of days and weeks, I did not know when I first saw your little daughter that she could live even as long as she has done, but the injury to the spine was low down, which doubtless accounts for this fact."

Ogilvie bowed, offered a fee, which Sir Henry refused, and left the house. Although he had just received the blow which he expected to receive, he felt strangely quiet, his troublesome heart was not troublesome any longer. There was no excitement whatever about him; he had never felt so calm in all his life before. He knew well that, as far as earthly success and earthly hope and earthly joy went, he was coming to the end of the ways. He knew that he had strength for the task which lay before him.

He went to the nearest telegraph office and sent three telegrams to Lord Grayleigh. He pre-paid the answers of each, sending one to Grayleigh's club, another to his house in town, and another to Grayleigh Manor. The contents of each were identical.

"Wire immediately the next meeting of the directors of the Lombard Deeps."

He gave as the address to which the reply was to be sent his own house in Belgrave Square.

Having done this he paid a visit to his solicitor, Mr. Acland. Acland did not know that he had come back, and was unfeignedly glad to see him, but when he observed the expression on his friend's face, he started and said:

"My dear fellow, you don't look the better for your trip; I am sorry to see you so broken down."

"I have a good deal to try me," said Ogilvie; "please do not discuss my looks. It does not matter whether I am ill or well. I have much to do and must do my work quickly. You have heard, of course, about the child?"

"Of her accident?" exclaimed Acland; "yes, her mother wrote to me some time ago--she had a fall from her pony?"

"She had."

"Take a chair, won't you, Ogilvie?"

Ogilvie dropped into one. Acland looked at him and then said, slowly:

"I judged from Mrs. Ogilvie's note that there was nothing serious the matter. I hope I am not mistaken."

"You are mistaken," replied Ogilvie; "but I cannot quite bear to discuss this matter. Shall we enter at once on the real object of my visit?"

"Certainly," said Acland.

A clerk entered the room. "Leave us," said Acland to the man, "and say to any inquirers that I am particularly engaged. Now, Ogilvie," he added as the clerk withdrew, "I am quite at your service."

"Thank you. There is a little business which has just come to my ears, and which I wish to arrange quickly. My wife tells me that she has borrowed two thousand pounds from you in order to pay a deposit on the place on the Thames called Silverbel."

"Yes, the place where your wife is now staying."

"Exactly."

"I hope you approve of Silverbel, Ogilvie; it is really cheap at the price; and, of course, everyone knows that you have returned a very rich man. It would have been pleasanter for me had you been at home when the purchase was made, but Mrs. Ogilvie was insistent. She had taken a strong fancy to the place. There were several other less expensive country places in the market, but the only one which would please her was Silverbel. I cabled to you, but got no reply. Your wife implored me to act, and I lent her the deposit. The purchase must be completed at the end of October, in about a month from now. I hope you don't blame me, Ogilvie?"

"I don't blame you--I understand my wife. It would have been difficult to refuse her. Of course, had you done so matters might have been a little easier for me now. As it is, I will pay you back the deposit. I have my cheque-book with me."

"What do you mean?"

"I should like to write a cheque for you now. I must get this matter put straight, and, Acland, you must find another purchaser."

"Not really!" cried Mr. Acland. "The place is beautiful, and cheap at the price, and you have come back a rich man."

"On the contrary, I have returned to England practically a pauper."

"No!" cried Mr. Acland; "but the report of the Lombard Deeps----"

"Hush, you will know all soon. It is sufficient for you at present to receive the news in all confidence that I am a ruined man. Not that it matters. There will be a trifle for my wife--nothing else concerns me.

May I fill in this cheque?"

"You can do so, of course," replied Acland. "I shall receive the money in full sooner or later from the other purchaser, and then you can have it back."

"It would be a satisfaction to me, however, to pay you the deposit you lent my wife at once."

"Very well."

Ogilvie filled in a cheque for two thousand pounds.

"You had better see Mrs. Ogilvie with regard to this," he said, as he stood up. "You transacted the business with her, and you must break to her what I have already done, but what I fear she fails to believe, that the purchase cannot possibly go on. It will not be in my power, Acland, to complete it, even if I should be alive at the time."

"I know another man only too anxious to purchase," said Acland; "but I am deeply sorry for you--your child so ill, your own mission to Queensland a failure."

"Yes, quite a failure. I won't detain you any longer now. I may need your services again presently."

Ogilvie went from the lawyer's house straight to his own in Belgrave Square. It was in the hands of a caretaker. A seedy-looking man in a rusty black coat opened the door. He did not know Ogilvie.

"I am the master," said Ogilvie; "let me in, please."

The man stood aside.

"Has a telegram come for me?"

"Yes, sir, five minutes ago."

Ogilvie tore it open, and read the contents.

"Meeting of directors at one o'clock to-morrow, at Cannon Street Hotel. Not necessary for you to be present unless you wish. GRAYLEIGH."

Ogilvie crushed up the telegram, and turned to the man.

"I shall sleep here to-night," Ogilvie said, "and shall be back in the course of the evening."

He then went to his bank. It was within half-an-hour of closing. He saw one of the managers who happened to be a friend of his. The manager welcomed him back with effusion, and then made the usual remark about his changed appearance.

Ogilvie put his troublesome questions aside.

"I had an interview with you just before I went to Queensland," he said, "and I then placed, with a special note for your instructions in case anything happened to me, a sum of money in the bank."

"A large sum, Ogilvie--ten thousand pounds."

"Yes, ten thousand pounds," repeated Ogilvie. "I want to withdraw the money."