Free Agatha Webb by Anna Katharine Green Page B

hundred off a countryman
Lewis brought in from the Canada wilds this morning."
    "Wattles, I swear—"
    But the hand he had raised was quickly drawn down by the other.
    "Don't," said the older man, shortly. "It won't pay, Sutherland.
Stage-talk never passed for anything with me. Besides, your white
face tells a truer story than your lips, and time is precious. I
want to take the 11 o'clock train back. So down with the cash.
Nine hundred and fifty-five it is, but, being friends, we will let
the odd five go."
    "Wattles, I was to bring it to you to-morrow, or was it the next
day? I do not want to give it to you to-night; indeed, I cannot,
but—Wattles, wait, stop! Where are you going?"
    "To see your father. I want to tell him that his son owes me a
debt; that this debt was incurred in a way that lays him liable to
arrest for forgery; that, bad as he thinks you, there are facts
which can be picked up in Boston which would render Frederick
Sutherland's continued residence under the parental roof
impossible; that, in fact, you are a scamp of the first water, and
that only my friendship for you has kept you out of prison so
long. Won't that make a nice story for the old gentleman's ears!"
    "Wattles—I—oh, my God! Wattles, stop a minute and listen to me.
I have not got the money. I had enough this morning to pay you,
had it legitimately, Wattles, but it has been stolen from me and—
-"
    "I will also tell him," the other broke in, as quietly as if
Frederick had not uttered a word, "that in a certain visit to
Boston you lost five hundred dollars on one hand; that you lost it
unfairly, not having a dollar to pay with; that to prevent scandal
I be came your security, with the understanding that I was to be
paid at the end of ten days from that night; that you thereupon
played again and lost four hundred and odd more, so that your debt
amounted to nine hundred and fifty-five dollars; that the ten days
passed without payment; that, wanting money, I pressed you and
even resorted to a threat or two; and that, seeing me in earnest,
you swore that the dollars should be mine within five days; that
instead of remaining in Boston to get them, you came here; and
that this morning at a very early hour you telegraphed that the
funds were to hand and that you would bring them down to me to-
morrow. The old gentleman may draw conclusions from this,
Sutherland, which may make his position as your father anything
but grateful to him. He may even—Ah, you would try that game,
would you?"
    The young man had flung himself at the older man's throat as if he
would choke off the words he saw trembling on his lips. But the
struggle thus begun was short. In a moment both stood panting, and
Frederick, with lowered head, was saying humbly:
    "I beg pardon, Wattles, but you drive me mad with your suggestions
and conclusions. I have not got the money, but I will try and get
it. Wait here."
    "For ten minutes, Sutherland; no longer! The moon is bright, and I
can see the hands of my watch distinctly. At a quarter to ten, you
will return here with the amount I have mentioned, or I will seek
it at your father's hands in his own study."
    Frederick made a hurried gesture and vanished up the walk. Next
moment he was at his father's study door.

XIII - Wattles Goes
*
    Mr. Sutherland was busily engaged with a law paper when his son
entered his presence, but at sigh of that son's face, he dropped
the paper with an alacrity which Frederick was too much engaged
with his own thoughts to notice.
    "Father," he began without preamble or excuse, "I am in serious
and immediate need of nine hundred and fifty dollars. I want it so
much that I ask you to make me a check for that amount to-night,
conscious though I am that you have every right to deny me this
request, and that my debt to you already passes the bound of
presumption on my part and indulgence on yours. I cannot tell you
why I want it or for what. That belongs to my past life, the
consequences of which I have not yet