A Debt of Honor

“Indeed!”

“Yes, by the boy who seems to be in your company.”

“Gerald Lane? Yes, he is in my company.”

“I know the boy.”

“Indeed?”

“Yes, and I knew his father before him. He and I were young men together.”

“He must have been glad to meet you. He is an excellent boy.”

“I am glad you like him,” said Wentworth, but there was something unpleasant in his tone, that did not escape the attention of Noel Brooke.

“Don’t you feel friendly to him?” he asked keenly.

“Yes, but the boy is headstrong and repels my advances.”

“That is singular. He seems to be a very open, frank boy, and I have discovered nothing objectionable in him in the ten weeks we have been together.”

“I am pleased to hear it, but the boy’s ancestry is against him.”

“What do you mean? I thought you said his father was a friend of yours.”

“Yes; we were associated together in early life, but something unpleasant occurred. However, perhaps I had better not speak of it.”

“You have gone too far to recede. I insist upon your continuing.”

“Well, if you insist upon it I will do so. Mr. Lane was in the employ of my uncle and lost his position in consequence of getting money upon a forged check which was traced to him.”

Noel Brooke looked disturbed.

“I am sorry to hear it,” he said gravely.

“I presume Gerald has not mentioned the matter to you.”

“No.”

“Well, he could hardly be expected to do so.”

“Still the boy is no worse for his father’s crime.”

“Unless he inherits the same tendency,” said Wentworth significantly.

“I am sure he does not,” said Noel Brooke warmly.

“You can’t tell. I claim to be a sharp business man, but I have more than once been deceived in a man that I thought I knew well. Warren Lane seemed to my uncle and myself a thoroughly upright man, but – ” here he paused suggestively.

“What induced him to commit forgery?”

“Extravagant living,” answered Wentworth promptly. “His salary was only moderate and did not come up to his desires.”

“You surprise me very much,” said Noel Brooke after a brief pause.

“I thought I should, but I felt it to be my duty to warn you against Gerald. He is probably in confidential relations with you, and he might play some dishonest trick on you. I advise you, as soon as practicable, to discharge him and secure some one in his place on whom you can rely. I need only call your attention to the individual he is talking with at this moment. He looks like a confidence man.”

Samuel Standish had again joined Gerald, and to the boy’s disgust had almost forced his company upon him.

“That is a man whom we met at a hotel in Davenport, and he appears inclined to thrust himself upon us.”

Bradley Wentworth shrugged his shoulders and smiled in evident incredulity.

“At any rate,” he said, “I have warned you, and have done my duty.”

Noel Brooke bowed slightly, but did not feel called upon to make any other acknowledgment of Mr. Wentworth’s warning.

When Brooke had an opportunity he said to Gerald, “I have been talking to a man who claims to know you.”

“A tall, well-built man?”

“Yes.”

“He recently paid us a visit in Colorado.”

“Do you consider him a friend?”

“No.”

“He says he knew your father in early days.”

“That is true.”

“And he charges your father with having committed forgery and thus lost his position.”

“Was he really so base as that?” asked Gerald indignantly.

“Then it isn’t true?”

“No; a thousand times no!”

“I believe you, Gerald,” said the Englishman promptly.

CHAPTER XXIII

MR. STANDISH RECEIVES A COMMISSION

“Thank you for your confidence, Mr. Brooke,” said Gerald, “but I prefer that you should have proofs of what I say.”