VERNON PLAYS THE PENITENT.

"What, you!" cried Mrs. Vernon, when she could speak.

"Yes, aunt," replied Frederic Vernon awkwardly. "I suppose you didn't expect to see me."

"I certainly did not." And the lady sank in a chair.

"Aren't you going to shake hands with me?"

He came to her side and held out his hand, and she grasped it mechanically.

"When did you come over?" she asked.

"I arrived at Liverpool yesterday, and went directly to London. At the Charing Cross Hotel I found out that you had come here."

"I see."

She said no more, but stared hard at him.

"Dear aunt, cannot you forgive me," he said, trying to put on a sad face. "I have done wrong, I know, but I--I--couldn't help it."

"Sit down, Frederic, and tell me why you reported to me that the lumber company was in bad shape."

"Because I was told that it was a fact."

"Who told you that?"

"Some of the men at the Pioneer Club. They knew I, or rather you, were interested in the company."

"The report is absolutely false."

"So I have since heard, and I have come to you for the purpose of setting myself straight in your eyes."

Frederic Vernon had carefully rehearsed his part, and his manner was such that his aunt almost believed him.

"You wish to set yourself straight?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, dear aunt. I know I have done wrong, but I am not the rascal you may think I am."

"I have never said you were a rascal, Frederic."

"But you turned me away, and had that young Frost take my place."

"I did that because you neglected my business. Somebody had to attend to that business."

"And then you left Chicago without letting me know where you were going."

"I had my reasons for that."

"I trust you didn't do it on my account, aunt. I may have been neglectful, but I--well, I never tried to do you any harm, no matter what that young Frost or others may say against me." Frederic Vernon began to cough, and sank back on a sofa as if partly exhausted.

"You are not well?" she asked, in alarm.

"I am not very sick now. But I have been quite ill," he answered, telling the falsehood without a blush.

"And you have a scar on your neck and cheek."

"I was taken sick on the street, and fell down and cut myself on a stray barrel hoop," he answered. "But I guess I'll pull through."

Mrs. Vernon was alarmed, for he did look sick, and she at once began to question him about what he had done for himself.

"I haven't done much--I was too anxious to find you and set myself straight with you," he said. "Since you sent me off I have had no peace of mind at all."

"Perhaps I was a little hasty," said Mrs. Vernon, whose heart was a tender one. "You must consult a doctor at once, and settle down where you can have it comfortable."

The conversation between the pair lasted for fully an hour, and the upshot of the matter was that Mrs. Vernon engaged a room for Frederic at the boarding house opposite to that maintained by Mrs. Cabe, the latter resort being full.

"I will pay all of your expenses," she said. Then a doctor was ordered.

The physician was a man of small practice, and Frederic Vernon fooled him easily.

"He is, indeed, quite sick," said the doctor to Mrs. Vernon. "But rest and medicine will make him pull through, I feel certain of it." Then he wrote out a prescription, and a boy was sent to procure it at the apothecary shop. When the medicine came Frederic Vernon pretended to take it, but not a mouthful of it did he ever swallow.

"You'll not catch me swallowing any such dose," he said to himself, when he was alone, and poured the medicine out of the window.

He was highly elated over his success in fooling his aunt, and when left to himself felt like dancing a jig.

"I'll work my cards all right enough," he thought. "My next move must be to get rid of young Frost, and when my aunt takes me back I'll make sure that I am not thrown aside again."

Of course Robert was astonished to hear of Frederic Vernon's arrival. He listened gravely to what Mrs. Vernon had to tell him.

"It's too bad if he is sick, Mrs. Vernon," he said. "But take my advice and be careful how you trust him."

"I will be careful, Robert. But I am really afraid that I have been too hard on Frederic."

"Have you questioned him about that scheme he and Dr. Remington were hatching out?"

"No. I will bring that around when he is real well again."

"Of course he will deny it."

"It may be that you were mistaken, Robert."

"I don't think so."

It was not until two days later that Robert and Frederic Vernon met. In the meantime Mrs. Vernon had called upon her nephew a number of times.

"Glad to see you, Frost," said Frederic, extending his hand cordially. "I hear you are getting along first-rate as my aunt's private secretary."

"Thank you, I am doing very well," answered Robert stiffly. "How do you feel?"

"Oh, I am coming around slowly. But I've had a pretty bad spell of sickness."

"That isn't very nice."

"It's beastly. But sit down, I want to talk to you. How do you like things over here?"

"Oh, I am suited very well."

"Say, but that's a nice scarfpin you are sporting."

"It is a nice pin."

"Looks like a real diamond."

"It is."

"Where did you get it?"

"Mrs. Vernon gave it to me."

"You are in luck." Frederic Vernon laughed nervously. "By the way, I understand you have been playing the part of a hero."

"Who told you that?"

"The landlady here. She says you saved my aunt and a servant girl when that other boarding house burnt down."

"Well, I did what I could."

"You've lined your nest nicely," went on Frederic Vernon, eyeing Robert in a peculiar manner.

Robert's face flushed.

"What do you mean by that?"

"The first thing you know, Mrs. Vernon will be making you her heir."

"If she does it will be a complete surprise to me."

"Do you deny that you are working for that end?"

"I do deny it, most emphatically. I want no more than I am entitled to."

"Bah, you talk well, Frost, but don't think I can't see through your little plot. Has my aunt changed her will lately?"

"I don't know."

"You ought to know; you have charge of her private papers."

"I haven't seen anything of a will."

"Then she must have left it with Mr. Farley, in Chicago." And Frederic Vernon breathed a long sigh of relief.

He was very anxious to learn if his aunt had cut him off, but could get absolutely nothing out of Robert. If she had made no new will, however, the chances were that he was safe.

"How long is my aunt going to remain in England?" he went on.

"I cannot say. Why don't you ask her yourself?"

"I will. She left in a big hurry, didn't she?"

"I admit she did."

"What was the reason?"

"Perhaps you had better ask her that, too."

"Don't get saucy, Frost."

"I am not saucy. I wasn't hired to answer your questions."

"I want to be friends with you, not enemies. But you seem to wish otherwise."

"No, Mr. Vernon. But I am your aunt's private secretary, and it won't do for me to expose her business, or her motives for doing certain things."

Frederic Vernon looked daggers at Robert, but controlled himself.

"All right, as you please," he said carelessly. "But you may find it to pay to make a friend of me some day."

"I do not wish to be your enemy. But I must do my duty to your aunt," concluded Robert, and a minute later bowed himself away.

When our hero was gone Frederic Vernon grated his teeth.

"He's a clever one," he muttered. "But he shan't get the best of me. He knows all of her business, but he intends to keep it to himself. I must watch my chances and see if I cannot overhear what they talk about from time to time. Hang me, if I don't follow him now!"

And putting on his hat, Frederic Vernon did so. He saw Robert enter the garden attached to Mrs. Cabe's place and join Mrs. Vernon in the summerhouse overlooking the broad river. Taking care so that he would not be seen, he came up close to a tree near the summerhouse. From this point he could hear every word that passed between his aunt and our hero.