Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 332 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

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I fear I could not be equal to such myself.” His words struck the old duke at once. “Say you so, Oliver? Then, by heavens, I will sign it, and then let George look to himself. Call in Jarvis, and tell him to bring Hodge with him. Ring the bell.” : Oliver obeyed at once, and the faithful Jarvis made his appearance, to whom the duke said: **Open that desk in the corner of the room and bring me the paper that is in the top drawer.” The man obeyed, and then his master sent him off to call Hodge, who was a brother of the honest sergeant of the guard in the Tower. The duke — the paper, and said: **T have called you in to witness my last will and testament, being yet in good health, but mindful of the uncertainty of life. You see I sign my name here.” e took a pen, handed him by the obsequious Oliver, and affixed his signature to the paper after which he told the men where to sign, an they obeyed in silence. **Now you can go,” he said. ‘‘ This is ae next heir. That is all you need know. He wi take care of you, after I am gone.” The men, looking much astonished, went out of the room, and the old duke cried: “*Tt is done, Noll, and I am glad of it, boy. Now let us have another bottle, and let the doc- tor say what he pleases,” He set into drinking at once, and when Oliver rose to depart, the duke was fast asleep in his chair, snoring in a way that would have fright- ened any doctor in the world. CHAPTER XXIII. THE HOWARDS OF SELBY. THE next morning after Oliver Howard’s visit to his kinsman, he went back to Hampton Court, and the first person he saw was his brother, of whom he asked, with ill-concealed iron ‘* Well, [ suppose you have sober 4 Spring- Heel Jack of course. You made such prepara- tions, that he could not have disappointed you.” 6 favored his brother witha curious look, as he rved: ‘* No, this time you have been absentall night, and yet the scoundrel has not made his — ance. It is singular, but every time you have been away, he has come.” Oliver cast a look of anger at his brother, as he said, with a bitter sneer: 4, Possibly you think I am the man.” ‘** Oh, no,” responded George; * I think nothing of the sort. If you were, I should have had you in irons long ago. Spring-Heel Jack may bea friend of yours, but you are not the man him- self or you would have been found out.” Oliver seemed nettled by the remark. ** And how do you know? I might be he, and ou none the wiser. For that matter, if I said were the man himself, how could you prove it?” rge smiled provokingly. ~ Tf ever I found out that you were the scamp who has played all these cowardly tricks I would gi © oe such a hiding that you would not dare ) of playing the ghost again.” Oliver laughed aloud in scorn. ‘‘ So you think because I let you throw me yesterday that you can do what you like with me. You would find out your mistake if you once tried it.” George kept his coolness, as he replied: = This is not the time, nor this the place for that sort of talk between us two, as long as we | are reputed to be brothers—” Oliver turned pale as the other spoke. ‘What do you mean!” he asked furiously. ‘‘Do you mean to say you doubt my birth?” looked at him steadily. ‘“ You seem to be much moved at the idea. But what would you say if I did?” **T would make you rue the word, for the rest of your life,” said Oliver, in a low tone, comin close to George as he spoke. ‘‘It is a lie, an ou know it. I know a ideas into your head, but you’ll find I am as a Howard as you ane yi if my face be as dark as yours is light. your worst, sir.”’ And he flung awa m the young officer. The excited youth went off immediately in search of Spring, the Gypey, whom he found by his brother’s quarters, in his capacity of orderly. = to Spring went Oliver, and asked bim Have you been tattling or not?” “* About what?” asked the Gypsy. oes he had that morning he had but voiced the sus- Spring-Heel Jack. a ee ————S oe. ———— ee —~s —- > —— + ———es ee $e He had a lowering look on his face as hespoke | laugh, when the subject was mentioned before and showed little respect to the questioner, | him while he was still young: | though there were soldiers in a ‘*There is no need to worry about it. The ‘* Did you hear me speak?” asked Oliver fierce- | title will not go begging, you may be sure, and yy ‘‘or do you think that I am of one torte pals? | there are enough Howards in England to make hy don’t you salute me, when I speak to you?” | an army of themselves.” | The Gypsy instantly et tare up and salut- Captain Howard had thus been left to think | ed as stiffly as any man could. all his life that he would ultimately succeed to | ‘* Your honor axed me a question I didn’t un- | the title and had reared his family in that im- derstand, and I axed your honor what it meant.” | pression. That was all hesaid, but there was a great deal George, who had been born first, had always _ of meaning in hiseye, ashesaid it. His manner, | been told that he would be the next Duke of Nor- to a person at a little distance, was as respectful ; folk, and the idea had taken great hold of his _as any other soldier of the guard; but the officer | mind as a child, leading him to a sense of dig- _who faced him saw a mocking smile on his face, | nity and reserve, which did not obtain in the that belied the manner. case of his more impetuous and volatile brother, With-an effort that was more like the self- | who was five years younger. restraint of his brother than his own natural George had been away from his father’s house, reckless way, Oliver asked slowly: a child, on a visit to an uncle in Scotland, when ‘‘Have you been speaking to my brother about | Oliver was born, and there were not wanting the stories that have been told as to my birth, or te at that early day, who had told before not? Answer the question plainly.” the child mysterious things about *‘ everythin a saluted again. not being all right” as to the birth of the dar ‘* No, your honor; I ’aven’t been talkin’ to no | boy, who came, the first in many generations, brother of yourn, about nobody nor nothink.” into the family of the Howards of Selby—the The words seemed to be plain, but Oliver did | branch to which Captain Howard belonged. not seem to be quite clear about it yet, for he The boy had heard these rumors as a child and they had made the impression on him that went on: ‘*T mean, have you been speaking to Mr. How- | is made on a child by something that it does not ard on the subject?” quite understand, ‘* No, your honor, I ain’t.” When he saw his brother, which was not for Again the answer was plain, but Oliver did | some months after the child was born, little not seem quite satisfied. George eyed the black hair and dark eyes, so dif- ‘Then what did he mean when he told me, this | ferent from his own, with marked disfavor, and moment, that he suspected that I was not his rised everybody by saying to his mother: brother?” asked Oliver s ly. ‘That's not my brother at all, and I don’t Spring shru his shoulders indifferently. want him for a brother.” ‘* Sure I don’t know, your honor.” The young man turned away impatiently, and CHAPTER XXIV. RAM MANDANA’S VISIT. then came back. ‘* Look here, on he said, ina different | THE speech of the child had created both an- ‘This is not the way to treat ger and amusement in the family; but was at- tone altogether. me; isit? You know something, and you won’t uted to spite and jealousy, by the familiar tell me what it is. Is that the way to treat me?’ | phrase of his ‘‘ nose being out of joint,” on ac- Spring allowed the muscles of his face to re- | count of the new baby in the house.” lax into a smile. But as years went on, it was remarked, by all ‘*T thought your honor were comin’ the offi- | in the house, that there seemed to be a repulsion cer over me, and that warn’t the way to make a | between the two brothers, which did not de- Romany speak, as ye know.” crease with age, but rather grew stronger, as Then Oliver seer yee —— his language | the boys grew to manhood; and the result was to one composed of soft vowels and linguals, in | that they were sent to separate schools, to avoid which he and the Gypsy conversed eagerly for a | the public scandal which would have inevitably minute or more, till the approach of rge | been provoked by the spectacle of their constant Howard closed the conversation, and Oliver | quarrels and fights, in any place where they went away as if he did not want his brother to | were found together. see him speaking to the Gypsy. When Captain Howard died, soon after his When George Howard came up, the Gypsy | wife, both boys were of age, George being was hard at work on a belt of his master’s, | twenty-six, and Oliver twenty-one. which he was industriously pipe-claying, and he The spendthrift captain gave the last of his did not lift his head till George asked: fortune in paper ay commissions for his two “What was my brother saying to you, just | sons in the Guards, the most ee corps in now?” the army, and left them a ag an Spring looked up, as innocently as a baby. apiece, and his blessing, when he died. e last ** Anan, your honor?” he said. part of the bequest might have been more valu- “‘T said, what was my brother speaking to you | able, had his conduct been better. about, just now?” This had happened a year before, and, by the Spring laughed below his breath. time that our story opens, both young men were “Deed, your honor, but it’s comical. His | beginning to be in straits for money, with the honor is jest longin’ to know whether we ketched | probability staring them in the face, that they ring-Heel Jack, last night, or not? He jest | would both have to sell their commissions before wants to git the mete ter ty and he ain’t goin’ ; long, and go forth into the world, to make to git it, not by a j money, in some ie ‘* And was that all he said?” asked George, in George, being of a very cautious tem his keenest way. ment, had not tall his money yet, but Oli- The G looked more innocent than ever. ver had not only done this, but was over head ‘* Well, if your honor wants me to remember | and ears in debt, besides, and had borrowed of his very words,” he said, slowly, ‘‘Tll try, as | the Jews in the city, so often, that his notes nigh as I can, to give’em. Says he to me, says | were no longer to be discounted, since which he he—as might be me was me, and that there belt | had been a precarious living by the was his honor—says he to me, says he, Spring, | race-course, and the fascinating pursuit of says he, if I could once lay my hands on that | ‘ hazard,” at which all London was then a pro- there Spring-Heel Jack, says he, I'd be content | ficient, as far as its money went. to lose a year’s pay, says he. I’d be willin’,says | Oliver had been ‘‘caster” and “setter,” so he—” often, that he had become a veteran in the ‘Oh, stop that ‘says he,’” cried George, im- | game, and his only limitation in the way of patiently. ‘‘I want to know if that was all he | making money therefrom was in the fact that said, and not a rigmarole about the exact words. | none of his brother officers would play with him; Did he have nothing to say to you about what | and it was not always we de new men, passed between us?” who would stand unlimited rd, when Oliver “-Twixt you and him, sir, or me and you, sir?’ wanted to play it. 2 the Gypsy asked, imperturbably. Nevertheless, the two had remained in the ‘‘ Between him and me, of course. Nothing | expensive corps to which they penenged, though ever passed between you and me, except that ths, as both it was only a question of a few mon licking I gave you, betore you enlisted.” knew, when they would be compelled to sell out ‘*Then he didn’t say nothin’ else, yer honor,” te to avoid disgrace and ptey. said Spring, as civilly as ever.” George was the most sensitive on this point, George Howard turned away from the Gypsy, | for Oliver did not seem to care where he chante and went into his quarters, with a sense that | ed his money and goods, so ag gs he got them; there was something between Oliver and Spring | and there were others among the Mages | officers that he did not understand. of the ent that were almost as badly off as When he had spoken to his brother in the way | he, with tae Hage their expectations to give them credit with the Jews, who then, as now picions that had been gradually gathering in his | and always, had the monoply of the supply of mind, thanks to the whispers of others, for | young mex of fashion, at exorbitant rates. George had not fallen into their hands yet; shad been a hand- | but he had but a few pounds lephaasiaes.tee Day, some, but dissipated and extravagant Indian of- | and that was not enough to keep his mess-b ficer, who had spent a large fortune deliberate- dup, if he had wanted to be economical and ly in the knowledge that he was the next heir of | live on the money he received from the Govern- great title of Duke of Norfolk. ment. The old duke, who had earned the nickname | This statement of the position of the two of the ‘‘ bad duke,” had had no children, and peng neem is necessary, to enable the reader to his wife had died early, it was said, after a very y understand the feelings which animated unhappy life with him. them, and which caused the brothems to dislike He seemed careless as to how the title was | each other to the point of hatred. to be perpetuated, and had often said, with a' When George went to his quarters that day Ss.iGO years past. The father of the two comicboo