Colonel Thorndykes Secret | Page 3

and this was his first home coming.
Had it not been for a portrait that had been taken of him in his uniform

just before he sailed, John would have had but little remembrance of
him. In that he was represented as a thin, spare youth, with an
expression of quiet determination in his face. From his father John had,
of course, heard much about him.
"Nothing would satisfy him but to go out to India, John. There was, of
course, no occasion for it, as he would have this place after me--a fine
estate and a good position: what could he want more? But he was a
curious fellow. Once he formed an opinion there was no persuading
him to change it. He was always getting ideas such as no one else
would think of; he did not care for anything that other people cared for;
never hunted nor shot. He used to puzzle me altogether with his ways,
and, 'pon my word, I was not sorry when he said he would go to India,
for there was no saying how he might have turned out if he had stopped
here. He never could do anything like anybody else: nothing that he
could have done would have surprised me.
"If he had told me that he intended to be a play actor, or a Jockey, or a
private, or a book writer, I should not have been surprised. Upon my
word, it was rather a relief to me when he said, 'I have made up my
mind to go into the East India Service, father. I suppose you can get me
a cadetship?' At least that was an honorable profession; and I knew,
anyhow, that when he once said 'I have made up my mind, father,' no
arguments would move him, and that if I did not get him a cadetship he
was perfectly capable of running away, going up to London, and
enlisting in one of their white regiments."
John Thorndyke's own remembrances were that his brother had always
been good natured to him, that he had often told him long stories about
Indian adventures, and that a short time before he went away, having
heard that he had been unmercifully beaten by the schoolmaster at
Reigate for some trifling fault, he had gone down to the town, and had
so battered the man that the school had to be closed for a fortnight.
They had always kept up a correspondence. When he received the news
of his father's death George had written to him, begging him to go
down to Reigate, and to manage the estate for him.
"Of course," he said, "you will draw its income as long as you are there.

I mayn't be back for another twenty years; one gets rich out here fast,
what with plunder and presents and one thing and another, and it is no
use to have money accumulating at home, so just live on the place as if
it were your own, until I come home to turn you out."
John had declined the offer.
"I am very well where I am," he wrote, "and the care of the estate
would be a horrible worry to me; besides, I have just married, and if I
ever have any children they would be brought up beyond their station. I
have done what I can for you. I have seen the family lawyers, who have
engaged a man who has been steward to Sir John Hieover, and looked
after the estate during his son's minority. But the young blade, on
coming of age, set to work to make ducks and drakes of the property,
and Newman could not bear to see the estate going to the Jews, so, as
luck would have it, he resigned a month ago, and has been appointed
steward at Reigate. Of course, if you don't like the arrangement you
must write and say so. It will be a year before I get your answer, and he
has only been engaged for certain for that time; it must lie with you as
to permanent arrangement."
So Newman had taken charge of the Reigate estate, and had continued
to manage it ever since, although George had written home in great
displeasure at his offer being refused.
Inside the Manor the bustle of preparations was going on; the spare
room, which had not been used for many years, was being turned out,
and a great fire lighted to air it. John Thorndyke had sent a letter by the
returning messenger to a friend in town, begging him to go at once to
Leadenhall Street and send down a supply of Indian condiments for his
brother's use, and had then betaken himself to the garden to think the
matter over. The next