Colonel Thorndykes Secret | Page 4

day a post chaise arrived, bringing the invalid
and his colored servant, whose complexion and Indian garb struck the
maids with an awe not unmingled with alarm. John Thorndyke could
hardly believe that the bent and emaciated figure was that of his brother,
but he remembered the voice when the latter said, holding out his hand
to him:

"Well, brother John, here I am, what is left of me. Gracious, man, who
would have thought that you were going to grow up such a fine tall
fellow? You are more fitted to be a soldier than I am. No, don't try to
help me out; Ramoo will do that--he is accustomed to my ways, and I
would as soon trust myself to a rogue elephant as to you."
"I am sorry to see you looking so bad, brother George."
"What must be must. I have had my fling; and after thirty years of
marching and fighting, I have no right to grumble if I am laid upon my
back at last."
Leaning on Ramoo's arm, Colonel Thorndyke made his way into the
house, and when the Hindoo had arranged the cushions of the sofa,
took his place there in a half reclining position.
"I am not always as bad as this, John," he said; "the jolting of your
confounded roads has been too much for me. If I were the King I would
hang every fellow who had anything to do with them-- contractors,
boards of county magistrates, and the whole lot. If I had known what it
was going to be like I would have hired a sedan chair, and had myself
carried down. That is what I have been doing in London; but I would
rather have had an Indian palkee, that one could have lain down
comfortably in."
"What shall I get you first, George? I have got some lemons."
"I want something better than lemons, John. Have you any Burgundy
handy?"
"Yes, plenty."
"If you give a bottle to Ramoo he will know how much water I want."
Here the servants entered with a tray with a chicken and a dish of
kidneys.
"I sent up yesterday for some of the Indian things that you are

accustomed to, George, but they have not come down yet."
"I brought a store down with me. This will do capitally for the present.
Ramoo will do the cooking for me in future. He need not go into the
kitchen to scare the maids. I could see they looked at him as if he had
been his infernal majesty, as he came in. He can do it anywhere; all he
wants is an iron pot with some holes in it, and some charcoal. He can
squat out there on the veranda, or, if it is bad weather, any shed will do
for him.
"Well, it is nice to be home again, John," he went on, after he had eaten
a few mouthfuls of chicken and drunk a tumbler of Burgundy and water.
"I am glad to be back, now I am here, though I dare say I should not
have come home for another ten years if it had not been for this rascally
bullet. Where is your boy?"
"He is away at school."
"Well, I think I will go up to bed at once, if you don't mind, John. I
shall be fitter to talk in the morning."
The next day, indeed, Colonel Thorndyke was materially better. His
voice was stronger and more cheery, and when he came down after
breakfast he took his seat in an easy chair instead of on the sofa.
"Now, brother," he said, "we will have a cozy chat. There are several
things I want done, but the chief of these is that when I am gone you
should go down to Reigate, as I wanted you to do ten years ago. I want
you to seem to be its master, as well as be its master, until Millicent
comes of age, if not longer. Her name is Millicent Conyers Thorndyke.
I wish her to be called Millicent Conyers, and to appear as your ward,
and not as your niece and heiress of the property. If there is one thing in
the world I have a greater horror of than another, it is of a girl being
married for her money. I don't suppose that anyone knows that I have a
daughter--at any rate, none beyond a few Indian chums. She was sent
home with an ayah under the charge of the widow of a comrade of
mine. I had been away for months, and only went back to Calcutta in
time to see her mother die. So that is all right."

"I could not do such a thing as that, George. I should be living under