Spring Heeled Jack | Page 8

is a terrible blow for you."
"What do you mean?" asked Jack; "it was a terrible blow to me when my father and my mother went down in the Hydaspes--but Time, the great Healer, has softened that blow so that I should hardly feel it now, were it not for the doubts that my cousin here has cast upon my identity."
"Ah! of your identity there can be no doubt, poor boy," sighed Alfred Morgan; "and that's where lies the pity of it."
"How do you mean?" cried Jack, an angry flush mantling his handsome features.
"How do mean, poor boy?" went on the merciless scoundrel. "Why, the pity of it is that, although I know so well that you are the son of your father and mother, the law refuses to recognise you as such."
"And why?" yelled Jack, with a sudden and overwhelming outburst of fury.
"Because," meekly replied the villain, "your father and mother were never married."
"But," cried Jack, thoroughly taken aback by this assertion, "you were the witness to the marriage. I have heard my father say so scores of times."
"Aye, my poor lad; but your mother had a husband living at the time," and Mr. Alfred handed a bundle of papers to the family solicitor, who had not yet spoken, the whole conversation having taken place between Jack and Mr. Alfred Morgan.
A silence like that of the tomb fell upon the fell upon the occupants of the room as the lawyer examined the papers.
Ten minutes or a quarter of an hour passed, then, with a sigh, the kind-hearted solicitor turned to Jack and said, with tears in his--
"Alas, my lad; it is too true; you have no right to the name of Dacre."
Without a word Jack caught hold of Ned's hand, and, turning to his cousin, said, in a voice of thunder--
"There is some villainy here, which, please Heaven, I will yet unravel. Once already you have tried to murder my body, now you are trying to murder my mother's reputation; but as I escaped from the first plot by a clean pair of heels and a good spring from the bell tower, so on occasion I feel that I shall eventually conquer. Come, Ned, we will leave this, and make our plans for the future."
"Aye, Master Spring-Heels, make yourself scarce, or I will have you lashed and kicked from the door, you wretched impostor!"
"Yes, cousin, I will go," answered Jack, impressively; "and I will accept the name you have given me, as you say I have no right to any other. But, beware! false Sir Michael Dacre, the time will come, and that ere long, when the tortures of the damned shall be implanted in your heart by me--the wretched, despised outcast whom you have christened Spring-Heeled-Jack!"
As our hero uttered these words Michael Dacre's cheek paled visibly.
And indeed there was good cause for his apparent fear.
Jack Dacre had thrown such an amount of expression into his words and gestures as seemed to render them truly prophetic.
At this moment Mr. Reece, the solicitor, advanced towards Jack and, holding out a well filled purse to him, said--
"Take this, my lad; it shall never be said that Sam Reece allowed the son of his old playmate, Sid Dacre, to be turned out of house and home without a penny in his pocket, legitimate or not."
Jack, responding to a nudge from Ned Chump, took the purse and said--
"Thank you, sir, for your kindness. That there is some villainy afloat I am convinced, but whether I eventually succeed in proving my claim or not this money shall be faithfully returned. Once more, thank you, sir, and good-bye."
With this Jack and Ned left the room. As soon as they had taken their departure the "baronet," as we must style him for a time, recovered his self-possession to a certain extent.
Turning to the solicitor, he said--
"How much was there in that purse, Mr. Reece? Of course I cannot allow you to lose your money over the unfortunate whelp."
The lawyer, who, although the documentary evidence was so plain, could not help thinking with Jack Dacre that some villainy was afloat, answered the baronet very shortly.
"What I gave the lad, I gave him out of pure good feeling, I want no repayment from anyone. And, mark my words, Sir Michael Dacre, that boy will return my loan sooner or later, and if there is anything wrong about these papers I feel assured that he will carry out his threat with regard to yourself."
"What do you mean, insolent--" cried the baronet.
But ere he could finish the sentence, Mr. Reece calmly said--
"You do not suppose that the matter will drop here? The poor lad has no friends, and I was stupid in not having detained him when he proposed to leave this house. However, I missed that opportunity of questioning him