The Adventures of Dick Maitland | Page 2

secrets in it." And Dick passed the letter over to Humphreys.
"Phew!" whistled the Doctor, when he had read the letter twice--from the date to the signature; "that sounds pretty bad. You had better be off at once, and get at the rights of the thing. And when you have done so-- By the way, have you any friends with whom you can consult, should you need help or advice of any sort?"
"Not a soul in the world, so far as I know, unless I may call you a friend, Doctor," answered Dick. "Of course there is Cuthbertson, the family solicitor and the sole executor of my father's will; but the suggestion conveyed by this letter from my mother is that something has somehow gone wrong with him, and he may not be available."
"Quite so; he may not, as you say," agreed the Doctor. "In that case, my dear Dick, come back to me after you have become acquainted with all the facts, and we will discuss the matter together. That you may call me your friend goes without saying, as you ought to know by this time; and although I am only an obscure East-End practitioner I am not wholly without friends able and willing to do me, or any friend of mine, a good turn, if necessary. So come back here when you have threshed out the matter, and we will see what--if anything--can be done."
"Right! I will. And a thousand thanks to you for this fresh evidence of your kindly feeling toward me," exclaimed Dick, grasping the doctor's hand. "Are you quite sure that you will be able to get along without me for a few hours?"
"Absolutely certain," was the cheery reply. "You are a very clever young fellow, Dick, and have proved a marvellously apt pupil since you have been with me, but I managed this practice single-handed before you came to me, and I have no doubt I can do it again, if needs be. So be off with you at once, my lad; for your mother seems to be in sore need of you."
Five minutes later Dick Maitland had boarded a tramcar, on his way to London Bridge railway station, from whence he took train for the Crystal Palace, the nearest station to his mother's home, which he reached within two hours of his departure from Number 19 Paradise Street.
Now, as Dick Maitland happens to be the hero of this story it is necessary he should be properly introduced to the reader, and this seems as appropriate a moment as any.
To begin with, then, when we caught our first glimpse of him, assisting Dr Humphreys to dress and bind up those tokens of affection which Mr William Taylor had bestowed upon his wife, Dick Maitland was within three months of his eighteenth birthday, a fine, tall, fairly good- looking, and athletic specimen of the young public-school twentieth- century Englishman. He was an only son; and his mother was a widow, her husband having died when Dick was a sturdy little toddler a trifle over three years of age. Mrs Maitland had been left quite comfortably off, her husband having accumulated a sufficient sum to bring her in an income of close upon seven hundred pounds per annum. The provisions of Mr Maitland's will stipulated that the income arising from his carefully chosen investments was to be enjoyed by his widow during her lifetime, subject to the proper maintenance and education of their only son, Dick; and upon the demise of Mrs Maitland the capital was to go to Dick, to be employed by the latter as he might deem fit. But a clause in the will stipulated that at the close of his school career Dick was to be put to such business or profession as the lad might choose, Mr Maitland pithily remarking that he did not believe in drones. But since Mrs Maitland, although a most excellent woman in every respect, had no head for business, her husband appointed honest old John Cuthbertson, his own and his father's solicitor, sole executor of his will; and so died happily, in the full conviction that he had done everything that was humanly possible to assure the future welfare of his widow and infant son. And faithfully had John Cuthbertson discharged his trust, until in the fullness of years he had laid down the burden of life, and his son Jonas had come to reign in the office in his father's stead. This event had occurred some three years previously, about the time when Dick, having completed his school life, had elected to take up the study of medicine and surgery.
This important step had involved many interviews between Mrs Maitland and "Mr Jonas", as the clerks in his father's office had learned to call him; for