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Bommaney and himself were old friends and schoolfellows, and had been in each other's confidence for years. 'I am afraid, sir, Mr. Hornett had said, when the visitor first presented himself, 'that Mr. Bommaney may not be able to see you at present. He gave orders not to be disturbed. 'Not see me? said the visitor with a laugh.
If I'd been a rogue, James Hornett, and there he flashed up again, ever so little, 'I could have robbed my own flesh and blood with safety. A rogue would have done it. I was his sole trustee, and I could have had nine thousand by a stroke of the pen at any minute. 'Mr. Phil, sir, said Hornett 'Mr. Phil hasn't got much money left'
Suppose I made you believe me, am I such a fool as to, think your pity could set me on my legs again? He turned away, moved by his own wrath and anguish, and Hornett, rising, made himself as small as he could in the corner beside the grate. Bommaney, in his pitiful broken boots, went shuffling up and down the room. 'What became of the money, sir? the clerk asked with a shaky voice.
'No, said Bommaney, suddenly weary after his outburst of self-exculpation, 'I don't know. It was after banking hours. It was dark; he had to light the gas. What if I could? What would that have to do with it? 'Well, you see, sir, Hornett answered, 'I'm not likely to forget that evening. Of all the evenings of my life, sir, I made a call at Gable Inn myself, sir, at Number One. If young Mr.
'I'll engage he will. And then followed the statement about his old acquaintanceship with Mr. Hornett's employer. If there were anything to be told at all, it seemed not unlikely that this visitor might be the recipient of the intelligence, and Mr. Hornett lingered to find if haply he might overhear.
Hornett longed to satisfy his own curiosity upon this point, and felt as if he dared not ask the question for his life. He framed a score of ways by which he might approach it, with a road of retreat behind him, and at last, as if in spite of himself, he said, with apologetic impudence, 'You don't seem to have made the money last long, sir.
'I was following Mr. Phil myself, sir, in the hope that his kindness might run to a trifle. 'Come in, said Bommaney; and Hornett eagerly accepting the invitation, they entered the house together. There was an odour of frying in the room, and a hissing noise proceeded from a soft of metal caldron which stood over a row of gas-jets on the pewter counter.
Locking it, don't you see, sir, said Hornett, beginning to be fired by his imagination, and speaking eagerly, 'so as not to make a noise in pulling it to behind him. I suppose I made some sort of a noise in going behind him, but any way, he looked up at me I can see him now! he cried, with a swift conviction, 'as if he was here at this very minute, white and cowardly. That's what he was, sir.
Philip rather took to the fellow at first sight, and was slow to suspect him, even when James Hornett had told his story. But the young Barter was not satisfied, as he should have been, with playing the part of one insect at a time.
He could see that his late clerk was leading to a point of some sort, and listened with a growing impatience. 'He was leaving his rooms that night, sir, said Hornett, 'as sly as a cat. I was just on the ground-floor of Number One as he was locking the door behind him.
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