THE OTHER INMATE.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9359, 7 March 1896, Page 2

THE OTHER INMATE.

B. Samuel C_ia__ White CHAPTER V.—A Mx-Tekious Obligai TION. Carslake leant back and drummed with his fingers on the table, his lips firmly closed, in the manner peculiar to him when thinking deeply. " Rothbury," he said earnestly at length, " I am in a very embarrassing position. The circumstances connected with this claim can never be divulged by mc, but I give you my word as an honourable man that they are such that were they known to you, you would not hesitate for a; single instant in admitting the reality of the obligation." " Tell mc," said Rot-bury, after a pause, "does my decision in any way affect you personally?" / "Not in the least," replied Carslake, "beyond my interest in the well-being of Mrs Wentworth, I have absolutely no concern in the matter. The obligation is on your family, not oa mine." " Forgive mc for asking, naturally I find the business very perplexing. You say that Mrs Wentworth is the person who has the claim on mc. Is Mrs Wentworth by any chance a connection or relation of my own ? ' " No," replied Carslake, slowly. "She is not for instance my cousin's wife or his widow ?" " Certainly not," replied ' Carslake, quickly; "the obligation is of a totally different kind: it bears only remotely on ties of blood." "And yet,you say it is a family matter. Surely if that .be so 1 have as good a right to know the particulars as yourself." "A better," replied Carslake, " if it were a question of right." "Just so," said Rothbury, irritably. "My feeling in the matter is that if I have no rights, then I have no duties—that completely sums it up." Carslake was silent. He had the air of a man who. meant if possible to carry his point, and was merely waiting the arrival of re-inforcements. Rothbury, on the other hand, wore the irritable and piqued air of one harassed by an accumulation of doubts ; the puckering between hia brows stood noticeably forth, and, the questioning look in his eyes deepened momentarily in intensity. "Tell mc as much as you can," he said, helping himself to a strong glass of spirits. "I can tell you .this," said Carslake, " that your cousin Herbert was in the habit of paying Mrs Wentworth a thousand a year, and that on the very day I last saw him alive, in giving mc instructions for the drawing up of his will, he mentioned thatshe was to ba a pensioner on the estate for a similar amount as long as she lived. Those two circumstances should be sufficient to convince you of the reality of the claim." " On Herbert, yes, but not on myself." "Had your cousin lived to sign that will," retorted Carslake, "it would now be equally binding on you." " No doubt," said Rothbury, rising, and leaning his back against the mantelpiece, " but as a matter of fact the will never was signed." He spoke a little shortly, and an uneasy silence followed the words. Carslake was the first to break it. " Therr," he said regretfully, " I am to understand you refuse?" " Carslake," the other said, " I will speak to you plainly. If I refuse it is from no mean or mercenary motive; a thousand a year, though it is no trifle, would neither make nor break mc, and my answer would be the same if the amount were only as many shillings. I feel that whoever is responsible for it I am being treated rather badly. It may be as you say that this obligation is one which I am bound to recognise, and if so the injury done mc is increased. The reservation which accompanies your demand is distinctly offensive, you must feel it to be so. No confidence is placed in mc, yet I am asked to trust implicitly in others. Can you say that that is either fair or reasonable ? " "Then you refuse?" repeated Carslake passing the arguments as if unheard. "I do—absolutely.'*

Carslake sat.in silence, looking moodily at the fire. " Some day," he said presently, without looking up, " it may become possible to confide this secret to you, I think you will then regret this decisiou." "It may be so, Carslake," said Rothbury, whose face wore an air of acute distress. " When that day comes, if it ever does, it will find mc ready to admit my error, and to redeem it." " Well," said Carslak*. shaking himself, as though with the determination of dismissing the matter from his mind, "there is nothing more to be said, unless it be to apologise for auy unpleasantness I may have caused you ; you must not forget however, that 1 am merely an agent acting in the interest of another—so imieh I am bound to say in my own behalf." * "Of courss, my dear fellow," said Rothbury, his face clearing. " Now let us talk of something else."