'I am afraid,' said Miles, apologetically, 'that you have been misled into thinking that because I've no fancy for rigging myself out in the first style of elegance, cutting a dash, or saddling myself with a multitude of things I haven't the least wish to possess, I must be as cucumberish as you are yourself. You should never judge by appearances, nevvy!'
It seemed monstrous to Stacy that his uncle should not have informed him that he was in affluent circumstances. He exclaimed hotly: 'You have been deceiving me, then! Deliberately deceiving me!'
'Not at all. You deceived yourself. That isn't to say that I wouldn't have deceived you, had it been expedient to do so. But, to own the truth, it was of no consequence to me whether you thought me a Nabob or a Church rat. Except, of course,' he added reflectively, 'that if you had known I was full of juice I should have found you an intolerable nuisance. You see, I never lend money without security.'
Stacy reddened, but said: 'If you can indeed afford to buy up the mortgages – if you don't wish to see Danescourt pass out of our hands – if you are willing to help me to bring myself about – we could come to some agreement! We could –' He broke off, encountering his uncle's eyes, and seeing in them a look as implacable as the note he had detected in his voice. There was no smile in them, and no warmth; nor could he perceive in them anger, impatience, contempt, or any human emotion whatso ever. They were coldly dispassionate, and as hard as quartz.
'You know, you labour under too many misapprehensions,' said Miles pleasantly.
'But – Good God, you can't dispossess me!'
'What makes you think so?'
'You wouldn't! We are both Calverleighs! You are my uncle!'
'You have a remarkably false notion of my character if you think that that circumstance will prevail upon me to maintain Danescourt for your benefit. I can't think where you came by it.'
The brief, vague vision of being able once more to draw upon his estates for his needs faded. Miles had spoken amiably, but with finality. Stacy was conscious of an unreasoning resentment. He said: 'What is it to you? Much you care for being Calverleigh of Danescourt! Or is that it?'
'Oh, lord, no! I care for Danescourt, that's all.'
'That's what I said!'
'It's not what you meant, or what I mean. I want Danescourt because I'm fond of it, and for the same reason I won't see it fall into ruins. If I weren't, I wouldn't lift a finger to save it. All that fiddle-faddle you talk about being Calverleigh of Danescourt don't mean a thing to me.'
'Coming it too strong, uncle! And just as well if it were true, for I am the head of the family, and while I'm alive I am Calverleigh of Danescourt!'
'Yes, yes!' said Miles, on a soothing note. 'You can go on calling yourself Calverleigh of Danescourt, or anything else you like: I've no objection.'
'How the devil can I do so if I don't own even the house?' demanded Stacy hotly. 'I'll sell you an equity of redemption, but I'll not sell the house or the demesne!'
'Well, once I foreclose, you won't have any choice in the matter, will you? You'll be glad to sell it to me at any figure I name.'
Stacy stared at him, very white about the mouth. 'You'd do that? Foreclose on me – your own nephew! – force me out of my very birthplace? My God, is that what you've been doing all these years? Waiting for the chance of revenge?'
'No, I've been far too busy. I wish you would rid your mind of its apparent conviction that I think myself hardly used. I don't, and I never did. I didn't like your grandfather, or your father either, but I've often been grateful to them for the good turn they didn't know they'd done me. India suited me down to the ground. What's more, if they hadn't sent me there I might never have discovered that I had a turn for business. But I had, Stacy, and you'd do well to bear it in mind. When you prate to me about our relationship, you're wasting your time. Sentiment has no place in business, even if I had any, which I haven't. As for your talk about revenge, it's balderdash! I don't like you any more than I liked your father – in fact, less – but why the devil should I want to be revenged on you?'
'On him! Because I am his son!'
'Good God! You must have watched the deuce of a lot of melodramas in your time! Until I met you, I'd no feeling for you of any kind: why should I? If I had found Danescourt as I'd left it – or if I'd even found you making a push to restore it – I shouldn't have interfered. But I didn't. I had been warned of it, which was why I decided to come home, but I wasn't prepared –'
'It wasn't my fault!' Stacy said quickly, his colour surging into his face. 'It was my father who granted the first mortgage! He was in Dun territory when he died, and how the devil could I –'
'Don't excuse yourself ! It makes no odds to me which of you let it fall into decay.'
'I should have been glad enough to set it in order, but I hadn't th
e means!'
'No, and as you wouldn't have spent a groat more than you were obliged to on it if you had had the means, and would sell it tomorrow, if you could find a fool willing to purchase a place which you described to me, on the occasion of our first meeting, as a damned barrack, mortgaged to the hilt, and falling into ruin besides, I am now going to relieve you of it.'
'You'd be better advised to leave it in my possession! What do you imagine will be said of you, if you – you usurp my place?'
'Well, according to Colonel Ongar, my arrival will be regarded in the light of a successful relieving force. You seem to have made yourself odious to the entire county.'
'Exactly as you did, in fact!'
'No, no, I was never odious ! Merely a scapegrace! My youthful sins will be forgiven me the moment I remove the padlock from the main gate, and cut down that hayfield of yours. I must say, I don't at all care for it.'