Читать книгу Gathered In - Catherine Helen Spence - Страница 16

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When Kenneth returned to the head station the master of Tingalpa was sitting clothed and in his right mind, not in the smoking-room, which was undergoing a purification, but in the room meant to be the library. The room was fitted up with shelves which were mostly empty, but some had newspapers on them, while on others were laid guns, pistols, seeds, specimens from quartz reefs, of wool in great variety, and a few stuffed birds and reptiles.

Mr. Oswald had not altogether recovered from the effects of his debauch; his eyes were still dull, and his face of an unhealthy pallor, and his hands scarcely so steady as they were at his best; but there was so very great an improvement that Kenneth's hopes rose. He was a little above the middle height and strongly made; his face lighted up at the sight of his nephew, and he threw down the back numbers of the Argus which had been unopened during his seclusion, and shook hands heartily with Kenneth, altogether ignoring the fact of his having seen him before. Jim was standing with his back to his cousin, taking out a gun from one of the shelves, which he wanted to get Mick to clean for him, and looking for supplies of powder and shot for a day's sport. Mrs. Oswald was sitting doing nothing, only occasionally looking out of the window at the tame magpie which was anxious to get in.

"I'm very glad to see you, Kenneth--a pleasant voyage I hope--and as usual the 'Kent' up to her time. Jim gained a hat on it. Here he is, not so tall as you, and not so bookish, but keen with his gun as you see. Shake hands with your cousin, Jim," said George Oswald, in much better English than he had spoken under the influence of brandy.

Jim reluctantly turned round and gave his hand.

"So you, too, made a bet on the 'Kent'; there were a dozen bets on board as to her keeping her time," said Kenneth.

"I wanted something to make up to me for its coming to interfere with my sport, as my father says it will. But I'm off for to-day anyhow."

"No, Jim, stop here. I've something to say to you both, and the sooner it is done the better. And what do you think of Cowarrel and Robert Horne, Kenneth?"

"I have liked my visit very much. I hope I have learned something from your overseer. I certainly felt very greatly interested in what he told me."

"He is a fellow to jaw," said Jim. "And for conceit there is not his match. All jaw and no work. I'd give him the sack if I were father."

"Luckily you are not," said Mr. Oswald drily.

"He looks after his own interest anyhow," said Jim.

"He never neglects mine," said his father emphatically, "and I am glad you like him Kenneth. And now, I must tell you what I want you to do for James, and I want you, Mrs. Oswald, to hear it too, that there need be no mistake or misapprehension about it for the future. You, Kenneth, are nearly three years older than Jim, and have had the best education money could buy. You are to take him in hand and make him mind you for his own good. Order what books you want from Melbourne, settle the hours he's to give to learning, and these hours he must abide by. But that is not all, it's a companion he needs even more than a teacher. Where he goes, you, Kenneth, must go with him, what he does, take note of--if it is right, keep him up to it, if it is wrong tell him the truth about it--I want no toadeating flatterer beside my son, who will take my money for leading him to destruction, as that scoundrel Johnson did. I want a cheery young fellow who has pluck and strength and sense to hold his own. Keep Jim from the dice-box, the brandy bottle, and other evils, and make a man and a gentleman of him. Don't gloom that way, Jim. You promised when you ran away from the Scotch College, that you would learn at home from your cousin, and no doubt he'll have a pleasanter way of teaching than the masters there."

James Oswald looked with a determined scowl on his face at the young cousin thus invested with supreme authority; not merely a tutor, though that was bad enough, but an eavesdropper and a spy to dog his steps and report his conduct. He had got the better of his other tutors by fair means or by foul, but this near relative, who was so much bigger than himself, would be harder to manage, especially as the governor's back was up, as Jim had never seen it before.

Mrs. Oswald stared in blank amazement at the announcement of the subordinate position Jim was to hold--but behind her surprise, there was the feeling that, however his father might order, Jim had always contrived to wriggle out somehow and have his own way. Kenneth felt he must support his uncle, and assert his dignity, though he had but slender confidence in his success.

"In two years' time," said Mr. Oswald deliberately, "he should be fit to go to the University as they call it here, and there's no saying but he may set the Yarra on fire yet. It is no want of wit, it's the will that's been wanting. He's young yet, and you've been well trained to the work; promise me to undertake it."

The idea of preparing a youth of this description for Melbourne University in two years was somewhat appalling, especially in the face of such reluctance on his part. Kenneth between the gravity of the charge and the despair of success, fell into the worst possible blunder he could have made with all three of his Australian relatives.

"I shall do all that I can, but I fear you expect far too much from one who has had no experience in teaching. I shall do all I can, and if my cousin will also do all that he can we may do a great deal, but not what you calculate on. What is two years when there has been no previous study, and no habits of attention and application formed?"

"You could do a great deal in two years yourself," said Mr. Oswald.

"But I have scarcely been absent a day from school since I was six years old," said Kenneth.

"Well, it is only to make Jim fit to begin at nineteen what you went in for at sixteen, and he has a good headpiece, only there was never a tutor here worth his salt to make him stick to the books. I expected more goodwill from you, Kenneth."

"Goodwill certainly, and if my cousin will only add his goodwill to mine, we may do wonders. But the cleverest engineer in the world cannot make water run uphill; the matter is infinitely more in my cousin's power than mine."

"Then you run counter to me," said Mr. Oswald in a tone of the deepest disappointment.

"Not at all. I'll do my very best. I'll try to follow every instruction you give me, and I hope that you, James, will help me, for it will be so much pleasanter for both of us."

"Well," said Mr. Oswald, "this is the room that you can be the King of for the future; this is the day and the hour that you can make a beginning. James, lay down that gun, and bring Kenneth the books you had at the Scotch College, and let him see what you can do, and what ye canna. I've put my foot down this day; and you may gloom as you like, but I'll hold you to your bargain, and not a single sixpence you shall have, or a debt at Castlehurst paid, if you do not mind your books. Your whole allowance depends on your conduct. It will do you good to have to earn what you spend, though it is an easier way than your father before you had to do it. I'll stop here till you get out the books, but no longer."

James slowly went for the books; his father kept his eyes on the door till he returned with them, and then leading his astonished wife out of the room, he left the young tutor master of the field.