APTER XXV

A DEMONSTRATION IN FORCE

Hugo was dissatisfied. So far, beyond a miserable ten pounds to buy some
clothes, he had got no money out of Jan; and he was getting bored.

To be sure, he still had most of the ten pounds, for he had gone and
ordered everything in the market-town, where the name of Ross was
considered safe as the Bank of England. So he hadn't paid for anything.

Then there was that fellow Ledgard--what did he want hanging about,
pretending to fish? He was after Jan and her money, that was his game.

But however clear Peter Ledgard's nefarious intentions might be, Hugo
confessed his sister-in-law puzzled him. She wasn't nearly as much
afraid of him as he had expected. She was always gentle and courteous,
but under the soft exterior he had occasionally felt a rock of
determination, that was disconcerting.

He had ceased to harp upon the string of his desolation. Somehow Jan
contrived to show him that she didn't believe in it, and yet she never
said one word to which he could take exception.

It was awkward that his own people were all of them so unsympathetic
about the children. His father and mother declared themselves to be too
old to undertake them unless Hugo could pay liberally for their board
and for a thoroughly capable nurse. Neither of his sisters would
entertain the idea at all; and both wrote pointing out that until Hugo
was able to make a home for them himself, he would be most foolish to
interfere with the arrangements of a devoted aunt who appeared not only
willing but anxious to assume their entire maintenance.

He had told his people that his health forced him to relinquish his work
in India. His brothers-in-law, although they had no idea of the real
cause, thought there was something fishy about this, and were
unsympathetic.

Peter got at the doctor, and the doctor declared sea-air to be the one
thing necessary to insure Hugo's complete restoration to health. Jan
happened to mention that her brother-in-law's people lived in Guernsey,
close to the shore. The doctor said he couldn't do better than go and
stay with them, and that the journey wouldn't hurt him a bit.

Still Hugo appeared reluctant to leave Wren's End.

Peter came one day and demanded a business talk with him. It was a most
unpleasant conversation. Peter declared on Jan's behalf that she was
quite ready to help him to some new start in life, but that if it meant
a partnership in any rubber plantation, fruit-f