Secret in St. Something

by Barbara Brooks Wallace

  “Jonathan, you may tell him,” Adelaide Highcrofft said swiftly.

  “You’re quite certain?” her husband asked.

  “Absolutely,” she replied. “Without any reservations.”

  “All right then,” said Jonathan Highcrofft. “Robin, your mother and father are gone. So, now, is your stepfather, such as he was. Before you joined us, I spoke to Adelaide about something, and it seems that she agrees with me. I realize we’ve only just met you, but I believe myself to be a good judge of character. I think you’re a fine young man, and we’d both be proud to have you in our family, to carry the name of Highcrofft, and to be our baby’s true brother in every sense. I don’t think he could have a finer big brother. Is this something you’d like?” Jonathan Highcrofft gave Robin a searching look. “Would that by any chance be a smile?”

  “Of course it is, Jonathan!” said Adelaide Highcrofft. “And I believe we have our answer. Now for goodness sake, hand Robin your handkerchief so he can wipe his eyes and won’t be spilling tears all over his baby brother when he comes to sit beside me.”

  She held out an arm to welcome to her side a Robin whose tears now could only be called tears of joyful disbelief. For who could have ever thought that his plans to leave Danny on the steps of a church would ever have such a happy ending?

  But Robin had no sooner dropped down beside Adelaide Highcrofft and his baby brother, than the doorbell was heard to ring.

  “Robin, I must warn you that what is about to take place might be a fairly ugly scene,” Jonathan Highcrofft said. “But I need you here, as you will see.”

  “What do you mean by ‘ugly scene,’ Jonathan?” his wife asked quickly. “What could possibly be ugly about Grandfather and your cousin coming here to be told the joyful news of our baby son?”

  “There is more to it than that, my dear,” said Jonathan Highcrofft. “When I first brought the baby to you, I wanted to spare you the whole story at that happy moment. You don’t have to stay for it now, if you don’t wish. You can hear it all from me later.”

  “Of course I want to stay,” said Adelaide Highcrofft without hesitation. “If this meeting concerns our two sons, of course I want to be here.”

  “As you wish, my dear,” said Jonathan Highcrofft as Fletcher ushered two men into the room. “And Fletcher, please close the drawing room doors, won’t you?”

  Of the two men who had entered, one was a distinguished elderly gentleman who stood as straight and tall as the younger man beside him. The younger man, though bearing a strong family resemblance to the older man and Jonathan Highcrofft, was heavier set and with piercing dark eyes rather than the gentler blue of the other two. They were of course the eyes of Franklin Highcrofft, and Robin stiffened when he saw their owner.

  “Good evening, Grandfather. It was nice of you to come at this hour. You too, Franklin,” said Jonathan Highcrofft.

  “Your note hardly gave me any choice, nor probably Grandfather either. Harriet was not too happy about my being dragged out at this hour, I can tell you. What’s this all about, Jonathan?” Franklin Highcrofft snapped.

  But then suddenly old Mr. Highcrofft beamed. “Is that a baby in Adelaide’s arms? Why, what a crafty pair you are! Adopting a baby and no one knowing about it.” He quickly strode over to where Adelaide Highcrofft sat beside Robin, holding Danny. “No, no, dear, I won’t wake the baby. I just want to look at it. Is it a boy or girl, Adelaide?” he whispered.

  “A boy,” she whispered back.

  “Crafty, indeed, Jonathan,” said Franklin Highcrofft. “But an adopted baby certainly doesn’t meet the terms of the agreement. Isn’t that right, grandfather?”

  Old Mr. Highcrofft finally took his eyes off the sleeping baby. “No, no, no, of course not, Franklin. But there’s hardly a need to bring that up now.”

  “I believe there is, Grandfather,” Jonathan Highcrofft said. “For the baby is not adopted. He is the son born to Adelaide.”

  “What? Why? How?” stammered old Mr. Highcrofft.

  “Why don’t you ask Franklin?” said Jonathan Highcrofft, looking steadily at his cousin. “I believe he can tell you all about it.”

  By now, all blood had drained from Franklin Highcrofft’s face. It had become nearly as pale as his elegant, starched collar. But he must have been studying Robin all along, for now he swiftly raised an accusing finger at him.

  “What is that boy doing here?” he asked coldly. “And what has he been telling you? I know him. He’s Hawker Doak’s stepson, and a born liar. You can’t believe a word he tells you, Hawker informed me. I myself tested him. I asked him if he were the boy who shined my shoes for me outside St. Katherine’s, and he point blank denied it. Said he didn’t know the place. But I’m not stupid or blind. Of course, he was the boy!”

  “I …I had to lie!” Robin cried to Jonathan Highcrofft. “When I was at St. Katherine’s, Hawker was having me followed every day. It was his friend Quill who was doing it. I knew he was, and I led him every which way, but never near St. Katherine’s until I knew he’d given up. If Hawker ever found out it’s where I went after Quill stopped following me, he would have guessed that my baby brother was somewhere near there and searched every building to find him. I had to lie!” Robins voice broke. “I had to!”

  “And there’s the grand liar for you, Franklin,” said his cousin. “He lied to save the baby from his wretched stepfather. I’d buy a bushel of such lies if they ever came on the market. But are you going to tell Grandfather what part you played in all this, or should I?”

  “You might as well,” Franklin Highcrofft replied with an indifferent shrug. “Why not, if it gives you any pleasure.”

  “It gives me no pleasure, Franklin. I can promise you that much,” said Jonathan Highcrofft. “But first I must tell you that what I have learned did not come from Robin, the ‘born liar,’ as you choose to call him. Hawker Doak is dead, Franklin. He was in a fight and, as he lay dying from a fatal wound, he sent for me. You must have given him my name and address in the event you were needed for business dealings you had with him, and could not be located. In any event, I was with him when he died. Shall I go on, Franklin?”

  “Be my guest, Jonathan,” he replied coolly.

  “All right, then,” said his cousin. “Apparently Hawker Doak had a deathbed conversion, as they call it. I’m sure he committed a great many sins in his life, but this one weighed most heavily on his soul, and he was able to make his confession to one of the people he had most injured.

  “It seems that his wife gave birth to her baby son at the same time and in the same hospital where Adelaide gave birth to our baby. You may recall, Grandfather, that we had arranged for her to be there rather than at home, on the recommendation of her physicians. How Hawker Doak did the deed, he wouldn’t say, but he somehow managed to exchange his baby, dead but a few minutes after birth, with our baby.”

  “The poor, distraught man!” said the anguished Adelaide Highcrofft. “So desperate to have a baby he could do such a terrible thing.”

  Her husband shook his head. “No, Adelaide, his baby was probably one he never wanted. It was to be another stepson to him, another burden on its way before he had even married the baby’s mother. I couldn’t bring myself to tell you the whole truth when I brought our baby to you. But the exchange was made purely for money, money paid him by my cousin Franklin.”

  “Franklin!” Adelaide Highcrofft threw a hand to her mouth to hold back a cry of horror.

  “Is this then the ‘part’ you say Franklin played …instigating this act of madness?” old Mr. Highcrofft asked, his face a picture of revulsion. “But why would he do such a thing. Why?”

  “Can’t you guess, Grandfather?” asked his grandson. “I have. It’s that miserable vow you made, already referred to by Franklin—the vow made in writing, mind you, that whichever one of your two grandsons produced the first male heir to carry on the blessed Highcrofft name …spelled with the two f’s you loved informing us when we were growing up …
would inherit all your extensive tenement holdings.”

  “God help us!” exclaimed old Mr. Highcrofft. “Is that what’s at the root of all this?”

  “I believe it is. Am I right, Franklin?” asked Jonathan Highcrofft.

  “If you say so,” returned his cousin.

  “The irony of it is,” continued Jonathan Highcrofft, “is that I’ve never wanted those blessed tenements. Great Scott, doesn’t this family have enough wealth as it is? I told you I didn’t want them many a time, Grandfather. Before Mother and Father died, they often heard me say I never even wanted to go near those places. It’s why Franklin took them over when he lost his own parents and you needed someone to run them for you. That misery and wretchedness doesn’t seem to bother him.”

  “Oh, what have my pride and stupidity brought me to?” groaned old Mr. Highcrofft. “I’ve always known you had a dark streak in you, Franklin. But heaven help me, I never thought you capable of anything so vile as this. All because of greed. Your greed and my stupidity. Greed and stupidity! What a wonderful combination!”

  “Not just because of greed on my part,” Franklin Highcrofft hurled back. “You may attribute more of this to retribution, if you will. Give me credit for that. Or perhaps you’ve forgotten that Jonathan stole from me the sister I always wanted.”

  “He couldn’t steal something from you that you never had, Franklin,” said his grandfather coldly.

  To this, Franklin Highcrofft merely shrugged. “Well, there’s something else. This whole thing was an accident of fate, you might say. In some incidental conversation we had, Hawker Doak mentioned that his wife was ailing, and the doctor held out little hope for the child she was to bear. That birth was to happen about the same time as Adelaide’s baby was due. I also knew they were to be in the same hospital, although, of course, Adelaide was to be in a private suite in another part of the hospital, while Hawker Doak’s wife lay in a public ward.

  “I then simply began thinking ‘what if.’ At first it was more wishful thinking than anything else, at one stroke not only to acquire the tenement holdings, but to avenge myself. I spoke to Hawker Doak, who assured me he could manage the exchange without my name ever coming into it, presuming all fell into place. It did, much to my surprise. I never really expected it. As you can see, however, this was certainly not something I’d plotted and planned for months or years. Whatever that’s worth.”

  “For your information, it’s worth exactly nothing, Franklin,” the outraged old Mr. Highcrofft flung at him. “There’s not one thing you can say to justify such a heinous crime no matter what you dig up to add to your despicable list. Not a thing!”

  “Then I won’t even try,” said Franklin Highcrofft. “I’m sorry I disappointed you, Grandfather. I apologize. But what are you going to do about this, Jonathan? I suppose you’d like to see me hanged.”

  “Right now, yes, I would,” replied his cousin. “Thrown behind bars for the rest of your life at the very least. Of course, I haven’t had much time to think about it, but so far this is what I’ve concluded. First of all, though Grandfather may have been at the root of this madness, he had nothing to do with perpetrating this unspeakable crime. He’s proud, even if overly proud, of the family name, and I won’t have it besmirched by having you taken to court and thrown in jail. Furthermore, I don’t wish to see Harriet, your innocent wife, and also Adelaide’s sister, with a jailbird for a husband. And most especially, I don’t wish to have our son’s cousin, Harriet’s expected child, to have a jailbird for a father.”

  “It’s not that I wish Franklin behind bars, much as he deserves it, as you say,” said old Mr. Highcrofft. “But surely you’re not letting him off without some kind of retribution for this hideous act, are you, Jonathan?”

  “I do have an idea, if you’ll go along with it, Grandfather,” his grandson replied. “First, I’d like you to destroy those papers in which you leave your tenement holdings to the grandson who produces the first male heir.”

  “Consider it done,” said old Mr. Highcrofft.

  “What I’d like you to do then is turn those holdings over now, half to Franklin and half to me, if you’re willing to do that,” said his grandson.

  “I’m perfectly willing,” said old Mr. Highcrofft. “But I thought you never wanted the tenements, Jonathan.”

  “I didn’t,” he replied, “not as they are, at any rate. But as soon as I get the buildings, I intend to have them torn down and rebuilt. No human being should have to live as those poor wretches do, worse than rats in a sewer. My intention is to put up decent buildings in their place. And my suggested punishment, if you want to call it that, for Franklin, is that he must do the same with his share of the tenements. And lest there be any misunderstanding, I want you to make that a condition of your gift of the buildings to us both, even though you can have no doubt as to what my intentions are.”

  “I suppose I need to thank you for this, Jonathan,” said Franklin Highcrofft. “So, thank you. But what I want to know is what you plan to tell the world and all our friends about the sudden reappearance of the baby. And what am I to tell Harriet?”

  “I’m sure Adelaide and I will simply tell the truth, Franklin,” replied his cousin. “And that is that the villain who kidnapped our baby confessed to the deed on his deathbed, and the baby was returned to us. I see no need to say more. If you choose to tell Harriet the same, we will abide by that. Outside of this room, whose doors I requested be closed, all are dead who know anything of the whole truth. I’m certain I speak for Adelaide, Grandfather, and the young man with us, Robin, when I say that, but for the explanation as I’ve given it, everything remains locked with those of us here. But now I fear it’s getting late. Harriet will be growing concerned and looking for your return, Franklin. Grandfather, I’d like it if you could remain for just a few more minutes.”

  “No need to call Fletcher. I’ll let myself out,” said Franklin Highcrofft.

  “Oh, there is something I wondered further about,” said Jonathan Highcrofft. “Weren’t you concerned about doing business with someone like Hawker Doak? He could have held you in his clutches the rest of your life, blackmailing you, Franklin.”

  “I’d thought of that,” said his cousin, “but it would always be his word against mine, wouldn’t it? And which one of us do you think the courts would believe? I must say, though, the possibility of a deathbed confession never crossed my mind. Well, good night, all. I’m happy to see the baby is doing well.”

  “Strange coming from you, Franklin,” said Jonathan Highcrofft. “Didn’t you tell Hawker Doak you didn’t care if he died?”

  “No, no, no, he got that quite wrong,” was the cool reply. “What I said was that if the baby should die, I would not hold him responsible. That’s all. Well, good night again!”

  Chapter XX

  An Invite Accepted

  “This is very hard for me, Jonathan and Adelaide,” said old Mr. Highcrofft, “being the one responsible for setting these horrible wheels in motion. What you two must be feeling is beyond my powers to imagine.”

  “Well, I have to say my feelings would be far different if I weren’t sitting here holding this precious baby, Grandfather,” said Adelaide Highcrofft. “As it is, all I can feel is a profound gratitude for having him come back to us.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say that, my dear,” said old Mr. Highcrofft. “Nonetheless, what Franklin has done is past belief. You’re being very good to him, I must say, Jonathan.”

  “And I’ve explained why,” returned his grandson. “But I’d also like to think of the good that’s coming from this terrible incident in our lives. I’m thinking about the new buildings that will be going up to replace those miserable tenements, Grandfather, and about the poor wretches who will be given the chance to live a decent life because of the new buildings. But we’ll talk about all that later. Right now I wish to introduce you formally to Robin, who is the one who saved your great-grandson’s life. Robin is going to join our family, Gr
andfather, and we intend to put the legal wheels in motion immediately so that he will very soon become a Highcrofft, and our baby’s official brother. Robin, shake hands with your soon-to-be great-grandfather.”

  Robin quickly ran to shake the hand of the old man who was smiling warmly at him. “Pleased to meet you, sir.”

  “And I, you,” said old Mr. Highcrofft. “But as to saving the baby’s life, I believe there’s a great deal missing in this story that I haven’t yet been told.”

  “There is, Grandfather. A great deal!” said Jonathan Highcrofft. “But because of the late hour, I’d like to ask, if it’s all right with you, that we put off telling the whole story until tomorrow.”

  “I’ll try to be patient,” said the old man. “But one thing you can at least tell me is what you’ll be calling this baby of yours.”

  Jonathan Highcrofft sent Robin a twinkling glance. “You mean we haven’t mentioned it? Why, his name is going to be Daniel, although of course we’ll be calling him Danny. It’s a name both Adelaide and I like very much.”

  “And well you should!” said Danny’s great-grandfather. “After all, you have at least four ancestors with that name.”

  “I didn’t know that,” said his grandson with a contrite grin. “I don’t suppose there’s a Robin stuck away in there someplace, is there?”

  Old Mr. Highcrofft laughed. “Actually, I believe there is!”

  “What fun!” said Adelaide Highcrofft. “You wouldn’t look it up for us, would you, Grandfather?”

  “With pleasure!” replied the old man.

  “But now, Grandfather,” said Jonathan Highcrofft as he went over to ring the bell, “another reason for asking you to stay on a while was not just to meet another great-grandson, but to be introduced to the four young boys who probably made it possible for Robin and Danny even to be here at all, isn’t that right, Robin?”

  “Oh yes!” he replied, so fervently there, could be little doubt his whole heart was in his reply.