The Admirable Tinker | Page 8

as possible
from Sir Tancred. Selina kept talking to him, and his father spoke to
him several times, but he uttered never a sound. Once when Sir
Tancred moved suddenly, he threw up his little thin arm to guard his
face; and Sir Tancred swore.
They agreed that he would be happier if they took no notice of him for
a while, and sat quiet. He seemed relieved, for he sank into an easier
position on Selina's lap, and presently they saw him stroke his coat with
a caressing gesture, as though its softness pleased him. After a long
while, he sat up, looked at the horse, said in a quaint, thin whisper,
"Gee-gee--mine like gee-gee"; and then looked swiftly round with
frightened eyes, fearful lest he had drawn attention to his existence.

Suddenly he began to blink, then, lulled by the motion of the cab, he
fell asleep. They sat quiet, and had reached a more civilised part of
London, when Sir Tancred said, "Do you think I could hold him
without waking him?"
Selina nodded, and lifted him into his arms, and so they came to the
Hotel Cecil.
When the cab stopped, the child awoke frightened, and at once began to
struggle. Sir Tancred handed him over to Selina, who soothed him, and
carried him to the lift. As soon as they were in his rooms, Sir Tancred
rang for a waiter, and when he came, bade him bring up bread and hot
milk at once. The child heard the words and said plaintively, "Mine
hungly! Mine hungly!"
"All right, my lamb," said Selina. "You shall have dinner very soon."
When the waiter brought the bread and milk, Selina prepared it, and sat
down at the table with the child on her knee. In a flash his grimy little
hands were in the basin, and he was thrusting the bread and milk into
his mouth with both of them. Selina pushed the bowl out of his reach,
and fed him with a spoon, very slowly, nor did she give him much. Sir
Tancred watched his ravenous eating with a constricted heart. When
she had given him as much as she thought good for him, Selina put the
bowl out of sight. The look of supreme content on his little face was
even more pathetic in its extravagance than his ravenous hunger. He
curled himself up on Selina's lap, surveyed the room for a while with
drowsy eyes, and fell asleep.
Sir Tancred opened the note from Lord Crosland, which he had left
unheeded on the table; it ran:
"DEAR BEAULEIGH:
"I have moved myself and my belongings to 411 and 412, till you have
got things arranged. I'm off to Lord's for the day, but shall dine at the
Cecil. Let us dine together.

"Yours sincerely,
"CROSLAND."
Sir Tancred felt relieved, and grateful for Lord Crosland's
thoughtfulness.
"We shall be able to have these rooms to ourselves," he said to Selina.
"Yes, sir," said Selina. "And he'll want some clothes. When he's had a
little sleep, and I've given him a bath, I'd better go out and get some."
"No: I'll go now myself," said Sir Tancred. "Then, when he's had his
bath, they'll be ready for him."
He hurried down into a cab, and drove to Swan & Edgar's. There he
bought the finest little vests and petticoat and frocks and socks and
coats they could find him. On his way back with his purchases he
remembered shoes, stopped the cab at the boot-maker's, and bought a
dozen pairs. When he came back to his rooms, followed by two waiters
loaded with parcels, he heard a splashing in the bathroom, and when
they had set down their loads and were gone, Selina came to him and
said, "I should like you to come and look at him, sir."
She had been crying.
Sir Tancred went into the bathroom, and found Hildebrand Anne
splashing in the bath: "Hallo, Tinker," he said cheerfully, and turned
sick at the sight of the wales and bruises about the thin little body.
"Look at that, sir," said Selina fiercely; and she touched the worst of
them.
The child winced at her touch, gentle as it was, and said in his quaint,
thin voice, "Halbut did do that. Mine not like Halbut. No: mine not like
Halbut." And he shook his little head vigorously.
Sir Tancred groaned, and wished with all his heart that he had taken
advantage of his brief meeting with Halbut to give him a sound

thrashing. Then he thought with a vindictive satisfaction how bitterly
the brute would feel the loss of liquors consequent upon the loss of his
income. He went out, rang for a waiter, and bade him send for a doctor.
When the doctor came he examined the