第80章

'Good night,' said Lopez, starting off at a quick pace.They were then close to the turn in the park, and Lopez went on till he had nearly reached the park front of the new offices.As he had walked he had listened to the footfall of his friend, and after a while had perceived, or had thought that he perceived that the sound was discontinued.It seemed to him that Wharton had altogether lost his senses;--the insult to himself had been so determined and so absolutely groundless! He had striven his best to conquer the man's ill-humour by good-natured forbearance, and had only suggested that Wharton was perhaps tipsy in order to give him some excuse.But if his companion were really drunk, as he now began to think, could it be right to leave him unprotected in the park? The man's manner had been strange the whole evening, but there had been no sign of the effect of wine till after they had left the club.But Lopez had heard of men who had been apparently sober, becoming drunk as soon as the got into the air.It might have been so in this case, though Wharton's voice and gait had not been those of a drunken man.At any rate, he would turn back and look after him, and as he did turn back, he resolved that whatever Wharton might say to him on this night he would not notice.He was too wise to raise a further impediment to his marriage by quarrelling with Emily's brother.

As soon as he paused he was sure that he heard footsteps behind him which were not those of Everett Wharton.Indeed, he was sure that he heard the footsteps of more than one person.He stood still for a moment to listen, and then he distinctly heard a rush and a scuffle.He ran back to the spot at which he had left his friend, and at first thought that he perceived a mob of people in the dusk.But as he got nearer, he saw that there were a man and two women.Wharton was on the ground on his back, and the man was apparently kneeling on his neck and head while the women were rifling his pockets.Lopez, hardly knowing how he was acting, was upon them in a moment, flying in the first place at the man, who had jumped up to meet him as he came.He received at once a heavy blow on his head from some weapon, which, however, his hat so far stopped as to save him from being felled or stunned, and then he felt another blow from behind on the ear, which he afterwards conceived to have been given him by one of the women.

But before he could well look about him, or well know how the whole thing had happened, the man and the two women had taken to their legs, and Wharton was standing on his feet leaning against the iron railings.

The whole thing had occupied a very short space of time, and yet the effects were very grave.At the first moment Lopez looked round and endeavoured to listen, hoping that some assistance might be near,--some policeman, or, if not that, some wanderer by night who might be honest enough to help him.But he could near or see no one.In this condition of things it was not possible for him to pursue the ruffians, as he could not leave his friend leaning against the park rails.It was at once manifest to him that Wharton had been much hurt, or at any rate incapacitated for immediate exertion, by the blows he had received;--and as he put his hand up to his own head, from which in the scuffle his hat had fallen, he was not certain that he was not severely hurt himself.Lopez could see that Wharton was very pale, that his cravat had been almost wrenched from his neck by pressure, that his waistcoat was torn open and the front of his shirt soiled,--and he could see also that a fragment of the watch-chain was hanging loose, showing that the watch had gone.

'Are you hurt much?' he said, coming close up and taking a tender hold of his friend's arm.Wharton smiled and shook his head, but spoke not a word.He was in truth more shaken, stunned, and bewildered than actually injured.The ruffian's fist had been at his throat, twisting his cravat, and for half a minute he had felt that he was choked.As he had struggled while one woman pulled at his watch and the other searched for his purse,--struggling alas unsuccessfully,--the man had endeavoured to quiet him by kneeling on his chest, strangling him with his own necktie, and pressing hard on his gullet.It is a treatment which, after a few seconds of vigorous practice, is apt to leave the patient for a while disconcerted and unwilling to speak.

'Say a word if you can,' whispered Lopez, looking into the other man's face with anxious eyes.

At the moment there came across Wharton's mind a remembrance that he had behaved very badly to is friend, and some sort of vague misty doubt whether all this evil had not befallen because of his misconduct.But he knew at the same time the Lopez was not responsible for the evil, and dismayed as he had been, still he recalled enough of the nature of the struggle in which he had been engaged, to be aware that Lopez had befriended him gallantly.He could not even yet speak; but he saw the blood trickling down his friend's temple and forehead, and lifting up his hand, touched the spot with his fingers.Lopez also put his had up, and drew it away covered with blood.'Oh,' said he, 'that does not signify in the least.I got a knock, I know, and I am afraid I have lost my hat, but I'm not hurt.'

'Oh, dear!' The word was uttered with a low sigh.Then there was a pause, during which Lopez supported the sufferer.'Ithought that it was all over with me at one moment.'

'You will be better now.'

'Oh, yes.My watch is gone!'

'I fear it is,' said Lopez.

'And my purse,' said Wharton, collecting his strength together sufficiently to search for his treasures.'I had eight 5-pound notes in it.'

'Never mind your money or your watch if your bones are not broken.'

'It's a bore all the same to lose every shilling that one has.'