Page:The little blue devil (IA littlebluedevil00mackiala).pdf/20

The next two days were restless. Derwent did not know what to do with the boy. It seemed impossible to get hold of Ste. Croix, and to go to law and compel him to support his son was not so easy as it looked; especially since, as Derwent admitted to himself, Ste. Croix had never been known to support anything in his whole life.

Derwent’s acquaintance with him was a limited one. Ste. Croix was not his sort at all; but Tony had interested him from the first—he was such an unusual small person, and at the same time, so utterly forlorn. He and Derwent had been for various excursions together, conversing with due gravity on many important topics. Derwent was fond of children—a lonely man, without ties, and possessed of sufficient income to indulge his love of roaming about the globe.

What was to be done with Tony? He was distressingly vague about his English relations (who would surely be his most suitable guardians), and affairs were complicated by the fact that George was on the point of leaving Paris on an important business matter he had undertaken for a friend, which admitted of no delay. Much as he disliked the idea, he felt there was nothing for it but to get Antoine into "some kind of institution," as he said vaguely, temporarily at least; and he took steps to do so.

But Antoine was alert and suspicious.

“What you going to do?” he said with a quick