General Well'ngone In Love by Libi Astaire Read Free Book Online

Krinkle.”
    “ I suppose there were many
boys about yesterday, just as there are today.” Mr. Melamed glanced
about the hastily set up fair grounds. It would be highly unlikely
that anyone would take note of a boy like Berel. “Was there no one
else that the two of you spoke to, other than Mr. Lyon?”
    “ Only the gentleman who
gave us the pencil. He spoke to us.”
    “ Do you know who he
was?”
    “ I never saw him before in
my life.”
    “ You did not remove
anything from his pockets, something by which we could identify him
by?”
    The General was about to protest his
innocence when he suddenly smote his hand against his forehead.
“His was the fob that got me in trouble with Earl. I relieved the
gentleman of his seal yesterday.”
    “ Where is the fob
now?”
    “ At the pawnbroker’s,
unless it’s already been sold.”
    Mr. Melamed removed a banknote from his
pocketbook. “Get it back, General.”
    General Well’ngone hurried off—and in his
hurry his feet flew out from underneath him, causing him to fall
face first upon the ice. A crowd quickly gathered around him and
began to point and laugh, which only added to his embarrassment.
His mortification increased when he looked up and saw, standing in
the circle of bystanders, Miss Sarah Krinkle.
    Gathering up what was left of his wounded
pride, the General reached for his hat, which had landed nearby,
and placed it upon his head, before rising to his feet. He then
broke through the circle and went on his way, without giving the
laughing young person a second look.
    “ Perhaps we should not
have laughed,” said Miss Lyon, who had accompanied Miss Krinkle to
the Frost Fair. Miss Krinkle had not been able to sit at home and
do nothing, and so the two young ladies, who were being chaperoned
by Meshullen Mendel, had come to the river to make their own
investigation.
    “ General Well’ngone is
helping Mr. Melamed find your brother,” Rebecca added.
    “ Oh!” Sarah Krinkle looked
round. “I’ll just say a word to him.”
    When she caught up with the young man, she
said, “I hope you are not hurt, General Well’ngone.”
    The General gave her a look of disdain and
continued to walk on.
    “ I am most grateful for
all you are doing to help find my brother,” said Miss Krinkle,
following after him. “Truly I am.”
    “ You have a strange way of
showing it.”
    “ Please forgive me for
laughing. It was childish of me, and wrong.” When General
Well’ngone continued to walk, she said, “Have you never done
anything wrong, General, something that you later
regretted?”
    At last he stopped and turned to look at
her. “Miss Krinkle, my entire life I have been doing things that
are wrong. Now, when I am trying to do something right, what do I
get? Laughed at.”
    “ And if I were to tell you
that I promise I will never laugh at you again, would you forgive
me?”
    General Well’ngone shrugged and stuck his
hands deeper into the pockets of his greatcoat. “I suppose so. Good
day, Miss Krinkle. ”
     
    Mr. Melamed did not linger
at the Frost Fair. Instead, he drove to Mayfair and the home of his
friend and business associate, Mr. Arthur Powell, the younger son of Lord
James Powell.
    “ Liverwood? I know him, of course, though I cannot say he is
a great friend of mine.” Mr. Powell cast a
knowing glance at his visitor. He knew that Mr. Melamed never asked about members of the English
aristocracy, unless he had a good reason.
    “ Would you be agreeable to paying him a visit?” asked Mr.
Melamed.
    “ What has he done?”
    “ Bought an elephant.”
    Mr.
Powell laughed. “Yes, that sounds like Liverwood. Still, I do not
see why his latest antic concerns you or me.”
    Mr.
Melamed explained about the missing boy. “Lord Liverwood was one of
the last people to speak with the child, at least that we know of.
There is a chance he might have seen the boy afterward. It is a
slender chance, I know. But, frankly, I am at a loss.”
    Mr. Powell had no