Chapter 5 Unexpected Results
O'Hara jumped off the horse somewhat cautiously, and bowed to Mr. Howlett to salute, but did not make a sound from the side. James walked up a few steps and said, "Mr. Daniel is on vacation for half a day today, you can't blame us."
Mr. Howlett laughed heartily, rubbed James' hair, and said to Victor: "The hair color of Montenegro has become more and more pure recently, you are doing well, Victor."
"This is what I should do, Mr. Howlett." Victor responded softly, and this steady look made Mr. Howlett nod his head slightly.
"Okay, I haven't moved for the past few days, and I'm taking Montenegro out for a stroll, do you want to join James?"
"That's great Grandpa, I've always wanted to try riding on Montenegro!" James replied pretending to be happy. Then he asked O'Hara to go back after playing for a while, and followed Mr. Howlett out of the stable.
Even the ordinary linen shirt and wide-leg trousers that come standard with denim, Mr. Howlett wears them with a special taste. He is not the kind of elegance and nobility accumulated by the nobles over the years, but rather has the heroic spirit of a veteran in the army. The room is neat. He bent over and lifted James to sit on the horse's back, took the rein, and the two of them strolled on the vast pasture together.
"Jamie, what do you think of Victor?" Mr. Howlett asked.
"Young and mature, calm and powerful." James replied briefly and quickly.
Mr. Howlett looked at his little grandson in surprise, raised the corner of his mouth and boasted: "It seems that you are really good at studying now. Daniel is right, you are really making progress." Mr. Te nodded again and again, and strode forward in great relief.
Seeing this, James thought about it for a while and said to Mr. Howlett: "Grandfather, I heard that Victor's father... well, he is not easy to get along with?" Mr. Howlett did not answer directly, but said: "What do you think? Say it, finish it first."
"That's right, Victor is available. In the future, I will also need people to manage the family business. The loyalty cultivated since childhood is naturally the strongest. It's just that I heard that Victor and his father Thomas Logan The relationship between the husband is not good. It is said that Mr. Logan, besides drinking and never taking care of Victor, often beat him, scolded and whipped him. I hope to improve Victor's situation to a certain extent, so that he will definitely benefit us. Special thanks."
Mr. Howlett looked at James more and more differently, and he asked back: "Then what do you think should be done?" James thought for a moment, and said calmly: "It's better to let Mr. Logan leave the manor and go far away. Give him A position with no rights, but he can live a more nourishing life, such as taking care of the northernmost cattle ranch or the eastern cotton garden. In this way, Victor can not only leave him, but also grow up under the upbringing of the Howlett family. , will definitely be able to serve the family well in the future.”
Mr. Howlett, whose pace slowed down, let out a long sigh: "I have estimated your growth Jamie as much as possible, but you still surprised me so much, I still underestimated you. Very good, very good , Very good! As expected of my grandson of William Howlett!" James lowered his head a little shyly, thinking in his heart whether this idea is worth being so happy, then he thought that he is only "twelve years old" after all. With a weak and introverted personality, it's no wonder old Howlett is so happy.
Mr. Howlett, who was a little calm, continued: "It's very good that you think so. As the future heir of the family, you need to have such considerations. I have felt for a while that this Thomas Logan will make trouble sooner or later if he stays in the manor. If something goes wrong, you don’t need to worry about this matter, grandpa will give you a satisfactory answer.”
The grandfather and grandson strolled around for a while, and then went back to prepare for dinner. Doing this is an idea that James has considered for a long time, and things have gone surprisingly smoothly so far. He thought about all kinds of possibilities, and the safest thing was to kill Thomas Logan, but as his real biological father in this life, although James didn't have much resistance in his heart, he didn't want to bear the consequences of patricide.
He is not willing to do this unless it is absolutely necessary, and after all, he is only in his teens now. Even if there are certain means to deal with Thomas Logan, he still needs to bear a huge risk. Letting him leave the manor is the best choice. Even if he is unwilling or refuses, Mr. Howlett has a lot of ways to deal with Thomas Logan. Lady Elizabeth's business.
James, who put down a huge stone in his heart, ate another steak at night. He is now eating more and more. The practice of Qigong in the past few months has obviously promoted the development of his body, and he has not suffered from inexplicable illness like before.
After dinner, Mr. Howlett mentioned to John and Elizabeth that he wanted Thomas Logan to go to the northernmost cattle ranch to guard the hay and other supplies, and give him a relatively generous weekly salary and a small house. Elizabeth supported Mr. Howlett overjoyed, and insisted that it was all up to her father.
Things seem to be in order, and the manor seems to have escaped a possible storm.
Faced with such a promotion, Thomas Logan refused without any surprise, but he gritted his teeth and agreed when Mr. Howlett told him indifferently that if he didn't want to go, he would leave the manor and go wherever he wanted. That night, he tried to get close to Elizabeth, told her all this, and wanted to advance their "elopement" plan, but coincidentally, Mrs. Howlett has been reclusive recently, and he never gave him the slightest chance to meet and talk.
The recent weather in Alberta has been gloomy, as if something is brewing.
At night, a dull thunderstorm sounded in the dense sky as black as thick ink. In this era, when there is no moonlight or starlight, the outdoors are really dark.
Thomas Logan sat on his old cloth sofa, his body sank deeply, holding a bottle of rum that had bottomed out, and there were two empty bottles under his feet. Victor had already hid in his room and lay down, not sure if he was really asleep or deliberately kept silent, as if he didn't exist.
Logan's dark cloud-like black and red face was full of ferocity, roaring in his heart, accusing everything. Alcohol burned Thomas Logan's head, and his muscular brain was full of power under the pouring of spirits. He stood up boiling, grabbed the shotgun standing by the bed, opened it and looked at the barrel With a shake of one hand, he put the loaded bullet in the gun, and loaded the **** of the gun.
Thomas Logan pushed the door open and strode out. Finally, there was a thunderbolt from the sky, and heavy rain poured down.
Mr. Howlett was getting old after all, and he hadn't fallen asleep on such a rainy night. The old man was tossing and turning on the bed, feeling a little restless. There was a faint sound of banging on the door downstairs, but it was not very clear under the interference of the heavy rain.
Boom!
The loud sound of the door being blasted open by the shotgun woke him up completely. Mr. Howlett turned over and got out of bed suddenly, took out the blunderbuss musket in the bedside table, checked it, and quickly walked out of the room against the wall of the corridor.
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!"
Thomas Logan kept shouting, wandering in the hall of the main building of the manor and shouting, his head red like a fighting cock. John also put on his clothes and left the room. He comforted his wife not to move and to stay in the room. I bumped into my father by the stairs.
"It sounds like Thomas, I'll go and have a look, father, go back and rest, it's fine."
The old man wanted to hold his son, but he just pulled the corner of John's clothes. John said "don't worry", and ran down with his bare hands.
Mr. Howlett hurriedly went down from the other side, called four guys who had woken up and got their weapons ready, nodded slightly, and led others to follow quickly.
When he was just approaching the hall, there was a bang, and the blast of the shotgun rang out again, and his heart sank. The old man trembling his beard, stepped up the steps in two steps, only to see his son in white The gown and pajamas were lying in a pool of blood, and the entire chest was soaked in bright red.
Thomas Logan panted heavily and stood aside with a gun, as if he was a bystander.
He watched the four gunmen around Mr. Howlett raised their shotguns to face him, and the muzzles of the guns flashed dazzling sparks one after another...
(end of this chapter)