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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12876-0.txt b/12876-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..170d8de --- /dev/null +++ b/12876-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13043 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12876 *** + +The Works of E. P. Roe + +Volume Sixteen + +A YOUNG GIRL'S WOOING + +Illustrated + +1884 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "ARE YOU SO BENT UPON WINNING HER, GRAYDON?"] + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I + A Crescent of a Girl + + CHAPTER II + Graydon Muir + + CHAPTER III + The Parting + + CHAPTER IV + Effort + + CHAPTER V + Achievement + + CHAPTER VI + The Secret of Beauty + + CHAPTER VII + Not a Miracle + + CHAPTER VIII + Rival Girls + + CHAPTER IX + The Meeting + + CHAPTER X + Old Ties Broken + + CHAPTER XI + "I Fear I Shall Fail" + + CHAPTER XII + The Promptings of Miss Wildmere's Heart + + CHAPTER XIII + "You Will Be Disappointed" + + CHAPTER XIV + Miss Wildmere's Strategy + + CHAPTER XV + Perplexed and Beguiled + + CHAPTER XVI + Declaration of Independence + + CHAPTER XVII + Not Strong in Vain + + CHAPTER XVIII + Make Your Terms + + CHAPTER XIX + An Object for Sympathy + + CHAPTER XX + "Veiled Wooing" + + CHAPTER XXI + Suggestive Tones + + CHAPTER XXII + Disheartening Confidences + + CHAPTER XXIII + The Filial Martyr + + CHAPTER XXIV + "I'll See How You Behave" + + CHAPTER XXV + Gossamer Threads + + CHAPTER XXVI + Mrs. Muir's Account + + CHAPTER XXVII + Madge's Story + + CHAPTER XXVIII + Dispassionate Lovers + + CHAPTER XXIX + The Enemies' Plans + + CHAPTER XXX + The Strong Man Unmanned + + CHAPTER XXXI + Checkmate + + CHAPTER XXXII + Madge is Matter-of-Fact + + CHAPTER XXXIII + The End of Diplomacy + + CHAPTER XXXIV + Broken Lights and Shadows + + CHAPTER XXXV + A New Experiment + + CHAPTER XXXVI + Madge Alden's Ride + + CHAPTER XXXVII + "You are Very Blind" + + CHAPTER XXXVIII + "Certainly I Refuse You" + + CHAPTER XXXIX + "My True Friend" + + CHAPTER XL + The End of the Wooing + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + "_Are you so bent upon winning her, Graydon?_" + + _"There, now, be rational" cried the young girl_ + + _Her lips were parted, her pose, grace itself_ + + "_Promise me you will take a long rest_" + + "_So you imagine I shall soon be making love to another girl?_" + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A CRESCENT OF A GIRL + + +When Madge Alden was seventeen years of age an event occurred which +promised to be the misfortune of her life. At first she was almost +overwhelmed and knew not what to do. She was but a young and +inexperienced girl, and for a year or more had been regarded as an +invalid. + +Madge Alden was an orphan. Four years prior to the opening of our +story she had lost her mother, her surviving parent, and since had +resided with her elder sister Mary, who was several years her +senior, and had married Henry Muir, a merchant of New York City. This +gentleman had cordially united with his wife in offering Madge a home, +and his manner toward the young girl, as far as his absorbed and busy +life permitted, had been almost paternal. He was a quiet, reticent +man, who had apparently concentrated every faculty of soul and body on +the problem of commercial success. Trained to business from boyhood, +he had allowed it to become his life, and he took it very seriously. +It was to him an absorbing game--his vocation, and not a means to some +ulterior end. He had already accumulated enough to maintain his family +in affluence, but he no more thought of retiring from trade than would +a veteran whist-player wish to throw up a handful of winning cards. +The events of the world, the fluctuations in prices, over which he had +no control, brought to his endeavor the elements of chance, and it was +his mission to pit against these uncertainties untiring industry and +such skill and foresight as he possessed. + +His domestic life was favorable to his ruling passion. Mary Alden, at +the time of her marriage, was a quiet girl, whose early life had been +shadowed by sorrow. She had seen her father pass away in his prime, +and her mother become in consequence a sad and failing woman. +The young girl rallied from these early years of depression into +cheerfulness, and thoroughly enjoyed what some might regard as a +monotonous life; but she never developed any taste for the diversions +of society. Thus it may be surmised that Mr. Muir encountered no +distractions after business hours. He ever found a good dinner +awaiting him, and his wife held herself in readiness to do what +he wished during the evening, so far as the claims of the children +permitted. Therefore there were few more contented men in the city +than he, and the name of Henry Muir had become a synonym among his +acquaintances for methodical business habits. + +In character and antecedents his younger brother, Graydon Muir, who +was also an inmate of his family, presented many marked contrasts to +the elder man. He had received a liberal education, and had graduated +at a city college. He had developed into one of the best products +of metropolitan life, and his defects were chiefly due to the +circumstances of his lot. During his academic course he had been known +as an athletic rather than a bookish man, and had left his Alma Mater +with an Apollo-like physique. At the same time he had developed fine +literary tastes, and was well informed, even if he had not gone very +deeply into the classics and the sciences that were remote from the +business career which he had chosen. After a brief interval of foreign +travel he had entered his brother's office, and was schooling his +buoyant, pleasure-loving temperament to the routine of trade. When +business hours were over, however, Graydon gave himself up to the +gratification of his social tastes. His vitality and flow of spirits +were so immense that wherever he went he always caused a breezy ripple +of excitement. Even veteran society girls found something exhilarating +in the mirthful flash of his blue eyes, and to be whirled through +a waltz on his strong arm was a pleasure not declined by reigning +belles. Many looks that to other men might have been the arrows of +Cupid were directed toward him, but they glanced harmlessly from +his polished armor. Society was to him what business was to his +brother,--an arena in which he easily manifested his power. At +the same time he was a manly fellow, and had no taste for corner +flirtations or the excitement of drawing perilously near to a +committal with those who would have responded to marked attentions. +The atmosphere he loved was that of general and social gayety. The +girls that he singled out for his especial regard were noted for their +vivacity and intelligence, as well as their beauty. Meanwhile he had +won a reputation for his good-natured attentions to "wall-flowers." +Such kindly efforts were rarely made at the promptings of conscience. +The truth was, he enjoyed life so fully himself that he disliked to +see any one having a dismal time. It gave him genuine pleasure to come +to a plain-featured, neglected damsel, and set all her blood tingling +by a brief whirl in a dance or a breezy chat that did her good, body +and soul, so devoid of satire or patronage was the attention. His +superb health and tireless strength, his perfect familiarity with the +usages of society, and his graceful decision of action made everything +he did appear as easy and natural as the beat of a bird's wing upon +the air, and in his large circle it was felt that no entertainment was +complete without his presence. + +Graydon was still attending college when Madge Alden first became +associated with him in her home-life. She was then but thirteen, and +was small and slight for her age. The first evening when she came down +to dinner, shrinking in the shadow of her sister, lingered ever in her +memory. Even now it gave her pain to recall her embarrassment when she +was compelled to take her seat in the full blaze of the light and +meet the eyes of the one to whom she felt that she must appear so +very plain and unattractive. Clad in the deepest mourning, pallid +from grief and watching at her mother's bedside, coming from a life of +seclusion and sorrow, sensitive in the extreme, she had barely reached +that age when awkwardness is in the ascendant, and the quiet city +home seemed the centre of a new and strange world. One other thing she +remembered in that initial chapter of her life,--the kindly glances +that Graydon Muir bent on the pale crescent of a girl who sat opposite +to him. Even as a child she knew that the handsome young fellow was +not secretly laughing at or criticising her, and before dinner was +over she had ventured upon a shy, grateful glance, in reward for his +good-humored efforts to break the ice. + +There had, in truth, been no ice to break. The child was merely like +a plant that had grown in the shade, and to her the strong, healthful +youth was sunshine. His smile warmed and vivified her chilled nature, +his hearty words and manner were bracing to her over-sensitive and +timid soul, and his unaffected, unforced kindness was so constant that +she gradually came to regard it as one of the best certainties of her +life. She soon learned, however, that behind his sunny good-nature +was a fiery and impatient spirit, ready to manifest itself if he was +chafed beyond a certain point, and so a slight element of fear was +mingled with her childlike affection. + +He had sufficient tact to understand Madge's diffidence, and he knew +that their family life would soon banish it. He welcomed this pale +slip of a girl to their home circle because it gave him pleasure to +pet and rally such a wraith into something like genuine existence. He +also hoped that eventually she would become a source of amusement to +him. Nor was he disappointed. Madge's mind was not colorless, if her +face was, and she gradually began to respond to his mirthfulness, and +to take an interest, intelligent for a child, in what occupied his +thoughts. Kindness creates an atmosphere in which the most sensitive +and diffident natures develop and reveal themselves, and Madge Alden, +who might easily have been chilled into a reticent and dispirited +girl, eventually manifested an unusual versatility of fancy and +thought, acquiring also no slight power of expression. + +Thus Graydon obtained his reward. His brother was a grave and silent +man, to whom few themes could be broached except those of business +and the events and politics of the day in their relation to trade. His +sister-in-law was absorbed in household and family cares, but Madge's +great black eyes responded with quick appreciation to all that he +said, and their merry nonsense often provoked a smile upon even the +face of Mr. Muir. The good-natured sympathy of the young man therefore +passed gradually into a genuine fraternal regard, and he rarely came +home of an evening without bringing flowers, bonbons, or some other +evidence that he had remembered her. Unconsciously to herself, he +became more to her than her sister, who was indulgent in the extreme, +but not very demonstrative. Her shyness disappeared, and his caresses +seemed as natural as those of an elder brother, in which light she +regarded him. + +Thus time passed on, and the girl rapidly approached the stature of +womanhood. Apparently she grew too fast for her slight reserve of +physical strength. She nominally attended a fashionable school, but +was often absent from ill health, and for this reason her sister +permitted her to follow her own moods. Indolence and inanition +accounted largely for her lack of strength. Exercise brought +weariness, and she would not take it. Nothing pleased her more than to +curl up on a lounge with a book; and her sister, seeing that she was +reading most of the time, felt that she was getting an education. To +the busy lady a book was a book, a kind of general fertilizer of +the mind, and as Madge usually took cold when she went out, and was +assuredly acquiring from the multitude of volumes she devoured all +the knowledge a woman needed, she was safer in the evenly heated city +house. The sisters had independent fortunes of their own, and the +great point in Mrs. Muir's mind was that they should live and enjoy +them. If Madge was only sufficiently coddled now while she was +growing, she would get strong eventually; and so the good lady, who +had as much knowledge of hygiene as of Sanscrit, tempted the invalid +with delicacies, permitted her to eat the confectionery that Graydon +brought so often, and generally indulged a nature that needed wise and +firm development. + +Thus Madge lived on, growing more pale and languid with each +succeeding year. The absence in the mountains and at the seashore +which Mr. Muir permitted to his family every summer brought changes +for the better, even though the young girl spent most of the time in a +hammock or reclining in the stern of a sail-boat. She could not escape +the invigoration caused by the mere breathing of pure air, but during +the winters in town she lost all and more than she had gained, and +sunk back into her old apathetic life. + +This life, however, contained two elements which gave some color and +zest to her existence. All through the day she would look forward to +Graydon's return from business, and when she heard his latch-key the +faintest possible color would steal into her cheeks. Up-stairs, two +steps at a time, he would come, kiss her, waltz her about the room +with a strength which scarcely permitted her feet to touch the floor, +then toss her back on the lounge, where she would lie, laughing, +breathless, and happy. With a man's ignorant tolerance he accepted her +character as an invalid, and felt that the least he could do was +to brighten a life which seemed so dismal to him. When he came down +dressed for dinner or some evening engagement, she looked at him with +a frank, admiring pride that amused him immensely. When he returned +earlier than usual he often found her still upon the lounge with her +inevitable book, usually a novel, and then he would take her upon +his lap and call her his "dear little spook, the household ghost that +would soon cease to cast a shadow;" and she, with a languid curiosity, +would easily beguile from him a portrayal of the scenes through which +he had just passed. She cared little for them, but from his stores +of vitality and strength he imparted life to her, and without +understanding why, she simply knew she was happy. + +Apart from her fondness for the unreal scenes presented by the +miscellaneous books she read--scenes all the more unreal because she +had no experience by which to correct them--she had one other taste +which promised well for the future--a sincere love of music. She was +taking lessons, but it was from a superficial teacher, who was content +to give her pretty and showy pieces; and she brought even to this +favorite study the desultory habits which characterized all her +efforts to obtain an education. When she sat down to her piano, +however, nature was her strong ally. Her ear was fine and correct, and +her sensitive, fanciful spirit gave delicacy and originality to her +touch. It scarcely seems possible for one to become a sympathetic +musician without a large degree of imagination and a nature easily +moved by thought and feeling. The young girl's thoughts and feelings +were as yet very vague, not concentrated on definite objects, and yet +so good a connoisseur as Graydon often acknowledged her power, and +would listen with pleased attention to her girlish rendering of music +made familiar to him by the great performers of the day. He enjoyed it +all the more because it was her own interpretation, often incorrect, +but never commonplace or slovenly; and when her fingers wandered among +the keys in obedience to her own impulses he was even more charmed, +although the melody was usually without much meaning. She was also +endowed with the rudiments of a fine voice, and would often strike +notes of surpassing sweetness and power; but her tones would soon +quaver and break, and she complained that it tired her to sing. That +ended the matter, for anything that wearied her was not to be thought +of. + +Thus she had drifted on with time, unconscious of herself, unconscious +of the influences that would bring to pass the decisive events in +the future. She was like multitudes of others who are controlled by +circumstances of their lot until the time comes when a deep personal +experience applies the touchstone to character. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GRAYDON MUIR + + +Madge Alden was almost seventeen, and yet she was in many respects +a child. Scenes portrayed in books had passed before her mind like +pictures, having no definite significance. Mr. Muir was to her like +some of the forces in nature--quiet, unobtrusive, omnipotent--and she +accepted him without thought. Her sister was one whom she could +love easily as a matter of course. She was an indulgent household +providence, who cared for the young girl as she did for her own little +children. If anything was amiss in Madge's wardrobe the elder sister +made it right at once; if Madge had a real or imaginary ailment, Mary +was always ready to prescribe a soothing remedy; and if there was +a cloud in the sky or the wind blew chill she said, "Madge, do be +prudent; you know how easily you take cold." Thus was provided the +hot-house atmosphere in which the tender exotic existed. It could not +be said that she had thrived or bloomed. + +Graydon Muir was the one positive element with which she had come in +contact, and thus far she had always accepted him in the spirit of a +child. He had begun petting her and treating her like a sister when +she was a child. His manner toward her had grown into a habit, which +had its source in his kindly disposition. To him she was but a weak, +sickly little girl, with a dismal present and a more dreary outlook. +Sometimes he mentally compared her with the brilliant girls he met in +society, and especially with one but a little older than Madge, who +appeared a natural queen in the drawing-room. His life abounded in +activity, interests, and pleasures, and if it was his impulse to throw +a little zest into the experiences of those in society who had no +claims upon him, he was still more disposed to cheer and amuse the +invalid in his own home. Moreover, he had become sincerely fond of +her. Madge was neither querulous nor stupid. Although not conceited, +he had the natural vanity of a handsome and successful man, and while +the evident fact that he was such a hero in her eyes amused him, it +also predisposed him to kindly and sympathetic feeling toward her. +He saw that she gave him not only a sisterly allegiance, but also a +richer and fuller tribute, and that in her meagre and shadowed life he +was the brightest element. She tried to do more for him than for any +one else, while she made him feel that as an invalid she could not do +very much, and that he should not expect it. She would often play +for him an hour at a time, and again she would be so languid that no +coaxing could lure her from the sofa. Occasionally she would even read +aloud a few pages with her musical and sympathetic voice, but would +soon throw down the book with an air of exhaustion, and plead that he +would read to her. In her weakness there was nothing repulsive, and +without calculation she made many artless appeals to his strength. He +generously responded, saying to himself, "Poor little thing! she has +a hard time of it. With her great black eyes she might be a beauty if +she only had health and was like other girls; but as it is, she is so +light and pale and limp that I sometimes feel as if I were petting a +wraith." + +Of late she had begun to go out with him a little, he choosing +small and quiet companies among people well known to the Muirs, and +occasionally her sister also went. Her rĂ´le of invalid was carefully +maintained and recognized. Graydon had always prided himself on his +loyalty as an escort; and as long as he was devoted, the neglect of +other young men was welcomed rather than regretted; for, except toward +him, all her old shyness still existed. With the consciousness that he +was caring for her she was well content with some half-secluded nook +of observation, from which she looked out upon scenes that were like +an animated story. She wove fanciful imaginings around those who +attracted her attention, and on her return laughingly discussed +the people who had passed, like players, before her eyes. Graydon +encouraged her to do this, for her ignorance of society made her +remarks original and amusing. He knew the conventional status of every +one they met as accurately as his brother recognized the commercial +value of the securities that passed under his eye, and Madge's +estimates often seemed absurd to the last degree. + +Whenever she went out with Graydon his course was eminently +satisfactory; she never felt herself neglected, while at the same time +she saw that his attentions were welcomed everywhere. She never lost +her serene sense of proprietorship, and only grew more fond of him as +she noted how readily he left the side of beautiful and gifted women +to look after her. He had often laughingly asserted that he went into +society only for amusement, and his course under her own observation +confirmed his words. + +Early in the winter during which our story opens, she had caught a +succession of colds, and one proved so severe and obstinate that her +friends were alarmed, fearing that she was going into a decline. She +slowly rallied, however, but was more frail than ever. Before the gay +season closed, just preceding Lent, Madge received an invitation to a +very large party. Graydon urged her to go, remarking that she had +not yet seen society. "Don't be afraid, I'll take care of you, little +ghost," he said, and with this assurance she accompanied him, contrary +to her sister's advice. It was indeed a brilliant occasion. The wide +rooms of a Madison Avenue palace were thronged, and she had never even +imagined such toilets as caught her eye on every side. There were +so many present that she could easily maintain her position of quiet +spectator, and her eyes dilated with pleasure as she saw that Graydon +was as much a leader as at other places where comparatively few were +present. + +At last her attention was attracted by one who was evidently a late +comer, and whose presence appeared to fill the apartment. All the +others paled before her, as do the stars when the moon rises among +them. She was evidently young, and yet she did not suggest youth. One +would almost imagine that she had never had a childhood or a girlhood, +but was rather a direct creation of metropolitan society. Her +exquisitely turned shoulders and arms were bare, and the diamonds +about her neck were a circlet of fire. The complexion of her fair oval +face was singularly pure, and the color came and went so easily as to +prove that it owed nothing to art. The expression of her gray eyes was +rather cold and haughty when at rest, and gave an impression of pride +and the consciousness of power. The trait which to the observant +Madge seemed most marked at first, however, was her perfect ease. Her +slightest movement was grace itself. Her entire self-possession was +indicated by the manner in which she greeted the men who sought her +attention, and many there were. She could be perfectly polite, yet +as repellent as ice, or she could smile with a fascination that even +Madge felt would be hard to resist. This girl, who was such an immense +contrast to herself, wholly fixed her attention as she stood for a few +moments, like a queen, surrounded by her courtiers. + +Graydon had gone for a glass of water, and meeting a friend had been +detained for a brief space. Madge saw him coming, saw his eye light up +with admiration as he caught sight of the beautiful stranger, but he +came directly to her, and asked, genially, if there was anything else +she would like. + +"Yes. Who is that girl yonder?" + +"Miss Wildmere. Isn't she lovely? She promised me, last week, her +first dance for this evening. Will you excuse me for a little while?" + +"Certainly;" and yet she was conscious of a sudden and odd little +protest at heart. + +He approached the beauty. Miss Wildmere's face flushed with pleasure +and softened into a welcoming smile, such as she had not yet bestowed +upon any who had sought her favor. Then, in swift alternation, she +bent upon Madge a brief, cold glance of scrutiny. So brief was it, and +so complacent was the expression of the belle as she turned away, that +the pallid, sensitive girl was told, as by words, "You are nothing." + +That glance was like a sharp, deep wound, and pierced where she +was most vulnerable. It said to her, "You are not capable of being +anything to Graydon Muir. I am not in the least afraid of you." + +What was she to him? What did she wish to be? To these questions Madge +had but one answer. Any and every girl, in her belief, would be only +too glad to win him. He had said that Miss Wildmere was lovely; his +eyes had expressed an admiration which he had never bestowed upon her; +he had led the beauty away with a glad content in his face, and the +crowded room was made empty by their absence. + +She was no longer conscious of weakness, but, obeying her impulse, +sprang up and followed them to the ballroom. Concealed by a little +group she stood, unwearied, and watched them as they glided hither and +thither with a grace that attracted many eyes. The music appeared to +control and animate them, and their motion was harmony itself. Graydon +evidently thought only of his fair partner; but her swift glances were +everywhere, gathering the rich revenue of admiration which was freely +offered. For a second she encountered Madge's large black eyes, full +of trouble, and a satirical smile proved that she enjoyed the poor +girl's solicitude. To deepen it she looked up at Graydon and said +something that caused his face to flush with pleasure. His response +was more decisive, for the swift color came into her face, and her +eyes drooped. The by-play was momentary, and would not have been +seen by a less vigilant observer than Madge; but to her it gave the +undoubted impression that they were lovers. When Miss Wildmere looked +again to see the result of her unkindly strategy, Madge was gone. + +In reaction she had grown almost faint, and reached her former retreat +with difficulty. But all her latent womanhood speedily rallied to +meet this strange and but half-comprehended emergency. The impulse now +uppermost was to retain her self-control and reach the seclusion of +her own room. How she was to endure the long hours she scarcely knew. +She did not dare to think. Indeed, the effort was scarcely possible, +for her mind was at first in tumult, with only one thing clear, a +poignant sense of loss and trouble. + +Graydon was a long time away, longer than he had ever been before when +acting as her escort. While she felt this neglect, and interpreted it +naturally, she was not sorry. She dreaded meeting him again. In one +brief hour her old ease and freedom with him had gone. She wondered at +the change in herself, yet knew that it was as definite and decided as +if she had become another person. When be had brought her the glass +of water she could look into his face with the frank directness of a +child. Why could she not do so now? Why did she almost tremble at the +thought of his glance, his touch, his presence? She knew that he would +come back with his old genial, kindly manner--that he would be +the same. But a change had occurred in her which made the fabled +transmutations of magic wands seem superficial indeed. Would he note +this change? Could he guess the cause? Oh, what _was_ the cause? Even +her pale face grew crimson, for there are truths that come to the +consciousness like the lightning from heaven. She did not need to +think, to weigh and reason. A woman's heart is often above and beyond +her reason, and hers had been awakened at last by the all-powerful +touch of love. + +The time passed, and still Graydon did not come. He was not absent +very long, and yet it began to seem terribly long to her. She had +overrated her powers, and found that even pride could not sustain her. +She had no reserve of strength to draw upon. The heat of the room grew +oppressive, and she was unaccustomed to throngs, confusion, and noise. +The consciousness of her weakness was forced upon her most painfully +at last by the appearance of Miss Wildmere on Graydon's arm. The +belle was smiling, radiant, her step elastic, her eyes shining with +excitement and pleasure. Her practiced scrutiny had assured her that +she was the queen of the hour; the handsomest and most courtly man +present was so devoted as to suggest that he might easily become a +lover; she had seen many glances of envy, and one, in the case of poor +Madge, of positive pain. What more could her heart desire? Graydon +conducted her to her chaperon, near whom half a dozen gentlemen were +waiting for a chance to be his successor; and, having obtained +her promise for another dance later in the evening, he turned +deprecatingly to Madge. His apologies ceased before they were half +spoken. She looked so white and ill that he was alarmed, and asked +permission to get her a glass of wine. + +"No, Graydon," she said, then hesitated, for she felt the color coming +into her face, while a strange blur confused every object in the room. +"I'm very, very sorry," she added, hastily, after a moment. "I ought +not to have come. I'm not equal to this. It wouldn't take you very +long to drive home with me, and then you could return. Please, +Graydon." + +Her tone was so urgent, and she appeared so weak, that he complied at +once, saying, with much compunction, "I should not have left you alone +so long, but supposed you were amusing yourself by looking at the +people." + +She did not trust herself to reply. Her one thought was to reach the +refuge of her own apartment, and to this end she concentrated her +failing energies. The climb to the ladies' dressing-room was a +desperate effort; but when she was once outside the house the cold, +pure air revived her slightly. + +"You can excuse me to our hostess--she will not care," she faltered, +and it seemed to her then that nobody would care. Miss Wildmere's +glance had conveyed the estimate of society. If she could believe +herself first in Graydon's thoughts she would not be cast down, but +now the truth was overwhelming. + +She leaned away from him in the corner of the carriage, but he put his +strong arm round her and drew her to his breast. She tried to resist, +but was powerless. Then came the torturing thought, "If I repel +him--if I act differently--he will guess the reason," and she was +passive; but he felt her slight form tremble. + +"My poor little ghost, you are ill in very truth! I'm indeed sorry +that I left you so long." + +"Believe me, Graydon, I am ill. Please let that excuse me and explain. +Oh, that I--I were strong, like Miss Wildmere!" + +"Isn't she a beauty?" exclaimed the unconscious Graydon. "The man who +wins her might well be proud, for he would have competitors by the +score." + +"Your chances seem excellent," said Madge, in a low tone. + +He laughed complacently, but added: "You don't know these society +belles. They can show a great deal of favor to more than one fellow, +yet never permit themselves to be pinned by a definite promise. They +are harder to catch and hold than a wild Bedouin; but such a girl as +Miss Wildmere is worth the effort. Yes, Madge, I do wish you were like +her. It would be grand sport to champion you in society and see you +run amuck among the fellows. It's a thousand pities that you are such +an invalid. I've thought more than once that you were designed to be a +beauty. With your eyes and Stella Wildmere's health you would be quite +as effective after your style as she is in hers. Never mind, little +sister, I shall stand by you, and as long as I live you shall always +have a luxurious sofa, with all the novels of the northern hemisphere +at your command. Who knows? You may grow strong one of these days. +When you do I'll pick out the nice fellows for you." + +At every kindly word her heart grew heavier, and when the carriage +stopped at their door she could hardly mount the steps. In the hall +she faltered and caught the hat-rack for support. He lifted her in +his arms and bore her easily to her room, her sister following in much +solicitude. "It's nothing," said Madge; "the company was too large and +exciting for me. There was no need of Graydon's carrying me upstairs, +but he would do it." + +"You poor dear!" began her sister, broodingly. "I feared it would be +so. Graydon is made of iron, and will never realize how delicate you +are." + +"He's very kind, and more considerate than I deserve. As he says," she +added, bitterly, "I'm nothing but a ghost, and had better vanish." + +"Nonsense, Madge," said the young man, with brusque kindness. "You +know I want you to haunt me always. Good-by now, little sister. I +shall be _de trop_ if I stay any longer. You'll be better in the +morning, and to-morrow evening I'll remain home and entertain you." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PARTING + + +At last Madge was alone. Her sister had suggested everything she could +think of, meanwhile bewailing the young girl's extreme imprudence. +Madge entreated for quiet and rest, and at last was left alone. Hour +after hour she lay with wide, fixed gaze. Her mind and imagination +did not partake of her physical weakness, and now they were abnormally +active. As the bewilderment from the shock of her abrupt awakening +passed, the truth hourly grew clearer. From the time she had first +come under her sister's roof Graydon Muir had begun to make himself +essential to her. His uniform kindness had created trust, freedom, and +a content akin to happiness. Now all was swept away. She understood +that his love was an affection resulting from pity and the strong, +genial forces of his nature. The girl who could kindle his spirit and +inspire the best and most enthusiastic efforts of his manhood must be +like Miss Wildmere--strong, beautiful, capable of keeping step with +him under society's critical eyes, and not a mere shadow of a woman +like herself. Her morbidly acute fancy recalled the ballroom. She saw +him again after his return, encircling the fair girl with his arm, and +looking down into her eyes with a meaning unmistakable. Oh, why had +she gone to that fatal party! The past, in contrast to the present and +the promise of the future, seemed happiness itself. + +What could she do? What should she do? The more she thought of it +the more unendurable her position appeared. In her vivid +self-consciousness the old relations could not continue. Heretofore +his caresses had been a matter of course, of habit. They could be so +no longer. She shrank from them with inexpressible fear, knowing they +would bring what little blood she possessed to her face and very brow +in tell-tale floods. The one event from which her sensitive womanhood +drew back in deepest dread was his knowledge of her love. To prevent +this she would rather die, and she felt so weak and despairing that +she thought and almost hoped she would die. If she could only go away, +where she would not see him, and hide her wound! But how could she, +chained near his daily presence by weakness and helplessness? + +Thus through the long night her despairing thoughts went to and fro, +and found no rest. Miss Wildmere's cold glance met her everywhere with +the assurance that such a creature as she could never be anything to +him, and, alas! his own words confirmed the verdict. Love that gives +all demands all, and such pitiful affection as he now gave was only a +mockery. The morning found her too weak to leave her room, and for +the few following days she made illness her excuse for remaining in +seclusion. As Graydon looked ruefully at her vacant chair the fourth +evening after the company, Mrs. Muir remarked, reproachfully, "I hope +you now realize how delicate Madge is. You never should have coaxed +her to go to that party." + +He was filled with compunction, and brought her flowers, boxes of +candy, books, and everything which he imagined would amuse her. At the +same time he was growing a little impatient and provoked. He knew +that he had taken her from the kindest motives. Now that she gave up +utterly to her invalidism, he was inclined to question its necessity. +He found that he missed her more than he would have imagined, and his +brief hours at home were dreary by reason of her seclusion. + +"Why don't you call in a first-class physician and put Madge under +a thorough course of treatment?" he asked, irritably. "She has no +disease now that I know anything about, and I don't believe it's +necessary that she should remain so weak and lackadaisical." + +"We did have our doctor call often, and he said she would outgrow her +troubles if she would take plenty of fresh of fresh air and exercise. +And now she positively refuses to see a physician." + +"I wouldn't humor a sick girl's fancies. She needs tonics and a +general building up. With your permission I'll stop on my way downtown +to-morrow and tell Dr. Anderson to call." + +Mrs. Muir repeated the conversation to her sister, with the +literalness of which only unimaginative women are capable. Madge +turned her face to the wall, and said, coldly and decisively, "I +refuse to see a physician. I am no longer a child, and my wishes must +be respected." After a moment she added, apologetically: "A doctor +could do me no good. I shall soon be stronger. You understand me +better than Dr. Anderson can. You are the best and kindest nurse that +ever breathed, and I've had enough of doctors. I'll take anything you +give me." + +These politic words appealed to Mrs. Muir's weak point. Nothing +pleased her better than to believe that she could act the part of +physician in the family, and prescribing for Madge was a source of +unflagging interest. When she informed Graydon of their decision in +the morning, he muttered something not very complimentary to either of +the ladies; but his good-nature prevailed, and instead of the doctor +he ordered a superb bouquet of Jacqueminot roses. + +Meanwhile events were taking place of which Madge had no knowledge, +but which would favor the plan slowly maturing in her mind. Mr. Muir's +business affairs had been taking a turn which made it probable that +he would soon have to send his brother abroad. As long as there was +uncertainty the reticent man said nothing, but at last he received +advices which brought him to a prompt decision, and Graydon was told +that he must go at once. The young fellow submitted with fairly +good grace. A brief foreign residence had its attractions, but it +interfered with his incipient suit to Miss Wildmere. He felt that he +had not gone far enough for a definite proposal, but he showed, during +the brief call that his time permitted, an interest which the young +lady well understood. Since he was to be absent for an indefinite +period, and would have no chance to observe her other little affairs, +she permitted herself to be gracious and regretful up to the point of +inspiring much hope for the future. With a nicety of tact--the result +of experience--she confirmed his view that they had made favorable +impressions on each other, and that for the present they must be +content with this. + +He had but a day in which to make his preparations in order to catch +a fast steamer that sailed at daylight the following morning. Madge's +first sensation when she learned of his near departure was one of +immense relief. The possibility which she had so dreaded could not +now be realized, and her plan could be carried out with far less +embarrassment. But as time passed, and she knew that their separation +was so near, her heart relented toward him with inexpressible +tenderness. The roses that perfumed the room were a type of his +unstinted kindness and consideration. She was just enough to +acknowledge that these were even more than she could naturally expect +from him--that the majority of young men would have treated her with +a half contemptuous pity which she was now beginning to admit would +be partially deserved. On the occasions when she had gone out with him +she had learned how unattractive in society her pale face and shy ways +were. Such attentions as she had received had been to her sensitive +spirit like charity. Graydon had been animated by unaffected good-will +and an affection that was, after its kind, genuine. While she +felt that it would be no longer possible to receive these mild +manifestations of regard while giving something so different, she +still knew, with a half despairing sinking of heart, how blank and +desolate her life would be without them. She must meet him once more, +and word was sent that she would receive his good-by after dinner. +Having safely passed this one interview, she hoped that she might be +able to control the future, and either cease to be, or bring about +changes upon which she had resolved. + +Only a soft, dim light shone in her room when he came to say farewell. + +"Why, Madge," he exclaimed, "you are better! You actually have color. +Perhaps it is fever, though," he added, dubiously. "At any rate, it's +very becoming." + +"I think it must be the reflection from your roses there, you +extravagant fellow," she replied, laughing. + +"That's famous, Madge. If you will laugh again like that I'll send +you a present from Paris. Dear Madge, do get well. Don't let us have +anything dismal in our parting. It's only for a little while, you +know. When I come back it will be summer, and I'll take you to the +seashore or mountains or somewhere, and help you get well." + +"You are very kind, Graydon. You have been a true brother to me from +the time you tried to cheer and encourage the pale, frightened little +girl that sat opposite you at the dinner-table. Don't you remember?" + +"Of course I do. It seemed so droll to me that you were afraid when +there was nothing to be afraid of." + +"My fear was natural. Little as I know of the world, I know that--at +least for one like me. It may seem weak and silly to you, but, brought +up as I had been, I was morbidly sensitive. You might have meant to +be kind and sympathetic and all that, and yet have hurt me cruelly. +I have been out with you enough to know how I am regarded. I don't +complain. I suppose it is the way of the world, but it has not been +your way. You have brought sunshine from the first, not from a sense +of duty, not out of sheer humiliating pity, but because it was the +impulse of your strength to help and cheer one who was so weak, and +if--if--anything--Well, I want you to know before you go away that I +appreciate it all and shall never forget it." + +"Oh, come, Madge, don't talk so dismally. What do you mean by +'if--if--anything'? You are going to get strong and well, and we will +open the campaign together next fall." + +She shook her head, but asked, lightly, "How will Miss Wildmere endure +your absence?" + +"Easier than you, I imagine. She knows how to console herself. Still, +as my little sister, I will tell you in confidence that she was very +kind in our parting interview. How much her kindness meant only she +herself knows, and I've been in society long enough to know that it +may mean very little." + +"Are you so wholly bent upon winning her, Graydon?" + +"Oh, you little Mother Eve! You are surely going to get well. There is +no sign of longevity in a woman so certain as curiosity. I've not yet +reached the point of breaking my heart about her, whatever she does. +Wouldn't you like so beautiful a creature for your sister?" + +"The contrast would be too great. I should indeed seem a ghost +beside her. Still, if she would make you happy--" But she could go no +further. + +"Well, well, that's a very uncertain problem of the future. Don't say +anything about it at home. My brother don't like her father. They do +not get on well in business. Let us talk about yourself. What are you +going to do while I am gone?" + +"What can such a shadow as I do? Tell me rather what you are going +to do, and where you'll be. You are real, and what you do amounts to +something." + +"There's one thing I'm going to do, and that is, write you some jolly +letters that will make you laugh in spite of yourself. They will be +part of the tonic treatment that I want you to promise me to begin at +once." + +"I have already entered upon it, Graydon," she said, quietly, "and I +don't think any one will value your letters more than I, only I may +not get strong enough to write very much in reply. I've never had +occasion to write many letters, you know. Tell me where you will be +and what you are going to do," and she leaned back upon her lounge and +closed her eyes. + +While he complied, he thought, "She has grown pale and thin even to +ghastliness, yet I was sure she had color when I first came in. Poor +little thing! perhaps her fears are well founded, and I may never +see her again;" and the good-hearted fellow was full of tender and +remorseful regret. He was quite as fond of her as if she had been his +own sister, perhaps even more so, for his affection was not merely the +result of a natural tie, but of something congenial to his nature in +the girl herself, and it cut him to the heart to see her so white and +frail. He stopped a moment, and she opened her eyes and looked at him +inquiringly. + +"Oh, Madge," he broke out, "I'm so sorry I took you to that confounded +party. You seemed getting on hopefully until that blasted evening. +You must get well enough to haunt me after your old fashion. You don't +know what a dear little sister you have become, and I didn't know it +myself until you were secluded by illness, and all through my fault. +You have barricaded yourself long enough with that stand and its vase +of roses. I'm not going to say good-by at this distance." He removed +the stand, and seating himself by her side, he drew her head down +upon his shoulder and kissed her again and again. "There now," he +continued, "you look perfectly lovely. Kisses are a part of the tonic +treatment you need, and I wish I were going to be here to give them. +Why, you queer little woman! I did not know you had so much blood in +your body." + +"It's--it's because I'm not strong," she said, struggling for release. +Suddenly she became still, her face took on almost the hue of death, +and he saw that she was unconscious. + +In terrible alarm he laid her hastily on the lounge, and rushed for +Mrs. Muir. + +"She has merely fainted," said that experienced woman, after a +moment's examination. "You never will learn, Graydon, that Madge is +not as strong as yourself. Call one of the maids, and leave her to +me." + +That was the last time he saw Madge Alden for more than two years. She +soon rallied, but agreed with her sister that it would be best not +to see him again. She sent him one of his own roses, with the simple +message, "Good-by." + +Late at night he went down to the steamer, depressed and anxious, +carrying with him the vivid memory of Madge lying white and death-like +where he had laid her apparently lifeless form. + +"I shall never see her again," he muttered. "Such weakness must be +mortal." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EFFORT + + +The deep experience, the touchstone of character, of latent power, +if such existed, had come to Madge Alden. For days she had drifted +helplessly on the rising tide of an apparently hopeless love. With +every hour she comprehended more fully what Graydon Muir had become +to her and all that he might have been. It seemed that she had been +carried forward by a strong, quiet current, only to be wrecked at +last. A sense of utter helplessness overwhelmed her. She could not +ignore her love; it had become interwoven with every interest and +fibre of her life. At first she contemplated it in wonder, in deeply +troubled and alarmed perplexity. It was a momentous truth, that had +suddenly been made known as some irretrievable misfortune might +have been revealed. She had read of love as children hear of mental +anxieties and conflicts of which they have no comprehension. As she +grew older it had been like poetry, music, romance--something that +kindled her imagination into vague, pleasant dreams. It had been as +remote from the present and her own experience as lives of adventure +in strange and foreign lands. She had awakened at last to find that +it was like her vital breath. By some law of her nature she had given, +not merely her thoughts and affection, but her very self to another. +To her dismay it made no difference that he had not sought the gift +and was not even aware of it. Circumstances over which she had no +control had brought her into close companionship with Graydon Muir. +She had seen him almost daily for years; she knew him with the +intimacy of a sister, yet without the safeguard of a natural tie; and +from his genial kindness she had drawn almost all the life she had +ever possessed. With an unconsciousness akin to that of a plant which +takes root and thrives upon finding a soil adapted to it, her love had +been developed by his strong, sunny nature. She soon recognized that +it was a love such as she had never known, unlike that for her mother +or sister or any one else, and it seemed to her that it could pass +away only with herself. It was not a vague sentiment, an indefinite +longing; it was the concentrated and imperious demand of her whole +being, which, denied, left little indeed, even were the whole world +hers. Yet such were the cruel conditions of her lot that she could +not speak of it even to one whose head had been pillowed on the same +mother's breast, and the thought that it might be discovered by +its object made her turn cold with dread. It was a holy thing--the +spontaneous product of an unperverted heart--and yet she must hide it +as if it were a crime. + +Above all the trouble and turmoil of her thoughts, clear and definite +amid the chaos brought into her old quiet, languid life, was +the impulse--the necessity--to conceal that which had become the +mainspring of her existence. She had not the experience of one versed +in the ways of the world. How could others--how could he--be kept in +ignorance of that of which she was so painfully and vividly conscious? +Therefore, overwhelmed with dread and a sense of helplessness, she +yielded to her first impulse to hide, in order that what seemed +inseparable from herself might be concealed. + +But she knew that this seclusion could not last--that she must meet +this first and great emergency of her life in some other way. From the +strong wish to obtain safety in separation, a plan to bring it about +gradually took form in her mind. She must escape, either to live or +to die, before her secret became known; and in casting about for the +means, she at last thought of a family who had been the kindest of +neighbors in the village where her mother had died. Mr. Wayland and +his wife had been the truest and most sympathetic of friends to the +widow and her orphan children, and Madge felt that she could be at +home with them. Mrs. Wayland's prolonged ill-health had induced her +husband to try, in her behalf, the remedy of an entire change of air +and climate. Therefore they had removed, some years before, to Santa +Barbara, on the Pacific coast. The signal success of the experiment +now kindled a glimmer of hope in poor Madge. That remote city +certainly secured the first requisites--separation and distance--and +the fact that her friend found health and vigor in the semi-tropical +resort promised a little for her frail young life. She had few fears +that her old friends would not welcome her, and she was in a position +to entail no burdens, even though she should remain an invalid. + +The practical question was, How should she get there? But the more +she thought upon the plan the more attractive it grew. The situation +seemed so desperate that she was ready for a desperate remedy. To +remain weak, helpless, and in perpetual dread was impossible. + +Her mind also was clear and strong enough for self-arraignment, and +in bitterness she partially condemned herself that she had lost her +chance for happiness. Her conscience had often troubled her that she +had given up so weakly to the habit of invalidism, but she had never +had sufficient motive for the vigorous and sustained effort essential +to overcome it. Indeed, her frailty had seemed a claim upon Graydon, +and made it more natural for him to pet her. Now that she was thinking +deeply, she was compelled to admit that her ill health was to some +extent her fault as well as her misfortune. Circumstances, natural +indolence, and her sister's extreme indulgence had brought about a +condition of life that propagated itself. One languid day was the +parent of another, it was so much easier to dawdle than to act. Thus +she had lost her opportunity. If he had won health, even Graydon +said it would have brought her beauty. She might have secured his +admiration, respect, and even love, instead of his pity. What could be +more absurd than to imagine that he could give aught else to one like +herself? "Oh, what a blind fool I have been!" she moaned--"blind +to the wants of my own heart, blind to the truth that a man needs a +strong, genial companion, and not a dependent shadow." + +Graydon's sudden departure took from her project many obstacles and +embarrassments. She was not afraid of her sister or her remonstrances, +and felt that she could convince Mr. Muir that the change gave the +best promise for the future. Graydon's objections would have been hard +to meet. He might have been led to guess her motive or insist on +being her escort. Now it was merely a question of gaining sufficient +strength for the journey and of being resolute. + +Mrs. Muir's opposition was not so great as Madge had feared, and Mr. +Muir even approved of the plan. The shrewd merchant's judgment was +usually correct on all practical matters, and he believed that Madge's +best chance was in a radical change. He saw that his wife's indulgence +tended to confirm her sister's lack of energy, and that it would be +best for Madge to spend the next few years with one who had regained +her health by wise endeavor. Mrs. Muir soon saw everything as her +husband viewed it, and the young girl prepared for a new world and a +new life. + +It was indeed a wise decision. There could be no more aimless drifting +and brooding. A telegram to Mr. Wayland brought immediate acquiescence +in the project, which was arranged more in detail by letters. Madge +strove in every possible way to fit herself for the journey, and was +surprised at her success. Better than all tonics was the diversion of +her thoughts, the prospect of change, the necessity for action. In her +thoughtful prudence she even satisfied Mrs. Muir's solicitude, for the +young girl realized more fully every day how much depended upon her +plan. It seemed to her that there could be no greater misfortune than +to become so ill again that in helplessness she must await Graydon's +return. Therefore, every faculty of mind, every power of body, was +exerted to accomplish her purpose; and, while her farewell to +her sister and Mr. Muir was tender and full of gratitude, the +consciousness of escape was uppermost in her mind. An elderly friend +of Mr. Muir would be her escort to San Francisco, and in that city Mr. +Wayland was to meet her. + +She arrived safely at her far-distant home, greatly worn and exhausted +indeed, but calm in mind from a sense of security. Mrs. Wayland +greeted her with her old-time cordiality, and gave herself heartily to +the task of rallying the frail girl into health. + +During the days of absolute rest which followed the journey, Madge's +thoughts were busy. The width of the continent would separate her +from the past and those associated with it. Both the breadth of the +continent and the ocean were between her and him from whom she had +fled; yet he was ever present to her imagination. In this respect the +intervening miles counted for nothing. She had not hoped that they +would. She could conceive of no plan of life that left him out, yet +she felt that she must have some object to look forward to, some +motive for action. The spirit she had recently shown in taking so +decisive a step proved her to possess a latent force of character of +which she herself had not been conscious. She would not sit down to +dream and brood away the future. She could never hope for Graydon +Muir's love. He would soon return to New York, and the idea that +Miss Wildmere or any other girl would remain cold to his suit was +preposterous. Yet if she lived she must meet Graydon again, and she +now felt that she would live. The decision she had manifested at the +crisis of her life was kindling her nature. She was conscious of a +growing inclination to prove to Graydon that she was neither "weak +nor lackadaisical." The reproach of these, his words, haunted her and +rankled in her memory. If she could only make him respect her--if she +could only win such a look of admiration as she had seen upon his face +when he first recognized Miss Wildmere at the party, it would be a +triumph indeed. + +Thus a new plan, a new hope, was developed, and became the inspiration +of effort. She listened unweariedly as Mrs. Wayland related how she +had turned the tide of her ebbing vitality. Thus Madge gained the +benefit of another's experience. Little by little she sought to +increase her slender resources of strength. The superb climate enabled +her to live almost in the open air, and each day she exulted over an +increase of vigor. Almost everything favored her in her new home. +When she was well enough to go out much the strangers had gone, and +everything in the town was restful, yet not enervating. The Waylands, +while on the best terms with other permanent residents, were not +society people. Mrs. Wayland had become satisfied with that phase of +life in her youth. Her husband was a reader, a student, and something +of a naturalist. The domestic habits which had been formed while Mrs. +Wayland was an invalid still clung to them. While never ceasing to be +kind neighbors, they were more than content with books, nature, and +each other. Madge therefore had access to a very fine library, and the +companionship of intellectual people who had known from contact the +present world, and in whose cultivated minds dwelt the experiences of +the past. Her friends were in the habit of discussing what they +read, and the basis of much of their enjoyment--as of all true +companionship--was harmonious disagreement. Thus the young girl was +insensibly taught to think for herself and to form her own opinions. +They also proved admirable guides in directing her reading. She felt +that she had read enough for mere amusement, and now determined to +become familiar with the great master-minds, so far as she was capable +of following them, and to inform herself on those subjects which Mr. +Wayland declared essential to an education. + +If circumstances within doors were conducive to mental growth, those +without were even more favorable to physical development. The salt air +and softly tempered sunshine were perpetual tonics. The place was full +of exquisite flowers. She felt that she had never seen roses until she +came to Santa Barbara. To a wounded, sensitive spirit there is even +a healing influence in the brightness and perfume of flowers. They +smiled so sweetly at her that she could not help smiling back. The +sunny days passed, one so like another that they begot serenity. The +even climate, with its sunny skies, tended to inspirit as well as to +invigorate. Almost every day she spent hours in driving and sailing, +and as the season advanced she began to take ocean baths, which on +that genial coast are suitable almost all the year round. Going thus +to nature for healing, she did not appeal in vain. Strength and +grace were bestowed imperceptibly, yet surely, as spring clothes the +leafless tree. + +A love such as had grown unbidden and unconsciously in Madge's heart +could not be content with the meagre reward of a little admiration. +Such an affection was softening and ennobling in its character, and +the mere desire to compel Graydon to glance at her as she had seen him +look at Miss Wildmere grew into the higher ambition to become such a +woman as would approach in some degree his ideal. She knew his tastes, +and as she thought over the past she believed she could gauge his +character as could no other. She soon recognized that he was not an +exceptional man, that she was not worshipping a hero. He himself +would be the last one to claim pre-eminence among his fellows. But his +genial, open nature, his physical strength, and his generous, kindly +impulses made him an eminently lovable man, and--well, she loved him, +and believed she ever should. Frail and defective in almost every +respect herself, she would have thought it absurd to cherish some +lofty and impossible ideal. He was hearty, wholesome, honest, and +she soon began to see that it would be a better and a nobler thing--a +nearer approach to happiness--to become a woman whom he could trust +and respect than merely to win a little admiration as a tribute to +ephemeral beauty. + +She would attain beauty if she could, but it should be the appendage, +the ornament of mind and character. She, who had seemed to him +weakness itself, would aim to suggest eventually that noblest phase of +strength--woman's patience and fortitude. + +It must not be supposed that Madge reached these conclusions in days, +weeks, or even months. Her final purposes were the result of slow, +half-conscious growth. Right, brave action produced right feeling, and +there are few better moral tonics than developing health. With richer, +better blood came truer, higher, and more unselfish thoughts. She +found that she could not only live, but that vigorous, well-directed +life is in itself enjoyment. It was a pleasure to breathe the pure, +balmy air, even when reclining in a carriage or a sail-boat, and as +she gained strength sufficient for exercise, she soon became aware of +the rich physical rewards that wait upon it. Slowly at first, but with +an increasing impetus, she advanced toward health, the condition +of all genuine life. She at last exchanged her carriage for a +saddle-horse. + +Mr. Wayland had one taste in which his wife did not share--a love +for horseback exercise, which, indeed, was one of the chief +characteristics of the community. Madge knew that Graydon was +extremely fond of a good horse, and that he rode superbly. To become +his equal therefore in this respect was one of the chief dreams of +her ambition. It was with almost a sense of terror that she mounted at +first, but Mr. Wayland was considerate. Her horse was only permitted +to walk, and she was taken off as soon as she was weary. Confidence +increased rapidly, and eventually she became fearless and almost +tireless. The beach was like a smooth, hard road-bed, and before the +summer was over she thought little of a gallop of ten miles, with the +breath of the Pacific fanning her cheek. When Mr. Wayland drove with +his wife up through Mission and Hot Springs cañons, or eight miles +away to the exquisitely beautiful Bartlett Cañon and the fine adjacent +ranches, she accompanied them on horseback. As she flashed along past +date-palms, and through lemon and orange groves, she began to appear +semi-tropical herself. She also became Mr. Wayland's companion on his +botanizing expeditions, and her steps among the rocks of the foothills +and on the slopes of the mountains grew surer, lighter, and more +unwearied. Color stole into her face, and a soft fire into her dark +eyes when animated. Mrs. Wayland looked on with increasing delight, +and thought, "She is growing very beautiful. I wonder if she knows +it?" + +Indeed she knew it well. What young girl does not? But Madge had a +motive for knowledge of which Mrs. Wayland did not dream. In the main +the girl was her own physician, and observed her symptoms closely. She +knew well what beauty was. Her vivid fancy would at any time recall +Miss Wildmere as a living presence; therefore her standard was +exceedingly high, and she watched her approach to it as to a distant +and eagerly sought goal. Other eyes gave assurance that her own +were not deceiving her. The invalid on whom at first but brief and +commiserating glances had been bestowed was beginning to be followed +by admiring observation. Society recognized her claims, and she +was gaining even more attention than she desired. As her strength +increased she accepted invitations, and permitted the circle of her +acquaintance to widen. It was part of her plan to become as much +at home in the social world as Graydon himself. Nor was she long in +overcoming a diffidence that had been almost painful. In one sense +these people were to her simply a means to an end. She cared so little +for them that she was not afraid, and had merely to acquire the ease +which results from usage. Diffidence soon passed into a shy grace that +was indefinable and yet became a recognized trait. The least approach +to loudness and aggressiveness in manner was not only impossible to +her, but she also possessed the refinement and tact of which only +extremely sensitive natures are capable. A vain, selfish woman is so +preoccupied with herself that she does not see or care what others +are, or are thinking of, unless the facts are obtruded upon her; +another, with the kindest intentions, may not be able to see, and so +blunders lamentably; but Madge was so finely organized that each one +who approached her made a definite impression, and without conscious +effort she responded--not with a conventional and stereotyped +politeness, but with an appreciative courtesy which, as she gained +confidence and readiness of expression, gave an unfailing charm to her +society. With few preconceived and arbitrary notions of her own she +accepted people as they were, and made the most of them. Of course +there were some in whom even the broadest charity could find little to +approve; but it was her purpose to study and understand them and lose +forever the unsophisticated ignorance at which Graydon had used to +laugh. + +Santa Barbara was a winter resort, and she had the advantage of +meeting many types. In Mrs. Wayland she had a useful mentor. This +lady in her younger days had been familiar with the best phases of +metropolitan society, and she counteracted in Madge all tendencies +toward provincialism. Thus it gradually became recognized that the +"shy, sickly little girl," as she had been characterized at first, was +growing into a very attractive young woman. Indeed, after an absence +of only a year her own sister would scarcely have recognized her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ACHIEVEMENT + + +Mrs. Muir of course heard often from her sister, and was satisfied +with the general assurance that she was better and steadily improving. +Madge, however, was rather indefinite in her information. As time +passed, the idea of giving her friends in the East a surprise took +possession of her fancy. She instinctively felt that she needed every +incentive to pursue the course she had resolved upon, since she often +suffered from fits of depression hard to combat. The hope of appearing +like a new being to her relatives was another innocent motive for her +long-prolonged effort. Circumstances had never developed epistolary +tastes in the sisters, and they were content with brief missives +containing general assurances that all was well. Mrs. Muir was one of +those ladies who become engrossed with the actual and the present. Had +Madge been in her old room she would have been looked after with daily +solicitude; being absent, she was loved none the less, but was simply +crowded from thought and memory by swarms of little cares. She was +doing well, and her sister was satisfied. "'It's a wonderful climate,' +Madge writes," she would say, "so even and dry. Madge doesn't take +cold as she did here, and can go out nearly every day. Perhaps we +ought to become reconciled to the fact that she will have to live +there always, since here, with our sudden changes, she could scarcely +live at all." + +With the kindliest intentions Graydon had sought to initiate a +vigorous correspondence. He had learned with immense relief of Madge's +improvement through change of residence, and he felt that a series of +jolly letters might bring aid and hopefulness. Her responses were not +very encouraging, however, and business cares, with the novelty +of foreign life, gradually absorbed his thoughts and time until +correspondence languished and died. + +"It's the old story," he thought, with a shade of irritation. "Letters +cost effort, and she is not equal to effort, or thinks she is not." + +If he could have seen Madge at that moment riding like the wind on a +spirited horse he would have been more astonished than by any of the +wonders of the old world. + +To Madge his letters were a source of mingled pain and pleasure, but +the former predominated. In every line they breathed an affection +which could never satisfy. Coldness or indifference could not have +so assured her that her love was hopeless; and when she sat down to +reply, the language of her heart was so unlike that which she must +write as to make her feel almost guilty of deliberate deception. +Correspondence made him too vividly present, and she was learning that +she had the power, not of forgetting him, but of so occupying her +mind with tasks for his sake as to attain serenity. The days were +made short by efforts of which he deemed her incapable, and weariness +brought rest at night. But when she sat down with her pen, confronting +him and not what she sought to do for him, her heart sank. He was too +near and dear, yet too remote, even for hope. + +This emotion is, however, the most hardy of plants, and although she +had often assured herself that she had never entertained it or had any +reason to do so, almost before she was aware she found it growing in +her heart. Business still kept Graydon abroad, although a year had +passed. There were no indications that he was pressing his suit with +Miss Wildmere, and our heroine's mirror and the eyes of others began +to tell her that the confident belle would not now bestow a glance so +cold and indifferent as to mean, "You can be nothing to him or to any +one." Moreover, Miss Wildmere's coveted beauty might prove an ally. +One so attractive would be sought, perhaps won, before Graydon +returned, and absence might have taught him that his regard had been +little more than admiration. Naturally Madge would not be inclined +to think well of one who had brought so cruel an experience into her +life; but, prejudice apart, the society girl had given evidence of a +type of womanhood not very high. Even Graydon, in his allusions, had +suggested a character repulsive to Madge. A woman "as hard to capture +and hold as a 'Bedouin'" was not at all her ideal. The words presented +to her one who was either calculating or capricious, either heartless +or fickle. + +"Truly," she thought, "if there was ever a man who merited +whole-hearted, lifelong constancy, it is Graydon Muir; and if he even +imagines Miss Wildmere incapable of this, why should he think further +of her? Perhaps while beyond the spell of her beauty he has formed a +truer estimate of her character, and has abandoned all thought of her +as a mocking dream. Perhaps--" + +Of what possibilities will not a young girl dream at the dictation +of her heart? And as she saw the sharp lines of her profile softening +into loveliness, the color fluctuating in her cheeks even at her +thoughts, her thin, feeble arms growing white and firm, and the +rounded grace of womanhood appearing in all her form, she began to +hope that she could endure comparison with Miss Wildmere, even on +her lower plane of material beauty. But Madge had too much mind to +be content with Miss Wildmere's standard. She coveted outward +attractiveness chiefly that the casket might secure attention to its +gems. The days of languid, desultory reading and study were over, and +she determined to know at least a few things well. + +It was to music, however, that she gave her chief attention, since she +believed that for this art she had some positive talent A German in +the pursuit of health had drifted to the remote southern city. He was +past middle age, but had retained through numberless disappointments +and discouragements the one enthusiasm of his life; and in Madge he +found a pupil after his own heart. While his voice had lost much of +its freshness and power, his taste was pure and refined. He kindled +in the young girl's mind something of his own love and reverence for +music on its own account. To Madge, however, it would always remain +a method of expression rather than a science or an art, and the old +professor at last learned to recognize her limitations. She would be +excellent in only those phases of music which were in accord with her +own feeling and thought. She would not, perhaps could not, study it +as he had done, for her woman's nature and the growing purpose of her +life were ever in the ascendant; but under his guidance her taste grew +purer and her knowledge and power increased rapidly. What she did +she learned to do well. Even Herr Brachmann was often charmed by the +delicate originality of her touch, which proved that her own thought +and feeling were infused into the music before her. + +But her voice delighted him most. With her increasing vigor was gained +the ability to use her vocal organs in sustained effort. He guarded +her carefully against over-exertion, and her advance was assured +and safe. Note after note, true, sweet, and strong, was added to the +compass of her voice, and this exercise reacted with increased benefit +on her general health. One can scarcely become a vocalist without +toning up the vital organs, and in learning to sing Madge provided +an antidote against consumptive tendencies. Her gift of song at +last began to attract attention. Strangers loitered near the Wayland +Cottage during warm, quiet evenings, and in society she was importuned +by those who had heard her before. She usually complied, for she was +training herself to sing before an audience of one who was familiar +with the best musical talent of the world. Not that she wished to +invite comparisons with this kind of talent, but merely to sing with +such simple sweetness and truth that Graydon would forget the trained +professional in the unaffected charm of the natural girl. + +The manner of those who listened stimulated her hope. At the first +notes of her song all conversation ceased. Even the unappreciative +were impressed by a certain pathos, an appealing minor tone, which +touched the heart while pleasing the ear. + +During the long summer that followed her first winter at Santa Barbara +the little town sank into a semi-torpid state. Strangers disappeared. +With many of the permanent residents to kill time was the main object +of languid effort. To Madge the season brought varied opportunity. The +old professor gave her much of his time. While others slept she read +and studied. The heat, tempered by the vast Pacific, was never +great, and the air had a vitality that proved a constant aid to her +controlling motive. In the morning she rode or took some form of +skilled exercise in which she knew Graydon to be proficient, and she +rarely missed her ocean bath. Such health was she acquiring that it +was becoming a joy in itself. As with all earnest, constant natures, +however, her supreme motive grew stronger with time. + +In August she received tidings from the East that caused much +solicitude and depression. Graydon had returned for a brief visit, +and had joined Mr. and Mrs. Muir at a seaside inn. "A Miss Wildmere +is staying here also," her sister wrote, "and, somewhat to Mr. Muir's +disapproval, Graydon seems not only well acquainted with her, but +unusually friendly. Mr. Muir says that if she is like her father she +is a 'speculator'; and from the attention she receives and the way she +receives it one would think he was right. Graydon, however, seems to +be her favorite, and if he could remain long enough it is not hard to +see what might happen. But she is a great belle and a coquette too, +I should imagine, and she has a large enough following to turn any +girl's head. I don't wonder at it either, for she is the most lovely +creature I ever saw, and yet she doesn't make a pleasant impression +on me. The men are just wild about her. Mr. Muir looks askance at +Graydon's devotion, and mutters 'speculator' when Miss Wildmere's name +is mentioned. Graydon returns to Europe next week. He inquires often +after you, and his questions make me feel that I don't know as much +about you and what you are doing as I should. You write often, but +somehow you seem remote in more senses than one. I suppose, however, +you are reading as usual, and just floating along down stream with +time. Well, no matter, dear. You write that you are better and +stronger, and have no more of your old dreadful colds. You must spend +next summer with us, even if you have to go back to Santa Barbara in +the winter." + +Neither the shortness of his visit nor the fascinations of Miss +Wildmere prevented Graydon from writing Madge a cordial note full +of regret that he should not see her. "You have indeed," he wrote, +"vanished like a ghost, and become but a haunting memory. It is a year +and a half since I have seen you, and I did not succeed in beguiling +you into a correspondence. Like the good Indians, you have followed +the setting sun into some region as vague and distant as the 'happy +hunting-ground.' Mary says that you will come East next summer. The +idea! Is there anything of you to come that is corporate and real? If +I had the time I would go to you and see. I find Miss Wildmere just +about where I left her, only more beautiful and fascinating, and +besieged by a host. Absence makes my chance slight indeed, but I do +not despair. She so evidently enjoys a defensive warfare, wherein it +is the besiegers who capitulate, that she may maintain it until +my exile abroad is over. This is to my mind a more rational +interpretation of her freedom than that she is waiting for me; and +thus I reveal to you that modesty is my most prominent trait. She may +be married before I see her again; and should this prove to be the +case I will show you what a model of heroic equanimity I can be." + +Madge read this letter with a sigh of intense relief, and was not long +in resolving that when he came again she would enter the lists with +Miss Wildmere and do what her nature permitted before her chance +of happiness passed irrevocably. Graydon's letter kindled her hope +greatly. It seemed to her that she was to have a chance--that her +patient effort might receive the highest reward after all. She thanked +God for the hope. Her love was a sacred thing. It was the natural, +uncalculating outgrowth of her womanhood, and was inciting her toward +all womanly grace. + +Madge did not believe her motive, her purpose, to be unwomanly. Should +the opportunity offer, she did not intend to win Graydon by angling +for him, by arts, blandishments, or one unmaidenly advance. She would +try to be so admirable that he would admire her, so true that he would +trust her, and so fascinating that he would woo her with a devotion +that would leave no chance for "equanimity" were it possible for +him to fail. If in her desperate weakness, in the chaos of her +first self-knowledge, she could hide her secret, she smiled at the +possibility of revealing it now that she had been schooled and trained +into strength and self-control. + +In her brief letter of reply to Graydon she wrote: + +"That I still exist and shall continue to live is proved by my one +trait which you regard as encouraging--curiosity. Please send me some +books that will tell me about Europe, or, rather, will present Europe +as nearly as possible in its real aspect. I may never travel, but am +foolish enough to imagine that I can see the world from the standpoint +of this sleepy old town." + +"Poor little wraith!" said Graydon, as he read the words. "What +a queer, shadowy world her fancy will create, even from the most +realistic descriptions I can send her!" But he good-naturedly made +up a large bundle of books, in which fiction predominated, for he +believed that she would read nothing else. + +The days gilded on, autumn merged into winter, and strangers came +again. Madge was acquiring an experience of which at one time she had +never dreamed. She found herself in Miss Wildmere's position. Every +day she was put more and more on the defensive. Gentlemen eagerly +sought her society, and her situation was often truly embarrassing, +for she had as little desire that the besiegers should capitulate +as she had intention of surrendering herself. In this respect Miss +Wildmere's tactics were easier to carry out. _She_ was not in the +least annoyed by any number of abject and committed slaves, and she +was approaching the period when she proposed to surrender with great +discretion, but to whom was not a settled point. + +Madge was beginning to make victims also, but she made them by being +simply what she was, and those who suffered most had to admit to +themselves that she was almost as elusive as a spirit of the air. + +In the spring visitors to the health resort, returning to the East, +brought to the Muirs rumors of Madge's beauty, fascination, and +accomplishments. They were a little puzzled, but concluded that +Madge had appeared well in a rendezvous of invalids, and were glad to +believe that she was much better. Prudent Mrs. Muir wrote, however, +"Do not think of returning till the last of May. Then we shall soon +go to the mountains. This will be another change, and change in your +case, you know, has proved so beneficial! We expect Graydon soon. He +is tired of residence abroad, and has so arranged the business that a +confidential clerk can take his place." + +Madge smiled and sighed. The test of her patient endeavor was about to +come. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SECRET OF BEAUTY + + +Mr. and Mrs. Wayland had become so attached to Madge that they +were the more ready to listen to her solicitation that they should +accompany her East and visit their old haunts. "Very likely I shall +return with you," said the young girl, "and make Santa Barbara my +home." + +This indeed was her plan should defeat await her. She had become +attached to the seaside town, as we do to all places that witness +the soul's deepest experiences and best achievements. She had learned +there to hope for the highest of earth's gifts; she believed that she +could live there a serene, quiet, unselfish life, her secret still +unknown, should that be her fate. + +The old German professor was almost heartbroken at her departure. "It +vas alvays so," he said; "ven mine heart vas settled on someding, +den I lose it;" but she reassured him by saying that there was no +certainty that she would not return. + +Mary Muir was so overwhelmed with astonishment that at first she +scarcely returned Madge's warm embrace. She expected to find her +sister much stronger and better; but this radiant, beautiful girl, +half a head taller than herself--was she the shadowy creature who +had gone away with what seemed a forlorn hope? She held Madge off and +looked at her, she drew her to a mirror and looked at her again, then +exclaimed, "This is a miracle! Why did you not tell me?" + +"I wished to surprise you. I did write that I was better." + +"This is not better; it is best Oh, Madge, you have grown so pretty +you almost take away my breath--all travel-stained and weary, too, +from your journey! What will not Henry say? I should scarcely have +known you. Surely now you need not go back. You are the picture of +health." + +"We shall see," said Madge, quietly. "It may be best if I find that +the East does not agree with me." She was fully determined to keep +open her line of retreat. + +Mr. Muir, in his quiet way, enjoyed the transformation as greatly +as did his wife. He had foreseen changes for the better, but had not +hoped for anything like this, he declared. + +"I just want to be near when Graydon first sees you!" exclaimed +voluble Mrs. Muir, at the dinner-table. + +The remark was unexpected, and Madge, to her dismay, found the blood +rushing to her face. Quick as thought she put her handkerchief to +her mouth, and sought to escape notice under the ruse of a brief +strangulation. "This is not going to answer at all," she thought. "I +must acquire a better self-control." She at once began talking about +Graydon in the most simple and natural manner possible, asking many +questions. Mrs. Muir's intuition and powers of observation were not +very great, and she was without the faintest suspicion of what was +passing in Madge's mind. Keen-eyed, reticent Mr. Muir was not so +unheeding, however. When Graydon's name was mentioned he happened to +glance up from the dinner which usually absorbed his attention. In +dealing with men he had acquired the habit of keen observation. During +a business transaction his impassive face and quiet eyes gave no +evidence of his searching scrutiny. He not only heard and weighed +the words to which he listened, but ever sought to follow the mental +processes behind them; and often men had been perplexed by the fact +that the banker had apparently arrived at conclusions opposite to the +tenor of their statements. When, therefore, he saw the color flying +into Madge's face at the unexpected utterance of his brother's name, +his attention was arrested and an impression made to which his mind +would revert in the future. It might mean nothing; it might mean a +great deal. Business and home life were everything to Mr. Muir, and +Graydon's admiration of Miss Wildmere did not promise well for either. + +The power that Mr. Muir had acquired mainly by practice Madge +possessed by nature. As we have seen, she was quite free from that +most unwomanly phase of stupidity which is often due to the heart +rather than the head. Some women know what is told them if it is told +plainly; others look into the eyes of those around them and see what +is sought to be concealed. The selfish woman is self-blinded. She +often has great powers of discernment, but will not take the trouble +to use them, unless prompted by her own interests. Selfishness is too +short-sighted, however, to secure lasting benefits. Usually, nothing is +more fatal than the success of mere self-seeking. While Madge pressed +unwaveringly toward the goal of her hopes, she did not do so in +thoughtless or callous indifference toward those who had true claims +upon her. With her sister she soon saw that all was well--that she +was, as before, absorbed and content with the routine of her life. She +was not so sure about her brother-in-law. During her absence lines +of care had appeared in his face, and there was an abstracted and +sometimes a troubled look in his eyes, as if he was pursued by +questions that were importunate and even threatening. The indications +of perturbation were slight indeed, but from his nature they would be +so in any case. Thus the young girl also received an impression which +awakened a faint solicitude. Mr. Muir, as her guardian and the manager +of her property, had been a true friend and loyal to his trust. She +entertained for him much respect and a strong, quiet affection. He +did not dwell in her thoughts merely as one who was useful to her, but +rather as one who had been true to her, and to whom she in her place +and way would be true and sympathetic were there occasion. + +Madge was wearied indeed by her long journey, but not exhausted. In +sensations so different from those which had followed her journey to +the West she recognized her immeasurable gain. Then she had entered +Mrs. Wayland's cottage helpless, hopeless, a fugitive from her own +weakness. By wise endeavor she had transformed that very weakness into +her strength, and had returned to the scenes from which she had fled +earnest and resolute--one who had made her choice for life and would +abide by it. Womanly to her very finger-tips, she was acting with the +aggressive decision of a man. Sensitive and timid beyond most women, +she would not lose her happiness when it might be won in paths not +only hedged about by all the proprieties of her lot, but also by a +reserve and pride with which her own fine nature was pre-eminently +endowed. That she loved Graydon Muir was a truth for life. If he could +learn to love her from what she had sought to be, from what she simply +was, he should have the chance. Her own deep experience had taught her +much and given her the clew to many things. She had studied life, not +only in books, but in its actual manifestations. Mrs. Wayland was a +social mine in herself, and could recall from the past, volumes of +dispassionate gossip, free from malice. In two years Madge had learned +to know the world better than many who are in contact with it for long +periods, but who see all through the distorted medium of their own +prejudices or exceptional experiences. Although she was no longer +unsophisticated she was neither cynical nor optimistic. Before her +hope could be fulfilled she knew she must enter society, and she +studied it thoughtfully--its whims and meannesses as well as its laws +and refinements. If she ever reached Graydon's side she meant to stand +there with a knowledge and confidence as assured as his own. She soon +learned that it is common enough for women to seek to win men by every +alluring and coquettish device. She would employ no devices whatever. +She would merely reappear above his horizon among other luminaries, +and shine with her own pure, unborrowed light. Then it must depend +upon himself whether she ever became his own "bright particular star." + +So much she felt she had a right to do, and no conventional hesitation +as to her course stood in her way. Her love had become the governing +impulse of her life, and its dictates were imperative until they +trenched upon her sensitive, womanly pride. Then they were met as the +rock meets the tide. She did not care what the world might think: it +should never have occasion to think at all. Her secret was between +herself and God. Graydon himself should never know it unless his name +became hers. + +How vividly her old haunts recalled him! There was the lounge on which +he used to toss the "little wraith" after having carried her around +in the semblance of a waltz. The sofa on which had taken place their +strange parting still stood as of old in her room. There her head +had sunk in unconsciousness upon his breast, the result of her vain, +feeble struggle to escape from caresses so natural to him, but no +longer to be received by her. + +What way-marks in life mute, commonplace things become in the light +of memory! To her vivid fancy Graydon was again present in all the +positions now made memorable by deep affection. The past unrolled +itself again as it had so often done before. She saw the pallid, +frightened child that scarcely dared to look deprecatingly at the +handsome young collegian. She saw again the kind yet mirthful eyes +that beamed encouragingly upon her. She remembered that in the +unworthy past they had ever looked upon her with a large, gentle, +affectionate tolerance, and she now took chiefly upon herself the +blame for those years of weakness. Her present radiant health and +beauty proved how unnecessary they had been, and her heart sometimes +sunk at the thought of what they might cost her. + +Mary had accompanied her to her room, and was asked, in a careless +tone, what had become of Miss Wildmere. + +"I was told incidentally the other day that she was as great a belle +as ever. I had hoped that she would be out of Graydon's way before +this time. I have heard, however, that great belles are often slower +in marrying than the homeliest girls. If all is true that is said, +this Miss Wildmere has made mischief enough; but I am not anxious that +our Graydon should cut short her career--that is, if marriage would +cut it short. I imagine she will always be a gay society woman. Well, +Madge, I suppose you must make up your mind to be a belle yourself. +Why don't you cut out this 'speculator,' as my husband calls her? If +Graydon had my eyes it wouldn't be a difficult task." + +"Graydon hasn't your eyes or mine either," was the brusque reply. "I +propose to use my own. They may see some one that I have never met. +One thing at least is certain--I don't intend to cut out Miss Wildmere +or any one else. The man who wins me will have to do the seeking most +emphatically; and I warn you beforehand, sister mine, that you must +never let the idea of matchmaking enter your head. Since I have been +away I have developed more will of my own than muscle. There is no +necessity for me ever to marry, and if I do it will be because I wish +to, not because any one else wants me to. Nothing would set me +against a man more certainly than to see that he had allies who were +manoeuvring in his behalf;" and she concluded with a kiss that robbed +her words of a point too sharp, perhaps, for her sister's feelings. +She knew Mrs. Muir's peculiarities well enough, however, to believe +that such words were needed, and she had intended to speak them in +some form at the earliest opportunity. Therefore she was glad that she +could utter the warning so early and naturally in their new relations. +Nor was it uncalled for, since the thought of bringing Madge and +Graydon together had already entered Mrs. Muir's mind. A scheme of +this character would grow in fascination every hour. Poor Madge was +well aware that, with the best intentions, no one could more certainly +blast her hopes than her sister, whose efforts would be unaccompanied +by the nicest tact. Moreover, any such attempts might involve the +disclosure of her secret. + +"Well, you have changed in every respect," said Mary, looking at her +wonderingly. + +"For the better, I hope. My feeling in this respect, however, seems +to me perfectly natural. I don't see how a self-respecting girl could +endure anything except a straightforward, downright suit, with plenty +of time to make up her own mind. I can do without the man who does not +think me worthy of this, and could probably do without him any way. +Because a man wants to marry a girl is only one reason for assent, and +there may be a dozen reasons to the contrary." + +"Why, Madge, how you talk! When you left us it seemed as if any one +might pick you up and marry you and you would not have spirit enough +to say yes or no. Have you had to refuse any one at Santa Barbara? +Perhaps you didn't refuse. You have told me so little of what was +going on!" + +"That isn't fair to me, Mary. I explained to you that I wished to +give you a pleasant surprise. To plan a pleasure for you was +not unsisterly, was it? I haven't Miss Wildmere's ambition for +miscellaneous conquests. Why should I write about men for whom I cared +nothing and toward whom my manner should have made my spoken negative +unnecessary?" + +"Other girls would. Well, it seems that their suit was downright +enough to satisfy you. Good gracious! How many were there?" + +Madge laughed, yawned, and her sister saw that her dark eyes were full +of the languor of sleep, which added to their beauty. + +"Oh, not many," she drawled. "I'll gossip about them some time when +not so tired. I'll indicate them by numerals. Why should I babble +their names in connection with what they called so sacred? I wonder +how many like sacred affairs had occurred before. If I tell you the +story of the wooing of Number One, Two, Three, and so on, that will +answer just as well, won't it?" + +"No, indeed. I wish to know their names, family connection, and +whether they were well off or not." + +Madge again laughed, and began to disrobe, in order to indicate that +their confidence must at least be adjourned for the present. Her +sister came and felt her perfect arms and rounded, gleaming shoulders. +"Why, Madge," she exclaimed, "your flesh is as white and smooth +as ivory, and almost as firm to the touch! It's a wonderful +transformation. I can scarcely believe, much less understand it. You +have grown so beautiful that you almost turn even my head." + +"There is nothing so wonderful about it, Mary. Almost any girl may win +health, and therefore more or less beauty, if she has the sense and +will to make the effort. You know what I was when I left home. I +suggested doctors' bills more than anything else, and it was chiefly +my fault;" and she sighed deeply. "When I went to work in a rational +way to get strong, I succeeded. I believe this would be true with the +great majority. Good-night, dear. When I am rested I'm going to +help you in many ways, in return for all you did for that lazy, +lackadaisical, limp little nonentity that you used to dose and coddle +when you should have given her a good shaking." + +"It's all a miracle," said Mrs. Muir to her husband, at the conclusion +of lengthy remarks about Madge. + +"As much a miracle as my fortune," was the quiet reply. "Madge has had +sense enough to know what she wanted and how to get it." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NOT A MIRACLE + + +Madge was simply fatigued from her long journey, and not oppressed +with want of sleep, for in passing through uninteresting portions of +the country she had given herself up to repose. The sense of weariness +passed with the hours of night, and she was among the earliest +stirring in the morning. Long before breakfast was ready she had +her trunks partially unpacked, her mind meantime busy with plans for +immediate action. At last her healthful appetite so asserted itself +that she went down to the dining-room. Mr. and Mrs. Muir had not yet +appeared, and she strolled into the parlor, opened her piano, and +played a few runs. She found it sadly out of tune from long disuse. +As this was not true of her voice, she began singing a favorite German +song. + +In a moment the house was full of melody. Clear, sweet, and powerful, +her notes penetrated to the kitchen, where the maids were busy, and +they stopped in spellbound wonder, with dish or utensil in hand. Mrs. +Muir listened with her hair-brush suspended, while methodical Mr. Muir +laid down his razor, and, going to the door, set it ajar. The song +poured into the room like an harmonic flood. Before the first stanza +was completed Mrs. Muir had on her dressing-gown and was stealing +downstairs into the back parlor, and as Madge was beginning again she +rushed upon her. + +"Why, why," she exclaimed, "I thought Nilsson or Patti had got lost +and taken refuge here! Can it be you? You are nothing but a surprise +from beginning to end. When will the wonders cease? Are you sure that +you are Madge?" + +"Yes, and equally sure that I am hungry. When _will_ you be ready for +breakfast? I've been up these two hours." + +"Well, well, well, what will Graydon say? He thinks you are still +little better than a ghost." + +"He will say that I have been very sensible, and he will find me very +substantial and matter-of-fact. The question now uppermost is, +When will breakfast be ready?" cried the young girl, laughing, in +a childlike enjoyment of her sister's wonder, and a loving woman's +anticipation of triumph over the man who had once called her "weak and +lackadaisical." + +She responded warmly to the embrace of Mrs. Muir, who added, "You have +come back to us a princess. Why, even Henry, whom nothing moves out of +the even tenor of his way, paused in his shaving, and with one side of +his face all lathered opened the door to listen." + +"You tell him," cried Madge, in merry vein, "that he has given me +the greatest compliment I ever received. But compliments are not +breakfast." + +Mrs. Muir returned to complete her toilet, and her husband soon +appeared. + +"Madge," he said, greeting her kindly, "you have brought about great +changes. How have you accomplished them all in so brief a time?" + +"The time has not been so very brief," she replied. "I have been away +over two years, remember. It's all very simple, Henry. I went to work +to get well and to learn something, as you give your mind and time to +business. In the Waylands, my old German professor, and especially +in the magnificent climate I had splendid allies. And you know I +had nothing else to do. One can do a great deal in two years with +sufficient motive and steady effort toward a few points." + +"What was your motive, Madge?" + +A slow, deep color stole into her face, but she looked unflinchingly +into his eyes as she asked, "Was not the hope of being what I am +to-day, compared with what I was, sufficient motive?" + +"Yes," he replied, thoughtfully, "it was; but it appears strange to +me that more girls do not show your sense. Nine-tenths of the pallid +creatures that I see continue half alive through their own fault." + +"If they knew the pleasure of being thoroughly alive," said Madge, +"they wouldn't dawdle another hour. I believe that I might have +regained health long before if I had set about it." + +"Well, Madge, as your guardian I wish to tell you that I am deeply +gratified. You have done more for yourself than all the world could +do for you. I am a plain man, you know, and not given to many words. +There is only one thing that I detest more than a silly woman, and +that is a heartless, speculating one. Both are sure to make trouble +sooner or later. You certainly do not belong to the first type, and I +don't believe you will ever make a bad use of the beauty you have won +so honestly. Let me give you a bit of business experience, Madge. I +have seen men falter and fail by the score downtown, and usually it +was because women were playing the mischief with them--too often +women of their own households, who had no more idea of the worth of a +dollar, or how it is obtained, than a kitten. The one idea is to marry +for money, and then to spend it in parade. I believe you will be like +your sister Mary, who has given me a home, quiet, and peace." ("If I +ever give a man anything I'll give him a great deal more than that," +Madge thought.) "And now," concluded Mr. Muir, "speaking of money, +I wish to go over your accounts with you soon, that you may know +everything and understand everything. It's absurd for women to be +helpless and dependent in this respect. You should know all about +your property, and the time has come when you should learn what +are regarded as safe investments, and what are not. My life is as +uncertain as any other man's, and I intend that you sisters shall not +be like two children, who must do blindly what some trustee tells you +to do;" and Mr. Muir complacently led the way to the breakfast-room, +feeling that as guardian he had done his duty both morally and +financially. + +It was his way to speak plainly and promptly all he desired to say, +and then, according to his creed, if people had sense they would do +what was wise; if they had not, the less said the better. + +Mrs. Muir was voluble during the morning meal. Now that Madge had come +again within the sphere of her domestic energy, she was fall of plans +and projects. + +"Of course," she said, "you have nothing to wear. The outlandish +dresses that you had made at that jumping-off place in the West won't +answer. As soon as the Waylands have made their call we must go out +and begin ordering your summer outfit. Perhaps Mrs. Wayland will go +with us." + +"Patience, Mary. We are not ready to order outfits yet." + +"Why not?" + +"Because we do not want to buy what interested shopmen and milliners +may choose to palm off on us. You live such a domestic life that you +are scarcely better informed than I as to the latest modes. We will +drive in the park, use our eyes on the avenue, and visit several +fashionable establishments first. Then I wish to find a dressmaker who +is not an idiotic slave of fashion, and who can modify the prevailing +styles by taste and appreciation of the person for whom she works. The +one whom I employ must make dresses for me and under my direction, and +not dresses in the abstract, as if they were for the iron-framed form +on which she exhibits her wares." + +"Good!" cried Mr. Muir; "Madge's head is level. Let her have her own +way, Mary, and she will come out all right." + +"Well," said Mrs. Muir, "I suppose it will take a little time for me +to get used to all these changes. Before she went away I used to +do everything for her. I'm going to have my own way in one thing, +however. You must not write to Graydon a word beyond the fact that +Madge is here. You have both laughed at me and my wonder, and +I'm going to have the compensation of seeing him transformed into +exclamation points." + +Madge now turned toward Mr. Muir, and he could detect not the +slightest indication of embarrassment or overconsciousness, as +she said, "Certainly, Henry, you must not spoil this little bit of +prospective fun." + +Madge did have her own way, and made her preparations with the quiet +decision and thoughtfulness which now characterized her actions. + +The Waylands were frequent guests at Mr. Muir's home for a time, and +then departed to visit friends in the country. + +Madge and her sister soon decided upon the Catskills as the place of +their summer sojourn. The choice of this region, so accessible from +the city, was pleasing to Mr. Muir. + +"What are you reading?" he said, one evening, as he found Madge +surrounded by books and pamphlets. + +"Reading up on the Catskills and their vicinity. A place is far more +interesting if you have associations with it, and I intend to be +versed in all the stories and legends of the region. In this I have a +little design upon you also. You look worn, Henry, and need rest and +change. You are too much devoted to business. I'm going to 'frivol,' +like the rest of the girls, in the evening--dance, and all that, you +know, but I shall try to keep you among the hills, and inveigle you +into long drives and walks by telling you exciting yarns that will +take the place of the dissipations of business. You needn't think you +will have to mope around the piazza, your body on a mountain and your +mind in Wall Street. You are getting old and rich, and you must begin +to take an interest in other things besides business." + +"Now, that's thoughtful and kind of you," he said, and then he lapsed +into a revery that the contraction of his brow showed to be not +altogether agreeable. + +At last he said, "Madge, I half believe you are right. I am and have +been too devoted to business. It's all very well as long as you can +drive it, but when it begins to drive you it is a hard task-master. +The times are bad. Instead of making anything, one has to use all his +faculties to keep from losing what he has made. It's getting to be a +grind. I sometimes wish I was out of it, but suppose I shouldn't know +what to do with myself." + +"That's just it, Henry, you wouldn't. You must become interested in +other things, and that's a process which requires time, and I'll help +you." + +"Oh, you," he said, laughing--"you will soon have all you can do to +keep your beaux at bay." + +"Beaux in this free and enlightened land have only certain rights +which a girl is bound to respect. Should there be any, and they +unreasonable, you'll see," she said, with a little decisive nod. +Then she added, gravely: "I don't believe you would be content out of +business, but I should think there was such a thing as trying to do +so much business that it would become a burden, and, perhaps, a heavy +one. You may think I'm a little goose, talking of what I know nothing +about; but I've read a great deal, and, of late, books worth reading. +I don't believe it is a good thing to change one's habits and pursuits +suddenly; and what's more, Henry, I believe that when the times are +better business will be as great a source of satisfaction to you as +ever. As I suggested before, you must gradually become interested in +other things which can take the place of business as you grow old." + +"What a wise little woman we have become!" said Mr. Muir. "Here you +are giving your guardian sound advice--you who, I imagined once, would +take no more thought for the morrow than a lily of the field, and a +very pale one at that. This is a greater change than any that Mary +exclaims about." + +"Perhaps you think me very presuming," answered Madge, coloring. + +"No, I do not. I think you very sensible, and I think myself very +fortunate in having such women in my household as you and Mary. I was +blue when I came home to-night, but it inspirits a man to talk to such +a girl. You have a power of good common-sense, Madge." + +"Well, I have--I had--need of it." + +"The majority would say you could afford to be silly. You have a +snug fortune of your own, of which not a penny can be lost unless the +bottom falls out of everything." + +"I don't think any woman can afford to be silly. I know that's a +sweeping word with you, and covers all feminine folly. What I meant +is this: Money and every good thing in life was a mockery. I couldn't +enjoy anything, and wasn't anything but a burden. I saw it all, and +that I should have to throw nonsense overboard if I wished to be +different. You will find that I have plenty left, however, before the +summer's over. Now, let me read to you Irving's legend of poor old +Rip. What if you have read it often? A little infusion of the champion +sleeper's spirit is just what you need;" and with simple purity of +tone and naturalness of accent she made the old story new to him. + +"Madge," he said, as he kissed her good-night, "that is even better +than your singing. I feel so freshened and heartened up that I'm +another man, and in good trim for the fight to-morrow; for that is +just what business has become--a regular defensive fight. You didn't +think two years ago that you would send me down to Wall Street with a +clearer head and better courage." + +"No, indeed, I didn't dream of it, and I can scarcely believe it's +true now. You used to seem to me like gravitation, that would always +be the same to the end of time." + +"Bah! A man is only a man, and he finds it out sooner or later. +There's Jack crying again, and Mary hasn't had a chance to come down. +I'll take the child, for his teeth make him so nervous that he won't +stay with the nurse." + +"I'll try my hand at him to-morrow," said the young girl, and was +absorbed in her reading again. + +The days passed quickly, and Madge filled them full, as before at +Santa Barbara. As the time approached for Graydon's return, she felt +a quiet rising excitement akin to that which inspires a soldier when +a campaign is about to open; but to her brother-in-law and sister +she gave only the impression of decision of character and youthful, +healthful buoyancy. She was good-cheer itself in the household, and +helpful in every little domestic emergency. The servants and the +children welcomed her like sunshine, and she made the evenings all +too short by music and reading aloud. She blossomed out in her summer +costumes like a flower, so becoming to her style had been her choice +of fabrics and the taste with which they had been fashioned. June was +passing. In a day or two more Graydon would arrive, and the fruition +or failure of her patient endeavor begin. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +RIVAL GIRLS + + +Instead of Graydon there came a letter saying that he would be +detained abroad another week. The heat was oppressive, and the family +physician said that little Jack should be taken to the country at +once. Therefore they packed in haste, and started for a hotel in the +Catskills at which rooms had been engaged. Graydon was to join them +there as soon after his return as possible. + +Madge looked wistfully at the mountains, as with shadowy grandeur +they loomed in the distance. There is ever a solemnity about mountain +scenery, and she felt it as she passed under the lofty brows of wooded +heights. To her spirit it was grateful and appropriate, for, while she +would lead among them apparently the existence of a young girl bent +only on enjoyment, she believed she would leave them, either a happy +woman, or else facing the tragedy of a thwarted life. Their deepest +shadows might, even when her laugh was gayest, typify the despondency +she would hide from all. + +It was Saturday, and Mr. Muir accompanied his family. He and his wife +looked worn and weary, for at this time circumstances were bringing +an excess of care to both. Mrs. Muir was a devoted mother, and little +Jack had taxed her patience and strength to the utmost. A defensive +warfare is ever the severest test of manhood, and Mr. Muir had found +the past week a trying one. He had been lured into an enterprise that +at the time had seemed certain of success, even to his conservative +mind, but unforeseen elements had entered into the problem, and it now +required all his nerve, all his resources, to meet the strain. Neither +Madge nor his wife knew anything of this. Indeed, it was not his habit +to speak of his affairs to any one, unless the exigencies of the case +required explanation. In this emergency he was obliged to maintain +among his associates an air of absolute confidence. Now that he was +out of the arena he gave evidence of the strain. + +Madge saw this, and resolved that her large reserve of vitality should +be drawn upon. The tired mother should be relieved and the perplexed +and wearied man beguiled into forgetfulness of the sources of anxiety. +Jack would have indulged in a perpetual howl during the journey had +not his attention been diverted by Madge's unexpected expedients, +which often suspended an outcry with comical abruptness, while her +remarks and questions made it impossible for Mr. Muir to toil on +mentally in Wall Street. By reason of the heat the majority of the +passengers dozed or fretted. She heroically kept up the spirits of her +little band, oblivious of the admiring eyes that often turned toward +her flushed, animated face. + +There are few stronger tests than unflagging good-humor during a +disagreeable journey with cross children. At last the ordeal came to +an end, and in the late afternoon shadows they alighted at the wide +piazza of the Under-Cliff House, and were shown to airy rooms, which +proved that the guests were not kept in pigeon-holes for the sole +benefit of the proprietor. Our heroine employed the best magic the +world has known--thoughtful helpfulness. Mr. Muir was banished. "You +would be as useful as a whale," she said to him, when he offered to +aid his wife in unpacking and getting settled. "Go down to the piazza +and smoke in peace. I shall be worth a dozen of you as soon as I take +off my travelling-dress." + +She verified her words, and before they were aware of it Mrs. Muir, +who was prone to fall into hopeless confusion at such times, and the +nurse were acting under her direction. The elder little boy and girl +were coaxed, restrained, managed, and soon sent down to their father, +redressed and serene. Jack was lulled to sleep in Madge's room. The +trunks instead of disgorging chaos, were compelled to part with their +contents in an orderly way. In little more than an hour the two rooms +allotted to Mr. and Mrs. Muir, and the nurse with the children, took +on a cosey, inhabitable aspect, and by supper-time the ladies, in +evening costume and with unruffled brows, joined Mr. Muir. + +"The idea of my ever permitting Madge to go back to Santa Barbara!" +exclaimed Mrs. Muir. "This day alone has proved that I can never get +on without her. Just go and look at your room, sir. One would think we +had been settled here a week. You ought to pay Madge's bills, and give +her a handsome surplus." + +"If time is money," said Madge, "Henry will have to pay me well. He +must stay and help me explore these mountains in every direction. +But now let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we shall go to +church." + +"I've half a mind to take you down to Wall Street with me next week," +said Mr. Muir. "Perhaps you can straighten out things there." + +"No, sir. I'm a woman's-rights girl, and one of her rights is to get +things out of the way as soon as possible, so that people can have a +good time. Thank heaven our affairs can be shut up in drawers and hung +up in closets, and there we can leave them--in this case for a good +supper first, and a long quiet rest on this piazza afterward. Don't +you think you could find a drawer somewhere in which to tuck away your +Wall Street matters, Henry? You won't need them till some time next +week, for you must certainly spend two or three days with us." + +Mr. Muir laughed. "I've heard of managing women before, but you beat +them all. You have won, to-day, the right to manage for a while. I'll +join you soon; then supper; and, as you suggest, I'll put the Wall +Street matters somewhere and lock them up." + +Thus their mountain sojourn began auspiciously. The supper was +excellent, and they were in a mood to enjoy it; they found the piazza +deliciously cool after the long hot day; and the faint initial pipings +of autumn insects only emphasized the peace and quiet of the evening. +The mountains brooded around them like great shadows, their outlines +gemmed with stars, and the very genius of repose seemed to settle down +upon the weary man and woman who were in the thick of their life's +battle. + +They were among the earliest arrivals at the house, and had a wide +space to themselves. Indeed, they could have been scarcely more +secluded at their own summer residence. For those seeking rest, an +early flight to summer resorts brings a rich reward. + +While her relatives dozed or merely revived sufficiently from time to +time to make some desultory remark, Madge thought deeply. At first she +had been disappointed at the postponement of Graydon's return, but +she grew reconciled as she dwelt upon it. While hope was deferred, +she enjoyed a longer lease of anticipation. When he did come she might +soon learn that all hope was vain. Besides, the delay gave her time to +familiarize herself with the region and its most beautiful walks and +drives. The mountains, woods, and rocks should all be pressed into +her service. They would not reveal her secret, and they might engender +thoughts and words with which Miss Wildmere would be out of harmony. + +"I've been thinking," Mr. Muir at last remarked. + +"Nonsense! you've been asleep," Madge replied. + +"No; I've thought profoundly." + +"Not even a penny for any thoughts of yours since supper." + +"They would be worth fortunes, life, health, happiness, to half the +world." + +"Then keep still till you have a patent, copyright, or something," +said his wife. + +"No. I rise simply to remark--also to retire--that a little oil keeps +machinery from wearing out and going to pieces. Come now, old lady" +(pulling his wife to her feet), "you are the better to-night, as I +am, for the oil that Madge has slipped in here and there. I fear the +machinery to-day would have run badly without it." + +The group that gathered at the breakfast-table next morning bore early +testimony to the tonic of the hills. Jack only was not so well, and +Mrs. Muir remained with him, while Madge and Mr. Muir wended their +way to a little chapel whose spire was the only summons to worship. +A short, genial, middle-aged man met them at the door, with such +hospitable cordiality as to suggest that he was receiving friends at +his own home, and conducted them to seats. A venerable clergyman sat +in the pulpit with a face full of quiet benignity. Every one who came +appeared to receive an almost personal welcome; and Madge and Mr. Muir +looked enviously at the self-appointed usher. It was as evident that +he was not a professional sexton as that the little congregation could +not afford such a luxury. No care clouded his brow. Evidently his +future did not depend on fluctuations in the maelstrom of commerce, +nor had he one hope so predominant over all others that his life was +one of masked suspense, as was the case with poor Madge. He was rather +like the rugged, sun-lighted mountains near, solid, stable, simple. No +matter what happened, he would remain and appear much the same. + +Such was the tenor of Madge's thoughts as she waited for the opening +of service. Fanciful and imaginative to a great degree, she found a +certain mental enjoyment in observing the impressions made upon her by +strangers. + +The service was brief and simple; the good old clergyman preached the +gospel of hope, and his words calmed and strengthened the young girl's +mind. She was made to feel that there is something more and better +than present happiness--that there are remedies for earthly ills. + +When she returned to the hotel she found that Mrs. Muir was worried +about Jack, who was worse, and that a Dr. Sommers had been sent for. +She could not help smiling when, a little later, the hospitable usher +of the chapel came briskly in. She eventually learned that the doctor +provoked smiles wherever he went, as a breeze raises ripples on the +surface of a stream. He smiled himself when he met people, and every +one took the contagion. He examined the baby, said the case would +require a little watching until certain teeth came through, and +then that there would be no further trouble. He spoke with the same +confidence with which he would announce that July was near. + +"You watch the case, then," said Mr. Muir, decisively. "I must be in +town. If you can look after the child and save my wife from worry, my +mind will be easy as regards this end of the line at least." + +"All right, sir. We'll manage it. Healthy boy. No trouble." + +"Have you lived long among the mountains, doctor?" Madge ventured to +ask. + +"I should think so. As long as I have lived. Was born and brought up +among 'em." + +"It must be dreary here in the winter," Mrs. Muir remarked. + +"Not a bit of it. It's never dreary." + +"How far among the hills does your practice extend?" Madge pursued. + +"As far as I'll go, and I'm usually going." + +"Perhaps you can give us, then, some advice as to drives and walks." + +"Oh, lots, free gratis. I can tell Mr. Muir of a trout-stream or two, +also." + +"Doctor," said Madge, laughing, "I am very ill. I shall need much +advice, and prescriptions of all the romantic walks and drives in the +vicinity." + +"And like most of the advice from doctors, it won't be taken. A stroll +on the piaza is about all that most ladies are equal to. You look, +however, as if you should not fear a steep path or a rough road." + +"You shall see," cried Madge. + +"Yes, I will see," said the doctor, laughing, and bowing himself out. +"I've seen a great many ladies who could dance miles, but were as +afraid of a mountain as of a bear." + +At the dinner-table Mrs. Muir said, laughingly, "In Dr. Sommers, Madge +has found a kindred spirit--another oiler of machinery. If between him +and Madge things don't go smoothly, the fates are indeed against us." + +"When life does go smoothly, it is because of just such good, cheery +common-sense," Mr. Muir remarked, sententiously. "I'm in the financial +centre of this part of the world, and schemes involving millions and +the welfare of States--indeed of whole sections of the country--are +daily brought to my consideration, and I tell you again men are often +in no condition to act wisely or well because the wear and tear of +their life is greater after business hours than during them. Business +maniac as Madge thinks me to be, little Jack is of more consequence +than a transcontinental railway. I must face the music--the discord, +rather--of Wall Street to-morrow. There is no use in protesting or +coaxing; I must be there; but it's a great thing to be able to return +with my nerves soothed, rested, and quieted. Heaven help the men who, +after the strain of the day, must go home to be pricked half to death +with pin-and-needle-like worries, if not worse." + +"Please imagine Madge and myself making a profound courtesy for the +implied compliment," said Mrs. Muir. "But can you not spend part of +the week with us?" + +"No. Graydon will soon be here, and there is much to be seen to. He +writes that he has worked very hard to get things in shape so that +he can leave them, and that he wishes to take a vacation. As far as +possible I shall gratify him. He can be with you here, and come to +town occasionally as I need him. It's all turning out very well, and I +am better off than many in these troublous times." + +The remainder of his stay passed quietly in absolute rest, and on the +following morning he was evidently strengthened for the renewal of the +struggle. + + * * * * * + +"Stella!" + +Miss Wildmere remained absorbed in her novel. + +"Stella!" repeated Mr. Wildmere, impatiently. + +"What is it?" she asked, fretfully. "I'm in an exciting scene. Can't +you wait awhile?" + +"Oh, throw down your confounded novel! You should be giving your mind +to real life and exciting scenes of your own. No, I can't wait and +don't propose to, for I must go out." + +The words were spoken in a small but elegant house, furnished in an +ultra-fashionable style. Mr. Wildmere was a stout, florid man, who +looked as if he might be burning his candle at both ends. His daughter +was dressed to receive summer evening calls at her own home, for she +was rarely without them. If the door-bell had rung she would have +dismissed her exciting scene without hesitation, but it was only her +father who asked her attention. + +"Very well," she said, absently, turning down a leaf. + +Her father observed her listless air and averted face for a moment +with contracted brow, then quietly remarked, "Graydon Muir may return +at any time now." + +Her apathy disappeared at once, and a faint color stole into her face. + +"Haven't you had enough of general attention and flirtation? I know +that my wishes have little weight; you have refused not a few good +offers and one on which I had set my heart; but let the past go. The +immediate future may require careful and decisive action. I speak in +view of your own interests, and to such considerations I know you +will not be indifferent. If you were taking a natural and intelligent +interest in my affairs you would have some comprehension of my +difficulties and dangers. The next few months will decide whether I +can keep up or not. In the meantime you have your opportunity. Graydon +Muir will share in the fortunes of his brother, who has had the +reputation of being very wealthy and eminently conservative. I have +learned, however, that he has invested largely in one enterprise that +now appears to be very dubious--how largely no one but himself knows. +If this affair goes through all right you couldn't do better than +develop Graydon Muir into an impatient suitor; and you had better keep +him well in hand for a time, anyway. He is a good business man and far +more to be depended upon than rich young fellows who have inherited +wealth, with no ability except in spending it. If the Muirs pass +through these times they will become one of the strongest and safest +houses in the country. Remember that the _if_ is to be considered. Mr. +Arnault, too, is a member of a strong, wealthy house. I would advise +you to make your choice between these two men speedily. You are not +adapted to a life of poverty, and would not enjoy it. An alliance with +either of these men might also aid in sustaining me." + +Miss Wildmere listened attentively, but made no comment, and her +father evidently did not require any, for he went out immediately. +He understood his daughter sufficiently to believe that she needed +no further advice. He was right. The exciting crisis in her novel +was forgotten, and her fair face took on an expression that did not +enhance its beauty. Calculation on the theme uppermost in her mind +produced a revery in which an artist would not have cared to paint +her. It was evident that the time had come when she must dispose of +herself, and the question was, how to do it to the best advantage. + +To Graydon she gave her preference. He was remarkably fine looking, +and could easily be a leader in society if he so desired--"and +certainly shall be," she thought, "if I take his name." As far as her +heart spoke in the matter it declared for him, also. Other men had +wooed and pleaded, but she had ever mentally compared them with +Graydon, and they had appeared insignificant. She had felt sure for a +long time that he would eventually be at her feet, and she had never +decided to refuse him. Now she was ready to accept but for this +ominous "if," which her father had emphasized. She could not think of +marrying him should he become a poor man. + +She neither liked nor disliked Mr. Arnault. He was a man of the world, +reported wealthy, established in a large but not very conservative +business. He had the name of being a little fast and speculative, but +she was accustomed to that style of man. He was an open suitor who +would take no rebuff, and had laughingly told her so. After his +refusal, instead of going away in despondency or in a half-tragic +mood, he had good-naturedly declared his intentions, and spent the +remainder of the evening in such lively chat that she had been pleased +and amused by his tactics. Since that time he had made himself useful, +was always ready to be an escort with a liberal purse, and never +annoyed her with sentiment. She understood him, and he was aware that +she did. He took his chances for the future, and was always on hand +to avail himself of any mood or emergency which he could turn to +his advantage. In various unimportant ways he was of service to Mr. +Wildmere, but hoped more from the broker's embarrassments than from +the girl's heart. + +"I might do worse," muttered the beauty--"I might do worse. If it were +not for Graydon Muir, I'd decide the question at once." + +The door-bell rang, and Graydon was announced. Even her experienced +nerves had a glad tingle of excitement, she was so genuinely pleased +to see him. And well she might be, for he was a man to light any +woman's eyes with admiration. If something of his youth had passed, +his face had gained a rich compensation in the strong lines of +manhood, and his manner a courtly dignity from long contact with the +best elements of life. One saw that he knew the world, but had not +been spoiled by it. That he had not become cynical was proved by his +greeting of Miss Wildmere. He was capable of hoping that her continued +freedom, in spite of her remarkable beauty, might be explained on the +ground of a latent regard for him, which had kept her ready for his +suit after an absence so unexpectedly prolonged. Through a friend he +had, from time to time, been informed about her; and there was no ring +on her hand to forbid his ardent glances. + +Never before had she appeared so alluringly attractive. He was a +thorough American, and had not been fascinated by foreign types of +beauty. In his fair countrywoman he believed that he saw his ideal. +Her beauty was remarkable for a fullness, a perfection of outline, +combined with a fairness and delicacy which suggested that she was not +made of ordinary clay. Miss Wildmere prided herself upon giving the +impression that she was remote from all that was common or homely in +life. She cultivated the characteristic of daintiness. In her dress, +gloves, jewelry, and complexion she would be immaculate at any cost. +Graydon's fastidious taste could never find a flaw in her, as regarded +externals, and she knew the immense advantage of pleasing his eye with +a delicacy that even approached fragility in its exquisite fairness, +while at the same time her elastic step in the dance or promenade +proved that she had abundance of vitality. + +Nothing could have been more auspicious than his coming to-night--the +very first evening after his arrival. It assured her of the place she +still held in his thoughts; it gave her the chance to renew, in the +glad hours of his return, the impression she had made; and she saw in +his admiring eyes how favorable that impression was. She exulted that +he found her so well prepared. Her clinging summer costume revealed +not a little of her beauty, and suggested more, while she permitted +her eyes to give a welcome more cordial even than her words. + +He talked easily and vivaciously, complimented her openly, yet with +sincerity, and rallied her on the wonder of wonders that she was still +Miss Wildmere. + +"Not so great a marvel as that you return a bachelor. Why did you not +marry a German princess or some reduced English countess?" + +"I was not driven to that necessity, since there were American queens +at home. I am delighted that you are still in town. What are your +plans for the summer?" + +"We have not fully decided as yet." + +"Then go to the Catskills. Our ladies are there at the Under-Cliff +House, and I am told that it is a charming place." + +"I will speak to mamma of it. She must come to some decision soon. +Papa says that he will be too busy to go out of town much." + +"Why, then, the Catskills is just the place--accessible to the city, +you know. That is the reason we have chosen it. I propose to take +something of a vacation, but find that I must go back and forth a good +deal, and so shall escape the bore of a long journey." + +"You have given two good reasons for our going there. The place cannot +be stupid, since we may see you occasionally, and papa could come +oftener." + +"Persuade Mrs. Wildmere into the plan by all means, and promise me +your first waltz after your arrival;" and there was eagerness in his +tone. + +"Will you also promise me your first?" + +"Yes, and last also, if you wish." + +"Oh, no! I do not propose to be selfish; Miss Alden will have her +claims." + +"What, Sister Madge? She must have changed greatly if she will dance +at all. She is an invalid, you know." + +"I hear she has returned vastly improved in health--indeed, that she +is quite a beauty." + +"I hope so," he said, cordially, "but fear that rumor has exaggerated. +My brother said she was better, and added but little more. Have you +seen her?" + +"No. I only heard, a short time since, that she had returned." + +Madge had not gone into society, and had she met Miss Wildmere face +to face she would not have been recognized, so greatly was she changed +from the pallid, troubled girl over whom the beauty had enjoyed her +petty triumph; but the report of Miss Alden's attractions had aroused +in Miss Wildmere's mind apprehensions of a possible rival. + +Graydon's manner was completely reassuring. Whatever Miss Alden might +have become, she evidently had no place in his thoughts beyond +that natural to their relations. No closer ties had been formed by +correspondence during his long absence. + +Further tĂªte-Ă -tĂªte was interrupted by the appearance of Mr. Arnault. +The young men were courteous and even cordial to each other, but +before half an hour had passed they recognized that they were rivals. +Graydon's lips grew firm, and his eyes sparkled with the spirit of one +who had not the faintest idea of yielding to another. Miss Wildmere +was delighted. The game was in her own hands. She could play these two +men off against each other, and take her choice. Mr. Arnault was made +to feel that he was not _de trop_, and, as usual, he was nonchalant, +serene, and evidently meant to stay. Therefore Graydon took his leave, +and was permitted to carry away the impression that his departure was +regretted. + +"Mr. Arnault," said Miss Wildmere, quietly, "we have decided to spend +some time at the Under-Cliff House in the Catskills. So you perceive +that I shall be deprived of the pleasure of your calls for a while." + +"Not at all. I shall take part of my summering there also. When do you +go?" + +"In a few days--sometime before the fourth. How fortunately it all +happens!" she added, laughing. "When did you decide on the Catskills?" + +"That's immaterial. When did you?" + +"That also is immaterial. Perhaps you would like to ask mamma?" + +"I'd rather ask papa--both, I should say," he replied, with a +significant shrug. + +"Do so by all means. Meanwhile I would suggest that a great many +people go to the Catskills--thirty thousand, more or less, it is +said." + +"I had another question in mind. Is Graydon Muir going there in order +to follow the crowd?" + +"If he is going I suppose he will follow his inclinations." + +"Or you?" + +"Were that possible, I could not prevent it. Indeed, women rarely +resent such things." + +"No indeed. It is well you do not, for you would become the embodiment +of resentment. How large is your train now, Stella?" + +"You can dimmish it by one if you choose," she replied, smiling +archly. + +"I should be little missed, no doubt." + +"I didn't say that." + +"I'm more afraid of Muir than of all the train together." + +"That's natural. The train has little chance collectively." + +"Don't pretend to misunderstand me. There was unmistakable meaning in +Muir's eyes." + +"I should hope so. He means to help me have a good time. So do you, I +trust." + +"Certainly. You may judge of the future from the past," he added, +significantly, as he rose to take his leave. + +"Then the future promises well for me," she said, giving him her hand +cordially; "for you have been one of the best of friends." + +"And a good deal more. Good-night." + +"Mamma," said Miss Wildmere, stopping at the nursery on her way to her +room, "we must get ready to go to the Catskills at once." + +"Why, Stella! This is the first I've heard of this plan. Your father +has said that he doesn't see how we can go out of town at all this +summer." + +"Nonsense! I'll insure that papa agrees." + +"I don't see how I can get ready soon. The baby is fretful, and I'm +all worn out between broken rest and worry. Won't you take Effie for a +little while?" + +"Where's the nurse?" + +"She's out. Of course she has to have some time to herself." + +"You just spoil the servants. It's her business to take care of the +child. What else is she paid for? Why can't one of the other maids +take her?" + +"Effie is too nervous to go to strangers to-night." + +"Oh, well, give her to me, then." + +The sensitive little organization knew at once that it was in the +hands not only of a comparative stranger, but also of one whose touch +revealed little sympathy, and its protest was so great that the tired +mother took it again, while the beautiful daughter, the cynosure of +all eyes in public, went to her room to finish the "exciting scene" at +her leisure. + +But the scene had grown unreal. Its hero was but a shadow, and a +distorted one at that. The book fell from her hand; she again saw +Graydon Muir coming forward to greet her with an easy grace which no +prince in story could surpass, and with an expression in his dark blue +eyes which no woman fails to understand. It assured her that neither +in the old world nor in the new had he seen her equal. + +"I wish it could be," she murmured; "I hope it can be; were it not for +that 'if' it should be soon." + +Thus, after her own fashion, another girl had designs upon Graydon. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MEETING + + +Graydon had completed his final transactions abroad with more +expedition than he had anticipated, and, having been favored by a +quick passage, had arrived several days sooner than he was expected. +Therefore he decided to accompany his brother to the Catskills +on Saturday, spending the intervening time in business and such +arrangements as would leave him free to remain in the country for a +week or two. The second evening after his arrival again found him in +Miss Wildmere's parlor, and before he left he was given to understand +that Mrs. Wildmere had decided upon the Under-Cliff House also, and +that they would depart on Saturday. + +"Then you will be _compagnon de voyage_," said Graydon, with +undisguised pleasure. + +Somewhat to Mrs. Wildmere's surprise, her husband quietly acquiesced +in his daughter's wishes, telegraphed for rooms, and desired his wife +to be ready. + +She was a quiet, meek little woman, whose life had somehow become +entangled in a sphere which was not in harmony with her nature. Her +beauty had faded early, and she had little force of character with +which to maintain her influence over her husband. His life was amid the +fierce excitements of Wall Street; hers, as far as she had a life, +was a weary effort to keep up appearances and meet the expenses of a +fashionable daughter, on an uncertain and greatly fluctuating income. + +Mr. Wildmere informed her that his affairs would keep him in town +until late in the following week, but that, as the house to which she +was going was a quiet family hotel, she would have no trouble. + +Mr. Muir had telegraphed the arrival of his brother, and the latter +had written a few cordial but hasty lines to both his sister-in-law +and Madge. Where he spent his evenings was unknown to Mr. Muir, but +that gentleman had little trouble in guessing when he saw his brother +greet the Wildmeres as if he understood their plans, and laughingly +promise Mr. Wildmere that he would see the ladies and their belongings +safely established in the Under-Cliff House. Graydon observed the +slight cloud on his brother's face, but ignored it, feeling that +his preference was an affair of his own. He believed that the +long-wished-for opportunity to press his suit with vigor had come, +and had no hesitation as to his purpose. He did not intend to act +precipitately, however. He would first learn just how Mr. Arnault +stood, and become reasonably assured by Miss Wildmere's manner toward +himself that her preference was not a hope, but a reality. + +The enterprise in which Mr. Muir had engaged, and which now so taxed +his financial strength, was outside of his regular business, and +Graydon knew nothing of it. The young man believed that his own means +and exceptionally good prospects were sufficient to warrant the step +he proposed to take. He assuredly had the right to please himself in +his choice, and he felt that he would be fortunate indeed could he win +one whom so many had sought in vain. + +It never entered Mr. Muir's mind to interpose any authority or undue +influence. He merely felt in regard to the matter a repugnance natural +to one so alien in disposition to Mr. Wildmere and his daughter, +and it was a source of bitter mortification to him that he now found +himself in a position not unlike that of the broker, in what +would appear, in the present aspect of affairs, to be an outside +speculation. During the ride to the mountains he mentally compared +Miss Wildmere's behavior with that of Madge a week before. Witnessing +Graydon's evident infatuation, he would have been glad to recognize +any manifestation of traits that promised well for his future; but the +young lady was evidently altogether occupied with the attentions +she received, her own beauty, and the furtive admiration of +fellow-passengers. Poor Mrs. Wildmere and the nurse were left to +manage the cross baby as best they could. Graydon once or twice tried +to do something, but his strange face and voice only frightened the +child. + +To Madge it had seemed an age since the telegram announcing Graydon's +arrival had thrilled every nerve with hope and fear. Then had come his +hasty note, proving conclusively his affectionate indifference. She +was simply Madge to him, as of old. He was the one man of all the +world to her, and no calculating "if" would be the source of her +restraint. + +True to her old tactics, however, she had spent no time in idle +dreaming. She had cultivated Dr. Sommers's acquaintance, and he had +already accompanied her and her sister through a wild valley, on the +occasion of a visit to one of his patients. Little Jack had improved +under his care, and Mrs. Muir was growing serene, rested, and eager +for Saturday. Madge shared her impatience, and yet dreaded the hour +during which she felt that a glimpse of the future would be revealed. +She had driven out daily with her sister, and familiarized herself +with the topography of the region. Having formed the acquaintance of +some pleasant and comparatively active people in the house, she had +joined such walking expeditions as they would venture upon. In rowing +the children upon a small lake she also disposed of some of her +superabundant vitality and the nervous excitement which anticipation +could not fail to produce. In the evening there was more or less +dancing, and her hand was eagerly sought by such of the young men as +could obtain the right to ask it. Mrs. Muir's remark that she would +become a belle in spite of herself proved true; but while she affected +no exclusive or distant airs, the most callow and forward youth +felt at once the restraint of her fine reserve. Her sensitive nature +enabled her, in a place of public resort, to know instinctively whom +to keep at a distance, and who, like Dr. Sommers, not only invited but +justified a frank and friendly manner. + +As the time for the gentlemen to arrive approached, Mrs. Muir showed +more restless interest than Madge. The one anticipated a bit of +amusement over Graydon's surprise; the other looked forward to meeting +her fate. Mrs. Muir was garrulous; Madge was comparatively silent, and +maintained the semblance of interest in a book so naturally that her +sister exclaimed, "I expect you will die with a book in your hand! I +could no more read now than preach a sermon. Come, it's time to +make your toilet. Let me help you, and I want you to get yourself up +'perfectly regardless.' You must outshine them all at the hop this +evening." + +"Nonsense, Mary! They won't be here for an hour and a half. I'm +going to lie down;" and she went to her room. When her sister sought +admittance half an hour later the door was locked and all was quiet. +At last, in her impatience, she knocked and cried, "Wake up. They will +be here soon." + +"I'm not asleep, and it will not take me long to dress." + +"Well, you are the coolest young woman I ever knew," Mrs. Muir called +out, finding that admittance was denied her. + +Madge had determined to spend the final hour of her long separation +alone. Her nature had become too deep and strong to seek trivial +diversion from the suspense that weighed upon her spirit. As she +thought of the possibility of failure, and its results, her courage +faltered a little, and a few tears would come. At last, with a glance +heavenward which proved that there was nothing in her heart to keep +her from looking thither for sanction, she left her room, serene and +resolute. She had taken her woman's destiny into her own hand, to mold +it in her own way, but in no arrogant and unbelieving spirit. + +Mrs. Muir uttered a disappointed protest. "Oh, Madge, how plainly you +are dressed!" + +"I knew you wouldn't like it at first," was the quiet reply. By the +time they had reached the parlor door opposite the office, near which +they proposed to wait for the travellers, now momentarily expected, +Mrs. Muir was compelled to acknowledge the correctness of Madge's +taste. Her costume no more distracted attention from herself than +would the infolding calyx of a rosebud. In its exquisite proportions +her fine figure was outlined by close white drapery, which made her +appear taller than she really was. A single half-open Jacqueminot +rose, like the one she had sent to Graydon at their parting over two +years since, was fastened on her bosom. Her dark eyes burned with a +suppressed excitement. Her complexion, if not so white as that of Miss +Wildmere, was pure, and had a richer hue of health. But she was +pale now. Her red lips half destroyed their exquisite curves in firm +compression. The moment had not quite come for action, when those lips +must be true to herself, true to her purpose, even while they spoke +words which might be misleading to others. + +Mrs. Muir, with triumph, saw the glances of strong admiration turned +toward her sister from every side. Madge saw them also, but only to +read in them the verdict she hoped to obtain from the kind blue eyes +for whose coming she waited. + +Standing with Mrs. Muir, facing the long hall down which Graydon must +advance, she knew she would see him before he could recognize her. +How much of longing, of breathless interest, would be concentrated +in those moments of waiting, she herself had never imagined till they +were passing. + +The stages began to arrive, with consequent bustle, and the hasty +advance toward the office of men seeking to register their names +early, in order to secure a choice of rooms. At last she saw Graydon's +tall form and laughing face, and for a second something approaching +to faintness caused her to close her eyes. When she opened them again +they rested upon Miss Wildmere. + +This young lady understood the art of making an impressive and almost +triumphal entry on new scenes. Therefore she had been in no haste. +Indeed, haste had no place among her attributes: it was ungraceful and +usually not effective. When, therefore, the crowd had passed on, and +there was a comparatively clear space in the hall, she advanced down +it at Graydon's side as if her mind was wholly engrossed with their +lively chat. Never for a second was she unconscious of the attention +they attracted. Graydon was one at whom even men would turn and look +as he passed, and she believed that there was none other who could +keep step with him like herself. So thought the self-appointed +committee of reception who always regard curiously the new-comers at a +summer resort, and there were whispered notes of admiration as the two +paused for a moment before the register and looked back. Then it +was seen that a meek-looking little lady and a nurse and child were +straggling after them, while Mr. Muir brought up the rear. Graydon +had some light wraps thrown gracefully over his arm, but the merchant +carried the less ornamental _impedimenta_ of the party, for the +earlier guests had already overladened the office-boys. He now handed +the valise--a sort of tender upon the baby--to a porter, and rather +grimly acknowledged Mrs. Wildmere's mingled thanks and feeble +protestations. + +"Please register for us," said Miss Wildmere, glancing carelessly yet +observantly around. An intervening group had partially hidden Madge +and her sister. It was also evident that Graydon was too much occupied +with his fair companion to look far away. He complied, thinking, +meantime, "Some day I may register for her again, and then my name +will suffice for us both." The smile which followed the thought +brought out the best lines of his handsome profile to poor Madge, who +permitted no phase of expression on that face to escape her scrutiny. +So true was the clairvoyance of her intense interest that she guessed +the thought which was so agreeable to him, and she grew paler still. + +Mr. Muir hastened to greet his wife, and then Graydon recognized her. +He came at once and kissed her in his accustomed hearty way. Madge +stood near, unnoted, unrecognized. + +"Where's Madge? Isn't she well enough to come down?" he asked, his +eyes following Miss Wildmere, who had entered the parlor, which +she must cross to reach her room beyond. Mrs. Muir began to laugh +immoderately, and Mr. Muir followed his brother's eyes with vexation. +Graydon was on the _qui vive_ instantly, and Madge drew a step nearer +and began to smile. For once the punctilious and elegant Graydon +forgot his courtesy, and looked at Madge in utter astonishment--an +expression, however, which passed swiftly into admiration and delight. + +"Madge!" he exclaimed, seizing both her hands. "I couldn't have +believed it. I wouldn't believe it now but for your eyes;" and before +she could prevent him he had placed a kiss upon her lips. + +Miss Wildmere had seen the unknown beauty as she passed, had +inventoried her with woman's instantaneous perception, had paused on +the distant threshold and seen the greeting, then had vanished with a +vindictive flash in her gray eyes. + +Graydon's impetuous words and salute had produced smiles and envious +glances, and the family party withdrew into a retired corner of the +apartment, Madge's cheeks, meanwhile, vying, in spite of herself, with +the rose on her breast. Graydon would not relinquish her hand, and, +as Mrs. Muir had predicted, indulged in little more than exclamation +points. + +"There now, be rational," cried the young girl, laughing, her heart +for the moment full of gladness and triumph. He was indeed bending +upon her looks of admiration, delight, and affection. + +"Why have I been kept in the dark about all this?" he at last asked, +incoherently. + +"For the same reason that we were. Madge meant to give us a surprise, +and succeeded. I couldn't get over it, and they were always laughing +at me, so I determined that I should have my laugh at you. Oh, wasn't +it rich? To think of the elegant and travelled society man standing +there staring with his eyes and mouth wide open!" + +"I don't think it was quite so bad as that, but if it was there's good +reason for it. Tell me, Madge, how this miracle was wrought!" + +"There, that's just what I called it," cried Mrs. Muir, "and it's +nothing less than one, in spite of all that Madge and Henry can say." + +"When you are ready for supper I will show you one phase of the +miracle," said Madge, laughing, with glad music in her voice. "Come, +I'm not an escaped member of a menagerie, and there's no occasion for +you to stare any longer." + +"Yes, come along," added Mr. Muir; "I've had no roast beef to-day and +a surfeit of sentiment." + +The young fellow colored slightly, but said brusquely: "Men's tastes +change with age. I suppose you did not find a little sentiment amiss +once upon a time. Well, Madge, you are not a bit of a ghost now, yet I +fear you are an illusion." + +"Illusions will vanish when you come to help me at supper. We will +wait for you on the piazza." + +As she paced its wide extent, her illusions also vanished. Graydon had +greeted, her as a brother, and a brother only. When the tumult at +her heart subsided, this truth stood out most clearly. His kiss still +tingled upon her lips. It must be the last, unless followed by a kiss +of love. Their brotherly and sisterly relations must be shattered at +once. No such relations existed for her, and only as she destroyed +such regard on his part could a tenderer affection take its place. +With her as his sister he would be content; he might not readily think +of her in another light, and meantime might drift swiftly into an +engagement with Miss Wildmere. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +OLD TIES BROKEN + + +"Madge," said Graydon, rejoining her on the piazza, and giving her +his arm, while Mrs. Muir sat down to wait for her husband, "you wear +a rose like the one you sent me when we parted so long ago. Oh, but my +heart was heavy then! Did you make this choice to-night by chance?" + +"You have a good memory." + +"You have not answered me." + +"I shall admit nothing that will increase your vanity." + +"You will now of necessity make my pride overweening." + +"How is that? I hope to have a better influence over you." + +"As I look at you I regard my pride as most pardonable and natural. My +old thoughts and hopes are realized beyond even imagination, although, +looking at your eyes, in old times, I always had a high ideal of your +capabilities. I should be a clod indeed if I were not proud of such a +sister to champion in society." + +Madge's hearty laugh was a little forced as she said, "You have a +delightfully cool way of taking things for granted. I'm no longer a +little sick girl, but, to vary Peggotty's exultant statement, a young +lady 'growed.' You forgot yourself, sir, in your greeting; but that +was pardonable in your paroxysm of surprise. + +"What, Madge! Will you not permit me to be your brother?" + +"What an absurd question!" she answered, still laughing. "You are +not my brother. Can I permit water to run up hill? You were like +a brother, though, when I was a sick child in the queer old +times--kinder than most brothers, I think. But, Graydon, I am grown +up. See, my head comes above your shoulder." + +"Well, you are changed." + +"For the better, in some respects, I hope you will find." + +"I don't at all like the change you suggest in our relations, and am +not sure I will submit to it. It seems absurd to me." + +"It will not seem so when you come to think of it," she replied, +gravely and gently. "You think of me still as little Madge; I am no +longer little Madge, even to myself. A woman's instincts are usually +right, Graydon." + +"Oh, thank you! I am glad I am still 'Graydon.' Why do you not call me +'Mr. Muir?'" + +"Because I am perfectly rational. Because I regard you as almost the +best friend I have." + +"Break up that confabulation," cried Mr. Muir to the young people, who +had paused and were confronting each other at the further end of the +piazza. "If you think Madge can explain herself in a moment or a week +you are mistaken. Come to supper." + +"My brother is right--you are indeed an enigma," he said, +discontentedly. + +"An enigma, am I?" she responded, smiling. "Please remember that most +of the world's enigmas were slowly found out because so simple." + +As they passed from the dusky piazza to the large, brilliantly lighted +supper-room, with nearly all its tables occupied, he was curious to +observe how she would meet the many critical eyes turned toward her. +Again he was puzzled as well as surprised. She walked at his side as +though the room were empty. There was no affectation of indifference, +no trace of embarrassed or of pleased self-consciousness. From the +friendly glances and smiles that she received it was also apparent +that she had already made acquaintances. She moved with the easy, +graceful step of perfect good breeding and assured confidence, and was +as self-possessed as himself. Was this the little ghost who had once +been afraid of her own shadow, which was scarcely less substantial +than herself? + +They had been seated but a moment when Miss Wildmere entered alone. To +Graydon this appeared pathetic. He did not know that her mother was +so worn out from the journey, and so embarrassed by unaided efforts to +get settled while still caring for her half-sick child, that she +had decided to make a slight and hasty repast in her own room. Miss +Wildmere cared little for what took place behind the scenes, but was +usually superb before the footlights. Nothing could have been more +charming or better calculated to win general good-will than her +advance down the long room. In external beauty she was more striking +at first than Madge. She did not in the least regret that she must +enter alone, for she was not proud of her mother, and nothing drew +attention from herself. She assumed, however, a slight and charming +trace of embarrassment and perplexity, which to Graydon was perfectly +irresistible, and he mentally resolved that she should not much longer +want a devoted escort. Madge saw his glance of sympathy and strong +admiration, his smile and low bow as she passed, ushered forward by +the obsequious headwaiter, and her heart sank. In spite of all she +had attempted and achieved, the old cynical assurance came back to +her--"You are nothing to Graydon, and never can be anything to him." +She was pale enough now, but her eyes burned with the resolution not +to yield until all hope was slain. She talked freely, and was most +friendly toward Graydon, but there was a slight constraint in his +manner. The beautiful and self-possessed girl who sat opposite him was +not little Madge whom it had been his pleasure to pet and humor. She +evidently no longer regarded herself as his sister, but rather as a +charming young woman abundantly able to take care of herself. She had +indeed changed marvellously in more respects than one, and he felt +aggrieved that he had been kept in ignorance of her progress. He +believed that she had grown away from him and the past, as well as +grown up, according to her declaration. He recalled her apparent +disinclination for correspondence, and now thought it due to +indifference, rather than an indolent shrinking from effort. The +surprise she had given him seemed a little thing--an act due possibly +to vanity--compared with the sisterly accounts she might have written +of her improvement. She had achieved the wonder without aid from him, +and so of course had not felt the need of his help in any way. In +remembrance of the past he felt that he had not deserved to be so +ignored. Her profession of friendship was all well enough--there could +scarcely be less than that--but the Madge he had looked forward to +meeting again as of old no longer existed. Oh, yes, she should have +admiration and exclamation points to her heart's content, but he had +come from his long exile hungry for something more and better +than young lady friends. He had long since had a surfeit of these +semi-Platonic affinities. The girl who apparently had been refusing +scores of men for his sake was more to his taste. His brother's +repugnance only irritated and incited him, and he thought, "I'll carry +out his business policy to the utmost, but away from the office I am +my own man." + +As these thoughts passed through his mind, they began to impart to his +manner a tinge of gallantry, the beginning of a departure from his old +fraternal and affectionate ways. He was too well-bred to show pique +openly, or to reveal a sense of injury during the first hours of +reunion, but he already felt absolved from being very attentive to +a girl who not only had proved so conclusively that she could manage +admirably for herself, but who also had been so indifferent that she +had not needed his sympathy in her efforts or thought it worth while +to gladden him with a knowledge of her progress. He had loved her as +a sister, and had given ample proof of this. He had maintained his +affection for the Madge that he remembered. "But I have been told," he +thought, bitterly, "that the young lady before me is a 'friend.' She +has been a rather distant friend, if the logic of events counts for +anything. Not satisfied with the thousands of miles that separated us, +she has also withheld her confidence in regard to changes that would +have interested even a casual acquaintance." + +Madge soon detected the changing expression of his eyes, the lessening +of simple, loving truth in his words, and while she was pained she +feared that all this and more would necessarily result from the +breaking up of their old relations. Her task was a difficult one +at best--perhaps it was impossible--nor had she set about it in +calculating policy. Their old relations could not be maintained on her +part. Even the touch of his hand had the mysterious power to send a +thrill to her very heart. Therefore she must surround herself at once +with the viewless yet impassable barriers which a woman can interpose +even by a glance. + +As they rose, Graydon remarked, "I have helped you at supper, and yet +one of my illusions has not vanished. The air at Santa Barbara must +have been very nourishing if your appetite was no better there +than here. Your strange 'sea-change' on that distant coast is still +marvellous to me." + +"Mary can tell you how ravenous I usually am. I do not meet friends +every day from whom I have been separated so long." + +"It is a very ordinary thing for me to meet 'friends,'" he replied, +_sotto voce_, "for I have many. I had hopes that I should meet one who +would be far more than a friend. I'm half inclined to go out to Santa +Barbara and see if my little sister Madge is not still there." + +"Do you think me a fraud?" + +"Oh, no, only so changed that I scarcely know how to get acquainted +with you." + +"Even if I granted so much, which I do not, I might suggest that +one must be uninteresting indeed if she inspires no desire for +acquaintance. But such talk is absurd between us, Graydon." + +"Of course it is. You are so changed for the better that I can +scarcely believe my eyes or ears, and my heart not at all. Of course +your wishes shall be my law, and my wishes will lead me to seek your +acquaintance with deep and undisguised interest. You see the trouble +with me is that I have not changed, and it will require a little time +for me to adapt myself to the new order of things. I am now somewhat +stunned and paralyzed. In this imbecile state I am both stupid +and selfish. I ought to congratulate you, and so I do with all the +shattered forces of my mind and reason. You have improved amazingly. +You are destined to become a belle _par excellence_, and probably are +one now--I know so little of what has occurred since we parted." + +"You are changed also, Graydon. You used to be kind in the old days;" +and she spoke sadly. + +"In some respects I am changed," he said, earnestly; "and my affection +for you is of such long standing and so deep that it prompts me to +make another protest." (They had strolled out upon the grounds and +were now alone.) "I have changed in this respect; I am no longer so +young as I was, and am losing my zest for general society. I was weary +of residence abroad, where I could have scarcely the semblance of +a home, and, while I had many acquaintances and friends, I had no +kindred. I'm sorry to say that the word 'friend,' in its reference +to young ladies, does not mean very much to me; or, rather, I have +learned from experience just what it does mean. A few years since I +was proud of my host of young lady friends, and some I thought would +continue to be such through life. Bah! They are nearly all married or +engaged; their lives have drifted completely away from mine, as it was +natural and inevitable that they should. We are good friends still, +but what does it amount to? I rarely think of them; they never of +me, I imagine. We exert no influence on each other's lives, and add +nothing to them. I never had a sister, but I had learned to love you +as if you were one, and when I heard that you were to be of our family +again, the resumption of our old relations was one of my dearest +expectations. It hurt me cruelly, Madge, when you laughed at the +idea as preposterous, and told me that I had forgotten myself when +following the most natural impulse of my heart. It seemed to me the +result of prudishness, rather than womanly delicacy, unless you have +changed in heart as greatly as in externals. You could be so much +to me as a sister. It is a relationship that I have always craved--a +sister not far removed from me in age; and such a tie, it appears to +me, might form the basis of a sympathy and confidence that would be +as frank as unselfish and helpful. That is what I looked forward to in +you, Madge. Why on earth can it not be?" + +She was painfully embarrassed, and was glad that his words were spoken +under the cover of night. She trembled, for his question probed deep. +How could she explain that what was so natural for him was impossible +for her? He mistook her hesitation for a sign of acquiescence, and +continued: "Wherein have I failed to act like a brother? During the +years we were together was I not reasonably kind and considerate? You +did not think of yourself then as one of my young lady friends. +Why should you now? I have not changed, and, as I have said, I have +returned hungry for kindred and the quieter pleasures of home. It is +time that I was considering the more serious questions of life, and of +course the supreme question with a man of my years is that of a home +of his own. I have never been able to think of such a home and not +associate you with it. I can invite my sister to it and make her a +part of it, but I cannot invite young lady friends. A sister can be +such a help to a fellow; and it seems to me that I could be of no +little aid to you. I know the world and the men you will meet in +society. Unless you seclude yourself, you will be as great a belle as +Miss Wildmere. You also have a fine property of your own. Will it be +nothing to have a brother at your side to whom you can speak frankly +of those who seek your favor? Come, Madge, be simple and rational. I +have not changed; my frank words and pleadings prove that I have +not. If we do not go back to the hotel brother and sister it will be +because you have changed;" and he attempted to put his arm around her +and draw her to him. + +She sprang aloof. "Well, then, I have changed," she said, in a low, +concentrated voice. "Think me a prude if you will. I know I am not. +You are unjust to me, for you give me, in effect, no alternative. +You say, 'Think of me as a brother; feel and act as if you were my +sister,' when I am not your sister. It's like declaring that there +is nothing in blood--that such relations are questions of choice and +will. I said in downright sincerity that I regarded you as almost the +best friend I had, and I have not so many friends that the word means +nothing to me. I do remember all your kindness in the past--when have +I forgotten it for an hour?--but that does not change the essential +instincts of my womanhood, and since we parted I've grown to +womanhood. You in one sense have not changed, and I still am in your +mind the invalid child you used to indulge and fondle. It is not just +to me now to ask that I act and feel as if there were a natural tie +between us. The fact ever remains that there is not. Why should I +deceive you by pretending to what is impossible? Nature is stronger +than even your wishes, Graydon, and cannot be ignored." + +She spoke hesitatingly, feeling her way across most difficult and +dangerous ground, but her decision was unmistakable, and he said, +quietly, "I am answered. See, we have wandered far from the house. Had +we not better return?" + +After a few moments of silence she asked, "Are you so rich in friends +that you have no place for me?" + +"Why, certainly, Madge," he replied, in cordial, offhand tones, "we +are friends. There's nothing else for us to be. I don't pretend to +understand your scruples. Even if a woman refused to be my wife I +should be none the less friendly, unless she had trifled with me. To +my man's reason a natural tie does not count for so much as the years +we spent together. I remember what you were to me then, and what I +seemed to you. I tried to keep up the old feeling by correspondence. +The West is a world of wonders, and you have come from it the greatest +wonder of all." + +"I hope I shall not prove to you a monstrosity, Graydon. I will try +not to be one if you will give me a chance." + +"Oh, no, indeed; you promise to be one of the most charming young +ladies I ever met." + +"I don't promise anything of the kind," she replied, with a laugh that +was chiefly the expression of her intense nervous tension. It jarred +upon his feelings, and confirmed him in the belief that their long +separation had broken up their old relations completely, and that she, +in the new career which her beauty opened before her, wished for no +embarrassing relations of any kind. + +"Well," he said, with an answering laugh, "I suppose I must take you +for what you are and propose to be--that is, if I ever find out." + +In a few moments more, after some light badinage, he left her with +Mr. and Mrs. Muir on the piazza, and went to claim his waltz with Miss +Wildmere. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"I FEAR I SHALL FAIL" + + +The band had been discoursing lively strains for some time, and Miss +Wildmere had at last dragged her mother down for a chaperon--the only +available one as yet. The anxious mother was eager to return to her +fretting child, and her daughter was much inclined to resent Graydon's +prolonged absence. "If it were politic, and I had other acquaintances, +I would punish him," she thought. It was a new experience for her to +sit in a corner of the parlor, apparently neglected, while others were +dancing. There were plenty who looked wistfully toward her; but +there was no one to introduce her, and Graydon's absence left the ice +unbroken. + +She ignored the inevitable isolation of a new-comer, however, and when +he appeared shook her finger at him as she said, "Here I am, constancy +itself, waiting to give you my first dance, as I promised." + +"I shall try to prove worthy," he said, earnestly. "You must remember, +in extenuation, that I have not seen the ladies of our family for a +long time." + +"You use the plural, and are Dot at all singular in your prolonged +absence with the charming Miss Alden. You certainly cannot look upon +her as an invalid any longer, however else you may regard her," she +added, with an arch look. + +"You shall now have my entire regard as long as you will permit it." + +"That will depend a little upon yourself. Mamma is tired, and I'm of +no account compared with that infant upstairs; therefore I can't keep +her as a chaperon this evening, and I will go to my room as soon as +you are tired of me." + +"Not till then?" + +"Not unless I go before." + +"At some time in the indefinite future, Mrs. Wildmere, you may hope to +see your daughter again." + +The poor lady smiled encouragingly and gratefully. She would be most +happy to have Graydon take the brilliant creature for better or worse +as soon as possible. She liked him, as did all women, for she saw that +he had a large, kindly nature. She now stole meekly away, while he +with his fair partner glided out upon the floor. All eyes followed +them, and even the veterans of society remarked that they had never +seen more graceful dancing. + +From her seat on the piazza Madge also watched the couple. The +struggle to which she had looked forward so long had indeed begun, and +most inauspiciously. Her rival had every advantage. The mood in which +Graydon had returned predisposed him to prompt action, while she had +lost her influence for the present by a course that seemed to him +so unnatural as to be prudish. Miss Wildmere's manner gave all the +encouragement that a man could wish for, and it was hard to view with +charity the smiling, triumphant belle. Madge suddenly became conscious +that Mr. Muir was observing her, and she remarked, quietly: "I never +saw better dancing than that. It's grace itself. Miss Wildmere waltzes +superbly." + +"Not better than you, Miss Alden," said Mr. Henderson, a young man who +prided himself on his skill in the accomplishment under consideration, +and with whom she had danced several times. "I've been looking for +you, in the hope that you would favor me this evening." + +She rose and passed with him through the open window. The waltz was +drawing to a close; the majority had grown weary and sat down; and +soon Madge and Miss Wildmere were the only ladies on the floor. +Opinion was divided, some declaring that the former was the more +graceful and lovely, while perhaps a larger number gave their verdict +for the latter. + +The strains ceased, and left the couples near each other. Graydon +immediately introduced Miss Wildmere. The girls bowed a little too +profoundly to indicate cordiality. Madge also presented Mr. Henderson, +hoping that he might become a partner for Miss Wildmere, and give +Graydon an opportunity to dance with her. He resolved to break the ice +at once so far as his relatives were concerned, and he conducted Miss +Wildmere to Mrs. Muir, and gave her a seat beside that lady. The girl +of his choice should have not only a gallant for the evening, but also +a chaperon. He was not one to enter on timid, half-way measures; and +he determined that his brother's prejudice should count for nothing +in this case. His preference was entitled to respect, and must be +respected. Of course the group chatted courteously, as well-bred +people do in public, but Miss Wildmere felt that the atmosphere was +chilly. She was much too politic to permit the slightest tinge of +coldness in her manner toward those with whom she meditated such close +relations should the barring "if" melt out of the way. + +The people were forming for the lancers, and Mr. Henderson asked Madge +to help make up a set. She complied without hesitation. Nor was she +unmindful of the fact that Graydon sat in a position which commanded a +view of the floor. He had seen her glide out in the waltz with a grace +second only to that of Miss Wildmere, even in his prejudiced eyes. Now +he again observed her curiously, and his disappointment and bitterness +at heart increased, even while she compelled his wondering admiration. +He saw that, though she lacked Miss Wildmere's conventional finish, +she had a natural grace of her own. He admitted that he had never seen +so perfect a physical embodiment of womanhood. She was slightly taller +than her rival in his thoughts, and her costume gave an impression of +additional height. Apparently she was in the best of spirits, laughing +often with her partner and an elderly gentleman who danced opposite +to her, and who was full of old-time flourishes and jollity. At last +Graydon thought, resentfully, "She is indeed changed. That's the style +of life she is looking forward to, and she wishes no embarrassment or +advice from me. That dancing-jack, Henderson, and others of his sort +are to be her 'friends' also, no doubt. Very well, I know how to +console myself;" and he turned his eyes resolutely to Miss Wildmere. + +In the galop that followed he naturally danced with his quondam +sister, and Mr. Henderson with Miss Wildmere. Graydon was the last +one to show feeling in public or do anything to cause remark. Now that +Madge possessed in her partner the same advantage that Miss Wildmere +had enjoyed, the admiring lookers-on were at a loss to decide which of +the two girls bore the palm; and Graydon acknowledged that the former +invalid's step had a lightness and an elasticity which he had never +known to be surpassed, and that she kept time with him as if his +volition were hers. She showed no sign of weariness, even after he +began to grow fatigued. As he danced he remembered how he had carried +"the little ghost" on his arm, then tossed her, breathless from +scarce an effort, on the lounge, whence she looked at him in laughing +affection. This strong, superb creature was indeed another and an +alien being, and needed no aid from him. Before he was conscious +of flagging in his step, she said, quietly, "You are growing tired, +Graydon. Suppose we return to the piazza." + +"Yes," he said, a trifle bitterly, "you are the stronger now. The +'little ghost' has vanished utterly." + +"A woman is better than a ghost," was her reply. + +He and Miss Wildmere strolled away down the same path on which Madge +had told him that she could not be his sister. Mr. Muir was tired, +and went to his room in no very amiable humor. Mrs. Muir waited for +Graydon's return, feeling that, although the office of chaperon had in +a sense been forced upon her, she could not depart without seeing Miss +Wildmere again. The young lady at last appeared, and, believing that +she had made all the points she cared for that night, did not tax Mrs. +Muir's patience beyond a few moments. While she lingered she looked +curiously at Madge, who was going through a Virginia reel as if she +fully shared in the decided and almost romping spirit with which it +was danced. She was uncertain whether or not she saw a possible +rival in Graydon's thoughts, but she knew well that she had found +a competitor for sovereignty in all social circles where they might +appear together. This fact in itself was sufficient to secure the +arrogant girl's ill-will and jealousy. A scarcely perceptible smile, +that boded no good for poor Madge, passed over her face, and then she +took a cordial leave of Graydon, and retired with Mrs. Muir. + +He remained at the window watching, with a satirical smile, the scene +within. People of almost every age, from elderly men and matrons down +to boys and girls, were participating in the old-fashioned dance. The +air was resonant with laughter and music. In the rollicking fun Madge +appeared to have found her element. No step was lighter or quicker +than hers, and merriment rippled away before her as if she were the +genius of mirth. Her dark eyes were singularly brilliant, and burned +as with a suppressed excitement. + +"She is bound to have her fling like the rest, I suppose," he +muttered; "and that romp is more to her than the offer of a brother's +love and help--an offer half forgotten already, no doubt. Yet she +puzzles one. She never was a weak girl mentally. She was always a +little odd, and now she is decidedly so. Well, I will let her gang her +ain gate, and I shall go mine." + +He little dreamed that she was seeking weariness, action that would +exhaust, and that the expression of her eyes, so far from being caused +by excitement, was produced by feelings deeper than he had ever known. +When the music ceased he sauntered up and told her that her sister had +retired. + +"I had better follow her example," she said. + +"Would you not like a brief stroll on the piazza? After exertions +that, in you, seem almost superhuman, you must be warm." + +"Why more superhuman in me than in others?" + +"Simply because of my old and preconceived notions." + +"I fear I am disappointing you in every respect. I had hoped to give +you pleasure." + +"Oh, well, Madge, I see we must let the past go and begin again." + +"Begin fairly, then, and not in prejudice." + +"Does it matter very much to you how I begin?" + +"I shall not answer such questions." + +"I am glad to see that you can enjoy yourself so thoroughly. You can +now look forward to a long career of happiness, Madge, since you can +obtain so much from a reel." + +"You do not know what I am looking forward to." + +"Why?" + +"Because you are not acquainted with me." + +"I thought I was at one time." + +"I became discontented with that time, and have tried to be +different." + +"And you must have succeeded beyond your wildest dreams." + +"Oh, no, I've only made a beginning. I should be conceit embodied if I +thought myself finished." + +"What is your supreme ambition, then?" + +"I am trying to be a woman, Graydon. There, I'm cool now. Good-night." + +"Very cool, Madge." + +He lighted a cigar and continued his walk, more perturbed than he +cared to admit even to himself. Indeed, he found that he was decidedly +annoyed, and there seemed no earthly reason why there should have been +any occasion for such vexation. Of course he was glad that Madge had +become strong and beautiful. This would have added a complete charm to +their old relations. Why must she also become a mystery, or, rather, +seek to appear one? Well, there was no necessity for solving the +mystery, granting its existence. "Possibly she would prefer a +flirtation to fraternal regard; possibly--Oh, confound it! I don't +know what to think, and don't much care. She is trying to become a +woman! Who can fathom some women's whims and fancies? She thinks her +immature ideas, imbibed in an out-of-the-way corner of the world, +the immutable laws of nature. Of one thing at least she is absolutely +certain--she can get on without me. I must be kept at too great a +distance to be officious." + +This point settled, his own course became clear. He would be courtesy +itself and mind his own business. + +"I fear I shall fail," murmured poor Madge, hiding her face in her +pillow, while suppressed sobs shook her frame. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE PROMPTINGS OF MISS WILDMERE'S HEART + + +Graydon slept very late the following morning. He found out that he +was tired, and resolved to indulge his craving for rest so far as +his suit to Miss Wildmere would permit. When he could do nothing to +promote his advantage he proposed to be indolence itself. He found +that his vexation had quite vanished, and, in cynical good-nature, he +was inclined to laugh at the state of affairs. "Let Madge indulge her +whims," he thought; "I may be the more free to pursue my purposes. Her +sister, of course, shares in Henry's prejudices against the Wildmeres, +and they would influence Madge adversely. All handsome girls are +jealous of each other, and, perhaps, if what I had so naturally hoped +and expected had proved true, I should have had more sisterly counsel +and opposition than would have been agreeable. Objections now would be +in poor taste, to say the least. If I'm not much mistaken I can speak +my mind to Stella Wildmere before many days pass; and, woman-nature +being such as it is, it may be just as well that I am not too intimate +with a sister who, after all, is not my sister. Stella might not see +it in the light that I should;" and so he came down at last, prepared +to adapt himself very philosophically to the new order of things. + +"The world moves and changes," he soliloquized, smilingly, "and we +must move on and change with it." + +He found Mr. and Mrs. Muir, with Madge and the children, ready for +church, and told them, laughingly, to "remember him if they did not +think him past praying for." During his breakfast he recalled the fact +that Madge was uncommonly well dressed. "She hasn't in externals," he +thought, "the provincial air that one might expect, although her +ideas are not only provincial, but prim, obtained, no doubt, from some +goody-good books that she has read in the remote region wherein she +has developed so remarkably. She has some stilted ideal of womanhood +which she is seeking to attain, and the more unnatural the ideal, the +more attractive, no doubt, it appears to her." + +It did not occur to him that he was explaining Madge on more theories +than one, and that they were not exactly harmonious. Having finished +his meal, he sought for Miss Wildmere, and soon found her in a shady +corner, reading a light, semi-philosophical work, thus distinguishing +and honoring the day in her choice of literature. He proposed to read +to her, but the book was soon forgotten in animated talk on his part. +She could skilfully play the rĂ´le of a good listener when she chose, +and could, therefore, be a delightful companion. Her color came and +went under words and compliments that at times were rather ardent and +pronounced. He soon observed, however, that she led the way promptly +from delicate ground. This might result from maidenly reserve or from +the fact that she was not quite ready for decisive words. He still +believed that he had all needed encouragement--that the expression of +her eyes often answered his, and he knew well what his meant. When, +in response to his invitation, she promised to drive with him in the +afternoon, all seemed to be going as he wished. + +Graydon felt that during dinner and thereafter for a time he should be +devoted to his party, to preclude criticism on his course in the late +afternoon and in the evening, when he proposed to seek society which +promised more than theirs. He began to discover that, except as her +intelligence was larger, in one respect Madge had not changed from her +old self. She responded appreciatively to his thought and fancy, and +gave him back in kind with interest. She began to question him about +a place in Europe with which he was familiar, and showed such unusual +knowledge of the locality that he asked, "You haven't slipped over +there unknown to me, I trust?" + +"You might think of an easier explanation than that. You kindly sent +me books, some of which were rather realistic." + +"Did you read them all?" + +"Certainly. It would have been a poor return if I had not." + +"What an inordinate sense of duty you must have had!" + +"I did not read them from a sense of duty. You have perhaps forgotten +that I am fond of books." + +"Not all of the books were novels." + +"Many that were not proved the most interesting." + +"Oh, indeed; another evidence of change," he said, laughing. + +"And of sense, too, I think. Mr. Wayland, who is a student, had a +splendid library, and he gave me some ideas as to reading." + +"Can you part with any of them?" + +"That depends," she replied, with a manner as brusque as his own. + +"On what?" + +"The inducements and natural opportunities. I'm not going to recite a +lesson like a schoolgirl." + +"One would think you had been to school." + +"I have, where much is taught and learned thoroughly." + +"Now, that is enigmatical again." + +"The best of the books you sent me left some room for the +imagination." + +"Ha, ha, ha, Madge! you are scoring points right along. I told you, +Graydon, that you couldn't understand her in a moment or in a week." + +"I never regarded your imagination as rampant, Henry. Have you +fathomed all her mystery?" + +"Far from it; nor do I expect to, and yet you will grant to me some +degree of penetration." + +"Well, to think that I should have come home to find a sphinx instead +of little Madge!" + +"Thank you. A sphinx is usually portrayed with at least the head of a +woman." + +"In this case she has one that would inspire a Greek sculptor. Perhaps +in time I may discover a heart also." + +"That's doubtful." + +"Indeed." + +"Yes, indeed." + +"What far-fetched nonsense!" said Mrs. Muir, sententiously. "Madge has +come back one of the best and most sensible girls in the world. Men +and poets are always imagining that women are mysteries. The fact is, +they are as transparent as glass when they know their own minds; when +they don't, who else should know them?" + +"Who indeed?" said Graydon, laughing. "Your saving clause, Mary, is as +boundless as space." + +"How absurd! I understand Madge perfectly, and so does Henry." + +"You said last evening that the change in her was a miracle. Once in +the realm of the supernatural, what may not one expect?" + +"You knew what I meant. I referred to Madge's health and appearance +and accomplishments and all that. She has not changed in heart and +feeling any more than I have, and I'm sure I'm not a sphinx." + +"No, Mary; you are a sensible and excellent wife and my very dear +sister. You suggest no mystery. Madge certainly does, for you have, +in addition to all the rest, announced an indefinite list of +accomplishments." + +"If I remain the subject of conversation I shall complain that your +remarks are personal," said Madge, her brows contracting with a little +vexation. + +"That is what makes our talk so interesting. Personals are always read +first. In drawing Mary and Henry out, I am getting acquainted with +you." + +"It's not a good way. You like it merely because it teases me and +saves trouble. If you must gossip and surmise about me, wait till I'm +absent." + +"There, Madge, you know I'm nine-tenths in fun," said he, laughing. + +"That leaves a small margin for kindly interest in an old +acquaintance," was her reply as they rose from the table, and he saw +that her feelings were hurt. + +"Confound it!" he thought, with irritation, "it's all so uncalled-for +and unnatural! Nothing is as it used to be. Well, then, I'll talk +about books and matters as impersonal as if we were disembodied +spirits." + +They had scarcely seated themselves on the piazza before Miss Wildmere +came forward and introduced her mother. The young lady was determined +to prepare the way for a family party. Graydon had a confident, +opulent air, which led to the belief that her father's fears were +groundless, and that before many weeks should elapse the Muirs would +have to acknowledge her openly. It would save embarrassment if this +came about naturally and gradually, and she believed that she could be +so charming as to make them covet the alliance. Miss Alden might not +like it, and the more she disliked it the better. + +Mrs. Muir's thoughts were somewhat akin. "If Graydon will marry this +girl, it's wise that we should begin on good terms. This is a matter +that Henry can't control, and there's no use in our yielding to +prejudice." + +Therefore she was talkative, courteous, and rapidly softened toward +the people whom her husband found so distasteful. Graydon employed all +his skill and tact to make the conversation general and agreeable, but +the cloud did not wholly pass from Madge's brow. From the moment +of her first cold, curious stare, years since, Miss Wildmere had +antagonized every fibre of the young girl's soul and body, and she had +resolved never to be more than polite to her. She did not look forward +to future relationship, as was the case with Mrs. Muir, but rather +to entire separation, should Graydon become Miss Wildmere's accepted +suitor. Now, with the instinct of self-defence, she was more cordial +to her rival than to Graydon, until, at the solicitation of the +children, she stole away. Mr. Muir remarked that he was going to take +a nap, and soon followed her. + +Their departure was a relief to Graydon, for it rendered the carrying +out of his plan less embarrassing. In his eagerness to be alone with +the object of his hopes, he soon obtained a carriage, and with Miss +Wildmere drove away. Mrs. Muir and Mrs. Wildmere compared maternal and +domestic notes sometime longer, and then the former went to her room +quite reconciled to what now appeared inevitable. + +"I think you are prejudiced, Henry," she remarked to her husband, who +was tossing restlessly on the bed. + +"Least said soonest mended," was his only response, and then he +changed the subject. + +Graydon came back with the hope--nay, almost the certainty--of +happiness glowing in his eyes. He had spoken confidently of his +business plans and prospects, and had touched upon the weariness of +his exile and his longing for more satisfactory pleasures than those +of general society. His companion had listened with an attention and +interest that promised more than sympathy. The wild, rugged scenes +through which they had passed had made her delicate beauty more +exquisite from contrast. It was as if a rare tropical bird had +followed the wake of summer and graced for a time a region from which +it must fly with the first breath of autumn. In distinction from all +they saw and met she appeared so fragile, such a charming exotic, that +he felt an overpowering impulse to cherish and shelter her from +every rude thing in the world. With a nice blending of reserve and +complaisance she appeared to yield to his mood and yet to withhold +herself. To a man of Graydon's poise and knowledge of society such +skilful tactics served their purpose perfectly. They gave her an +additional charm in his eyes, and furnished another proof of the +fineness of her nature. She could not only feel, but manifest the +nicest shades of preference. If not fully satisfied as to her own +heart, what could be more refined and graceful than the slight +restraint she imposed upon him? and how fine the compliment she +paid him in acting on the belief that he was too well bred and +self-controlled to precipitate matters! + +"She has the tact and intuition to see," he thought, "that she can +show me all the regard she feels and yet incur no danger of premature +and incoherent words. She will one day yield with all the quiet grace +that she shows when rising to accept my invitation to waltz." + +Therefore, as he approached the hotel he was complacency itself until +he saw Mr. Arnault on the piazza, and then his face darkened with the +heaviest of frowns. + +"Why, what is the matter?" Miss Wildmere asked. + +"I had hoped that this perfect afternoon might be followed by a more +delightful evening, but from the manner in which that gentleman is +approaching you, it is evident that he expects to claim you." + +"Claim me? I do not think any one has that right just yet. Mr. Arnault +certainly has not." + +"Then I may still hope for your society this evening?" + +"Have I not permitted you to be with me nearly all day? You must be +more reasonable. Good-evening, Mr. Arnault. Did you drop from the +clouds?" + +"There are none, and were there I should forget them in this pleasure. +Mr. Muir, I congratulate you. We have both been on the road this +afternoon, but you have had the advantage of me." + +"And mean to keep it, confound you!" thought Graydon. "Ah, +good-evening, Mr. Arnault. You are right; I have found rough roads +preferable to smooth rails and a palace car." + +"How well you are looking, Miss Stella! but that's chronic with you. +This is perfectly heavenly" (looking directly into her eyes) "after +the heat of the city and my dusty journey." + +"You are a fine one to talk about things heavenly after fracturing the +Sabbath-day. What would have happened to you in Connecticut a hundred +years ago?" + +"I should have been ridden on one rail instead of two, probably. I'm +more concerned about what will happen to me to-day, and that depends +not on blue laws, but blue blood. I saw your father this morning, and +he intrusted me with a letter for you." + +Mr. Arnault manifested not a particle of jealousy or apprehension, and +Graydon felt himself shouldered out of the way by a courtesy to which +he could take no exception. He saw that only Miss Wildmere herself +could check his rival's resolute and easy assurance. This he now felt +sure she would do if it passed a certain point, and he went to his +room, annoyed merely, and without solicitude. "She must let the fellow +down easily, I suppose," he thought; "and after to-day I need have few +fears. If she had wanted _him_ she could have taken him long ago." + +Miss Wildmere also went to her room and read her father's letter. It +contained these few and significant words: "In speaking of possible +relations with Mr. M. I emphasized a small but important word--'if.' +I now commend it to you still more emphatically. You know I prefer +Mr. M. Therefore you will do well to heed my caution. Mr. M. may lose +everything within a brief time." + +Miss Wildmere frowned and bit her lip with vexation. Then her white +face took on hard, resolute lines. "I came near making a fool of +myself this afternoon," she muttered. "I was more than once tempted to +let Graydon speak. Heavens! I'd like to be engaged to him for awhile. +Mr. Arnault plays a bold, steady hand, but he's the kind of man that +might throw up the game if one put tricks on him. My original policy +is the best. I must pit one against the other in a fair and open suit +till I can take my choice. Now that it is clear that Graydon cares +little for that hideous thing he calls his sister, my plan is safe." + +"What a lovely color you have, Madge!" Graydon remarked, as they met +at supper. "You are unequalled in your choice of cosmetics." + +"Not to be surpassed, at any rate." + +"Where did you get it?" + +"Up at Grand View." + +"What, have you climbed that mountain?" + +"It's not much of a mountain." + +"It's a tremendous mountain," cried little Harry. "Aunt Madge's been +teaching us to climb, and she lifted us up and down the steep places +as if we were feathers, and she told us stories about the squirrels +and birds we saw up there. Oh, didn't we have a lovely time, Jennie?" + +"Now I understand," said Graydon. "The glow in your face comes from +the consciousness of good deeds." + +"It comes from exertion. Are you not making too much effort to be +satirical?" + +"Therefore my face should be suffused with the hue of shame. You see +I have changed also, and have become a cynic and a heathen from long +residence in Europe." + +"Please be a noble savage, then." + +"That's not the style of heathen they develop abroad." + +"Madge told us about the savages that used to live in these mountains, +and how bad they were treated," piped Jennie. + +"Poor Lo! No wonder he went to the bad," said Graydon, significantly. +"He was never recognized as a man and a brother." + +"And he was unsurpassed in retaliation," Madge added. + +"Considering his total depravity and general innocence, that was to be +expected." + +"It turned out to be bad policy." + +"In so far as he was a man he hadn't any policy." + +"I shall not depreciate the Indians for the sake of argument. They +rarely followed the wrong trail, however." + +"What on earth are you and Madge driving at?" exclaimed Mrs. Muir. + +"It matters little at what, but Madge appears to be the better +driver," chuckled Mr. Muir. + +"You have a stanch champion in Henry," said Graydon. + +"You wouldn't have him take sides against a woman?" + +"Oh, no, but you have become so abundantly able to take care of +yourself that he might remain neutral." + +"When you all begin to talk English again I'll join in, and now +merely remark that I am grateful to you, Madge, for taking care of the +children. Jack was good with the nurse, too, and I've had a splendid +nap." + +"I'm evidently the delinquent," laughed Graydon, "and have led the way +in a conversation that has been as bad as whispering in company. What +will become of me? You are not going to church to-night, Madge?" + +"I did not expect to. If your conscience needs soothing--" + +"Oh, no, no. My conscience has been seared with a hot iron--a cold +one, I mean. The effects are just the same." + +At the supper-room door they were met by Dr. Sommers, with a world of +comical trouble in his face, and he drew Madge aside. + +"What's a man to do?" he began. "Here's our choir-leader sick, and the +rest won't chirp without him. I can't sing any more than I can dance. +You can--sing, I mean--both, for that matter. I'd give the best +cast of a fly I ever had to take you out in a reel. Well, here's the +trouble. It's nearly meeting-time, and what's a meeting without music? +You can sing--I'm sure you can. I've heard you twice in the chapel. +Now, it isn't imposing on good-nature, is it, to ask you to come over +and start the tunes for us to-night? Come now, go with me. It will be a +great favor, and I'll get even with you before the summer is over." + +Madge hesitated a moment. She had hoped for a chat with Graydon that +evening, which might lead to a better understanding, and end their +tendency to rather thorny badinage. But she heard him chatting gayly +with Miss Wildmere and Mr. Arnault in the distance; therefore she +said, quietly, "It is time for me to get even with you first. To +refuse would not be nice after the lovely drive you took us the other +day." + +"Oh, you made that square as you went along. Well, now, this is +famous. What a meeting we'll have!" + +"You explain to Mrs. Muir, and I'll get my hat." + +"I'm in luck," the doctor began, joining the Muirs on the piazza. + +"Of course you are. You are always in luck," said Mrs. Muir. + +"Oh, no, oh, no. Draw it milder than that. I've fished many a bad day. +I'm in luck to-night. What do you think? You can't guess." + +"You and Madge had your heads together, and so something will happen. +Are you going to capture a mountain?" + +"Yes, a brace of 'em before long. Well, as good luck would have it, +our choir-leader is sick. I thought it was bad luck at first, and +meant to give him an awful dose for being so inopportune. It has +turned out famously. 'All-things work together for good,' you know. +That text required faith once when I had hooked a three-pound trout, +and in my eagerness tumbled in where the fish was. Oh, here you are, +Miss Alden. We'll go right along, for it's about time." + +"But you haven't explained," cried Mrs. Muir. + +"We will when we come back," said the doctor. + +"Oh, I'm merely going over to the chapel to help the doctor out with +the singing," said Madge, carelessly. "Good-by." + +"Well," remarked Mr. Muir, _sotto voce_, "if I were a young fellow, +there's a trail I'd follow, and not that will-o'-the-wisp yonder." + +"What did you say, Henry?" asked his wife. + +"It will be hot in town to-morrow, Mary. It's growing confoundedly hot +in Wall Street." + +"Nothing serious, Henry?" + +"It's always serious there." + +"Oh, well, you'll come out all right. It's a way you have." + +Mr. Muir looked grim and troubled, but the piazza was dusky. "She +can't help me," he thought, "and if she was worrying she might hinder +me. Things are no worse, and they may soon be better. If I had fifty +thousand for a month, though, the strain would be over. She'd be +nagging me to take a lot of her money, and I'd see Wall Street sunk +first. Well, well, Wildmere and I may land together in the same +ditch." + +For a few moments Graydon and Mr. Arnault sat on either side of the +broker's daughter, each seeking the advantage. The young lady enjoyed +the situation immensely, and for a time had the art to entertain +both. Arnault at last boldly and frankly took the initiative, saying, +"Please take a walk with me, Miss Wildmere. I have come all the way +from New York for the pleasure of an evening in your society. You will +excuse us, Mr. Muir. You have had to-day and will have to-morrow, for +I must take an early train." + +Miss Wildmere laughed, and said: "I must go with you surely, or you +will think you have made a bad 'put' in railroad tickets, as well +as shares, for you are like the rest, I suppose;" and with a smiling +glance backward at Graydon she disappeared. + +"You are mistaken," he said; "we foresaw this 'squeeze' in the market, +and have money to lend if the security is ample. We were never doing +better." + +"Poor papa!" she sighed, "his securities are lacking, I suppose. He +does not write very cheerfully." + +"His security is the best in the city, in my estimation. I'd take this +little hand in preference to government bonds." + +"Oh, don't lend papa anything on that basis, for you would surely +manage to claim the collateral, or whatever you call it in your Wall +Street jargon." + +"You are infinitely better off than the majority in these hard times." + +"How so?" + +"By one word you can make three rich, yourself included. Your father +only needs to be tided over a few months." + +"Come, come, Mr. Arnault, this is Sunday, and you must not talk +business." + +"My fault leans to virtue's side for once." + +"I'm not just sure to which side it leans," was her laughing reply. + +"Are you going to accept Muir?" + +"I'm not going to accept any one at present--certainly not Mr. Muir +before he asks me." + +"He will ask you." + +"Has he taken you into his confidence?" + +"Oh, he's as patent as a country borrower." + +"Mr. Arnault, we must change the subject; such questions and remarks +are not in good taste, to say the least. I appreciate your friendship, +but it does not give you the right to forget that I am a free girl, or +to ignore my assurance that I propose to remain free for the present." + +"That is all the assurance that I require just now," he answered. +"I have been a frank, devoted suitor, Stella. If you do not act +precipitately you will act wisely in the end. I shall not be guilty of +the folly of depreciating Muir--he's a good fellow in his way--but you +will soon be convinced that you cannot afford to marry him." + +"I think I can afford not to marry any one until my heart prompts me +to the act," she replied, with well-assumed dignity. Her swift thought +was, "He also knows that the Muirs are embarrassed. How is it that +Graydon speaks and acts in the assured confidence of continued wealth? +Is he deceiving me?" + +Mr. Arnault changed the subject, and none could do this with more +adroitness than he, or be a more entertaining gallant if he so chose. +At the same time he maintained a subtle observance, in spite of his +vaunted frankness, and he soon believed he had reason to hope that +Miss Wildmere had been influenced by his words. Almost imperceptibly +she permitted additional favor to come into her manner, and when she +said good-night and good-by also, in view of his early start for the +city, it was at the foot of the stairway, she casually remarking that +she would not come down again. + +"My brief visit has not been in vain," he thought. "I have delayed +matters, and that now means a great deal. She will marry the survivor +of this financial gale, and in every man's philosophy the survival +of the fittest is always the survival of the _ego_." + +[Illustration: "THERE NOW, BE RATIONAL," CRIED THE YOUNG GIRL] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED" + + +Graydon felt that it was scarcely possible to resent Mr. Arnault's +tactics or to blame Miss Wildmere. The former certainly had as good +a right to be a suitor as himself, and even to his prejudiced mind it +would have been ungracious in the lady had she not given some reward +for his rival's long journey. It was natural that Mr. Arnault, an old +friend of the Wildmeres, should sit at their table and receive the +consideration that he enjoyed. Graydon had little cause for complaint +or vexation, since his rival would depart in the morning, and, judging +from to-day, his own suit was approaching a successful termination. +The coast would be clear on the morrow, and he determined to make +the most of opportunities. He now even regretted that Madge and his +relatives were at the house, for in some degree they trammelled his +movements by a watchful attention, which he believed was not very +friendly. It would not be well to ignore them beyond a certain point, +for it was his wish to carry out his purposes with the least possible +friction. Madge's course had compelled a revision of his plans and +expectations, but his intimate relations with his brother in business +made harmony and peace very essential. He felt keenly, however, the +spur of Mr. Arnault's open and aggressive rivalry, and determined to +enter upon an equally vigorous campaign. + +Having reached this definite conclusion, he joined Mr. and Mrs. Muir +on the piazza, and after some desultory talk asked, "Where is Madge?" + +Mrs. Muir explained, adding, "I think you might go over to the chapel +and accompany her home." + +"I'll be there by the time service is over," he replied. + +There was sacred music in the hotel parlor, but it seemed to him +neither very sacred nor very attractive. Then he strolled toward the +chapel. As the service was not over, he stood and watched the great +moonlit mountains, with their light and shade. The scene and hour +fostered the feelings to which he had given himself up. In revery he +went over the hours he had spent with Miss Wildmere since his return, +and hope grew strong. In view of it all--and vividly his memory +retained everything, even to the droop of her eyelids or the tone in +which some ordinary words had been spoken--there could scarcely be a +doubtful conclusion. Thoughts of him had kept her free, and now that +they had met again she was seeking to discover if her old impressions +had been true, and in their confirmation was surely yielding to his +suit. + +He started. Through the open windows of the adjacent chapel came the +opening notes of a hymn, sung with a sweetness and power that in the +still summer night seemed almost divine. Then other voices joined, and +partially obscured the melody; but above all floated a voice that to +his trained ear had some of the rarest qualities of music. + +"That's Madge," he muttered, and strode rapidly to the door. Again, +in the second stanza, the rich, pure voice thrilled his every nerve, +gaining rather than losing in its effect by his approach. + +Unconsciously the poor girl had yielded to the old habit of +self-expression in music. Her heart had been heavy, and now was sad +indeed. Earthly hope had been growing dim, but the words of faith she +had heard had not been without sustaining influence. With the deep +longing of her woman's nature for love--divine love, if earthly love +must be denied--her voice in its pathos was unconsciously an appeal, +full of entreaty. She half forgot her surroundings; they were nothing +in her present mood. The little audience of strangers gave a sense of +solitude. + +The quaint old tune was rich in plaintive harmony. It had survived +the winnowing process of time, and had endeared itself to the +popular heart because expressive of the heart's unrest and desire for +something unpossessed. Along this old, well-worn musical channel Madge +poured the full tide of her feeling, which had both the solemnity and +the pathos inseparable from all deep and sacred emotion. Graydon was +now sure that he must dismiss one of his impressions of Madge, and +finally. No one could sing like that and be trivial at heart. "I don't +understand her," he muttered, gloomily, "but I appreciate one thing. +She has withheld from me her confidence, she does not wish to keep +her old place in my affection, and has deposed herself from it. +She appears to be under the influence of a brood of sentimental +aspirations. I shall remain my old self, nor shall I gratify her by +admiring wonder. The one thing that would make life a burden to me is +an intense, aesthetical, rapturously devotional woman, with her mental +eye fixed on a vague ideal. In such society I should feel much like a +man compelled to walk on stilts all the time. The idea of going back +to the hotel, smoking a cigar, and talking of the ordinary affairs of +life, after such music as that!" + +"It was very kind of you to come over for me," said Madge, as she came +out. "Thank you, doctor; no, there is no need of your going back with +me. Good-night." + +"Thanks to you, Miss Alden, thanks, thanks. The sermon was good, but +that last hymn rounded up Sunday for me. I was going up to the house, +but I'll go home and keep that music in my ears. If they had known, +they wouldn't have spared you from the hotel music to-night." + +"Please say nothing about it--that is all I ask," she said, as she +took Graydon's arm. + +"Yes, Madge," he began, quietly, "you sung well. You had the rudiments +of a fine voice years ago. In gaining strength you have also won the +power to sing." + +"Yes," she said, simply. + +"Do you sing much?" + +"I do not wish to sing at all in the hotel. I did not study music in +order to be conspicuous." + +"Have you studied it very carefully?" + +"Please leave out the word 'very.' I studied it as a young girl +studies, not scientifically. I had a good master, and he did his +best for me. Poor Herr Brachmann! he was sorry to have me come away. +Perhaps in time I can make progress that will satisfy him better. I +could see that he was often dissatisfied." + +"You don't mean to suggest that you are going back to Santa Barbara?" + +"Why not?" + +"True enough, 'why not?' It was a foolish question. You doubtless have +strong attachments there." + +"I have, indeed." + +"And it's natural to go where our attachments are strongest." + +"Yes; you have proved that to-day." + +"You evidently share in my brother's disapproval. Mary would soon +become quite reconciled." + +"I? I have no right to feel either approval or disapproval, while you +have an undoubted right to please yourself." + +"Indeed! are you so indifferent? If you think Miss Wildmere +objectionable you should disapprove." + +"If you find her altogether charming, if she realizes your ideal, is +not that sufficient? Everything is very much what it seems to us. If +I as a girl would please myself, you, surely, as a man have a right to +do so." + +"Do you propose to please yourself?" + +"Indeed I do." + +"You will be disappointed. You have formed a passion for ideals. I +imagine, though, that you are somewhat different from other girls +whose future husbands must be ideal men, but who are content +themselves to remain very much what their milliners, dressmakers, and +fashion make them." + +"I can at least say that I am not content; and I am also guilty of the +enormity of cherishing ideals." + +"Oh, I've found that out, if nothing else. Ideals among men are as +thick as blackberries, you know. Jack Henderson dances superbly." + +"Yes; he quite meets my ideal in that respect." + +"Perhaps you left some one in Santa Barbara who meets your ideal in +all respects?" + +"There was one gentleman there who approached it nearly." + +"How could you leave him?" + +"He came on with me--Mr. Wayland." + +"Pshaw! He's old enough to be your father." + +"And very like a father he was to me. I owe him an immense deal, for +he helped me so much!" + +"You did not let me help you?" + +"Yes; I did. I wrote to you for books, and read all you sent me; some +parts of them several times." + +"You know that is not what I meant. I am learning to understand you +somewhat, Madge. I hope you may realize all your ideals, and find some +young fellow who is the embodiment of the higher life, aspirations, +and all that, you know." + +Her laugh rang out musically. Mrs. Muir heard it, and remarked to her +husband: "Madge and Graydon are getting on better. They have seemed to +me to clash a little to-day." + +Mr. Muir made no reply, and Graydon, as he mounted the steps, +whispered, hurriedly, "What you said about Miss Wildmere was at least +just and fair. I wish you liked her, and would influence Henry to like +her, for I see that you have influence with him." + +She made no response by word or sign. + +The ladies soon retired, and Graydon waited in vain for another +interview with Miss Wildmere. While he was looking for her on the +piazza she passed in and disappeared. He at last discovered Mr. +Arnault, who was smoking and making some memoranda, and, turning on +his heel, he strode away. "She might have said good-night, at least," +he thought, discontentedly, "and that fellow Arnault did not look like +a man who had received his _congĂ©."_ + +That this gentleman did not regard himself as out of the race was +proved by his tactics the next morning. Before reaching the city he +joined Mr. Muir in the smoking section of a parlor car, and easily +directed their talk to the peculiar condition of business. Mr. Muir +knew little in favor of his companion, and not much against him, but +devoutly hoped that he would be the winning man in the contest +for Miss Wildmere. He also knew that the firm to which Mr. Arnault +belonged had held their heads well up in the fluctuations of the +street. Both gentlemen deplored the present state of affairs, and +hoped that there might soon be more confidence. "By the way, Mr. +Muir," Mr. Arnault remarked, casually, "if you need accommodation we +have some money lying idle for a short time, which we would like +to put out as a call loan, and would be glad to place it in good +conservative hands, like yours." + +"Thank you," said Mr. Muir, with some cordiality. + +He went to his office and looked matters over carefully. He was +convinced that a crisis was approaching. More money was required +immediately, since the securities in which he had invested had +declined still further. He had not lost his faith in them at all, +knowing that they had a solid basis, and would be among the first to +rise in value with returning confidence. He had gone so far and held +on so long that it was a terrible thing to give up now. Comparatively +little money would probably carry him over to perfect safety, but his +means were tied up, the banks stringent, and he had already strained +his credit somewhat. Mr. Arnault's proffer occurred to him again, and +at last, much as he disliked the expedient, he called upon the broker, +who was affable, off-hand, and business-like. + +"Yes, Mr. Muir," he said, "I can let you have thirty thousand just as +well as not; as the times are, I would like some security, however." + +"Certainly, here are bonds marketable to-day, although depressed +unnaturally. You are aware that they will be among the first to +appreciate." + +"In ordinary times one would think so." + +"How soon do you think you may call in this loan?" + +"Well, the probabilities are, that you may keep it as long as you +wish, at the rates named. They are stiff, I know, but not above the +market." + +Mr. Muir had thought it over. If he failed he was satisfied that his +assets would eventually make good every dollar he owed, with interest, +while, on the other hand, even the small sum named promised to +preserve his fortune and add very largely to his wealth. The +transaction was soon completed. + +Mr. Arnault was equally satisfied that he also took but slight risk. +The loan, however, was made from his own means, and was not wholly a +business affair. He had made up his mind to win Stella Wildmere, +and would not swerve from the purpose unless she engaged herself +to another. Then, even though she might be willing to break the tie +through stress of circumstances, he would stand aloof. There was only +one thing greater than his persistency--his pride. She was the belle +who, in his set, had been admired most generally, and his god was +success--success in everything on which he placed his heart, or, +rather, mind. For her to become engaged to Graydon, and then, because +of his poverty, to be willing to renounce him for a more fortunate +man, would not answer at all. He must appear to the world to have +won her in fair competition with all others, and the girl had an +instinctive knowledge of this fact. The events of the previous day, +with her father's note, therefore confirmed her purpose to keep both +men in abeyance until the scale should turn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MISS WILDMERE'S STRATEGY + + +As we have seen, Madge could not resume her old relations with Graydon +Muir. Indeed, the turning-point in her life had been the impulse and +decision to escape them by going away. She was also right in thinking +that this inability would rather help than hinder her cause. If he +had come back and realized his expectations, he would have bestowed +unstintedly the placid affection of a brother, given her his +confidence, his aid, anything she wished, except his thoughts. While +she lost much else, she retained these in a way that puzzled and even +provoked him, in view of his devotion to Miss Wildmere. The very fact +that he resented the way in which he had been treated by Madge made +him think of her, although admitting to himself that it might all turn +out for the best. He would have soon accepted changes in externals, +and her added accomplishments, but there were other and more subtle +changes which he could not grasp. It began to pique him that he had +already been forced to abandon more than one impression in regard to +her character. It was somewhat humiliating that he, who had seen the +world, especially in its social aspects, should be perplexed by a +young girl scarcely twenty, and that this girl of all others should +be little Madge. He had intimated that she had become imbued with +sentimentality and aspirations after ideals, and was hoping to meet +a male embodiment of these traits, which he regarded as prominently +lackadaisical. Her merry and half ironical laugh was not the natural +response of a woman of the intense and aesthetic type. + +"I don't understand her yet," he admitted; and he again assured +himself that it was not necessary that he should. She had not merely +drifted away from him, but had deliberately chosen that others should +guide and help in the new development. The thing for him to do now was +to secure the girl of his heart, who was not shrouded in mystery. It +was evident that Mr. Arnault had been an urgent suitor, and that she +was not already engaged to him proved, as he believed, that she had +been under the influence of a restraint readily explained by her more +than manner toward himself. "She will have to choose between us soon," +he thought. "She understands us both, and her heart will soon give its +final verdict, if it has not already done so." + +Miss Wildmere's heart would have slight voice in the verdict. Indeed, +it never had been permitted to say very much, and was approaching the +condition of a mute. She had her preference, however, and still hoped +to be able to follow it. She smiled upon Graydon almost as sweetly +as ever during the next two days, but he felt that she had grown +more elusive. She lured him on unmistakably, but permitted no +near approach. With consummate art, she increased the spell of her +fascinations, and added to the glamour which dazzled him. He might +look his admiration, and, more, he might compliment indefinitely; +but when he spoke too plainly, or sought stronger indications of her +regard, she was on the wing instantly, and he was too fine in his +perceptions to push matters against her will. One thing appeared +hopeful to him--she seemed possessed by a carefully veiled jealousy +of Madge. In his downright earnestness, he determined to give her no +cause for this, and treated Madge much as he did Mrs. Muir, allowing +for difference in age and relation. He determined that Miss Wildmere +should discover no ambiguity in his course or intentions. If thoughts +of him had kept her waiting through years, he would justify those +thoughts by all the means in his power. Casting about with a lover's +ingenuity for an explanation of her tantalizing allurement, yet +elusiveness, it occurred to him that she was unwilling to yield +readily and easily, from very fear that he might surmise the cause of +her freedom--that she had given him her love before it had been asked. +Therefore, it was not impossible that she now proposed for him a +somewhat thorny probation as an open suitor. She would not appear to +be easily won, and perhaps she thought that, since this was to be the +last wooing she could enjoy, she would make the most of it. He also +resolved to make the most of this phase of life, and to enjoy to the +utmost all of her shy witchery, her airy, hovering nearness to the +thought uppermost in his mind, as if she were both fascinated by it +and afraid. He little dreamed that her feminine grace and _finesse_ +were but the practical carrying out of her father's suggestion, to +"keep him well in hand." + +Madge felt herself neglected and partially forgotten. She saw that +Miss Wildmere's spell grew stronger upon Graydon every day. It was +not in her nature to seek to attract his attention or in the slightest +degree to enter the lists openly against her rival. During the first +three days of the week, her chief effort was to be so active and +cheerful that her deep despondency should be hidden from all. She was +the life of every little group of which she formed a part. Wherever +she appeared, mirth and laughter soon followed. The young girls in the +house began to acknowledge her as a natural leader, the boyish young +fellows to adore her, and the maturer men to discover that she could +hold her own with them in conversation, while another class learned, +to their chagrin, that she would not flirt. For every walking +expedition started she was ready with her alpenstock, and the experts +in the bowling alley found a strong, supple competitor, with eye and +hand equally true. Graydon, as far as his preoccupation permitted, +saw all this with renewed perplexity. She now appeared to him as +a beautiful, vigorous girl, with healthful instincts and a large +appetite for enjoyment. + +Wednesday morning was cool and cloudy, and a large party was forming +to climb to Spy Rock. Graydon was longing for more activity, and since +the day was so propitious, Miss Wildmere consented to go. Of course +Madge was in readiness, and in charming costume for a walk. The moment +they were on the steep path he had to admit that she appeared the +superior of Miss Wildmere. The one owed her bloom to artificial and +metropolitan life; the other had gone to nature, and now acted as +if her foot were on her native heath. Her step was light, yet never +uncertain. Her progress was easy, and, although different, was quite +as graceful as if she were promenading the piazza, proving that she +was an adept in mountain-climbing. It was evident, however, that +to Miss Wildmere a mountain was a _terra incognita_. She trod +uncertainly, her feet turned on loose stones that hurt her, and before +the first steep ascent was passed, she panted and was glad to sit down +with others, more or less exhausted. + +Madge's breathing was only slightly quickened, and color was beginning +to come in her usually pale face, yet she had lent a helping hand more +than once. + +"How easily you climb, Miss Alden!" gasped Miss Wildmere. "Have you +taken lessons?" + +"Yes," she replied, smiling sweetly, "and from a master." + +Miss Wildmere also was beginning to discover a problem in Madge; she +could not patronize, snub, or apparently touch her with shafts of +satire. The young girl treated her with cordial indifference, as +one-of the guests of the house. She appeared to be capable of enjoying +herself thoroughly, with scarcely a consciousness of the belle's +existence, unless, as in the present case, she was addressed. Then she +would reply with perfect courtesy, but in some such ambiguous way. It +soon became evident to Graydon that the two girls were hostile, and +this both amused and vexed him. He was beginning to learn that Madge +was the more skilful opponent. She was never aggressive, yet seemed +clad in polished armor when attacked, and her quick replies flashed +back under the light of her smile. By acting, however, as if Miss +Wildmere were never in her thoughts, except when in some way obtruded +upon them, she gave the keenest wound. The flattered girl enjoyed +being envied, hated, and even detested by her own sex, but to be +politely ignored was a new and unwelcome experience, and she chafed +under it, not so secretly but that Graydon observed her annoyance. + +After a rest they started on again, he with Miss Wildmere falling to +the rear. Before Madge passed around a curve in the path she saw a +lily on a bank above her, and with the aid of her alpenstock sprang +upon the mossy shelf, plucked the flower, and leaped down with an +effort so quick and agile that it seemed like the impulse of a bird +to get something and pass on. She put the flower in her belt, and a +moment later was hidden from view. + +"I hope you observed that feat," Miss Wildmere remarked. "Indeed, Miss +Alden appears inclined to call attention to her feet this morning." + +"I hope the ladies will observe them," he replied; "the gentlemen +will, for they are pretty. Did you not note that her boots are adapted +to walking? You could climb with twice the ease if your heels were not +so high. For mountain scrambling a lady needs short skirts, and boots +like those that Miss Alden wears. You should see the English girls +walking in the Alps. It's my good-fortune, however, that you are +partially disabled this morning. Here's a steep place. Take my arm and +put all the weight upon it you can--the more the better. Lean on me as +if you trusted me." + +There was a slight frown on her brow, as he began his speech, but it +soon passed, and she said, softly, as she still lingered, "Well, I'm +not an athlete. I should value more a man's strong arm than strength +of my own." + +"You know that the arm of one man is ever at your service." + +"'Ever' implies more patience than any man possesses." + +"I should think so; yet you will find me reasonably patient." + +"Everything is a matter of reason with men." + +"Our reason assures us that certain things are a matter of the heart +with women. Therefore we hope." + +"Men are much too exacting. They reason a thing out and make up their +minds. If they base any hopes on women's hearts, they should remember +what unreasoning organs they are--full of hesitations, doubts, absurd +fears, and more absurd confidence at times. Have you ever seen a bird +hovering in the air, not knowing where to alight? Give it time, and +it makes its selection and swiftly follows its choice. No good +hunter rushes at it in the hope of capturing it during the moment of +indecision." + +"Indeed, Miss Wildmere, if I understand your little parable, I think +Mr. Arnault errs egregiously, yet he does not frighten the bird into a +very distant flight." + +"You do not know how distant it is." + +"No; I only see that he goes straight for the bird the moment he sees +her." + +"He might have found a more considerate policy wiser." Then she added, +gravely, with a little reproach in her voice: "Mr. Arnault is an old +friend and a friend of papa's, whom he often favors in business. I +think my manner toward you should prove that I am not inclined to be +disloyal toward old friends. You have just defended Miss Alden against +a little feminine spite on my part. That was nice. In the same way +I defend Mr. Arnault, whom, for reasons equally absurd, you do not +altogether like. I'm only a woman, you know, and a little spite is one +of our prerogatives. After all, it doesn't amount to anything. I would +do as much for Miss Alden as for any one in the house." (Quite true, +which was nothing.) "You know how girls are." + +"Certainly, especially when both are reigning belles." + +"The men are always the rulers sooner or later; and I shall give +my allegiance to those gentlemen friends who are the least like +myself--tolerant, patient, you know. Mr. Arnault is coming to-night to +spend the Fourth. I must give him more or less of my time--I should be +ungrateful if I did not--but I don't wish you to feel toward me or him +as I should toward you and Miss Alden if I saw that you were together +a great deal. How you see how frank I am, and what a compliment I pay +to your masculine superiority." + +"Miss Wildmere, I think I understand you; I hope I do. Your manner of +greeting me on my return from long absence proved that you were not +disloyal to one old friend. If you could keep me in mind for years, I +can hope I am not forgotten during the hours when others have claims +upon you. I have ever kept you in mind, and I might say more. If women +have a little natural spite, men in some situations are endowed with +enormous selfishness, and the bump of appropriation grows almost into +a deformity." + +"I never expect to see deformities of any kind in Graydon Muir," she +said, laughing. "Now that we understand each other so well, give me +your hand and pull me up this steep place before which we have stood +so long, while getting over another little steep place that lay in our +path. I'm glad the others have all gone on, for now you can help me +all you choose, and I shan't care." + +He did help her, with a touch and freedom that grew into something +like caresses. He felt that he had revealed himself almost as +completely as if he had spoken his love, and that he had received and +was receiving more than encouragement. She did not rebuke his manner, +which was that of a lover. There was no committal in that, nothing +that could bind her. She permitted the avowal of his hope, that he +had been in her thoughts during his long absence, and the natural +inference that her hand was still free because of his hold upon her +heart. This belief filled him with gratitude, and inspired him, as she +intended it should, with generous thoughts and impulses toward her. +What if she did prefer to maintain a little longer the delicate half +reserve that precedes a positive engagement? It only insured that the +cup of happiness should be sipped and enjoyed more leisurely. She had +seen too much of life, and enjoyed too many of its pleasures, to act +with precipitation now. She understood him, and yet loved him well +enough to be jealous of one whom she believed that he regarded as a +sister. With amusement he thought: "She is not even that to me now. +Hanged if I know what she is to me beyond a pretty, vexatious puzzle!" + +Miss Wildmere's strategy had accomplished one thing, however. +Believing that he was absolved by Madge's course from everything +beyond cordial politeness, he had resolved to carry out her rival's +wishes. It was no great cross to forego Madge's society, and if Miss +Wildmere saw that he was not consoling himself during the hours she +spent with Arnault, she would shorten them in his behalf. + +After reaching a certain point he suggested: "Instead of scaling +that rocky height after the rest of the party, suppose we follow this +grassy wood-road to parts unknown. It will be easier for you than +climbing, and you are better society than a crowd." + +She assented smilingly, and Madge did not see Graydon again until they +met at dinner. + +She was pale, and looked weary. "Oh," she thought, "perhaps my hopes +are already vain! They have been alone all the morning. He may have +spoken; he looks so happy and content that he must have spoken and +received the answer he craved. If so, I shall soon join the Waylands +in my native village, for I can't keep up much longer without a little +hope." + +"You are tired, Madge," he said, not unkindly. + +"A little," she replied, carelessly. "A short nap this afternoon will +insure my being ready for the hop to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PERPLEXED AND BEGUILED + + +Madge was so discouraged that she contented herself with a manner of +listless apathy during dinner, and then retired to her room. Graydon +was giving her so little thought that there was slight occasion for +disguise, and less incentive for effort to interest him. + +"The struggle promises to be short and decisive," she moaned. "Perhaps +it has been already decided. I had no chance after all. He came here +fully committed in his own thoughts to Miss Wildmere. I have merely +lost my old place in his affection, and have had and shall have no +opportunity to win his love. If this is to be my fate it is well to +discover it so speedily, and not after weeks of torturing hope +and fear. I'll learn the truth with absolute certainty as soon as +possible, and then find a pretext to join the Waylands." + +At last the fatigue of the morning brought the respite of sleep, and +when she waked she found late evening shadows in her room, and learned +that Mr. Muir had arrived, it being his purpose to spend the Fourth +and the remainder of the week with his family. + +Weariness and despondency are near akin, and in banishing one Madge +found herself better able to cope with the other. At any rate, she +determined to show no weakness. If Graydon would never love her he +should at least be compelled to respect and admire her, and he should +never have cause to surmise the heart-poverty to which she was doomed. +Still less would she give her proud rival a chance to wound her again. +Miss Wildmere might make Graydon's devotion as ostentatious as she +pleased, but should never again detect on Madge's face a look of +pained surprise and solicitude. + +She made a careful toilet for the evening, telling Mr. Muir and her +sister not to wait for her, as she had overslept herself. + +"Where is Madge?" Graydon asked, at the supper-table. + +"She did not wake up in time to come down with us," Mrs. Muir replied. +"What does it matter? Miss Wildmere so fills your eyes that you see no +one else. When is it to be, Graydon?" + +"Madge evidently sees quite as much of me as she cares to," he +replied, somewhat irritably. "I have not asked when it's to be or +whether it's to be at all. I suppose," he added, satirically, "that in +consideration of my extreme youth I should obtain permission from my +family before venturing to ask anything." + +"That remark is absurd and uncalled for," Mr. Muir replied, gravely. +"Of course you will please yourself, as I did, and we shall make the +best of it. But you have no right to expect that we shall see the lady +with your eyes. I cannot help seeing her as she is. I do not like her, +but if you choose to marry her, rest assured I shall give neither of +you cause for complaint. Now, according to my custom, I've had my say. +You could not expect me, as your brother, to be indifferent; still +less could I pretend an approval that I don't feel; but I recognize +that you are as free as I was when Mary's suitor, and I do not think +you can reasonably ask more. Our relations are too intimate for +misunderstanding. You know that, in my present plans and hopes, I +looked forward to receiving you as a partner at no distant time, if +such purposes are carried out our interests must always be identical." + +"Pardon me, Henry," said Graydon, warmly, "and do not misunderstand my +hasty words. I know you have my best welfare at heart--you have ever +proved that--but you misjudge my choice. Even Mary begins to see that +you do, and woman's insight is keener than man's. You attribute to the +daughter the qualities you dislike in the father. Is it nothing that +she has waited for me during my long absence, when she could pick and +choose from so many?" + +"I'm not sure she has been waiting for you; her manner toward Mr. +Arnault yonder suggests that she may still pick and choose." + +"Bah! I'm not afraid of him. She could have taken him long since had +she so wished." + +Others who had seats at the table now approached, and prevented +further interchange of words on so delicate a subject. Nevertheless +Mr. Muir's arrow had not flown wide of the mark, and Graydon thought +that Miss Wildmere was unnecessarily cordial toward his rival, and +that Mr. Wildmere, who had also come from the city, was decidedly +complacent over the fact. + +Graydon's furtive observation was now cut short by the entrance of +Madge, and even he was dazzled by a beauty that attracted many eyes. +It was not merely a lovely woman who was advancing toward him, but a +woman whose nature was profoundly excited. What though she moved in +quiet, well-bred grace, and greeted Mr. Muir with natural cordiality? +The aroused spiritual element was not wanting in the expression of her +face or in the dignity of her carriage. Her deep, suppressed feeling, +which bordered on despair; her womanly pride, which would disguise +all suffering at every cost, gave to her presence a subtle power, felt +none the less because intangible. It was evident that she neither +saw nor cared for the strangers who were looking their curiosity and +admiration; and Graydon understood her barely well enough to think, +"Something, whatever it may be, makes her unlike other girls. She was +languidly indifferent at dinner; now she is superbly indifferent. This +morning and yesterday she was a gay young girl, eager for a mountain +scramble or a frolic of any kind. How many more phases will she +exhibit before the week is over?" + +Poor Madge could not have answered that question herself. She was +under the control of one of the chief inspirations of feeling and +action. Moods of which she had never dreamed would become inevitable; +thoughts which nothing external could suggest would arise in her own +heart and determine her manner. + +In ceasing to hope one also ceases to fear, and Graydon admitted to +himself that he had never before felt the change in Madge so deeply. +The weak, timid little girl he had once known now looked as if she +could quietly face anything. The crowded room, the stare of strangers, +were simply as if they were not; the approach of a thunder-gust in the +sultry evening was unheeded; when a loud peal drowned her voice, she +simply waited till she could be heard again, and then went on without +a tremor in her tones, while all around her people were nervous, +starting, and exclaiming. There was not the faintest suggestion of +high tragedy in her manner. To a casual observer it was merely the +somewhat proud and cold reserve of a lady in a public place, while +under the eyes of a strange and miscellaneous assemblage. Graydon +imagined that it might veil some resentment because he had been +so remiss in his attentions. He could scarcely maintain this view, +however, for she was as cordial to him as to any one, while at the +same time giving the impression that he was scarcely in her thoughts +at all. + +Mr. Muir was perplexed also, and watched her with furtive admiration. +"If she cares for Graydon's neglect she's a superb actress," he +thought. "Great Scott! what an idiot he is, that he cannot see the +difference between this grand woman and yonder white-faced speculator! +She actually quickens the blood in my veins to-night when she fixes +her great black eyes on me." + +Graydon felt her power, but believed that there was nothing in it +gentle or conciliatory toward himself. Probably her mood resulted from +a proud consciousness of her beauty and the triumphs that awaited her. +She had been young and gay heretofore with the other young people, but +now that a number of mature men, like Arnault, had appeared upon the +scene, she proposed to make a different impression. The embodiment of +her ideal might be among them. "At any rate," he concluded, "she +has the skill to make me feel that I have little place in either her +imaginings or hopes, and that for all she cares I may capture Miss +Wildmere as soon as I can. Both of us probably are so far beneath her +ideals of womanhood and manhood that she can never be friendly to +one and is fast losing her interest in the other. She has already +virtually said, 'Our relations are accidental, and if you marry Stella +Wildmere you need not hope that I shall accept her with open arms as +inseparable from one of my best friends.' 'Best friend,' indeed! Even +that amount of regard was a lingering sentiment of the past. Now that +we have met again she realizes that we have grown to be comparative +strangers, and that our tastes and interests lie apart." + +Thus day after day he had some new and perturbed theory as to +Madge, in which pique, infused with cynical philosophy and utter +misapprehension, led to widely varying conclusions. Ardent and +impatient lover of another woman as he was, one thing remained +true--he could neither forget nor placidly ignore the girl who had +ceased to be his sister, and who yet was not very successful in +playing the part of a young lady friend. + +When the dancing began, the storm was approaching its culmination. +More vivid than the light from the chandeliers, the electric flashes +dazzled startled eyes with increasing frequency. Miss Wildmere at +first tried to show cool indifference in the spirit of bravado, and +maintained her place upon the floor with Mr. Arnault and a few others. +She soon succumbed, with visible agitation, as a thunderous peal +echoed along the sky. Madge danced on with Graydon as if nothing had +occurred. He only felt that her form grew a little more tense, and saw +that her eyes glowed with suppressed excitement. + +"Are you not afraid?" he asked, as soon as his voice could be heard. +"See, the ladies are scattering or huddling together, while many look +as if the world were coming to an end." + +"The world is coming to an end to some every day," she replied. + +"That remark is as tragic as it is trite, Madge. What could have +suggested it?" + +"Trite remarks cannot have serious causes." + +"Account for the tragic phase, then." + +"I'm in no mood for tragedy, and commonplace does not need +explanation." + +"What kind of mood are you in to-night, Madge? You puzzle me;" and he +looked directly into her eyes. At the moment she was facing a window, +and a flash of strange brilliancy made every feature luminous. It +seemed to him that he saw her very soul, the spirit she might become, +for it is hard to imagine existence without form--form that is in +harmony with character. The crash that followed was so terrific that +they paused and stood confronting each other. The music ceased; cries +of terror resounded; but the momentary transfiguration of the girl +before him had been so strange and so impressive that Graydon forgot +all else, and still gazed at her with something like awe in his face. +Her lip trembled, for the nervous tension was growing too severe. +"Why do you look at me so?" she faltered. "What has happened? Is there +danger?" + +"What _has_ happened, Madge, that I cannot understand you? The +electric gleam made you look like an angel of light. Your face +seemed light itself. Are you so true and good, Madge, that such vivid +radiance brings out no stain or fear? What is it that makes you unlike +others?" Instinctively he looked toward Miss Wildmere. Her face +was buried in her hands, and Mr. Arnault was bending over her with +reassuring words. + +Madge felt her self-control departing. "Mary is afraid in a +thunderstorm," she said, in a low tone. "I'll go to her. She does not +find me so puzzling;" and she hastened away, yet not so swiftly but +that he saw her quivering lip and look of trouble. + +He took a few impulsive steps in pursuit, then hesitated and walked +irresolutely down a hallway, that he might have a chance for further +thought. The alarm and confusion were so great that the little episode +had been unnoted. It had made an impression on Graydon, however, that +he could not shake off readily. + +Emotion, if forced, has little power except to repel, but even a +glimpse of deep, suppressed feeling haunts the memory, especially if +its cause is half in mystery. + +Madge had set her heart on one thing, had worked long and patiently +for its attainment, had hoped and prayed for it, and within the last +few hours was feeling the bitterness of defeat. The event she so +dreaded seemed inevitable, even if it had not already occurred. The +expression on Graydon's face when she had first met him after his long +ramble with Miss Wildmere had been that of a tranquilly happy lover, +whose heart was at rest in glad certainty. Why should he not have +spoken? what greater encouragement could he ask than the favor she +herself had seen? During his long absence another girl had apparently +been waiting for him also, "But not working for him," she sighed, "and +keeping herself aloof from all and everything that would render her +less worthy. While I sought to train heart, body, and soul to be a fit +bride, she has dallied with every admirer she met, and now wins him +without one hour of self-denial or effort. It is more bitter than +death to me. It is cruelty to him, for that selfish girl will never +make him happy. Even after he marries her he will be only one among +many, and the ballroom glare will be more to her than the light of her +own hearth." + +Such thoughts had been in Madge's mind, and self-control had been no +easy matter. When to all had been added the excitement of the storm +and his unexpected words, her overstrained nerves gave way. She +was too desperately unhappy for the common fear which temporarily +overwhelmed many--the greater swallows up the less--but the storm had +led to words that both wounded and alarmed her. Why did she so perplex +him? What had the lightning's gleam revealed, to be understood when +he should think it all over? Could the truth of her love, of which she +was so conscious, be detected in spite of her efforts and disguises? +Was she doomed, not only to failure and an impoverished life, but also +to the humiliation of receiving a lifelong, yet somewhat complacent +pity from Graydon, and possibly the triumphant scorn of her rival? + +With these thoughts surging in her mind she locked herself in her room +and sobbed like the broken-hearted girl she felt herself to be. The +passing storm was nothing to her. A heavier storm was raging in her +soul, nor had it ceased when the skies without grew cloudless and +serene. She at last felt that she must do something to maintain her +disguise. Hearing little Jack crying and Mrs. Muir trying to hush him, +she washed her eyes and went to the partially darkened room where the +child was, and said, "Let me take him, Mary, and you go down and see +Henry." + +"It's awfully good of you, Madge. The children have been so frightened +that I've been up here all the evening. You seem to have better luck +in quieting Jack than any of us." + +"He'll be good with me. Go down at once, and don't worry. You have +hardly had a chance to see Henry." + +"You will come down again after Jack goes to sleep?" + +"Yes, if I feel like it." + +Graydon soon discovered Mrs. Muir after she had joined her husband, +and asked, "Where is Madge?" + +"She has kindly taken the baby so that I can spend a little time with +Henry. The children have been frightened, and Jack is very fretful. +I'm tired out, and don't know what I should do if it wasn't for +Madge." + +"Why can't the nurse take him?" + +"He won't go to her in these bad moods. Madge can quiet him even +better than I. What's the matter that you are so anxious to see Madge? +You have seemed abundantly able to amuse yourself without her the last +few days. Is Mr. Arnault in the way to-night?" + +"As if I cared a rap for him!" said Graydon, turning irritably away. + +He did care, however, and felt that Miss Wildmere was making too much +use of the liberty she had provided for. She, like many others, could +be half hysterical while the violence of the storm lasted, and yet, +when quiet was restored, was capable of making a jest of her fears +and the most of a delightful conjunction of affairs, which placed two +eligible men at her beck, to either of whom she could become engaged +before she slept. The arrival of her father had turned the scale +decidedly in favor of Mr. Arnault, for the latter, without revealing +his transaction with Mr. Muir, had whispered to Mr. Wildmere his +conviction that Henry Muir was borrowing at ruinous interest. This +information accorded with the broker's previous knowledge, and he was +eager that his daughter should decide for Arnault at once. + +This, however, the wilful girl would not do. She enjoyed the present +condition of affairs too well, and was not without hope, also, that +her father was mistaken; for she felt sure, from Graydon's manner, +that he was not aware of his brother's financial peril, and this fact +inclined her to doubt its existence. She was actuated by the feeling +that she had given much time and encouragement to Graydon, and that +now Arnault should have his turn. Madge had been invisible since the +storm, and there was nothing to indicate that Graydon was disposed to +give her much thought. Miss Wildmere's natural supposition was that he +and Madge had been like brother and sister once, and that the form of +the relation still existed, but that in their long separation they had +grown somewhat indifferent toward each other. She believed that the +solicitude she had seen in Madge's face, on the evening so memorable +in the latter's experience, was due to the jealousy of an immature, +sickly girl, who had been so humored as to feel that Graydon belonged +to her. She naturally believed that if there had been anything +beyond this, it would have been developed by correspondence, or else +indifference on both sides would not now be so palpable. She disliked +Madge chiefly as a rival in beauty and admiration. Nothing could be +more clear than that Graydon was completely under the spell of her own +fascination, and that Madge was receiving even scant fraternal regard. +All she feared was, that during the process of keep him "well in +hand" he might become more conscious of Madge's attractions, which she +recognized, however much she decried them openly. Even if compelled by +circumstances to accept Arnault, she proposed to herself the triumph +of rejecting Graydon, and thought she could do this so skilfully as to +give the idea that he had made a deep impression on her heart, and +so eventually win him again as one of her devoted followers in the +future. This product of fashionable society had not the slightest +intention of giving up her career as a belle for the sake of Mr. +Arnault or any one else. She had more liking and less fear for Graydon +than for Arnault. The latter was an open, resolute suitor, but she +knew that he was controlled more by ambition than by affection--that +he would yield everything and submit to anything up to a certain +point. The moment she jeopardized his prestige before the world, +or interfered with his scheme of success, she would meet rock-like +obduracy, both before and after marriage. She knew that Graydon had +a sincere affection for her, and a faith in her which, even in her +egotism, she was aware was unmerited--that he had a larger, gentler, +and more tolerant nature, and would be easier to manage than Arnault. + +Her fear of the latter proved his best ally. There was a resolution in +his eye since his return this evening that, even while it angered her +somewhat, convinced her that he would not be trifled with. His suit +was that of a man who had an advantage which she dared not ignore, and +her father's manner increased this impression. She felt that her game +was becoming delicate and hazardous, but she would not forego its +delicious excitement, or abandon the hope that Graydon might still +be in a position to warrant her preference. Therefore she proposed to +yield to Arnault as far as she could without alienating Muir, hoping +that the former would soon return to town again, and thus more time be +secured for her final decision. + +Before the first evening of his rivals advent had passed, Graydon felt +that he must appear to the people in the house as supplanted, and his +pride was beginning to be touched. Mrs. Muir's words had added to his +irritation. The episode with Madge had left a decidedly unpleasant +impression. He felt not only that he had failed to understand her, but +that he might be treating her with a neglect which she had a right to +resent. Her appearance and manner during the storm had almost startled +him; her abrupt departure had caused sudden and strong compunction; +and he had wished that they might come to a better understanding; +but thoughts of her had soon given place to anxiety in regard to Miss +Wildmere. It began to seem strange that the girl who had apparently +waited for him so long, and who had permitted such unequivocal words +and manner on his part that day, should now, before his very eyes, be +accepting attentions even more unmistakable from another man. She had +tried to explain and prepare him for all this, but there was more than +he was prepared for. She not only danced oftener with Arnault than +with any one else, but also strolled with him on the dusky piazza, +which, by reason of the dampness due to the storm, was almost +deserted. Graydon had permitted his brow to become clouded, and was so +perturbed by the events of the evening that he had not disguised his +vexation by gallantries to others. At last he detected smiles and +whispered surmises on the part of some who had seen his devotion +before the arrival of Mr. Arnault. This almost angered him, and he +felt that Miss Wildmere had imposed a rĂ´le that would be difficult to +maintain. + +He had lingered conspicuously near, intent on proving his loyalty, and +had hoped every moment that his opportunity would come. He felt that +she should at least divide her time evenly with him and Mr. Arnault, +but the evening was drawing to a close, and the latter had received +the lion's share. After noting that others were observing his +desolation, he went resolutely out on the piazza, with the intention +of asking Miss Wildmere to give him the last waltz. Its wide space +was deserted. He waited a few moments, thinking that the object of his +thoughts would turn the corner in her promenade with his rival. Time +passed, and she did not come. He looked through a parlor window, +thinking that she might have entered by some other means of ingress; +and while he was standing there steps slowly approached from a part of +the piazza which was usually in utter darkness, and which was known +as the "lovers' retreat." As the figures passed a lighted window he +recognized them, and was also observed. He was too angry and jealous +now to carry out his purpose, and returned to the general hallway. + +Here he was joined a moment later by Miss Wildmere and Mr. Arnault, +and the former began to chat with him in imperturbable ease, while +the gentleman bowed and sought another partner for the waltz that was +about to be danced. Graydon would not show his chagrin under the many +eyes directed toward them, but she nevertheless saw his anger in the +cold expression of his eyes, and realized her danger. She ignored +everything with inimitable skill and sweetness, and there was nothing +for him to do but take her out with the others. Indeed, it almost +instantly became his policy to convince observers that their surmises +were without foundation. He determined that the girl should show him +all the favor his rival had enjoyed, or else--A sudden flash of his +eyes indicated to his observant companion that all her skill would +be required. She was graciousness itself, and when Arnault could +not observe her, stole swift and almost pleading glances into her +partner's eyes. + +Another observed her, however. Madge did come down at last, for she +had concluded that the memorable day should not close until she +had had one more glimpse of the problem which had grown so dark and +hopeless. Graydon soon observed her standing in the doorway, but then +she was talking and laughing with a lady friend. A moment later she +glided out on the floor with one of a half dozen who had been waiting +for the favor. Graydon sought to catch her eye, but did not succeed. +Again she made upon his mind the impression of troubled perplexity, +but his purpose was uppermost, and he was bent on carrying it out. + +"Come," he said to Miss Wildmere, in quiet tones, "I should enjoy a +stroll on the piazza, the room has grown so warm and close." + +Feeling that she must yield, she did so with ready grace and apparent +willingness, and Graydon led her out through the main entrance, that +it might be observed that he received no less favor than had been +given to another. + +"She is playing them both pretty strong," whispered one of the +committee, before referred to, that sits perpetually on the phases of +life at such resorts. + +"I feared you would not be very patient," said Miss Wildmere, in a low +tone. + +"I said I would be reasonably patient," was the reply. + +"Reason again." + +"Yes, Miss Wildmere; I think I can justly say that I am endowed with +both heart and reason. There are some questions in life that demand +both." + +"Please do not speak so coldly. You do not understand." + +"I wish I did." + +"Be patient and you will. After maintaining friendship true and strong +for years, it hurts me to be misjudged now." + +"But, Miss Wildmere--" he began, impetuously. + +"Hush," she said, hastily; then added, a little coldly, "if I am not +worthy of a little trust I am not worthy of anything." + +Graydon was touched to the quick. Honorable himself, he felt that he +was acting meanly and suspiciously--that his jealousy and irritation +were leading him to unmanly conduct. There was some reason for her +course, which would be explained eventually, and he ought not to ask +a woman to be his wife at all unless he could trust her. Therefore he +said, humbly. "I beg your pardon. In my heart I believe you worthy of +all trust. I will wait and be as patient as you desire, since I know +that you cannot have failed to understand me." Then he added, with +a deprecating laugh, "There are times, I suppose, when all men are a +little blind and unreasonable." + +"Heaven keep him blind!" she thought, yet she winced under his honest +words in their contrast with herself. + +"I hope some day to prove worthy of your trust," she breathed, softly, +and looked in dread into the darkness lest in some way her words +should reach Arnault. "Come, please," she added, with a gentle +pressure on his arm, "let us return, or the hotel may be closed upon +us." + +"Please give me all the time you can," pleaded Graydon, as they paused +at the door. + +Looking within, she saw Arnault with his back toward them, and said, +hastily, and as if impulsively, "I will--all that I can. Possibly my +regret will be deeper than yours that I cannot give you more." + +"You should know that that is not possible," he said, in low, earnest +tones. Then he added, in a whisper, as she was entering, "I can trust +you now and wait." + +"My good fortune is still in the ascendant," was her thought; "I can +still keep him in hand, in spite of papa and Mr. Arnault." + +"Her father's relations with Mr. Arnault must give him some hold upon +her," he thought, "and for her father's sake she cannot yield to me at +once, but she will eventually." + +Mr. Arnault came forward with smiling lips, light words, yet resolute +eyes. Graydon felt that he had received all the assurance that he +needed--that she was under some necessity of keeping his rival in +good-humor--so he smiled significantly into her eyes, and bowed +himself away. + +"Muir looked as if he had received all the comfort that he required," +Arnault said, as they strolled across the parlor, now deserted. + +"Did he? Well, he did not require very much." + +"How much?" + +"You had better ask him." + +"Stella," he said, and there was a suggestion of menace in his tone, +"I'm in earnest now. You will soon have to choose between us." + +"Shall I?" she replied, bending upon him an arch, bewildering smile. +"Then please don't speak as if I had no choice at all;" and she was +going. + +"Wait," he said. "Will you drive with me to-morrow?" + +"Yes. Is there anything else your lordship would like?" + +He seized her hand, and held it in both his. "This," he said. + +"Is that all?" was her laughing reply, as she withdrew it. "I wish you +had more of Mr. Muir's diffidence;" and she vanished before he could +speak again. + +Graydon found that Madge had retired, so that there was no chance for +him to speak to her that night; but his mind was in too happy a tumult +to give her much thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + +Mrs. Muir came into Madge's room for a bit of the gossip that she +dearly loved, but, as usual, obtained little information or surmise +from the young girl. "I'm glad you came down," she said, "if only to +prove to Graydon that you were not moping upstairs." + +"Why should I mope upstairs?" Madge asked, with a keen look at her +sister. + +"No reason that I know of, only Graydon has been slightly spoiled by +his success among ladies, and society men are always imagining that +girls are languishing for them." + +"Have I given him or anyone such an impression?" Madge again inquired, +indignantly. + +"Oh, no, indeed! On the contrary, you seem so indifferent as not to be +quite natural. Even Graydon feels it, and is perplexed and troubled. +He was inquiring for you during the evening, and I told him you were +kindly caring for Jack, so that I might have a little fresh air with +Henry on the piazza." + +"There it is again--perplexed and troubled. I'm sick of being +misunderstood so ridiculously. The scraps of time that he gives me +when Miss Wildmere does not fill his eyes and thoughts are employed +in criticism. Why should I perplex and trouble him? I have told him +to please himself with Miss Wildmere--that I should certainly please +myself in my choice of friends, and that he as a man assuredly had a +right to do the same. He will soon be engaged to her, and probably is +already, but he has no right to demand that I should receive this girl +with open arms. She already detests me, and I do not admire her. +It's none of my business, but if I were a man I wouldn't stand +her flirtation with Mr. Arnault. Even the people in the house are +observing it with significant smiles. He must get over the impression +that I'm the weak, limp child in mind or body that he left. I'm an +independent woman, and have as much right to my thoughts and ways +as he to his. If he wants my society, let him treat me with natural +friendliness. If he's afraid to do it--if Miss Wildmere won't let +him--rest assured I won't receive any furtive, deprecatory attentions. +I am abundantly able to take care of myself in my own way." + +"Oh, Madge, you have so changed! Before you went away the sun seemed +to rise and set in Graydon." + +"Well, the sun now rises in the west and sets in the east--What am +I saying? Well, perhaps, it's true for me, after all. In the West I +gained the power to live a strong, resolute life of my own choosing, +and he may as well recognize the truth first as last. Let him give all +his thoughts to Miss Wildmere. From what I see and have heard she will +keep them busy before and after marriage." + +"He's not engaged to her yet; he said so positively." + +"Oh, well," Madge replied, with well-assumed indifference, although +her heart bounded at the tidings, "it's only a question of time. +There, we've talked enough about _her_. Of course I remember Graydon's +old kindness, and all that; and if he would treat me with frank and +sensible friendliness, I should enjoy his society. Why not?" + +"I thought he regarded you as his sister." + +"Sister, indeed! I'm Henry's sister, not his. I'm only an object of +criticism, of perplexity, a sphinx, and all that kind of nonsense. He +was bent on seeing a 'little ghost,' as he used to call me. I'm not a +bit of a ghost, and have as much proud blood in my veins as he has." + +"Well, Madge, I'm glad you feel that you are Henry's sister. He likes +and admires you so much that I'm half jealous." + +"Henry and I understand each other. He thinks I'm sensible, and I +certainly think he is. Good-night, now, dear. It's after twelve, and I +wish you a merry Fourth of July; I mean to have one." + +Graydon had not found himself in a sleeping mood until the shadows of +night were almost ready to depart, and so came down very late. Mrs. +Wildmere, who was on the piazza with her child, informed him, with a +deprecatory smile, that Stella had gone to drive with Mr. Arnault. He +bit his lip, and went to make a leisurely breakfast. By the time he +had finished, Madge came in with a party of young people who had been +on a ramble. Her greeting was friendly, but nothing more, and having +received a long letter from Mrs. Wayland, she took it to a small +summer-house. Graydon soon strayed after her in a listless way, and in +no very amiable humor. The greater anxiety had swallowed up the less, +and his perturbed thoughts about Madge were now following a light +carriage on some wild mountain road. His generous glow of feeling of +the night before had passed somewhat, and he was inclined to think +that Miss Wildmere's relations to Arnault, whatever they were, placed +him, a committed lover, in a rather anomalous position. Since she was +absent, however, he would while away an hour with Madge, and try to +solve the riddle she had become. + +She greeted him with a slight smile, and went on with her letter. He +watched her curiously and with contracting brow. + +"Will you ever finish?" he soon asked. + +"I can read it some other time," she said, laying it down. + +"Oh, that is asking far too much!" + +"Is it?" + +"Confound it, Madge! Why is it that we are drifting further and +further apart every day?" + +"I am not drifting," she said, quietly, "nor do you give that +impression. I am just where you found me on your return. Since we are +so far apart you must be doing the journeying." + +"Well, Heaven knows I found you distant enough!" + +"I beg your pardon; Heaven knows nothing of the kind! It's not my +fault that you value friendship so lightly." + +"You know I wished for so much more." + +"You thought you did at first, Graydon," she replied, with a quiet +smile, "but I imagine that you soon became quite reconciled to my +view of the case. The relation would surely prove embarrassing to +you. Haven't you since thought that it might?" she asked, with sweet +directness. + +He colored visibly, and was provoked with himself that he did. "If +you persist in being at swords' points with Miss Wildmere--" he began, +hesitatingly. + +"I persist in being simply myself, and true to my own perceptions. +Wherein have I failed in courtesy toward Miss Wildmere?" + +"But you dislike her most cordially." + +"And you like her most cordially and more. Have I not granted your +perfect right to do so?" + +"If you were even the friend you claim to be, you would not be so +indifferent." + +"I have not said I was indifferent. Miss Wildmere is far from +indifferent to me. What have I done to gain her ill-will?" + +"Much, as human nature goes. You have made yourself her rival in +beauty and attractiveness." + +"Is that human nature? If that is the cause of her hostility I should +say it is Miss Wildmere's nature." + +"Let us change the subject," said Graydon, a little irritably. +"We shall not agree on this point, I fear; you share in Henry's +prejudices." + +"I did not introduce the subject, Graydon, and I think for myself." + +"Hang it all, Madge! you are so changed I scarcely know you. Every +time we meet I find you more of a conundrum. Friend, indeed! You +certainly have been a distant one in every sense. If I had been the +friend you say I was, you would have written me about the marvellous +transformation you were accomplishing." + +She sprang up, and her dark eyes flashed indignantly. "I am beginning +to think that you are changed more than I," she said, impetuously. +"You know, or might, if you took the trouble, that I did not tell +Mary, my own sister, of my progress toward health and strength. My +wish to give you all a pleasant surprise may seem a little thing to +you, or you may give some sinister, unnatural meaning to the act. It +was not a little thing to go away 'a ghost, a wraith,' as you were +wont to call me--it was not a little thing to go away alone, perhaps +to die, as I then felt. Nor was it a little thing to battle for weary +months with weakness of mind and body, morbid timidity, indolence, +ignorance, and everything that was contrary to my ideal of womanhood. +I can say thus much in self-defence. Was there harm in my adding some +incentive to a hard sense of duty? I felt that if I could change for +the better and keep my secret I could give you all a glad surprise. I +had almost a child's pleasure in the thought. Mary and Henry rewarded +me, but you are spoiling it all. You at once make an impossible +demand, and discover, within twenty-four hours, how awkward my +compliance would have been. I did not know you so long without gaining +the power of guessing your thoughts. I suggested a simple, natural +relation, and as the result I have become a 'conundrum.' A charming +title, truly! I shall remain a simple, natural girl, and when you are +through with your riddle theories perhaps you will treat me as I think +you might in view of old times;" and she started swiftly toward the +house. + +"Madge!" cried Graydon, springing up and following her. + +At that moment Miss Wildmere approached, and Madge gained the piazza +and disappeared, leaving Graydon ill disposed toward himself and all +the world, even including Miss Wildmere; for she had a charming color, +and appeared not in the least a victim to _ennui_ because of forced +association with an objectionable party. She came smilingly toward +him, saying, "It's too bad to interrupt your hot pursuit of another +lady, but girls have not much conscience in such matters." + +"As long as you have conscience in other matters, it does not +signify," he answered, meaningly. + +"Not conscience, but another organ, controls our action chiefly, I +imagine," she replied, with a glance that gave emphasis to her words +of the previous evening, and she passed smilingly on. + +Arnault soon followed her, spoke pleasantly to Graydon, and, having +obtained a morning paper, was at once absorbed in its contents. + +"He does not appear like a baffled suitor who has enjoyed only a +veiled tolerance," was Graydon's thought. "Things will come out all +right in the end, I suppose, but they certainly are not proceeding as +I expected. Stella will be mine eventually--it were treason to think +otherwise--but she is carrying it off rather boldly to keep Arnault so +complacent at the same time. As far as Madge is concerned, I've been +a fool and made a mess of it. How in the mischief has she been able to +divine my very thoughts! She is wrong in one respect, however. If she +had felt and acted toward me like a sister I would have been loyal +to her, and would have compelled even Miss Wildmere to recognize her +rights. I am not so far gone but that I can act in a straightforward, +honorable way. My acceptance of her action was an afterthought, a +philosophical way I have of making the best of everything. I now +believe that it has turned out for the best, but I have been guilty +of no coldblooded calculation. Very well, I'll treat her as a simple, +natural girl and my very good friend, and see how this course works. +Not that she is a simple girl. I've met too many of that kind, and +of those also who enshroud themselves in a cloud of little feminine +mysteries, all transparent enough to one of experience; but Madge +does puzzle me. She has not explained herself with her fine burst of +indignation. Jove! how handsome she was! She ever gives the impression +that there is something back of all she says and does. Even Henry +feels it in his dim way, but that lightning flash made it clear +that it is something of which she need not be ashamed. Since she +has learned to read me so understandingly, I will try to fathom her +thoughts. Perhaps friendship does mean more to her than to others. If +so, I'll be as true a friend to her as she to me. If I grant Stella +such broad privileges with Arnault, she must admit mine with one of +whom it would be absurd to be jealous;" and, with cogitations like the +above, he also pretended to read his paper, and finished his cigar. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +NOT STRONG IN VAIN + + +Graydon dreaded embarrassment when meeting Madge at dinner, but was +agreeably disappointed. There was nothing in the young girl's manner +which suggested a vexed consciousness of their recent interview, +neither were there covert overtures, even in tones, toward more +friendly relations. He saw that if any were made he must make them. +Madge was merely too well bred to show anger in public, or occasion +surmises that would require explanations. During the meal she spoke +of missing her horseback exercise, and said that she meant to ask Dr. +Sommers if he did not know of a good animal that might be hired for a +few weeks. Graydon at once resolved to make a propitiatory offering, +and to go out with Madge when Miss Wildmere was unattainable. For the +time he was content to imitate Madge's tactics, and acted as if he +intended to follow the course that she had suggested. The fact that +Arnault was so evidently enjoying his dinner and the Wildmere smiles +did not detract from his purpose to prove that he also was not without +resources. Moreover, he felt that he had not treated Madge fairly; +he had been truly fond of her, and now was conscious of a growing +respect. As she had said, it was not a little thing that she had +attempted and accomplished, and there had been small ground for his +discontent. After dinner, however, he found a chance to ensconce +himself by Miss Wildmere on the piazza, and he was fully resolved to +lose no such opportunities. + +Madge, with the Muir children, passed him on the way to a small lake +on which she had promised to give the little people a row. He took +off his hat in cordial courtesy, and she recognized him with a brief +smile, in which Miss Wildmere could detect no apprehension. + +"I hope that 'sister Madge,' as you call her, does not resent my +enjoyment of your society." + +"Not in the least. I feel, however, that I have been neglecting her +shamefully, and propose to make amends." + +"Indeed; has she brought you to a sense of your shortcomings? This +scarcely bears out your first remark." + +"It is nothing against its truth. Miss Aldeu makes it very clear that +she is not dependent on me or any one for enjoyment; but in view of +the past I have been scarcely courteous. Therefore," he added, with +a laugh, "when Arnault monopolizes you I shall console myself with +Madge." + +"And therefore I shall feel the less compunction. Thank you." + +"I am glad to take the least thorn from the roses of your life," was +his smiling answer. + +She veiled close scrutiny under her reply: "I fear the brilliant Miss +Alden will cause my society to appear commonplace in contrast." + +"I do not see how you can fear anything of the kind," was his prompt +answer; "I trust you, and you must trust me." + +"I do trust you, Mr. Muir," she said, softly. + +Before he could speak again nurses and children came streaming and +screaming from the lake toward the house. "Nellie Wilder is drowned," +was the burden of their dire message. + +Graydon sprang down the steps, and rushed with the fleetness of the +wind toward the lake. + +As Madge, with Jennie and Harry Muir, approached the water, they saw +a party of children playing carelessly in a boat, and a moment later +a little girl fell overboard. The boat was in motion toward the shore, +and when she rose it had passed beyond her reach. Her companions gave +way to wild panic, and, instead of trying to save her, screamed and +pulled for land. No one was present except nurses and other children, +and they all joined in the wild, helpless chorus of alarm, and began a +stampede toward the hotel. + +Madge saw that if the child was saved she must act promptly and +wisely. To the Muir children she said, authoritatively, "Sit down +where you are and don't move." Then she rushed forward and unfastened +a skiff. As she did so the child rose for the last time and sunk again +with a gurgling cry. Keeping her eyes fixed on the spot, and with an +oar in her hand, Madge pushed away from the shore vigorously with her +feet, and with the impetus sprang upon the narrow stern-sheets, then +crept forward toward the bow, at the same time ever keeping her eyes +fixed unwaveringly on the spot where the child had sunk, from which +widening circles were eddying. The nurses and children who had not +started for the house, seeing that a rescue was attempted, looked on +with breathless dread and suspense. + +When the impetus that Madge had first given to the skiff ceased, she +kept the little craft in motion by paddling, first on one side, then +on the other, her eyes still fixed on one point in the dark water. +At last this point seemed almost beneath her; she dropped the oar, +stooped, and peered over the side of the boat. After a moment's +hesitation she appeared to those on shore to have lost her balance, +fallen overboard, and sunk. Renewed screams of terror resounded, +and the Muir children fled toward the hotel, crying, "Aunt Madge is +drowned." + +"What do you mean?" Graydon gasped, seizing Harry by the arm. + +"Oh, Uncle Graydon! run quick. Aunt Madge fell out of a boat under +water." + +A moment later he saw the young girl rise to the surface with a child +in her grasp. With one headlong plunge, and a few strong strokes, he +was at her side, exclaiming, "Great God, Madge! what does this mean?" + +"Take her to the shore, quick; no matter about me;" and she pushed the +limp and apparently lifeless form into his arms. + +"But, Madge--" he began. + +"Haste! haste! and the child may be saved. Don't think of me; I can +swim as well as you;" and she struck out toward the shore. + +Wondering and thrilled with admiration, in spite of the confusion of +his thoughts, he did as directed, and took the child to land at once. + +Madge was there as soon as he, crying, even before she left the water, +"Run for Dr. Sommers, and if not at home ride after him." + +Meanwhile gentlemen and employĂ©s of the house were arriving, and some +turned back in search of the physician. + +The awful tidings had come upon poor Mrs. Wilder, the mother of the +child, like a bolt out of a clear sky, and she had run screaming and +moaning toward the scene of disaster. Mother love had given her almost +superhuman strength; but when she saw the pale little face on the +ground, with the hue of death upon it, she crouched beside it in +speechless agony, and watched the efforts that were made to bring back +consciousness. + +Madge led and directed these efforts. In truth, she did as much to +save the child on land as when it had lain submerged on the muddy +bottom of the pond. Graydon, seeing that she was coming up the bank, +had paused a moment irresolutely, and then was about to start for the +hotel with his burden. Madge caught his arm, and took the child from +him. + +"Graydon, take off your coat and give it to me," she said, +imperatively, as she laid the child down on its back; "your +handkerchief, also," she added. + +She forced open the pale lips, and wiped out the mouth with marvellous +celerity, paying no heed to the clamorous voices around her. "Some one +give me a sharp knife," she cried, "and don't crowd so near." + +Lifting the child's clothing at the throat, she cut it down ward to +the waist, then down each arm, leaving the lovely little form exposed +and free. Dropping the knife, she next rolled the coat into a bundle, +turned the child over so that her abdomen should rest upon it; then +with hands pressed rather strongly on each side of the little back, +Madge sought to expel the water that might have been swallowed. +Turning the child over on her back again, the bundle made by the coat +was placed under the small of her back, so as to raise the chest. +Then, catching the little tongue that had awakened merry echoes but +a few moments before, she drew it out of the mouth to one side by the +aid of the handkerchief, and said to Graydon, "Hold it, so." + +All now saw that they were witnessing skilled efforts. Discordant +advice ceased, and they looked on with breathless interest. + +"Has any one smelling salts?" Madge asked. There was no response. She +snatched a bit of grass and tickled the child's nose, saying, at the +same time, "Bring water." This, after a few seconds, she dashed over +the face and exposed chest, waited an instant, then gave her patient a +slap over the pit of the stomach. + +Graydon, kneeling before her, looked on with silent amazement. Her +glorious eyes shone with an absorbed and merciful purpose; she was +oblivious of her own strange appearance, the masses of her loosening +hair falling over and veiling the lovely form outlined clearly by +the wet and clinging drapery of her summer dress. Others looked on +in wonder, too, and with a respect akin to awe. Among them were her +sister and Henry Muir, Mr. Arnault, and Miss Wildmere--her feelings +divided between envy and commiseration for the child and its stricken +mother. + +These first simple efforts having no apparent effect, Madge said, +quietly, "We must try artificial respiration. Move a little more to +one side, Graydon." + +Kneeling behind the child, she lifted the little arms quickly but +steadily up, over and down, until they lay upon the ground behind the +wet golden curls. This motion drew the ribs up, expanded the chest and +permitted air to enter it. After two or three seconds Madge reversed +the motion and pressed the arms firmly against the chest, to expel the +air. This alternate motion was kept up regularly at about the rate +of sixteen times a minute, until the sound of a galloping horse was +heard, and the crowd parted for Dr. Sommers. He took in the situation +with his quick eye, and said, "Miss Alden, let me take your place." + +"Oh, thank God, you are here!" she exclaimed. "Let me hold her tongue, +Graydon; I must do something." + +"Yes, Mr. Muir," added the physician; "let her help me; she knows just +what to do. How long was the child under water?" + +"I don't know exactly; not long." + +"Not more than four or five minutes?" + +"I think not." + +"There should be hope, then." + +"We must save her!" cried Madge. "I once saw people work over an hour +before there were signs of life." + +"Oh, God bless your brave heart!" murmured the poor mother. "You won't +leave my child--you won't let them give her up, will you?" + +"No, Mrs. Wilder, not for one hour or two. I believe that your little +girl will be saved." + +"Have some brandy ready," said Dr. Sommers. + +A flask was produced, and Graydon again knelt near, to have it in +readiness, while the doctor kept up his monotonous effort, pressing +the arms against the lungs, then lifting them above the head and back +to the ground, with regular and mechanical iteration. + +The child's eyelids began to tremble. "Ah!" exclaimed the doctor; a +moment later there was a slight choking cough, and a glad cry went up +from the throng. + +"The brandy," said the doctor. + +Madge now gave up the case to him and Graydon, and slipped down beside +the mother, who was swaying from side to side. "Don't faint," she +said; "your child will need you as soon as she is conscious." + +"Oh, Heaven bless you! Heaven bless you!" cried the mother; "you have +saved my only, my darling." + +"Yes, madam, you are right. It's all plain sailing now," the doctor +added. + +Then Madge became guilty of her first useless act. In strong revulsion +she fainted dead away. In a moment her head was on Mrs. Muir's lap, +and Henry Muir was at her side. + +"Poor girl! no wonder. There's not a woman in a hundred thousand who +could do what she has done. There, don't worry about her. Put her in +my carriage with Mrs. Muir, and take her to her room; I'll be there +soon. She'll come out all right; such girls always do." + +Meanwhile Mr. Muir and Graydon were carrying out the doctor's +directions, and the unconscious girl was borne rapidly to her +apartment, where, under her sister's ministrations, she soon revived. + +Almost her first conscious words, after being assured that the child +was safe, were, "Oh, Mary! what a guy I must have appeared! What will +Graydon--I mean all who saw me--think?" + +"They'll think things that might well turn any girl's head. As for +Graydon, he is waiting outside now, half crazy with anxiety to receive +a message from you." + +"Tell him I made a fool of myself, and he must not speak about it +again on the pain of my displeasure." + +"Well, you have come to," said Mrs. Muir, and then she went and +laughingly delivered the message verbatim, adding, "Go and put on dry +clothes. You'll catch your death with those wet things on, and you +look like a scarecrow." + +He departed, more puzzled over Madge Alden than ever, but admitting to +himself that she had earned the right to be anything she pleased. + +Dr. Sommers continued his efforts in behalf of the little girl, +chafing her wrists and body with the brandy, and occasionally giving +a few drops until circulation was well restored; and then, at her +mother's side, carried the child to her room, and gave directions to +those who were waiting to assist. + +When he entered Madge's apartment, she greeted him with the words, +"What a silly thing I did!" + +"Not at all, not at all. You made your exit gracefully, and escaped +the plaudits which a brave girl like you wouldn't enjoy. I take off +my hat to you, as we country-folks say. You are a heroine--as good +a doctor as I on shore and a better one in the water. Where did you +learn it all?" + +"Nonsense!" said Madge, "nothing would vex me more than to have a +time made over the affair. It's all as simple as a, b, c. What's that +little pond to one who has been used to swimming in the Pacific! As I +said, I saw a girl restored once, and Mr. Wayland has explained to me +again and again just what to do." + +"Oh, yes, it's all simple enough if you know how, but that's just the +trouble. In all that crowd I don't believe there was one who would not +have done the wrong thing. Well, well, I can manage now if I'm obeyed. +You've had a good deal of a shock, and you must keep quiet till +to-morrow. Then I'll see." + +Madge laughingly protested that nothing would please her better than +a good supper and a good book. "Please give out also," she said, "that +any reference to the affair will have a very injurious influence on +me." + +In spite of the doctor, messages and flowers poured in. At last Mrs. +Wilder came and said to Mrs. Muir, "I must see her, if it is safe." + +"It's safe enough," Mrs. Muir began, "only Madge doesn't like so much +made of it." + +"I won't say much," pleaded the mother. She did not say anything, but +put her arms around Madge and pressed her tear-stained face upon the +young girl's bosom in long, passionate embrace, the hastened back to +her restored treasure, who was sleeping quietly. Madge's eyes were +wet also, and she turned her face to the wall and breathed softly +to herself, "Whatever happens now--and it's plain enough what will +happen--I did not get strong in vain. Graydon can never think me +altogether weak and lackadaisical again, and I have saved one woman's +heart from anguish, however my own may ache." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MAKE YOUR TERMS + + +Graydon's uppermost thought now was to make his peace with Madge. He +dismissed all his former theories about her as absurd, and felt that, +whether he understood her or not, she had become a splendid woman, of +whose friendship he might well be proud, and accept it on any terms +that pleased her. He also was sure that Miss Wildmere's prejudices +would be banished at once and forever by Madge's heroism, believing +that the girl's hostile feeling was due only to the natural jealousy +of social rivals. "If Stella does not regard Madge's action with +generous enthusiasm, I shall think the worse of her," was his +masculine conclusion. + +The wily girl was not so obtuse as to be unaware of this, and when +he came down she said all he could wish in praise of Madge, but +took pains to enlarge upon his own courage. At this he pooh-poohed +emphatically. "What was that duck-pond of a lake to a man!" he said. +"Madge herself has become an expert ocean-swimmer, I am told. She +wasn't afraid of the water. It was her skill in finding the child +beneath it, and in resuscitation afterward, that chiefly commands my +admiration." + +"Oh, dear!" cried the girl, "what can I do to command your +admiration?" + +"You know well, Miss Wildmere, that you command much more." + +She blushed, smiled, and looked around a little apprehensively. + +"Don't be alarmed," he added; "I have such confidence in you that I +will bide your time." + +"Thank you, Graydon," she whispered, and hastened away, leaving him +supremely happy. It was the first time she had called him "Graydon." + +Seeing Dr. Sommers emerging from the hotel, he hastened after him, +bent on procuring a peace-offering for Madge--the finest horse that +could be had in the region. + +"I know of one a few miles from here," said the doctor. "He's a +splendid animal, but a high and mighty stepper. I don't believe that +even she could manage him." + +"I'll break him in for her, never fear. Of course I won't let her take +any risks." + +"Well, leave it to me, then. I can manage it. He's awfully headstrong, +though. I give you fair warning." + +"Take me to see him as soon as you can; the horse, I mean, or, rather, +both man and horse." + +"To-morrow morning, then. I have patients out that way." + +At supper and during the evening Madge and her exploit were the themes +of conversation. Some tried to give Graydon a part of the credit, but +he laughed so contemptuously at the idea that he was let alone. Henry +Muir did not say much, but looked a great deal, and with Graydon +listened attentively as his wife explained how it was that Madge had +proved equal to the emergency. + +"Why don't more people follow her example?" said the practical man, +"and learn how to do something definite? As she explains the rescue, +there was nothing remarkable in it. If she could swim and dive in the +ocean for sport, she would not be much afraid to do the same in that +so-called lake, to save life. As to her action on shore, the knowledge +she used is given in books and manuals. What's more, she had seen it +done. But most people are so pointless and shiftless that they +never know just what to do in an emergency, no matter what their +opportunities for information may have been." + +"Now you hit me," Graydon remarked, ruefully, "Left to myself I should +have finished the young one, for I was about to run to the hotel with +her, a course that I now see would have been as fatal as idiotic." + +"Madge says," Mrs. Muir continued, "that they used to bathe a great +deal, and that Mr. Wayland explained just what should be done in all +the possible emergencies of their outdoor life at Santa Barbara." + +"Wayland in a level-headed man. If he is bookish, he's not a dreamer +with his head in the clouds. Madge was in good hands with them, and +proves it every day." + +"I think she shows the influence of Mrs. Wayland even more than that +of her husband. Fanny is a very accomplished woman, and saw a great +deal of society in her younger days." + +"Confound it all! Why didn't you tell me that Madge had been living +with two paragons?" said Graydon. + +"Oh, you have been so occupied with another paragon that there has +not been much chance to tell you anything," was Mrs. Muir's consoling +reply. + +"Madge has not been made what she is by paragons," Mr. Muir remarked, +dryly. "She made herself. They only helped her, and couldn't have +helped a silly woman." + +"It's time you were jealous, Mary," said Graydon, laughing. + +"Mary isn't a silly woman. I should hope that no Muir would marry +one." + +"I see no prospect of it," was the rather cold reply. + +"I fear I see a worse prospect," was his brother's thought. "Of what +use are his eyes or senses after what he has seen to-day?" + +Mrs. Muir had explained to some lady friends about Madge, and the +information was passing into general circulation--the ladies rapidly +coming to the conclusion that the young girl's action was not so +remarkable after all, which was true enough. The men, however, +retained their enthusiastic admiration, although it must be admitted +that its inspiration was due largely to Madge's beauty. + +"Of course women have done braver things," said one man, with sporting +tendencies, "but it was the neat, gamy way in which she did it that +took my eye. Her method was as complete and rounded out as herself. +Jove! as she bent over that child she was a nymph that would turn the +head of a Greek." + +"She has evidently turned the head of a Cyprian," laughed one of his +friends. + +"Come, that's putting it too strong," said the man, with a frown. +"I'll affect no airs, though. I'm not a saint, as you all know, but +the aspect of that girl, in her self-forgetful effort, might well make +me wish I were one. She is as good and pure-hearted as the child she +saved. If there had been a flaw in the white marble of her nature she +would have been self-conscious. An angel from heaven couldn't have +been more absorbed in the one impulse to save." + +Graydon had approached the group unobserved, and heard these words. +He walked away, smiling, with the thought, "My sentiments, clearly +expressed." + +The night was warm, and he saw Miss Wildmere and Arnault going out +for a stroll. Following a half-defined inclination, he bent his steps +toward the lake. The moon was mirrored in its glassy surface, the +place silent and deserted. With slight effort of fancy he called up +the scene again. He saw in the moonlight the fairy form of the +child, and what even others had regarded as the embodiment of human +loveliness and truth bending over it. + +"And she was the little ghost that once haunted me," he thought, "and +seemed all eyes and affection. How those eyes used to welcome and turn +to me, as if in some subtle way she drew from me the power to exist at +all. I wish I could follow the processes of her change from the hour +of our parting, and see how I passed from what I was to her to what +I am now. She does not seem to forget or ignore the past. She is not +conventional, and never was; hence, friendship may not mean what it +does to so many of her sex and age--a little moony sentiment blended +with calculation as to a fellow's usefulness. If we could enjoy +something of the good-comradeship that obtains between man and +man, she is the one woman of the world with whom I should covet the +relation. Stella, in herself, is all that I could ask for a wife, +but I don't like her family much better than Henry does. Confound the +father! Why should he so mix his daughter up in his speculation that +she dare not dismiss Arnault at once and follow her heart? If I were +not a good-natured man I wouldn't submit to it. As it is, since I am +sure of the girl, I suppose I should give _paterfamilias_ a chance to +turn himself. She has appealed to me as delicately, yet as openly, +as she can, and has given me to understand by everything except +plain words that she is mine. Probably that is all she can do without +bringing black ruin upon them all. Well, I suppose I should imitate +her self-sacrificing spirit; but I hate this jumbling of Wall Street +with affairs of the heart. It angers me that she must play with that +fellow for financial reasons, and that he, conscious of power, may use +language which she would not dare to resent. I can't imagine Madge +in such a position. Yet, who knows? As the French say, 'It is the +unexpected that happens,' and this has proved true enough in my +experience. I'll go and see how Madge is now, and be as penitent as +she requires. I don't mind being tyrannized over a little by such a +girl;" and he returned. + +As he approached Mrs. Muir's door he heard the sound of voices and +laughter, and plainly those of his brother and Madge. In response +to his knock Mrs. Muir opened the door a little way, and he caught a +glimpse of Henry. + +"Well?" said Mrs. Muir. + +"It's not well at all," he began, in an aggrieved tone. "Here's a +family party, and I'm shut out in outer darkness. What have I done to +be banished from Rome?" + +"'What's banished but set free?'" trilled out Madge. "Oh, Graydon, I'm +not fit to be seen!" + +"How can I know that unless I see you?" + +"Nonsense, Madge!" expostulated her sister, "you look charming. Why +put on airs? As he says, it's a family party. Let him join in our +fun;" and, without waiting for further objections, she brought him in +and gave him a chair. + +"Now this warms an exile's heart," he began. "If you had shut the +door on me I should have asked Henry to send me back to Europe. Mary's +right, Madge; you do look charming." + +And so she did, blushing and laughing in her dainty wrapper, with her +long hair falling over her shoulders and fastened by a ribbon. + +"How comes it that you are in such a deserted and disconsolate +condition?" cried Mary. + +"I am not in such a condition. Since crossing your threshold I have +become contentment itself. Indeed, I regard myself as the most favored +man in the house, for I, first of all, am able to lay my homage at +Madge's feet." + +"Let me warn you from the start that it will prove a stumbling-block +in both our paths," said the girl. "Did you not receive my message? +But, then, it's stupid to think you will ever consider me." + +"I have been considering you a great deal more than you think, +especially since you metaphorically boxed my ears this morning, and +took away my breath generally this afternoon." + +"You seem to have plenty left." + +"Oh, I'm recovering. Reason is trying to scramble back on her throne. +I've been out to the lake alone in the moonlight, and have had the +whole scene over again, to assure myself that it was real." + +"What! You have not been in the water?" + +"No; I was content to moon it out on the shore; but it seemed to me +that I saw you as clearly there as here." + +"Little wonder! I must have been the most extraordinary looking +creature that ever prowled in these wilds." + +"You were; only lookers-on did all the devouring. I wouldn't dare tell +you the compliments I have heard." + +"You had better not, if your reason is even within sight of her +throne. When the danger was all over I caught a mental glimpse of +myself, and fell over as if shot;" and a slow, deep crimson stole into +her face. + +"Madge," said Graydon, gravely and almost rebukingly, "do you think +there was a man present who did not reverence you? I was proud even of +your acquaintance." + +Her face softened under his words, but she did not look at him. "We +were partners in misery," she said, laughing softly; "I have a vague +remembrance that you were as great a guy as I was." + +"I shall be glad to be a guy with you in any circumstances you can +imagine, if you will let me make my peace, and will forgive my general +stupidity. Be reasonable also, as well as merciful. If it took you +over two years to make such changes, you should give me a few days to +rub my eyes and get them focused on the result." + +Madge was now laughing heartily. "I don't believe a man could ever eat +the whole of a humble pie," she said. "He ever insists that the donor, +especially if she be a woman, should have a piece also." + +"There, now," cried Graydon, ruefully; "give me all of it, and make +your terms." + +"Solomon himself couldn't have advised you better," said Madge, while +Henry leaned back in his chair and laughed as if immensely amused, +while Mary improved the occasion by remarking, "When will men ever +learn that that is the way to get the best terms possible from a +woman?" + +"Indeed!" said Graydon. "How you enlighten me! Well, Madge, I'm the +more eager now to learn your terms." + +She felt that it was a critical moment--that there was, under their +badinage, a substratum of truth and feeling--and that she had now a +chance to establish relations that would favor her hope, if it had +a right to exist at all, and render future companionship free from +surmise on the part of her family. + +"Come, Graydon," she said, "we have jested long enough, and there is +no occasion for misunderstanding. I have not forgotten the past any +more than you have, nor all your unstinted kindness for years. As Mary +says, this is a family party. I'm not your sister, and embarrassment +always accompanies an unnatural relation. The common-sense thing to do +is to recognize the relation that does exist. As I intimated at first, +I see no reason why we should not be the best of friends, and then, +imitating the stiff-necked Hebrews, do what seemeth good in our eyes." + +"And these are your terms, Madge?" + +"As far as I have any, yes. I don't insist on anything, but warn you +that I shall follow my eyes, and consult a very wilful little will of +my own." + +"Will your wilful will permit you to accept of a horse that I am +going after in the morning? Dr. Sommers told me about him, and I had +proposed to make him a peace-offering." + +Madge clapped her hands with the delight of a child. + +"Oh, Graydon, that's splendid of you! I've been sighing, 'My kingdom +for a horse,' ever since I came here. But he's no peace-offering. I +forgave you when I saw your headlong plunge into the lake. You went +into it like a man, while I flopped in so awkwardly that all said I +had fallen overboard." + +"Shake hands, then." + +She sprang up and joined hands with him in frank and cordial grasp, +saying, "It's all right now, and Mary and Henry will understand us as +well as we do ourselves." + +"One condition: you will let me ride with you?" + +"When you are disengaged, yes," was her arch reply, "and I'll prove +that on horseback I can be as good a comrade as a man." + +"Well, if something I've dreamt of is true I never saw such acting," +thought Henry Muir. Then he said, quietly, "Madge, how did you find +the child so surely and quickly?" + +"That accounts for my awkwardness somewhat," she replied, laughing. +("How happy she looks!" he thought.) "I never took my eyes from the +spot where I had last seen the child sink, and I had to do everything +as if my head was in a vise. Don't let us talk about it any more." + +"No, nor about anything else," said Mary, rising. "I'm proving a fine +nurse, and am likely to be lectured by the doctor to-morrow. You men +must walk. Here is Madge flushed, feverish, and excited about a horse. +Brain-fever will be the next symptom." + +An hour later Madge was sleeping quietly, but the happy flush and +smile had not left her face. She felt that she had at last scored one +point. Oh, that she could have more time! + +"Jupiter!" muttered Graydon, as he descended the stairs, "her talk +makes a fellow's blood tingle." + +Miss Wildmere had just entered with Arnault, and Graydon asked, "Are +you not going to give me one dance this evening?" + +"Yes, two, if you wish," she replied, sweetly. + +He took her at her word, and was as devoted as ever. He had no thought +of being anything else. Arnault secured the last word, however, +and Graydon made no effort to prevent this. He had accepted the +disagreeable situation, and proposed, although with increasing +reluctance and discontent, to let the girl have a clear field and +manage the affair as she thought wise under the circumstances. He was +too proud to have maintained a jostling and open pursuit with Arnault +in any event, and now, believing that he understood the lady better, +felt that there was no occasion for it He had indicated to her just +where he stood, and just where she could ever find him. When her +diplomacy with Arnault should cease to be essential to her father's +safety, the final words could be spoken. + +He acted on this policy so quietly that she was somewhat troubled, and +feared that Madge might be taking too large a place in his thoughts. +Therefore, when Arnault ventured to make a somewhat humorous reference +to the young girl's appearance, her spite found utterance. "I never +saw such a looking creature in my life. She had the appearance of a +crazy woman, with her hair dishevelled, and her wet, muddy clothes +sticking to her as if glued. She ought at least to have slipped away +when the doctor came. But instead of that she fainted--all put on, I +believe, to attract attention." + +"She perhaps felt that she must put on something," chuckled Arnault. +"The two Muirs looked as if she were too precious and sacred for +mortal gaze." + +"Well," concluded Miss Wildmere, "I like to see a lady who never +forgets herself;" and she was an example of the type. + +"I like to see one lady, whom, having seen, no one can forget," was +his gallant reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +AN OBJECT FOR SYMPATHY + + +Miss Wildmere's indignant virtue was not soothed on the following +morning, when, as she returned from a drive with Arnault, Graydon +galloped up on a superb bay horse, and Madge so far forgot herself +again as to rush to meet him with unaffected pleasure. The champion +of propriety paused in the distance to take an observation, for she +thought she saw a cloud in the sky. + +"What a beauty! what a grand arch of the neck he has! Oh, I'm just +wild to be on him! Don't bribe me with horses, Graydon; I can resist +anything else." + +"I am glad of the information. A volume of thanks would not be worth +half so much." + +"I thought the thanks were in my tone and manner." + +"So I thought, and am more than content; but, Madge, I am troubled +about your riding him. I fear he is a very Satan of a horse." + +"Nonsense! Wait till you see me mounted, and your fears will vanish. +People don't walk at Santa Barbara; they ride; every one rides. If the +horse don't tumble, there'll be no tumbling on my part. Oh, he is such +a splendid fellow! What shall I call him?" + +"Better call him 'Go.' There is more go in him than in any horse I +ever bestrode." + +"All the better. I shall give him another name, however. It will +come to me sometime;" and she patted the proud neck, and fondled +the tossing head, in a way to excite the envy of observers from the +piazza. "Oh, Graydon, what shall I do for a saddle? Do you think there +is one to be had in this region? I'm impatient for a gallop." + +"I telegraphed, early this morning, for equipments; and they should be +here this afternoon." + +"That was considerate kindness itself. You must let me pay for all +this. You know I can." + +"So can I." + +"But there's reason in all things." + +"Therefore, a little in me. Please, Madge, don't make me feel that +I am almost a stranger to you. If we had remained together, I should +have paid out more than this for candy, flowers, and nonsense. I have +yielded everything, haven't I? and, as Mary says, I do wish to feel a +little like one of the family." + +"Well, then," she said, laughing and blushing, "as from one of the +family--" + +"And from your deceased brother," he interrupted. + +She put her finger to her lips. "That's past," she said. "No more +allusions. We began sensibly last night, and I certainly am very +lenient now in taking gifts that I should protest against even from +Henry. I wish to prove to you that I am the Madge of old times as far +as I can be." + +"Rest assured I'm the same fellow, and ever shall be." + +He had dismounted, and they were walking slowly toward the stable. +"Bless me!" cried Madge, "where am I going with no better protection +than a sunshade? I'm always a little off when a horse like that is at +hand. I say, Graydon," she added, in a wheedling tone, "mount and +put him through his paces. I can't resist the fun, no matter what the +dowagers say." + +He vaulted lightly into the saddle, and the horse reared and dashed +toward the stable, but was soon pulled up. Then Graydon made him +prance, curvet, and trot, Madge looking on with parted lips, and eyes +glowing with delicious anticipation. If a close observer had been +present he might have seen that the rider, with his fine easy grace +and mastery, was, after all, the chief attraction. + +She walked back to the house, thinking, "I'll have some bright hours +before the skies grow gray. Oh, kindly fate! prosper Mr. Arnault here +and in Wall Street, too, for all I care." + +"Oh, Mr. Muir, teach me to ride," said Miss Wildmere, when he joined +her in the deserted parlor. "You have such a superb horse! and you sat +on him as if you were a part of him." + +"I will teach you with pleasure," said Graydon. "Nothing would give me +more enjoyment, for I am very fond of riding, and we could explore the +mountain roads far and near." + +"Can I ride your horse?" + +"That was not my horse. He belongs to Miss Alden." + +"Oh, indeed," began Miss Wildmere, hastily, yet coldly; "I wouldn't +think of it, then." + +"She would lend him to you readily, if it were safe; but only an +expert should ride that horse. As it is, I shall run him four or five +miles before I let her mount him. He is awfully high-strung and a +little vicious. I'll get you a quiet, safe lady's horse, suitable for +a beginner. You will soon acquire confidence and skill. I wouldn't +have you incur any risks for all the world." + +"Wouldn't you?" she asked, with a fascinating and incredulous smile. + +"You know well that I would not." + +"I shall scarcely know what I know when I see you galloping away with +Miss Alden." + +"Come, Miss Stella, we may as well get through with that phase of the +question at once. Madge Alden came into our family when I was scarcely +more than a boy, and she but a child. She is still one of the family. +The idea of your being concerned about her makes me smile audibly. I +only wish you girls would be good friends. It would save awkwardness +and embarrassment. Madge is a sister to me in everything but name, and +ever will be. I'm proud of her, as I ought to be, and a distant manner +would be absurd toward a member of our household. Why should I affect +it when I'm truly fond of her jolly good company? Don't you think I am +setting you a good example? I'm patient over your good times with Mr. +Arnault, who is an open suitor." + +"I have not said they were good times." + +"Nor have you said they were not. He evidently enjoys them, and little +wonder. You can make any fellow have a good time without trying. I +don't pretend to understand the necessity of your being so friendly, +or tolerant, or what you will, with him; neither do I pry or question. +My regard for you makes trust imperative. I do trust you as readily as +you should trust me. What else can we do till times are better?" + +"What do you mean by saying, 'till times are better?'" she asked, +in gentle solicitude. "Are you having a hard time in town, like poor +papa?" + +"Oh, bless you! no. I don't suppose Henry is making much. He's the +kind of man to take in sail in times like these. I'm not in the +firm yet, you know, but shall be soon. My foreign department of the +business is all right. I left it snug and safe. Of course, I don't +know much about things on this side of the water yet. Mr. Muir is not +the kind of man to speak to any one about his affairs unless it is +essential, but if anything were amiss he would have told me. I know +the times are dismal, and I am better off on my assured salary than if +in the firm now. No one but 'bears' are making anything." + +"I hope your brother isn't in anxiety, like papa," she said, warmly. + +His quick commercial instinct took alarm, and he asked, "What, have +you heard anything?" + +"Oh, no indeed. Papa says that Mr. Muir is one of the most +conservative of men; but he also says that there is scarcely a chance +now for any honest man, and that investments which once seemed as +solid as these mountains are sinking out of sight. If it wasn't so we +shouldn't be so worried. He wouldn't like it if he knew I was talking +to you in this way; but then I know it will go no further, and +naturally my mind dwells on the subject of his anxieties. What +wouldn't I do to help him!" she concluded, with a fine enthusiasm. + +"I think you are doing a great deal to help him, Stella," he said, +gravely and gently; "and, believe me, it involves no little sacrifice +on my part also." + +"But you have promised to be patient, Graydon." + +"I have, but you cannot think that I like it or approve of the +diplomacy you are compelled to practice, even though your motive be +unselfish and filial. I don't think you ought to be placed in such a +position, and would that it were in my power to relieve you from it!" + +Tears of self-commiseration came into her eyes, and they appeared to +him exceedingly pathetic. She made as if she would speak but could +not, then retreated hastily to her room. Once in seclusion she dashed +the drops away, her eyes glittered with anger, and she stamped her +foot on the floor and muttered: "It is indeed an abominable position. +I might accept Graydon any day, any hour, now, and dare not. Yet if +he gets an inkling of my real attitude he'll be off forever. He is as +proud as Lucifer about some things, and would be quick as a flash +if his suspicions were aroused. Even the belief that I am humoring +Arnault for papa's sake tests his loyalty greatly. If I have to refuse +him at last I shall be placed in an odious light. The idiots! why +can't they find out whether Henry Muir is going to fail or not! That +horrid Madge Alden is not his sister, and knows it, and she is gaining +time to make impressions. I know how she felt years ago, when she was +a perfect spook. I don't believe she's changed. With all her impulsive +ways she's as deep as perdition, and she'd flirt with him to spite +me, if nothing more. Papa said last night that I had better accept +Arnault. I won't accept him till I must, and he'll rue his success if +he wins it." Then the mirror reflected a lovely creature dissolved in +tears. + +Again she soliloquized: "I can't accept a horse from Graydon; Arnault +would never submit to it. The receiving of such a present would +compromise me at once. It does not matter so much what I say or look +in private; this proves nothing to the world, and I see more and more +clearly that Arnault will not permit his pride to be humiliated. He +will endure what he calls a fair, open suit philosophically, but the +expression of his eyes makes me shiver sometimes. Was ever a girl +placed in such a mean and horrible position! I won't endure this +shilly-shally much longer. If they can't prove something more definite +against the Muirs, I'll accept Graydon. Papa is just horrid! Why can't +he make more in Wall Street? There must be ways, and any way is as +respectable as the one I may be compelled to take. Well, if I do have +to accept Arnault I'll make Graydon think that I had to do so for +papa's sake, and we'll become good friends again before long. Perhaps +this would be the best way in the end, for papa looked wildly, and +spoke of a tenement-house last night. Tenement! Great heavens! I'd +sooner die." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"VEILED WOOING" + + +"Graydon, when do you think I can have my first ride?" Madge asked at +dinner, with sparkling eyes. + +"At about five this afternoon. I have found a saddle that I can borrow +in case yours does not come till the late train." + +"Oh, I'm so glad that I've lost my appetite! You can't know how much +a horse means to me. It was after I began to ride that I grew strong +enough to hope." + +"Why, Madge, were you so discouraged as that?" he asked, feelingly. + +"I had reason to be discouraged," she replied, in a low tone. Then she +threw back her head, proudly. "You men little know," she continued, +half defiantly. "You think weakness one of our prerogatives, and like +us almost the better for it. We are meekly to accept our fate, and +from soft couches lift our languid eyes in pious resignation. I won't +do it; and when a powerful horse is beneath me, carrying me like the +wind, I feel that his strength is mine, and that I need not succumb to +feminine imbecility or helplessness in any form." + +"Brava, Madge!" cried Henry Muir. + +"You were born a knight," added Graydon, "and have already made more +and better conquests than many celebrated in prose and poetry." + +"Oh, no," cried Madge, lifting her eyebrows in comic distress. "I was +born a woman to my finger-tips, and never could conquer even myself. I +have an awful temper. Graydon, you have already found that out." + +"I have found that I had better accept just what you please to be, +and fully admit your right to be just what you please," he answered, +ruefully. + +"What a lovely and reasonable frame of mind!" Mrs. Muir remarked. +"Truly, Miss Wildmere is to be congratulated. You have only to stick +to such a disposition, and peace will last longer than the moon." + +"Oh, Miss Wildmere will prove a rose without a thorn," Madge added, +laughing, while under Mr. Muir's eye her face paled perceptibly. +"There will never be anything problematical in her single-minded +devotion. She has been well and discreetly brought up, and finished +by the best society, while poor me!--I had to fly in the face of fate +like a virago, and scramble up the best I could in Western wilds. Oh, +well, Graydon, don't be alarmed. I'll be a good fellow if you'll take +me out riding occasionally." + +He began to laugh, and she continued: "I saw you frown when I began +my wicked speech. We'll tick off tabooed subjects, and make an _index +expurgatorius_, and then we'll get on famously." + +"No need of that," he said. "As far as _I_ am concerned, please +consider _me_ fair game." + +"Consider you fair game?" she said, with her head archly on one side. +"That would be arrant poaching. Don't fear, Graydon, I shall never +regard any man as game, not even if I should become a fat dowager with +a bevy of plain daughters and a dull market." + +Grave and silent Mr. Muir leaned back in his chair and laughed so +heartily that he attracted attention at the Wildmere table across the +room. + +"That man doesn't act as if on the brink of failure," thought Miss +Wildmere. "It's all a conspiracy of Arnault with papa." + +"You are making game of me in one sense very successfully," Graydon +admitted, laughing a little uneasily. + +"Oh, in that sense, all men are legitimate game, and I shall chaff as +many as possible, out of spite that I was not a man." + +"You would make a good one--you are so devoid of sentiment and so +independent." + +"And yet within a week I think a certain gentleman was inclined to +think me sentimental, aesthetic, intense, a victim of ideals and +devotional rhapsodies." + +"Oh, ye gods! Here, waiter, bring me my dessert, and let me escape," +cried Graydon. + +"Did you say I was to be ready at five?" she asked, sweetly. + +"Yes, and bring down articles of a truce, and we'll sign them in red +ink." + +An hour later she heard the gallop of a horse, and saw him riding +away. "She shan't mount the animal," he had thought, "till I learn +more about him and give him all the running he wants to-day. She has +a heavy enough score against me as it is, and I'll not employ another +brute to make things worse." + +He learned more fully what he had discovered before, that she would +have her hands full in managing the horse, and he gave him a run that +covered him with foam and tested his breathing. At four he galloped +back to the station to see if the saddle had arrived, but found that +even his skill and strength were not sufficient to make the animal +approach the engine. Shouting to the baggage-man to bring the expected +articles to the stable, he was soon there and made another experiment. +A hostler brought him a blanket, which he strapped around his waist, +and mounted again in a lady's style. It was at once evident that the +horse had never been ridden by a woman. He reared, kicked, and plunged +around frightfully, and Graydon had to clutch the mane often to keep +his seat. Madge had speedily joined him, and looked with absorbed +interest, at times laughing, and again imploring Graydon to dismount. +This he at last he did, the perspiration pouring from his face. +Resigning the trembling and wearied horse to a stable-boy, he came +toward the young girl, mopping his brow and exclaiming: "It will never +do at all. He is ugly as sin. No woman should ride him, not even a +squaw." + +"Bah, Graydon! he did not throw you, although he had you at every +disadvantage. I'm not in the least afraid. Has the saddle come?" + +"Yes; but I protest, Madge. Here, Dr. Sommers" (who was approaching), +"lay your commands on this rash girl." + +"If Dr. Sommers says I'm rash he doesn't understand my case, and I +refuse to employ him," cried Madge. Then she added, sweetly: "If +I break any bones, doctor, I'll be your very humble and obedient +servant. It's half-past four, and I'll be ready as soon as you are, +Graydon. No backing out. You might as well warn me against the peril +of a rocking-chair;" and she went to put on her habit. + +"Heaven help us!" said Graydon to the doctor. "We're in a scrape. +She's so resolute that I believe she would go alone. What would you +do? Hang it all! the people of the house have got an inkling of what's +up; some are gathering near, and the windows are full of heads." + +"Put the saddle on one of the quiet livery horses, and you ride this +brute," said the doctor. + +"You don't know her. She wouldn't stand that at all." + +"Then give her her head. After yesterday I believe she can do what +she undertakes. You have tired the horse out pretty thoroughly, and I +guess she'll manage him." + +Leaving orders to have Madge's horse sponged off and dried, and the +best animal in the stable prepared for himself, he said, "Well then, +doctor, be on hand to repair damages," and went to his room to change +his dress. + +The doctor did more. He saw that Madge's horse was saddled carefully, +meanwhile admiring the beautiful equipment that Graydon had ordered. +He also insured that Graydon had a good mount. + +When at last the young man tapped at Madge's door she came out looking +most beautiful in her close-fitting habit and low beaver, with its +drooping feather. Mary followed her, protesting and half crying, and +Mr. Muir looked very grave. + +"Madge," said Graydon, earnestly, "I should never forgive myself if +any harm came to you. That horse is not fit for you to ride." + +"Good people, see here," said Madge, turning upon them; "I am not a +reckless child, nor am I making a rash experiment. Even if I did not +fear broken bones, do you think I would give you needless anxiety? +Graydon has kindly obtained for me a fine horse, and I must make a +beginning to show you and him that I can ride. If Mr. and Mrs. Wayland +were here they would laugh at you. Don't come out to see me off, Mary. +Others would follow, and I don't want to be conspicuous. I do wish +people would mind their own business." + +"No danger of my coming out. I don't want to see you break your neck," +cried Mary, re-entering her room. + +"You must let me go, Madge," said Mr. Muir, firmly. "I may have to +interpose my authority." + +"Yes, do come, for Heaven's sake!" said Graydon. + +"Very well," laughed Madge. "If I once get on, you and the horse may +both find it hard to get me off. Where are the horses?" she asked, +upon reaching the door. + +"You must yield one point and mount near the stable," said Graydon, +resolutely. + +"Oh, certainly, I'll yield everything except my ride." + +Madge's horse stood pawing the ground, showing how obdurate and +untamable was his spirit. She exclaimed at the beauty of the saddle +and its housings, and said, "Thank you, Graydon," so charmingly that +he anathematized himself for giving her a brute instead of a horse. "I +should have satisfied myself better about him," he thought, "and have +looked further." + +In a moment she had the animal by the head, and was patting his neck, +while he turned an eye of fire down upon her, and showed no relenting +in his chafed and excited mood. Graydon meanwhile examined everything +carefully, and saw that the bridle had a powerful curb. + +"Well," said he, ruefully, "if you will, you will." + +"Yes; in no other way can I satisfy you," was her quiet reply. + +"Let us get away, then; spectators are gathering. You should be able +to hold him with this rein. Come." + +She put her foot in his hand, and was mounted in a second, the reins +well in hand. The horse reared, but a sharp downward pull to the right +brought him to his feet again. Then he plunged and kicked, but she sat +as if a part of him, meanwhile speaking to him in firm, gentle tones. +His next unexpected freak was to run backward in a way that sent the +neighboring group flying. Instantly Madge gave him a stinging blow +over the hind quarters, and he fairly sprang into the air. + +"Get off, Madge," cried Mr. Muir, authoritatively, but the horse was +speeding down the road toward the house, and Graydon, who had looked +on breathlessly, followed. Before they reached the hotel she had +brought him up with the powerful curb, and prancing, curvetting, +straining side-wise first in one direction, then in the other, +meanwhile trembling half with anger, half with terror, the mastered +brute passed the piazza with its admiring groups. Graydon was at her +side. He did not see Miss Wildmere frowning with vexation and envy, +or Arnault's complacent observance. With sternly compressed lips and +steady eye he watched Madge, that, whatever emergency occurred, he +might do all that was possible. The young girl herself was a presence +not soon to be forgotten. Her lips were slightly parted, her eye +glowing with a joyous sense of power, and her pose, flexible to the +eccentric motions of the horse, grace itself. They passed on down the +winding carriage-drive, out upon the main street, and then she turned, +waved her handkerchief to Mr. Muir, and with her companion galloped +away. + +Several of Mr. Muir's acquaintances came forward, offering +congratulations, which he accepted with his quiet smile, and then went +up to reassure his wife, who, in spite of her words to the contrary, +had kept her eyes fastened upon Madge as long as she was in sight. + +"Well," she exclaimed, "did you ever see anything equal to that?" + +"No," said her husband, "but I have seen nothing wonderful or +unnatural; she did not do a thing that she had not been trained and +taught to do, and all her acts were familiar by much usage." + +"I think she's a prodigy," exclaimed Mrs. Muir. + +"Nothing of the kind. She is a handsome girl, with good abilities, +who has had the sense to make the most and best of herself instead of +dawdling." + +After an easy gallop of a mile, in which Madge showed complete power +to keep her horse from breaking into a mad run, she drew rein and +looked at Graydon with a smile. He took off his hat and bowed, +laughingly. + +"Oh, Graydon," she said, "it was nice of you to let me have my own +way!" + +"I didn't do it very graciously. I have seldom been more worried in my +life." + +"I'm glad you were a little worried," she said. "It recalls your look +and tone at the time of our parting, when you said, 'Oh, Madge, do get +well and strong!' Haven't I complied with your wish?" + +"Had my wish anything to do with your compliance?" + +"Why not?" + +"What an idiot I've been! I fear I have been misjudging you absurdly. +I've had no end of ridiculous thoughts and theories about you." + +"Indeed! Apparently I had slight place in your thoughts at all, but I +made great allowances for a man in your condition." + +"That was kind, but you were mistaken. Why, Madge, we were almost +brought up together, and I couldn't reconcile the past and the +present. The years you spent in the far West, and their result, are +more wonderful than a fairytale. I wish you would tell me about them." + +"I will. Friends should be reasonably frank. What's more, I wish to +show you how natural and probable the result, as you call it, has +been. Your wondering perplexity vexes me. You know what I was when we +parted." + +"No, I don't believe I do, or you couldn't be what you are now." + +"Well, I can tell you: I had weak lungs, a weak body, and a weak, +uncultured mind. I was weak in all respects, but I discovered that I +had a will, and I had sense enough, as Henry says, to know that if I +was ever going to be more than a ghost it was time I set about it. I +knew of Mrs. Wayland's restoration to health in the climate of Santa +Barbara, and I determined to try it myself. I couldn't have had better +friends or advantages than the place afforded. But oh, Graydon, I was +so weak and used up when I reached there that I could scarcely do more +than breathe. But I had made up my mind either to get well or to die. +I rested for days, until I could make a beginning, and then, one step +at a time, as it were, I went forward. Take two things that you have +seen me do, for example. One can bathe in the sea at Santa Barbara +almost throughout the year. At first I was as timid as a child, +and scarcely dared to wet my feet; but Mr. Wayland was a sensible +instructor, and led me step by step. The water was usually still, and +I gradually acquired the absolute confidence of one who can swim, and +swims almost every day. So with a horse. I could hardly sit on one +that was standing still, I was so weak and frightened; but with muscle +and health came stronger nerves and higher courage. After a few months +I thought nothing of a ten-mile gallop on the beach or out to the +cañons. I took up music in the same way, and had a thoroughly good +teacher. He did the best he could for me, which wasn't so very much. I +never could become a scientist in anything, but I was determined to be +no sham within my limitations. I have tried to do some things as well +as I could and let the rest go. Now you see how easily I can explain +myself, and I only seem wonderful because of contrast with what I +was." + +"But where do I come in?" he asked, eagerly. + +"Did you not say, 'Please get well and strong?' I thought it would +gratify you and Mary and Henry. You used to call me a ghost, and I +did not want to be a ghost any longer. I saw that you enjoyed your +vigorous life fully, and felt that I might enjoy life also; and as I +grew strong I did enjoy everything more and more. Two things besides, +and I can say, 'All present or accounted for.' Mr. Wayland is a +student, and has a splendid library. He coached me--that was your old +college jargon--on books, and Mrs. Wayland coached me on society. So +here I am, weighing a hundred and twenty pounds, more or less, and +ready for another gallop;" and away she went, the embodiment of +beautiful life. + +"One more question, Madge," he said, as they slackened pace again. +"Why wouldn't you write to me oftener?" + +"I don't like to write letters. Mine to Mary were scarcely more than +notes. Ask her. Are you satisfied now? Am I a sphinx--a conundrum--any +longer?" + +"No; and at last I am more than content that you are not little +Madge." + +"Why, this is famous, as Dr. Sommers says. When was a man ever known +to change his mind before?" + +"I've changed mine so often of late that I'm fairly dizzy. You are +setting me straight at last." + +Madge laughed outright, and after a moment said, "Now account for +yourself. What places did you visit abroad?" + +He began to tell her, and she to ask questions that surprised him, +showing that she had some idea of even the topography and color of +the region, and a better knowledge of the history and antiquities +than himself. At last he expressed his wonder. "What nonsense!" she +exclaimed. "You don't remember the little I did write you. As I said +before, did you not at my request--very kindly and liberally, too, +Graydon--send me books about the places you expected to see? A child +could have read them and so have gained the information that surprises +you." + +They talked on, one thing leading to another, until he had a conscious +glow of mental excitement. She knew so much that he knew, only in +a different way, and her thoughts came rippling forth in piquant, +musical words. Her eyes were so often full of laughter that he saw +that she was happy, and he remembered after their return that she had +not said an ill-natured word about any one. It was another of their +old-time, breezy talks, only larger, fuller, complete with her rich +womanhood. He found himself alive in every fibre of his body and +faculty of his mind. + +As they turned homeward the evening shadows were gathering, and at +last the dusky twilight passed into a soft radiance under the rays of +the full-orbed moon. + +"Oh, don't let us hasten home," pleaded poor Madge, who felt that this +might be her only chance to throw about him the gossamer threads which +would draw the cord and cable that could bind him to her. "What is +supper to the witchery of such a night as this?" + +"What would anything be to the witchery of such a girl as this, if +one were not fortified?" he thought. "This is not the comradeship of +a good fellow, as she promised. It is the society of a charming woman, +who is feminine in even her thoughts and modes of expression--who is +often strangely, bewilderingly beautiful in this changing light. When +we pass under the shadow of a tree her eyes shine like stars; when the +rays of the moon are full upon her face it is almost as pure and white +as when it was illumined by the electric flash. Did I not love another +woman, I could easily imagine myself learning to love her. Confound +it! I wish Stella had more of Madge's simple loftiness of character. +She would compel different business methods in her father. She would +work for him, suffer for him, but would not play diplomat. I like that +Arnault business to-night less than ever." + +Mr. and Mrs. Muir were anxiously awaiting them on the piazza as they +trotted smartly up the avenue. "It's all right," cried Graydon. +"The horse has learned to know his mistress, and will give no more +trouble." + +"I wish you had as much sense," growled Muir, in his mustache; then +added, aloud, "Come to supper. Mary could not eat anything till +assured of your safety." + +"Yes, Henry, I won't keep you waiting a moment, but go in with my +habit on. I suppose the rest are all through, and I'm as ravenous as a +wolf." + +They were soon having the merriest little supper, full of laughing +reminiscence, and Henry rubbed his hands under the table as he +thought, "Arnault is off mooning with the speculator, and Graydon +doesn't look as if the green-eyed monster had much of a grip upon +him." + +Miss Wildmere's solicitude would not permit her to prolong her walk +with Arnault, and she returned to the parlor comparatively early in +the evening. She found Graydon awaiting her, and he was as quietly +devoted as ever. She looked at him a little questioningly, but he met +her eyes with his quiet and assured look. When she danced with Arnault +and other gentlemen he sought a partner in Madge or some other lady; +and once, while they were walking on the piazza, and Miss Wildmere +said, "You must have enjoyed yourself immensely with Miss Alden to +have been out so long," he replied, "I did. I hope you passed your +time as agreeably." + +She saw that her relations with Arnault gave him an advantage and a +freedom which he proposed to use--that she had no ground on which to +find fault--and that he was too proud to permit censure for a course +less open to criticism than her own. + +Before she slept she thought long and deeply, at last concluding that +perhaps affairs were taking the right turn for her purpose. Graydon +was tolerating as a disagreeable necessity what he regarded as her +filial diplomacy with Arnault. He was loyally and quietly waiting +until this necessity should cease, and was so doing because he +supposed it to be her wish. If she could keep him in just this +attitude it would leave her less embarrassed, give her more time, than +if he were an ardent and jealous suitor. She was scarcely capable of +love, but she admired him more than ever each day. She saw that he was +the superior of Arnault in every way, and was so recognized by all in +the house; therefore one of her strongest traits--vanity--was enlisted +in his behalf. She saw, also, that he represented a higher type of +manhood than she had been accustomed to, and she was beginning to +stand in awe of him also, but for reasons differing widely from those +which caused her fear of Arnault. She dreaded the latter's pride, the +resolute selfishness of his scheme of life, which would lead him to +drop her should she interfere with it. She was learning to dread +even more Graydon's high-toned sense of honor, the final decisions he +reached from motives which had slight influence with her. What if she +should permit both men to slip from her grasp, while she hesitated? +She fairly turned cold with horror at the thought of this and of the +poverty which might result. + +Thus, from widely differing motives, two girls were sighing for time; +and Graydon Muir, strong, confident, proud of his knowledge of society +and ability to take care of himself, was walking blindly on, the +victim of one woman's guile, the object of another woman's pure, +unselfish love, and liable at any hour to be blasted for life by the +fulfilment of his hope and the consummation of his happiness. + +Sweet Madge Alden, hiding your infinite treasure, deceiving all and +yet so true, may you have time! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SUGGESTIVE TONES + + +Miss Wildmere had promised to drive with Graydon on the following +morning, but Madge felt as if heaven had interfered in her behalf, for +the skies were clouded, and the rain fell unceasingly. People were at +a loss to beguile the hours. Graydon, Miss Wildmere, and Mr. Arnault +played pool together, while Mr. Muir, his wife, and Madge bowled for +an hour, the last winning most of the games. Mr. Arnault had a certain +rude sense of fair play, and it appeared to him that Graydon's course +had become all that he could ask--more than he could naturally expect. +The lady was apparently left wholly free to make her choice between +them, and all protest, even by manner, against her companionship with +him had ceased. He could drive, walk, or dance with her at his will; +then Graydon would quietly put in an appearance and make the most of +his opportunity. Arnault was not deceived, however. He knew that +his present rival was the most dangerous one that he had ever +encountered--that Stella might accept him at any time and was much +inclined to do so speedily. Indeed, he was about driven to the belief +that she would do so at once but for the fear that the Muirs were +in financial peril. He hoped that this fear and the pressure of her +father's need might lead her to decide in his favor, without the +necessity of his being the immediate and active agent in breaking down +the Muirs. As a business man, he shrunk from this course, and all the +more because Graydon was acting so fairly. Nevertheless, he would play +his principal card if he must. It was his nature to win in every game +of life, and it had become a passion with him to secure the beautiful +girl that he had sought so long and vainly. If it could appear to the +world that he had fairly won her, he would not scruple at anything in +the accomplishment of his purpose, and would feel that he had scored +the most brilliant success in his life. If he could do this without +ruining them, he would be glad, and his good-will was enhanced by +Graydon's course this morning. The former had sauntered into the +billiard-room, but, seeing Graydon with Miss Wildmere, had been about +to depart, when Muir had said, cordially, "Come, Arnault, take a cue +with us," and had quite disarmed him by frank courtesy. + +At last the sound of music and laughter lured them to the main hall, +and there they found Madge surrounded by children and young people, +little Nellie Wilder clinging to her side the most closely, with Mr. +and Mrs. Wilder looking at the young girl with a world of grateful +good-will in their eyes. + +"Oh, Miss Alden, sing us another song," clamored a dozen voices. + +"Yes," cried Jennie Muir; "the funny one you sang for us in the +woods." + +Madge smilingly complied, and the children fairly danced in their +delight at the comical strains, abrupt pauses, droll sentiment, +and interlarded words of explanation. The more elderly guests were +attracted, and the audience grew apace. Having finished her little +musical comedy, Madge arose, and Mr. Arnault, aware of Stella +Wildmere's ability to sing selections from opera, said, "Since the +children have been so well entertained, I suggest that we who have the +misfortune to be grown have our turn, and that Miss Wildmere give us +some grown-up music." + +Madge flushed slightly, and Miss Wildmere, after a little charming +hesitation, seated herself at the piano, and sang almost faultlessly +a selection from an opera. It was evident that she had been well +and carefully trained, and that within her limitations, which she +thoughtfully remembered, she gave little occasion for criticism. Both +her suitors were delighted. They applauded so heartily, and urged +so earnestly with others, that she sang again and again, to the +unaffected pleasure of the throng who had now gathered. At last she +pleaded fatigue, and rose from the instrument, flushing proudly amid +vociferous encores. Graydon was about to ask Madge to sing again, when +an old gentleman who had listened to the children's ditties, and had +detected unusual sweetness and power in Madge's tones, said, promptly, +"I may be mistaken, but I have an impression that Miss Alden can give +us some grown-up music, if she will." + +Instantly his suggestion was seconded by general entreaty, in which +not only Graydon joined from sincere good-will, but also Mr. Arnault, +in the hope of giving Stella a triumph, for he believed that the best +her social rival could do would be to render some ballad fairly well. + +Madge's brow contracted, as though she were irresolute and troubled. + +"Truly, Miss Alden," said Stella, who was standing near, "I have done +my part to beguile the dismal day; I think you might favor us, also. +There are no critics here, I hope. We should enjoy a simple song if +you cannot now recall anything else." + +"Very well, then, I will give you a little German song that my old +teacher loved well;" but Graydon saw the same slight flush and a +resolute expression take the place of her hesitancy. + +After a brief prelude, which, to his trained ear, revealed her perfect +touch, her voice rose with a sweet, resonant power that held those +near spellbound, and swelled in volume until people in distant parts +of the house paused and listened as if held by a viewless hand. +Connoisseurs felt that they were listening to an artist and not an +amateur; plain men and women, and the children, knew simply that +they were enjoying music that entranced them, that set their nerves +thrilling and vibrating. Madge hoped only that her voice might +penetrate the barriers between herself and one man's heart. She did +not desire to sing on the present occasion. She did not wish to annoy +him by the contrast between her song and Miss Wildmere's performance, +feeling that he would naturally take sides in his thoughts with the +woman outvied; nor had she any desire to inflict upon her rival the +disparagement that must follow; but something in Miss Wildmere's +self-satisfied and patronizing tone had touched her quick spirit, and +the arrogant girl should receive the lesson she had invited. But, as +Madge sang, the noble art soon lifted her above all lower thoughts, +and she forgot everything but Graydon and the hope of her heart. She +sang for him alone, as she had learned to sing for him alone. + +In spite of her explanations he looked at her with the same old wonder +and perplexity of which he had been conscious from the first. If she +had merely sung with correctness and taste, like Miss Wildmere, there +would have been nothing to disturb his complacent admiration; but now +he almost felt like springing to her side with the words, "What is it, +Madge? Tell me all." + +As the last lovely notes ceased, only the unthinking children +applauded. From the others there was entreaty. + +"Please sing again, Miss Alden," said the gentleman who had first +asked her. "I am an old man, and can't hope for many more such rich +pleasures. I am not an amateur, and know only the music that reaches +my heart." + +"Sing something from 'Lohengrin,' Madge," said Henry Muir, quietly. +She glanced at him, and there was a humorous twinkle in his eyes. + +Herr Brachmann had trained her thoroughly in some of Wagner's +difficult music, and she gave them a selection which so far surpassed +the easy melodies of Verdi, which Miss Wildmere had sung, that the +latter sat pale and incensed, yet not daring to show her chagrin. This +music was received with unbounded applause, and then a little voice +piped, "The big folks have had more'n their turn; now give us a +reg'lar Mother Goose." + +This request was received with acclamations, and soon ripples of +laughter broke over the crowd in all directions, and then one of the +adoring boys who were usually worshipping near cried out, "A reel, +Miss Alden, a reel, and let us finish up with a high old dance before +dinner." + +Graydon seized Miss Wildmere's hand, boys made profound bows to their +mothers, husbands dragged their protesting wives out upon the floor. +Soon nearly all ages and heights were in the two long lines, many feet +already keeping time to Madge's rollicking strains. Never had such +a dance been known before in the house, for the very genius and +inspiration of mirth seemed to be in the piano. The people were +laughing half the time at the odd medley of tunes and improvisations +that Madge invoked, and gray-bearded men indulged in some of the +antics that they had thought forgotten a quarter of a century before. +As the last couple at the head of the lines was glancing down the +archway of raised and clasped hands, the lively strains ceased, and +the dancers swarmed out, with thanks and congratulations upon their +lips, only to see Madge flying up the stairway. + +"Madge," said Graydon, at dinner, "I suppose you will tell me you have +practiced over and over again every note you sang this morning." + +"Certainly; some of the more difficult ones hours and hours and +months and months. Herr Brachmann was an amiable dragon in music, and +insisted on your knowing what you did know." + +"I thought you would say all this, but it doesn't account for your +singing." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I don't know exactly. There is something you did not get from +Herr Brachmann--scarcely from nature. It suggests what artists call +feeling, and more." + +"Oh, every one has his own method," said Madge, carelessly, and yet +with a visible increase of color. + +"'Method,' do you call it? I'm half inclined to think that it might +be akin to madness were you very unhappy. The human voice often has +a strange power over me, and I have a theory that it may reveal +character more than people imagine. Why shouldn't it? It is the +chief medium of our expression, and we may even unconsciously reveal +ourselves in our tones." + +"When were you so fanciful before? What does a professional reveal?" + +"Chiefly that she is a trained professional, and yet even the most +blasĂ© among them give hints as to the compass of their woman-nature. +I think their characters are often suggested quite definitely by their +tones. Indeed, I even find myself judging people by their voices. +Henry's tones indicate many of his chief traits accurately--as, for +instance, self-reliance, reserve, quiet and unswerving purpose." + +"Well," asked Mrs. Muir, who was a little obtuse on delicate points, +"what did Miss Wildmere's tones indicate?" + +Graydon was slightly taken aback, and suddenly found that he did not +like his theory so well as he had thought. "Miss Wildmere's tones," he +began, hesitatingly, "suggested this morning little more than a +desire to render well the music she sang, and to give pleasure to her +listeners." + +"I thought they suggested some self-complacency, which was lost before +the morning was over," added Mr. Muir, dryly. + +"Miss Wildmere sang admirably," exclaimed Madge, warmly, "and could +sing much better if she had been trained in a better method and gave +more time to the art. I sang hours every day for nearly two years. +Nothing will take the place of practice, Graydon. One must develop +voice like muscle." + +"You are a generous, sensible critic, Madge," he said, quietly, +although there was a flush of resentment on his face at his brother's +words. "In the main you are right, but I still hold to my theory. +At least, I believe that in all great music there is a subtle +individuality and _motif_. Love may be blind, but it is not deaf. Miss +Wildmere gave us good music, not great music." + +Mr. Muir began talking about the weather as if it were the only +subject in his mind, and soon afterward Madge went to her room with +bowed head and downcast heart. + +"I have no chance," she sighed. "He loves her, and that ends all. He +is loyal to her, and will be loyal, even though she breaks his heart +eventually, as I fear. It's his nature." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DISHEARTENING CONFIDENCES + + +Under a renewed impulse of loyalty Graydon intercepted Miss Wildmere +as she was going to her room, and said: "The clouds in the west are +all breaking away--they ever do, you know, if one has patience. We can +still have our drive and enjoy it all the more from hope deferred." + +"I'm so sorry," she began, in some embarrassment. "Of course I +couldn't know last night that it would rain in the morning, and so +promised Mr. Arnault this afternoon." + +"It seems as if it would ever be hope deferred to me, Miss Wildmere," +he said, gravely. + +"But, Graydon, you must see how it is--" + +"No, I don't see, but I yield, as usual." + +"I promise you Sunday afternoon or the first clear day," she +exclaimed, eagerly. + +"Very well," he replied, brightening. "Remember I shall be a Shylock +with this bond." But he was irritated, nevertheless, and went out on +the piazza to try the soothing influence of a cigar. + +The skies cleared rapidly. So did his brow; and before long he +muttered: "I'll console myself by another gallop with Madge. There +goes my inamorata, smiling upon another fellow. How long is this going +to last? Not all summer, by Jupiter! Her father must not insist on her +playing that game too long, even though she does play it so well." + +Madge was sitting in her room in dreary apathy and spiritless reaction +from the strain of the morning, when she was aroused by a knock on her +door. "Madge," called a voice that sent the blood to her face, "what +say you to another ride? I know the roads are muddy, but--" + +"But I'll go with you," she cried. "Why use adversatives in the same +breath with 'ride'? The mud's nothing. What won't rub off can stay on. +How soon shall I be ready?" + +"That's a good live girl. In half an hour." + +When they were a mile or two away Madge asked, as if with sudden +compunction, "Graydon, are you sure you were disengaged?" + +He laughed outright. "That question comes much too late," he said. + +She braced herself as if to receive a deadly blow, and was pale and +rigid with the effort as she asked, with an air of curiosity merely, +"Are you truly engaged to Miss Wildmere, Graydon?" + +"In one sense I am, Madge," he replied, gravely. "I have given her my +loyalty, and, to a certain extent, my word; but I have not bound her. +Since you have proved so true and generous a friend to me I do not +hesitate to let you know the truth. I am sorry you do not like her +altogether, and that you have some cause for your feeling; but you are +both right at heart. She spoke most enthusiastically of your rescue +of the child. You ladies amuse me with your emphasis of little piques; +but when it comes to anything large or fine you do justice to one +another. Henry had no right to say what he did at dinner, for Stella +applauded you as you had her; but Henry's prejudices are inveterate. +Why should I not be loyal to her, Madge? I believe she remained free +for my sake during the years of my absence." + +"I think your feelings are very natural. They are what I should expect +of you. You have always seemed to me the soul of honor when once you +obtain your bearings," she added, with a wan smile. + +"How pale you are, Madge!" he said, anxiously. + +"I am not feeling very well to-day, and then I am suffering from the +reaction of this morning. I never can get over my old timidity and +dislike to do anything in public. I can do what I will, but it +often costs me dear. I was led on unexpectedly this morning. I only +anticipated singing a ditty for the children when I first went to the +piano at their request." + +"I saw that, Madge. Any other woman with your power of song would have +made it known long before this." + +"And, believe me, Graydon, I did not want to sing in rivalry with Miss +Wildmere. I'm sorry I did." + +"I saw that too," he replied, laughing. "Stella drew that little +experience down upon herself." + +"I'm sorry now that I sang," she said, in a low tone. "I didn't want +to do anything to hurt the feelings of so good a friend as you are." + +"You didn't hurt my feelings in the least. Just the contrary. You +gave much pleasure, and made me all the more proud of you. It will do +Stella no harm to have her self-complacency jostled a little. Slight +wonder that her head is somewhat giddy from the immense amount of +attention she has received. I'm not perfect, Madge; why should I +demand perfection? It's delightful to be talking in this way--like +old times. I used to talk to you about Stella years ago. If I have the +substance I can forego the shadow, and I do feel that I can say to you +all that I could to a sensible and loving sister. Believe me, Madge, +I can never get over my old feeling for you, and I'm just as proud +of you as if your name was Madge Muir. I think your brave effort and +achievement at Santa Barbara simply magnificent. You have long had +the affection that I would give to a sister, and now that I understand +you, I feel for you all the respect that I could give to any woman." + +"Those are kind, generous words, Graydon. I knew that you +misunderstood me, and I was only provoked at you, not angry." + +"You had good reason to be provoked and much more. If you and Stella +understood each other in the same way, and--well--if she were only +out of that atmosphere in which she has been brought up, I could ask +nothing more." + +"What atmosphere?" + +"Wall Street atmosphere transferred to the domestic and social circle. +You have too much delicacy, Madge, to refer to what I know puzzles +you, and I admit that I do not fully understand it all, though I +know Stella's motive clearly enough. Her motive is worthy of all +commendation, but not her method. She is not so much to blame for this +as her father, and perhaps her mother, who appears a weak, spiritless +woman, a faint echo of her husband. It is here that the infernal Wall +Street atmosphere comes in that she has breathed all her life. Does it +not puzzle you, in view of my relations to her, that she should be out +driving with Arnault?" + +"Yes, Graydon, it does." + +"Well, Arnault is a money-lender, and I am satisfied that in some way +he has her father in his power. Many of these brokers are like cats. +They will hold on to anything by one nail, and the first thing you +know they are on their feet again all right. As soon as Wildmere makes +a lucky strike in the stock-market he will extricate himself and his +daughter at the same time. Of course these things are not formulated +in words, in a cold-blooded way, I suppose. Arnault has long been a +suitor that would take no rebuff. I am satisfied that she has +refused him more than once, but he simply persists, and gives her +to understand that he will take his chances. This was the state of +affairs when I came home, and she, no doubt, feels that if she can +save her father, and keep a home for her mother and the little one, +she ought to retain her hold on Arnault. After all, it is not so bad. +Many women marry for money outright, and all poor Stella proposes is +to be complaisant toward a man who would not continue his business +support to one whose daughter had just refused him." + +Madge was silent. + +"You wouldn't do such a thing, I suppose." + +"I couldn't, Graydon," she said, simply. "If I should ever love a man +I think I could suffer a great deal for his sake, but there are some +things I couldn't do." + +"I thought you would feel so." + +"Why don't you help her father out?" Madge faltered. + +"I don't think I have sufficient means. I have never been over-thrifty +in saving, and have not laid by many thousands. I have merely a +good salary and very good prospects. You can't imagine how slow and +conservative Henry is. In business matters he treats me just as if +I were a stranger, and I must prove myself worthy of trust at every +point, and by long apprenticeship, before he will give me a voice in +affairs. He says coming forward too fast is the ruination of young +men in our day. Nothing would tempt him to have dealings with Mr. +Wildmere, and I couldn't damage myself more than by any transactions +on my own account. But even if I were rich I wouldn't interfere. I +don't like her father any better than Henry does, and if I began in +this way it would make a bad precedent. What's more, I won't introduce +money influences into an affair of this kind. If it comes to the +point, Stella must decide for me, ignoring all other considerations. +If she does, I won't permit her family to suffer, but I propose to +know that she chooses me absolutely in spite of everything. I am also +resolved that she shall be separated from her family as far as is +right, for there is a tone about them that I don't like." + +"I thank you for your confidence, Graydon," said Madge, quietly. "You +are acting just as I should suppose you would. No one in the world +wishes you happiness more earnestly than I do. Come, let us take this +level place like the wind." + +She was unusually gay during the remainder of their ride, but seemed +bent almost on running her horse to death. "To-morrow is Sunday," she +explained, "and I must crowd two rides into one." + +"Wouldn't you ride to-morrow?" + +"No; I have some old-fashioned notions about Sunday. You have been +abroad too long, perhaps, to appreciate them." + +"I appreciate fidelity to conscience, Madge." + +They had their supper together again as on the evening before, but +Madge was carelessly languid and fitful in her mirthful sallies, and +complained of over-fatigue. "I won't come down again to-night," she +said to Graydon as they passed out of the supper-room. "Good-night." + +"Good-night, Madge," he replied, taking her hand in both his own. +"I understand you now, and know that you have gone beyond even your +superb strength to-day. Sleep the sleep of the justest and truest +little woman that ever breathed. I can't tell you how much you have +added to my happiness during the past two days." + +"He understands me!" she muttered, as she closed the door of her room. +"I am almost tempted to doubt whether a merciful God understands me. +Why was this immeasurable love put into my heart to be so cruelly +thwarted? Why must he go blindly on to so cruel a fate? Of course +she'll renounce everything for him. Whatever else she may be, she is +not an idiot." + +Henry Muir's quiet eyes had observed Madge closely, and from a little +distance he had seen the parting between her and his brother. Then +he saw Graydon seek Miss Wildmere and resume a manner which he had +learned to detest, and the self-contained man went out upon the +grounds, and said, through clinched teeth: "To think that there should +have been such a fool bearing the name of Muir! He's been gushing to +Madge about that speculator, and we shall yet have to take her as we +would an infection." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE FILIAL MARTYR + + +Miss Wildmere appeared in one of her most brilliant moods that +evening. There was a dash of excitement, almost recklessness, in her +gray eyes. She and Mr. Arnault had been deputed to lead the German, +but she took Graydon out so often as to produce in Mr. Arnault's eyes +an expression which the observant Mr. Wildmere did not like at all. He +had just returned from dreary, half-deserted Wall Street, which was +as dead and hopeless as only that region of galvanic life can be at +times. He had neither sold nor bought stock, but had moused around, +with the skill of an old _habituĂ©_, for information concerning the +eligibility of the two men who were seeking his daughter's hand. In +the midsummer dullness and holiday stagnation the impending operation +in the Catskills was the only one that promised anything whatever. He +became more fully satisfied that Arnault's firm was prospering. They +had been persistent "bears" on a market that had long been declining, +and had reaped a golden harvest from the miseries of others. On the +other hand, he learned that Henry Muir was barely holding his own, and +that he had strained his credit dangerously to do this. He knew about +the enterprise which had absorbed the banker's capital, and while +he believed it would respond promptly to the returning flow of the +financial tide, it now seemed stranded among more hopeless ventures. +There was no escaping the conviction that Muir was in a perilous +position, and that a little thing might push him over the brink. +Therefore, he had returned fully beat upon using all his influence in +behalf of Arnault, and was spurred to this effort by the fact that his +finances, but not his expenses, were running low. His wife could give +but a dubious account of Stella's conduct. + +"In short," said Mr. Wildmere, irritably, "she is dallying with both, +and may lose both by her hesitating folly." + +His daughter's greeting was brief and formal. A sort of +matter-of-course kiss had been given, and then he had been left to eat +his supper alone, since his wife could not just then be absent from +her child. At last he lounged out on the piazza, sat down before one +of the parlor windows, glanced at the gay scene within, and smoked in +silence. Before the German began, Graydon passed him several times, +regarding him curiously and with a growing sense of repulsion. He +disliked to think that the relation between this man and the girl he +would marry was so close. + +Before the evening was over, Mr. Wildmere saw that his daughter was in +truth pursuing a difficult policy. The angry light in Arnault's eyes +and the grave expression on Graydon's face proved how fraught with +peril it was to his hopes. Neither of her suitors liked Stella's +manner that evening, for it suggested traits which promised ill for +the future. Graydon, who understood her the less, was the more lenient +judge. + +"Not only Arnault," he thought, "but her father also, has been +pressing her toward a course from which she revolts, and she is half +reckless in consequence." + +He endeavored by his quiet and observant attention, by the grave and +gentle expression of his eyes, to assure her once more that she could +find a refuge in him the moment that she would decide absolutely in +his favor. She understood him well, and was enraged that she could not +that night go out with him into the moonlight, put her hand in his, +and end her suspense. + +Her father had whispered, significantly, when they met, "Stella, I +must see you before you give Mr. Muir further encouragement;" and she, +feeling that it might be among her last chances, for the present, of +showing Graydon favor, was lavish of it. But it was not the preference +of strong, true, womanly choice; it was rather the half-defiant aspect +with which forbidden fruit might be regarded. + +As the great clock was about to chime the hour of midnight the dancing +ceased. Arnault seemed determined to have the last word, and Graydon +interposed no obstacle. The former walked on the piazza by Stella's +side for a few turns in moody silence. Her father still sat at his +post of observation. Mrs. Wildmere had been with him part of the time, +but he had not had much to say to her. + +"Mr. Arnault," said Stella, satirically, at last, "I will not tax your +remarkable power for entertainment any longer. I will now join papa, +and retire." + +"Very well, Stella," was the quiet reply; "but before we part I shall +speak more to the point than if I had talked hours. By this time +another week the question must be decided." + +She bowed, and made no other answer. + +"Stella," said her father when they were alone and he had regarded for +some moments her averted and half-sullen face, "what do you propose to +do?" There was no answer. + +After another pause he continued: "In settling the question, represent +your mother and myself by a cipher. That is all we are, if the logic +of your past action counts for anything. Again I ask, What do you +propose to do? No matter how pretty and flattered a girl may be, she +cannot alter gravitation. There are other facts just as inexorable. +Shutting your eyes to them, or any other phase of folly, will not make +the slightest difference." + +"I think it's a horrid fact that I must marry a man that I don't +love." + +"That is not one of the facts at all. Stock-gambler as I am, and in +almost desperate straits, I require nothing of the kind. Knowing you +as I do, I advise you to accept Arnault at once; but I do not demand +it; I do not even urge it. If you loved me, if you would say, 'Give +up this feverish life of risk; I will help you and suffer with you +in your poverty; I will marry Graydon Muir and share his poverty,' I +would leave Wall Street at once and forever. It's a maelstrom in +which men of my calibre and means are sucked down sooner or later. The +prospects now are that it will be sooner, unless I am helped through +this crisis." + +"I believe you are mistaken about the Muirs being in financial +danger." + +"I am not mistaken. They may have to suspend daring the coming week." + +"I know that Graydon Muir has no suspicion of trouble." + +"He is but a clerk in his brother's employ, and has just returned from +a long absence. Mr. Muir is one of the most reticent of men. I have +invested in the same dead stock that is swamping him, and so know +whereof I speak. Should this stock decline further--should it even +remain where it is much longer--he can't maintain himself. I know, for +I have taken pains to obtain information since I last went to town." + +"But if the stock rises," she said, with the natural hope of a +speculator's daughter, "he is safe." + +"Yes, _if_." + +"How much time will you give me?" she asked, the lines of her face +growing hard and resolute. + +"This is to be your choice, not mine," said her father, coldly. "You +shall not be able to say that I sold you or tried to sell you. Of +course it would be terribly hard for me to lose my footing and fall, +and I feel that I should not rise again. Arnault worships success +and worldly prestige. You are a part of his ambitious scheme. If you +helped him parry it out he would do almost anything you wished, and he +could throw business enough in my way to put me speedily on my feet. +You must make your choice in view of the following facts: You can go +on living here, just as you are, two or three weeks longer, dallying +with opportunity. By that time, unless I get relief and help, I shall +reach the end of my resources, and creditors will take everything. The +Muirs cannot help me, and I don't believe they would in any event. I +am not on good terms with Henry Muir. If they go down now they will be +thoroughly cleaned out. Arnault has long been devoted to you, and you +could have unbounded influence over him if you acted in the line of +his ruling passion. It would gratify his pride and add to the world's +good opinion of him if I prospered also. In plain English, we may all +be in a tenement house in a month, or I on safe ground and you the +affianced wife of a rich man." + +"Well," said Stella, coldly, "you have given me facts enough. It's a +pity you couldn't have brought me something better from Wall Street +after all these years." + +"What have you brought to me during these past years," he demanded, +sternly, "but constant requests for money, and the necessity for +incessant effort to meet new phases of extravagance? You have not +asked what was kind, merciful, and true, but what was the latest +style. Few days pass but that I am reminded of you by a bill for +some frippery or other; but how often am I reminded of you by acts of +filial thoughtfulness, by words of sympathy in my hard battle of life +when I am present, or by genial letters when absent? I have spent +three hot days in the city seeking chiefly your interest, and a more +mechanical, perfunctory thing never existed than your kiss of greeting +to-night. There was as much feeling in it as in the quarter that I +handed to the stage-driver. I have spent thousands on your education, +but you don't sing for me, you don't read to me, you never think of +soothing my overtaxed nerves by cheerful, hopeful talk. Were I a steel +automaton, supplying your wants, I should answer just as well, and in +that case you might remember the laws of matter and apply a little oil +occasionally. What are the motives of your life but dress, admiration, +excitement, a rapid succession of men to pass under your baleful +fascination, and then to pass on crippled in soul for having known +you? Unless you can give Graydon Muir a loving woman's heart, and mean +to cling to him for worse as well as better, you will commit a crime +before God and man if you accept him. With Arnault it is different. In +mind you are near enough of kin to marry. As long as you complied with +fashionable and worldly proprieties, he would be content; but a man +with a heart and soul in his body would perish in the desert of a home +that your selfishness would create." + +"It's awful for you to talk to me in this way!" she whined, wincing +and crying under his arraignment. + +"It's awful that I have to speak to you in this way, either to make +you realize what deformities your beauty hides, so that you may apply +the remedy, or else, if you will not, to promote your union with a man +content to take for a wife a belle, and not a woman. + +"I suppose I am chiefly to blame, though, or you would be different," +he added, with a dark, introspective look. "I was proud of you as +a beautiful child, and tried to win your love by indulgence. Heaven +knows, I would like to be a different man, but it's all a breathless +hurry after bubbles that vanish when grasped! Well, what do you +propose to do? You see that you can't hesitate much longer." + +"I will decide soon," she answered, sullenly. Although her conscience +echoed his words, and she felt their justice, her pride prevailed, and +she permitted him to depart without another word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +"I'LL SEE HOW YOU BEHAVE" + + +The dawn of the following sacred day was bright, beautiful, and +serene, bringing to the world a new wealth of opportunity. Miss +Wildmere began its hours depressed and undecided. Her conscience and +better angel were pleading; she felt vaguely that her life and its +motives were wrong, and was uncomfortable over the consciousness. Her +phase of character, however, was one of the most hopeless. It was true +that her vanity had grown to the proportions of a disease, but even +this might be overcome. Her father's stern words had wounded it +terribly, and she had experienced twinges of self-disgust. But another +trait had become inwrought, by long habit, with every fibre of her +soul--selfishness. It was almost impossible to give up her own way and +wishes. Graydon Muir pleased her fancy, and she was bent on marrying +him. Her father's assurance that she would bring him disappointment, +not happiness, weighed little. Too many men had told her that she +was essential to their happiness to permit qualms on this score. Her +conscience did shrink, to some extent, from a loveless, business-like +marriage, and her preference for Graydon made such a union all the +more repugnant; but she was incapable of feeling that she would do him +a wrong by giving him the pretty jewelled hand for which so many had +asked. Indeed, the question now was, Could she be so self-sacrificing +as to think of it under the circumstances? If that stock would only +rise, if in some way she could be assured that the Muirs would be +sustained, and so pass on to the wealth sure to flow in upon them in +prosperous times, she would decide the question at once, whether they +would do anything for her father or not. He could scramble on in +some way, as he had done in the past. What she desired most was the +assurance that there should be no long and doubtful interregnum +of poverty and privation--that she might continue to be a queen in +society during the period of youth and beauty. + +This remained the chief consideration amid the chaos of her +conflicting feelings and interests, for she had lived this life so +long that she could imagine no other as endurable. She had, moreover, +the persistence of a small nature, and longed to humiliate the Muir +pride, and to spite Madge Alden, who she half believed cherished more +than a sisterly regard for Graydon. As for her father, she did little +more than resent his words and the humiliating disquietude they had +caused. They had sorely wounded her vanity, and presented a painful +alternative. + +As the day passed, and old habits of mind resumed sway, she began to +concentrate her thoughts on three questions: Should she accept Graydon +and take her chances with him? Should she accept Mr. Arnault, with his +wealth, and be safe? or should she hesitate a little longer, in the +hope that she could secure Graydon and wealth also? The persistence +of a will that had always had its own way decided finally in favor of +the last course of action. She would not give Graydon up unless she +must, and not until she must. Accustomed to consult self-interest, +she believed that her father was doing the same, that he was favoring +Arnault because the latter would be more useful to him, and that for +this reason he was exaggerating the Muirs' peril, if not inventing +it. She dismissed his words about leaving Wall Street with scarcely a +thought; he always talked in this way when the times were bad or his +ventures unlucky. They had been on the eve of ruin so many times, that +the cry of "wolf" was not so alarming as formerly. + +"I suppose I must decide before this week is over," she thought. +"Arnault has practically given me this length of time, and I shall +take him at his word." Therefore, she was very sweet to him during the +morning hours, and prepared him to submit to her drive with Graydon in +the afternoon. + +Arnault felt that he had given his ultimatum, and was resolved to +abide by it. At the same time he knew that it would be a terrible +wrench to give up the girl. The very difficulty of winning her had +stimulated to the utmost his passion for attainment. She was the best +that existed in his superficial world, and fulfilled his ideal. Her +delicate yet somewhat voluptuous beauty completely intoxicated him. + +He too thought, and made his decision during the day. If he won her at +all it must be speedily, and it should be done by promises of devotion +and wealth if possible, and by breaking the Muirs down if this should +become necessary. The time had come for decisive action. It was +evident that her father was in sore straits; the man's appearance +confirmed this belief. Arnault was almost certain that Henry Muir was +in his power. He would not play the latter card unless he must, but he +would watch so vigilantly as to be promptly aware of the necessity. He +decided to spend several days of the present week in the mountains and +so keep himself informed how the game went here, and while in the city +he would not only be observant, but would also drop a few words +to weaken Mr. Muir's credit. One thing, however, was settled--the +problematical issue of his matrimonial scheme must soon be made +known, and he rather relished its congenial elements of speculative +uncertainty, being conscious that so much depended upon his skill and +power to pull unseen wires. + +Seeing that Arnault was at Miss Wildmere's side, Graydon accompanied +his relatives to church, and soon found himself looking over the +same hymn-book with Madge. The choir were present, and she now merely +delighted Graydon with her rich alto; and so rich and true was it that +he often felt his nerves thrilling at her tones. He did not become +absorbed in the service or sermon, but thought a little wonderingly: +"Here is a faith ever finding expression all over the world, while I +ignore it. How much truth does it represent? It's evidently a reality +to Madge, although she makes so little parade of the fact. I don't +believe she would do anything contrary to its teachings as she +understands them. We men may think what we please, but we have +confidence in a woman who looks as she does now. She is not in +the least inclined to devotional rhapsodies or to subserviency +to priestcraft, like so many women abroad. She merely appears to +recognize a divine power as she accepts nature, only more reverently +and consciously. I suppose I am an agnostic as much as anything, yet +I should only be too glad to have Stella at my side with such +an expression on her face. I wonder if she will go with me this +afternoon. I will submit to this diplomacy a few days longer, and +shall then end the matter. There is an increasing revulsion of my +whole being from such tactics in my future wife. Beyond a certain +point she shall not be a partner in her father's gambling operations, +and I would have brought the affair to an end at once, were it not for +that limp little woman, his wife, and her child. But I can't sacrifice +my self-respect and Stella's character for them. I must get her out +of that atmosphere, so that her true nature may develop. Sweet Madge +Alden, with your eyes so serious and true, and again so full of mirth +and spirit, what a treasure you will prove some day if there is a man +worthy of you!" + +In his deep preoccupation, he forgot his intent regard, until reminded +of it by the slow deepening of her color, which so enhanced her beauty +that he could not at once withdraw his gaze. Suddenly she turned on +him with a half-angry, half-mirthful flash in her eyes, and whispered, +"Looking at girls in church is not good form; but, if you will do it, +look at some other girl." + +He was delighted at this little unexpected prick, and replied, "St. +Paul never would have complained of such a thorn." Then he saw Dr. +Sommers looking ominously at him. This factotum of the chapel sat +where he could oversee the miscellaneous little assemblage, and +his eyes instantly pounced upon any offender. Graydon pushed his +insubordination no further than making an irreverent face at the +doctor, and then addressed himself to the minister during the +remainder of the hour. + +"We'll arrange it differently next Sunday, Miss Alden," said the +doctor, as Madge passed out; "I'll have Mr. Muir sit with me." + +"Try it," whispered Graydon, "and if you don't fall from grace before +meeting is over I'll give you a new trout-pole. Miss Alden can manage +me better than you can." + +"No doubt, no doubt. A man must be in a bad way if she couldn't make a +saint of him if she undertook it," was the doctor's laughing reply. + +Greatly amused, Graydon repeated the words to Madge. "She won't +undertake it in this case," was her brusque comment. "I have no +ambition to enlighten continental heathen, with their superior +tolerance of a faith good enough for women and children." + +"My charming rose has not only a thorn but a theological stiletto in +her belt." + +"It is evident you have never had trouble, Graydon." + +"Why is it evident?" + +"Because you are content with the surface-tide of life." + +"And you are not?" + +"One rarely is when fearing to sink." + +"What has that to do with faith?" + +"Faith can sustain; that's all." + +"And your faith sustained you?" + +"What else was there to sustain when day after day brought, not a +choice of pleasures, but the question, Shall I live or die?" + +"Poor Madge! Dear Madge! And you didn't let me know. I don't suppose I +could have helped you, though." + +"No; not then." + +"Madge," he said, earnestly, "won't you promise me one thing? If you +ever should have trouble of any kind again, won't you let me help you, +or at least try to?" + +"I'll see how you behave," she said, laughing. "Besides, it's not +women's place to make trouble for men. The idea! Our mission is to +soothe and console you superior beings." + +"Women do make a power of trouble for men. Mother Eve began wrong, +and--" + +"And Adam laid all his misdeeds on her weak shoulders." + +"The upshot of all this talk is, I suppose, that your shoulders are +so strong, and your spirit so high, that you can at least take care of +your own troubles." + +"I hope so," she again laughed, "and be ready also to give you a lift. +When you successful men do get a tumble in life, you are the most +helpless of mortals." + +"Well, well, well, to think that I am talking to little Madge, who +could not say good-by to me without fainting away!" + +"Good-by meant more to me than to you. You were going away to new and +pleasant activity. I doubted whether I should see you again--or indeed +any one long," she added, hastily. + +"Don't imagine that I did not feel awfully that night, dear Madge. +Tears do not come into my eyes easily, but I added a little salt +water to the ocean as I leaned over the taffrail and saw the city that +contained you fade from view." + +"Did you truly, Graydon?" she asked, turning away. + +"I did, indeed." + +In her averted face and quickened respiration he thought he saw traces +of more than passing feeling, but she turned on him in sudden gayety, +and said: "Whenever I see the ocean I'll remember how its tides have +been increased. Graydon, I've a secret to tell you, which, for +an intense, aesthetic, and vaguely devotional woman, is a most +humiliating confession: I'm awfully hungry. When will dinner be +ready?" + +"I have a secret to tell you also," he replied, with a half-vexed +flash in his eyes: "There is a girl in this house who explains +herself more or less every day, and who yet remains the most charming +conundrum that ever kept a man awake from perplexity." + +"Oh, dear!" cried Madge, "is Miss Wildmere so bad as that? Poor, pale +victim of insomnia! By the way, do you and Mr. Arnault keep a ledger +account of the time you receive? or do you roughly go on the principle +of 'share and share alike'?" and with eyes flashing back laughter at +his reddening face, she ran up the steps and disappeared. + +"That was a Parthian arrow," he muttered. "If we go smoothly on the +sharing principle at present, we shall soon go roughly enough, or +cease to go at all." + +But the lady in question was putting forth all her resources, which +were not slight when enlisted in her own behalf, to keep the two men +_in statu quo_ until more time, with its chances, should pass. + +Arnault smiled grimly when he saw her departing with Graydon. She had +been evasive, but very friendly, during the day thus far, and after +what he had said the preceding night he felt that he was committed to +her moods for a week if he could not bring her to a decision before. +Seeing Mr. Wildmere walking restlessly up and down the piazza, he +joined him, and offering a superb cigar, said, "Suppose we go out to +the lake and see where the little kid was so nearly drowned." + +Soon after they were smoking in the shade, the thoughts of both +reverting to kindred anxieties. Arnault decided to make one move +before the final one. Perhaps only this would be required; perhaps +it might prepare the way for more serious action. They talked over +business. Arnault, permitting the other to see through a veiled +distinctness of language that he was prospering, remarked, "By the +way, I have a little transaction which I wish you would carry out for +us," and mentioned an affair of ordinary brokerage, concluding, in +off-hand tones, "from what you said some days since I infer that you +may find a little money handy at present. I can let you have a check +for five hundred or a thousand just as well as not. I know how dull +times are now, and you will soon make it up by commissions." + +The hard-pressed man could scarcely disguise the relief which these +words brought. He began a grateful acknowledgment of the kindness, +when Arnault interrupted him by saying, "Oh, that's nothing--mere +matter of business. I will write you a check to-night for a thousand. +It's only an advance, you know," and then changed the subject. + +"Will you go to town to-morrow?" Mr. Wildmere asked. + +"No, not to-morrow. I'll run down Tuesday or Wednesday. In spite of +the times business doesn't give us much leeway this summer, but I've +arranged to be away more or less at present." Then he added, with what +was meant to be a frank, deprecatory laugh, "I suppose you see how +it is. It's some time since I asked permission to pay my addresses to +your daughter. I don't think I've been neglectful of opportunities, +but I don't get on as fast as I would like, and now feel that if I +would keep any chance at all I must be on hand. Muir is a formidable +rival." + +"You know that you have my consent and more, Mr. Arnault." + +"It's the lady's consent that I must obtain," was the reply. "Muir is +a fine fellow, and I cannot wonder that she hesitates--that is, if +she does hesitate. I may be wasting my time here and adding to the +bitterness of my disappointment, for of course it must become greater +if I see Miss Wildmere every day and still fail." + +There was a covert question in this remark, and after a moment or two +Mr. Wildmere said, hesitatingly: "I do not think you are wasting your +time. I think Stella is in honest doubt as to her choice. At least, +that is my impression. You know that young ladies in our free land +do not take much counsel of parents, and Stella has ever been very +independent in her views. When once she makes up her mind you will +find her very decided and loyal. Of course I have my strong preference +in this case, and have a right also to make it known to her, as +I shall. I should be very sorry to see her engaged to a man whose +fortunes are dependent on a brother in such financial straits as Mr. +Muir is undoubtedly in." + +"Do you think Henry Muir is in very great danger?" + +"I do indeed." + +"Hum!" ejaculated Arnault, looking serious. + +"What! would he involve you?" + +"Oh, no, a mere trifle; but then--Well, please make some inquiries +to-morrow, and I'll see you during the week." + +"I'll do anything I can to oblige you, Mr. Arnault. I wouldn't like my +questions, however, to hurt Muir's credit, you understand." + +"Of course not, nor would I wish this; but as one of our brokers you +can pick up some information, like enough. I knew, as did others, that +Muir was having a rather hard time of it, but if there is pressing +danger I may have to take some action." + +"In that case of course you can command me." + +"I only wish to do what is fair and considerate among business men. +We'll lunch together when I come to town, and perhaps the case will be +clearer then." + +During his drive with Miss Wildmere, Graydon simply adhered to the +tactics which he had adopted, and she saw that he was waiting until +the Arnault phase of the problem should be eliminated. When, however, +she took occasion to bewail the dismal prospects of her "poor papa," +and to open the way for him to speak naturally of his own and his +brother's affairs, he was gravely silent. She didn't like this, for +it tended to confirm her father's belief that they were in trouble, +or else it looked like suspicion of her motive. The trait of reticence +which Graydon at times shared with his brother was not agreeable, for +it suggested hidden processes of thought which might develop into +very decisive action. She came back satisfied that Graydon was still +thoroughly "in hand," and that she must obtain information in some +other way, if possible. + +There was sacred music in the parlor during the evening, but neither +Miss Wildmere nor Madge would sing in solo. Graydon good-naturedly +tried to arrange a duet between the two girls. The former declined +instantly, yet took off the edge of her refusal by saying, "I would +gladly sing for you if I could, but do not care to permit all these +strangers to institute comparisons." + +Therefore, the guests sang in chorus as usual, a professional playing +the accompaniments. There were few, however, who did not recognize +the strong, sweet alto which ran through each melody like a minor key. +Graydon's acute ear for music heard little else, and he said to Madge +"I shall be glad when this hotel life is over. What delicious evenings +I shall have this fall! By the way, I'm going to have your piano tuned +when I go to town." + +"Perhaps." + +"Perhaps what? Perhaps I shall remember about the tuner? You'll see." + +"I may go back with the Waylands. I'm not at all sure that I shall not +spend my winter on the Pacific." + +"Why, Madge! With your health you could spend it in Greenland." + +"That's what I may do. We always have a lovely green land in that +climate." + +"I must investigate Santa Barbara. You have left some one or something +there which has powerful attractions." + +"Yes, memories; as well as skies so bright that you can't help smiling +back at them." + +"I supposed you were going to enter society this fall and create a +_furore_." + +"Oh, bah!" Then she began to laugh, and said, "A certain gentleman in +this house thought I was so bent on having my fling in society that I +didn't wish to be embarrassed by even a little fraternal counsel." + +"A certain fellow in this house finds himself embarrassed by a +black-eyed clairvoyant, who reads his thoughts as if they were +sign-boards, but remains inscrutable herself." + +"Such an objectionable and inconvenient creature should certainly be +banished to wilds of the West" + +"As one of the Muir family I'll never consent." + +"You'll soon be engrossed by cares of your own," she concluded, +laughing. "Good-night." + +"Stay," said Graydon, eagerly; "one so gifted with second-sight should +be able to read the thoughts of others." + +"Whose?" Madge asked, demurely. + +"Whose indeed? As if you did not know! Miss Wildmere's." + +"What! Reveal a woman's thoughts? I won't speak to you again +to-night;" and she left him with his tranquillity not a little +disturbed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +GOSSAMER THREADS + + +Mr. Muir was to depart on the early train the following morning, and +was pleased when Madge opened her door at the same time and said, "I'm +going to see that you have a good breakfast and a good send-off." + +She chattered merrily with him during the meal, ignoring his somewhat +wistful and questioning glances. "When shall we see you again, Henry?" +she asked. + +"Friday evening, I hope." + +"Don't work and worry too much." + +"I defy fate now. You've given me your luck." + +"Heaven forbid! Well, good-by." + +A little later she and two of her boys, as she called them, were off +on the hills. Mrs. Muir and Graydon breakfasted long after, and the +latter observed with a frown that Arnault was still at the Wildmere +table, with all the serenity of one _en famille_. + +"Doctor," he said, a little later, "how much will you take--the money +to be given to your chapel--to go trouting with me for a day?" + +"A good round sum," Dr. Sommers replied. + +"All right. When can you go?" + +"Wednesday, I guess, if I can leave my patients." + +"Oh, come now; go and give your patients a chance to get well." + +"Wait till I catch you sick, and I'll pay you up for that." + +"You'll stand a better chance of catching trout." + +The day passed much as usual, only Arnault appeared in the ascendant. + +"He is going to town in a day or two," pleaded the diplomat, after +dinner. + +"And I'm going trouting," Graydon replied. + +"When?" + +"Soon." + +"Only for a day, I suppose." + +"It depends on my luck. You will get on better when I'm away." + +"It's cruel for you to speak like that," she replied, her eyes +moistening. + +"I suppose it is," was his rueful reply; "but I can be more patient, I +imagine, back in the mountains than here." + +"But how about poor me?" + +"That is a question that I often ask myself, Miss Wildmere, but you +alone can answer it. As far as I am able to judge, you can meet the +problem in your mind, whatever it is, as well, if not better, in my +absence. You must understand me, and I have promised to be reasonably +patient." + +"Very well, Mr. Muir," she replied, in apparent sadness, "I will try +not to tax your patience beyond what you well term reason." + +"Something far beyond reason, and--I may add--pride also, permits you +to tax it all. I would rather not revert to this topic again. It is +embarrassing to us both. I cannot help saying, however, that it is +essential to my happiness that the present state of affairs should +soon cease." + +"If it were only present happiness that one had to consider--" she +began, and then hastened away. + +Thus she played upon his sympathy, and held him by the generous side +of his nature. + +But he determined not to give Arnault the pleasure of seeing him wait +for the crumbs of time that fell from his table, and he delighted +Madge, having sought her out on the piazza, by remarking: "It is so +cool to-day I do not see why we cannot start at once. I shall not find +the time too long, for you can talk as well as ride." + +She made good his words, and gave wings to the hours. Among the scenes +through which they passed, she reminded him, not of an exotic or a +stray tropical bird, but rather of the ideal mountain nymph humanized, +developed into modern life, the strong original forces of nature +harmonized into perfect womanhood, yet unimpaired. Her smiles, her +piquant words, and, above all, the changing expression of her +lovely eyes, affected him subtilely, and again imparted a rising +exhilaration. Her thoughts came not like the emptying of a cup, but +rippled forth like a sparkling rill from some deep and exhaustless +supply. And what reservoir is more inexhaustible than the love of a +heart like hers?--a love born as naturally and unconsciously as +life itself--that, when discovered, changes existence by a sudden +kaleidoscopic turn, compelling all within and without to pass at once +into new arrangement and combination--that inspires heroic, patient +effort, self-denial, and even self-sacrifice. + +She had prepared herself for this opportunity by years of training and +thought, but his presence brought her an inspiration beyond all +that she had gained from books or study. He was the magician who +unconsciously had the power to waken and kindle her whole nature, to +set the blood flowing in her veins like wine, and to arouse a rapidity +and versatility of thought that was surprising even to herself. With +the pure genius of love she threw about his mind gossamer threads, +drew the filaments together, and held them in her heart. The pulses +of life grew stronger within him, his fancy kindled, the lore of books +long since forgotten, as he supposed, flashed into memory, and out +into happy allusion and suggestion. Still his wonder increased that +her knowledge coincided so fully with his own, and that their lines +of reading had been so closely parallel. It was hard for him to find +a terra incognita of thought into which she had not made some slight +explorations. In his own natural domains she skilfully appeared to +know enough to follow, but not to lead with mortifying superiority. +She also had her own preserves of thought and fancy, of which she gave +him tantalizing glimpses, then let fall the screening boughs; and he, +who fain would see more, was content to pass on, assured that another +vista would soon be revealed. It was the reserve of this frank girl +that most charmed and incited him, the feeling, more or less defined, +that while she appeared to manifest herself by every word and smile, +something richer and rarer still was hidden. + +"No one will ever have a chance to understand her fully but the man +she loves," he thought. "To him she would give the clew to all her +treasures, or else show them with sweet abandon, and it would require +a lifetime for the task. She has a beauty and a character that would +never pall, for the reason that she draws her life so directly from +nature. I have never met a woman that affected me as she does." + +He sighed again. In spite of the loyalty to which he believed himself +fully committed, Stella Wildmere, with her Wall Street complications, +her variegated experience as to adorers, and her present questionable +diplomacy, seemed rather faded beside this girl, upon whose heart the +dew still rested. + +For the first time the thought passed consciously through his mind, +"Stella has never made me so happy as I have been the last few hours. +More than that, she never gave life an aspect so rich, sweet, and full +of noble possibility. Madge makes blasĂ©, shallow cynicism impossible +in a fellow." + +As he danced with Miss Wildmere that evening, or sauntered with her on +the piazza or through secluded paths, the same tendency to comparisons +tormented him. He could not make himself believe that Miss Wildmere's +words were like the flow of a clear, bubbling spring, pure and sweet. +There was in them a sediment, the product of a life which had passed +through channels more and more distasteful to contemplate. + +The next day he went to town to look after some business matters, and +returned by the latest train. To his surprise he found Madge absent, +and was immediately conscious of a vague sense of disappointment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MRS. MUIR'S ACCOUNT + + +After a light supper Graydon went in search of Stella, but she was +nowhere to be found, nor had the warm evening lured Mrs. Wildmere from +her room. He had learned that Arnault was still at the house, and he +inferred, from the surpassing beauty of the moonlit evening, that his +rival would not let such witching hours pass without an effort to turn +them to account. With a frown he retreated from the music, dancing, +and gayety of a full house, and went up to Mrs. Muir's room. + +That lady was found writing to her husband, but she welcomed Graydon, +and began volubly: "I'm very glad you have come; I'm so full and +overflowing about Madge that I had to write to Henry." + +"It certainly does seem an odd proceeding on her part--this remaining +all night at a farmhouse among strangers," was his discontented reply. + +"It would be odd in any one but Madge. I do not think there +are many girls in this house who would be guilty of such +eccentricities--certainly not Miss Wildmere," she added, with a rather +malicious twinkle in her eyes. "If I were a man, I wouldn't stand it. +I've been on the alert somewhat to-day, for I don't wish to see you +made a fool of. That Mr. Arnault has been at her side the livelong +time, and he's out driving with her now." + +"I understand all about that," said Graydon, impatiently; "tell me +about Madge." + +"Perhaps you do, and perhaps you don't. It's certainly beyond my +comprehension," continued Mrs. Muir, determined to free her mind. +"If she is anything to you, or wishes to be, her performances are +as unique as those of Madge, although in a different style. We Alden +girls were not brought up in that way. Pardon me; I know it's your +affair, but you are my brother, and have been a good one, too. I can't +wonder that Henry dislikes her. Well, well, I see you are getting +nettled, and I won't say anything more, but tell you about Madge. It +has been an awfully hot day, you know, and I did not order a carriage +till five. Madge was restless, and had sighed for a gallop more +than once, so I proposed to do the best for her I could. As we were +starting for our drive Dr. Sommers appeared, and I asked him to go +with us. + +"'I will,' he said, 'if you will take me to see one of my +patients--one that will make Miss Alden contented till she has some +imaginary trouble of her own. My horse is nearly used up from the long +drive I've had in the heat.' + +"'Oh, do take me to see some one in trouble!' exclaimed Madge. + +"'Yes,' replied the doctor, laughing, 'that will be a novelty. To +see you young ladies dancing and promenading, one would think you had +never heard of trouble.' + +"After a lovely drive through a wild valley we came to a little gray +farmhouse, innocent of paint since the memory of man. The mountain +rose steeply behind it with overhanging rocks, cropping out through +the forest here and there. An orchard shaded the dwelling, and beyond +the narrow roadway in front brawled a trout-stream. To the eastward +were rough, stony fields, that sloped up, at what seemed an angle of +forty-five degrees, to other wooded mountains. It was the roughest, +wildest-looking place I ever saw. How strange and lonely it must look +now in the moonlight, with not another dwelling in sight!" + +"Too lonely for Madge to be there," exclaimed Graydon. "I don't like +it, and I should not have expected such imprudence from you, Mary." + +"Oh, Madge is safe enough! Wait till you know all. Well, the farmer +and his wife were at their early supper when we arrived. I went in +with Madge and the doctor, for I wanted to see how such people lived, +and also thought I could do something for them. I hadn't been in the +room five minutes, however, before I gave up all thought of offering +assistance. The people were plainly and even poorly dressed. The man +was in his shirt-sleeves, but he put on his coat immediately. He had a +kind of natural, quiet dignity and a subdued manner--the result of his +trouble, no doubt. We were in their little sitting-room or parlor, but +the door into the kitchen, where they had been taking their meal, was +open. The room we were in was very plainly furnished, but perfectly +neat, and I was at once struck by the number of books that it +contained. Would you believe it? one of the leading magazines lay on +the table. The mother, a pale, gaunt woman, who looked utterly +worn out, went with the doctor to the adjoining sick-room, and the +husband's eyes followed them anxiously. + +"'Your place seems rather lonely,' I said to him, 'but you evidently +know how to find society in books.' + +"'Yes,' he answered, 'I s'pose this region seems lonesome to you, but +not to us who were brought up here. It all depends on what you're +used to, especially when you're a-growin' up. I'm not much of a reader +myself, but Tilly was'; and he heaved a great sigh. 'She took to +readin' almost as soon as to walkin',' he continued, 'and used to read +aloud to us. I s'pose I soon dozed off, but her mother took it all in, +and durin' the long winter evenin's they kinder roamed all over the +world together. I suspicion Tilly had more books than was good for +her, but she was our only child, and I couldn't say no to her. She +edicated herself to be a teacher, and stood high, and we was proud of +her, sure enough, but I'm afeared all that study and readin' wasn't +good for her;' and then came another of his deep sighs. + +"Madge's great eyes meanwhile were more and more full of trouble, +and there was a deal of pathos suggested by the man's simple story. +Indeed, I felt my own throat swelling at the poor man's last sigh, +it was so deep and natural, and seemed to express a great sorrow, for +which there were no words in his homely vernacular." + +"What selfish egotists we are over our picayune vexations!" Graydon +muttered. + +"Well, the mother and the doctor now appeared. The latter looked +grave; and when he looks grave things are serious indeed. + +"'Ain't she no better?' the father asked, with entreaty in his tone. + +"'I wish she was,' said the doctor, in his blunt way, which +nevertheless expressed more sympathy than a lot of fine phrases. Then +he said to the mother: 'You're all worn out, and yet she'll need close +watching to-night. Isn't there some neighbor--' + +"'Oh, please let me stay!' began Madge, in a low, eager tone, speaking +for the first time. 'I'm strong, and I'll follow your directions in +everything. Do, please. I've been ill myself, and think I know how to +nurse.' + +"The woman hesitated, and looked doubtfully, wonderingly, at the +doctor. Madge sprang up, and taking the mother's hand, continued: +'Indeed, madam, you do look worn out; you will be ill yourself. For +your daughter's sake, as well as mine, let me stay.' + +"'For your sake, miss?' + +"'Yes, for my sake. Why should I not bear a little of this heavy +burden? It will do me good. Doctor, say I can stay. My strength should +not be wasted in amusement only.' + +"'Well,' he replied, 'if Mrs. Muir consents, there's no one I'd trust +sooner.' + +"'Then it's settled, Mary,' she said, in her decisive way. 'It's +perfectly proper for me to stay under the protection of these good +people.' + +"'But you haven't had your supper,' I began. + +"A little color came into the woman's face at my foolish speech, and +she said, 'If the young lady will take what we can offer--' + +"'Of course I will,' interrupted Madge, with a smile that would have +propitiated a dragon; 'a little bread and milk would suit me best.' + +"'She shall have a chicken broiled as nice as she ever tasted at the +hotel,' said the man, impulsively. 'Heaven bless your kind heart, and +perhaps you can coax Tilly to take a bit!' + +"'The young lady's name is Miss Alden,' said the doctor, 'and this is +Mrs. Muir, Mr. and Mrs. Wendall, ladies; I should have introduced you +before, but my mind was on my patient. Well, well, well, what a world +it is! Some very good streaks run through it, though.' + +"'I'll come for you in the morning,' I said to Madge, who had thrown +off her hat, looking so resolute and absorbed in her purpose that I +knew there was nothing more to be said. So I shook hands with the poor +people, and came away with the doctor." + +"I'm going for Madge in the morning," said Graydon, decisively. + +"I thought you were going trouting with the doctor." + +"Not till I've told Madge what I think of her," he said, gravely. + +"I'm sure her impulse and motives were good." + +"They were more than good--they were divine, and just like Madge Alden +as she now is. She keeps one's blood tingling with surprises; but I've +not become such a cynic that I do not understand her. When you come to +think of it, what is more natural than that one girl with her superb +health should lend her strength to another who, perhaps, is dying; but +you may well ask, Who in the house would think of doing this?" + +"Yes; the doctor said she was dying--that she couldn't last much +longer." + +"Well, I never had a sister, but I'm just as proud of Madge, and just +as fond of her, as if she were my own flesh and blood. She shall never +lack what a brother can do for her while I live." + +"I'm glad you feel so," said Mrs. Muir. Then she sighed, and +thought, "A plague upon him! Why will he keep following up the other +white-faced thing, when he might win Madge if he tried hard enough. +It's plain that she don't care for him now except as she used to. And +she does care for him just as she did before she went away, in spite +of all her prudishness about the words brother and sister. I'm not +blind. She has grown so pretty, however, that I suppose Graydon would +wish to kiss her too often. She is just as fond of him as he is of +her, and in just the same way; but if I had his chance I'd soon have +it a different way;" and the good lady was complacency itself over +her penetration, as she bade Graydon good-night. No one could see and +report the surface of affairs more accurately than she. + +As he descended to the hall, Arnault and Miss Wildmere entered. The +latter hastened forward and gave him her hand most cordially, saying, +"Why, Mr. Muir, I'm ever so glad to see you; you have been away an +age." + +"A day, Miss Wildmere. Your appearance indicates that you have +survived admirably." + +"The moon is so bright that we could drive fast, and I'm always happy +when in rapid motion." + +"You have had the advantage of me then; yet I've been in rapid motion +a good part of the day on express trains." + +"I feared you were not going to return to-day," she said, as she +strolled out with him on the piazza. + +"Feared?" + +"Yes, why not?" + +"It strikes me that I might ask, Why?" + +"Surely you would not have me lose such an evening as this, Mr. Muir?" +she said, a little reproachfully. + +"I would have you follow your own heart." + +"I shall follow it as soon as possible," she replied, so earnestly +that he was disarmed--especially as the glance which accompanied the +words was full of soft allurement and appeal. Of her own accord she +put her hand on his arm, and spoke in low, contented tones, as if she +had at last found rest and refuge. The moon poured around her a flood +of radiance, which gave her an ethereal aspect. Her white drapery +enhanced and spiritualized her remarkable beauty, making her appear +all that lover or poet could ask. His own words grew kinder and +gentler; his heart went out to her as never before; she seemed so +fair, delicate, and pure in that witching light that he longed to +rescue her at once from her surroundings. Why should he not? She had +never manifested a more gentle and yielding mood. He directed her +steps from the piazza to a somewhat distant summer-house, and her +reluctance was a shy half revolt, which only emphasized the natural +meaning of her unspoken consent. + +Mrs. Muir was still keeping her eyes open, and from her window saw +them pass under the shadow of the trees. + +At last they were sitting alone in the summer night. Graydon felt that +words were scarcely needed--that his manner had spoken unequivocally, +and that hers had granted all; but he took her hand and looked +earnestly into her downcast face. "Oh, Stella--" he began. + +A twig snapped in the adjacent grove. She sprang up. "Hush, Graydon," +she whispered; "not yet. Please trust me. Oh, what am I thinking of to +be out so late!--but could not resist. Come;" and she started for the +house. + +As they passed in at the door he said, in a low, deep tone, "You +cannot put me off much longer, Stella." + +"No, Graydon," she whispered, hurriedly, and hastened to her room. + +In his deep feeling he had not heard the suspicious sound in the +grove, and Miss Wildmere's manner was only another expression of the +strong constraint which he believed to be imposed upon her by her +father's financial peril. He felt bitterly disappointed, however. +Although irritated, he was yet rendered more than forgiving by the +apparent truth that she had almost yielded to the impulses of her +heart, in spite of grave considerations--and promises perhaps--to the +contrary. + +He was at a loss what to do, yet felt that the present condition of +affairs was becoming intolerable. Almost immediately upon his return +from Europe he had written to Mr. Wildmere for permission to pay his +addresses, and had received a brief and courteous reply. The thought +of again appealing to the father occurred to him, but was speedily +dismissed with unconquerable repugnance. The very fact that this man +compelled his daughter to take such a course made Graydon wish never +to speak to him again. "No," he muttered; "the girl must yield to me, +and cut loose from all her father's shifty ways and associations." + +The night was so beautiful, and his thoughts kept him so wakeful, that +he sat in a shadow and watched the moonlight transfiguring the world +into beauty. Before long he heard a step, and a man came from that +end of the piazza which was nearest the summer-house. As he passed +in, Graydon saw that it was Arnault. The quick suspicion came into +his mind, "Could he have been watching?" Then flashed another thought, +"Could she have become aware of his presence, and was this the cause +of her abrupt flight?" + +The latter supposition was dismissed indignantly and at once. The +affair was taking on an aspect, however, so intensely disagreeable +that he resolved to write to Miss Wildmere that he would absent +himself until Arnault should disappear below the horizon. He would +then go trouting or take a trip to some other resort. This course +he believed would bring her to a decision, and after their recent +interview he could scarcely doubt its nature. + +Before he was aware of it, his thoughts returned to Madge. In fancy he +saw the gray farmhouse on the lonely mountain-side, with a sweet +face at the window, the dark, sympathetic eyes now looking out on +the silent, moonlit landscape, and again at the thin, white face of a +dying girl. "Poor, poor child!" he thought, reverting to the patient. +"Well, for once, at least, she has had a good angel watching over her. +I would like to see Madge's face framed by the open window in this +witching light. Would to Heaven that Stella was more like her! Yet +Stella was beautiful as a dream to-night, and it seemed that my vision +of happiness was on the very eve of fulfilment." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MADGE'S STORY + + +Early in the beautiful morning of the following day Graydon was out +securing a light carriage, for he reasoned that after watching all +night Madge would be too weary to enjoy horseback exercise. He first +called on the doctor, and obtained careful directions as to the +locality of Madge's sojourn. "The best I can do is to go with you +as guide this afternoon to the trout-stream, and then drive back by +moonlight," the doctor added. + +Within an hour Graydon reached the cottage, and Madge ran out to +welcome him. "Now, this is kind and thoughtful of you," she said, and +there was unmistakable gladness in her face. + +"Dear Madge, you have had a long, dismal night, I fear. I can see it +from the lines under your eyes." + +"It has been a sad night, Graydon, yet I am very glad I came, and you +have now rewarded me. The poor girl is sleeping, and I can slip away." + +Mr. and Mrs. Wendall parted from her feelingly and gratefully. Madge +promised to come again soon. + +For a few moments they drove in silence, and then Madge sighed: "How +young, fresh, and full of beautiful life the world seems this morning! +The contrast with that poor, suffering, dying girl is too great. +Nature often appears strangely indifferent." + +"I am not indifferent, Madge. I kept a sort of watch with you for an +hour or two last night in the wee, sma' hours, and tried to imagine +you sitting in just such an open window as I saw there, with the +moonlight on your face; and I thought that the poor girl had one good +angel watching over her. You know I am a man of the world, but an act +of ministry like this touches me closely." + +"No, Graydon; not a good angel, but a very human creature was the +watcher." + +"Tell me about it--that is, continue the story from the point where +Mary left off;" and he explained about Mrs. Muir's account of the +previous evening. + +"Well, you know what a wilful creature I am?" she began, with the +glimmer of a smile. + +"Oh, yes; I've learned to understand that feature of your royal +womanhood. You are trying to be a woman, Madge. Well, you are one--the +kind I believe in. See how much faith I have--I believe, yet don't +understand." + +"No jesting or compliments this morning, please; I'm too heavy-hearted +for them now." + +"You ought to be serene and happy after so kind and good a deed." + +"No," she said, decisively; "that sympathy must be superficial which +can pass almost immediately into self-complacency. Oh, Graydon, it is +all so sad, yet not sad; so passing strange, yet as natural and true +as life and death! I did sit for hours just as you imagined, looking +out on the great, still mountains. Never did they seem so vast +and stable, and our life so vapor-like, as when I heard that poor +fluttering breath come and go at my side. There was a time when this +truth grew oppressive; but later on that feeble life, which seemed +but a breath, came to mean something greater and more real than the +mountains themselves. But I am anticipating. As soon as Mary departed +I became as imperious as I dared to be. I saw that the poor mother had +reached about the limit of her endurance, and I arranged the lounge in +the sitting-room, so that she could lie down at once, saying: 'I am a +stranger, and young, and it's not natural that you should be willing +to give up to me too much, nor do I wish you to be far away; yet I +can see just how sorely in need of rest you are. You must finish your +supper, give me your directions, and then lie down and get every bit +of rest you can. I can easily keep awake, and promise to call you +whenever you are needed.' + +"'Nancy,' her husband added, 'Miss Alden is right. I see by the way +she takes hold that she'll do everything, and you're jest beat out.' +So between us we had our way. + +"'Bless you, miss,' said the man, trying to smile in a way that almost +made me cry, 'I'm as handy as a woman 'bout a kitchen;' and he soon +proved that he was handier than I could have been, for in a few +minutes he pulled up from the well a pail, took out a dressed chicken, +and broiled it to perfection. I made his wife eat some of it, and +saved a little of the breast for poor Tilly, as they call her." + +"Did you take any yourself?" interrupted Graydon. + +"Oh, yes, indeed! I'm one of those prosaic creatures whose appetite +never fails. If the world were coming to an end to-day I should insist +on having my breakfast." + +"Madge," said Graydon, ruefully, "I might as well tell you, for I'm +sure to be found out: I once called you 'lackadaisical.'" + +"Oh, I knew that over two years ago! What's more, you were right." + +"No; I was not right," he answered, positively. "I should have +recognized the possibilities of your nature then. I did in regard to +your beauty, but not those higher qualities which bid fair to make you +my patron saint." + +"Oh, hush, Graydon. Such words only pain me. I don't want your +compliments, and if any man made a patron saint of me I should be so +exasperated that I should probably box his ears. Let us stick to what +is simple, natural, and true, in all our talk." + +"You may say what you please, Madge, I see it more clearly every day, +and reproach myself that I did not understand you. I was content to +amuse and pet you, and you naturally did not think me capable of doing +anything more. You went away alone to make as brave a fight as was +ever battled out in this world, and I had no part in helping you. +Mr. and Mrs. Wayland were worth a wilderness of superficial +society-fellows like me. I now know why you did not care to correspond +with me while making your noble effort." + +[Illustration: HER LIPS WERE SLIGHTLY PARTED; HER POSE, GRACE ITSELF.] + +"Truly, Graydon, your memory and penetration are phenomenal." + +"You may disclaim out of kindness now, but I know I am right. You make +my life appear shallow and trivial. What have I done in the last two +years but attend carefully, from habit, to the details of business, +and then amuse myself? And when I wrote I merely sought to amuse you. +What were my flippant letters worth to one who was in earnest?" + +"Graydon," said Madge, looking into his eyes with gentle dignity, "you +may do yourself injustice if you will, but you shall not misjudge me. +I have acquired a little of the art of taking care of myself, and you +are doing me a wrong which I cannot permit. I remember everything, +from the time that your kind eyes rested on the pallid, shrinking +child that crept down to the dining-room when we first met, and from +that day to this you have been kind and helpful to me. I said that +I regarded you as one of the best friends I had in the world. Do +you think me insincere? Do you think I forget how kind you were when +society would not have tolerated the ghost I was? I am not one who +forgets and ignores the past--who can go on to new friends with a +frigid shoulder for old ones. Let us end these misunderstandings. +Before the year is out you will probably be engaged, perhaps married. +Our lives will be widely separated. That is inevitable from the nature +of things. But distance and absence can cause no such separation as +results from misunderstanding. If we should not meet again in twenty +years I should be the same loyal friend. Now I've said it, and don't +vex me again by speaking as if I had not said and meant it." + +"I can scarcely tell whether your words make me more glad or sad. Each +feeling is deeper than you will ever believe. You certainly give +me the impression that if I marry Stella Wildmere our lives will be +separated." + +"You don't take nature, especially woman-nature, into consideration at +all. I am not congenial to Miss Wildmere; she does not like me. It +is nothing against her, but some people are antagonistic. This is +especially true among women, and in this case it is not strange. Our +experiences have been very different. She has ever been a beautiful, +brilliant society-girl. With her at your side you would always be +an object of envy in circles congenial to you, for admiration would +follow her as the light follows day. In the past, you know, I have +not been influenced by society considerations, and in the future they +shall be very secondary. Therefore we of necessity are unlike, and +could never be much company for each other. There is never any use +in trying to ignore the old law of 'like unto like.' I say this in +explanation of what you know is true all the world over. Even +the close ties of kindred often count for little where tastes, +occupations, and habits of thought are diverse. All this is nothing +against your perfect right to please yourself. In this land, thank +Heaven! families and friends cannot yoke people together to pull +forward general and miscellaneous interests." + +"You speak as if it were a slight thing when the woman whom a man +marries is merely accepted, tolerated, by his kindred." + +"I have not said that, Graydon; I have only said again what I said +before--that a man has a right to please himself. The truth is trite +enough; why recur to it?" + +"Gravitation is trite enough, but it often has an acute bearing on +one's experience. You do not like Stella--" + +"And she does not like me." + +"Very well; but you try to be just to her, and when she has lived a +while in different associations you will find her greatly changed. +I think you can be her close friend in the future. But Henry detests +her, and he is so quietly and obstinately tenacious in his views that +the fact annoys me exceedingly." + +"Very well; you can't help that. You will live in different houses, +and your domestic life will be quite removed from business interests." + +"Oh, confound Henry! He married to suit himself, so shall I. But, +Madge, dear Madge, you will try to love her--to help her to be more +like you, for my sake?" + +At last Madge's laugh rang out merrily. "For mercy's sake, Graydon, +don't ask me to be a missionary to your wife," she cried. "If I +escaped with my eyes I should be lucky. You must think your wife +perfection, and make her think you do. Woe be unto you if you +introduce a female friend and suggest that she should be imitated, +even to the arch of an eyebrow. Oh, no, I thank you! That's a sphere +in which I shouldn't shine at all, and I wouldn't dare attempt it with +any feminine saint in the calendar. Oh, Graydon, what a dear old goose +you are!" and she laughed till the tears came into her eyes. He joined +her in a half vexed way, protesting that she was still as uncanny as a +ghost, although she had lost the aspect of one. + +Suddenly she stopped, and tears of sorrow filled her eyes. "Here I +am, laughing at our absurd talk," she said, "when I have just left the +side of a poor girl, no older than myself, who is ghostly indeed in +her flickering life. Is it heartless to seem to forget so soon? Oh, +Graydon, you don't know what trouble is! You have only had vexations +thus far. Let me tell you what happened last night, if only to make +you grateful for your strong, prosperous life." + +"Tell me anything you wish. I always have better thoughts and impulses +after being with you." + +"Please don't regard me as egotistical, or offend me by thinking I am +trying to be better than others. Why shouldn't I help that poor girl? +We often dance all night for fun; why can't we watch occasionally for +pity? And in simple truth it will be a long time before the ache for +that poor creature will go out of my heart. It came very close home, +Graydon--very close. It brought to mind another girl, who was once +scarcely stronger or better than Tilly Wendall is to-day, but God was +kind. Tilly also has great black eyes, and they do look so large and +pathetic in the wan little face! At first they did not notice me much. +I was only another of the watchers who had come to aid her mother. +It's astonishing how kind these plain country people are to one +another in trouble, and many a housewife in this region has toiled all +day and then sat up with the poor child the livelong night. + +"For the first few hours I could do little more than help her move +in her weak restlessness, and give remedies to relieve her incessant +cough. The poor thing seemed neither more nor less than a victim of +disease, that with a cruelty almost malign had tortured her. I can't +explain how this awful impression grew upon me. It was as if viewless, +brutal hands had racked the emaciated form until intelligence was +gone, and then, not content, would continue their vindictive work +while breath remained in the body. As my watch was prolonged this +impression grew into a nightmare of horror. The still house, the +silent, white, beautiful world without, and that frail young girl +tortured hour after hour under my eyes by fever and a convulsive, +incessant, remorseless cough." + +She buried her face in her hands, and for a moment or two her voice +was choked with sobs. + +"Oh, Madge," cried Graydon, almost fiercely, "you anger me! I would +strangle a man who harmed a hair of such a child's head. How can I +worship a God who sends or permits such a thing? You are braver than +I. I could see a man shot, but I couldn't look upon what you have +described. Yet the picture brings back the moment when we parted--when +you struggled feebly in my arms with a premonition of your almost +mortal weakness, and then sank back white and deathlike. If you had +not made so wise and brave an effort you might have lingered on in +torture like this poor girl. You stood in just that peril, did you +not?" + +"I suppose I did." + +"Oh, what a clod I was! I used to hear you cough night after night, +and I would mutter, 'Poor Madge!' and go to sleep. To think that you +might have suffered as this girl is suffering! I never realized it +before, yet I thought I did. I can't tell you how my whole nature +rebels at it all, and pious talk about resignation in the presence of +such scenes fairly makes me grind my teeth;" and his brow blackened +like night in his mental revolt, and his eyes were sternly fixed in +honest, indignant arraignment of the Power he did not scruple to defy, +though so impotent to resist. + +Madge brushed away her tears, and watched him earnestly for a moment. +In that confused instant she exulted in the strong, generous, kindly +manhood that would not cringe even to omnipotence when apparently +cruel. She said, gently, "Graydon, you are condemning God." + +"I can't help it," he began, impetuously, "that is, such a God--" + +She put her hand over his mouth. + +"I like you better for your words," she continued, "but please don't +talk so any more. Let what you have said apply to 'such a God--' I +know what you mean, but there is no such being in existence. Let me +finish my story. We have had too many interruptions, and this secluded +road has an end. I won't try to explain my faith. What happened may +make it clearer to you. Well, Tilly gradually grew quieter, and at +last slept. The tired mother was sleeping also, and I sat at the +window just as you imagined, my thoughts sad and questioning, to say +the least At last I saw that Tilly was awake, and looking at me with +something like interest and curiosity. I went to her and asked if I +could do anything. + +"She said, in her slow, feeble way, 'I thought I knew every one about +here, but I don't remember to have seen you before.' + +"Then I told her who I was, and that her mother was in the next room. + +"'You are very kind,' she said. 'And you are from the hotel. Isn't it +a little strange?' + +"'It should not be,' I replied, and explained how I came to stay, +adding, 'Don't talk any more. You are not strong enough.' + +"With a quiet smile that astonished me, she said, 'It won't make any +difference, Miss Alden; I shall never be any better, or, rather, I +shall soon be well. My mind seems growing clearer, and I'd like to +talk a little. It is strange to see a young girl here. Are you strong +and well?' + +"'Yes, very strong, and very glad to help your mother take care of +you. I was once almost as ill as you are, yet I got well. Cheer up, +and let us nurse you back to health.' + +"She shook her head. 'No, that's now impossible. You come and cheer +poor mother and father, Miss Alden. I am more than cheerful, I am +happy.' + +"I made her call me Madge, and said: 'Tell me then in a few words how +you can be happy. My heart has just been aching for you ever since I +came.' + +"Perhaps she saw tears in my eyes, for she said, 'Sit down by me.' +Then she took my hand, leaned her cheek upon it, and looked at me with +such a lovely sympathy in her beautiful dark eyes! + +"'Yes,' she said, 'I see you are young and strong, and you probably +have wealth and many friends; still I think I am better off than you +are. I am almost home, and you may have long, weary journeying before +you yet. You ask me why I am happy. I'll just give you the negative +reasons: think how much they mean to me--"And there shall be no more +death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more +pain." All these may be taken from my life any hour. Think of what +will be added to it. You believe all this, Madge?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Then you must know why I am happy, and why I may be better off than +you are. It will be very hard for father and mother--there will be +more pain for them here in consequence--but soon it will all end +forever; in a little while we shall be together again. So you know +nearly all about poor little me,' she said, with another of her +smiles, which were the sweetest, yet most unearthly things I ever saw. +'And now tell me about yourself. I'm not able to talk much more for +the present. I'd like to know something about the friend who helped +me through the last few steps of my journey. I can think about you in +heaven, you know,' she said, with the sweetest little laugh. 'Don't +look so sad, Madge. They'll tell you I'm gone soon. "Gone where?" ask +yourself, and never grieve a moment.' + +"Oh, Graydon, she made it all seem so real, talking there alone in the +night! And it is just as she says or it isn't anything. When you +said, 'Such a God,' you had in mind a theological phantom, and I don't +wonder you felt as you did; but this girl believes in a God who 'so +loved the world'--who so loved her--and I do also. Her pain, her +thwarted young life, I don't understand any more than I do other +phases of evil, but I can give my allegiance to One who came to take +away the evil of the world. That's about all the religion I have, and +you mustn't ever say a word against it. + +"Well, there is but little more to tell. Tilly spoke in quiet, broken +sentences as her cough permitted, and I told her a little about myself +and sang to her some hymns that mother sang to me when I was a child. +With the dawn her mother came in, and was frightened at having slept +so long, but Tilly laughed and said it was just splendid. + +"She was evidently a very intelligent girl, and must have been a +pretty one, too. She certainly has read a great deal, and has taught +in public schools. There didn't seem to be a trace of morbidness +in her mind or feeling. She was simply trying to make the best of +everything, and her best certainly is _the_ best. She has helped and +comforted me more than I could her." + +"Comforted you, Madge?" + +"Oh, well," was the somewhat confused reply. "I've had trouble, and +shall have again. Who is without it long in this world?" + +"It's almost hard to see how serious trouble can reach you hereafter, +you are so strong, so fortified. No, Madge; I'll never say a word +against your faith or that of your new friend. Would to Heaven I had +it myself! I wouldn't have missed this talk with you for the world, +and you can't know how I appreciate the friendship which has led +you to speak to me frankly of what is so sacred. All the whirl and +pressure of coming life and business shall never blot from my memory +the words you have spoken this morning or the scenes you have made so +real." + +If this were true, how infinitely deeper would have been his +impression if he could have seen the beautiful girl, now smiling into +his eyes, bowed in agony at that sick-bed, while she acknowledged with +stifled sobs that the dying girl _was_ better off--far happier than +she who had to face almost the certainty of lifelong disappointment. +Poor Madge had not told Graydon all her story. She would have died +rather than have her secret known on earth, but she had not feared to +breathe it to one on the threshold of heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DISPASSIONATE LOVERS + + +During the last moments of their drive Madge and Graydon were +comparatively silent. They were passing dwellings, meeting strangers, +and they could not, with the readiness of natures less finely +organized, descend to commonplaces. Each had abundant food for +thought, while even Graydon now believed that he so truly understood +Madge, and had so much in common with her, that words were no longer +needed for companionship. + +As they approached the piazza, they saw that Arnault was still Miss +Wildmere's devoted attendant. His presence meant hope for Madge, and +Graydon was slightly surprised at his own indifference. He felt that +the girl to whom he regarded himself as bound belonged to a different +world, a lower plane of life than that of which he had been given a +glimpse. The best elements of his nature had been profoundly moved, +and brought to the surface, and he found them alien to the pair on +the piazza. He was even self-reproachful that he saw with so little +resentment Stella's present companionship. + +"While I don't like her course at all," he thought, "I must believe +that she is acting from the most self-sacrificing motives. What +troubles me most now is that I have a growing sense of the narrowness +of her nature." + +He had never come from her presence with his manhood aroused to its +depths. It was her beauty that he dwelt upon; her piquant, alluring +tones and gestures. Madge was not an ill-natured critic of the girl +who threatened to destroy her future, but, by being simply what she +was, she made the other shrink and grow common by contrast. + +To Graydon such comparisons were odious indeed, and he would not +willingly permit them; but, in conformity to mental laws and the force +of circumstances, they would present themselves. Each day had found +him in the society of the two girls, and even an hour like one of +those just passed compelled him to feel the superiority of Madge. His +best hope already for Stella was that she would change when surrounded +by better influences--that her faultless taste in externals would +eventually create repugnance to modes of thought and action unsuitable +in a higher plane of life. He did not question his love for her, +but he felt this morning that it was a love which was becoming +disenchanted early, and into which the elements of patience and +tolerance might have to enter largely. Should he marry her to-day he +could not, as Madge had said, and with the first glow of affection, +believe her perfect. He even sighed as he thought of the future. + +His heart was very tender toward Madge, but it was with an affection +that seemed to him partly fraternal, and partly a regard for one +different, better, purer than himself. He proved the essential +fineness, the capabilities of his nature, by his appreciation of some +of her higher traits. Her ministry to the dying girl had given her +a sacredness in his eyes. For the time she was becoming a sort of +religion to him. He revealed this attitude of mind to her by a gentle +manner, and a tone of respect and consideration in the least thing he +said. + +"Oh," thought the poor girl, "he could be so much to me and I to him! +His touch, even in thought, would never be coarse and unfeeling; and +I have seen again and again that I can inspire him, move him, and make +him happy. Why must a wretched blunder thwart and blight two lives?" + +Before they had finished their breakfast the beautiful languor of +sleep was again in his companion's eyes, and he said: "Dear Madge, +promise me you will take a long rest. Before we part I want to tell +you what an illumined page you have put in my memory this morning. +Some of the shadows in the picture are very dark, but there is also a +light in it that 'never was on sea or land.' When you wake I shall be +on my way to the trout-stream to which Dr. Sommers will guide me; and, +do you know? I feel as if my memories will be in accord with the scene +of my camping-ground. As I sit in my tent-door to-night I shall think +over all you have said and described." + +Her only answer was a smile, that for some reason quickened his pulse. + +Much occurred before they met again. + +He went to his room, wrote some letters, and made other preparations. +Then, feeling that he should give the remaining time before his +departure to Miss Wildmere, he sought her. She appeared to be waiting +for him on the piazza, and there was reproach in her tone, as she +said, "I half feared you were going without bidding me good-by." + +"Such fears were scarcely just to me." + +"I did not know but that you had so greatly enjoyed your morning drive +as to go away in a fit of absent-mindedness. I have been sitting here +alone an hour." + +"I could not know that. When I drove up I saw that I should be _de +trop_," he replied, as they sauntered to an adjacent grove. + +"Now, Graydon, you know that is never true, so far as I am concerned." + +"The trouble is, Miss Wildmere, others are concerned in such a way +that the only resource left me is to keep my distance." + +"Mr. Arnault has returned to the city," she said, with what appeared a +great sigh of relief. "I am perfectly free now." + +"Till Mr. Arnault returns." + +"I cannot help his return." + +"Oh, no. I do not question his right to come back, or even to buy this +hotel and turn us all out." + +"Please don't talk about him any more. I'm doing the best I can." + +"I believe you think so, but I cannot think it will prove the best for +any one. It is not what I expected or even imagined. You are acting +from a mistaken sense of duty, and I am more sorry every day that +you can commit such an error. Look at it in its true light, Stella. I +cannot believe you are deceiving me: you must be leading Mr. Arnault +to entertain a false hope." + +"Graydon, I have refused Mr. Arnault, and he will take no refusal." + +"You can refuse him in such a way that he must take it at once and +forever." + +"You don't know--" she began, tears coming into her eyes. + +"No; you have only led me to surmise a great deal by implication." + +"What would become of mamma and my little sister if papa should fail +utterly?" and tears came faster. No one could be more pathetic than +Miss Wildmere when she chose. + +"Can you not trust me for them as well as for yourself?" + +"Oh, Mr. Muir, I know you mean most generously and kindly, but papa is +so anxious and fearful! He tries to keep up before others, but I know +how he feels, and it's terrible. He is past middle age, and business +success means very much to him. How can I do anything to harm him? I +know so little about business and its perils, while papa thinks +there may be terrible dangers ahead for every one. You might have the +good-will to help us and yet soon be scarcely able to help yourself. +I have been made to feel that the best I could do through these +troublous times was to try to aid papa as far as possible, and then I +shouldn't have anything with which to reproach myself." + +Graydon was perplexed. Apparently she was doing wrong in the most +self-sacrificing spirit, and believed that doing right, which would +end her abnegation, was wrong and selfish. + +While he hesitated, she resumed: "You see, Graydon, papa has the same +as said that Mr. Arnault was tiding him over until he could realize +on securities now of little value. Of course there has been no +compromising understanding in words--do not think us capable of that. +It would cut me to the heart to have you misjudge me or condemn me. I +will give you the highest proof I can of my--my--esteem by being frank +on a delicate subject, so that you can see how I am placed. I don't +think many young ladies would do as much. Of course what I say is +sacred between us. Mr. Arnault offered himself long since, and I +promptly declined the honor, but he laughingly told me he would take +no refusal, and chatted through the rest of the evening as pleasantly +as if nothing had happened. I have virtually refused him several times +since, but he persists, declaring that he will remain an agreeable +friend until I change my mind. Surely, I am not misleading him. I +do like him as a friend, and he knows that I have for him no other +regard, and never had. Before you came he had begun to help papa, and +to throw business in his way, and just now he is rendering him very +great service. He may do this in the hope of influencing me, but he +gives his aid without conditions. Yet I know him well enough to be +sure that he would withdraw this business help should I now harshly +dismiss him or engage myself to another. While I do show him that I +appreciate his kindness, I do nothing to indicate that my feeling is +changed. He must know that I regard him in the same light as in the +past. If he is content with this, I have asked myself why I should +be precipitate--why alienate him now in the very crisis of papa's +affairs. Of course if I had only myself to think of--I've been foolish +enough to think that I might help papa and still be happy in the end. +Am I so very naughty, Graydon?" + +He was at a loss how to answer her, but felt that he must at once +disabuse her mind of one expectation. + +"I admit, Stella," he said, thoughtfully, "that you are peculiarly +placed, and I thank you for making clearer what I had partially +surmised. While I admire and respect the motive, I must still repeat +that I regret beyond all words such action in one who is so much +to me. It is right also that I should define my own position more +clearly. I will imitate your generous frankness. You know how greatly +I admired you before I first went abroad; and while I felt that there +was little chance for me, you being sought by so many, I did not give +up hope. This hope was strengthened by my visit last summer, and when +I returned and found you free a few weeks since I determined to win +you if I could. You know I would have spoken before had you permitted. +I have for some little time felt myself irrevocably bound by what has +passed between us. I also believed that you would eventually give me +a full explanation in regard to Mr. Arnault, and that his attentions +would cease. As to my not being able to take care of you, that is +absurd. I am not wealthy yet, but few young men in the city have +better prospects. My brother's business is large and profitable, and I +am soon to share in it. I could not, from the nature of things, enter +into business relations with your father--I should not be at the head +of the firm--but neither you nor yours should ever want. As to +my brother, he is in no financial danger whatever. He has a large +fortune, and is conservatism itself. If you are placed in an +embarrassing position, I am also. Arnault's manner is not that of a +friend. Others misjudge you and me also. It looks to the people here, +and to my own family, as if you were playing with us both. + +"Moreover," he continued, after a moment's thought, "you are drifting +into a false relation with Arnault, although you may not be conscious +of it. Before these troubles began you simply tolerated his attentions +good-naturedly, and without any special motive. Now you have a +definite motive and purpose, and--pardon me, Stella--they are +misleading him. He would not continue his attentions an hour, did +he believe they were utterly hopeless. To Arnault and all others you +appear undecided between him and myself. Such an experiment as you are +trying cannot work well. If he has any other power beyond that of your +maidenly preference, he will not hesitate to increase it, and may make +your father more utterly dependent upon him while appearing helpful." + +"Yes; I have thought of that," she said, musingly. + +"There seems to me but one straightforward, high-toned thing for you +to do, Stella, and that is to follow your heart." + +He was almost frightened at himself that he spoke with so little +eagerness and longing. His words seemed but the honorable and logical +sequence of what had gone before. For some reason this girl in the +broad light of day did not appear to be the same as when she had +fascinated him in the witching moonlight the evening before. It was +not that her beauty had gone with the glamour of the night, but he +had been breathing a different and a purer atmosphere. Madge had been +revealing what to him seemed ideal womanhood. + +In regard to Stella his illusion had so far passed that he thought, +consciously, "Even at her best she is presenting Wildmere traits; her +very self-sacrifice takes on a Wildmere form, and there is a flavor of +Wall Street in it all." + +But he still believed that he loved her, and that, if she was equal to +such great though mistaken self-sacrifice for her father, she would, +under his influence, throw off certain imperfections and gain a better +tone. + +That such thoughts were passing through his mind was a bad omen for +the continuance of Miss Wildmere's power, and yet the opportunity of +her life was still hers. She had simply to put her hand into his with +a look of trust, and abide by the act, to secure a loyalty that would +always have tried to promote her best interests. That she was strongly +tempted to do this was proved by her manner, in spite of the fact that +she had promised Arnault not to decide against him before Saturday. + +It was a moment of indecision. His strong assurance that he was +abundantly able to take care of her, that Mr. Muir was wealthy and +free from financial embarrassment, almost turned the scale. She felt +that both Arnault and her father were deceiving her for their own +purposes, and she had little hesitation in acting for herself +without regard to them. Graydon's suggestion that her action was not +high-toned, although delicately made, touched her pride to the quick, +and she was compelled to feel during this interview, as never before, +the superiority of the man who addressed her. She longed to force +Henry Muir to acknowledge the daughter of the man he shunned in +business; and not the least among her incentives was the thought of +triumphing over Madge as a possible rival. + +"At any rate," she had thought, "if I become engaged to Graydon he +will have to be very much less fraternal. As to his not aiding papa," +she concluded, "I can't help that. When once married I could make him +do all he could afford, and papa and mamma have no right to expect +anything more." + +To the potency of all these considerations was added a sentiment for +the man who awaited her answer, and who chafed inwardly that it was so +long in coming. + +"Truly," he thought, "this is a strange wooing. Henry himself +could not more carefully weigh the _pros_ and _cons_ than does she +apparently, nor am I in feverish suspense. I had hoped for something +different in my mating." + +A glimmering perception that her manner was not calculated to inspire +a lover at last dawned on Miss Wildmere, and with it came a faltering +purpose to decide in favor of Graydon at once; but as she turned +toward him, to speak with what was meant to be a bewildering smile of +joy, a messenger from the office said, "A telegram, miss." + +Graydon frowned, and then laughed outright. She stopped in the very +act of tearing open the envelope, and looked at him inquiringly. + +"Oh, nothing," he said, lightly. "The opportuneness of that fellow's +coming was phenomenal. How much longer am I to wait for your decision, +Stella? Were the world in our secret, I should be known as St. Graydon +the patient." + +She flushed, but adopted his apparently light mood as the least +embarrassing. "My memory is good, and I shall know how to reward you," +she smilingly replied. "Please let me satisfy my mind about papa, for +I'm sure it's from him." + +"Oh, satisfy your _mind_ fully about everything, Miss Wildmere." + +She tore open the envelope with a strong gesture of impatience, and +read, with a suddenly paling cheek, "Unless you choose the immediate +certainty of absolute loss, wait till I see you. Will come soon. +Wildmere." + +She crushed the telegram in her hand, and turned away with a +half-tragic air which at the moment struck Graydon as a little +"stagy," and then he condemned himself for the thought. As she did not +speak for a moment, he said, sympathetically, "Your tidings are bad?" + +She tried to think, but was confused, and felt that she was in a cruel +dilemma. Could Graydon be deceiving her? or was he as ignorant as he +seemed of his brother's peril? Was her father in league with Arnault +after all? and were they uniting to separate her from Graydon? She +could not tell. She must gain more time. She would see her father, +charge him with duplicity, and wring the truth from him. + +When she turned to Graydon her eyes were full of tears again, and she +faltered: "You may despise me if you will, but my father has made an +appeal to me, and is coming to see me. I must hear what he has to say. +I must tell him that I can't endure--that I can't go on this way any +longer. I would gladly help him, save him, but after what you have +said it's impossible to--Oh, was ever a girl placed in such wretched +straits! Graydon, can you be patient a little longer?" + +"There is nothing else for me to do, Stella. I only stipulate +that your decision be made speedily, and that Arnault be given to +understand what my rights are. I shall have no difficulty in enforcing +them." + +"I shall decide speedily. It is not right that I should be placed in +such a torturing, humiliating position." + +"Now I agree with you perfectly. When does your father come?" + +"He says 'soon.'" + +"Very well; I will return on Saturday." + +"I wish you wouldn't go away now," she entreated. + +"I think it is best," replied Graydon, decisively, yet kindly. "I +have said all that is possible to an honorable man. By remaining I am +placed in an anomalous position which my self-respect does not permit +any longer." + +"I suppose," she sighed, "that I should not ask too much. Well, so be +it, then." + +They walked back to the house in silence. At the door of a side +entrance she turned to him, her face flushing at the admission, and +said, hastily, "I waited a long time for you, Graydon," and then fled +to her room. + +"Oh, confound it!" he muttered, as he walked away. "What a muddle it +all is! I ought to feel like strangling myself for permitting this +doubting, cynical spirit to creep over me. Curse it all! her words and +manner haven't the ring of absolute truth. It seems as if I heard a +voice in the very depths of my soul, saying, 'Beware!' Am I becoming +an imbecile? I doubted and misjudged Madge. Thank Heaven that is past +forever! Now I am doubting and misjudging the woman I have asked to +be my wife. I must be misjudging her--the alternative is horrible. +I can't escape one conviction, however. It is turning out just as I +expected and told her it would. Arnault's aid to her father has been +delusive, and Wildmere is deeper in the mire than ever. This is a fine +ending of my social career! The girl of my choice puts me off until +she can end this Wall Street business more satisfactorily. She must +wait and hear her father's reasons for further diplomacy before she +can answer me. If Henry knew all this--But Madge, crystal Madge, won't +repeat what I said. I must risk the loss of her society also. Has +her keen insight into character enabled her to detect these Wildmere +traits, and is this the cause of her antipathy? How simply she said 'I +couldn't do'--what Stella has accomplished with so much skill that the +gossips in the house are in honest doubt as to her choice, or whether, +indeed, she proposes to accept either Arnault or myself. Well, well, +I'll wait till she has had this interview with her father, and then +she must either decide for me and against such tactics forever, +or else she can wear my scalp in her belt with those of the other +unfortunates." + +In an hour he was on the road with Dr. Sommers to a wild and secluded +valley. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE ENEMIES' PLANS + + +It has been shown that Arnault believed the decisive period to have +come that would see the success or failure of his "operation" in +the Catskills. Keen, penetrating, he had comprehended the situation +clearly. He knew that Stella wished to accept Graydon, and was held in +check by financial considerations only. He had seen her manner during +the preceding moonlight evening, and with intense anger had observed +from a neighboring grove the episode in the summer-house. The twig had +not casually parted under his step, but had been snapped between his +fingers. Stella's quick alarm and flight had revealed the continuance +of his hold upon her fears, if not her heart. From that moment he +dismissed all indecision. In bitterness he realized that his prolonged +stay in the mountains had not advanced his interests. He had hoped +to win the girl by devotion, keeping financial pressure in the +background; she had been only suave, agreeable, and elusive. He had +told her that he expected her decision by Saturday evening; she had +merely bowed in a non-committal way. Meanwhile it was evident that if +the Muirs kept up, apparently retaining the power to pass unscathed to +better times, she would prolong her hesitancy, and in the end accept +Graydon. He determined, therefore, to see her first, then her father, +and to call in his loan immediately. + +While Graydon and Madge were returning next morning from the lonely +farmhouse Arnault was breakfasting at the hotel. He appeared in +excellent spirits. Miss Wildmere's alert observation could not detect +from his manner his knowledge of the fact that she had been on the +point of yielding to Graydon the evening before. He was full of +gallant courtesy toward her, and every glance and word expressed +admiration. This was always the breath of life to her, and while +it had ceased to give positive pleasure, its absence was like +uncomfortable weather. + +After the meal was over he led her to the same summer-house in which +Graydon had almost spoken words endowed with a lover's warmth and +eagerness. + +"Stella," he said, "I shall go to town on the ten-o'clock train." + +"I supposed you had concluded to remain all the week," she replied. + +"No; very important interests call me to the city, much to my regret. +You only bowed when I requested that I should receive a final answer +before the close of this week. I shall return Saturday. Will you end +my suspense within this time?" + +She was silent. + +"Will you make me another promise, then? Will you remain free this +week? If you will not bind yourself to me, will you promise that +no one else shall have a claim upon you until the time specified +expires?" + +After some hesitation she said, "Yes, I will promise that." + +"Please do so, and you will not regret it," was his quiet response. + +"I am not so eager to be bound that I cannot promise so much." + +"Very well then, I am content for the present;" and he changed the +subject. + +They soon returned to the piazza, and Arnault employed his utmost +effort to be agreeable during the brief time remaining. + +Earlier in the week he had written Mr. Wildmere a letter, in +consequence of which the momentous telegram had restrained the +daughter at the critical moment already mentioned. + +When Madge came down to a late dinner she saw that Arnault had +disappeared from the Wildmere table, and that the belle was already +a victim of _ennui_ in the absence of both gentlemen. During the +afternoon Mrs. Muir was eager to gossip a little over the aspect of +affairs, but soon found that Madge would do scarcely more than listen. + +"I don't understand that Miss Wildmere at all," said the elder +sister; "late last evening she went to yonder summer-house, hanging on +Graydon's arm as if they were engaged or married, and now he's gone to +be absent several days. This morning she was there again with Arnault, +and he wasn't talking about the weather, either. Now he's gone also. +Before Graydon went she had another long interview with him while you +were asleep. Good gracious! what is she aiming at? Young men were not +so patient in my day or in our village; and quiet as Henry appears, +he wouldn't play second string to a bow as Graydon does. When Miss +Wildmere first came I thought it was about settled, and I tried to be +polite to one whom I thought we should soon have to receive. Now it's +a sort of neck-and-neck race between the two men. If Graydon wins, how +shall you treat Miss Wildmere?" + +"Politely for Graydon's sake, of course." + +"Whose chances are best?" + +"Graydon's." + +"Do you think she loves him?" + +"Yes, as far as she can love any one.' + +"Why, Madge, what do you mean?" + +"She could not love as we should; she doesn't know what the word +means. If she did she wouldn't hesitate." + +"You think Henry's opinion of her is correct, then?" + +"I think he's right usually. Miss Wildmere is devoted to one +being--herself." + +"Why, Madge, it would be dreadful to have Graydon marry such a girl!" + +"Graydon is not Harry Muir. He attained his majority some years +since." + +"He certainly is old enough to show more spirit. Well, I don't +understand her tactics, but such belles, I suppose, are a law unto +themselves." + +"Don't let us gossip about her any more. If Graydon becomes engaged +there is only one thing for us to do. Miss Wildmere has made herself +disagreeable to me in many little nameless ways, and we never could be +friends, but I shall not give Graydon cause for just complaint. If he +asks me to see her with his eyes, I shall laugh at him and decline." + +"They shall never live with us," said Mrs. Muir, emphatically. "I know +I'm not a brilliant and accomplished woman, but I have always made +home a place of rest and comfort for Henry, and I intend it always +shall be just such a refuge. He is nervous and uncomfortable whenever +that girl comes near him. Some people can't get on together at all. +I am so glad that he likes you! He says you are one that a man could +depend upon in all sorts of weather." + +"We'll see; but I like Santa Barbara weather, which is usually +serene." + +"Oh, Madge, you'll not go there again?" + +"Yes, I shall probably make it my home. I should never keep my health +in the East, and I should dread a winter in New York more than I can +tell you." + +"Well," said Mrs. Muir, discontentedly, "I suppose you will have your +own way in everything hereafter; but I think you might at least try to +spend a winter with us." + +"If there were cause I would, Mary, but you are happy in your home, +and I am not greatly needed. In my Western home I feel I can get the +most out of life, just as you are getting the most out of yours. I +should suffer from my old troubles in New York." This statement was +true enough to both ladies, although a very prosaic impression was +conveyed to Mrs. Muir's mind. + +To Madge, Graydon's absence contained a strong element of hope. He +would not have gone away if all had been settled between him and Miss +Wildmere, and, as Mary had said, there appeared stronger evidence of +uncertainty now than at first. Graydon had seen Miss Wildmere, and she +evidently had not finally dismissed Arnault. + +Madge indulged in no idle brooding, however, and by activity every +hour in the day, passed the time bravely. One of her boy admirers had +a horse, and became her escort on long excursions; and with Mrs. Muir +she went to see Tilly Wendall again on Friday morning. The poor girl +was very weak indeed, and could do little more than smile her welcome. +Madge promised to spend Sunday night with her. She would have come +before, but Graydon had told her that he might return Friday evening, +and as a storm was threatening she thought it probable that he would +hasten back to avoid it. She believed that there was still hope for +her, and determined that she should never have cause in the future to +reproach herself with lost opportunities. There was no imperative call +of duty to her sick friend, for Mrs. Wendall said that two or three +neighbors had lately offered their services. + +Mrs. Muir was gladdened on her return to the hotel by a telegram from +her husband, saying that he would arrive on the late train and spend +Saturday with her. She and Madge sat down to dinner in a cheerful +mood, which evidently was not shared by Miss Wildmere. + +That brilliant young woman, although she made herself the centre of +all things as far as possible, was a victim of poverty when thrown +upon her own resources. Madge detected her in suppressed yawns, and +had noted that she had apparently done little else than read novels +since parting with the two men who were metaphorically at her feet. +Since the telegram she had not received a word from her father or any +one, and was inwardly chafing at the dead calm that had followed her +exciting experiences. She did not misinterpret the deceptive peace, +however, and knew that on the morrow she must decide what even she +regarded as the most momentous question of life. Persons under the +dominion of pure selfishness escape many perplexities, however, and +she was prone to take short cuts to desired ends. Ready to practice +deceit herself, she became more strongly impressed that her father +and Arnault were misleading her. Therefore she impatiently awaited the +former's appearance, that she might tax him with duplicity. Unless he +had something stronger than vague surmises to offer, she intended on +the morrow to promise Graydon Muir to be his wife. + +As has been seen, Wildmere had too much conscience to try to sell his +daughter outright, but since she was in a mood for a bargain he had +insured the possibility of one remarkably good in his estimation, and +was now on his way with very definite offers and statements indeed. + +In the late afternoon Madge was speaking about a book to an +acquaintance who said, "Go up to my room and get it." + +Madge was not sure whether she cared to read the book or not, and sat +down to examine it. Suddenly she heard distinctly the words, "I don't +believe Henry Muir is in danger of failure. Graydon scouted the idea. +You and Arnault are seeking to mislead me." + +Madge then remembered that the next room was occupied by Miss +Wildmere, and her first impulse was to make a noise, that the +proximity of some one might be known, but like a flash came the +thought, "Chance may have put me in the way of getting information of +vital importance to Henry;" and the next sentence spoken assured her +that this was true, for she heard a voice which she recognized as Mr. +Wildmere's say: + +"In all human probability Muir will be compelled to suspend to-morrow. +Mr. Arnault has placed in his hands a call loan. You know what that +is. Arnault is so alarmed about Muir's condition that he will demand +the money in the morning, and I am perfectly satisfied that Muir can't +raise it. You know enough about business to be aware of what will +happen if he cannot. Such is the market now that if Muir goes down +he will be cleaned out utterly, and Graydon will have to begin at the +bottom like any other young man without resources. Of course, Arnault +cannot afford to lose the money, and must act like any other business +man. + +"But he did not send me here to tell you this. As his broker I know +about it, and tell you of my own accord. This is what he did authorize +me to say to you. Had not business interests, which have already +suffered from his devotion to you, prevented, he would be here now +to make the offer in person. He says that he will settle upon you one +hundred thousand dollars in your own right the day you marry him, and +also give you an elegant home in the city. Now what is your answer?" + +"When Henry Muir fails I'll believe all this," was the sullen reply. + +"Be careful, Stella. Devoted as Arnault is he is not a man to be +trifled with. He has made you a munificent offer, but if you show this +kind of spirit he is just the one to withdraw at once and forever. +If you love Graydon Muir well enough to share his poverty, I have +not another word to say, although I shall be homeless myself in +consequence." + +"Nonsense, papa! You have been on the eve of ruin more times than I +can remember. Graydon assured me that he was abundantly able to take +care of me, and that his brother was in no danger. I can have all the +elegance I want and still follow my own inclination. If Henry Muir +fails, of course that ends the matter; and if he is to fail to-morrow +it will be time enough to give Mr. Arnault my answer to-morrow night, +as he asked that I would. If I give him a favorable one I prefer to do +it in person, for I don't wish to appear mercenary. You, I hope, have +the sense to keep this phase out of view." + +"Oh, certainly. Such high-minded people as we are should not be +misjudged," was the bitter reply. + +"One has to take the world as it is, and one soon learns that all are +looking after their own interests," was the cynical reply. + +"A beautiful sentiment for one so young! Well, I must return to the +city to-night, and I cannot take your acceptance of Mr. Arnault's +offer?" + +"No. I will give my answer in person to-morrow night. I can either +accede in a way that will please him, or decline in a manner that +will keep his friendship. I suppose you believe what you say about +Mr. Muir, but I am sure you are mistaken, and I have set my heart on +marrying Graydon." + +"Your heart?" satirically. + +She made no answer. + +"You are taking no slight risk," he resumed, after a moment. + +"Either Arnault is misleading you, or Graydon is deceiving me, and I +would believe him in preference to Arnault any day. I won't be duped." + +"But I tell you, Stella, that under the circumstances Graydon's +ignorance is not at all strange. He has been absent; he is not in +the firm; and what is swamping Muir is an investment outside of his +regular business." + +"You yourself said within a month that if Henry Muir went through this +business crisis he would represent one of the strongest and wealthiest +houses in the country. If he is in the danger you assert, the fact +will soon be manifested. Mr. Arnault has requested my answer to-morrow +night. I have not promised to give it; I have only promised him not to +accept Graydon in the meantime." + +"The fact that Mr. Arnault is helping me so greatly counts for +nothing, I suppose." + +"Oh, yes; I appreciate it very much, but not enough to marry him +unless I must. I am literally following your advice--to choose between +these two men. I shall convey to Mr. Arnault the impression that I +am deeply moved by the generosity of his offer. I am. Girls don't +get such offers every day. You can show him that the very fact of my +hesitation proves that I am not mercenary; or I can, when I see him. +At the same time I am not at all satisfied that Graydon Muir's offer +is not a better one, and it is certainly more to my mind--if you +don't like the word heart. This fact, however, may as well not be +mentioned." + +After some moments' hesitation he said, slowly: "Very well, then. You +are my daughter, although a strange one, and I shall do as well for +you as I can." + +"Yes, please. I parted with sentiment long ago, but I can do well by +those who do well by me. I shall soon be off your hands, and then you +won't have me to worry about." + +He made no response, and Madge heard his step pass into his wife's +room. A moment later Miss Wildmere also departed, and her voice was +soon heard on the piazza. The conversation had been carried on in a +comparatively low tone, and some words had been lost, but those heard +made the sense given above. Circumstances had favored Madge. The +open window at which she was sitting was near the next window in Miss +Wildmere's room, and within two or three feet there was the customary +thin-panelled door which enables the proprietor to throw rooms +together, as required, for the accommodation of families. Therefore, +without moving or volition on her part information vital to her +relatives had been brought to her knowledge. She was perfectly +overwhelmed at first, and sat as if stunned, her cheeks scarlet with +shame for the act of listening, even while she felt that for the sake +of the innocent and unsuspecting, to whom she owed loyalty and love, +it was right. Soon, however, came the impulse to seek the refuge of +her own room and think of what must be done. She stepped lightly to +the outer door; there was no sound in the corridor, and with all the +composure she could assume she passed quietly out and gained her own +apartment unobserved. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE STRONG MAN UNMANNED + + +Madge locked her doors, bathed her hot face, then paced her room in +great agitation, feeling that not only her own happiness was in peril, +but Graydon's also. Her mental distress was greatly enhanced by a +feeling that in order to save her relatives she herself had been +guilty of what to her sensitive nature appeared almost like a crime. +"Was it right?" she asked herself again and again, and at last reached +the conclusion that the fealty she owed to her relatives and to the +man she loved justified her course--that she should shield them even +at such cost to herself. "It was not curiosity that kept me passive," +she thought, "but the hope, the chance to save Henry from financial +ruin and Graydon from far worse disaster." It would indeed be +"horrible" for any true man to marry such a girl; and to permit the +man she loved to make such a fatal blunder was simply monstrous. Yet +how could she prevent it without doing violence to every maidenly +principle of her nature? + +Should she tell her sister? This impulse passed almost instantly. Mary +had not the tact, nerve, or reticence to meet such an emergency. It +seemed, however, that if something was not done almost immediately +this callous, selfish girl would cause lifelong wretchedness to +Graydon as certainly as to Madge herself. Such a nature could not long +maintain its disguise, and probably would not be at pains to do so +after marriage. The self-sacrifice that she had led Graydon to believe +in was all deceit. It was self with her, first and last; it would be +self always. Madge knew Graydon well enough to be sure that to him, +when his illusions were dissipated, the marriage vow would become a +chain growing heavier with time. + +This absolutely certain phase of the danger was so terrible that at +first it almost completely dominated her thoughts. "Oh," she moaned, +"I could see him marry a woman who would make him happy, and yet +survive, but this would be worse than death!" + +As she became more calm and could think connectedly, her mind reverted +to what had been said about Henry's financial peril; and while she was +inclined to take the same view as Miss Wildmere, she soon began to see +that her brother-in-law should be informed of all references to him. +Then the impression grew upon her that it would be wisest to tell him +all, and let him save his brother, if possible, from a fate infinitely +worse than lifelong poverty. Would this involve the disclosure to Mr. +Muir of her secret? Sometimes she thought that he half suspected her +already, and she feared that she could scarcely speak of a subject +that touched her heart's interests so closely without revealing to +those keen gray eyes more than she would have them see. But the risk +must be taken to save Graydon. + +"Can it be?" she said, after musing awhile, "that Henry is in any +such danger as that man asserted, or was it a trumped-up scheme to +influence the girl? Still, he did say that if she would choose Graydon +and poverty he would not interpose. Poverty! I would welcome bondage +and chains with Graydon. I would almost welcome Henry's failure, that +I might prove to them my devotion. Every penny of my fortune should +be theirs. Henry has looked very anxious and troubled sometimes when +thinking himself unobserved. He keeps everything to himself so--" + +Suddenly she sprang up with a flash of joy in her face, and whispered +to herself, excitedly: "Suppose there is truth in what was said by +those speculators. I have a fortune, and it's my own. Henry said it +was so left to me that I could control it after I was eighteen. I can +lend Henry the money to pay Arnault. I will give him every penny I +possess to carry him safely through. Oh, I am so glad he is coming +to-night!" + +"Come down to supper," called Mrs. Muir. + +"Why, Madge," exclaimed the lady, as they sat down under the light of +the chandelier, "how flushed you are! And your eyes fairly beam with +excitement. I half believe you are feverish." + +"Nonsense! No doses for me now; milk and beefsteak are my remedies. +I've been dwelling on some scenes partly imaginary, and you know how +wrought-up I get." + +"Oh, yes; now I remember, you asked Miss Thompson for a book, and went +for it to her room. Of course that was the last seen of you. I never +could get so carried away by a story." + +"I haven't your even disposition, Mary." + +"Miss Wildmere looks brilliant to-night, also. And if there isn't her +father! This is the first time I've seen him up during the week. Well, +I'm glad to see that his daughter can wake up a little for his sake, a +well as for some other man." + +Madge looked at her with mingled curiosity and repugnance. "Horrid +little monster!" she thought. "Now she is performing her filial act. +As her father said, 'such high-toned people should not be misjudged.'" + +"I think you dislike her worse than Henry does," said Mrs. Muir, with +a low laugh. "You look at her as if she were a snake." + +"She is not a girl after my heart," Madge replied, carelessly; then +added, under her breath, "She's a vampire, but she shan't drain +Graydon's life-blood." + +Miss Wildmere was certainly in a genial mood. The munificent offer +received from Mr. Arnault had enhanced her self-appreciation, and she +felt that she had met it with rare nerve and sagacity. She had not +shown herself dazzled like a village girl, and eager to grasp the +prize. Moreover, she had thought, with proud complacency: "The man who +can offer so much is not going to give me up, even should I keep him +waiting months longer. I still believe that Graydon can give me all +I want at present, and at the same time a position in society which +Arnault could never attain, though worth millions. Arnault is on top +of the wave now, but he is a speculator, like papa, and I'm sick +of these Wall Street ups and downs. I believe in Henry Muir's +conservatism. Because he is keeping quiet now they think he is going +to fail. He is just the kind of man to be five times as rich as people +think. Graydon will succeed to his business and business methods, and +will not only make an immense fortune, but keep it. Papa has given +me the test of all these gloomy warnings. If Henry Muir does not fail +to-morrow, I won't believe a word of all that's been said. If he does, +I'll do the next best thing, and take Arnault. No tenement-house for +me, thank you. I've not been in society so long as not to make the +most of my chances;" and under the inspiration of thoughts like these +Miss Wildmere condescended to be affable to her parents, and to smile +upon the world in general. + +Madge Alden was an exception, however, and for her she had only a +frown as she looked across the room at the young girl and saw the +admiration and friendly regard that were so freely bestowed upon her. +As was inevitable, the selfish spirit of one girl had repelled and the +kindly nature of the other had attracted good-will. Human instinct is +quick to recognize the tax-gatherers of society--the people who are +ever exacting, yet give little except slights, wounds, and criticism. + +"Oh," thought Miss Wildmere, "if I can only marry Graydon and snub +that girl unmercifully I shall be perfectly happy!" + +The late train would not arrive before nine o'clock, and Madge +determined to go down in the stage to meet Mr. Muir. In the meantime +her quick mind was coping with the emergency. She had often heard +it said that in times of financial uncertainty an air of the utmost +confidence should be maintained. Therefore she drew her sister into +the parlor, and managed to place her in a lively and congenial group +of ladies. Mrs. Muir herself was happy in the thought of soon seeing +her husband, and appeared cheerfulness embodied. + +Miss Wildmere saw her laughing and chatting with such unforced +geniality that she muttered: "It's perfectly absurd to imagine that +her husband is on the eve of bankruptcy. Even if he tried he couldn't +keep such trouble utterly from his wife, and I've seen enough of +people to be sure she does not dream of danger. The best people of the +house are ever around her and that Madge Alden. Unless papa returns +to-morrow night with predictions confirmed, the Muirs will have to +admit me hereafter into their charmed circle. 'Sister Madge' looks +also as if something keyed her up tremendously. Perhaps she is +thinking that Graydon will return to-morrow to be her escort on long +rides again. I'll soon put a spoke in that wheel, my proud minx. In a +few hours you may wear a very different expression." + +When the two girls met, however, they were scrupulously polite; but +Madge took such pains to make these occasions rare that Miss Wildmere +perceived the avoidance, and her vindictive feeling was intensified. +Madge saw one or two of her dark looks, but only thought, "I shall now +take a part in your cruel game, and it may not end as you imagine." +She danced and laughed as if not a care weighed upon her mind. + +When the hour arrived for the stage to meet the train she slipped +away, wrapped herself in a cloak, and said to the driver that she was +going to meet a relative. The train, was on time, and Mr. Muir, with +others who were strangers, entered the stage. + +"Why, Madge!" he exclaimed; "you here? This certainly is very kind." + +They sat a little apart, and she whispered: "Don't show any surprise +at this or anything else to-night. I have something to tell you, and +you must manage to give me a private interview without any one knowing +it--not even Mary at present." + +"It's about Graydon," he said, anxiously. + +"It's chiefly about yourself. I've heard something." She took his hand +in the darkness, and felt it tremble. "You know how to keep cool and +disguise your feelings," she resumed. "We can beat them yet. I left +Mary in the parlor, the merriest of a merry group. She is happy in the +thought that you are coming, and doesn't suspect anything. I am sure +you will know just what to do when I tell you all, and you can avert +all danger. Greet Mary as usual, and make the people in the house +think you have no trouble on your mind." + +"All right, Madge. As soon as I've had a little supper, you come to my +room." + +"No, you must take a walk with me outside. I want no walls with ears +around." + +"Is it so very serious?" + +"You will know best when I have told you everything." + +A few moments later Mr. Muir walked into the parlor the picture of +serene confidence, and smiling pleasure at meeting his wife, who +sprang up, exclaiming: "I declare, I was so enjoying myself that I +did not realize it was time for you to be here. Come, I've ordered a +splendid supper for you." + +"I shall reward your thoughtfulness abundantly," he replied, "for I +am ravenous." He then greeted Mrs. Muir's friends cordially, said some +pleasant words, and even bowed, when retiring, very politely to Mrs. +Wildmere, who in her meek, deprecating way sat near the door. + +Two or three gentlemen sought Madge's hand for the next dance, and she +was out upon the floor again, her absence not having been commented +upon. + +Not a feature of this by-play had been lost on Miss Wildmere, and she +smiled satirically. "They thought to dupe me with delusions about Mr. +Muir. He has no more idea of failing than I have, and before very long +he shall be Brother Henry to me as well as to Madge Alden." + +After a little while Madge excused herself and joined her relatives in +the dining-room. She found her sister happy in giving all the details +of what had occurred in her husband's absence, and he was listening +with his usual quiet interest, while deliberately prolonging his meal +to give the impression that his appetite made good his words. But +Madge saw that he was pale and at times preoccupied. + +At last he rose from the table, and Mrs. Muir said, "I will go and +have a look at the children, and then join you on the piazza." + +"Very well, Mary, I'll be there soon. I've sat so long in the cars +that I want to walk a little for a change, so don't hasten or worry if +I'm gone a little longer than usual. After such a splendid supper as +you have secured for me I need a little exercise, and will smoke +my cigar on my feet. The fact is, I don't get exercise enough. Come, +Madge, you'd walk all day if you had a chance." + +Mrs. Muir thought the idea very sensible. Mr. Muir and Madge passed +out through a side door. The former lighted his cigar leisurely, and +they strolled away as if for no other purpose than to enjoy the warm +evening. The storm had not come, but clouds were flying wildly across +the disk of the moon, and the hurry-skurry in the sky was akin to the +thoughts of the quiet saunterers. + +"Where shall we go?" he asked. + +"Not far away. There is an open walk near, where we could see any one +approach us." + +"Now, Madge," Mr. Muir began, after reaching the spot, "I have +followed your suggestions, for I have great confidence in your good +sense. Your words have worried me exceedingly." + +"There is reason for it, Henry, even though there is probably no truth +in what has been said about your financial peril." + +"Great God!" he exclaimed, starting, "is that subject talked about?" + +"Do you owe money to Mr. Arnault?" + +"Yes," with a groan. + +"Would it hurt you should he demand it to-morrow?" + +"Oh, Madge, this is dreadful!" and she saw that he was trembling. + +"Now, Henry, take heart, and be your cool, brave self." + +"Give me a little time, Madge. I've been carrying a heavy load, but +thought the worst was over. I believe things have touched bottom, and +I was beginning to see my way to safety in a short time. Even now the +tide is turning, and I can realize on some things in a few days. But +if this money is demanded to-morrow--Saturday, too, when nearly all +my friends are out of town--it is very doubtful whether I could raise +it." + +"Would it cause your failure?" + +"Yes, yes, indeed. A man may be worth a million but if he can't get +hold of ready money at the moment it is needed, everything may be +swept away. Oh, Madge, this is cruel I With just a little more time I +could be safe and rich." + +"Why have you not told us this?" + +"Because I wouldn't touch your money and Mary's under any +circumstances, and I know that you both would have given me no peace, +through trying to persuade me to borrow from you." + +"That's just like you, Henry. How much do you owe Mr. Arnault?" + +"Madge, I'm not going to borrow your money." + +"Of course not, Henry. Please tell me." + +"You will take no action without my consent?" + +"Certainly not." + +"Well, the paltry sum of thirty thousand, if demanded to-morrow, may +involve the loss of my fortune. Of course if I could not pay this at +once all the rest would be down on me. How in the world did you gain +any knowledge of this affair?" + +"Thank God, and take courage. I believe good is going to come out of +this evil, and I believe you will think so too when you have heard my +story;" and she told him everything. + +"And Graydon has, to all intents and purposes, engaged himself to +this--speculator," said Mr. Muir, grinding his teeth. "He's no brother +of mine if he does not break with her; and, as it is, I feel as if I +could never trust him with my affairs again." + +Henry Muir was a man not easily moved, but now his concentrated +passion was terrible to witness. His hands worked convulsively; his +respiration was quick and irregular. His business and his commercial +standing were his idols, and to think that a selfish, scheming girl +had caused the jeopardy of both to further her own petty ambition, +and that his brother should be one of her tools, enraged him beyond +measure. + +"Now," he hissed, "I understand why that plausible scamp offered to +lend me money. He and his confederate Wildmere have been watching +and biding their time. I had to be ruined in order to bring that +speculator's daughter to a decision, and Graydon has been doing his +level best to further these schemes." + +"Henry, Henry, do be calm. You are not ruined, and shall not be." + +"It's no use, Madge; I'm foully caught in their devilish toils." + +Madge grasped his arm with a force that compelled his attention. + +"Henry Muir," she said, in low and almost stern tones, "you shall +listen to me. Ignorant girl as I am, I know better, and I demand that +you meet this emergency, not in impotent anger, but with your whole +manhood. I demand it for the sake of my sister and your children, for +your own sake and Graydon's. You explained to me before we left +town that I had sixty thousand dollars in United States bonds, first +mortgage, and other good securities. You also explained that by the +provisions of my father's will I had control of this money after I was +eighteen. You have been so scrupulous that you have not even thought +of asking for the use of it, but I demand of you, as an honest man, +what right have you to prevent me from doing what I please with it?" + +"You cannot make me take it, Madge." + +"I can and will. I shall go to the city with you by the earliest +train, and when Arnault asks for his money you shall quietly give it +to him, and no one but ourselves shall know anything about the matter. +If you pay this money promptly, will it not help your credit at once?" + +"Certainly, Madge, but--" + +"Oh, Henry," she cried, "why will you cloud all our lives by scruples +that are now not only absurd but almost criminal? Think of the loss +you will inflict on Graydon, your children, and your wife, by such +senseless refusal. Have you not said that a little time will insure +safety and fortune? And there is my money lying idle, when with +to-morrow's sun it could buy me more happiness than could millions at +another time. I trust to your business judgment fully. Suppose the +money was lost--suppose my whole fortune was lost--do you think I +would care a jot compared with being denied at this critical moment? I +should hate the money you saved for me in this way, and I should never +forgive you for saving it." She stood aloof and faced him proudly, as +she continued: "Do you imagine I fear poverty? Believe me, Henry Muir, +I have brain and muscle to take care of myself and others too if +need be." Then, in swift alternation of mood, she clasped her hands +caressingly upon his arm, and added: "But I have a woman's heart, and +there are troubles worse than poverty. To see you lose the results of +your lifework, and to see Graydon's prospects blighted, would be more +than I could bear. You can give me all the security you wish, if +that will satisfy you better; but if you deny me now, I shall lose +confidence in you, and feel that you have failed me in the most +desperate emergency of my life." + +"The most desperate emergency of _your_ life, Madge?" + +"Yes; of _my_ life," she replied, her voice choking with sobs, for the +strain was growing too great for her nerve-force to resist. "You give +way to senseless anger; you inveigh against Graydon, when he has +only acted honorably, and has been deceived; you refuse to do the one +simple, rational thing that will avert this trouble and bring safety +to us all." + +"Why, Madge, if I fail, this speculator will drop Graydon at once. +Scott! this fact alone would be large compensation." + +"If you were cool--if you were yourself--you could save Graydon in +every way. I want to see him go on in life, prosperous and happy, not +thwarted and disheartened almost at its beginning. Oh, why won't you? +Why _won't_ you?" and she wrung her hands in distress. + +"Is Graydon so very much to you, Madge?" he asked, in a wondering +tone. + +"Hush!" she said, imperiously; "there are things which no man or woman +shall know or appear to know unless I reveal them. It's enough that +I am trying to save you all, and my own peace of mind. Henry Muir, I +will not be denied. There are moments when a woman feels and _knows_ +what is right, while a man, with his narrow, cast-iron rules, would +ruin everything. You _must_ carry out my wish, and Graydon must know +_nothing_ about it. Oh, God! that I were a man!" + +"Thank God, you are a woman! Child as you are, compared with my years +and experience, you shall have your own way. I will this once put my +lifelong principle under my feet, and if the future house of Muir & +Brother is saved, you shall save it." + +"Oh, thank you, thank you, Henry! Now see how happy I am. I have but +one stipulation--the 'brother' must not know it. We shall go on the +first train, shall we not?" + +"Yes. You can say you want to do some shopping. Come, we have been +away from Mary too long already. Oh, Madge, Madge, would that there +were more girls like you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +CHECKMATE + + +"Well," exclaimed Mrs. Muir, when they appeared at last; "I thought +you and Madge had eloped!" + +"We are going to to-morrow by first train," said the young girl. +"Henry says he must return to town for the day, and I shall accompany +him to do some shopping." + +"Now, Henry, this is too bad, and I've scarcely seen you this +evening." + +"I'm truly sorry, Mary; I did look forward to a good quiet day with +you, but there is an important matter which I neglected to see to +to-day, and which must be attended to. Graydon will soon be ready to +relieve me a great deal." + +"Well, I shall be glad when he can do something besides waiting on Mr. +Arnault's convenience for the privilege of seeing Miss Wildmere. It +will be a terribly long, fatiguing day for you, Madge--for you both, +indeed!" + +"Oh, I shan't mind it in the least! It won't be half so fatiguing as +one of my long rides. You spoke of wanting some things, and I can shop +for you, too." + +Mrs. Muir had long since given up the idea of objecting seriously to +anything for which business was the alleged reason. The chance to do +some shopping by proxy soon occupied her mind, and when Miss Wildmere +took occasion to pass and repass, the only apparent topic of interest +in the Muir group was the prospect of purchasing some expensive goods. + +Madge retired early to prepare for her journey. Mrs. Muir soon +followed, and her husband remarked that he would merely remain down +long enough to write a note to Graydon. This missive was brief, but +was charged with dynamite. + +On the morrow, long before Miss Wildmere waked from the golden dreams +which that day should realize, Madge and Mr. Muir were on their way +to the city. The young girl had said: "Don't let us do anything by +halves. I have read that in the crisis of a battle timid measures +are often fatal. Let me give you everything that you can use as +collateral. How much is there?" + +"Sixty thousand available at once. As I have said, you shall have your +own way." + +"Well, for once a woman is wiser than Solomon." + +They went immediately to the trust company which had her property in +keeping, and, having complied with the forms, obtained the entire sum, +then parted on Broadway, to rendezvous at the train. Mr. Muir gave the +radiant girl a look which she valued more than the money. He then went +to his bank. The official whom he accosted had been rather cold and +shy of late, but when he received the securities he grew perceptibly +urbane. + +On reaching his office Mr. Muir found that a transaction which +had been greatly delayed was now consummated, and that another ten +thousand in cash was available. This also was sent to the bank at +once. Several business men were present when a confidential clerk from +Arnault appeared, and asked for a private interview. + +"Well, really you must excuse me to-day. I'm very busy, and expect to +leave town in an hour or two. Please state what you have to say in few +words, or else I will see you next week." + +"Mr. Arnault," began the clerk, in a metallic tone, "says that he is +compelled to call in the loan he recently made you." + +"Oh, certainly, certainly! Have you the securities I gave him as +collateral?" + +"No, sir, but I can get them," said the man. + +"Do so, and I will give you my check. Thank Mr. Arnault for the +accommodation, and say I have thirty or forty thousand to spare should +he be hard pressed. Be quick." + +The Wall Street men present looked at one another significantly, and +one of them remarked, "You are forehanded for these times, Muir." + +"If this absurd lack of confidence would only pass," was the +careless reply, "I should have more money on hand than I could invest +profitably;" and then he appeared absorbed in other matters. + +Arnault received the message from his clerk with something like +dismay, and turning on Mr. Wildmere, who was present, he said, almost +savagely, "You have been misleading me." + +"Indeed I have not, sir--not intentionally. I can't understand it." + +"Well, I can. Muir is an old fox in business. I was a fool to think +that a paltry thirty thousand would trouble him. Well, there is +nothing to do but to close the matter up." + +"What, in regard to my daughter?" said Mr. Wildmere, inadvertently. + +"Oh, no; confound it! What has she got to do with this affair?" +replied Arnault, with an irritation that he could not disguise. "I +certainly have made Miss Wildmere a fair offer; some would regard it +as more. I shall go up to-night and receive her answer, as I promised. +I am one who never fails in a promise to man or woman, and I am ready +to make good all that I have authorized you to say to your daughter, +and more." + +"Let me add," said Mr. Wildmere, with some assumption of dignity, +"that as far as I have influence it is absolutely yours. I have ever +prided myself on my fidelity to those who trust me." + +"Thanks," replied Arnault, with a little menacing coldness in his +tone. "I hope I shall have proof of the fact this evening. If so, all +shall go swimmingly." + +Poor Wildmere bowed himself out with trepidation at heart, and Arnault +followed him with a dark look, muttering, "Let them both beware." + +Mr. Muir met Madge at the depot, and was quietly jubilant. Both +laughed heartily over the experiences of the day. + +"You are a blessed little woman, Madge. I was never so off my balance +before in my life as I was last night. When confused and upset, it is +one of my impulses to stick to some principle of right, like a mule. +Bless you, I think I have secured you twice over! I have given you a +lien on property worth two hundred thousand in ordinary times." + +"You have taught me to lean on you once more, Henry, and that is worth +more than all your other liens." + +Mr. Arnault now appeared, and came affably forward, saying, "I am glad +my enforced action did not incommode you to-day." + +"Thank you. I trust you are not in trouble, Mr. Arnault;" and there +was a world of quiet satire in the remark. + +"Oh, no--only a temporary need, I assure you," was the hasty reply. + +"So I supposed;" and as Arnault turned away, the speaker gave Madge a +humorous glance, which made her look of demure innocence difficult to +maintain. + + * * * * * + +Graydon had enjoyed fair success in fishing, and yet had not been +supremely happy. He found, with the venerated Izaak Walton, that the +"gentle art" was conducive to contemplation; but there were certain +phases in his situation that were not agreeable to contemplate. As he +followed the trout-stream amid the solitudes of nature, the artificial +and conventional in life grew less attractive. In spite of his efforts +to the contrary, Miss Wildmere seemed to represent just these phases. +He recalled critically and dispassionately all the details of their +past acquaintance, and found, with something like dismay, that she had +exhibited only the traits of a society belle--that he could recall +no new ideas or inspiring thoughts received from her. The apparent +self-sacrifice for her father, which he had so unequivocally +condemned, was, after all, about the best thing he knew of her. The +glamour of her beauty had been upon his eyes, and he had credited her +with corresponding graces of heart and mind. What evidence had he of +their existence? + +The more he thought of it, the more his pride, also, rebelled at the +ignominious position in the background that he was compelled to take +while the Wall Street diplomacy was prolonged. At last, in anger and +disgust, he resolved that, if he found Arnault in his old position by +Stella's side, he would withdraw at once and forever. + +After all, although he was as yet unconscious of it, the secret of his +clarified vision was the influence of Madge upon his mind. She seemed +in harmony with every beautiful aspect of nature--true and satisfying, +while ever changing. Madge was right: the mountains, streams, rocks, +and trees became her allies, suggesting her and not Miss Wildmere. +He would have returned, for the pleasure of her society, but for his +purpose not to appear again until Arnault should have time to arrive +from the city and resume his attentions. If they were received as in +the past, he would write to Miss Wildmere his withdrawal of further +claims upon her thoughts. + +It was with something like bitter cynicism that he saw his illusions +in regard to Miss Wildmere fade, and when he drove up to the hotel +after nightfall on Saturday, he was not sure that he cared much what +her answer might be, so apathetic had he become. The force of his old +regard was not wholly spent; but in his thoughts of her, much that was +repugnant to his feelings and ideals had presented itself to his mind, +and he felt that the giving up of his dream of lifelong companionship +with her would almost bring a sense of relief. Without pausing to +analyze the reason of his eagerness to see Madge and hear of her +welfare, he ran up at once to Mrs. Muir's room. + +"Madge went to New York!" he echoed, in surprise at Mrs. Muir's +information. + +"Yes; why not? She went to do some shopping for herself and me. Miss +Wildmere's here, and, for a wonder, Mr. Arnault is not. What more +could you ask?" + +"Hang Mr. Arnault--" He had come near mentioning both in his +irritation. + +"When will Madge and Henry arrive?" + +"Soon now--on the nine-o'clock train. Oh, by the way, Henry left a +note for you!" + +"Very well. I'll go to my room, dress, and meet them." + +"He is asking after Madge rather often, it seems to me. She doesn't +compare so very unfavorably with the speculator, after all, even in +his eyes." + +On reaching his room he threw himself wearily into a chair, and +carelessly tore open his brother's note. Instantly he bounded to his +feet, approached the light more closely, and saw in his brother's +unmistakable hand the following significant words: + + +"Read this letter carefully and thoughtfully; then destroy it. Show +your knowledge of its contents by neither word nor sign. Be on your +guard, and permit no one to suspect financial anxieties. Arnault and +Wildmere have struck me a heavy blow. The former has lent me money. +I must raise a large sum in town, but think I can do it, even in the +brief time permitted. If I cannot we lose everything. If I don't have +to suspend to-morrow Miss Wildmere will accept you in the evening. She +has been waiting till those two precious confederates, her father and +Arnault, did their worst, so that she could go over to the winning +side. You are of course your own master, but permit me, as your +brother, affectionately and solemnly to warn you. Stella Wildmere +will never bring you a day's happiness or peace. She loves herself +infinitely more than you, her father, or any one else. Be true to me, +and you shall share my fortunes. If you follow some insane notion of +being true to her, you will soon find you have been false to yourself. +Again I warn you. Speak to no one of all this, and give no sign of +your knowledge. HENRY." + + +Graydon read this twice, then crushed the paper in his hand as he +muttered, "Fool, dupe, idiot! Now at last I understand her game and +allusions. She was made to fear that Henry was about to fail, and +she would not accept me until satisfied on this point. Great God! my +infatuation for her has been inciting Arnault in these critical times +to break my brother down, and her father has been aiding and abetting, +in order that I might be removed out of the way. She was so false +herself that she suspected her own father, also Arnault, of deceiving +her, and so kept putting me off, that she might learn the truth of +their predictions or the result of their efforts. How clear it all +becomes, now that I have the key! Well, I should be worse than a +heathen if I did not thank God for such an escape." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +MADGE IS MATTER-OF-FACT + + +"Well, I have come back to civilization and all its miseries," thought +Graydon. "I was among scenes that know not Wildmeres or Arnaults. 'Oh, +my prophetic soul!' I felt that there was something wrong, in spite of +her superb acting. Sweet Madge, dear sister Madge, as you ever will be +to me, the more I think of it the more clearly I see that you are the +one who first began to shatter my delusion. Since that morning when +I brought you home from your long vigil, and you revealed to me your +true, brave heart Stella Wildmere has never seemed the same, and the +revolt of my nature has been growing ever since." + +His wish now was to avoid seeing every one until he had met his +brother. While the thought of his escape was uppermost in his mind, +he was consumed with anxiety to learn the result of Henry's efforts in +town. His commercial instincts were also very strong, and the thought +of what might happen fairly made him tremble. + +He slipped down a back stairway and out into the darkness, then bent +his rapid steps to the depot, at which he arrived half an hour before +the train was due. Remembering that excited pacing up and down there +would not be very intelligent obedience to his brother's injunctions, +he started down a country road in the direction from which the train +would come, and paced to and fro in his strong excitement. At last the +train arrived, and his first glimpse of Henry's face and Madge's +was reassuring. The moment the former saw him he called out, "Hello, +Graydon! Have you a trout supper for us?" + +"Yes," was the hearty response; and he hastened forward and shook +hands cordially, saying, in an aside, "Oh, Madge! I am so glad to see +you again!" + +"You are! Tell that to the marines. The length of your stay proves it +to be a fish story." + +"Here, Madge, we'll put you in the stage. I'll rest myself by walking +to the house with Graydon." + +"Henry, you are all right?" said Graydon, eagerly, as soon as they +were out of earshot. + +"Yes," was the quiet reply; "I raised the money, paid Arnault in full, +and have a good surplus in the bank." + +"Thank Heaven! How did you raise it? How has all this knowledge +reached--" + +"Patience, Graydon, patience. As soon as you are in the firm I shall +have no secrets from you. Until you are, you must let me manage in my +old way." + +"I have indeed little claim on your confidence. I have been deceived, +and have acted like a fool. But it's all over now. Henry, you may +not believe me, but my nonsense would have ended to-night if I hadn't +received your letter, and all this had not occurred. I had been +disgusted with this Arnault business for some time, and had let Miss +Wildmere know my views. As I thought it over while away it all grew +so detestable to me that I resolved, if Arnault appeared again and +renewed his attentions, I would never renew mine. He's here again, as +you may have seen." + +"Oh, yes; and I have talked with him. Please show no resentment. I +obtained my information in a way unknown to him, and there is nothing +unusual in our transaction on its face. How was it that you began to +grow critical toward Miss Wildmere?" + +"Well, I don't mind telling you. There was not a ring of truth or +a stamp of nobility about her words and manner, and I have been +associating with a girl who is truth itself and twice as clever and +accomplished. Miss Wildmere was growing commonplace in contrast. I +learned to love Madge as a sister before she went away, and now no man +ever admired and loved a sister more." + +Mr. Muir smiled broadly to himself in the darkness, and said: "Truly, +Graydon, you are giving satisfactory proofs of returning sanity. +We may as well conclude with the old saying, 'All's well that ends +well.'" + +"I think I had better go to town Monday and resume business. It's time +I did something to retrieve myself." + +"No, Graydon, not yet. I have everything in hand now, and believe the +tide has turned. I realized ten thousand to-day on a transaction that +I will tell you about. I am not doing much business now, only watching +things and waiting. It was the suddenness of Arnault's demand that +worried me--on Saturday, too, you know. He had about the same as said +that I might have the money as long as I wanted it, and I should not +have needed it much longer. In ordinary times I wouldn't have given it +a thought. + +"You can help me more up here. It's growing warm, and Jack isn't +improving as I would like. After what has occurred I don't wish Mary +and Madge to meet these Wildmeres any longer, so I propose that you +and Madge go to the Kaaterskill Hotel on Monday and explore. If you +like the place, then you can take Mary and the children there. I've +had a little scare in town, and propose to realize on some more +property and make myself perfectly safe. By going to a higher-priced +hotel we increase our credit also, and add to the impression I made +to-day, that we are in no danger." + +As the stage drew near the piazza Graydon hastened forward to +help Madge out. In doing so he saw Miss Wildmere greeting Arnault +cordially. As he passed up the steps with Madge, he caught Stella's +swift, appealing look at him. He only bowed politely and passed on. It +was Madge's triumphal entry now by the same door at which she had seen +him enter with Miss Wildmere but a few weeks before. How complete her +triumph was, even Madge did not yet know. While she went to her room +he sought the office and ordered some of the trout he had caught to +be prepared for supper. As he stood there Miss Wildmere left Arnault's +side, and said, "Mr. Muir, are you not going to shake hands with me?" + +"Why, certainly, Miss Wildmere;" but there was little more than +politeness in his tone and manner. As there were many coming and +going, she drew away with a reproachful glance. "So long as Arnault is +with me, he will not be cordial," was her thought. + +She looked around for her father, but he, nervous and apprehensive, +had disappeared. He felt that if he should be compelled to disclose +the failure of his predictions, she would pass into one of her sullen, +unmanageable moods. He feared that things were beyond his control, +and decided to let the young men manage for themselves. He was not, +however, exceedingly solicitous. He hoped that Arnault, aided by the +influence of his munificent offer, would have the skill to push his +suit to a prompt conclusion; but he believed that, if this suitor +should be dismissed, Graydon would not fail his daughter, and that all +might yet end well for her, and perhaps for himself. + +The supper-room was again occupied by the late comers, many of whom +were accompanied by their families and friends. Mr. Muir's quiet eyes +fairly beamed over the group gathered at his table, and he felt that +but few moments of his life compared with those now passing. Twenty +four hours before he had seen himself drifting helplessly on a +lee shore, but a little hand had taken the helm when he had been +paralyzed, and now he saw clear sea-room stretching away indefinitely, +with a turning tide and favoring gales. The terrible evils threatening +him and his had been averted. The results of his lifework would not be +swept away, his idolized commercial standing could now be maintained, +his wife's brow remain unclouded by care, his children be amply +provided for, Graydon saved from a worse fate than financial disaster, +and, last but not least, the young fellow would be cured by Madge of +all future tendencies toward the Wildmere type. He never could think +of this hope without smiling to himself. He had at last obtained the +explanation of Madge's effort and success. By the superb result +he measured the strength of the love which had led to it. "Great +Scott!"--his favorite expletive--he had thought; "what a compass there +is in her nature! I had long suspected her secret, but when I touched +upon it last night she made my blood tingle by her magnificent +resentment. I would sooner have trifled with an enraged empress. Look +at her now, smiling, serene, and, although not in the least artful, +keeping all her secrets with consummate art. Who would imagine that +she was capable of such a volcanic outburst? If Graydon does not lay +siege to her now, the name of the future firm should be Henry Muir and +idiot." + +That sagacious young man did not appear at all blighted by the wreck +of the hope he had cherished. He turned no wistful glances toward the +girl who had so long satisfied his eyes, and, as he had believed, +his heart. He felt much the same as if he had been imposed upon by a +cunning disguise. Unknown to her, he had caught a glimpse of what +the mask concealed, and his soul was shuddering at the deformities to +which he had so nearly allied himself. Her very beauty, with its false +promise, had become hateful to him. + +"She is indeed a speculator," he thought, "and I'm a little curious +to see how she will continue her game." It afforded him vindictive +amusement that she often, yet furtively, turned her eyes toward him as +if he were still a factor in it. + +She never looked once in Graydon's direction but that Arnault was +aware of the act. There was no longer any menace in his deportment +toward her--he was as devoted as the place and time would permit--but +in his eyes dwelt a vigilance and a resolution which should have given +her warning. + +After supper Mr. and Mrs. Muir found a comfortable nook on the piazza, +and the banker smoked his cigar with ineffable content. + +"Do you feel too tired for a waltz, Madge?" Graydon asked. + +"The idea! when I've rested in the cars half a day." + +"Oh, Madge!" he whispered; "dear, sweet little friend--you know I mean +sister, only I dare not say it--I'm so glad to be with you again! What +makes you look so radiant to-night? You look as though you had a world +of happy thoughts behind those sparkling eyes." + +"Nonsense, Graydon! You are always imagining things. I have youth, +good health, have had my supper--a trout supper, too--and I like to +dance, just as a bird enjoys flying." + +"You seem a bird-of-paradise. Happy the man who coaxes you into his +cage! Brother or not, when your beaux become too attentive they will +find me a perfect dragon of a critic." + +"When I meet my ideal, you shall have nothing to say." + +"I suppose not. I am at a loss to know where you will find him." + +"I shan't find him; he must find me." + +"He will be an idiot if he doesn't. Pardon me if I don't dance any +more to-night. I have had a long tramp over mountain paths, followed +by a long, rough ride in a farmer's wagon, and now have a very +important act to perform before I sleep. As a proof of my fraternal--I +mean friendly--confidence, I will tell you what it is, if you wish." + +"I don't propose to fail in any friendly obligations, Graydon," +she replied, laughing, as they strolled out into the summer night, +followed by Miss Wildmere's half-desperate eyes. + +As they walked down a path, Graydon said, "Take my arm; the pavement +is a little rough. Dear Madge, you look divine to night. Every time +I see you my wonder increases at what you accomplished out on the +Pacific coast. That great, boundless, sparkling ocean has given you +something of its own nature." + +"Graydon, you must be more sensible. When a fellow takes your arm you +don't squeeze it against your side and say, 'Dear Tom,' 'Sweet Dick,' +or 'Divine Harry,' no matter how good friends they may be. Friends +don't indulge in sentimental, far-fetched compliments." + +"I certainly never did with any friends of mine. On this very walk you +told me that you were not my sister, and added, 'There is no use in +trying to ignore nature.' See how true this last assertion is proving, +now that I am again under your influence, and so enjoy your society +that I cannot ignore nature. During all those years when you were +growing from childhood to womanhood I treated you as a sister, thought +of you as such. It was nature, or rather the accord of two natures, +that formed and cemented the tie, and not an accident of birth. +Even when you were an invalid, and I was stupid enough to call you +'lackadaisical,' your presence always gave me pleasure. Often when I +had been out all the evening I would say, with vexation, 'I wish I had +stayed at home with the little ghost.' How you used to order me about +and tyrannize over me from your sofa when you were half child and half +woman! I can say honestly, Madge, it was never a bore to me, for you +had an odd, piquant way of saying and doing things that always amused +me; your very weakness was an appeal to my strength, and a claim upon +it. You always appeared to have a sister's affection for me, and your +words and manner proved that I brought some degree of brightness into +your shadowed life. In learning to love you as a sister in all those +years, wherein did I ignore nature? During my absence my feelings did +not change in the least, as I proved by my attempts at correspondence, +by my greeting when we met. Then you perplexed and worried me more +than you would believe, and I imagined all sorts of ridiculous things +about you; but on that drive, after your vigil with that poor, dying +girl, I felt that I understood you fully at last. Indeed, ever since +your rescue of the little Wilder child from drowning my old feelings +have been coming back with tenfold force. I can't help thinking of +you, of being proud of you. I give you my confidence to-night just +as naturally and unhesitatingly as if we had been rocked in the +same cradle. I am not wearying you with this long explanation and +preamble?" + +"No, Graydon," she replied, in a low tone. + +"I am very glad. I don't think well of myself to-night at all, and I +have a very humiliating confession to make--one that I could make only +to such a sister as you are, or rather would have been, were there +a natural tie between us. I would not tell any Tom, Dick, and Harry +friends in the world what I shall now make known to you. If I didn't +trust you so, I wouldn't speak of it, for what I shall say involves +Henry as well as myself. Madge, I've been duped, I've been made both +a fool and a tool, and the consequences might have been grave indeed. +Henry, who has so much quiet sagacity, has in some way obtained +information that proved of immense importance to him, and absolutely +vital to me. I shudder when I think of what might have happened, and +I am overwhelmed with gratitude when I think of my escape. I told +you that Miss Wildmere was humoring that fellow Arnault to save her +father, and consequently her mother and the child. This impression, +which was given me so skilfully, and at last confirmed by plain words, +was utterly false. Henry has been in financial danger; Wildmere knew +it, and he also knew that Arnault had lent Henry money, which to-day +was called in with the hope of breaking him down. They would have +succeeded, too, had he not had resources of which they knew nothing. +You, of course, can't realize how essential a little ready money +sometimes is in a period of financial depression; but Henry left a +note which gave me an awful shock, while, at the same time, it made +clear Miss Wildmere's scheme. She had simply put me off, that she +might hear from Wall Street. If Henry had failed she would have +decided for Arnault, and I believe my attentions led to his tricky +transaction--that he loaned the money and called it in when he +believed that Henry could not meet his demand. I must be put out +of his way, for he reasoned justly that the girl would drop me if +impoverished. Thus indirectly I might have caused Henry's failure--a +blow from which I should never have recovered. Henry is safe now, he +assures me; and, oh, Madge, thank God, I have found her out before +it was too late! I had fully resolved while oft trouting that I would +break with her finally if I found Arnault at her side again. Now he +may marry her, for all I care, and I wish him no worse punishment. +I shall go to my room now and write to her that everything is over +between us. The fact is, Madge, you spoiled Miss Wildmere for me on +that morning drive the other day. After leaving your society and going +into hers I felt the difference keenly, and while I should then have +fulfilled the obligations which I had so stupidly incurred, I had +little heart in the affair. Her acting was consummate, but a true +woman's nature had been revealed to me, and the glamour was gone from +the false one. Now you see what absolute confidence I repose in you, +and how heavily this strange story bears against myself. Could I have +given it to any one for whom I had not a brother's love, and in whom I +did not hope to find a sister's gentle charity? I show you how unspent +is the force of all those years when we had scarcely a thought which +we could not tell each other. I have little claim, though, to be a +protecting brother, when I have been making such an egregious fool of +myself. You have grown wiser and stronger than I. You won't think very +harshly of me, will you, Madge?" + +"No, Graydon." + +"And you won't condemn my fraternal affection as contrary to nature?" + +She was sorely at a loss. She had listened with quickened breath, a +fluttering pulse, and in a growing tumult of hope and fear, to this +undisguised revelation of his attitude toward her. She almost thought +that she detected between the lines, as it were, the beginning of a +different regard. He believed that he had been frankness itself, +and his words proved that he looked upon his fraternal affection and +confidence as the natural, the almost inevitable, sequence of the +past. She could not meet him on the fraternal ground that he was +taking again, nor did she wish him to occupy it in his own mind. To +maintain the attitude which she had adopted would require as much +delicacy as firmness of action, or he would begin to query why she +could not go back to their old relations as readily as he could. She +had listened to the twice-told tale of the events of the past few +days with almost breathless interest, because his words revealed +the workings of his own mind, and she had not the least intention +of permitting him to settle down into the tranquil affection of a +brother. + +While she hesitated, he asked, gently, "Don't you feel a little of +your old sisterly love for me?" + +"No, Graydon, I do not," she replied, boldly. "I suppose you will +think me awfully matter-of-fact. I love Mary as my sister, I have the +strongest esteem and affection for Henry as my brother-in-law, and I +like you for just what you are to me, neither more nor less. The truth +is, Graydon, when I woke up from my old limp, shadowy life I had to +look at everything just as it was, and I have formed the habit of so +doing. I think it is the best way. You did not see Miss Wildmere as +she was, but as you imagined her to be, and you blame yourself too +severely because you acted as you naturally would toward a girl for +whom you had so high a regard. When we stick to the actual, we escape +mistakes and embarrassment. Every one knows that we are not brother +and sister; every one would admit our right to be very good friends. +I have listened to you with the deep and honest sympathy that is +perfectly natural to our relations. I think the better of you for +what you have told me, but I'm too dreadfully matter-of-fact," she +concluded beginning to laugh, "to do anything more." + +He sighed deeply. + +"Now, there is no occasion for that sigh, Graydon. Recall that morning +drive to which you have alluded. What franker, truer friendship could +you ask than I gave evidence of then? Come now, be sensible. You +live too much in the present moment, and yield to your impulses. Miss +Wildmere was a delusion and a snare, but there are plenty of true +women in the world. Some day you will meet the right one. She won't +object to your friends, but she probably would to sisters who are not +sisters." + +Graydon laughed a little bitterly as he said, "So you imagine that +after my recent experience I shall soon be making love to another +girl?" + +"Why not? Because Miss Wildmere is a fraud do you intend to spite +yourself by letting some fair, true girl pass by unheeded? That might +be to permit the fraud to injure you almost as much as if she had +married you." + +He burst out laughing, as he exclaimed, "Well, your head is level." + +"Certainly it is. My head is all right, even though I have not much +heart, as you believe. I told you I could be a good fellow, and I +don't propose to indulge you in sentiment about what is past and +gone--natural and true as it was at the time--or in cynicism for the +future. I shall dance at your wedding, and you won't be gray, either. +Come; the music has ceased, and it must be almost Sunday morning." + +"Very well. On the day when you rightly boxed my ears, and I asked you +to make your own terms of peace, I resolved to submit to everything +and anything." + +"You don't 'stay put,' is the trouble. Did I look and act so very +cross that morning?" + +"You looked magnificent, and you spoke with such just eloquent +indignation that you made my blood tingle. No, my brave, true +friend--I may say that, mayn't I?--it was not a little thing for +you to go away alone to fight so heroic a battle and achieve such a +victory; and, Madge, I honor you with the best homage of my heart. You +have taught me how to meet trouble when it comes." + +As they went up the steps, Arnault, with a pale, stern face, and +looking neither to the right nor to the left, passed them and strode +away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE END OF DIPLOMACY + + +Mr. Arnault's manner as he passed struck both Graydon and Madge as +indicating strong feeling and stern purpose. In order to account for +his action, it is necessary to go back in our history for a short +period. While Madge was receiving such rich compensation for having +become simply what she was, Miss Wildmere had been gathering the +rewards of diplomacy. As we have seen, she had reached the final +conclusion that if Mr. Muir did not fail that day she would accept +Graydon at once; and, during its earlier hours, she had been +complacency itself, feeling that everything was now in her own hands. +Mr. Muir's appearance and manner the previous evening had nearly +convinced her that he was in no financial difficulties whatever--that +her father and Mr. Arnault were either mistaken or else were deceiving +her. "If the latter is the case," she had thought, "they have so +bungled as to enable me to test the truth of their words within +twenty-four hours. + +"I am virtually certain," she said, with an exultant smile, "that I +shall be engaged to Graydon Muir before I sleep to-night." + +In the afternoon it began to trouble her that Graydon had not +appeared. As the hours passed she grew anxious, and with the shadow of +night there fell a chill on her heart and hope. This passed into alarm +when at last Graydon arrived with his brother and Madge, and greeted +her with the cold recognition that has been described. She had met Mr. +Arnault cordially at first, because there were still possibilities in +his favor; but when her father promptly disappeared, with the evident +purpose to avoid questions, and Mr. Muir and his family at supper gave +evidence of superb spirits instead of trouble, she saw that she had +been duped, or, in any case, misled. Her anger and worry increased +momentarily, especially since Graydon, beyond a little furtive +observation, completely ignored her. She naturally ascribed his course +to resentment at her first greeting of Arnault, his continued presence +at her side, and the almost deferential manner with which he was +treated by her father, who had joined his family at supper, when no +queries could be made. + +"I'll prove to Graydon by my manner that I am for him," was her +thought; but he either did not or would not see her increasing +coldness toward Arnault. + +Her purpose and tactics were all observed and thoroughly understood by +the latter, however, but he gave few obvious signs of the fact. In his +words, tones, compliments he proved that he was making good all that +he had promised; but the changing expression in his eyes grew so +ominous that Mr. Wildmere saw his suppressed anger with alarm. + +Miss Wildmere felt sure that before the evening was over she could +convey to Graydon her decision, and chafed every moment over the +leisurely supper that Mr. Arnault persisted in making, especially as +she saw that it was not his appetite that detained him. The Muir group +had passed out, and to leave him and her father would not only be an +act of rudeness, but also would appear like open pursuit of Graydon. +When at last she reached the parlor, to decline Arnault's invitation +to dance would be scarcely less than an insult; yet, with intensifying +anger and fear, she saw that circumstances were compelling her to +appear as if she had disregarded Graydon's warnings and expectations. +So far from being dismissed, Arnault was the one whom she had first +greeted and to whom she was now giving the evening. + +While she was dancing with Arnault, Graydon, with Madge, appeared +upon the floor. She was almost reckless in her efforts to secure his +attention. In this endeavor she did not fail, but she failed signally +in winning any recognition, and the ill-concealed importunity of her +eyes hastened Graydon's departure with Madge, and gave time for the +long interview described in the previous chapter. She grew cold with +dread. It was the impulse of her self-pleasing nature to want that +most which seemed the most denied, and she reasoned, "He is angry +because Arnault is at my side as usual, in spite of all he said. He +is determined to bring me to a decision, and won't approach me at +Arnault's side. Yet I dare not openly shake Arnault off, and he's so +attentive that I must do it openly if at all. Graydon's manner was +so very strange and cold that I feel that I should do something to +conciliate him at once; and yet how can I when Arnault is bent upon +monopolizing the whole evening? He gives me no chance to leave him +unless I am guilty of the shameful rudeness of telling him to leave +me. Oh, if I could only see Graydon alone, even for a moment!" + +Arnault was indeed a curious study, and yet he was acting +characteristically. He had virtually given up hope of ever winning +Stella Wildmere. He had wooed devotedly, offered wealth, and played +his final card, and in each had failed. When he left the city he +still had hope that his promise of immediate wealth and Mr. Wildmere's +necessity and influence might turn the scale in his favor; and he +believed that having secured her decision she, as a woman of the +world, would grow content and happy in the future that he could +provide for her. But, be his fate what it might, both his pride and +his peculiar sense of honor made it imperative that he should be her +suitor until the time stipulated for his answer should expire. Up to +twelve o'clock that night he would not give her the slightest cause +for resentment or even complaint. Then his obligation to her ceased +utterly, and she knew that it would. + +He had been irritated and despondent ever since Mr. Muir, through +Madge's aid, had so signally checkmated him. But Stella's greeting +had reassured him, and Graydon's manner toward her gave the impression +that she had not been extending encouragement to him. This promising +aspect of affairs speedily began to pass away, however, when he saw +her step to Graydon's side and ask if he was not going to shake hands +with her. He knew how proud the girl was, and by this high standard +measured the strength of the regard which impelled to this advance. +He had since noted every effort that she had made to secure Graydon's +attention, and the truth became perfectly clear. She had utterly lost +faith in his and her father's predictions of financial disaster to +Henry Muir, and would accept Graydon at the earliest opportunity. +He saw that his defeat in Wall Street insured his defeat in the +Catskills, and feared that Graydon had guessed his strategy, and, +therefore, would not approach the girl while he was at her side. There +was no use in his playing lover any longer--he had no desire to do +so--for even he now so clearly recognized the mercenary spirit which +might have brought her to his arms, that such manhood as he had +revolted at it. If she had given him her hand it would have been +secured purely through a financial trick, and even his Wall Street +soul experienced a revulsion of disgust at the thought of a wife thus +obtained. If he could have detected a little sentiment toward him, +some kindly regret that she could not reward his long-continued and +unstinted devotion, he would have parted from her more in sorrow than +in anger; but now he knew that she was wild to escape from him, that +she would instantly break her promise not to accept Muir before the +close of the week, and, to his punctilious business mind, the week did +not end until twelve o'clock Saturday night. + +With a sort of grim vindictiveness he had muttered, "She shall keep +her promise. Neither she nor Muir shall be happy till my time has +expired." + +Later in the evening, Graydon not returning, the thought occurred +to Arnault, "Perhaps he too has recognized the sharp game she has +played--perhaps Henry Muir has said to him, 'She has been putting you +off to see the result of the sudden calling in of Arnault's loan,' +and now young Muir proposes to console himself with that handsome Miss +Alden;" and a gleam of pleasure at the prospect illumined his face +for a moment. Meanwhile he maintained his mask before the world so +admirably that even Miss Wildmere little guessed the depth of his +revolt. He was the last one to reveal his bitter disappointment and +humiliating defeat to the vigilant gossips of the house. Those who saw +his smiling face and gallantries, and heard his breezy, half-cynical +words, little guessed the storm within. He had been taught in the best +school in the world how to say and look one thing and mean another. + +At last an acquaintance approached, and said, "Pardon me, Mr. Arnault, +but I don't propose to permit you to monopolize Miss Wildmere all the +evening;" and then asked for the next dance. + +Stella complied instantly, thinking, "Graydon may return now at any +moment, and if he sees that I am not with Arnault will come to me, as +usual." + +Arnault bowed politely, looked at his watch, and invited another lady +to dance. Stella had been on the floor but a few moments when not +Graydon, but her father came and said to her partner, "Excuse me, sir. +I wish to speak to my daughter." + +Requesting her companion to wait, she followed Mr. Wildmere through an +open window, and when on the piazza he took her hand and put it within +his arm with a firmness that permitted no resistance. Arnault noted +the proceeding with a cynical smile. + +"Stella," said her father, in a low, stern tone, "did you not promise +Mr. Arnault his answer this evening?" + +"Answer my question first," she replied, bitterly. "Did Henry Muir +fail to-day? Of course he did not. You have been deceiving me." + +"I did not deceive you--I was mistaken myself. But I warn you. Graydon +Muir is not at your side. He may not return. Arnault is waiting to +give you wealth and me safety, but he may not wait much longer. You +are taking worse risks than I ever incurred in the Street, and your +loss may be greater than any I have met with." + +"Bah!" she replied, in anger. "I might have been engaged to Graydon +Muir this moment had I not listened to your croakings. I'll manage for +myself now;" and she broke away and joined her partner again. + +After the dance was over she said, "Suppose we walk on the piazza; I'm +warm." She was cold and trembling. Arnault took his stand in the main +hall, where he and she could see the clock should she approach him +again. The last hour was rapidly passing. Miss Wildmere and her +attendant strolled leisurely the whole length of the piazza, but +Graydon was not to be seen. Then she led him through a hall whence +she could glance into the reception and reading rooms. The quest was +futile, and she passed Arnault unheedingly into the parlor, saying +that she was tired, and with her companion sat down where they could +be seen from the doorway and windows. But he thought her singularly +_distraite_ in her effort to maintain conversation. + +"Oh," she thought, "he will come soon--he must come soon! I must--I +_must_ see him before I retire!" + +Arnault meantime maintained his position in the hall, chatting and +laughing with an acquaintance. She could see him, and there was little +in his manner to excite apprehension. He occasionally looked toward +her, but she tried to appear absorbed in conversation with the man +whom she puzzled by her random words. Arnault also saw that her eyes +rested in swift, eager scrutiny on every one who entered from without, +and that the two hands of the clock were pointing closely toward +midnight. + +The parlor was becoming deserted. Those whom the beauty of the night +had lured without were straggling in, the man at her side was growing +curious and interested, and he determined to maintain his position as +long as she would. + +He was detained but little longer. The clock soon chimed midnight. +Arnault gave her a brief, cold look, turned on his heel and went +out, passing Graydon and Madge, who were at that moment ascending the +steps. + +"Oh, pardon me," said Miss Wildmere, fairly trembling with dread; +"I had no idea it was so late!" and she bowed her companion away +instantly. At that moment she saw Graydon entering, and she went to +the parlor door; but he passed her without apparent notice, and +bade Madge a cordial good-night at the foot of the stairs. As he was +turning away Miss Wildmere was at his side. + +"Mr. Muir--Graydon," she said, in an eager tone, "I wish to speak with +you." + +He bowed very politely, and answered, in a voice that she alone could +hear, "You will receive a note from me at your room within half an +hour." Then, bowing again, he walked rapidly away. + +She saw from his grave face and unsympathetic eyes that she had lost +him. + +Half desperate, and with the instinct of self-preservation, she passed +out on the piazza to bid Arnault good-night, as she tried to assure +herself, with pallid lips, but ready then at last to take any terms +from him. Arnault was not to be seen. After a moment her father +stepped to her side and said: + +"Stella, it is late. You had better retire." + +"I wish to say good-night to Mr. Arnault," she faltered. + +"Mr. Arnault has gone." + +"Gone where?" she gasped. + +"I don't know. As the clock struck twelve he came rapidly out and +walked away. He passed by me, but would not answer when I spoke to +him. Come, let me take you to your room." + +With a chill at heart almost like that of death she went with him, and +sat down pale and speechless. + +In a few moments a note was brought to Mr. Wildmere's door, and he +took it to his daughter. She could scarcely open it with her nerveless +fingers, and when she read the brief words-- + + "MISS WILDMERE--You must permit me to renounce all claims upon + you now and forever. Memory and your own thoughts will reveal + to you the obvious reasons for my action, GRAYDON MUIR," + +she found a brief respite from the results of her diplomacy in +unconsciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +BROKEN LIGHTS AND SHADOWS + + +Mr. Wildmere looked almost ten years older when he came down to what +he supposed would be a solitary breakfast; but something like hope +and gladness reappeared on his haggard face when he saw Arnault at his +table as usual. He scarcely knew how he would be received, but Arnault +was as affable and courteous as he would have been months previous, +and no one in the breakfast-room would have imagined that anything +had occurred to disturb the relations between the two gentlemen. He +inquired politely after the ladies, expressed regret that they were +indisposed, and changed the subject in a tone and manner natural to a +mere acquaintance. + +Although his courtesy would appear faultless to observers, it made +Wildmere shiver. + +"Mr. Arnault," Mr. Wildmere said, a little nervously, as they left the +breakfast-room, "may I speak with you?" + +"Certainly," replied Arnault, with cool politeness, and he followed +Mr. Wildmere to a deserted part of the piazza. + +"You made a very kind and liberal offer to my daughter," the latter +began. + +"And received my final answer last night," was the cold, decisive +reply. "It would be impossible to imagine more definite assurance that +Miss Wildmere has no regard for me than was given within the time I +stipulated. I have accepted such assurance as final. Good-morning, +sir," and with a polite bow he turned on his heel and went to his +room. + +Mr. Wildmere afterward learned that he took the first train to New +York. + +"Arnault has a clear field now," Graydon had thought, cynically, while +at breakfast. "I can scarcely wish him anything worse than success;" +and then he looked complacently around the family group to which +he belonged, and felicitated himself that Wildmere traits were +conspicuously absent. His eyes dwelt oftenest on Madge. At this early +meal she always made him think of a flower with the morning dew upon +it. Even her evening costumes were characterized by quiet elegance; +but during the earlier hours of the day she dressed with a simplicity +that was almost severe, and yet with such good taste, such harmony +with herself, that the eye of the observer was always rested and +satisfied. Gentlemen who saw her would rarely fail to speak about her +afterward; few would ever mention her dress. Miss Wildmere affected +daintiness and style; Madge sought in the most quiet and modest way to +emphasize her own individuality. As far as possible she wished to be +valued for what she actually was. The very fact that there was so much +in her life that must be hidden led to a strong distaste for all that +was misleading in non-essentials. + +"I am going to church with you to-day," said Graydon, "and I shall try +to behave." + +"Try to! You cannot sit with me unless you promise to behave." + +"That is the way to talk to men," said Mrs. Muir, who was completely +under her husband's thumb. "They like you all the better for showing +some spirit." + +"I am not trying to make Graydon like me better, but only to insure +that he spends Sunday as should a good American." + +"There is no longer any 'better' about my liking for Madge. It's all +best. I admit, however, that she has so much spirit that she inspires +unaffected awe." + +"A roundabout way of calling me awful." + +"Since you won't ride or drive with me to-day, are you too 'awfully +good,' as Harry says, to take a walk after dinner?" + +"It depends on how you behave in church." + +They spent the afternoon in a very different manner, however, for soon +after breakfast Dr. Sommers told them that Tilly Wendall was at rest, +and that the funeral would be that afternoon. + +With Dr. Sommers's tidings Graydon saw that a shadow had fallen +on Madge's face, and his manner at once became gravely and gently +considerate. There were allusions to the dead girl in the service at +the chapel, where she had been an attendant, and Graydon saw half-shed +tears in Madge's eyes more than once. + +She drove out with him in the lovely summer afternoon to the gray old +farmhouse. The thoughts of each were busy--they had not much to say +to each other--and Madge was grateful, for his quiet consideration +for her mood. It was another proof that the man she loved had not a +shallow, coarse-fibred nature. With all his strength he could be a +gentle, sympathetic presence--thinking of her first, thoughtfully +respecting her unspoken wishes, and not a garrulous egotist. + +He in turn wondered at his own deep content and at the strange and +unexpected turn that his affairs had taken. He not only dwelt on what +had happened, but on what might have happened--what he had hoped for +and sought to attain. He remembered with shame that he had even +wished that Madge had not been at the resort, so that he might be less +embarrassed in his suit to Miss Wildmere. From his first waking moment +in the morning he had been conscious of an immeasurable sense of +relief at his escape. He felt now that he had never deeply loved Miss +Wildmere--that she had never touched the best feelings of his heart, +because not capable of doing so. But he had admired her. He had been a +devotee of society, and she had been to him the beautiful culmination +of that phase of life. He saw he had endowed her with the womanly +qualities which would make her the light of a home as well as of the +ballroom, but he had also seen that the woman which his fancy +had created did not exist. There is a love which is the result of +admiration and illusion, and this will often cling to its imperfect +object to the end. Such was not the case with Graydon, however. His +first motive had been little more than an ambition to seek the most +brilliant of social gems with which to crown a successful life; but he +was too much of a man to marry a belle as such and be content. He must +love her as a woman also, and he had loved what he imagined Stella +Wildmere to be. Now he felt, however, like a lapidary who, while +gloating over a precious stone, is suddenly shown that it is worthless +paste. He may have valued it highly an hour before; now he throws it +away in angry disgust. But this simile only in part explains Graydon's +feelings. He not only recognized Miss Wildmere's mercenary character +and selfish spirit, but also the power she would have had to thwart +his life and alienate him from his brother and Madge. While she was +not the pearl for which he might give all, she could easily have +become the active poison of his life. + +"Oh," he thought, "how blessed is this content with sweet sister +Madge--sister in spite of all she says--compared with brief, feverish +pleasure in an engagement with such a sham of a woman, or the mad +chaos of financial disaster which my suit might have brought about!" +and he unconsciously gave a profound sigh of satisfaction. + +"Oh, Graydon, what a sigh!" Madge exclaimed. "Is your regret so great? +You were indeed thinking very deeply." + +"So were you, Madge--so you have been during the last half hour. My +sigh was one of boundless relief and gratitude. If you will permit +me, I will tell you the thoughts that occasioned it as a proof of my +friendly confidence. May I tell you?" + +"Yes, if you think it right," she said, with slightly heightened +color. + +"It seems to me both right and natural that I should tell you;" and he +put the thoughts which preceded his sigh into words. + +"Yes," she replied, gravely; "I think you have escaped much that you +would regret. Please don't talk about it any more." + +"What were you thinking about, Madge?" he asked, looking into her +flushed and lovely face. + +"I have thought a great deal about Tilly and what passed between us. +That is the house there, and it will always remain in my mind as a +distinct memory." + +Farm wagons and vehicles of all descriptions were gathering at +the dwelling. They were driven by men with faces as rugged and +weather-beaten as the mountains around them. By their sides were +plain-featured matrons, whose rustic beauty had early faded under the +stress of life's toil, and apple-cheeked boys and girls, with faces +composed into the most unnatural and portentous gravity. There was a +sprinkling of young men, with visages so burned by the sun that they +might pass for civilized Indians. They were accompanied by young women +who, in their remote rural homes, had obtained hints from the world of +fashion, and after the manner of American girls had arrayed themselves +with a neatness and taste that was surprising; and the fresh pink and +white of their complexions made a pleasing contrast with their swains. +Although the occasion was one of solemnity, it was not without its +pleasurable excitement. They all knew about poor Tilly, and to-day +was the culmination of the little drama of her illness, the details of +which had been discussed for weeks among the neighbors--not in callous +curiosity, but with that strange blending of gossip and sympathy which +is found in rural districts. The conclusion of all such talk had been +a sigh and the words, "She is prepared to go." + +The people as yet were gathered without the door and in groups under +the trees. Tilly's remains were still in her own little room, Mrs. +Wendall taking her farewell look with hollow, tearless eyes. A few +favored ones, chiefly the watchers who had aided the stricken mother, +were admitted to this retreat of sorrow. + +When Dr. Sommers saw Madge and Graydon he came to them and said, "Mrs. +Wendall requested that when you came you and whoever accompanied you +should be brought to her. Tilly, before she died, expressed the wish +that you should sit with her mother during the funeral. No, no, Mr. +Muir, Mrs. Wendall would have no objection to any of Miss Alden's +friends. I can give you a seat here by this window. The other rooms +will be very crowded with those who are strangers to you." + +Graydon found himself by the same window at which Madge had sat in her +long vigil. The bed had been removed, and in its place was a plain +yet tasteful casket. Mr. Wendall, with his head bowed down, sat at its +foot, wiping away tears from time to time with a bandana handkerchief. +Two or three stanch friends and helpers sat also in the room, for it +would appear that the Wendalls had no relatives in the vicinity. + +As Madge sat down by Mrs. Wendall, so intent was the mother's gaze +upon her dead child that she did not at first notice the young girl's +presence. Madge took a thin, toil-worn hand caressingly in both her +own, and then the tearless eyes were turned upon her, and the light +of recognition came slowly into them, as if she were recalling her +thoughts from an immense distance. + +"I'm glad you've come," she said, in a loud, strange whisper. "She +wanted you to be with me. She said you had trouble, and would know how +to sustain me. She left a message for you. She said, 'Tell dear Madge +that the dying sometimes have clear vision--tell her I've prayed for +her ever since, and she'll be happy yet, even in this world. Tell her +that I only saw her a little while, but she belongs to those I shall +wait for to welcome.' You'll stay by me till it's all over, won't +you?" + +Madge was deeply agitated, but she managed to say distinctly, "Tilly +also said something to me, and I want you to think of her words +through all that is to come. She said, 'Think where I have gone, and +don't grieve a moment.'" + +"Yes, I'll come to that by and by; but now I can think of only one +thing--they are going to take away my baby;" and she laid her head +on the still bosom with a yearning in her face which only God, who +created the mother's heart, could understand. + +What followed need not be dwelt upon. The mother and father took their +last farewell, the casket was carried to the outer room, the simple +service was soon over, the tearful tributes paid, and then the slow +procession took its way to a little graveyard on a hillside among the +mountains. + +"I can't go and see Tilly buried," said Mrs. Wendall, in the same +unnatural whisper. "I will go to her grave some day, but not yet. I +am trying to keep up, but I don't feel that I could stand on my feet a +minute now." + +"I'll stay with you till they come back," Madge answered, tenderly; +and at last she was left alone in the house, holding the tearless +mother's hand. She soon bowed her young head upon it, bedewing it with +her tears. The poor woman's deep absorption began to pass away. The +warm tears upon her hand, the head upon her lap, began to waken the +instincts of womanhood to help and console another. She stroked the +dark hair and murmured, "Poor child, poor child! Tilly was right. +Trouble makes us near of kin." + +"You loved Tilly, Mrs. Wendall," Madge sobbed. "Think of where she's +gone. No more tears; no more pain; no more death." + +Her touch of sympathy broke the stony paralysis; her hot tears melted +those which seemed to have congealed in the breaking heart, and the +mother took Madge in her arms and cried till her strength was gone. + +When Mr. Wendall returned with some of the neighbors, Madge met him at +the door and held up a warning finger. The overwrought woman had been +soothed into the blessed oblivion of restoring sleep, the first she +had for many hours. A motherly-looking woman whispered her intention +of remaining with Mrs. Wendall all night. Mr. Wendall took Madge's +hand in both his own, and looked at her with eyes dim with tears. +Twice he essayed to speak, then turned away, faltering, "When I meet +you where Tilly is, perhaps I can tell you." + +She went down the little path bordered by flowers which the dead girl +had loved and tended, and gathered a few of them. Then Graydon drove +her away, his only greeting being a warm pressure of her hand. + +At last Madge breathed softly, "Think where I have gone. Where is +heaven? What is it?" + +His eyes were moist as he turned toward her. "I don't know, Madge," he +said. "I know one thing, however, I shall never, as you asked, say a +word against your faith. I've seen its fruits to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A NEW EXPERIMENT + + +Stella Wildmere would not leave the seclusion of her room. As the +hours passed the more overwhelming grew her disappointment and +humiliation, and her chief impulse now was to get away from a place +that had grown hateful to her. She had bitterly reproached her father +as the cause of her desolation, but thus far he had made no reply +whatever. She had passed almost a sleepless night, and since had shut +herself up in her room, looking at the past with a fixed stare and +rigid face, over which at times would pass a crimson hue of shame. + +Mrs. Wildmere went down to dinner with her husband, and then learned +that Mr. Arnault had breakfasted with him. This fact she told Stella +on her return, and the girl sent for her father immediately. + +"Why did you not tell me that Mr. Arnault was here this morning?" she +asked, harshly. + +He looked at her steadily, but made no reply. + +"Why don't you answer me?" she resumed, springing up in her impatience +and taking a step toward him. + +He still maintained the same steadfast, earnest look, which began to +grow embarrassing, for it emphasized the consciousness which she could +not stifle, that she alone was to blame. + +She turned irritably away, and sat down on the opposite side of the +room. + +"It's just part and parcel of your past folly," she began. "If I had +known he was here, and could have seen him or written to him--" + +She still encountered the same searching eyes that appeared to be +looking into her very soul. + +"Oh, well, if you have nothing to say--" + +"I have a great deal to say," answered her father, quietly, "but you +are not ready to hear it yet." + +"More lecturing and fault-finding," said Stella, sullenly. + +"I have not lectured or found fault. I have warned you and tried to +make you see the truth and to help you." + +"And with your usual success. When can we leave this house?" + +"We _must_ leave it to-morrow. I will speak in kindness and truth when +you are ready to listen. I know the past; I have little left now but +memory." + +He waited some moments, but there was no relenting on her part, and he +passed out. + +All the afternoon conscience waged war with anger, shame, pride and +fear--fear for the future, fear of her father, for she had never +before seen him look as he had since he had met her on the piazza +the evening before. He had manifested none of his usual traits of +irritability alternating with a coldness corresponding to her own. He +seemed to have passed beyond these surface indications of trouble +to the condition of one who sees evils that he cannot avert and who +rallies sufficient manhood to meet them with a dignity that bordered +on despair. + +As Stella grew calmer she had a growing perception of this truth. He +no longer indulged in vague, half-sincere predictions of disaster. His +aspect was that of a man who was looking at fate. + +A cold dread began to creep over her. What was in prospect? Was he, +not Henry Muir, to lose everything? After all, he was her father, her +protector, her only hope for the future. As reason found chance to be +heard, she saw how senseless was her revolt at him. She could not go +on ignoring him any longer. Perhaps it would be best to hear what he +had to say. + +This feeling was intensified by her mother, who at last came in and +said, in a weak, half-desperate way, "Stella, there is no use of your +going on in this style any longer. Distressed and worried as I am, +I can see that we can't help matters now by just wringing our hands. +Your father says we must leave as early as possible to-morrow. I can't +do everything to get ready. I'm so unnerved I can scarcely stand now. +Do come down to supper with us, or else let a good supper be brought +to you, and then let us act as if we had not lost our senses utterly. +Your father looks and is so strange that I scarcely know him." + +"I'll not go down again. Nothing would tempt me to meet Graydon +Muir and the curious stare of the people. I suppose they are full of +surmises. If you will have a supper sent to me I will take it and do +all the packing myself. Please tell papa that I wish to see him after +supper." + +She then made a toilet suitable for her task, and waited impatiently. +Her father soon appeared with a dainty and inviting supper. As soon as +they were alone Stella began: + +"Now, papa, tell me the worst--not what you fear, but just what is +before us." + +"Eat your supper first." + +"No; I wish to learn the absolute truth. You said you had a great deal +to say to me. I'm calm now, and I suppose I've acted like a fool long +enough." + +"I have much to say, but not many words. _I_ must begin again, Heaven +only knows how or where. I am about at the end of my resources. I +shall not do anything rash or silly. I shall do my best while I have +power to do anything. I do not propose to reproach you for the past. +It's gone now, and can't be helped. My proposal to you is that _you_ +begin also. You have tried pleasing yourself and thinking of self +first pretty thoroughly. You know what it is to be a belle. Now, why +not try the experiment of being a true, earnest, unselfish woman, +whose first effort is to do right. Believe me, Stella, there is a God +in heaven who thwarts selfishness and punishes it in ways often +least expected. The people with whom we associate soon recognize +the self-seeking spirit, and resent it. You have had a terrible and +practical illustration of what I say. Are you not a girl of too much +mind to make the same blunder again? With your youth you need not +spoil your life, or that of others, unless you do it wilfully." + +She leaned back in her chair, and bitter tears came into her eyes. + +"Yes," she faltered, "my lesson has been a terrible one; but perhaps +I never should have become sane without it. I have been exacting and +receiving all my life, and yet to-night I feel that I have nothing. +Oh," she exclaimed, with passionate utterance, "I have been such a +_fool_. Nothing, nothing to show for all those gay, brilliant years, +not even a father's love and little claim upon it." + +He came to her side and kissed her again and again. + +"You don't know anything about a father's love," he said. "It survives +everything and anything, and your love would save me." + +Never, even under the eyes of Graydon Muir, had she been so conscious +of her heart before. Had he seen her when she departed on the earliest +train in the morning he would have witnessed a new expression on her +face. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +MADGE ALDEN'S RIDE + + +Methodical Henry Muir found that the events of the last few days had +resulted in a reaction and weariness which he could not readily shake +off, and he had expressed an intention of sleeping late on Monday and +taking the second train. When he and his family gathered at breakfast, +the removal to Hotel Kaaterskill was the uppermost theme, and it was +agreed that Madge and Graydon should ride thither on horseback, and +return by a train, if wearied. Mr. Muir then went to the city, well +prepared to establish himself on a safer footing. Graydon and Madge +soon after were on their way through the mountain valleys, the latter +with difficulty holding her horse down to the pace they desired to +maintain. + +After riding rapidly for some distance, they reached long, lonely +stretches, favorable for conversation, and Graydon was too fond of +hearing Madge talk to lose the opportunity. He looked wonderingly +at her flushed face, with the freshness of the morning in it; her +brilliant eyes, from which flashed a spirit that nothing seemed +to daunt; the sudden compression of her lips, as with power and +inimitable grace she reined in her chafing steed. Never before had +she appeared so vital and beautiful, and he rode at her side with +something like exultation that they were so much to each other. He +was turning his back on a past fraught with peril, over which hung the +shadow of what must have been a lifelong disappointment. + +"The girl who would have taken me, as Henry chooses among commercial +securities, cannot now make me an adjunct to her self-pleasing +career," he thought. "I am free--free to become to Madge what I was in +old times. No one now has the right to look askance at our affection +and companionship. What an idiot I was to endure Stella's criticism +while she was playing it so sharp between Arnault and myself! No +wonder crystal Madge said she and Stella were not congenial! + +"I call Madge crystal, yet I don't understand her fully, and have not +since my return. She has had some deep, sad experience, which she is +hiding from all. From what Mrs. Wendall said at the funeral yesterday, +Madge must have revealed more of it to that dying girl than to any +one else. How my heart thrilled at those strange whispered words! How +dearly I would love to help her and bring unalloyed happiness into her +life! But whatever it was referred to I cannot touch upon till she +of her own accord gives me her confidence. Could she have formed what +promises to be a hopeless love in her Western home, and is she now +hiding a wound that will not heal, while bravely and cheerfully facing +life as it is? Perhaps her purpose to return to Santa Barbara proves +that she does not regard her love as utterly hopeless. Well, whatever +the truth may be, she hides her secret with consummate skill, and I +shall not pry into even her affairs. I only know that as I feel now I +should prize her friendship above any other woman's love." + +"What are you thinking of so deeply?" she asked, meeting his eyes. + +"My thought just then was that I should prize your friendship above +any other woman's love, and I had been felicitating myself that Stella +Wildmere would never have the right to criticise the fact." + +"Oh, Graydon, what a man of moods and tenses you are!" Then she added, +laughing, "There has been indeed a kaleidoscopic turn in affairs. Mr. +Arnault disappeared yesterday, and Mary learned that the Wildmeres +left by the early train this morning." + +"Yes, Miss Wildmere followed Arnault promptly. They are near of kin, +but not too near to marry. Their nuptials should be solemnized in Wall +Street, under flowers arranged into a dollar symbol." + +"I feel sorry for Mr. and Mrs. Wildmere, though; especially the +former. I think he might have been quite different had the fates been +kinder." + +"I would rather dismiss them all from my mind as far as possible. +Don't think me callous about Stella. If she had decided for me at once +and been true I would have been loyal to her in spite of everything; +but the revelation of her cold, mercenary soul makes me shudder when I +think how narrowly I escaped allying myself to it." + +"You have indeed had an escape," Madge replied, gravely. "If she were +a young, thoughtless, undeveloped girl her womanhood might have come +to her afterward. I hope I am mistaken, but she has made a singular +impression on me." + +"Please tell me it. You have insight into character that in one so +young is surprising." + +"I have no special insight. I simply feel people. They create an +atmosphere and make some dominant impression with which I always +associate them." + +"I am eager to know what impression Miss Wildmere has made." + +"I fear this would be true of her, even after she becomes a mature +woman. A man might be almost perishing at her side from mental trouble +of some kind, and, so far from feeling for him and sympathizing, she +wouldn't even know it, and he couldn't make her know it. She would +look at him quietly with her gray eyes as she would at a problem in +the calculus, and with scarcely more desire to understand him, and +with perhaps less power to do so. She would turn from him to a new +dress, a new admirer, or a new phase of amusement, and forget him, and +the fact that he was her husband would not make much difference. Some +deep experience of her own may change her, but I don't know. I fear +another's experience would be like a tragedy without the walls while +she was safe within." + +"Oh, Madge, think of a man with a strong, sensitive nature beating his +very heart to death against such pumice-stone callousness!" + +"I don't like to think of it," she replied. "Come, I ask with you now +that we forget her as far as possible. She may not disappoint a +man like Arnault. Let them both become shadows in the background of +memory. Here's a level place. Now for a gallop." + +When at last they pulled up, Graydon said, "Your horse is awfully +strong and restless to-day." + +"Yes; he has not been used enough of late. He'll be quiet before +night, for I am enjoying this so much that I should like to return in +the same way." + +"I am delighted to hear you say so. My spirits begin to rise the +moment I am with you, and you are the only woman I ever knew from +whose side I could not go with the feeling, 'Well, some other time +would suit me now.'" + +Her laugh rang out so suddenly and merrily that her horse sprang into +a gallop, but she checked him speedily, and thought, with an exultant +thrill, "Graydon now has surely revealed an unmistakable symptom." To +him she said: + +"You amuse me immensely. You are almost as outspoken as little Harry, +and, like him, you mistake the impression of the moment for the +immutable." + +"Now, that's not fair to me. I've been constant to you. Own up, Madge, +haven't I?" + +With a glance and smile which she never gave to others, and rarely to +him, she said: + +"I own up. I don't believe a real brother would have been half so +nice.". + +"Let the past guarantee the future, then. Shake hands against all +future misunderstandings." + +She was scarcely ready to shake hands on such a basis, but of course +would have complied. In the slight confusion her hand relaxed its +grasp on the curb-rein, and at the same moment a locomotive, coming +along the side of the opposite mountain, blew a shrill whistle. +Instantly her horse had the bit in his teeth, and was off at a furious +pace. + +At first she did not care, but soon found, with anxiety, that he +paid no attention to her efforts to check him, and that his pace was +passing into a mad run. The gorge was growing narrower, and the lofty +mountains stood, with their rocky feet, nearer and nearer together. +She could see through the intervening trees that the road and +rail-track were becoming closely parallel, and at last realized that +her horse was unmanageable. + +When the engineer of the train saw Madge's desperate riding he +surmised that her horse was not under control, and put on extra steam +in order to take the exciting cause of the animal's terror out of the +way. He thought he could easily reach the summit of the clove where +the carriage-drive crossed the track before Madge, and then pass +swiftly over the down-grade beyond; but he had not calculated on the +terrific speed of the horse; and when at last the track and roadway +were almost side by side the frantic beast, with his pale rider, was +abreast of the train. For a moment the engineer was irresolute, and +then, too late, as he feared, "slowed up." + +The narrow road, with a precipitous mountain on the left, was so near +to the flying train that the passengers in an open car could almost +touch Madge, and she was to them like a strange and beautiful +apparition, with her white face and large dark eyes filled with an +unspeakable dread. + +"Oh, stop the train!" she cried, and her voice, with the whole power +of her lungs, rang out far above the clatter of the wheels, wakening +despairing echoes from the mountains impending on either side. + +The speed of the cars was perceptibly checked; the passengers saw +the foam-flecked brute, with head stubbornly bent downward and eye of +fire, pass beyond them. An instant later, to their horrified gaze and +that of Graydon's, who was following as fast as a less swift horse +could carry him, Madge and the locomotive appeared to come together. +The young man gave a hoarse, inarticulate cry between a curse and a +shout, and whipped his horse forward furiously. + +The speed of the train was renewed, and he saw through the open car +that Madge must have passed unharmed before the engine, just grazing +it. It also appeared that she was gaining the mastery, for her horse +was rearing; then cars of ordinary make intervened and hid her from +view a moment, and the train clattered noisily on. + +When he crossed the track Madge was not where he had last seen her. +The road beyond ran at a greater distance from the railway, and was +lined with trees and bushes. Through an opening among these he saw +that the horse had resumed his old mad pace, that Madge was still +mounted, but that she was no longer erect, and sat with her head bowed +and her whip-hand clutching the mane. He also saw, with a sinking +heart, that the road curved a little further on, and evidently crossed +the track again. + +A moment later--Oh, horror! An opening in the foliage revealed Madge +dashing headlong, apparently, into the train. He grew so faint that he +almost fell from his horse, and was scarcely conscious, until, with +a strong revulsion of hope, he found himself under the track which, +about an eighth of a mile from the previous crossing, passes just +above the roadway. Not aware of this fact, and with vision broken by +intervening trees, he could not have imagined anything else than a +collision, which must have been fatal in its consequences. + +With hope his pulse quickened, his strength returned, and he again +urged his jaded horse forward, at the same time sending out his voice: + +"Madge, Madge, keep up a little longer." + +The road had left the car-track, the noise of the train was dying away +in the distance. At last, turning a curve, he saw that Madge's horse +had come down to a canter, and that she was pulling feebly at the +rein. + +As he approached he shouted "Whoa!" with such a voice of command that +the horse stopped suddenly and she almost fell forward. + +"Quick, Graydon, quick!" she gasped. + +He sprang to the ground, and a second later she was an unconscious +burden in his arms. + +He laid her gently on a mossy bank under an oak; then, with a +face fairly livid with passion, he drew a small revolver from his +hip-pocket, stepped back to the horse that now stood trembling and +exhausted in the road, and shot him dead. + +He now saw that they had been observed at a neighboring farmhouse, +and that people were running toward them. Gathering Madge again in +his arms, he bore her toward the dwelling, in which effort he was soon +aided by a stout countryman. + +The farmer's wife was all solicitude, and to her and her daughter's +ministrations Madge was left, while Graydon waited, with intense +anxiety, in the porch, explaining what had occurred, with a manner +much distraught, in answer to many questions. + +"The cursed brute is done for now," he concluded. + +Madge's faint proved obstinate, and at last Graydon began to urge the +farmer to go for a physician. + +The daughter at last appeared with the glad tidings that the young +girl was "coming to nicely." + +Graydon breathed a fervent "Thank God!" and sank weak and limp into +a seat on the porch. The farmer brought him a glass of cool milk from +the cellar, and then Graydon sent in word that he would like to see +the lady as soon as possible. + +When he entered the "spare room" of the farmhouse Madge, with a smile +that was like a ray of sunshine, extended her hand from the lounge on +which she was reclining, and said: + +"You didn't fail me, Graydon. I couldn't have kept up a moment longer. +I should have fainted before had I not heard your voice. How good God +has been!" + +He held her hand in both his own, his mouth twitched nervously, but +his emotion was too strong for speech. + +"Don't feel so badly, Graydon," she resumed, and her voice was +gentleness itself; "I am not hurt, nor are you to blame." + +"I am to blame," he said, hoarsely. "I gave you that brute, but he's +dead. I shot him instantly. Oh, Madge, if--if--I feel that I would +have shot myself." + +"Graydon, please be more calm," she faltered, tears coming into her +eyes. "There, see, you are making me cry. I can't bear to see you--I +can't bear to see a man--so moved. Please now, you look so pale that +I am frightened. I'm not strong, but shall get better at once if I see +you yourself." + +"Forgive me, Madge, but it seems as if I had suffered the pangs of +death ten times over--there, I won't speak about it till we both have +recovered from the shock. Dear, brave little girl; how can I thank you +enough for keeping up till I could reach you!" + +She began to laugh a little too nervously to be natural. Her heart was +glad over her escape, and in a gladder tumult at his words and manner. +He was no shadow of a man, nor did ice-water flow in his veins. His +feeling had been so strong that it had almost broken her self-control. + +"Some day," she exulted, "some day God will turn his fraternal +affection into the wine of love." + +"I'm so nervous," she said, "that I must either laugh or cry. What a +plight we are in! How shall we go forward or backward?" + +"We shall not do either very soon. Mrs. Hobson is making you a cup of +tea, and then you must rest thoroughly, and sleep, if possible." + +"What will you do?" + +"Oh, I'll soothe my nerves with a cigar, and berate myself on the +porch! When you are thoroughly rested I'll have Mr. Hobson drive us on +to the nearest station. We are in no plight whatever, if you received +no harm." + +"I haven't. Promise me one thing." + +"Anything--everything." + +"Do no berating. I'm sorry you killed the horse; but he did act +vilely, and I suppose you had to let off your anger in some way. I was +angry myself at first--he was so stupid. But when I found I couldn't +hold him at all I thought I must die--Oh, how it all comes back to +me! What thoughts I had, and how sweet life became! Oh, oh--" and she +began sobbing like a child. + +"Madge, please--I can't endure this, indeed I can't." + +But her overwrought nerves were not easily controlled, and he knelt +beside her, speaking soothingly and pleadingly. "Dear Madge, dear +sister Madge. Oh, I wish Mary was here!" and he kissed her again and +again. + +"Graydon," she gasped, "stop! There--I'm better;" and she did seem to +recover almost instantly. + +"Law bless you, sir," said Mrs. Hobson, who had entered with the tea, +"your sister'll be all right in an hour or so." + +Graydon sprang to his feet, and there was a strong dash of color in +his face. As for the hitherto pallid Madge, her visage was like a +peony, and she was preternaturally quiet. + +"Try to sleep, Madge," said Graydon, from the doorway, "and I won't +'worry or take on' a bit;" and he disappeared. + +There was no sleep for her, and yet she felt herself wonderfully +restored. Was it the potency of Mrs. Hobson's tea? or that which he +had placed upon her lips? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +"YOU ARE VERY BLIND" + + +As a general rule Graydon was not conscious of nerves, and had +received the fact of their existence largely on faith. But to-day they +asserted themselves in a manner which excited his surprise and some +rather curious speculation. He found his heart beating in a way +difficult to account for on a physiological basis, his pulses +fluttering, and his thoughts in a luminous haze, wherein nothing was +very distinct except Madge's flushing face, startled eyes, looking a +protest through their tears. It was not so much an indignant protest +as it was a frightened one, he half imagined. And why was he so +confused and disturbed that, instead of sitting quietly down in the +porch, as he had intended, he was impelled to walk restlessly to +a neighboring grove! For one so intensely fraternal he felt he was +continuing to "take on" in a very unnecessary style. + +"Confound that woman!" he muttered. "Why did she have to come in just +then, and why should I blush like a schoolgirl because she caught me +kissing one that I regard as a sister? And why did the word sister +sound so unnatural when spoken by Mrs. Hobson? 'Great Scott!' as Henry +says, I hope I'm not growing to love Madge. She would overwhelm me +with ridicule, infused, perhaps, with a spice of contempt, if I gave +her the impression that I had fallen out of love one week and in the +next. Hang it! I'm all broken up from this day's experience. I had +better get on my feet mentally, and then I shall be able to find out +where I stand." + +The demon of restlessness soon drove him back to the house again, and +he learned that there would be a train in about two hours. They would +still have time to dine at the Kaaterskill and return before night. He +therefore made arrangements to be driven to the station, also to have +the horse he had ridden and the saddles taken back to the Under-Cliff +House. + +There was a faint after-glow on Madge's cheeks when she joined him at +the substantial repast which Mr. and Mrs. Hobson insisted upon their +partaking before departure; but in all other respects she appeared +and acted as usual. With a fineness of tact she was at home among her +plain entertainers, and put them at ease. Mrs. Hobson continued to +speak of her as Graydon's sister, and he had darted a humorous glance +at the girl; but it met such grave impassiveness of expression that he +feared she was angry. + +When parting from her hostess Madge spoke words which left a genial +expression on the good dame's face for hours thereafter, and at the +station Graydon put in Mr. Hobson's hand more than he could have +gathered from his stony farm that day, although he had been called +from the harvest field. + +During the first mile or two in the cars Madge was very quiet, and +seemed almost wholly engrossed with the scenery. At last Graydon +leaned toward her and asked, "Are you vexed with me, Madge?" + +"I find that I must maintain my self-control when with you, Graydon," +was the grave reply. + +"Forgive me, Madge. I scarcely knew what I was doing. Let your +thoughts take my part a little. Remember that within the hour I had +believed I had lost you. I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, but +when you passed under the train you appeared from where I was to dash +into it, and I nearly fainted and fell off my horse. Think what a +horrible shock I had. I also was nervous and all broken up--the first +time in my life that I remember being so. I couldn't cry as you did, +and when off my balance kissing you was just as natural to me as--" +Madge's mouth had been twitching, and now, in spite of herself, her +laugh broke forth. + +"Please forgive me, Madge;" and he held out his hand. + +"On condition that you will never do so again, or speak of it again." + +"Never?" he repeated, ruefully. + +"Never!" she said, with severe emphasis. + +"I won't make any such promise," he replied, stubbornly. + +"Oh, very well!" and she turned to the window. + +"Confound it!" he thought; "I'm not going to tie myself up by any such +pledge. I'm not sure of myself, or sure of anything, except that I'm a +free man, and that Madge won't be my sister. I shall remain free. She +herself once said in effect that I could take a straight course +when once I got my bearings, and I shall permit no more promises or +trammels till I do get them." + +They passed speedily on to the end of their journey, and were the +perfection of quiet, well-bred travellers, he disguising a slightly +vexatious constraint and sense of unduly severe punishment, and she +secretly exulting over the fact that he would not make the promise. + +When leaving the Kaaterskill station her eyes first rested on the +adjacent lake, and its wide extent suggested the opportunity to pull +an oar to some purpose. As the stage surmounted the last approach +to the hotel, and the valley of the Hudson, with the river winding +through it like a silver band, broke upon her vision, the apparent +cloud passed from her brow, and her pleasure was unaffected. A few +inquiries and the study of a map of the vicinity made it evident that +the region abounded in superb walks and drives, while from the +front piazza there was a panorama that would never lose its changing +interest and beauty. A suite of rooms was selected, with the +understanding that they should be occupied on Wednesday. + +Madge soon found herself the object of no little curiosity and +interest. The story of her mad ride had reached the house, and she +was recognized by some who had been on the train; but Graydon met +inquiries in such a way that they were not pushed very far. To a +reporter he said, "Is this affair ours or the public's? We have not +trespassed on any one's rights." + +He reassured Madge by saying, "Don't worry about it; such things are +only the talk of a day." + +They returned during the afternoon. Graydon's manner was courtesy +itself, and but little more; but he was becoming a vigilant student of +his companion, and she soon was dimly aware of the fact. + +"I will understand her," he had resolved. "I intend to get my +bearings, and then shape my course, for I cannot help feeling that the +destiny of the little girl who used to sit on my lap, with her head on +my shoulder, is in some way interwoven with mine. Even when I believed +myself in love with another woman she had more power over me than +Stella--more power to kindle thought and awaken my deeper nature. I +begin to think that all her talk about being a friend, good fellow, +etc., is greater nonsense than my fraternal proposals. No friend, +fellow, or sister could make my heart beat as it did to-day. No human +being in mortal peril could have awakened such desperate, reckless +despair as I felt at one time, and" (with a smile to himself) "I never +knew what a kiss was before. I'm not the fool to ignore all these +symptoms. I'll fathom the mystery of this sweet, peerless girl, if it +takes all summer and all my life." + +But the fair enigma at his side grew more inscrutable. Neither by tone +nor glance did she indicate that he was more to her than she had said. + +"Do you wish to recognize the scenes we passed over this morning?" he +asked, gently, as they approached them. + +"No, not yet. I don't wish to think about it any more than I can +help." + +"Your wishes are mine." + +"Occasionally, perhaps." + +"You shall see." + +"I usually do," was her laughing answer. + +But she began to appear very weary, and when they reached the +Under-Cliff House she went to her room, and did not reappear again +that day. + +Graydon made even Dr. Sommers's ruddy cheek grow pale by his brief +narrative, adding, "Perhaps her nerves have received a severer shock +than she yet understands. I wish you would tell Mrs. Muir the story, +making as light of it as you can, and with her aid you can insure that +Miss Alden obtains the rest and tonics she needs. You can also meet +and quiet the rumors that may be flying about, and you know that Miss +Alden has a strong aversion to being talked to or of about personal +affairs." + +In youth, health, and sleep Madge found the best restoratives, and the +morning saw her little the worse for the experiences of the previous +day. The hours passed quickly in preparations for departure and in +a call on Mr. and Mrs. Wendall, who gave evidence that they were +becoming more resigned. + +"I am at work again," said the farmer, "and so is Nancy. There's +nothing else for us to do but plod toward home, where Tilly is." + +Regret was more general and sincere than is usual when the transient +associations of a resort are broken. Dr. Sommers's visage could not +lengthen literally, and yet it approached as nearly to a funereal +aspect as was possible. He brightened up, however, when Madge slipped +something into his hand "for the chapel." + +They were soon comfortably established in their new quarters, and in +the late afternoon Madge was so rested that she took a short walk +with Graydon to Sunset Rock, and saw the shadows deepen in the vast, +beautiful Kaaterskill Clove. Then they returned by the ledge path. +At last they entered the wonderful Palenvilie Road, a triumph of +practical engineering, and built by a plain mountaineer, who, from the +base of the mountain to the summit, made his surveys and sloped his +grades by the aid of his eye only. They had been comparatively silent, +and Graydon finally remarked: "It gives me unalloyed pleasure, Madge, +to look upon such scenes with you. There is no need of my pointing out +anything. I feel that you see more than I do, and I understand better +what I do see from the changing expression of your eyes. Don't you +think such unspoken appreciation of the same thing is the basis of +true companionship?" + +"Oh, Graydon, what an original thought!" + +He bit his lip, and remarked that the evening was growing cool. + +At supper and during the evening his vigilance was not rewarded in +the slightest degree. Madge appeared in good spirits, and talked +charmingly, even brilliantly at times, but she was exceedingly +impersonal, and it was now his policy to follow her slightest lead in +everything. He would prove that her wish was his, as far as he knew +it. + +"Some day," he thought, "I shall find a clew to her mystery." + +The next morning Graydon went to the city, and would not return till +Friday evening of the following week, for it was now his purpose to +resume business. In the evening he and his brother discussed their +affairs, which were beginning to improve all along the line. Then +their talk converged more upon topics connected with this story, and +among them was Mr. Wildmere's suspension. + +"His failure don't amount to very much," Henry remarked; "he has +always done business in a sort of hand-to-mouth way." + +"I am surprised that Arnault permitted him to go down," Graydon said; +"it couldn't have taken very much to keep him up." + +"It is said that Arnault will have nothing to do with him, and that +this fact has hastened his downfall." + +"Well, so she played it too sharp on him, also. I was in hopes that +she would marry and punish him. I don't wonder at his course, though; +for if he has a spark of spirit he would not forgive her treatment +after she learned that you had not failed. Oh, how blind I was!" + +"Yes, Graydon, you are very blind," said Mr. Muir, inadvertently. + +"'Are?' Why do you use the present tense?" + +"Did I?" replied Mr. Muir, a little confusedly. "Well, you see, Madge +and I understood Miss Wildmere from the first." + +"Oh, hang Miss Wildmere! Do you think Madge--" + +"Now stop right there, Graydon. I think Madge is the best and most +sensible girl I ever knew, and that's all you will ever get out of +me." + +"Pardon me, Henry. I spoke from impulse, and not a worthy one, either. +I tell you point blank, however, that Madge Alden hasn't her equal in +the world. I would love her in a moment if I dared. Would to Heaven +I could have spent some time with her immediately after my return! In +that case there would have been no Wildmere folly. I declare, Henry, +when I thought she must be killed the other day I felt that the end +of my own life had come. I can't tell you what that girl is to me; but +with her knowledge of the past how can I approach her in decency?" + +"Well," said Mr. Muir, shrugging his shoulders and rising to retire, +"you are out of the worst part of your scrape, and Madge is alive +and well. This is not a little to be thankful for. I shall confine my +advice to business matters. Still, were I in your shoes, I know what I +should do. 'Faint heart,' you know. Good-night." + +Graydon did not move, or scarcely answer, but, with every faculty of +mind concentrated, he thought, "Henry's explanation of his use of the +present tense does not explain, and there is more meaning in what he +left unsaid in our recent interview than in what he said. Can it be +possible? Let me take this heavenly theory and, as we were taught at +college, see how much there is to support it. Was there any change in +her manner toward me before we parted years since? Why, she was taken +ill that night when she first met Miss Wildmere, and I stayed away +from her so long--idiot!" + +From that hour he went forward, scanning everything that had occurred +between them, until he saw again her flushing face and startled eyes +when he kissed her, and his belief grew strong that it was his immense +good-fortune to fulfil the prediction that Madge should be happy. + +The thought kept him sleepless most of that night, and made the time +which must intervene before he could see her again seem long indeed. +He did his utmost to get the details of his department well in hand +during business hours; but after they were over his mind returned at +once to Madge, and never did a scientist hunt for facts and hints in +support of a pet theory so eagerly as did Graydon scan the past for +confirmation of his hope, that long years of companionship had given +him a place in Madge's heart which no one else possessed, and that +his blindness or indifference to the truth was the sorrow of her life. +This view explained why she would not regard herself as his sister, +and could not permit the intimacy natural to the relation. + +When he examined the attitude of his own heart toward her he was not +surprised that his affection was passing swiftly into a love deeper +and far more absorbing than Stella Wildmere had ever inspired. + +"The old law of cause and effect," he said, smiling to himself, "and +I can imagine no effect in me adequate to the cause. Even when she +scarcely cast a shadow she was more companionable than Stella, but it +never occurred to me to think of her in any other light than that of +little sister Madge. Almost as soon as the thought occurred to me, +and I had a right to love her, love became as natural as it was +inevitable. Even in the height of my infatuation for Stella, Madge was +winning me from her unconsciously to myself." + +Such thoughts and convictions imparted a gentle and almost caressing +tone to his words when Madge welcomed and accompanied him to his late +supper on his return to the mountains. + +[Illustration: "PROMISE ME YOU WILL TAKE A LONG REST."] + +This significant accent was more marked than ever when she promenaded +with him for a brief time on the piazza. Nor did a little brusqueness +on her part banish the tone and manner which were slight indeed, but +unmistakable to her quick intuition. + +"Could Henry have given him a hint?" she queried; and her brow +contracted and her eyes flashed indignantly at the thought. + +As a result of the suspicion, she left him speedily, and in the +morning was glad to hope, from his more natural bearing, that she had +been over-sensitive. + +The sagacious Graydon, however, was maturing a plan which he hoped +would bring her the happiness which it would be his happiness to +confer. + +"She is so proud and spirited," he thought, "that only when surprised +and off her guard will she reveal to me a glimpse of the truth. If I +consulted my own pride I wouldn't speak for a long time to come--not +till she had ceased to associate me with Stella Wildmere; but if she +is loving me as I believe she would love a man, she shall not doubt an +hour longer than I can help, that I and my life's devotion are hers. +Sweet Madge, you shall make your own terms again!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +"CERTAINLY I REFUSE YOU" + + +Having heard that one of the finest views among the mountains was to +be had at Indian Head, a vast overhanging precipice facing toward the +entrance to the Kaaterskill Clove, Graydon easily induced Madge to +explore with him the tangled paths which led thither. + +How his eyes exulted over her as she tripped on before him down the +steep, winding, rocky paths! As he followed he often wondered where +her feet had found their secure support, so rugged was the way. Yet on +she glanced before him, swaying, bending to avoid branches, or pushing +them aside, her motions instinct with vitality and natural grace. + +Once, however, he had a fright. She was taking a deep descent swiftly, +when her skirt caught on a stubborn projecting stump of a sapling, +and it appeared that she would fall headlong; but by some surprising, +self-recovering power, which seemed exerted even in the act of +falling, she lay before him in the path, almost as if reclining easily +upon her elbow, and was nearly on her feet again before he could reach +her side. + +"Are you hurt?" he asked, most solicitously, brushing off the dust +from her dress. + +"Not in the least," she replied, laughing. + +"Well," he exclaimed, "I don't believe you or any one else could do +that so handsomely again if you tried a thousand times! Don't try, +please. I carried you the other day some little distance, and found +that you were no longer a little ghost." + +"You carried me, Graydon? I thought the people from the farmhouse +came." + +"Oh, I didn't wait for them! I was half beside myself." + +"Evidently," she replied, a little coolly. + +Her tone made him falter in his purpose, and when at last they reached +Indian Head, she was so resolutely impersonal in her talk, and had so +much to say about the history and the legends of the region of +which she had read, that he felt that she was in no mood for what he +intended to say. As the time passed he grew nervously apprehensive +over his project, and at last they started on their return with his +plan unfulfilled. They agreed to try a path to their left, which was +scarcely distinguishable, and it soon appeared to end at a point that +sloped almost perpendicularly to a wild gorge that ran up between the +hills. + +"That must be what is down on the map as Tamper Clove," said Madge; +"and do you know, some think that it was up that valley Irving made +poor Rip carry the heavy keg? Oh, I wish we could get down into it and +go back that way!" + +"Let me explore;" and he began swinging himself down by the aid of +saplings and smaller growth. "Some one has passed here recently," he +called back, "for trees are freshly blazed and branches broken. Yes," +he cried, a moment later; "here is a well-defined path leading up the +clove toward the hotel. Do you think you dare attempt it?" + +"Certainly," she answered; and before he could reach her she was +half-way down the descent. + +"Madge!" he cried, in alarm. + +"Oh, don't worry," she said; "I was over worse places in the West." + +"Well, what can't she do!" he exclaimed, as she stood beside him in +the path. + +"I can't give up my own way very easily," she replied. "You have found +that out." + +"That don't trouble me in the least. I don't wish you to give up your +own way. It's warm down here, and our walk won't be so breezy as if we +had followed the ridge." + +"We will take it leisurely and have a rest by and by." + +The gorge grew narrower and wilder. They passed an immense tree, under +which Indians may have bivouacked, and in some storm long past the +lightning had plowed its way from the topmost branch to its gnarled +roots. + +At last the path crossed a little rill that tinkled with a faint +murmur among the stones, making a limpid pool here and there. Immense +bowlders, draped with varied-hued mosses and lichens, were scattered +about, where in ages past the melting glacier had left them. The trees +that densely shaded the place seemed primeval in their age, loftiness, +and shaggy girth. + +"Oh, what a deliciously cool and lovely spot!" cried Madge, throwing +down her alpenstock. "Get me some oak leaves, Graydon, and I will make +you a cup and give you a drink." + +In a moment she made a fairy chalice with the aid of little twigs, and +when she handed it to him, dripping with water, his hand trembled as +he took it. + +"Why, Graydon," she exclaimed, "what on earth makes you so nervous?" + +"I am not used to climbing, and I suppose my hand has a little tremor +from fatigue." + +"You poor thing! Here is a mossy rock on which you can imitate Rip. +You have only to imagine that my leaf goblet is the goblin flagon of +Irving's legend." + +"Where and what would you be after twenty years?" + +"Probably a wrinkled spinster at Santa Barbara." + +"You wouldn't go away and leave me?" + +"Certainly I would, if I couldn't wake you up." + +He looked into her mirthful eyes and lovely face. Oh, how lovely it +was, flushed from heat and climbing! "Madge," he said, impetuously, +"you have waked me--every faculty of my soul, every longing of my +heart. Will you be my wife?" + +Her face grew scarlet. She sprang to her feet, and asked, with half +serious, half comic dismay, "Will I be your _what!_" + +"I asked you to be my wife," he began, confusedly. + +"Oh, Graydon, this is worse than asking me to be your sister!" she +replied, laughing. "Your alternations fairly make me dizzy." + +"Truly, Madge," he stammered, "a man can scarcely pay a woman a +greater compliment--" + +"Oh, it's a compliment!" she interrupted. + +"No," he burst out, with more than his first impetuosity; "I'm +in earnest. You, who almost read my thoughts, know that I am in +earnest--that--" + +By a strong yet simple gesture she checked him. + +"You scarcely realize what you are asking, Graydon," she said, +gravely. "I have no doubt your present emotion is unforced and +sincere, but it requires time to prove earnestness. You were equally +sure you were in earnest a short time since, and I had little place, +comparatively, in your thoughts." + +"But I did not know you then as I do now." + +"You thought you did. You had vivid impressions then about me, and +more vivid about another woman. You are acting now under another +impression, and from impulse. If I ever give myself away it shall not +be in response to an impulse." + +"Madge, you misjudge me--" he began, hotly. + +"I think I know most of the facts, and you know how matter-of-fact +I am. You may think I do not know what love is, but I do. It is a +priceless thing. It is a woman's life, and all that makes a true +woman's life. It is something that one cannot always give at will, or +wisely; but if I had the power to give it at all, it should be to a +man who had earned the right to ask it, and not to one who, within a +few short days, had formed new impressions about me. Love is not the +affection of a friend, or even of a sister. There is no necessity for +me to marry." + +"Then you refuse me?" he said, a little stiffly. + +"Certainly I refuse you, Graydon. Has my manner led you to think that +I was eager for a chance to accept you?" + +"Oh, no, indeed! You have checked my slightest tendencies toward +sentiment." + +"Thank you for the assurance. I do not care in the least for +sentiment." + +His airy fabric of hope, of almost certainty, had been shattered so +suddenly that he was overwhelmed. There seemed but one conclusion. + +"Madge," he said, in a low, hoarse voice, "answer me, yes or no. You +loved some one at Santa Barbara who did not return your love? That is +your trouble of which Mrs. Wendall spoke--I could not help hearing her +words--that is the mystery about you which has been haunting me with +increasing perplexity; that was the sorrow I heard in your voice the +evening you sang in the chapel, and which has vaguely, yet strongly, +moved me since? Tell me, is it not so? Tell me, as a friend, that I +may be a truer friend." + +She had turned away in a manner that confirmed his thought. + +"You are suggesting a humiliating confession, Graydon." + +"Yes, humiliating to the man who saw you, knew you, yet did not love +you. Tell me, Madge. It will make my own course clearer." + +"Yes, then," she replied. + +He sighed deeply, and was silent for a few moments. + +"Madge," he at last resumed, "look at me. I wish to tell you +something." + +She turned slowly toward him, and he saw that her lip was trembling, +and that tears were gathering in her eyes. + +"You may think me cruel in wringing such a confession from you, but +perhaps you will forgive me when you hear all I have to say. You may +look upon me now as a creature of impulses and impressions. The memory +of my recent infatuation is fresh in your mind, but you yourself said +I could be straightforward when once I got my bearings. I have them +now, and I take my course. As a friend you have revealed to me much of +your woman's nature, and, having known the best, I shall not look for +anything less than yours. I shall be devoted to you through life. I +will be to you all that I can be--all that you will permit. It is said +that time heals all wounds. Perhaps some day--well, if it ever can be, +I should be content to take what you could give. You said I was kind +and patient with the little ghost. I should be far kinder, gentler--" + +She had felt herself going fast, and had almost yielded to the impulse +to exclaim, "You, Graydon, are the one who did not return my love; and +although your love has been so brief and untested compared with mine, +I will trust you;" when voices were heard on the same path by +which they had come, and the figures of other ramblers were seen +indistinctly through the foliage. + +She gave his hand a strong pressure, seized her alpenstock, and +hastened swiftly forward. The path soon afterward emerged on the +public road. The breeze cooled her hot cheeks, kissed away her tears, +and half an hour later they approached the hotel, chatting as quietly +as the strictest conventionality would require. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +MY TRUE FRIEND + + +They found that Mr. Muir had arrived, and no family party in the long +supper-room appeared more free from disturbing thoughts and memories +than the one gathered at the banker's table. In Madge the keen-eyed +man could detect nothing that was unusual, and in Graydon only a trace +of the dignity and seriousness which would inevitably follow some +deep experience or earnest purpose. They all spent the evening and the +greater part of the following day together, and Madge was touched more +than once by observing that Graydon sought unobtrusively to comply +with even her imagined wishes and to enhance the point and interest of +her spoken thoughts. + +In answer to his direct question she had acknowledged the absolute +truth, and yet it had proved more misleading than all the disguises +which her maidenly reserve had compelled her to adopt. It seemed now +that she would have no further trouble with him--that he had defined +his purpose, and would abide by it. She was glad that she had not +yielded to his appeal and rewarded him in the first consciousness +of his new regard for her. This feeling had seemed too recent, +tumultuous, and full of impulse, and did not accord with her earnest, +chastened spirit, that had attained the goal of its hope by such +patient endeavor. She preferred that the first strong outflow from +his heart should find wide, deep channels, and that his love for her +should take the same recognized place in his life that her love had +occupied so long in her own. She also had a genuine and feminine +reluctance that the suitor of Stella Wildmere should be known as her +lover so speedily, and something more and deeper than good taste was +the cause of her aversion. + +Yet she was exceedingly happy. The hope that had sustained her so +long, that had been so nearly lost, now seemed certain of fulfilment, +and no one but she and God knew how much this truth meant. Only He had +been her confidant, and she felt that she had been sustained in her +struggle from weakness to strength by a Power that was not human, and +guided during the past weeks by a wisdom beyond her own. + +"He has proved to me a good Father," was her simple belief. "He led +me to do the best I could for myself, and then did the rest. I also +am sure He would have sustained me had I failed utterly. That my life +would not have been vain and useless was shown when I saved little +Nellie Wilder." + +Thus it may be seen that she was quite unlike many good people. In her +consciousness God was not a being to be worshipped decorously and then +counted out from that which made her real life and hope. + +The future now stretched away full of rest and glad assurance. +Graydon's manner already began to fulfil his promise. He would quietly +accept the situation as he understood it, and she saw already the +steadying power of an unselfish, unfaltering purpose. He appeared by +years an older and a graver man, and when he sat by her during the +service in the wide parlor, there was not a trace of his old flippant +irreverence. Whatever he now believed, he had attained the higher +breeding which respects what is sacred to others. + +She had but little compunction over his self-sacrificing mood. It +was perfectly clear that by quiet, manly devotion he proposed to help +"time heal the wound" made by that "idiot" at Santa Barbara, and +she that she could gradually reveal to him so much improvement that +equanimity and at last hope would find a place in his mind. + +They parted Monday morning with a brief, strong pressure of +hands, which Graydon felt conveyed volumes of sympathy and mutual +understanding. She had said that he could write to her, and he found +he had so much to say that he had to put a strong constraint upon +himself. + +Mr. Muir had watched them curiously during his stay in the mountains, +and felt that something had occurred which he could not fathom. +Graydon's manner at parting and since, during business hours, had +confirmed this impression. He was almost as grave and reticent as the +banker himself, and the latter began to chafe and grow irritable over +the problem which he was bent on seeing solved in but one way. He +looked askance and discontentedly at Graydon during dinner in the +evening. When they were alone he was fidgety and rather curt in his +remarks. At last he burst out, "Confound it! What has happened between +you and Madge?" + +"She has refused me, that's all," was the quiet reply. + +Mr. Muir gave a low whistle. + +"Oh, I understood you the other evening," resumed Graydon. "The +phenomenal penetration on which you so pride yourself is at fault for +once." + +The banker was so nonplused that he permitted his cigar to go out, but +he soon reached the conclusion, "He has bungled." "Well," he asked at +last, "what do you propose to do?" + +"To be to her all that she will ever permit, and die a bachelor for +her sake if I must." + +Mr. Muir lighted his Havana again and puffed in silence for a while, +then said, "I like that. Your purpose is clearly defined. In business +and everything else there is solid comfort in knowing what you can +depend upon." + +Madge's replies to Graydon's letters were scarcely more than notes, +but they were breezy little affairs, fragrant with the breath of the +mountains, and had an excellent tonic effect in the hot city. They +usually contained a description of what she had seen or of some +locality visited. On one occasion she wrote: + +"Late in the afternoon there had been a shower, not gentle and +pattering, but one of those frightful, passionate outbursts which are +not infrequent in these mountains. The wind appeared to drive black +masses of clouds from all directions save one, which, meeting over the +height occupied by the hotel, discharged torrents of rain. At last +the wind left the writhing trees in peace, and carried the deeply +shadowing cloud away beyond the hills. The sun broke forth, and +nature began some magic work. Calling the mist fairies to her aid, +she gathered from every ravine and clove delicate airy clouds, which +formed a large and rapidly increasing mass of vapor. Soon the plain +below--the wide Hudson valley--was entirely shut out, as though a +great white curtain had dropped from the sky to the mountain's base. +Just then the setting sun, which had been temporarily obscured, shone +forth in glorious brightness, casting on the beautiful cloud-curtain +the dark, clearly defined shadow of the mountain-top, with its crown +of buildings, even the towers and turrets showing with startling +distinctness. It was like a mammoth, well-cut cameo, or a gigantic +magic lantern effect, with the sun as a calcium light. + +"The spectacle lasted only a few moments. Then the cloudy curtain +parted, and the valley of the Hudson was seen again, spanned by a +rainbow." + +The days lengthened into weeks, Graydon coming every Friday afternoon, +and wondering slightly at the demurely radiant face that greeted +him. "Truly," he thought, "in the words of the old hymn she 'puts a +cheerful courage on.'" + +At times, however, she would be a little pensive. Then his tones would +have a greater depth and gentleness, and his sympathy was very sweet, +although she felt a little guilty because she was in no need of it. +She could stifle her compunction by thinking: + +"There was such a long, weary time when I did need it, and was +desolate because of its absence, that I must have a little now to +offset those gray, lonely days." + +She had thought she loved him before, but as she saw him patiently and +unselfishly seeking to brighten her life in every possible way, with +no better hope than that at some time in the indefinite future she +might give him what was left of her heart after the old fire had +died out, her former affection seemed as pale and shadowy as she was +herself when first she learned that she had a woman's heart. + +Late one Friday afternoon he startled her by asking abruptly, "Madge, +what has become of that fellow out West?" + +"Please don't speak about that again," she faltered. + +"Oh, well, certainly not, if you don't wish me to; but I thought if +there was any chance--" + +"Chance for what, Graydon?" + +"Confound him! I don't suppose I could do anything. I want to make you +happy, Madge. I feel just like taking the idiot by the ear, bringing +him to you, and saying, 'There, you unconscionable fool, look at +that girl--' You know what I mean. I'm suggesting the spirit, not the +letter of my action. But, Madge, believe me, if I could help you at +any cost to myself--" + +"Is your regard for me, of which you spoke, so slight that you could +go to work deliberately to bring that man to me?" + +"There is no regard about it. My _love_ for you is so great that I +would do anything to make you happy." + +"Madge," called the voice of Mrs. Muir, who was following them with +her husband, "where are you and Graydon?" + +"Here!" cried Madge, springing up. Then she gave her hand to him, +and he saw that there were tears in her eyes. "Graydon," she said, +"I couldn't ask a stronger test than that. I can't tell you how I +appreciate it. I shall never impose any such task upon you." + +"Don't hesitate on my account. I admit that it would be harder than +one of the labors of Hercules, but you command me now and always. +Nothing is so bad as to know that you are unhappy." + +"Do I seem very unhappy?" + +"No, you brave little woman! but who could guess the truth if you +were? My knowledge is not derived from your usual manner." + +"It is a pity if I cannot be patient when you set me so good an +example," she said, as Mr. and Mrs. Muir approached. + +When they were alone again for a brief time during the ramble, Graydon +resumed: "I wish to make sure of your confidence, Madge; I wish you to +take me at my word. I don't think you have been quite just to me. I am +not a cold-blooded fellow, and, no doubt, am given to impressions and +impulses; but I think constancy is one of my traits. I never wavered +in my affection for you until I misunderstood you immediately after +my return, and then that very misapprehension kept me worried and +perplexed much of the time. I was true to Miss Wildmere as long +as there was anything to be constant to, and yet for years she was +scarcely anything more than a fancy, a preference. Since my return +you know just what she was to me. Nothing is more certain than that I +never loved her. I did not know what the word meant then. There is a +chapter in your history that I don't know much about, but I am sure +I could make good my word to do anything within my power to bring you +happiness. I have imagined that a little management, guided by tact +and absolute fidelity--" + +"Don't say anything more about that, Graydon," she said, firmly. "Not +if my heart broke a thousand times would I seek a man or permit him to +be sought for me in any such way as you suggest." + +"That's settled, then." + +"That's settled forever." + +"Well, in that case," he said, with a short, nervous laugh, "there may +be a chance for me within the next hundred years." + +"Are you so willing to take a woman who had once given her heart to +another?" + +"I don't know anything about '_a_ woman.' I would take _you_, Madge, +under any circumstances that I can imagine." + +"Graydon," said Mrs. Muir, suddenly appearing around a turn in the +walk, "what is the matter with you? Why can't you and Madge keep with +us more? For some reason we are getting separated all the time. This +is a lovely spot. Let us sit down here like a family party and have a +little music. I just long to get back home, so that Madge may sing +for us as much as we wish. Here she would attract the attention of +strangers, and that ends the matter; and so I feel as if I had a rare +singing bird, but never a song. In this secluded place no others will +hear you, Madge." + +"Very well. What do you wish? I feel like singing." + +"Make your own choice." + +"I'll give you an old song, then, about friendship;" and with notes +rivalling those of a hermit-thrush that had been chanting vespers in +the dense woods near by, she sang a quaint melody, her voice wakening +faint echoes from the adjacent rocks. When she came to the last lines +she gave Graydon a shy glance, which seemed to signify, "These words +are for you." + + "Kinder than Love is my true friend. + He'd die for me if that would end + My sorrow. Yes, would live for me-- + Suffer and live unselfishly, + And that for him would harder be + Than at my feet to die for me." + +As she ceased she again encountered his steadfast gaze with a glance +which said, "Have I not done you justice?" + +He was satisfied, and felt that the presence of his relatives had +secured a sweeter answer than might otherwise have been given--an +answer that contained all he could hope for then. + +"Humph!" ejaculated Mr. Muir, very discontentedly. + +"What an appreciative remark, Henry!" said Madge, laughing. + +"It was; and it expressed my views," said the banker, dryly. "Come, +Mary, let us go home to supper." + +"Now, I think the song very pretty," said Mary, "only there are no +such people nowadays." + +As Madge followed with Graydon she continued laughing softly to +herself. + +"You are not hiding vexation at Henry?" Graydon asked. + +"Oh, no, I understand Henry. You think I am always hiding something. +You at least should have understood my song." + +"Yes, Madge," he said, gravely, "and you also made it clear that you +understood me. I am content." + +She laughed, imitating the ejaculation. + +"Henry's 'humph!' was too rich for anything. It meant volumes. What +sentimental fools he thinks us to be!" + +"Henry could no more understand such a song than sing it," was +Graydon's somewhat irritable response. + +"No matter. Such men are invaluable in the world. My nature is very +much in accord with Henry's, and so far as he has had experience, he +is very sound." + +"With your saving clause in mind, I agree with you perfectly about +Henry, but not about yourself. Your nature, Madge, like your voice, +has a wide compass." + +With this one exception there was no other spoken reference during +the remainder of the summer to the attitude toward her which he now +maintained in thought and action. The season was drawing to a close, +and she had enjoyed the latter part of it beyond her fondest hopes and +expectations. She made a few congenial acquaintances at the hotel, and +with them never wearied in exploring the paths that converged at the +great caravansary, and in visiting the various outlooks from which +the same wide landscapes presented ever-changing aspects. Chief among +these friends was a middle-aged artist, who was deeply imbued with the +genius of the mountains, and who had no little skill in catching and +idealizing the lovely effects he saw. He proved her best guide, for he +had long haunted the region, and the majority of the paths were due to +his taste and explorations. In such congenial tasks he acted as agent +for the sagacious and liberal owner of the vast property, who was so +wise that in his dealings with nature he employed one that loved and +understood her. To Madge the artist showed his favorite nooks and +haunts, where the wild beauty of the hills dwelt like a living +presence, and the scenery not yet painted which, from certain +standpoints, almost composed itself on the canvas. Thus he taught +her to see the region somewhat as he did, and to find in the general +beauty definite, natural pictures that were like flowers in the +wilderness. She greatly enjoyed watching with him the wonderful +moonlight effects on the vast shaggy sides and summit of High Peak, +that reared its almost untrodden solitudes opposite the hotel. This +mountain was the favorite haunt of fantastic clouds. Sometimes in the +form of detached mists they would pass up rapidly like white spectres +from the vast chasm of the Kaaterskill. Again a heavy mass would +settle on the whole length of the mountain, the outlines of which +would be lost, and the whole take the semblance of one vast height +crowned with the moon's radiance. Nothing fascinated Madge more than +to observe how the artist caught the essential elements of beauty in +the changing cloud scenery and reproduced the effects on a few +inches of canvas, and in her better appreciation of similar scenery +thereafter, she saw how true it is that art may be the interpreter of +nature. + +The fine music and varied entertainments at the house served also to +beguile her time. On one occasion the young people were arranging a +series of tableaux, and she was asked to personate Jephtha's daughter. +When the curtain rose on her lovely face and large, dark eyes, the +Hebrew maiden and her pathetic history grew into vivid reality against +the dim background of the past. + +After all, the time that intervened between Monday and Friday +afternoon was spent in waiting, and even the hours toward the last +were counted. The expression in Graydon's dark blue eyes was always +the same when he greeted her, and recalled the line: + + "Kinder than Love is my true friend." + +On Saturdays they took long tramps, seeking objective points far +beyond the range of ordinary ramblers. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE END OF THE WOOING + + +Madge had often turned wistful eyes toward High Peak, and on the last +Saturday before their final return to the city she said to Graydon, +"Dare we attempt it? Perhaps if we gave the day to the climb, and took +it leisurely--" + +"There's no 'perhaps' about it. We'll go if you wish. I should like +nothing better than to get lost with you." + +"There is no danger of getting lost," she replied, hastily. "The hotel +must be visible from the whole line of its summit, and I am told that +there is a path to the top of the mountain." + +"I will be ready in half an hour," he said. + +It was a lovely day in early September. The air was soft, yet cool and +bracing enough to make climbing agreeable. Graydon had a lunch basket, +which he could sling over his shoulder, well filled, and ordered a +carriage. "There is no need of our tramping over the intervening miles +of dusty roads which must be passed before we begin our climb," he +said, "and the distance we ride will make a pleasant drive for Mary +and the children." + +Madge and Graydon reached the summit without any great difficulty, +Mary having returned with the assurance that they would find their own +way back to the hotel. + +As the hours passed, Graydon began to gather more hope than he had +dared to entertain since his shattered theory had so disheartened him. +In spite of his fancied knowledge about Madge, it was hard to believe +she was very unhappy that morning. There was an elasticity to her +step, a ring of genuine gladness in her tones and laugh, which did not +suggest that she was consciously carrying a heavy burden. + +"She certainly is the bravest and most unselfish girl I ever +imagined," he thought, as they left the highest point after enjoying +the view. "With an art so inimitable as to be artless, she has tried +to give me enjoyment. Instead of regarding herself as one to be +entertained, she has been pouring forth words, fancies, snatches +of song like sparkling wine, and I am exhilarated instead of being +wearied." + +When at last they found a spring at which to eat their lunch, he told +her so, concluding, "This mountain air does you good, Madge." + +"So do you," she replied, with a piquant nod. "Don't be conceited when +I tell you that you are good company." + +"No; but I can't help being happy." + +"Oh, indeed! It doesn't seem to take much to make you happy." + +"Not very much from you." + +"Pass me a biscuit, Graydon; I want something more substantial than +fine speeches after our climb. Isn't all this truly Arcadian--this +mossy rug on which we have placed our lunch, the trees whispering +about us overhead, and the spring there bubbling over with something +concerning which it murmurs so contentedly?" + +"I wonder what they think of us! I can imagine one thing." + +"You are always imagining. The idea of your being a banker! Well, +there is a loud whisper from the trees. What was remarked?" + +"That yonder little girl doesn't look so very unhappy." + +"No, Graydon," she said, earnestly, "you make Saturdays and Sundays +very bright to me. No girl ever had a truer friend than you are +becoming." + +"Have become, Madge." + +"Graydon," she said, eagerly, as if hastening from dangerous ground, +"the hotel is there just opposite to us. Don't you think we could +scramble down the mountain here, and return by Kaaterskill Clove and +the Falls? It would be such fun, and save such a very long distance!" + +"We'll try it," he said. + +"Come," she resumed, brusquely, "you are spoiling me. You say yes to +everything. If you don't think it safe or best you must not humor me." + +"We can soon learn whether it's safe and practicable, and there is no +danger of losing our way. We have only to return over the mountain in +order to strike the path somewhere at right angles." + +"Let us hasten, then. I am in the mood to end our sojourn in the +Catskills by an hour or two of contact with nature absolutely +primitive. The scenes we shall pass through will be so pleasant to +think of by a winter fire." + +"Winter fire? That's capital! You are not going back to Santa Barbara, +Madge?" + +"I haven't promised that--I haven't promised anything." + +"No; I have done all the promising." + +"You did so of your own free will." + +"And of my own free will shall keep my promises. No, don't let us +leave any remnants of our lunch. Should we get lost you will want +something more substantial than fine speeches." + +"I shall indeed." + +Graydon filled from the spring the bottle which had contained milk; +and then packing his little hamper he led the way downward, over +and through obstacles which often involved no little difficulty, and +sometimes almost danger. + +"May I help you all I please?" he asked. + +"Yes, when I can't help myself." + +Then he began to rejoice over the ruggedness of the way, which made it +proper to take her hand so often, and at times even to lift her over a +fallen tree. + +"What fun it is!" cried Madge. + +"The best I ever had," he replied, promptly. But they had not realized +the difficulty of their attempt; for when little more than half-way +to the foot of the mountain they came to a ledge down which there +appeared no place for safe descent. As they were skirting this +precipice perilously near the edge, he holding Madge's hand, some +loose debris gave way beneath his feet. + +Instead of instinctively clinging to Madge's hand, even in the act of +falling he threw it up and around a small tree, which she grasped, and +regained her footing, while he went down and disappeared. + +At first she was so appalled that she could do no more than clutch the +tree convulsively and look with blank horror at the spot where she had +seen him last. Then came the thought, "His life may now depend upon +me." + +The distance he had fallen would not be necessarily fatal, and below +the ledge there were low scrubby trees that might have broken the +impetus of his descent. She called in tones that might have evoked +an answer even from the lips of death; then, with a resolution in her +pallid face which nothing could daunt, she sought to reach her side. + +At first Graydon was utterly unconscious. At last, like a dim light +entering a darkened room, thought and memory began to revive. He +remembered that he had been at Madge's side, and had fallen; he had +grasped at branches of trees as he passed through them, and then all +had become dark. He tried to speak, to call his companion, but found +be could not. He almost doubted whether he was alive in the flesh. If +he were he must have received some terrible injury that had caused a +strange paralysis. + +His confused thoughts finally centred wholly on Madge. Had she fallen? +The thought of her, perhaps injured, possibly lying unconscious or +dead near him, and he helpless, caused a dull, vague dread, like a +cold tide, to overwhelm his very soul. He tried to move, to spring +up, but only his mind appeared free. Then he thought he recognized +her voice calling in the distance. Soon, with alternations of hope +and fear, he heard her steps and voice draw nearer. She had evidently +found a way down the ledge, and was coming along its base toward +him--coming swiftly, almost recklessly. + +She was at his side. Her low, terror-stricken cry chilled his heart. +Was he dead? and was it his soul only, lingering in the body, that was +cognizant of all this? + +Her hand was on his pulse, then inside his vest against his heart. + +"Oh," she moaned, "can he be dying or dead? I can't find his pulse, +nor does his heart seem to beat. He is so pale, so deathly pale, even +to his lips." + +He knew that she was lifting him into a different and easier position, +and wondered at the muscular power she exerted, even under excitement. + +"Why, why," she exclaimed in horror, "he is cold, strangely cold! His +hands and brow are almost like ice, and wet with the dew of death." + +She was not aware of the fact that extreme coldness and a clammy +perspiration would be among the results of such a severe shock. + +"Graydon," she gasped, "Graydon!" Then after a moment: "O God, if he +should never know!" + +She chafed his hands and wrists, opened the lunch basket, and found +that the bottle containing water was not broken, for he felt drops +dashed on his face, and his lips moistened; but the same stony +paralysis enchained him. Then she sent out her voice for help, and +there was agony, terror, and heart-break in her cry. + +Realizing the futility of this on the lonely mountainside, she soon +ceased, and again sought, with almost desperate energy, to restore +him, crying and moaning meanwhile in a way that smote his heart. At +last she threw herself on his breast with the bitter cry: + +"Oh, Graydon, Graydon, are you dying? Will you _never_ know? Oh, my +heart's true love, shall I never have a chance to tell you that it +was you I loved--you only! It was for you I went away alone to die, I +feared. For you I struggled back to life, and toiled and prayed that +I might be your fair ideal; and now you may never know. Graydon, +Graydon, I would give you the very blood out of my heart--O God, I +can't restore him!" she moaned, in a choking voice, and then he knew +from her dead weight upon his breast that she had fainted. + +This mental anguish and the effort he put forth to respond to +these words caused great beads of sweat to start out upon his face. +Suddenly, as if a giant hand was lifted, the effects of the shock +resulting from his fall passed away. He opened his eyes, and there was +Madge, with her face buried upon his breast, in brief oblivion from +fears that threatened to crush at once hope and life. + +To his great joy he found that he could move. Feebly, and with great +difficulty, he lifted her head and tried to regain his feet. He found +this impossible, and soon realized that his leg was broken. He now +saw that he must act wisely and carefully, or their plight would be +serious indeed; and yet his mind was in such a tumult of immeasurable +joy at his discovery that he would not in the least regret the +accident, if assured of her safety. + +At last, in response to his efforts, she began to revive. The sense +of responsibility, the necessity for action on her part, had been +so great immediately before she had fainted under the stress of one +overwhelming fear, that her mind, even during unconsciousness, may +have put forth effort to regain its hold upon sense. She found herself +leaning against a prostrate tree, and Graydon sitting near, speaking +to her in soothing and encouraging tones. + +In response to her bewildered, troubled look of inquiry, he said, +cheerfully, and in natural tones, "Don't worry, Madge, or be +frightened." + +"What has happened, Graydon?" + +"I'll tell you what I know, and you must supply the rest. We were +proceeding along that ledge above us, and trying to find a safe place +to climb down." + +A slow deep color began to take the place of her pallor, showing that +her own memory was supplying all that had occurred. + +"You know I fell, Madge. Thank God, I did not carry you down with me!" + +"Any other man would," she said, almost brusquely. "You threw my hand +back around a tree." + +"Did I?" exclaimed Graydon, very innocently and gladly. "Well, +everything became very confused after that. I must have been +unconscious. I do remember grasping at the branches as I passed +through these low trees above us--" + +"You must have caught one of them, Graydon," she said, eagerly, +turning toward him again, "for a large limb had broken off and was +lying upon you." + +"Was it so? Perhaps I owe it a good turn, for it may have so broken +my fall as to have saved my life. Well, in some way, you, true, brave +little girl, you must have reached me, and, finding that you could not +restore me, and imagining I was dead or dying, you fainted yourself +from the nervous shock of it all. When I recovered the use of my +senses I found evidence that you had been trying to revive me. Now, +Madge, we must both be brave and sensible. We must regain the full +possession of our wits as soon as possible. Can you be very brave and +sensible (to use your favorite word) if I tell you something?" + +"Yes, Graydon," she said. "I can do anything, now that I know you are +going to live." + +"I am very much alive, and shall be thoroughly conscious of the fact +for some time to come. You must keep perfectly cool and rational, for +what has happened is a very serious affair under the circumstances." +Her scarlet face was turned from him again. "Madge," he concluded, in +quiet tones, "I've broken my leg." + +"Is that all?" she said, with a look of intense relief. + +"Isn't that enough? I'm helpless." + +"I'm not," and she sprang to her feet "Why, Graydon, it might have +been a hundred-fold worse. I thought it was immeasurably worse," she +said, suppressing a sob. "You might have been killed. See how far +you fell! I feared you might have received some terrible internal +injury--" + +"I have; but that's a chronic affair, as you know," he interrupted, +laughing. + +[Illustration: "SO YOU IMAGINE I SHALL SOON BE MAKING LOVE TO ANOTHER +GIRL."] + +His mirth and allusion did more to restore her than all else, for he +appeared the same friend that she thought she had lost. + +"Now that it is so evident that you will survive all your injuries," +she resumed, with an answering laugh, "I am myself again. You direct +me what to do." + +"I shall, indeed, have to depend on you almost wholly; and the fact +that another must look to you in such a strait will do more to +keep you up than all cordials and stimulants. I can do very little +myself--" + +"Forgive me, Graydon. You know I am not indifferent. Are you in much +pain?" and her voice was very gentle. + +"Not yet. You must act contrary to your instincts for once, and exert +all your ingenuity to attract attention. First, we must have a fire; +meanwhile I shall light a cigar, which will help me to think and +banish the impression that we are lost babes in the woods. The smoke, +you see, will draw eyes to this spot--the smoke of the fire, I mean." + +"I'm following you correctly." + +"You must have followed me very bravely, heroic little woman that you +are! You are indeed unlike other girls, who would never have reached +me except by tumbling after--" + +"Come, no more reminiscences till you are safe at the hotel, and your +leg mended." + +"Very well. I direct, but you command. As soon as we have a column +of smoke ascending from this point you must try to find an open space +near here, and wave something white as a signal of distress." + +He had scarcely concluded before she was at work. The prostrate tree +against which he had managed to place her at such pain to his broken +limb served as a back-log, and soon a column of smoke was ascending. +At times she would turn a shy, half-doubting, half-questioning glance +at him, but he would smile so naturally and speak so frankly that the +suspicion that he had heard her words almost passed from her mind. + +"Madge," he said, "in finding an outlook toward the hotel or valley, +don't go far away, if possible. It makes me awfully nervous to think +of you climbing alone." + +She found a projecting rock beneath them within calling distance, and +on an extemporized pole she fastened the napkins. At his suggestion +she waved them only downward and upward, at the same time sending out +her powerful voice from time to time in a cry for help. + +He, left alone, sometimes groaned from an unusually severe twinge of +pain, and again laughed softly to himself over the situation. He knew +that the question of their being sought and found was only one of +time, and he would have been willing to have had all his bones broken +should this have been needful to secure the knowledge which now +thrilled his very soul with gladness. The past grew perfectly clear, +and the pearl of a woman who had given herself to him so long ago +gained a more priceless value with every moment's thought, "Ah, +sweet Madge! I'm the blessed idiot you loved and toiled for at Santa +Barbara! I shouldn't have believed that such a thing could happen in +this humdrum world." + +Nor would it seem that the attention of even a fraction of that great +world could be obtained. The shadows of evening began to gather, and +Madge, at Graydon's call, returned, wearied and somewhat discouraged. + +"Cheer up," he said. "It is only a question of time. We shall soon be +missed, and our signals will be more effective when it is dark. See, +we shall not starve. I have been getting supper for you. Keeping the +remnants of our lunch wasn't a bad idea, was it?" + +"Keeping up your courage and mine is a better one. Graydon, I fear you +are suffering very much." + +"Oh, Madge, armies of men have broken their legs! That's nothing but a +little disagreeable prose, while this adventure with you is something +to talk and laugh over all our lives. I've cut my boot off and +bandaged my leg as well as I could, and am now hungry. That's a good +sign. I shall be positively hilarious if you make as good supper as +this meagre spread permits. Take a little water, for your throat must +be parched. You will have to drink it from the bottle, Pat's fashion, +for my rubber cup is broken." + +"Indeed, a little water is all I want at present, and I must gather +wood for the fire before it is darker." + +"Very well," he said, laughing; "supper shall wait for you." + +The vicinity appeared as if never before visited, and there was an +abundance of dead and decaying wood lying about. When she had secured +a large quantity of this she came and sat down by the fire, and said, +"I will take a little supper now, and then it will be so dark that we +can signal in some other way." + +"Madge," said Graydon, earnestly, "it has cut me to the heart to lie +helplessly here and see you doing work so unsuitable." + +"Nothing could be more suitable under the circumstances. You do think +we shall be found soon? Oh, I'm so worried about you!" + +"More, then, than I am about myself. I shall have to play invalid for +some time. Won't you be my nurse occasionally?" + +"Yes, Graydon, all I can." + +"Why, then, don't worry about me at all. The prospect makes me fairly +happy. Come, now, eat the whole of that sandwich." + +She complied, looking thoughtfully into the fire meanwhile. By the +light of the flickering blaze he saw the trouble and worry pass from +her brow and the expression of her face grow as quiet and contented as +that of a child's. At last she said, "Well, this does seem cosey and +companionable, in spite of everything. There, forgive me, Graydon; I +forgot for the moment that you were in pain." + +"Was I? I forgot it, too. Sitting there in the firelight, you +suggested the sweetest picture I ever hope to see." + +"You can't be _in extremis_ when you begin to compliment." + +"Don't you wish to know what the picture was?" + +"Oh, yes, if it will help you pass the time!" + +"I saw you sitting by a hearth, and I thought, 'If that hearth were +mine it would be the loveliest picture the world had known.' Now you +see what an egotist I am. You look so enchanting in that firelight +that I cannot resist--I would try so hard to be worthy of you, Madge. +Make your own terms again, as I said once to you before." + +"My own terms?" she repeated, turning a sudden and searching glance +upon him. "Then tell me, did you hear what I said this afternoon when +I first found you?" + +He hesitated a moment, and then said, firmly: "Yes, every word; but, +Madge, you must not punish me for what I could not help. It would not +be right." + +"Could you hear me and yet--" + +"I could hear you and yet could not move a muscle until you fainted, +and then my intense mental excitement and solicitude must have broken +the paralysis caused by the shock of my fall. Oh, Madge, look at me! +Only a false pride can come between us now. My love is not worthy to +be compared with yours, but it is genuine, and it will--it _will_ last +as long as I do. I shall bless this accident and all the pain I must +suffer if they bring you to me." + +She sprang to his side, and putting her arm around his neck said, +"Graydon, on the evening after your return I told you I couldn't be +your sister. You know why now, and you uttered these words, 'I shall +have to take you as you are if I ever find out.' I meant to win you +if I could, but only by being such a girl as I thought you would love. +Now you know the mystery of the little ghost, and you can bring to me +that 'idiot' who didn't return my love, as often as you choose." + +"Thank Heaven for what I escaped! Thank God for what I have won!" he +exclaimed. + +"Won? Nonsense! _You_ have been won, not I. Oh, Graydon, wouldn't you +have been amazed and horrified if you had been told, years ago, that +the little ghost would go deliberately to work to woo a man and take +him from another girl? Think how dreadful it sounds! but you shall now +know the worst." + +"It's music that will fill my life with gladness. How exquisitely fine +your nature is, that you could do this with such absolute maidenly +reserve! Suppose I had become Stella Wildmere's bondman?" + +"I should have gone back to Santa Barbara, and kept my secret." + +"Horrible!" + +"I said you knew all, but I am mistaken. Now, don't be shocked back +into your kind of unconsciousness again. I did another horrid thing. +I listened and learned about the plot by which Arnault meant to +bring Miss Wildmere to a decision against you;" and she told him the +circumstances, and what had passed between herself and Henry. + +His arm tightened around her almost convulsively. "Madge," he cried, +"you have not only brought me happiness--you have saved me from a +bitter, lifelong self-reproach far worse than poverty. How can I ever +show sufficient devotion in return for all this?" + +"By being sensible, and telling me how to make signals, now that it is +as dark as it will be this moonlight night." + +"Let me lean on you, as I ever shall figuratively hereafter. We will +go down to the outlook you found, build another fire, and wave burning +brands." + +This was done. Henry Muir, who had grown very solicitous, saw their +signals, and promptly organized a rescuing party. A wood-road led well +up toward their position, and with the aid of some employĂ©s of the +house he at last rescued them. Graydon was weak and exhausted from +pain by the time he reached the hotel, yet felt that his happiness had +been purchased at very slight cost. The next day he was taken to his +city home, and Madge filled the days of his convalescence with such +varied entertainment that he threatened to break his leg again. She +had so trained her voice that she read or sang with almost tireless +ease. To furnish home music, to shine in the light of her own hearth, +had been the dream of her ambition; and to the man she had won she +made that hearth the centre of the gentle force which controlled and +blessed his life. + +But little further remains to be said concerning the other characters +of this story. The severe lesson received by Stella Wildmere had a +permanent effect upon her character. It did not result in a very +high type of womanhood, for the limitations of her nature scarcely +permitted this; but it brought about decided changes for the better. +She was endowed with fair abilities and a certain hard, practical +sense, which enabled her to see the folly of her former scheme of +life. Blind, inconsiderate selfishness, which asked only, "What do I +wish the present moment?" had brought humiliation and disaster, and, +as her father had suggested, she possessed too much mind to repeat +that blunder. She recognized that she could not ignore natural +laws and duties and go very far in safety. Therefore, instead of +querulousness and repining, or showing useless resentment toward +her father for misfortunes which she had done nothing to avert, she +stepped bravely and helpfully to his side, and amid all the chaos of +the financial storm that was wrecking him he was happier than he had +been for years. Her beloved jewelry, and everything that could be +legally saved from their dismantled home, was disposed of to the best +advantage. Then very modest apartments were taken in a suburb, and +both she and her father began again. He obtained a clerkship at a +small salary, and she aided her mother in making every dollar go as +far as possible. + +Arnault had thought, under the impulse of his pride, that he could +renounce her forever, but found himself mistaken. She would not depart +from such heart as he possessed, nor could he break the spell of +her fascination. His interest grew so absorbing that he kept himself +informed about the changes she was passing through, and her manner +of meeting them. As a result, his practical soul was filled with +admiration, and he felt that she of all others would be the wife for +a man embarked on the uncertain tides of Wall Street. At last he wrote +to her and renewed his offer. The reply was characteristic. + +"Your offer comes too late. If, instead of being one of the principal +actors in that humiliating little drama of my life, you had stood by +me patiently and faithfully, I would have given you at once my deepest +gratitude and, eventually, my love. I did not deserve such constancy, +but I would have rewarded it to the extent of my ability. You thought +I was mercenary. I was, and have been punished; but you forget that +you made my mercenary spirit your ally, and kept me from becoming +engaged to the man whom you well knew that I preferred. My regard +for him is not so deep, however, but that I shall survive and face +my altered fortunes bravely. If you had been kind to me during those +bitter days--if you had kept my father from failure, instead of +deserting him after he had done his best for you--he did do his best +for you--I should have valued _you_ more than your wealth, and proved +it by my life. I have since learned that I am not afraid of poverty, +and that I must find truer friends." + +Arnault, like so many others, turned from what "might have been" to +his pursuit of gold, but it had lost its brightness forever. + +An old admirer of Stella's, a plain, sturdy business man, to whom she +had scarcely given a thought in her palmy days, eventually renewed his +attentions, and won as much love as the girl probably could have given +to any one. By his aid she restored her father's broken fortunes and +established them on a modest but secure basis, and she proved to her +husband a sensible wife, always recognizing that in promoting his best +interests and happiness she secured her own. + +Dr. Sommers is still the genial physician and the Izaak Walton of +the Catskills. Mr. and Mrs. Wendall are "plodding toward home" with a +resignation that is almost cheerful. + +Henry Muir continues devoted to business, and his wife is devoted +to him. He rarely permits a suitable opportunity to pass without +remarking that the two sisters are the "most sensible women in the +world." + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12876 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d80a71 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12876 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12876) diff --git a/old/12876-8.txt b/old/12876-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c67b498 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12876-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13433 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Young Girl's Wooing, by E. P. Roe + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Young Girl's Wooing + +Author: E. P. Roe + +Release Date: July 10, 2004 [eBook #12876] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A YOUNG GIRL'S WOOING*** + + +E-text prepared by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy, Cathy Smith, and Project +Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +The Works of E. P. Roe + +Volume Sixteen + +A YOUNG GIRL'S WOOING + +Illustrated + +1884 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "ARE YOU SO BENT UPON WINNING HER, GRAYDON?"] + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I + A Crescent of a Girl + + CHAPTER II + Graydon Muir + + CHAPTER III + The Parting + + CHAPTER IV + Effort + + CHAPTER V + Achievement + + CHAPTER VI + The Secret of Beauty + + CHAPTER VII + Not a Miracle + + CHAPTER VIII + Rival Girls + + CHAPTER IX + The Meeting + + CHAPTER X + Old Ties Broken + + CHAPTER XI + "I Fear I Shall Fail" + + CHAPTER XII + The Promptings of Miss Wildmere's Heart + + CHAPTER XIII + "You Will Be Disappointed" + + CHAPTER XIV + Miss Wildmere's Strategy + + CHAPTER XV + Perplexed and Beguiled + + CHAPTER XVI + Declaration of Independence + + CHAPTER XVII + Not Strong in Vain + + CHAPTER XVIII + Make Your Terms + + CHAPTER XIX + An Object for Sympathy + + CHAPTER XX + "Veiled Wooing" + + CHAPTER XXI + Suggestive Tones + + CHAPTER XXII + Disheartening Confidences + + CHAPTER XXIII + The Filial Martyr + + CHAPTER XXIV + "I'll See How You Behave" + + CHAPTER XXV + Gossamer Threads + + CHAPTER XXVI + Mrs. Muir's Account + + CHAPTER XXVII + Madge's Story + + CHAPTER XXVIII + Dispassionate Lovers + + CHAPTER XXIX + The Enemies' Plans + + CHAPTER XXX + The Strong Man Unmanned + + CHAPTER XXXI + Checkmate + + CHAPTER XXXII + Madge is Matter-of-Fact + + CHAPTER XXXIII + The End of Diplomacy + + CHAPTER XXXIV + Broken Lights and Shadows + + CHAPTER XXXV + A New Experiment + + CHAPTER XXXVI + Madge Alden's Ride + + CHAPTER XXXVII + "You are Very Blind" + + CHAPTER XXXVIII + "Certainly I Refuse You" + + CHAPTER XXXIX + "My True Friend" + + CHAPTER XL + The End of the Wooing + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + "_Are you so bent upon winning her, Graydon?_" + + _"There, now, be rational" cried the young girl_ + + _Her lips were parted, her pose, grace itself_ + + "_Promise me you will take a long rest_" + + "_So you imagine I shall soon be making love to another girl?_" + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A CRESCENT OF A GIRL + + +When Madge Alden was seventeen years of age an event occurred which +promised to be the misfortune of her life. At first she was almost +overwhelmed and knew not what to do. She was but a young and +inexperienced girl, and for a year or more had been regarded as an +invalid. + +Madge Alden was an orphan. Four years prior to the opening of our +story she had lost her mother, her surviving parent, and since had +resided with her elder sister Mary, who was several years her +senior, and had married Henry Muir, a merchant of New York City. This +gentleman had cordially united with his wife in offering Madge a home, +and his manner toward the young girl, as far as his absorbed and busy +life permitted, had been almost paternal. He was a quiet, reticent +man, who had apparently concentrated every faculty of soul and body on +the problem of commercial success. Trained to business from boyhood, +he had allowed it to become his life, and he took it very seriously. +It was to him an absorbing game--his vocation, and not a means to some +ulterior end. He had already accumulated enough to maintain his family +in affluence, but he no more thought of retiring from trade than would +a veteran whist-player wish to throw up a handful of winning cards. +The events of the world, the fluctuations in prices, over which he had +no control, brought to his endeavor the elements of chance, and it was +his mission to pit against these uncertainties untiring industry and +such skill and foresight as he possessed. + +His domestic life was favorable to his ruling passion. Mary Alden, at +the time of her marriage, was a quiet girl, whose early life had been +shadowed by sorrow. She had seen her father pass away in his prime, +and her mother become in consequence a sad and failing woman. +The young girl rallied from these early years of depression into +cheerfulness, and thoroughly enjoyed what some might regard as a +monotonous life; but she never developed any taste for the diversions +of society. Thus it may be surmised that Mr. Muir encountered no +distractions after business hours. He ever found a good dinner +awaiting him, and his wife held herself in readiness to do what +he wished during the evening, so far as the claims of the children +permitted. Therefore there were few more contented men in the city +than he, and the name of Henry Muir had become a synonym among his +acquaintances for methodical business habits. + +In character and antecedents his younger brother, Graydon Muir, who +was also an inmate of his family, presented many marked contrasts to +the elder man. He had received a liberal education, and had graduated +at a city college. He had developed into one of the best products +of metropolitan life, and his defects were chiefly due to the +circumstances of his lot. During his academic course he had been known +as an athletic rather than a bookish man, and had left his Alma Mater +with an Apollo-like physique. At the same time he had developed fine +literary tastes, and was well informed, even if he had not gone very +deeply into the classics and the sciences that were remote from the +business career which he had chosen. After a brief interval of foreign +travel he had entered his brother's office, and was schooling his +buoyant, pleasure-loving temperament to the routine of trade. When +business hours were over, however, Graydon gave himself up to the +gratification of his social tastes. His vitality and flow of spirits +were so immense that wherever he went he always caused a breezy ripple +of excitement. Even veteran society girls found something exhilarating +in the mirthful flash of his blue eyes, and to be whirled through +a waltz on his strong arm was a pleasure not declined by reigning +belles. Many looks that to other men might have been the arrows of +Cupid were directed toward him, but they glanced harmlessly from +his polished armor. Society was to him what business was to his +brother,--an arena in which he easily manifested his power. At +the same time he was a manly fellow, and had no taste for corner +flirtations or the excitement of drawing perilously near to a +committal with those who would have responded to marked attentions. +The atmosphere he loved was that of general and social gayety. The +girls that he singled out for his especial regard were noted for their +vivacity and intelligence, as well as their beauty. Meanwhile he had +won a reputation for his good-natured attentions to "wall-flowers." +Such kindly efforts were rarely made at the promptings of conscience. +The truth was, he enjoyed life so fully himself that he disliked to +see any one having a dismal time. It gave him genuine pleasure to come +to a plain-featured, neglected damsel, and set all her blood tingling +by a brief whirl in a dance or a breezy chat that did her good, body +and soul, so devoid of satire or patronage was the attention. His +superb health and tireless strength, his perfect familiarity with the +usages of society, and his graceful decision of action made everything +he did appear as easy and natural as the beat of a bird's wing upon +the air, and in his large circle it was felt that no entertainment was +complete without his presence. + +Graydon was still attending college when Madge Alden first became +associated with him in her home-life. She was then but thirteen, and +was small and slight for her age. The first evening when she came down +to dinner, shrinking in the shadow of her sister, lingered ever in her +memory. Even now it gave her pain to recall her embarrassment when she +was compelled to take her seat in the full blaze of the light and +meet the eyes of the one to whom she felt that she must appear so +very plain and unattractive. Clad in the deepest mourning, pallid +from grief and watching at her mother's bedside, coming from a life of +seclusion and sorrow, sensitive in the extreme, she had barely reached +that age when awkwardness is in the ascendant, and the quiet city +home seemed the centre of a new and strange world. One other thing she +remembered in that initial chapter of her life,--the kindly glances +that Graydon Muir bent on the pale crescent of a girl who sat opposite +to him. Even as a child she knew that the handsome young fellow was +not secretly laughing at or criticising her, and before dinner was +over she had ventured upon a shy, grateful glance, in reward for his +good-humored efforts to break the ice. + +There had, in truth, been no ice to break. The child was merely like +a plant that had grown in the shade, and to her the strong, healthful +youth was sunshine. His smile warmed and vivified her chilled nature, +his hearty words and manner were bracing to her over-sensitive and +timid soul, and his unaffected, unforced kindness was so constant that +she gradually came to regard it as one of the best certainties of her +life. She soon learned, however, that behind his sunny good-nature +was a fiery and impatient spirit, ready to manifest itself if he was +chafed beyond a certain point, and so a slight element of fear was +mingled with her childlike affection. + +He had sufficient tact to understand Madge's diffidence, and he knew +that their family life would soon banish it. He welcomed this pale +slip of a girl to their home circle because it gave him pleasure to +pet and rally such a wraith into something like genuine existence. He +also hoped that eventually she would become a source of amusement to +him. Nor was he disappointed. Madge's mind was not colorless, if her +face was, and she gradually began to respond to his mirthfulness, and +to take an interest, intelligent for a child, in what occupied his +thoughts. Kindness creates an atmosphere in which the most sensitive +and diffident natures develop and reveal themselves, and Madge Alden, +who might easily have been chilled into a reticent and dispirited +girl, eventually manifested an unusual versatility of fancy and +thought, acquiring also no slight power of expression. + +Thus Graydon obtained his reward. His brother was a grave and silent +man, to whom few themes could be broached except those of business +and the events and politics of the day in their relation to trade. His +sister-in-law was absorbed in household and family cares, but Madge's +great black eyes responded with quick appreciation to all that he +said, and their merry nonsense often provoked a smile upon even the +face of Mr. Muir. The good-natured sympathy of the young man therefore +passed gradually into a genuine fraternal regard, and he rarely came +home of an evening without bringing flowers, bonbons, or some other +evidence that he had remembered her. Unconsciously to herself, he +became more to her than her sister, who was indulgent in the extreme, +but not very demonstrative. Her shyness disappeared, and his caresses +seemed as natural as those of an elder brother, in which light she +regarded him. + +Thus time passed on, and the girl rapidly approached the stature of +womanhood. Apparently she grew too fast for her slight reserve of +physical strength. She nominally attended a fashionable school, but +was often absent from ill health, and for this reason her sister +permitted her to follow her own moods. Indolence and inanition +accounted largely for her lack of strength. Exercise brought +weariness, and she would not take it. Nothing pleased her more than to +curl up on a lounge with a book; and her sister, seeing that she was +reading most of the time, felt that she was getting an education. To +the busy lady a book was a book, a kind of general fertilizer of +the mind, and as Madge usually took cold when she went out, and was +assuredly acquiring from the multitude of volumes she devoured all +the knowledge a woman needed, she was safer in the evenly heated city +house. The sisters had independent fortunes of their own, and the +great point in Mrs. Muir's mind was that they should live and enjoy +them. If Madge was only sufficiently coddled now while she was +growing, she would get strong eventually; and so the good lady, who +had as much knowledge of hygiene as of Sanscrit, tempted the invalid +with delicacies, permitted her to eat the confectionery that Graydon +brought so often, and generally indulged a nature that needed wise and +firm development. + +Thus Madge lived on, growing more pale and languid with each +succeeding year. The absence in the mountains and at the seashore +which Mr. Muir permitted to his family every summer brought changes +for the better, even though the young girl spent most of the time in a +hammock or reclining in the stern of a sail-boat. She could not escape +the invigoration caused by the mere breathing of pure air, but during +the winters in town she lost all and more than she had gained, and +sunk back into her old apathetic life. + +This life, however, contained two elements which gave some color and +zest to her existence. All through the day she would look forward to +Graydon's return from business, and when she heard his latch-key the +faintest possible color would steal into her cheeks. Up-stairs, two +steps at a time, he would come, kiss her, waltz her about the room +with a strength which scarcely permitted her feet to touch the floor, +then toss her back on the lounge, where she would lie, laughing, +breathless, and happy. With a man's ignorant tolerance he accepted her +character as an invalid, and felt that the least he could do was +to brighten a life which seemed so dismal to him. When he came down +dressed for dinner or some evening engagement, she looked at him with +a frank, admiring pride that amused him immensely. When he returned +earlier than usual he often found her still upon the lounge with her +inevitable book, usually a novel, and then he would take her upon +his lap and call her his "dear little spook, the household ghost that +would soon cease to cast a shadow;" and she, with a languid curiosity, +would easily beguile from him a portrayal of the scenes through which +he had just passed. She cared little for them, but from his stores +of vitality and strength he imparted life to her, and without +understanding why, she simply knew she was happy. + +Apart from her fondness for the unreal scenes presented by the +miscellaneous books she read--scenes all the more unreal because she +had no experience by which to correct them--she had one other taste +which promised well for the future--a sincere love of music. She was +taking lessons, but it was from a superficial teacher, who was content +to give her pretty and showy pieces; and she brought even to this +favorite study the desultory habits which characterized all her +efforts to obtain an education. When she sat down to her piano, +however, nature was her strong ally. Her ear was fine and correct, and +her sensitive, fanciful spirit gave delicacy and originality to her +touch. It scarcely seems possible for one to become a sympathetic +musician without a large degree of imagination and a nature easily +moved by thought and feeling. The young girl's thoughts and feelings +were as yet very vague, not concentrated on definite objects, and yet +so good a connoisseur as Graydon often acknowledged her power, and +would listen with pleased attention to her girlish rendering of music +made familiar to him by the great performers of the day. He enjoyed it +all the more because it was her own interpretation, often incorrect, +but never commonplace or slovenly; and when her fingers wandered among +the keys in obedience to her own impulses he was even more charmed, +although the melody was usually without much meaning. She was also +endowed with the rudiments of a fine voice, and would often strike +notes of surpassing sweetness and power; but her tones would soon +quaver and break, and she complained that it tired her to sing. That +ended the matter, for anything that wearied her was not to be thought +of. + +Thus she had drifted on with time, unconscious of herself, unconscious +of the influences that would bring to pass the decisive events in +the future. She was like multitudes of others who are controlled by +circumstances of their lot until the time comes when a deep personal +experience applies the touchstone to character. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GRAYDON MUIR + + +Madge Alden was almost seventeen, and yet she was in many respects +a child. Scenes portrayed in books had passed before her mind like +pictures, having no definite significance. Mr. Muir was to her like +some of the forces in nature--quiet, unobtrusive, omnipotent--and she +accepted him without thought. Her sister was one whom she could +love easily as a matter of course. She was an indulgent household +providence, who cared for the young girl as she did for her own little +children. If anything was amiss in Madge's wardrobe the elder sister +made it right at once; if Madge had a real or imaginary ailment, Mary +was always ready to prescribe a soothing remedy; and if there was +a cloud in the sky or the wind blew chill she said, "Madge, do be +prudent; you know how easily you take cold." Thus was provided the +hot-house atmosphere in which the tender exotic existed. It could not +be said that she had thrived or bloomed. + +Graydon Muir was the one positive element with which she had come in +contact, and thus far she had always accepted him in the spirit of a +child. He had begun petting her and treating her like a sister when +she was a child. His manner toward her had grown into a habit, which +had its source in his kindly disposition. To him she was but a weak, +sickly little girl, with a dismal present and a more dreary outlook. +Sometimes he mentally compared her with the brilliant girls he met in +society, and especially with one but a little older than Madge, who +appeared a natural queen in the drawing-room. His life abounded in +activity, interests, and pleasures, and if it was his impulse to throw +a little zest into the experiences of those in society who had no +claims upon him, he was still more disposed to cheer and amuse the +invalid in his own home. Moreover, he had become sincerely fond of +her. Madge was neither querulous nor stupid. Although not conceited, +he had the natural vanity of a handsome and successful man, and while +the evident fact that he was such a hero in her eyes amused him, it +also predisposed him to kindly and sympathetic feeling toward her. +He saw that she gave him not only a sisterly allegiance, but also a +richer and fuller tribute, and that in her meagre and shadowed life he +was the brightest element. She tried to do more for him than for any +one else, while she made him feel that as an invalid she could not do +very much, and that he should not expect it. She would often play +for him an hour at a time, and again she would be so languid that no +coaxing could lure her from the sofa. Occasionally she would even read +aloud a few pages with her musical and sympathetic voice, but would +soon throw down the book with an air of exhaustion, and plead that he +would read to her. In her weakness there was nothing repulsive, and +without calculation she made many artless appeals to his strength. He +generously responded, saying to himself, "Poor little thing! she has +a hard time of it. With her great black eyes she might be a beauty if +she only had health and was like other girls; but as it is, she is so +light and pale and limp that I sometimes feel as if I were petting a +wraith." + +Of late she had begun to go out with him a little, he choosing +small and quiet companies among people well known to the Muirs, and +occasionally her sister also went. Her rôle of invalid was carefully +maintained and recognized. Graydon had always prided himself on his +loyalty as an escort; and as long as he was devoted, the neglect of +other young men was welcomed rather than regretted; for, except toward +him, all her old shyness still existed. With the consciousness that he +was caring for her she was well content with some half-secluded nook +of observation, from which she looked out upon scenes that were like +an animated story. She wove fanciful imaginings around those who +attracted her attention, and on her return laughingly discussed +the people who had passed, like players, before her eyes. Graydon +encouraged her to do this, for her ignorance of society made her +remarks original and amusing. He knew the conventional status of every +one they met as accurately as his brother recognized the commercial +value of the securities that passed under his eye, and Madge's +estimates often seemed absurd to the last degree. + +Whenever she went out with Graydon his course was eminently +satisfactory; she never felt herself neglected, while at the same time +she saw that his attentions were welcomed everywhere. She never lost +her serene sense of proprietorship, and only grew more fond of him as +she noted how readily he left the side of beautiful and gifted women +to look after her. He had often laughingly asserted that he went into +society only for amusement, and his course under her own observation +confirmed his words. + +Early in the winter during which our story opens, she had caught a +succession of colds, and one proved so severe and obstinate that her +friends were alarmed, fearing that she was going into a decline. She +slowly rallied, however, but was more frail than ever. Before the gay +season closed, just preceding Lent, Madge received an invitation to a +very large party. Graydon urged her to go, remarking that she had +not yet seen society. "Don't be afraid, I'll take care of you, little +ghost," he said, and with this assurance she accompanied him, contrary +to her sister's advice. It was indeed a brilliant occasion. The wide +rooms of a Madison Avenue palace were thronged, and she had never even +imagined such toilets as caught her eye on every side. There were +so many present that she could easily maintain her position of quiet +spectator, and her eyes dilated with pleasure as she saw that Graydon +was as much a leader as at other places where comparatively few were +present. + +At last her attention was attracted by one who was evidently a late +comer, and whose presence appeared to fill the apartment. All the +others paled before her, as do the stars when the moon rises among +them. She was evidently young, and yet she did not suggest youth. One +would almost imagine that she had never had a childhood or a girlhood, +but was rather a direct creation of metropolitan society. Her +exquisitely turned shoulders and arms were bare, and the diamonds +about her neck were a circlet of fire. The complexion of her fair oval +face was singularly pure, and the color came and went so easily as to +prove that it owed nothing to art. The expression of her gray eyes was +rather cold and haughty when at rest, and gave an impression of pride +and the consciousness of power. The trait which to the observant +Madge seemed most marked at first, however, was her perfect ease. Her +slightest movement was grace itself. Her entire self-possession was +indicated by the manner in which she greeted the men who sought her +attention, and many there were. She could be perfectly polite, yet +as repellent as ice, or she could smile with a fascination that even +Madge felt would be hard to resist. This girl, who was such an immense +contrast to herself, wholly fixed her attention as she stood for a few +moments, like a queen, surrounded by her courtiers. + +Graydon had gone for a glass of water, and meeting a friend had been +detained for a brief space. Madge saw him coming, saw his eye light up +with admiration as he caught sight of the beautiful stranger, but he +came directly to her, and asked, genially, if there was anything else +she would like. + +"Yes. Who is that girl yonder?" + +"Miss Wildmere. Isn't she lovely? She promised me, last week, her +first dance for this evening. Will you excuse me for a little while?" + +"Certainly;" and yet she was conscious of a sudden and odd little +protest at heart. + +He approached the beauty. Miss Wildmere's face flushed with pleasure +and softened into a welcoming smile, such as she had not yet bestowed +upon any who had sought her favor. Then, in swift alternation, she +bent upon Madge a brief, cold glance of scrutiny. So brief was it, and +so complacent was the expression of the belle as she turned away, that +the pallid, sensitive girl was told, as by words, "You are nothing." + +That glance was like a sharp, deep wound, and pierced where she +was most vulnerable. It said to her, "You are not capable of being +anything to Graydon Muir. I am not in the least afraid of you." + +What was she to him? What did she wish to be? To these questions Madge +had but one answer. Any and every girl, in her belief, would be only +too glad to win him. He had said that Miss Wildmere was lovely; his +eyes had expressed an admiration which he had never bestowed upon her; +he had led the beauty away with a glad content in his face, and the +crowded room was made empty by their absence. + +She was no longer conscious of weakness, but, obeying her impulse, +sprang up and followed them to the ballroom. Concealed by a little +group she stood, unwearied, and watched them as they glided hither and +thither with a grace that attracted many eyes. The music appeared to +control and animate them, and their motion was harmony itself. Graydon +evidently thought only of his fair partner; but her swift glances were +everywhere, gathering the rich revenue of admiration which was freely +offered. For a second she encountered Madge's large black eyes, full +of trouble, and a satirical smile proved that she enjoyed the poor +girl's solicitude. To deepen it she looked up at Graydon and said +something that caused his face to flush with pleasure. His response +was more decisive, for the swift color came into her face, and her +eyes drooped. The by-play was momentary, and would not have been +seen by a less vigilant observer than Madge; but to her it gave the +undoubted impression that they were lovers. When Miss Wildmere looked +again to see the result of her unkindly strategy, Madge was gone. + +In reaction she had grown almost faint, and reached her former retreat +with difficulty. But all her latent womanhood speedily rallied to +meet this strange and but half-comprehended emergency. The impulse now +uppermost was to retain her self-control and reach the seclusion of +her own room. How she was to endure the long hours she scarcely knew. +She did not dare to think. Indeed, the effort was scarcely possible, +for her mind was at first in tumult, with only one thing clear, a +poignant sense of loss and trouble. + +Graydon was a long time away, longer than he had ever been before when +acting as her escort. While she felt this neglect, and interpreted it +naturally, she was not sorry. She dreaded meeting him again. In one +brief hour her old ease and freedom with him had gone. She wondered at +the change in herself, yet knew that it was as definite and decided as +if she had become another person. When be had brought her the glass +of water she could look into his face with the frank directness of a +child. Why could she not do so now? Why did she almost tremble at the +thought of his glance, his touch, his presence? She knew that he would +come back with his old genial, kindly manner--that he would be +the same. But a change had occurred in her which made the fabled +transmutations of magic wands seem superficial indeed. Would he note +this change? Could he guess the cause? Oh, what _was_ the cause? Even +her pale face grew crimson, for there are truths that come to the +consciousness like the lightning from heaven. She did not need to +think, to weigh and reason. A woman's heart is often above and beyond +her reason, and hers had been awakened at last by the all-powerful +touch of love. + +The time passed, and still Graydon did not come. He was not absent +very long, and yet it began to seem terribly long to her. She had +overrated her powers, and found that even pride could not sustain her. +She had no reserve of strength to draw upon. The heat of the room grew +oppressive, and she was unaccustomed to throngs, confusion, and noise. +The consciousness of her weakness was forced upon her most painfully +at last by the appearance of Miss Wildmere on Graydon's arm. The +belle was smiling, radiant, her step elastic, her eyes shining with +excitement and pleasure. Her practiced scrutiny had assured her that +she was the queen of the hour; the handsomest and most courtly man +present was so devoted as to suggest that he might easily become a +lover; she had seen many glances of envy, and one, in the case of poor +Madge, of positive pain. What more could her heart desire? Graydon +conducted her to her chaperon, near whom half a dozen gentlemen were +waiting for a chance to be his successor; and, having obtained +her promise for another dance later in the evening, he turned +deprecatingly to Madge. His apologies ceased before they were half +spoken. She looked so white and ill that he was alarmed, and asked +permission to get her a glass of wine. + +"No, Graydon," she said, then hesitated, for she felt the color coming +into her face, while a strange blur confused every object in the room. +"I'm very, very sorry," she added, hastily, after a moment. "I ought +not to have come. I'm not equal to this. It wouldn't take you very +long to drive home with me, and then you could return. Please, +Graydon." + +Her tone was so urgent, and she appeared so weak, that he complied at +once, saying, with much compunction, "I should not have left you alone +so long, but supposed you were amusing yourself by looking at the +people." + +She did not trust herself to reply. Her one thought was to reach the +refuge of her own apartment, and to this end she concentrated her +failing energies. The climb to the ladies' dressing-room was a +desperate effort; but when she was once outside the house the cold, +pure air revived her slightly. + +"You can excuse me to our hostess--she will not care," she faltered, +and it seemed to her then that nobody would care. Miss Wildmere's +glance had conveyed the estimate of society. If she could believe +herself first in Graydon's thoughts she would not be cast down, but +now the truth was overwhelming. + +She leaned away from him in the corner of the carriage, but he put his +strong arm round her and drew her to his breast. She tried to resist, +but was powerless. Then came the torturing thought, "If I repel +him--if I act differently--he will guess the reason," and she was +passive; but he felt her slight form tremble. + +"My poor little ghost, you are ill in very truth! I'm indeed sorry +that I left you so long." + +"Believe me, Graydon, I am ill. Please let that excuse me and explain. +Oh, that I--I were strong, like Miss Wildmere!" + +"Isn't she a beauty?" exclaimed the unconscious Graydon. "The man who +wins her might well be proud, for he would have competitors by the +score." + +"Your chances seem excellent," said Madge, in a low tone. + +He laughed complacently, but added: "You don't know these society +belles. They can show a great deal of favor to more than one fellow, +yet never permit themselves to be pinned by a definite promise. They +are harder to catch and hold than a wild Bedouin; but such a girl as +Miss Wildmere is worth the effort. Yes, Madge, I do wish you were like +her. It would be grand sport to champion you in society and see you +run amuck among the fellows. It's a thousand pities that you are such +an invalid. I've thought more than once that you were designed to be a +beauty. With your eyes and Stella Wildmere's health you would be quite +as effective after your style as she is in hers. Never mind, little +sister, I shall stand by you, and as long as I live you shall always +have a luxurious sofa, with all the novels of the northern hemisphere +at your command. Who knows? You may grow strong one of these days. +When you do I'll pick out the nice fellows for you." + +At every kindly word her heart grew heavier, and when the carriage +stopped at their door she could hardly mount the steps. In the hall +she faltered and caught the hat-rack for support. He lifted her in +his arms and bore her easily to her room, her sister following in much +solicitude. "It's nothing," said Madge; "the company was too large and +exciting for me. There was no need of Graydon's carrying me upstairs, +but he would do it." + +"You poor dear!" began her sister, broodingly. "I feared it would be +so. Graydon is made of iron, and will never realize how delicate you +are." + +"He's very kind, and more considerate than I deserve. As he says," she +added, bitterly, "I'm nothing but a ghost, and had better vanish." + +"Nonsense, Madge," said the young man, with brusque kindness. "You +know I want you to haunt me always. Good-by now, little sister. I +shall be _de trop_ if I stay any longer. You'll be better in the +morning, and to-morrow evening I'll remain home and entertain you." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PARTING + + +At last Madge was alone. Her sister had suggested everything she could +think of, meanwhile bewailing the young girl's extreme imprudence. +Madge entreated for quiet and rest, and at last was left alone. Hour +after hour she lay with wide, fixed gaze. Her mind and imagination +did not partake of her physical weakness, and now they were abnormally +active. As the bewilderment from the shock of her abrupt awakening +passed, the truth hourly grew clearer. From the time she had first +come under her sister's roof Graydon Muir had begun to make himself +essential to her. His uniform kindness had created trust, freedom, and +a content akin to happiness. Now all was swept away. She understood +that his love was an affection resulting from pity and the strong, +genial forces of his nature. The girl who could kindle his spirit and +inspire the best and most enthusiastic efforts of his manhood must be +like Miss Wildmere--strong, beautiful, capable of keeping step with +him under society's critical eyes, and not a mere shadow of a woman +like herself. Her morbidly acute fancy recalled the ballroom. She saw +him again after his return, encircling the fair girl with his arm, and +looking down into her eyes with a meaning unmistakable. Oh, why had +she gone to that fatal party! The past, in contrast to the present and +the promise of the future, seemed happiness itself. + +What could she do? What should she do? The more she thought of it +the more unendurable her position appeared. In her vivid +self-consciousness the old relations could not continue. Heretofore +his caresses had been a matter of course, of habit. They could be so +no longer. She shrank from them with inexpressible fear, knowing they +would bring what little blood she possessed to her face and very brow +in tell-tale floods. The one event from which her sensitive womanhood +drew back in deepest dread was his knowledge of her love. To prevent +this she would rather die, and she felt so weak and despairing that +she thought and almost hoped she would die. If she could only go away, +where she would not see him, and hide her wound! But how could she, +chained near his daily presence by weakness and helplessness? + +Thus through the long night her despairing thoughts went to and fro, +and found no rest. Miss Wildmere's cold glance met her everywhere with +the assurance that such a creature as she could never be anything to +him, and, alas! his own words confirmed the verdict. Love that gives +all demands all, and such pitiful affection as he now gave was only a +mockery. The morning found her too weak to leave her room, and for +the few following days she made illness her excuse for remaining in +seclusion. As Graydon looked ruefully at her vacant chair the fourth +evening after the company, Mrs. Muir remarked, reproachfully, "I hope +you now realize how delicate Madge is. You never should have coaxed +her to go to that party." + +He was filled with compunction, and brought her flowers, boxes of +candy, books, and everything which he imagined would amuse her. At the +same time he was growing a little impatient and provoked. He knew +that he had taken her from the kindest motives. Now that she gave up +utterly to her invalidism, he was inclined to question its necessity. +He found that he missed her more than he would have imagined, and his +brief hours at home were dreary by reason of her seclusion. + +"Why don't you call in a first-class physician and put Madge under +a thorough course of treatment?" he asked, irritably. "She has no +disease now that I know anything about, and I don't believe it's +necessary that she should remain so weak and lackadaisical." + +"We did have our doctor call often, and he said she would outgrow her +troubles if she would take plenty of fresh of fresh air and exercise. +And now she positively refuses to see a physician." + +"I wouldn't humor a sick girl's fancies. She needs tonics and a +general building up. With your permission I'll stop on my way downtown +to-morrow and tell Dr. Anderson to call." + +Mrs. Muir repeated the conversation to her sister, with the +literalness of which only unimaginative women are capable. Madge +turned her face to the wall, and said, coldly and decisively, "I +refuse to see a physician. I am no longer a child, and my wishes must +be respected." After a moment she added, apologetically: "A doctor +could do me no good. I shall soon be stronger. You understand me +better than Dr. Anderson can. You are the best and kindest nurse that +ever breathed, and I've had enough of doctors. I'll take anything you +give me." + +These politic words appealed to Mrs. Muir's weak point. Nothing +pleased her better than to believe that she could act the part of +physician in the family, and prescribing for Madge was a source of +unflagging interest. When she informed Graydon of their decision in +the morning, he muttered something not very complimentary to either of +the ladies; but his good-nature prevailed, and instead of the doctor +he ordered a superb bouquet of Jacqueminot roses. + +Meanwhile events were taking place of which Madge had no knowledge, +but which would favor the plan slowly maturing in her mind. Mr. Muir's +business affairs had been taking a turn which made it probable that +he would soon have to send his brother abroad. As long as there was +uncertainty the reticent man said nothing, but at last he received +advices which brought him to a prompt decision, and Graydon was told +that he must go at once. The young fellow submitted with fairly +good grace. A brief foreign residence had its attractions, but it +interfered with his incipient suit to Miss Wildmere. He felt that he +had not gone far enough for a definite proposal, but he showed, during +the brief call that his time permitted, an interest which the young +lady well understood. Since he was to be absent for an indefinite +period, and would have no chance to observe her other little affairs, +she permitted herself to be gracious and regretful up to the point of +inspiring much hope for the future. With a nicety of tact--the result +of experience--she confirmed his view that they had made favorable +impressions on each other, and that for the present they must be +content with this. + +He had but a day in which to make his preparations in order to catch +a fast steamer that sailed at daylight the following morning. Madge's +first sensation when she learned of his near departure was one of +immense relief. The possibility which she had so dreaded could not +now be realized, and her plan could be carried out with far less +embarrassment. But as time passed, and she knew that their separation +was so near, her heart relented toward him with inexpressible +tenderness. The roses that perfumed the room were a type of his +unstinted kindness and consideration. She was just enough to +acknowledge that these were even more than she could naturally expect +from him--that the majority of young men would have treated her with +a half contemptuous pity which she was now beginning to admit would +be partially deserved. On the occasions when she had gone out with him +she had learned how unattractive in society her pale face and shy ways +were. Such attentions as she had received had been to her sensitive +spirit like charity. Graydon had been animated by unaffected good-will +and an affection that was, after its kind, genuine. While she +felt that it would be no longer possible to receive these mild +manifestations of regard while giving something so different, she +still knew, with a half despairing sinking of heart, how blank and +desolate her life would be without them. She must meet him once more, +and word was sent that she would receive his good-by after dinner. +Having safely passed this one interview, she hoped that she might be +able to control the future, and either cease to be, or bring about +changes upon which she had resolved. + +Only a soft, dim light shone in her room when he came to say farewell. + +"Why, Madge," he exclaimed, "you are better! You actually have color. +Perhaps it is fever, though," he added, dubiously. "At any rate, it's +very becoming." + +"I think it must be the reflection from your roses there, you +extravagant fellow," she replied, laughing. + +"That's famous, Madge. If you will laugh again like that I'll send +you a present from Paris. Dear Madge, do get well. Don't let us have +anything dismal in our parting. It's only for a little while, you +know. When I come back it will be summer, and I'll take you to the +seashore or mountains or somewhere, and help you get well." + +"You are very kind, Graydon. You have been a true brother to me from +the time you tried to cheer and encourage the pale, frightened little +girl that sat opposite you at the dinner-table. Don't you remember?" + +"Of course I do. It seemed so droll to me that you were afraid when +there was nothing to be afraid of." + +"My fear was natural. Little as I know of the world, I know that--at +least for one like me. It may seem weak and silly to you, but, brought +up as I had been, I was morbidly sensitive. You might have meant to +be kind and sympathetic and all that, and yet have hurt me cruelly. +I have been out with you enough to know how I am regarded. I don't +complain. I suppose it is the way of the world, but it has not been +your way. You have brought sunshine from the first, not from a sense +of duty, not out of sheer humiliating pity, but because it was the +impulse of your strength to help and cheer one who was so weak, and +if--if--anything--Well, I want you to know before you go away that I +appreciate it all and shall never forget it." + +"Oh, come, Madge, don't talk so dismally. What do you mean by +'if--if--anything'? You are going to get strong and well, and we will +open the campaign together next fall." + +She shook her head, but asked, lightly, "How will Miss Wildmere endure +your absence?" + +"Easier than you, I imagine. She knows how to console herself. Still, +as my little sister, I will tell you in confidence that she was very +kind in our parting interview. How much her kindness meant only she +herself knows, and I've been in society long enough to know that it +may mean very little." + +"Are you so wholly bent upon winning her, Graydon?" + +"Oh, you little Mother Eve! You are surely going to get well. There is +no sign of longevity in a woman so certain as curiosity. I've not yet +reached the point of breaking my heart about her, whatever she does. +Wouldn't you like so beautiful a creature for your sister?" + +"The contrast would be too great. I should indeed seem a ghost +beside her. Still, if she would make you happy--" But she could go no +further. + +"Well, well, that's a very uncertain problem of the future. Don't say +anything about it at home. My brother don't like her father. They do +not get on well in business. Let us talk about yourself. What are you +going to do while I am gone?" + +"What can such a shadow as I do? Tell me rather what you are going +to do, and where you'll be. You are real, and what you do amounts to +something." + +"There's one thing I'm going to do, and that is, write you some jolly +letters that will make you laugh in spite of yourself. They will be +part of the tonic treatment that I want you to promise me to begin at +once." + +"I have already entered upon it, Graydon," she said, quietly, "and I +don't think any one will value your letters more than I, only I may +not get strong enough to write very much in reply. I've never had +occasion to write many letters, you know. Tell me where you will be +and what you are going to do," and she leaned back upon her lounge and +closed her eyes. + +While he complied, he thought, "She has grown pale and thin even to +ghastliness, yet I was sure she had color when I first came in. Poor +little thing! perhaps her fears are well founded, and I may never +see her again;" and the good-hearted fellow was full of tender and +remorseful regret. He was quite as fond of her as if she had been his +own sister, perhaps even more so, for his affection was not merely the +result of a natural tie, but of something congenial to his nature in +the girl herself, and it cut him to the heart to see her so white and +frail. He stopped a moment, and she opened her eyes and looked at him +inquiringly. + +"Oh, Madge," he broke out, "I'm so sorry I took you to that confounded +party. You seemed getting on hopefully until that blasted evening. +You must get well enough to haunt me after your old fashion. You don't +know what a dear little sister you have become, and I didn't know it +myself until you were secluded by illness, and all through my fault. +You have barricaded yourself long enough with that stand and its vase +of roses. I'm not going to say good-by at this distance." He removed +the stand, and seating himself by her side, he drew her head down +upon his shoulder and kissed her again and again. "There now," he +continued, "you look perfectly lovely. Kisses are a part of the tonic +treatment you need, and I wish I were going to be here to give them. +Why, you queer little woman! I did not know you had so much blood in +your body." + +"It's--it's because I'm not strong," she said, struggling for release. +Suddenly she became still, her face took on almost the hue of death, +and he saw that she was unconscious. + +In terrible alarm he laid her hastily on the lounge, and rushed for +Mrs. Muir. + +"She has merely fainted," said that experienced woman, after a +moment's examination. "You never will learn, Graydon, that Madge is +not as strong as yourself. Call one of the maids, and leave her to +me." + +That was the last time he saw Madge Alden for more than two years. She +soon rallied, but agreed with her sister that it would be best not +to see him again. She sent him one of his own roses, with the simple +message, "Good-by." + +Late at night he went down to the steamer, depressed and anxious, +carrying with him the vivid memory of Madge lying white and death-like +where he had laid her apparently lifeless form. + +"I shall never see her again," he muttered. "Such weakness must be +mortal." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EFFORT + + +The deep experience, the touchstone of character, of latent power, +if such existed, had come to Madge Alden. For days she had drifted +helplessly on the rising tide of an apparently hopeless love. With +every hour she comprehended more fully what Graydon Muir had become +to her and all that he might have been. It seemed that she had been +carried forward by a strong, quiet current, only to be wrecked at +last. A sense of utter helplessness overwhelmed her. She could not +ignore her love; it had become interwoven with every interest and +fibre of her life. At first she contemplated it in wonder, in deeply +troubled and alarmed perplexity. It was a momentous truth, that had +suddenly been made known as some irretrievable misfortune might +have been revealed. She had read of love as children hear of mental +anxieties and conflicts of which they have no comprehension. As she +grew older it had been like poetry, music, romance--something that +kindled her imagination into vague, pleasant dreams. It had been as +remote from the present and her own experience as lives of adventure +in strange and foreign lands. She had awakened at last to find that +it was like her vital breath. By some law of her nature she had given, +not merely her thoughts and affection, but her very self to another. +To her dismay it made no difference that he had not sought the gift +and was not even aware of it. Circumstances over which she had no +control had brought her into close companionship with Graydon Muir. +She had seen him almost daily for years; she knew him with the +intimacy of a sister, yet without the safeguard of a natural tie; and +from his genial kindness she had drawn almost all the life she had +ever possessed. With an unconsciousness akin to that of a plant which +takes root and thrives upon finding a soil adapted to it, her love had +been developed by his strong, sunny nature. She soon recognized that +it was a love such as she had never known, unlike that for her mother +or sister or any one else, and it seemed to her that it could pass +away only with herself. It was not a vague sentiment, an indefinite +longing; it was the concentrated and imperious demand of her whole +being, which, denied, left little indeed, even were the whole world +hers. Yet such were the cruel conditions of her lot that she could +not speak of it even to one whose head had been pillowed on the same +mother's breast, and the thought that it might be discovered by +its object made her turn cold with dread. It was a holy thing--the +spontaneous product of an unperverted heart--and yet she must hide it +as if it were a crime. + +Above all the trouble and turmoil of her thoughts, clear and definite +amid the chaos brought into her old quiet, languid life, was +the impulse--the necessity--to conceal that which had become the +mainspring of her existence. She had not the experience of one versed +in the ways of the world. How could others--how could he--be kept in +ignorance of that of which she was so painfully and vividly conscious? +Therefore, overwhelmed with dread and a sense of helplessness, she +yielded to her first impulse to hide, in order that what seemed +inseparable from herself might be concealed. + +But she knew that this seclusion could not last--that she must meet +this first and great emergency of her life in some other way. From the +strong wish to obtain safety in separation, a plan to bring it about +gradually took form in her mind. She must escape, either to live or +to die, before her secret became known; and in casting about for the +means, she at last thought of a family who had been the kindest of +neighbors in the village where her mother had died. Mr. Wayland and +his wife had been the truest and most sympathetic of friends to the +widow and her orphan children, and Madge felt that she could be at +home with them. Mrs. Wayland's prolonged ill-health had induced her +husband to try, in her behalf, the remedy of an entire change of air +and climate. Therefore they had removed, some years before, to Santa +Barbara, on the Pacific coast. The signal success of the experiment +now kindled a glimmer of hope in poor Madge. That remote city +certainly secured the first requisites--separation and distance--and +the fact that her friend found health and vigor in the semi-tropical +resort promised a little for her frail young life. She had few fears +that her old friends would not welcome her, and she was in a position +to entail no burdens, even though she should remain an invalid. + +The practical question was, How should she get there? But the more +she thought upon the plan the more attractive it grew. The situation +seemed so desperate that she was ready for a desperate remedy. To +remain weak, helpless, and in perpetual dread was impossible. + +Her mind also was clear and strong enough for self-arraignment, and +in bitterness she partially condemned herself that she had lost her +chance for happiness. Her conscience had often troubled her that she +had given up so weakly to the habit of invalidism, but she had never +had sufficient motive for the vigorous and sustained effort essential +to overcome it. Indeed, her frailty had seemed a claim upon Graydon, +and made it more natural for him to pet her. Now that she was thinking +deeply, she was compelled to admit that her ill health was to some +extent her fault as well as her misfortune. Circumstances, natural +indolence, and her sister's extreme indulgence had brought about a +condition of life that propagated itself. One languid day was the +parent of another, it was so much easier to dawdle than to act. Thus +she had lost her opportunity. If he had won health, even Graydon +said it would have brought her beauty. She might have secured his +admiration, respect, and even love, instead of his pity. What could be +more absurd than to imagine that he could give aught else to one like +herself? "Oh, what a blind fool I have been!" she moaned--"blind +to the wants of my own heart, blind to the truth that a man needs a +strong, genial companion, and not a dependent shadow." + +Graydon's sudden departure took from her project many obstacles and +embarrassments. She was not afraid of her sister or her remonstrances, +and felt that she could convince Mr. Muir that the change gave the +best promise for the future. Graydon's objections would have been hard +to meet. He might have been led to guess her motive or insist on +being her escort. Now it was merely a question of gaining sufficient +strength for the journey and of being resolute. + +Mrs. Muir's opposition was not so great as Madge had feared, and Mr. +Muir even approved of the plan. The shrewd merchant's judgment was +usually correct on all practical matters, and he believed that Madge's +best chance was in a radical change. He saw that his wife's indulgence +tended to confirm her sister's lack of energy, and that it would be +best for Madge to spend the next few years with one who had regained +her health by wise endeavor. Mrs. Muir soon saw everything as her +husband viewed it, and the young girl prepared for a new world and a +new life. + +It was indeed a wise decision. There could be no more aimless drifting +and brooding. A telegram to Mr. Wayland brought immediate acquiescence +in the project, which was arranged more in detail by letters. Madge +strove in every possible way to fit herself for the journey, and was +surprised at her success. Better than all tonics was the diversion of +her thoughts, the prospect of change, the necessity for action. In her +thoughtful prudence she even satisfied Mrs. Muir's solicitude, for the +young girl realized more fully every day how much depended upon her +plan. It seemed to her that there could be no greater misfortune than +to become so ill again that in helplessness she must await Graydon's +return. Therefore, every faculty of mind, every power of body, was +exerted to accomplish her purpose; and, while her farewell to +her sister and Mr. Muir was tender and full of gratitude, the +consciousness of escape was uppermost in her mind. An elderly friend +of Mr. Muir would be her escort to San Francisco, and in that city Mr. +Wayland was to meet her. + +She arrived safely at her far-distant home, greatly worn and exhausted +indeed, but calm in mind from a sense of security. Mrs. Wayland +greeted her with her old-time cordiality, and gave herself heartily to +the task of rallying the frail girl into health. + +During the days of absolute rest which followed the journey, Madge's +thoughts were busy. The width of the continent would separate her +from the past and those associated with it. Both the breadth of the +continent and the ocean were between her and him from whom she had +fled; yet he was ever present to her imagination. In this respect the +intervening miles counted for nothing. She had not hoped that they +would. She could conceive of no plan of life that left him out, yet +she felt that she must have some object to look forward to, some +motive for action. The spirit she had recently shown in taking so +decisive a step proved her to possess a latent force of character of +which she herself had not been conscious. She would not sit down to +dream and brood away the future. She could never hope for Graydon +Muir's love. He would soon return to New York, and the idea that +Miss Wildmere or any other girl would remain cold to his suit was +preposterous. Yet if she lived she must meet Graydon again, and she +now felt that she would live. The decision she had manifested at the +crisis of her life was kindling her nature. She was conscious of a +growing inclination to prove to Graydon that she was neither "weak +nor lackadaisical." The reproach of these, his words, haunted her and +rankled in her memory. If she could only make him respect her--if she +could only win such a look of admiration as she had seen upon his face +when he first recognized Miss Wildmere at the party, it would be a +triumph indeed. + +Thus a new plan, a new hope, was developed, and became the inspiration +of effort. She listened unweariedly as Mrs. Wayland related how she +had turned the tide of her ebbing vitality. Thus Madge gained the +benefit of another's experience. Little by little she sought to +increase her slender resources of strength. The superb climate enabled +her to live almost in the open air, and each day she exulted over an +increase of vigor. Almost everything favored her in her new home. +When she was well enough to go out much the strangers had gone, and +everything in the town was restful, yet not enervating. The Waylands, +while on the best terms with other permanent residents, were not +society people. Mrs. Wayland had become satisfied with that phase of +life in her youth. Her husband was a reader, a student, and something +of a naturalist. The domestic habits which had been formed while Mrs. +Wayland was an invalid still clung to them. While never ceasing to be +kind neighbors, they were more than content with books, nature, and +each other. Madge therefore had access to a very fine library, and the +companionship of intellectual people who had known from contact the +present world, and in whose cultivated minds dwelt the experiences of +the past. Her friends were in the habit of discussing what they +read, and the basis of much of their enjoyment--as of all true +companionship--was harmonious disagreement. Thus the young girl was +insensibly taught to think for herself and to form her own opinions. +They also proved admirable guides in directing her reading. She felt +that she had read enough for mere amusement, and now determined to +become familiar with the great master-minds, so far as she was capable +of following them, and to inform herself on those subjects which Mr. +Wayland declared essential to an education. + +If circumstances within doors were conducive to mental growth, those +without were even more favorable to physical development. The salt air +and softly tempered sunshine were perpetual tonics. The place was full +of exquisite flowers. She felt that she had never seen roses until she +came to Santa Barbara. To a wounded, sensitive spirit there is even +a healing influence in the brightness and perfume of flowers. They +smiled so sweetly at her that she could not help smiling back. The +sunny days passed, one so like another that they begot serenity. The +even climate, with its sunny skies, tended to inspirit as well as to +invigorate. Almost every day she spent hours in driving and sailing, +and as the season advanced she began to take ocean baths, which on +that genial coast are suitable almost all the year round. Going thus +to nature for healing, she did not appeal in vain. Strength and +grace were bestowed imperceptibly, yet surely, as spring clothes the +leafless tree. + +A love such as had grown unbidden and unconsciously in Madge's heart +could not be content with the meagre reward of a little admiration. +Such an affection was softening and ennobling in its character, and +the mere desire to compel Graydon to glance at her as she had seen him +look at Miss Wildmere grew into the higher ambition to become such a +woman as would approach in some degree his ideal. She knew his tastes, +and as she thought over the past she believed she could gauge his +character as could no other. She soon recognized that he was not an +exceptional man, that she was not worshipping a hero. He himself +would be the last one to claim pre-eminence among his fellows. But his +genial, open nature, his physical strength, and his generous, kindly +impulses made him an eminently lovable man, and--well, she loved him, +and believed she ever should. Frail and defective in almost every +respect herself, she would have thought it absurd to cherish some +lofty and impossible ideal. He was hearty, wholesome, honest, and +she soon began to see that it would be a better and a nobler thing--a +nearer approach to happiness--to become a woman whom he could trust +and respect than merely to win a little admiration as a tribute to +ephemeral beauty. + +She would attain beauty if she could, but it should be the appendage, +the ornament of mind and character. She, who had seemed to him +weakness itself, would aim to suggest eventually that noblest phase of +strength--woman's patience and fortitude. + +It must not be supposed that Madge reached these conclusions in days, +weeks, or even months. Her final purposes were the result of slow, +half-conscious growth. Right, brave action produced right feeling, and +there are few better moral tonics than developing health. With richer, +better blood came truer, higher, and more unselfish thoughts. She +found that she could not only live, but that vigorous, well-directed +life is in itself enjoyment. It was a pleasure to breathe the pure, +balmy air, even when reclining in a carriage or a sail-boat, and as +she gained strength sufficient for exercise, she soon became aware of +the rich physical rewards that wait upon it. Slowly at first, but with +an increasing impetus, she advanced toward health, the condition +of all genuine life. She at last exchanged her carriage for a +saddle-horse. + +Mr. Wayland had one taste in which his wife did not share--a love +for horseback exercise, which, indeed, was one of the chief +characteristics of the community. Madge knew that Graydon was +extremely fond of a good horse, and that he rode superbly. To become +his equal therefore in this respect was one of the chief dreams of +her ambition. It was with almost a sense of terror that she mounted at +first, but Mr. Wayland was considerate. Her horse was only permitted +to walk, and she was taken off as soon as she was weary. Confidence +increased rapidly, and eventually she became fearless and almost +tireless. The beach was like a smooth, hard road-bed, and before the +summer was over she thought little of a gallop of ten miles, with the +breath of the Pacific fanning her cheek. When Mr. Wayland drove with +his wife up through Mission and Hot Springs cañons, or eight miles +away to the exquisitely beautiful Bartlett Cañon and the fine adjacent +ranches, she accompanied them on horseback. As she flashed along past +date-palms, and through lemon and orange groves, she began to appear +semi-tropical herself. She also became Mr. Wayland's companion on his +botanizing expeditions, and her steps among the rocks of the foothills +and on the slopes of the mountains grew surer, lighter, and more +unwearied. Color stole into her face, and a soft fire into her dark +eyes when animated. Mrs. Wayland looked on with increasing delight, +and thought, "She is growing very beautiful. I wonder if she knows +it?" + +Indeed she knew it well. What young girl does not? But Madge had a +motive for knowledge of which Mrs. Wayland did not dream. In the main +the girl was her own physician, and observed her symptoms closely. She +knew well what beauty was. Her vivid fancy would at any time recall +Miss Wildmere as a living presence; therefore her standard was +exceedingly high, and she watched her approach to it as to a distant +and eagerly sought goal. Other eyes gave assurance that her own +were not deceiving her. The invalid on whom at first but brief and +commiserating glances had been bestowed was beginning to be followed +by admiring observation. Society recognized her claims, and she +was gaining even more attention than she desired. As her strength +increased she accepted invitations, and permitted the circle of her +acquaintance to widen. It was part of her plan to become as much +at home in the social world as Graydon himself. Nor was she long in +overcoming a diffidence that had been almost painful. In one sense +these people were to her simply a means to an end. She cared so little +for them that she was not afraid, and had merely to acquire the ease +which results from usage. Diffidence soon passed into a shy grace that +was indefinable and yet became a recognized trait. The least approach +to loudness and aggressiveness in manner was not only impossible to +her, but she also possessed the refinement and tact of which only +extremely sensitive natures are capable. A vain, selfish woman is so +preoccupied with herself that she does not see or care what others +are, or are thinking of, unless the facts are obtruded upon her; +another, with the kindest intentions, may not be able to see, and so +blunders lamentably; but Madge was so finely organized that each one +who approached her made a definite impression, and without conscious +effort she responded--not with a conventional and stereotyped +politeness, but with an appreciative courtesy which, as she gained +confidence and readiness of expression, gave an unfailing charm to her +society. With few preconceived and arbitrary notions of her own she +accepted people as they were, and made the most of them. Of course +there were some in whom even the broadest charity could find little to +approve; but it was her purpose to study and understand them and lose +forever the unsophisticated ignorance at which Graydon had used to +laugh. + +Santa Barbara was a winter resort, and she had the advantage of +meeting many types. In Mrs. Wayland she had a useful mentor. This +lady in her younger days had been familiar with the best phases of +metropolitan society, and she counteracted in Madge all tendencies +toward provincialism. Thus it gradually became recognized that the +"shy, sickly little girl," as she had been characterized at first, was +growing into a very attractive young woman. Indeed, after an absence +of only a year her own sister would scarcely have recognized her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ACHIEVEMENT + + +Mrs. Muir of course heard often from her sister, and was satisfied +with the general assurance that she was better and steadily improving. +Madge, however, was rather indefinite in her information. As time +passed, the idea of giving her friends in the East a surprise took +possession of her fancy. She instinctively felt that she needed every +incentive to pursue the course she had resolved upon, since she often +suffered from fits of depression hard to combat. The hope of appearing +like a new being to her relatives was another innocent motive for her +long-prolonged effort. Circumstances had never developed epistolary +tastes in the sisters, and they were content with brief missives +containing general assurances that all was well. Mrs. Muir was one of +those ladies who become engrossed with the actual and the present. Had +Madge been in her old room she would have been looked after with daily +solicitude; being absent, she was loved none the less, but was simply +crowded from thought and memory by swarms of little cares. She was +doing well, and her sister was satisfied. "'It's a wonderful climate,' +Madge writes," she would say, "so even and dry. Madge doesn't take +cold as she did here, and can go out nearly every day. Perhaps we +ought to become reconciled to the fact that she will have to live +there always, since here, with our sudden changes, she could scarcely +live at all." + +With the kindliest intentions Graydon had sought to initiate a +vigorous correspondence. He had learned with immense relief of Madge's +improvement through change of residence, and he felt that a series of +jolly letters might bring aid and hopefulness. Her responses were not +very encouraging, however, and business cares, with the novelty +of foreign life, gradually absorbed his thoughts and time until +correspondence languished and died. + +"It's the old story," he thought, with a shade of irritation. "Letters +cost effort, and she is not equal to effort, or thinks she is not." + +If he could have seen Madge at that moment riding like the wind on a +spirited horse he would have been more astonished than by any of the +wonders of the old world. + +To Madge his letters were a source of mingled pain and pleasure, but +the former predominated. In every line they breathed an affection +which could never satisfy. Coldness or indifference could not have +so assured her that her love was hopeless; and when she sat down to +reply, the language of her heart was so unlike that which she must +write as to make her feel almost guilty of deliberate deception. +Correspondence made him too vividly present, and she was learning that +she had the power, not of forgetting him, but of so occupying her +mind with tasks for his sake as to attain serenity. The days were +made short by efforts of which he deemed her incapable, and weariness +brought rest at night. But when she sat down with her pen, confronting +him and not what she sought to do for him, her heart sank. He was too +near and dear, yet too remote, even for hope. + +This emotion is, however, the most hardy of plants, and although she +had often assured herself that she had never entertained it or had any +reason to do so, almost before she was aware she found it growing in +her heart. Business still kept Graydon abroad, although a year had +passed. There were no indications that he was pressing his suit with +Miss Wildmere, and our heroine's mirror and the eyes of others began +to tell her that the confident belle would not now bestow a glance so +cold and indifferent as to mean, "You can be nothing to him or to any +one." Moreover, Miss Wildmere's coveted beauty might prove an ally. +One so attractive would be sought, perhaps won, before Graydon +returned, and absence might have taught him that his regard had been +little more than admiration. Naturally Madge would not be inclined +to think well of one who had brought so cruel an experience into her +life; but, prejudice apart, the society girl had given evidence of a +type of womanhood not very high. Even Graydon, in his allusions, had +suggested a character repulsive to Madge. A woman "as hard to capture +and hold as a 'Bedouin'" was not at all her ideal. The words presented +to her one who was either calculating or capricious, either heartless +or fickle. + +"Truly," she thought, "if there was ever a man who merited +whole-hearted, lifelong constancy, it is Graydon Muir; and if he even +imagines Miss Wildmere incapable of this, why should he think further +of her? Perhaps while beyond the spell of her beauty he has formed a +truer estimate of her character, and has abandoned all thought of her +as a mocking dream. Perhaps--" + +Of what possibilities will not a young girl dream at the dictation +of her heart? And as she saw the sharp lines of her profile softening +into loveliness, the color fluctuating in her cheeks even at her +thoughts, her thin, feeble arms growing white and firm, and the +rounded grace of womanhood appearing in all her form, she began to +hope that she could endure comparison with Miss Wildmere, even on +her lower plane of material beauty. But Madge had too much mind to +be content with Miss Wildmere's standard. She coveted outward +attractiveness chiefly that the casket might secure attention to its +gems. The days of languid, desultory reading and study were over, and +she determined to know at least a few things well. + +It was to music, however, that she gave her chief attention, since she +believed that for this art she had some positive talent A German in +the pursuit of health had drifted to the remote southern city. He was +past middle age, but had retained through numberless disappointments +and discouragements the one enthusiasm of his life; and in Madge he +found a pupil after his own heart. While his voice had lost much of +its freshness and power, his taste was pure and refined. He kindled +in the young girl's mind something of his own love and reverence for +music on its own account. To Madge, however, it would always remain +a method of expression rather than a science or an art, and the old +professor at last learned to recognize her limitations. She would be +excellent in only those phases of music which were in accord with her +own feeling and thought. She would not, perhaps could not, study it +as he had done, for her woman's nature and the growing purpose of her +life were ever in the ascendant; but under his guidance her taste grew +purer and her knowledge and power increased rapidly. What she did +she learned to do well. Even Herr Brachmann was often charmed by the +delicate originality of her touch, which proved that her own thought +and feeling were infused into the music before her. + +But her voice delighted him most. With her increasing vigor was gained +the ability to use her vocal organs in sustained effort. He guarded +her carefully against over-exertion, and her advance was assured +and safe. Note after note, true, sweet, and strong, was added to the +compass of her voice, and this exercise reacted with increased benefit +on her general health. One can scarcely become a vocalist without +toning up the vital organs, and in learning to sing Madge provided +an antidote against consumptive tendencies. Her gift of song at +last began to attract attention. Strangers loitered near the Wayland +Cottage during warm, quiet evenings, and in society she was importuned +by those who had heard her before. She usually complied, for she was +training herself to sing before an audience of one who was familiar +with the best musical talent of the world. Not that she wished to +invite comparisons with this kind of talent, but merely to sing with +such simple sweetness and truth that Graydon would forget the trained +professional in the unaffected charm of the natural girl. + +The manner of those who listened stimulated her hope. At the first +notes of her song all conversation ceased. Even the unappreciative +were impressed by a certain pathos, an appealing minor tone, which +touched the heart while pleasing the ear. + +During the long summer that followed her first winter at Santa Barbara +the little town sank into a semi-torpid state. Strangers disappeared. +With many of the permanent residents to kill time was the main object +of languid effort. To Madge the season brought varied opportunity. The +old professor gave her much of his time. While others slept she read +and studied. The heat, tempered by the vast Pacific, was never +great, and the air had a vitality that proved a constant aid to her +controlling motive. In the morning she rode or took some form of +skilled exercise in which she knew Graydon to be proficient, and she +rarely missed her ocean bath. Such health was she acquiring that it +was becoming a joy in itself. As with all earnest, constant natures, +however, her supreme motive grew stronger with time. + +In August she received tidings from the East that caused much +solicitude and depression. Graydon had returned for a brief visit, +and had joined Mr. and Mrs. Muir at a seaside inn. "A Miss Wildmere +is staying here also," her sister wrote, "and, somewhat to Mr. Muir's +disapproval, Graydon seems not only well acquainted with her, but +unusually friendly. Mr. Muir says that if she is like her father she +is a 'speculator'; and from the attention she receives and the way she +receives it one would think he was right. Graydon, however, seems to +be her favorite, and if he could remain long enough it is not hard to +see what might happen. But she is a great belle and a coquette too, +I should imagine, and she has a large enough following to turn any +girl's head. I don't wonder at it either, for she is the most lovely +creature I ever saw, and yet she doesn't make a pleasant impression +on me. The men are just wild about her. Mr. Muir looks askance at +Graydon's devotion, and mutters 'speculator' when Miss Wildmere's name +is mentioned. Graydon returns to Europe next week. He inquires often +after you, and his questions make me feel that I don't know as much +about you and what you are doing as I should. You write often, but +somehow you seem remote in more senses than one. I suppose, however, +you are reading as usual, and just floating along down stream with +time. Well, no matter, dear. You write that you are better and +stronger, and have no more of your old dreadful colds. You must spend +next summer with us, even if you have to go back to Santa Barbara in +the winter." + +Neither the shortness of his visit nor the fascinations of Miss +Wildmere prevented Graydon from writing Madge a cordial note full +of regret that he should not see her. "You have indeed," he wrote, +"vanished like a ghost, and become but a haunting memory. It is a year +and a half since I have seen you, and I did not succeed in beguiling +you into a correspondence. Like the good Indians, you have followed +the setting sun into some region as vague and distant as the 'happy +hunting-ground.' Mary says that you will come East next summer. The +idea! Is there anything of you to come that is corporate and real? If +I had the time I would go to you and see. I find Miss Wildmere just +about where I left her, only more beautiful and fascinating, and +besieged by a host. Absence makes my chance slight indeed, but I do +not despair. She so evidently enjoys a defensive warfare, wherein it +is the besiegers who capitulate, that she may maintain it until +my exile abroad is over. This is to my mind a more rational +interpretation of her freedom than that she is waiting for me; and +thus I reveal to you that modesty is my most prominent trait. She may +be married before I see her again; and should this prove to be the +case I will show you what a model of heroic equanimity I can be." + +Madge read this letter with a sigh of intense relief, and was not long +in resolving that when he came again she would enter the lists with +Miss Wildmere and do what her nature permitted before her chance +of happiness passed irrevocably. Graydon's letter kindled her hope +greatly. It seemed to her that she was to have a chance--that her +patient effort might receive the highest reward after all. She thanked +God for the hope. Her love was a sacred thing. It was the natural, +uncalculating outgrowth of her womanhood, and was inciting her toward +all womanly grace. + +Madge did not believe her motive, her purpose, to be unwomanly. Should +the opportunity offer, she did not intend to win Graydon by angling +for him, by arts, blandishments, or one unmaidenly advance. She would +try to be so admirable that he would admire her, so true that he would +trust her, and so fascinating that he would woo her with a devotion +that would leave no chance for "equanimity" were it possible for +him to fail. If in her desperate weakness, in the chaos of her +first self-knowledge, she could hide her secret, she smiled at the +possibility of revealing it now that she had been schooled and trained +into strength and self-control. + +In her brief letter of reply to Graydon she wrote: + +"That I still exist and shall continue to live is proved by my one +trait which you regard as encouraging--curiosity. Please send me some +books that will tell me about Europe, or, rather, will present Europe +as nearly as possible in its real aspect. I may never travel, but am +foolish enough to imagine that I can see the world from the standpoint +of this sleepy old town." + +"Poor little wraith!" said Graydon, as he read the words. "What +a queer, shadowy world her fancy will create, even from the most +realistic descriptions I can send her!" But he good-naturedly made +up a large bundle of books, in which fiction predominated, for he +believed that she would read nothing else. + +The days gilded on, autumn merged into winter, and strangers came +again. Madge was acquiring an experience of which at one time she had +never dreamed. She found herself in Miss Wildmere's position. Every +day she was put more and more on the defensive. Gentlemen eagerly +sought her society, and her situation was often truly embarrassing, +for she had as little desire that the besiegers should capitulate +as she had intention of surrendering herself. In this respect Miss +Wildmere's tactics were easier to carry out. _She_ was not in the +least annoyed by any number of abject and committed slaves, and she +was approaching the period when she proposed to surrender with great +discretion, but to whom was not a settled point. + +Madge was beginning to make victims also, but she made them by being +simply what she was, and those who suffered most had to admit to +themselves that she was almost as elusive as a spirit of the air. + +In the spring visitors to the health resort, returning to the East, +brought to the Muirs rumors of Madge's beauty, fascination, and +accomplishments. They were a little puzzled, but concluded that +Madge had appeared well in a rendezvous of invalids, and were glad to +believe that she was much better. Prudent Mrs. Muir wrote, however, +"Do not think of returning till the last of May. Then we shall soon +go to the mountains. This will be another change, and change in your +case, you know, has proved so beneficial! We expect Graydon soon. He +is tired of residence abroad, and has so arranged the business that a +confidential clerk can take his place." + +Madge smiled and sighed. The test of her patient endeavor was about to +come. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SECRET OF BEAUTY + + +Mr. and Mrs. Wayland had become so attached to Madge that they +were the more ready to listen to her solicitation that they should +accompany her East and visit their old haunts. "Very likely I shall +return with you," said the young girl, "and make Santa Barbara my +home." + +This indeed was her plan should defeat await her. She had become +attached to the seaside town, as we do to all places that witness +the soul's deepest experiences and best achievements. She had learned +there to hope for the highest of earth's gifts; she believed that she +could live there a serene, quiet, unselfish life, her secret still +unknown, should that be her fate. + +The old German professor was almost heartbroken at her departure. "It +vas alvays so," he said; "ven mine heart vas settled on someding, +den I lose it;" but she reassured him by saying that there was no +certainty that she would not return. + +Mary Muir was so overwhelmed with astonishment that at first she +scarcely returned Madge's warm embrace. She expected to find her +sister much stronger and better; but this radiant, beautiful girl, +half a head taller than herself--was she the shadowy creature who +had gone away with what seemed a forlorn hope? She held Madge off and +looked at her, she drew her to a mirror and looked at her again, then +exclaimed, "This is a miracle! Why did you not tell me?" + +"I wished to surprise you. I did write that I was better." + +"This is not better; it is best Oh, Madge, you have grown so pretty +you almost take away my breath--all travel-stained and weary, too, +from your journey! What will not Henry say? I should scarcely have +known you. Surely now you need not go back. You are the picture of +health." + +"We shall see," said Madge, quietly. "It may be best if I find that +the East does not agree with me." She was fully determined to keep +open her line of retreat. + +Mr. Muir, in his quiet way, enjoyed the transformation as greatly +as did his wife. He had foreseen changes for the better, but had not +hoped for anything like this, he declared. + +"I just want to be near when Graydon first sees you!" exclaimed +voluble Mrs. Muir, at the dinner-table. + +The remark was unexpected, and Madge, to her dismay, found the blood +rushing to her face. Quick as thought she put her handkerchief to +her mouth, and sought to escape notice under the ruse of a brief +strangulation. "This is not going to answer at all," she thought. "I +must acquire a better self-control." She at once began talking about +Graydon in the most simple and natural manner possible, asking many +questions. Mrs. Muir's intuition and powers of observation were not +very great, and she was without the faintest suspicion of what was +passing in Madge's mind. Keen-eyed, reticent Mr. Muir was not so +unheeding, however. When Graydon's name was mentioned he happened to +glance up from the dinner which usually absorbed his attention. In +dealing with men he had acquired the habit of keen observation. During +a business transaction his impassive face and quiet eyes gave no +evidence of his searching scrutiny. He not only heard and weighed +the words to which he listened, but ever sought to follow the mental +processes behind them; and often men had been perplexed by the fact +that the banker had apparently arrived at conclusions opposite to the +tenor of their statements. When, therefore, he saw the color flying +into Madge's face at the unexpected utterance of his brother's name, +his attention was arrested and an impression made to which his mind +would revert in the future. It might mean nothing; it might mean a +great deal. Business and home life were everything to Mr. Muir, and +Graydon's admiration of Miss Wildmere did not promise well for either. + +The power that Mr. Muir had acquired mainly by practice Madge +possessed by nature. As we have seen, she was quite free from that +most unwomanly phase of stupidity which is often due to the heart +rather than the head. Some women know what is told them if it is told +plainly; others look into the eyes of those around them and see what +is sought to be concealed. The selfish woman is self-blinded. She +often has great powers of discernment, but will not take the trouble +to use them, unless prompted by her own interests. Selfishness is too +short-sighted, however, to secure lasting benefits. Usually, nothing is +more fatal than the success of mere self-seeking. While Madge pressed +unwaveringly toward the goal of her hopes, she did not do so in +thoughtless or callous indifference toward those who had true claims +upon her. With her sister she soon saw that all was well--that she +was, as before, absorbed and content with the routine of her life. She +was not so sure about her brother-in-law. During her absence lines +of care had appeared in his face, and there was an abstracted and +sometimes a troubled look in his eyes, as if he was pursued by +questions that were importunate and even threatening. The indications +of perturbation were slight indeed, but from his nature they would be +so in any case. Thus the young girl also received an impression which +awakened a faint solicitude. Mr. Muir, as her guardian and the manager +of her property, had been a true friend and loyal to his trust. She +entertained for him much respect and a strong, quiet affection. He +did not dwell in her thoughts merely as one who was useful to her, but +rather as one who had been true to her, and to whom she in her place +and way would be true and sympathetic were there occasion. + +Madge was wearied indeed by her long journey, but not exhausted. In +sensations so different from those which had followed her journey to +the West she recognized her immeasurable gain. Then she had entered +Mrs. Wayland's cottage helpless, hopeless, a fugitive from her own +weakness. By wise endeavor she had transformed that very weakness into +her strength, and had returned to the scenes from which she had fled +earnest and resolute--one who had made her choice for life and would +abide by it. Womanly to her very finger-tips, she was acting with the +aggressive decision of a man. Sensitive and timid beyond most women, +she would not lose her happiness when it might be won in paths not +only hedged about by all the proprieties of her lot, but also by a +reserve and pride with which her own fine nature was pre-eminently +endowed. That she loved Graydon Muir was a truth for life. If he could +learn to love her from what she had sought to be, from what she simply +was, he should have the chance. Her own deep experience had taught her +much and given her the clew to many things. She had studied life, not +only in books, but in its actual manifestations. Mrs. Wayland was a +social mine in herself, and could recall from the past, volumes of +dispassionate gossip, free from malice. In two years Madge had learned +to know the world better than many who are in contact with it for long +periods, but who see all through the distorted medium of their own +prejudices or exceptional experiences. Although she was no longer +unsophisticated she was neither cynical nor optimistic. Before her +hope could be fulfilled she knew she must enter society, and she +studied it thoughtfully--its whims and meannesses as well as its laws +and refinements. If she ever reached Graydon's side she meant to stand +there with a knowledge and confidence as assured as his own. She soon +learned that it is common enough for women to seek to win men by every +alluring and coquettish device. She would employ no devices whatever. +She would merely reappear above his horizon among other luminaries, +and shine with her own pure, unborrowed light. Then it must depend +upon himself whether she ever became his own "bright particular star." + +So much she felt she had a right to do, and no conventional hesitation +as to her course stood in her way. Her love had become the governing +impulse of her life, and its dictates were imperative until they +trenched upon her sensitive, womanly pride. Then they were met as the +rock meets the tide. She did not care what the world might think: it +should never have occasion to think at all. Her secret was between +herself and God. Graydon himself should never know it unless his name +became hers. + +How vividly her old haunts recalled him! There was the lounge on which +he used to toss the "little wraith" after having carried her around +in the semblance of a waltz. The sofa on which had taken place their +strange parting still stood as of old in her room. There her head +had sunk in unconsciousness upon his breast, the result of her vain, +feeble struggle to escape from caresses so natural to him, but no +longer to be received by her. + +What way-marks in life mute, commonplace things become in the light +of memory! To her vivid fancy Graydon was again present in all the +positions now made memorable by deep affection. The past unrolled +itself again as it had so often done before. She saw the pallid, +frightened child that scarcely dared to look deprecatingly at the +handsome young collegian. She saw again the kind yet mirthful eyes +that beamed encouragingly upon her. She remembered that in the +unworthy past they had ever looked upon her with a large, gentle, +affectionate tolerance, and she now took chiefly upon herself the +blame for those years of weakness. Her present radiant health and +beauty proved how unnecessary they had been, and her heart sometimes +sunk at the thought of what they might cost her. + +Mary had accompanied her to her room, and was asked, in a careless +tone, what had become of Miss Wildmere. + +"I was told incidentally the other day that she was as great a belle +as ever. I had hoped that she would be out of Graydon's way before +this time. I have heard, however, that great belles are often slower +in marrying than the homeliest girls. If all is true that is said, +this Miss Wildmere has made mischief enough; but I am not anxious that +our Graydon should cut short her career--that is, if marriage would +cut it short. I imagine she will always be a gay society woman. Well, +Madge, I suppose you must make up your mind to be a belle yourself. +Why don't you cut out this 'speculator,' as my husband calls her? If +Graydon had my eyes it wouldn't be a difficult task." + +"Graydon hasn't your eyes or mine either," was the brusque reply. "I +propose to use my own. They may see some one that I have never met. +One thing at least is certain--I don't intend to cut out Miss Wildmere +or any one else. The man who wins me will have to do the seeking most +emphatically; and I warn you beforehand, sister mine, that you must +never let the idea of matchmaking enter your head. Since I have been +away I have developed more will of my own than muscle. There is no +necessity for me ever to marry, and if I do it will be because I wish +to, not because any one else wants me to. Nothing would set me +against a man more certainly than to see that he had allies who were +manoeuvring in his behalf;" and she concluded with a kiss that robbed +her words of a point too sharp, perhaps, for her sister's feelings. +She knew Mrs. Muir's peculiarities well enough, however, to believe +that such words were needed, and she had intended to speak them in +some form at the earliest opportunity. Therefore she was glad that she +could utter the warning so early and naturally in their new relations. +Nor was it uncalled for, since the thought of bringing Madge and +Graydon together had already entered Mrs. Muir's mind. A scheme of +this character would grow in fascination every hour. Poor Madge was +well aware that, with the best intentions, no one could more certainly +blast her hopes than her sister, whose efforts would be unaccompanied +by the nicest tact. Moreover, any such attempts might involve the +disclosure of her secret. + +"Well, you have changed in every respect," said Mary, looking at her +wonderingly. + +"For the better, I hope. My feeling in this respect, however, seems +to me perfectly natural. I don't see how a self-respecting girl could +endure anything except a straightforward, downright suit, with plenty +of time to make up her own mind. I can do without the man who does not +think me worthy of this, and could probably do without him any way. +Because a man wants to marry a girl is only one reason for assent, and +there may be a dozen reasons to the contrary." + +"Why, Madge, how you talk! When you left us it seemed as if any one +might pick you up and marry you and you would not have spirit enough +to say yes or no. Have you had to refuse any one at Santa Barbara? +Perhaps you didn't refuse. You have told me so little of what was +going on!" + +"That isn't fair to me, Mary. I explained to you that I wished to +give you a pleasant surprise. To plan a pleasure for you was +not unsisterly, was it? I haven't Miss Wildmere's ambition for +miscellaneous conquests. Why should I write about men for whom I cared +nothing and toward whom my manner should have made my spoken negative +unnecessary?" + +"Other girls would. Well, it seems that their suit was downright +enough to satisfy you. Good gracious! How many were there?" + +Madge laughed, yawned, and her sister saw that her dark eyes were full +of the languor of sleep, which added to their beauty. + +"Oh, not many," she drawled. "I'll gossip about them some time when +not so tired. I'll indicate them by numerals. Why should I babble +their names in connection with what they called so sacred? I wonder +how many like sacred affairs had occurred before. If I tell you the +story of the wooing of Number One, Two, Three, and so on, that will +answer just as well, won't it?" + +"No, indeed. I wish to know their names, family connection, and +whether they were well off or not." + +Madge again laughed, and began to disrobe, in order to indicate that +their confidence must at least be adjourned for the present. Her +sister came and felt her perfect arms and rounded, gleaming shoulders. +"Why, Madge," she exclaimed, "your flesh is as white and smooth +as ivory, and almost as firm to the touch! It's a wonderful +transformation. I can scarcely believe, much less understand it. You +have grown so beautiful that you almost turn even my head." + +"There is nothing so wonderful about it, Mary. Almost any girl may win +health, and therefore more or less beauty, if she has the sense and +will to make the effort. You know what I was when I left home. I +suggested doctors' bills more than anything else, and it was chiefly +my fault;" and she sighed deeply. "When I went to work in a rational +way to get strong, I succeeded. I believe this would be true with the +great majority. Good-night, dear. When I am rested I'm going to +help you in many ways, in return for all you did for that lazy, +lackadaisical, limp little nonentity that you used to dose and coddle +when you should have given her a good shaking." + +"It's all a miracle," said Mrs. Muir to her husband, at the conclusion +of lengthy remarks about Madge. + +"As much a miracle as my fortune," was the quiet reply. "Madge has had +sense enough to know what she wanted and how to get it." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NOT A MIRACLE + + +Madge was simply fatigued from her long journey, and not oppressed +with want of sleep, for in passing through uninteresting portions of +the country she had given herself up to repose. The sense of weariness +passed with the hours of night, and she was among the earliest +stirring in the morning. Long before breakfast was ready she had +her trunks partially unpacked, her mind meantime busy with plans for +immediate action. At last her healthful appetite so asserted itself +that she went down to the dining-room. Mr. and Mrs. Muir had not yet +appeared, and she strolled into the parlor, opened her piano, and +played a few runs. She found it sadly out of tune from long disuse. +As this was not true of her voice, she began singing a favorite German +song. + +In a moment the house was full of melody. Clear, sweet, and powerful, +her notes penetrated to the kitchen, where the maids were busy, and +they stopped in spellbound wonder, with dish or utensil in hand. Mrs. +Muir listened with her hair-brush suspended, while methodical Mr. Muir +laid down his razor, and, going to the door, set it ajar. The song +poured into the room like an harmonic flood. Before the first stanza +was completed Mrs. Muir had on her dressing-gown and was stealing +downstairs into the back parlor, and as Madge was beginning again she +rushed upon her. + +"Why, why," she exclaimed, "I thought Nilsson or Patti had got lost +and taken refuge here! Can it be you? You are nothing but a surprise +from beginning to end. When will the wonders cease? Are you sure that +you are Madge?" + +"Yes, and equally sure that I am hungry. When _will_ you be ready for +breakfast? I've been up these two hours." + +"Well, well, well, what will Graydon say? He thinks you are still +little better than a ghost." + +"He will say that I have been very sensible, and he will find me very +substantial and matter-of-fact. The question now uppermost is, +When will breakfast be ready?" cried the young girl, laughing, in +a childlike enjoyment of her sister's wonder, and a loving woman's +anticipation of triumph over the man who had once called her "weak and +lackadaisical." + +She responded warmly to the embrace of Mrs. Muir, who added, "You have +come back to us a princess. Why, even Henry, whom nothing moves out of +the even tenor of his way, paused in his shaving, and with one side of +his face all lathered opened the door to listen." + +"You tell him," cried Madge, in merry vein, "that he has given me +the greatest compliment I ever received. But compliments are not +breakfast." + +Mrs. Muir returned to complete her toilet, and her husband soon +appeared. + +"Madge," he said, greeting her kindly, "you have brought about great +changes. How have you accomplished them all in so brief a time?" + +"The time has not been so very brief," she replied. "I have been away +over two years, remember. It's all very simple, Henry. I went to work +to get well and to learn something, as you give your mind and time to +business. In the Waylands, my old German professor, and especially +in the magnificent climate I had splendid allies. And you know I +had nothing else to do. One can do a great deal in two years with +sufficient motive and steady effort toward a few points." + +"What was your motive, Madge?" + +A slow, deep color stole into her face, but she looked unflinchingly +into his eyes as she asked, "Was not the hope of being what I am +to-day, compared with what I was, sufficient motive?" + +"Yes," he replied, thoughtfully, "it was; but it appears strange to +me that more girls do not show your sense. Nine-tenths of the pallid +creatures that I see continue half alive through their own fault." + +"If they knew the pleasure of being thoroughly alive," said Madge, +"they wouldn't dawdle another hour. I believe that I might have +regained health long before if I had set about it." + +"Well, Madge, as your guardian I wish to tell you that I am deeply +gratified. You have done more for yourself than all the world could +do for you. I am a plain man, you know, and not given to many words. +There is only one thing that I detest more than a silly woman, and +that is a heartless, speculating one. Both are sure to make trouble +sooner or later. You certainly do not belong to the first type, and I +don't believe you will ever make a bad use of the beauty you have won +so honestly. Let me give you a bit of business experience, Madge. I +have seen men falter and fail by the score downtown, and usually it +was because women were playing the mischief with them--too often +women of their own households, who had no more idea of the worth of a +dollar, or how it is obtained, than a kitten. The one idea is to marry +for money, and then to spend it in parade. I believe you will be like +your sister Mary, who has given me a home, quiet, and peace." ("If I +ever give a man anything I'll give him a great deal more than that," +Madge thought.) "And now," concluded Mr. Muir, "speaking of money, +I wish to go over your accounts with you soon, that you may know +everything and understand everything. It's absurd for women to be +helpless and dependent in this respect. You should know all about +your property, and the time has come when you should learn what +are regarded as safe investments, and what are not. My life is as +uncertain as any other man's, and I intend that you sisters shall not +be like two children, who must do blindly what some trustee tells you +to do;" and Mr. Muir complacently led the way to the breakfast-room, +feeling that as guardian he had done his duty both morally and +financially. + +It was his way to speak plainly and promptly all he desired to say, +and then, according to his creed, if people had sense they would do +what was wise; if they had not, the less said the better. + +Mrs. Muir was voluble during the morning meal. Now that Madge had come +again within the sphere of her domestic energy, she was fall of plans +and projects. + +"Of course," she said, "you have nothing to wear. The outlandish +dresses that you had made at that jumping-off place in the West won't +answer. As soon as the Waylands have made their call we must go out +and begin ordering your summer outfit. Perhaps Mrs. Wayland will go +with us." + +"Patience, Mary. We are not ready to order outfits yet." + +"Why not?" + +"Because we do not want to buy what interested shopmen and milliners +may choose to palm off on us. You live such a domestic life that you +are scarcely better informed than I as to the latest modes. We will +drive in the park, use our eyes on the avenue, and visit several +fashionable establishments first. Then I wish to find a dressmaker who +is not an idiotic slave of fashion, and who can modify the prevailing +styles by taste and appreciation of the person for whom she works. The +one whom I employ must make dresses for me and under my direction, and +not dresses in the abstract, as if they were for the iron-framed form +on which she exhibits her wares." + +"Good!" cried Mr. Muir; "Madge's head is level. Let her have her own +way, Mary, and she will come out all right." + +"Well," said Mrs. Muir, "I suppose it will take a little time for me +to get used to all these changes. Before she went away I used to +do everything for her. I'm going to have my own way in one thing, +however. You must not write to Graydon a word beyond the fact that +Madge is here. You have both laughed at me and my wonder, and +I'm going to have the compensation of seeing him transformed into +exclamation points." + +Madge now turned toward Mr. Muir, and he could detect not the +slightest indication of embarrassment or overconsciousness, as +she said, "Certainly, Henry, you must not spoil this little bit of +prospective fun." + +Madge did have her own way, and made her preparations with the quiet +decision and thoughtfulness which now characterized her actions. + +The Waylands were frequent guests at Mr. Muir's home for a time, and +then departed to visit friends in the country. + +Madge and her sister soon decided upon the Catskills as the place of +their summer sojourn. The choice of this region, so accessible from +the city, was pleasing to Mr. Muir. + +"What are you reading?" he said, one evening, as he found Madge +surrounded by books and pamphlets. + +"Reading up on the Catskills and their vicinity. A place is far more +interesting if you have associations with it, and I intend to be +versed in all the stories and legends of the region. In this I have a +little design upon you also. You look worn, Henry, and need rest and +change. You are too much devoted to business. I'm going to 'frivol,' +like the rest of the girls, in the evening--dance, and all that, you +know, but I shall try to keep you among the hills, and inveigle you +into long drives and walks by telling you exciting yarns that will +take the place of the dissipations of business. You needn't think you +will have to mope around the piazza, your body on a mountain and your +mind in Wall Street. You are getting old and rich, and you must begin +to take an interest in other things besides business." + +"Now, that's thoughtful and kind of you," he said, and then he lapsed +into a revery that the contraction of his brow showed to be not +altogether agreeable. + +At last he said, "Madge, I half believe you are right. I am and have +been too devoted to business. It's all very well as long as you can +drive it, but when it begins to drive you it is a hard task-master. +The times are bad. Instead of making anything, one has to use all his +faculties to keep from losing what he has made. It's getting to be a +grind. I sometimes wish I was out of it, but suppose I shouldn't know +what to do with myself." + +"That's just it, Henry, you wouldn't. You must become interested in +other things, and that's a process which requires time, and I'll help +you." + +"Oh, you," he said, laughing--"you will soon have all you can do to +keep your beaux at bay." + +"Beaux in this free and enlightened land have only certain rights +which a girl is bound to respect. Should there be any, and they +unreasonable, you'll see," she said, with a little decisive nod. +Then she added, gravely: "I don't believe you would be content out of +business, but I should think there was such a thing as trying to do +so much business that it would become a burden, and, perhaps, a heavy +one. You may think I'm a little goose, talking of what I know nothing +about; but I've read a great deal, and, of late, books worth reading. +I don't believe it is a good thing to change one's habits and pursuits +suddenly; and what's more, Henry, I believe that when the times are +better business will be as great a source of satisfaction to you as +ever. As I suggested before, you must gradually become interested in +other things which can take the place of business as you grow old." + +"What a wise little woman we have become!" said Mr. Muir. "Here you +are giving your guardian sound advice--you who, I imagined once, would +take no more thought for the morrow than a lily of the field, and a +very pale one at that. This is a greater change than any that Mary +exclaims about." + +"Perhaps you think me very presuming," answered Madge, coloring. + +"No, I do not. I think you very sensible, and I think myself very +fortunate in having such women in my household as you and Mary. I was +blue when I came home to-night, but it inspirits a man to talk to such +a girl. You have a power of good common-sense, Madge." + +"Well, I have--I had--need of it." + +"The majority would say you could afford to be silly. You have a +snug fortune of your own, of which not a penny can be lost unless the +bottom falls out of everything." + +"I don't think any woman can afford to be silly. I know that's a +sweeping word with you, and covers all feminine folly. What I meant +is this: Money and every good thing in life was a mockery. I couldn't +enjoy anything, and wasn't anything but a burden. I saw it all, and +that I should have to throw nonsense overboard if I wished to be +different. You will find that I have plenty left, however, before the +summer's over. Now, let me read to you Irving's legend of poor old +Rip. What if you have read it often? A little infusion of the champion +sleeper's spirit is just what you need;" and with simple purity of +tone and naturalness of accent she made the old story new to him. + +"Madge," he said, as he kissed her good-night, "that is even better +than your singing. I feel so freshened and heartened up that I'm +another man, and in good trim for the fight to-morrow; for that is +just what business has become--a regular defensive fight. You didn't +think two years ago that you would send me down to Wall Street with a +clearer head and better courage." + +"No, indeed, I didn't dream of it, and I can scarcely believe it's +true now. You used to seem to me like gravitation, that would always +be the same to the end of time." + +"Bah! A man is only a man, and he finds it out sooner or later. +There's Jack crying again, and Mary hasn't had a chance to come down. +I'll take the child, for his teeth make him so nervous that he won't +stay with the nurse." + +"I'll try my hand at him to-morrow," said the young girl, and was +absorbed in her reading again. + +The days passed quickly, and Madge filled them full, as before at +Santa Barbara. As the time approached for Graydon's return, she felt +a quiet rising excitement akin to that which inspires a soldier when +a campaign is about to open; but to her brother-in-law and sister +she gave only the impression of decision of character and youthful, +healthful buoyancy. She was good-cheer itself in the household, and +helpful in every little domestic emergency. The servants and the +children welcomed her like sunshine, and she made the evenings all +too short by music and reading aloud. She blossomed out in her summer +costumes like a flower, so becoming to her style had been her choice +of fabrics and the taste with which they had been fashioned. June was +passing. In a day or two more Graydon would arrive, and the fruition +or failure of her patient endeavor begin. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +RIVAL GIRLS + + +Instead of Graydon there came a letter saying that he would be +detained abroad another week. The heat was oppressive, and the family +physician said that little Jack should be taken to the country at +once. Therefore they packed in haste, and started for a hotel in the +Catskills at which rooms had been engaged. Graydon was to join them +there as soon after his return as possible. + +Madge looked wistfully at the mountains, as with shadowy grandeur +they loomed in the distance. There is ever a solemnity about mountain +scenery, and she felt it as she passed under the lofty brows of wooded +heights. To her spirit it was grateful and appropriate, for, while she +would lead among them apparently the existence of a young girl bent +only on enjoyment, she believed she would leave them, either a happy +woman, or else facing the tragedy of a thwarted life. Their deepest +shadows might, even when her laugh was gayest, typify the despondency +she would hide from all. + +It was Saturday, and Mr. Muir accompanied his family. He and his wife +looked worn and weary, for at this time circumstances were bringing +an excess of care to both. Mrs. Muir was a devoted mother, and little +Jack had taxed her patience and strength to the utmost. A defensive +warfare is ever the severest test of manhood, and Mr. Muir had found +the past week a trying one. He had been lured into an enterprise that +at the time had seemed certain of success, even to his conservative +mind, but unforeseen elements had entered into the problem, and it now +required all his nerve, all his resources, to meet the strain. Neither +Madge nor his wife knew anything of this. Indeed, it was not his habit +to speak of his affairs to any one, unless the exigencies of the case +required explanation. In this emergency he was obliged to maintain +among his associates an air of absolute confidence. Now that he was +out of the arena he gave evidence of the strain. + +Madge saw this, and resolved that her large reserve of vitality should +be drawn upon. The tired mother should be relieved and the perplexed +and wearied man beguiled into forgetfulness of the sources of anxiety. +Jack would have indulged in a perpetual howl during the journey had +not his attention been diverted by Madge's unexpected expedients, +which often suspended an outcry with comical abruptness, while her +remarks and questions made it impossible for Mr. Muir to toil on +mentally in Wall Street. By reason of the heat the majority of the +passengers dozed or fretted. She heroically kept up the spirits of her +little band, oblivious of the admiring eyes that often turned toward +her flushed, animated face. + +There are few stronger tests than unflagging good-humor during a +disagreeable journey with cross children. At last the ordeal came to +an end, and in the late afternoon shadows they alighted at the wide +piazza of the Under-Cliff House, and were shown to airy rooms, which +proved that the guests were not kept in pigeon-holes for the sole +benefit of the proprietor. Our heroine employed the best magic the +world has known--thoughtful helpfulness. Mr. Muir was banished. "You +would be as useful as a whale," she said to him, when he offered to +aid his wife in unpacking and getting settled. "Go down to the piazza +and smoke in peace. I shall be worth a dozen of you as soon as I take +off my travelling-dress." + +She verified her words, and before they were aware of it Mrs. Muir, +who was prone to fall into hopeless confusion at such times, and the +nurse were acting under her direction. The elder little boy and girl +were coaxed, restrained, managed, and soon sent down to their father, +redressed and serene. Jack was lulled to sleep in Madge's room. The +trunks instead of disgorging chaos, were compelled to part with their +contents in an orderly way. In little more than an hour the two rooms +allotted to Mr. and Mrs. Muir, and the nurse with the children, took +on a cosey, inhabitable aspect, and by supper-time the ladies, in +evening costume and with unruffled brows, joined Mr. Muir. + +"The idea of my ever permitting Madge to go back to Santa Barbara!" +exclaimed Mrs. Muir. "This day alone has proved that I can never get +on without her. Just go and look at your room, sir. One would think we +had been settled here a week. You ought to pay Madge's bills, and give +her a handsome surplus." + +"If time is money," said Madge, "Henry will have to pay me well. He +must stay and help me explore these mountains in every direction. +But now let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we shall go to +church." + +"I've half a mind to take you down to Wall Street with me next week," +said Mr. Muir. "Perhaps you can straighten out things there." + +"No, sir. I'm a woman's-rights girl, and one of her rights is to get +things out of the way as soon as possible, so that people can have a +good time. Thank heaven our affairs can be shut up in drawers and hung +up in closets, and there we can leave them--in this case for a good +supper first, and a long quiet rest on this piazza afterward. Don't +you think you could find a drawer somewhere in which to tuck away your +Wall Street matters, Henry? You won't need them till some time next +week, for you must certainly spend two or three days with us." + +Mr. Muir laughed. "I've heard of managing women before, but you beat +them all. You have won, to-day, the right to manage for a while. I'll +join you soon; then supper; and, as you suggest, I'll put the Wall +Street matters somewhere and lock them up." + +Thus their mountain sojourn began auspiciously. The supper was +excellent, and they were in a mood to enjoy it; they found the piazza +deliciously cool after the long hot day; and the faint initial pipings +of autumn insects only emphasized the peace and quiet of the evening. +The mountains brooded around them like great shadows, their outlines +gemmed with stars, and the very genius of repose seemed to settle down +upon the weary man and woman who were in the thick of their life's +battle. + +They were among the earliest arrivals at the house, and had a wide +space to themselves. Indeed, they could have been scarcely more +secluded at their own summer residence. For those seeking rest, an +early flight to summer resorts brings a rich reward. + +While her relatives dozed or merely revived sufficiently from time to +time to make some desultory remark, Madge thought deeply. At first she +had been disappointed at the postponement of Graydon's return, but +she grew reconciled as she dwelt upon it. While hope was deferred, +she enjoyed a longer lease of anticipation. When he did come she might +soon learn that all hope was vain. Besides, the delay gave her time to +familiarize herself with the region and its most beautiful walks and +drives. The mountains, woods, and rocks should all be pressed into +her service. They would not reveal her secret, and they might engender +thoughts and words with which Miss Wildmere would be out of harmony. + +"I've been thinking," Mr. Muir at last remarked. + +"Nonsense! you've been asleep," Madge replied. + +"No; I've thought profoundly." + +"Not even a penny for any thoughts of yours since supper." + +"They would be worth fortunes, life, health, happiness, to half the +world." + +"Then keep still till you have a patent, copyright, or something," +said his wife. + +"No. I rise simply to remark--also to retire--that a little oil keeps +machinery from wearing out and going to pieces. Come now, old lady" +(pulling his wife to her feet), "you are the better to-night, as I +am, for the oil that Madge has slipped in here and there. I fear the +machinery to-day would have run badly without it." + +The group that gathered at the breakfast-table next morning bore early +testimony to the tonic of the hills. Jack only was not so well, and +Mrs. Muir remained with him, while Madge and Mr. Muir wended their +way to a little chapel whose spire was the only summons to worship. +A short, genial, middle-aged man met them at the door, with such +hospitable cordiality as to suggest that he was receiving friends at +his own home, and conducted them to seats. A venerable clergyman sat +in the pulpit with a face full of quiet benignity. Every one who came +appeared to receive an almost personal welcome; and Madge and Mr. Muir +looked enviously at the self-appointed usher. It was as evident that +he was not a professional sexton as that the little congregation could +not afford such a luxury. No care clouded his brow. Evidently his +future did not depend on fluctuations in the maelstrom of commerce, +nor had he one hope so predominant over all others that his life was +one of masked suspense, as was the case with poor Madge. He was rather +like the rugged, sun-lighted mountains near, solid, stable, simple. No +matter what happened, he would remain and appear much the same. + +Such was the tenor of Madge's thoughts as she waited for the opening +of service. Fanciful and imaginative to a great degree, she found a +certain mental enjoyment in observing the impressions made upon her by +strangers. + +The service was brief and simple; the good old clergyman preached the +gospel of hope, and his words calmed and strengthened the young girl's +mind. She was made to feel that there is something more and better +than present happiness--that there are remedies for earthly ills. + +When she returned to the hotel she found that Mrs. Muir was worried +about Jack, who was worse, and that a Dr. Sommers had been sent for. +She could not help smiling when, a little later, the hospitable usher +of the chapel came briskly in. She eventually learned that the doctor +provoked smiles wherever he went, as a breeze raises ripples on the +surface of a stream. He smiled himself when he met people, and every +one took the contagion. He examined the baby, said the case would +require a little watching until certain teeth came through, and +then that there would be no further trouble. He spoke with the same +confidence with which he would announce that July was near. + +"You watch the case, then," said Mr. Muir, decisively. "I must be in +town. If you can look after the child and save my wife from worry, my +mind will be easy as regards this end of the line at least." + +"All right, sir. We'll manage it. Healthy boy. No trouble." + +"Have you lived long among the mountains, doctor?" Madge ventured to +ask. + +"I should think so. As long as I have lived. Was born and brought up +among 'em." + +"It must be dreary here in the winter," Mrs. Muir remarked. + +"Not a bit of it. It's never dreary." + +"How far among the hills does your practice extend?" Madge pursued. + +"As far as I'll go, and I'm usually going." + +"Perhaps you can give us, then, some advice as to drives and walks." + +"Oh, lots, free gratis. I can tell Mr. Muir of a trout-stream or two, +also." + +"Doctor," said Madge, laughing, "I am very ill. I shall need much +advice, and prescriptions of all the romantic walks and drives in the +vicinity." + +"And like most of the advice from doctors, it won't be taken. A stroll +on the piaza is about all that most ladies are equal to. You look, +however, as if you should not fear a steep path or a rough road." + +"You shall see," cried Madge. + +"Yes, I will see," said the doctor, laughing, and bowing himself out. +"I've seen a great many ladies who could dance miles, but were as +afraid of a mountain as of a bear." + +At the dinner-table Mrs. Muir said, laughingly, "In Dr. Sommers, Madge +has found a kindred spirit--another oiler of machinery. If between him +and Madge things don't go smoothly, the fates are indeed against us." + +"When life does go smoothly, it is because of just such good, cheery +common-sense," Mr. Muir remarked, sententiously. "I'm in the financial +centre of this part of the world, and schemes involving millions and +the welfare of States--indeed of whole sections of the country--are +daily brought to my consideration, and I tell you again men are often +in no condition to act wisely or well because the wear and tear of +their life is greater after business hours than during them. Business +maniac as Madge thinks me to be, little Jack is of more consequence +than a transcontinental railway. I must face the music--the discord, +rather--of Wall Street to-morrow. There is no use in protesting or +coaxing; I must be there; but it's a great thing to be able to return +with my nerves soothed, rested, and quieted. Heaven help the men who, +after the strain of the day, must go home to be pricked half to death +with pin-and-needle-like worries, if not worse." + +"Please imagine Madge and myself making a profound courtesy for the +implied compliment," said Mrs. Muir. "But can you not spend part of +the week with us?" + +"No. Graydon will soon be here, and there is much to be seen to. He +writes that he has worked very hard to get things in shape so that +he can leave them, and that he wishes to take a vacation. As far as +possible I shall gratify him. He can be with you here, and come to +town occasionally as I need him. It's all turning out very well, and I +am better off than many in these troublous times." + +The remainder of his stay passed quietly in absolute rest, and on the +following morning he was evidently strengthened for the renewal of the +struggle. + + * * * * * + +"Stella!" + +Miss Wildmere remained absorbed in her novel. + +"Stella!" repeated Mr. Wildmere, impatiently. + +"What is it?" she asked, fretfully. "I'm in an exciting scene. Can't +you wait awhile?" + +"Oh, throw down your confounded novel! You should be giving your mind +to real life and exciting scenes of your own. No, I can't wait and +don't propose to, for I must go out." + +The words were spoken in a small but elegant house, furnished in an +ultra-fashionable style. Mr. Wildmere was a stout, florid man, who +looked as if he might be burning his candle at both ends. His daughter +was dressed to receive summer evening calls at her own home, for she +was rarely without them. If the door-bell had rung she would have +dismissed her exciting scene without hesitation, but it was only her +father who asked her attention. + +"Very well," she said, absently, turning down a leaf. + +Her father observed her listless air and averted face for a moment +with contracted brow, then quietly remarked, "Graydon Muir may return +at any time now." + +Her apathy disappeared at once, and a faint color stole into her face. + +"Haven't you had enough of general attention and flirtation? I know +that my wishes have little weight; you have refused not a few good +offers and one on which I had set my heart; but let the past go. The +immediate future may require careful and decisive action. I speak in +view of your own interests, and to such considerations I know you +will not be indifferent. If you were taking a natural and intelligent +interest in my affairs you would have some comprehension of my +difficulties and dangers. The next few months will decide whether I +can keep up or not. In the meantime you have your opportunity. Graydon +Muir will share in the fortunes of his brother, who has had the +reputation of being very wealthy and eminently conservative. I have +learned, however, that he has invested largely in one enterprise that +now appears to be very dubious--how largely no one but himself knows. +If this affair goes through all right you couldn't do better than +develop Graydon Muir into an impatient suitor; and you had better keep +him well in hand for a time, anyway. He is a good business man and far +more to be depended upon than rich young fellows who have inherited +wealth, with no ability except in spending it. If the Muirs pass +through these times they will become one of the strongest and safest +houses in the country. Remember that the _if_ is to be considered. Mr. +Arnault, too, is a member of a strong, wealthy house. I would advise +you to make your choice between these two men speedily. You are not +adapted to a life of poverty, and would not enjoy it. An alliance with +either of these men might also aid in sustaining me." + +Miss Wildmere listened attentively, but made no comment, and her +father evidently did not require any, for he went out immediately. +He understood his daughter sufficiently to believe that she needed +no further advice. He was right. The exciting crisis in her novel +was forgotten, and her fair face took on an expression that did not +enhance its beauty. Calculation on the theme uppermost in her mind +produced a revery in which an artist would not have cared to paint +her. It was evident that the time had come when she must dispose of +herself, and the question was, how to do it to the best advantage. + +To Graydon she gave her preference. He was remarkably fine looking, +and could easily be a leader in society if he so desired--"and +certainly shall be," she thought, "if I take his name." As far as her +heart spoke in the matter it declared for him, also. Other men had +wooed and pleaded, but she had ever mentally compared them with +Graydon, and they had appeared insignificant. She had felt sure for a +long time that he would eventually be at her feet, and she had never +decided to refuse him. Now she was ready to accept but for this +ominous "if," which her father had emphasized. She could not think of +marrying him should he become a poor man. + +She neither liked nor disliked Mr. Arnault. He was a man of the world, +reported wealthy, established in a large but not very conservative +business. He had the name of being a little fast and speculative, but +she was accustomed to that style of man. He was an open suitor who +would take no rebuff, and had laughingly told her so. After his +refusal, instead of going away in despondency or in a half-tragic +mood, he had good-naturedly declared his intentions, and spent the +remainder of the evening in such lively chat that she had been pleased +and amused by his tactics. Since that time he had made himself useful, +was always ready to be an escort with a liberal purse, and never +annoyed her with sentiment. She understood him, and he was aware that +she did. He took his chances for the future, and was always on hand +to avail himself of any mood or emergency which he could turn to +his advantage. In various unimportant ways he was of service to Mr. +Wildmere, but hoped more from the broker's embarrassments than from +the girl's heart. + +"I might do worse," muttered the beauty--"I might do worse. If it were +not for Graydon Muir, I'd decide the question at once." + +The door-bell rang, and Graydon was announced. Even her experienced +nerves had a glad tingle of excitement, she was so genuinely pleased +to see him. And well she might be, for he was a man to light any +woman's eyes with admiration. If something of his youth had passed, +his face had gained a rich compensation in the strong lines of +manhood, and his manner a courtly dignity from long contact with the +best elements of life. One saw that he knew the world, but had not +been spoiled by it. That he had not become cynical was proved by his +greeting of Miss Wildmere. He was capable of hoping that her continued +freedom, in spite of her remarkable beauty, might be explained on the +ground of a latent regard for him, which had kept her ready for his +suit after an absence so unexpectedly prolonged. Through a friend he +had, from time to time, been informed about her; and there was no ring +on her hand to forbid his ardent glances. + +Never before had she appeared so alluringly attractive. He was a +thorough American, and had not been fascinated by foreign types of +beauty. In his fair countrywoman he believed that he saw his ideal. +Her beauty was remarkable for a fullness, a perfection of outline, +combined with a fairness and delicacy which suggested that she was not +made of ordinary clay. Miss Wildmere prided herself upon giving the +impression that she was remote from all that was common or homely in +life. She cultivated the characteristic of daintiness. In her dress, +gloves, jewelry, and complexion she would be immaculate at any cost. +Graydon's fastidious taste could never find a flaw in her, as regarded +externals, and she knew the immense advantage of pleasing his eye with +a delicacy that even approached fragility in its exquisite fairness, +while at the same time her elastic step in the dance or promenade +proved that she had abundance of vitality. + +Nothing could have been more auspicious than his coming to-night--the +very first evening after his arrival. It assured her of the place she +still held in his thoughts; it gave her the chance to renew, in the +glad hours of his return, the impression she had made; and she saw in +his admiring eyes how favorable that impression was. She exulted that +he found her so well prepared. Her clinging summer costume revealed +not a little of her beauty, and suggested more, while she permitted +her eyes to give a welcome more cordial even than her words. + +He talked easily and vivaciously, complimented her openly, yet with +sincerity, and rallied her on the wonder of wonders that she was still +Miss Wildmere. + +"Not so great a marvel as that you return a bachelor. Why did you not +marry a German princess or some reduced English countess?" + +"I was not driven to that necessity, since there were American queens +at home. I am delighted that you are still in town. What are your +plans for the summer?" + +"We have not fully decided as yet." + +"Then go to the Catskills. Our ladies are there at the Under-Cliff +House, and I am told that it is a charming place." + +"I will speak to mamma of it. She must come to some decision soon. +Papa says that he will be too busy to go out of town much." + +"Why, then, the Catskills is just the place--accessible to the city, +you know. That is the reason we have chosen it. I propose to take +something of a vacation, but find that I must go back and forth a good +deal, and so shall escape the bore of a long journey." + +"You have given two good reasons for our going there. The place cannot +be stupid, since we may see you occasionally, and papa could come +oftener." + +"Persuade Mrs. Wildmere into the plan by all means, and promise me +your first waltz after your arrival;" and there was eagerness in his +tone. + +"Will you also promise me your first?" + +"Yes, and last also, if you wish." + +"Oh, no! I do not propose to be selfish; Miss Alden will have her +claims." + +"What, Sister Madge? She must have changed greatly if she will dance +at all. She is an invalid, you know." + +"I hear she has returned vastly improved in health--indeed, that she +is quite a beauty." + +"I hope so," he said, cordially, "but fear that rumor has exaggerated. +My brother said she was better, and added but little more. Have you +seen her?" + +"No. I only heard, a short time since, that she had returned." + +Madge had not gone into society, and had she met Miss Wildmere face +to face she would not have been recognized, so greatly was she changed +from the pallid, troubled girl over whom the beauty had enjoyed her +petty triumph; but the report of Miss Alden's attractions had aroused +in Miss Wildmere's mind apprehensions of a possible rival. + +Graydon's manner was completely reassuring. Whatever Miss Alden might +have become, she evidently had no place in his thoughts beyond +that natural to their relations. No closer ties had been formed by +correspondence during his long absence. + +Further tête-à-tête was interrupted by the appearance of Mr. Arnault. +The young men were courteous and even cordial to each other, but +before half an hour had passed they recognized that they were rivals. +Graydon's lips grew firm, and his eyes sparkled with the spirit of one +who had not the faintest idea of yielding to another. Miss Wildmere +was delighted. The game was in her own hands. She could play these two +men off against each other, and take her choice. Mr. Arnault was made +to feel that he was not _de trop_, and, as usual, he was nonchalant, +serene, and evidently meant to stay. Therefore Graydon took his leave, +and was permitted to carry away the impression that his departure was +regretted. + +"Mr. Arnault," said Miss Wildmere, quietly, "we have decided to spend +some time at the Under-Cliff House in the Catskills. So you perceive +that I shall be deprived of the pleasure of your calls for a while." + +"Not at all. I shall take part of my summering there also. When do you +go?" + +"In a few days--sometime before the fourth. How fortunately it all +happens!" she added, laughing. "When did you decide on the Catskills?" + +"That's immaterial. When did you?" + +"That also is immaterial. Perhaps you would like to ask mamma?" + +"I'd rather ask papa--both, I should say," he replied, with a +significant shrug. + +"Do so by all means. Meanwhile I would suggest that a great many +people go to the Catskills--thirty thousand, more or less, it is +said." + +"I had another question in mind. Is Graydon Muir going there in order +to follow the crowd?" + +"If he is going I suppose he will follow his inclinations." + +"Or you?" + +"Were that possible, I could not prevent it. Indeed, women rarely +resent such things." + +"No indeed. It is well you do not, for you would become the embodiment +of resentment. How large is your train now, Stella?" + +"You can dimmish it by one if you choose," she replied, smiling +archly. + +"I should be little missed, no doubt." + +"I didn't say that." + +"I'm more afraid of Muir than of all the train together." + +"That's natural. The train has little chance collectively." + +"Don't pretend to misunderstand me. There was unmistakable meaning in +Muir's eyes." + +"I should hope so. He means to help me have a good time. So do you, I +trust." + +"Certainly. You may judge of the future from the past," he added, +significantly, as he rose to take his leave. + +"Then the future promises well for me," she said, giving him her hand +cordially; "for you have been one of the best of friends." + +"And a good deal more. Good-night." + +"Mamma," said Miss Wildmere, stopping at the nursery on her way to her +room, "we must get ready to go to the Catskills at once." + +"Why, Stella! This is the first I've heard of this plan. Your father +has said that he doesn't see how we can go out of town at all this +summer." + +"Nonsense! I'll insure that papa agrees." + +"I don't see how I can get ready soon. The baby is fretful, and I'm +all worn out between broken rest and worry. Won't you take Effie for a +little while?" + +"Where's the nurse?" + +"She's out. Of course she has to have some time to herself." + +"You just spoil the servants. It's her business to take care of the +child. What else is she paid for? Why can't one of the other maids +take her?" + +"Effie is too nervous to go to strangers to-night." + +"Oh, well, give her to me, then." + +The sensitive little organization knew at once that it was in the +hands not only of a comparative stranger, but also of one whose touch +revealed little sympathy, and its protest was so great that the tired +mother took it again, while the beautiful daughter, the cynosure of +all eyes in public, went to her room to finish the "exciting scene" at +her leisure. + +But the scene had grown unreal. Its hero was but a shadow, and a +distorted one at that. The book fell from her hand; she again saw +Graydon Muir coming forward to greet her with an easy grace which no +prince in story could surpass, and with an expression in his dark blue +eyes which no woman fails to understand. It assured her that neither +in the old world nor in the new had he seen her equal. + +"I wish it could be," she murmured; "I hope it can be; were it not for +that 'if' it should be soon." + +Thus, after her own fashion, another girl had designs upon Graydon. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MEETING + + +Graydon had completed his final transactions abroad with more +expedition than he had anticipated, and, having been favored by a +quick passage, had arrived several days sooner than he was expected. +Therefore he decided to accompany his brother to the Catskills +on Saturday, spending the intervening time in business and such +arrangements as would leave him free to remain in the country for a +week or two. The second evening after his arrival again found him in +Miss Wildmere's parlor, and before he left he was given to understand +that Mrs. Wildmere had decided upon the Under-Cliff House also, and +that they would depart on Saturday. + +"Then you will be _compagnon de voyage_," said Graydon, with +undisguised pleasure. + +Somewhat to Mrs. Wildmere's surprise, her husband quietly acquiesced +in his daughter's wishes, telegraphed for rooms, and desired his wife +to be ready. + +She was a quiet, meek little woman, whose life had somehow become +entangled in a sphere which was not in harmony with her nature. Her +beauty had faded early, and she had little force of character with +which to maintain her influence over her husband. His life was amid the +fierce excitements of Wall Street; hers, as far as she had a life, +was a weary effort to keep up appearances and meet the expenses of a +fashionable daughter, on an uncertain and greatly fluctuating income. + +Mr. Wildmere informed her that his affairs would keep him in town +until late in the following week, but that, as the house to which she +was going was a quiet family hotel, she would have no trouble. + +Mr. Muir had telegraphed the arrival of his brother, and the latter +had written a few cordial but hasty lines to both his sister-in-law +and Madge. Where he spent his evenings was unknown to Mr. Muir, but +that gentleman had little trouble in guessing when he saw his brother +greet the Wildmeres as if he understood their plans, and laughingly +promise Mr. Wildmere that he would see the ladies and their belongings +safely established in the Under-Cliff House. Graydon observed the +slight cloud on his brother's face, but ignored it, feeling that +his preference was an affair of his own. He believed that the +long-wished-for opportunity to press his suit with vigor had come, +and had no hesitation as to his purpose. He did not intend to act +precipitately, however. He would first learn just how Mr. Arnault +stood, and become reasonably assured by Miss Wildmere's manner toward +himself that her preference was not a hope, but a reality. + +The enterprise in which Mr. Muir had engaged, and which now so taxed +his financial strength, was outside of his regular business, and +Graydon knew nothing of it. The young man believed that his own means +and exceptionally good prospects were sufficient to warrant the step +he proposed to take. He assuredly had the right to please himself in +his choice, and he felt that he would be fortunate indeed could he win +one whom so many had sought in vain. + +It never entered Mr. Muir's mind to interpose any authority or undue +influence. He merely felt in regard to the matter a repugnance natural +to one so alien in disposition to Mr. Wildmere and his daughter, +and it was a source of bitter mortification to him that he now found +himself in a position not unlike that of the broker, in what +would appear, in the present aspect of affairs, to be an outside +speculation. During the ride to the mountains he mentally compared +Miss Wildmere's behavior with that of Madge a week before. Witnessing +Graydon's evident infatuation, he would have been glad to recognize +any manifestation of traits that promised well for his future; but the +young lady was evidently altogether occupied with the attentions +she received, her own beauty, and the furtive admiration of +fellow-passengers. Poor Mrs. Wildmere and the nurse were left to +manage the cross baby as best they could. Graydon once or twice tried +to do something, but his strange face and voice only frightened the +child. + +To Madge it had seemed an age since the telegram announcing Graydon's +arrival had thrilled every nerve with hope and fear. Then had come his +hasty note, proving conclusively his affectionate indifference. She +was simply Madge to him, as of old. He was the one man of all the +world to her, and no calculating "if" would be the source of her +restraint. + +True to her old tactics, however, she had spent no time in idle +dreaming. She had cultivated Dr. Sommers's acquaintance, and he had +already accompanied her and her sister through a wild valley, on the +occasion of a visit to one of his patients. Little Jack had improved +under his care, and Mrs. Muir was growing serene, rested, and eager +for Saturday. Madge shared her impatience, and yet dreaded the hour +during which she felt that a glimpse of the future would be revealed. +She had driven out daily with her sister, and familiarized herself +with the topography of the region. Having formed the acquaintance of +some pleasant and comparatively active people in the house, she had +joined such walking expeditions as they would venture upon. In rowing +the children upon a small lake she also disposed of some of her +superabundant vitality and the nervous excitement which anticipation +could not fail to produce. In the evening there was more or less +dancing, and her hand was eagerly sought by such of the young men as +could obtain the right to ask it. Mrs. Muir's remark that she would +become a belle in spite of herself proved true; but while she affected +no exclusive or distant airs, the most callow and forward youth +felt at once the restraint of her fine reserve. Her sensitive nature +enabled her, in a place of public resort, to know instinctively whom +to keep at a distance, and who, like Dr. Sommers, not only invited but +justified a frank and friendly manner. + +As the time for the gentlemen to arrive approached, Mrs. Muir showed +more restless interest than Madge. The one anticipated a bit of +amusement over Graydon's surprise; the other looked forward to meeting +her fate. Mrs. Muir was garrulous; Madge was comparatively silent, and +maintained the semblance of interest in a book so naturally that her +sister exclaimed, "I expect you will die with a book in your hand! I +could no more read now than preach a sermon. Come, it's time to +make your toilet. Let me help you, and I want you to get yourself up +'perfectly regardless.' You must outshine them all at the hop this +evening." + +"Nonsense, Mary! They won't be here for an hour and a half. I'm +going to lie down;" and she went to her room. When her sister sought +admittance half an hour later the door was locked and all was quiet. +At last, in her impatience, she knocked and cried, "Wake up. They will +be here soon." + +"I'm not asleep, and it will not take me long to dress." + +"Well, you are the coolest young woman I ever knew," Mrs. Muir called +out, finding that admittance was denied her. + +Madge had determined to spend the final hour of her long separation +alone. Her nature had become too deep and strong to seek trivial +diversion from the suspense that weighed upon her spirit. As she +thought of the possibility of failure, and its results, her courage +faltered a little, and a few tears would come. At last, with a glance +heavenward which proved that there was nothing in her heart to keep +her from looking thither for sanction, she left her room, serene and +resolute. She had taken her woman's destiny into her own hand, to mold +it in her own way, but in no arrogant and unbelieving spirit. + +Mrs. Muir uttered a disappointed protest. "Oh, Madge, how plainly you +are dressed!" + +"I knew you wouldn't like it at first," was the quiet reply. By the +time they had reached the parlor door opposite the office, near which +they proposed to wait for the travellers, now momentarily expected, +Mrs. Muir was compelled to acknowledge the correctness of Madge's +taste. Her costume no more distracted attention from herself than +would the infolding calyx of a rosebud. In its exquisite proportions +her fine figure was outlined by close white drapery, which made her +appear taller than she really was. A single half-open Jacqueminot +rose, like the one she had sent to Graydon at their parting over two +years since, was fastened on her bosom. Her dark eyes burned with a +suppressed excitement. Her complexion, if not so white as that of Miss +Wildmere, was pure, and had a richer hue of health. But she was +pale now. Her red lips half destroyed their exquisite curves in firm +compression. The moment had not quite come for action, when those lips +must be true to herself, true to her purpose, even while they spoke +words which might be misleading to others. + +Mrs. Muir, with triumph, saw the glances of strong admiration turned +toward her sister from every side. Madge saw them also, but only to +read in them the verdict she hoped to obtain from the kind blue eyes +for whose coming she waited. + +Standing with Mrs. Muir, facing the long hall down which Graydon must +advance, she knew she would see him before he could recognize her. +How much of longing, of breathless interest, would be concentrated +in those moments of waiting, she herself had never imagined till they +were passing. + +The stages began to arrive, with consequent bustle, and the hasty +advance toward the office of men seeking to register their names +early, in order to secure a choice of rooms. At last she saw Graydon's +tall form and laughing face, and for a second something approaching +to faintness caused her to close her eyes. When she opened them again +they rested upon Miss Wildmere. + +This young lady understood the art of making an impressive and almost +triumphal entry on new scenes. Therefore she had been in no haste. +Indeed, haste had no place among her attributes: it was ungraceful and +usually not effective. When, therefore, the crowd had passed on, and +there was a comparatively clear space in the hall, she advanced down +it at Graydon's side as if her mind was wholly engrossed with their +lively chat. Never for a second was she unconscious of the attention +they attracted. Graydon was one at whom even men would turn and look +as he passed, and she believed that there was none other who could +keep step with him like herself. So thought the self-appointed +committee of reception who always regard curiously the new-comers at a +summer resort, and there were whispered notes of admiration as the two +paused for a moment before the register and looked back. Then it +was seen that a meek-looking little lady and a nurse and child were +straggling after them, while Mr. Muir brought up the rear. Graydon +had some light wraps thrown gracefully over his arm, but the merchant +carried the less ornamental _impedimenta_ of the party, for the +earlier guests had already overladened the office-boys. He now handed +the valise--a sort of tender upon the baby--to a porter, and rather +grimly acknowledged Mrs. Wildmere's mingled thanks and feeble +protestations. + +"Please register for us," said Miss Wildmere, glancing carelessly yet +observantly around. An intervening group had partially hidden Madge +and her sister. It was also evident that Graydon was too much occupied +with his fair companion to look far away. He complied, thinking, +meantime, "Some day I may register for her again, and then my name +will suffice for us both." The smile which followed the thought +brought out the best lines of his handsome profile to poor Madge, who +permitted no phase of expression on that face to escape her scrutiny. +So true was the clairvoyance of her intense interest that she guessed +the thought which was so agreeable to him, and she grew paler still. + +Mr. Muir hastened to greet his wife, and then Graydon recognized her. +He came at once and kissed her in his accustomed hearty way. Madge +stood near, unnoted, unrecognized. + +"Where's Madge? Isn't she well enough to come down?" he asked, his +eyes following Miss Wildmere, who had entered the parlor, which +she must cross to reach her room beyond. Mrs. Muir began to laugh +immoderately, and Mr. Muir followed his brother's eyes with vexation. +Graydon was on the _qui vive_ instantly, and Madge drew a step nearer +and began to smile. For once the punctilious and elegant Graydon +forgot his courtesy, and looked at Madge in utter astonishment--an +expression, however, which passed swiftly into admiration and delight. + +"Madge!" he exclaimed, seizing both her hands. "I couldn't have +believed it. I wouldn't believe it now but for your eyes;" and before +she could prevent him he had placed a kiss upon her lips. + +Miss Wildmere had seen the unknown beauty as she passed, had +inventoried her with woman's instantaneous perception, had paused on +the distant threshold and seen the greeting, then had vanished with a +vindictive flash in her gray eyes. + +Graydon's impetuous words and salute had produced smiles and envious +glances, and the family party withdrew into a retired corner of the +apartment, Madge's cheeks, meanwhile, vying, in spite of herself, with +the rose on her breast. Graydon would not relinquish her hand, and, +as Mrs. Muir had predicted, indulged in little more than exclamation +points. + +"There now, be rational," cried the young girl, laughing, her heart +for the moment full of gladness and triumph. He was indeed bending +upon her looks of admiration, delight, and affection. + +"Why have I been kept in the dark about all this?" he at last asked, +incoherently. + +"For the same reason that we were. Madge meant to give us a surprise, +and succeeded. I couldn't get over it, and they were always laughing +at me, so I determined that I should have my laugh at you. Oh, wasn't +it rich? To think of the elegant and travelled society man standing +there staring with his eyes and mouth wide open!" + +"I don't think it was quite so bad as that, but if it was there's good +reason for it. Tell me, Madge, how this miracle was wrought!" + +"There, that's just what I called it," cried Mrs. Muir, "and it's +nothing less than one, in spite of all that Madge and Henry can say." + +"When you are ready for supper I will show you one phase of the +miracle," said Madge, laughing, with glad music in her voice. "Come, +I'm not an escaped member of a menagerie, and there's no occasion for +you to stare any longer." + +"Yes, come along," added Mr. Muir; "I've had no roast beef to-day and +a surfeit of sentiment." + +The young fellow colored slightly, but said brusquely: "Men's tastes +change with age. I suppose you did not find a little sentiment amiss +once upon a time. Well, Madge, you are not a bit of a ghost now, yet I +fear you are an illusion." + +"Illusions will vanish when you come to help me at supper. We will +wait for you on the piazza." + +As she paced its wide extent, her illusions also vanished. Graydon had +greeted, her as a brother, and a brother only. When the tumult at +her heart subsided, this truth stood out most clearly. His kiss still +tingled upon her lips. It must be the last, unless followed by a kiss +of love. Their brotherly and sisterly relations must be shattered at +once. No such relations existed for her, and only as she destroyed +such regard on his part could a tenderer affection take its place. +With her as his sister he would be content; he might not readily think +of her in another light, and meantime might drift swiftly into an +engagement with Miss Wildmere. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +OLD TIES BROKEN + + +"Madge," said Graydon, rejoining her on the piazza, and giving her +his arm, while Mrs. Muir sat down to wait for her husband, "you wear +a rose like the one you sent me when we parted so long ago. Oh, but my +heart was heavy then! Did you make this choice to-night by chance?" + +"You have a good memory." + +"You have not answered me." + +"I shall admit nothing that will increase your vanity." + +"You will now of necessity make my pride overweening." + +"How is that? I hope to have a better influence over you." + +"As I look at you I regard my pride as most pardonable and natural. My +old thoughts and hopes are realized beyond even imagination, although, +looking at your eyes, in old times, I always had a high ideal of your +capabilities. I should be a clod indeed if I were not proud of such a +sister to champion in society." + +Madge's hearty laugh was a little forced as she said, "You have a +delightfully cool way of taking things for granted. I'm no longer a +little sick girl, but, to vary Peggotty's exultant statement, a young +lady 'growed.' You forgot yourself, sir, in your greeting; but that +was pardonable in your paroxysm of surprise. + +"What, Madge! Will you not permit me to be your brother?" + +"What an absurd question!" she answered, still laughing. "You are +not my brother. Can I permit water to run up hill? You were like +a brother, though, when I was a sick child in the queer old +times--kinder than most brothers, I think. But, Graydon, I am grown +up. See, my head comes above your shoulder." + +"Well, you are changed." + +"For the better, in some respects, I hope you will find." + +"I don't at all like the change you suggest in our relations, and am +not sure I will submit to it. It seems absurd to me." + +"It will not seem so when you come to think of it," she replied, +gravely and gently. "You think of me still as little Madge; I am no +longer little Madge, even to myself. A woman's instincts are usually +right, Graydon." + +"Oh, thank you! I am glad I am still 'Graydon.' Why do you not call me +'Mr. Muir?'" + +"Because I am perfectly rational. Because I regard you as almost the +best friend I have." + +"Break up that confabulation," cried Mr. Muir to the young people, who +had paused and were confronting each other at the further end of the +piazza. "If you think Madge can explain herself in a moment or a week +you are mistaken. Come to supper." + +"My brother is right--you are indeed an enigma," he said, +discontentedly. + +"An enigma, am I?" she responded, smiling. "Please remember that most +of the world's enigmas were slowly found out because so simple." + +As they passed from the dusky piazza to the large, brilliantly lighted +supper-room, with nearly all its tables occupied, he was curious to +observe how she would meet the many critical eyes turned toward her. +Again he was puzzled as well as surprised. She walked at his side as +though the room were empty. There was no affectation of indifference, +no trace of embarrassed or of pleased self-consciousness. From the +friendly glances and smiles that she received it was also apparent +that she had already made acquaintances. She moved with the easy, +graceful step of perfect good breeding and assured confidence, and was +as self-possessed as himself. Was this the little ghost who had once +been afraid of her own shadow, which was scarcely less substantial +than herself? + +They had been seated but a moment when Miss Wildmere entered alone. To +Graydon this appeared pathetic. He did not know that her mother was +so worn out from the journey, and so embarrassed by unaided efforts to +get settled while still caring for her half-sick child, that she +had decided to make a slight and hasty repast in her own room. Miss +Wildmere cared little for what took place behind the scenes, but was +usually superb before the footlights. Nothing could have been more +charming or better calculated to win general good-will than her +advance down the long room. In external beauty she was more striking +at first than Madge. She did not in the least regret that she must +enter alone, for she was not proud of her mother, and nothing drew +attention from herself. She assumed, however, a slight and charming +trace of embarrassment and perplexity, which to Graydon was perfectly +irresistible, and he mentally resolved that she should not much longer +want a devoted escort. Madge saw his glance of sympathy and strong +admiration, his smile and low bow as she passed, ushered forward by +the obsequious headwaiter, and her heart sank. In spite of all she +had attempted and achieved, the old cynical assurance came back to +her--"You are nothing to Graydon, and never can be anything to him." +She was pale enough now, but her eyes burned with the resolution not +to yield until all hope was slain. She talked freely, and was most +friendly toward Graydon, but there was a slight constraint in his +manner. The beautiful and self-possessed girl who sat opposite him was +not little Madge whom it had been his pleasure to pet and humor. She +evidently no longer regarded herself as his sister, but rather as a +charming young woman abundantly able to take care of herself. She had +indeed changed marvellously in more respects than one, and he felt +aggrieved that he had been kept in ignorance of her progress. He +believed that she had grown away from him and the past, as well as +grown up, according to her declaration. He recalled her apparent +disinclination for correspondence, and now thought it due to +indifference, rather than an indolent shrinking from effort. The +surprise she had given him seemed a little thing--an act due possibly +to vanity--compared with the sisterly accounts she might have written +of her improvement. She had achieved the wonder without aid from him, +and so of course had not felt the need of his help in any way. In +remembrance of the past he felt that he had not deserved to be so +ignored. Her profession of friendship was all well enough--there could +scarcely be less than that--but the Madge he had looked forward to +meeting again as of old no longer existed. Oh, yes, she should have +admiration and exclamation points to her heart's content, but he had +come from his long exile hungry for something more and better +than young lady friends. He had long since had a surfeit of these +semi-Platonic affinities. The girl who apparently had been refusing +scores of men for his sake was more to his taste. His brother's +repugnance only irritated and incited him, and he thought, "I'll carry +out his business policy to the utmost, but away from the office I am +my own man." + +As these thoughts passed through his mind, they began to impart to his +manner a tinge of gallantry, the beginning of a departure from his old +fraternal and affectionate ways. He was too well-bred to show pique +openly, or to reveal a sense of injury during the first hours of +reunion, but he already felt absolved from being very attentive to +a girl who not only had proved so conclusively that she could manage +admirably for herself, but who also had been so indifferent that she +had not needed his sympathy in her efforts or thought it worth while +to gladden him with a knowledge of her progress. He had loved her as +a sister, and had given ample proof of this. He had maintained his +affection for the Madge that he remembered. "But I have been told," he +thought, bitterly, "that the young lady before me is a 'friend.' She +has been a rather distant friend, if the logic of events counts for +anything. Not satisfied with the thousands of miles that separated us, +she has also withheld her confidence in regard to changes that would +have interested even a casual acquaintance." + +Madge soon detected the changing expression of his eyes, the lessening +of simple, loving truth in his words, and while she was pained she +feared that all this and more would necessarily result from the +breaking up of their old relations. Her task was a difficult one +at best--perhaps it was impossible--nor had she set about it in +calculating policy. Their old relations could not be maintained on her +part. Even the touch of his hand had the mysterious power to send a +thrill to her very heart. Therefore she must surround herself at once +with the viewless yet impassable barriers which a woman can interpose +even by a glance. + +As they rose, Graydon remarked, "I have helped you at supper, and yet +one of my illusions has not vanished. The air at Santa Barbara must +have been very nourishing if your appetite was no better there +than here. Your strange 'sea-change' on that distant coast is still +marvellous to me." + +"Mary can tell you how ravenous I usually am. I do not meet friends +every day from whom I have been separated so long." + +"It is a very ordinary thing for me to meet 'friends,'" he replied, +_sotto voce_, "for I have many. I had hopes that I should meet one who +would be far more than a friend. I'm half inclined to go out to Santa +Barbara and see if my little sister Madge is not still there." + +"Do you think me a fraud?" + +"Oh, no, only so changed that I scarcely know how to get acquainted +with you." + +"Even if I granted so much, which I do not, I might suggest that +one must be uninteresting indeed if she inspires no desire for +acquaintance. But such talk is absurd between us, Graydon." + +"Of course it is. You are so changed for the better that I can +scarcely believe my eyes or ears, and my heart not at all. Of course +your wishes shall be my law, and my wishes will lead me to seek your +acquaintance with deep and undisguised interest. You see the trouble +with me is that I have not changed, and it will require a little time +for me to adapt myself to the new order of things. I am now somewhat +stunned and paralyzed. In this imbecile state I am both stupid +and selfish. I ought to congratulate you, and so I do with all the +shattered forces of my mind and reason. You have improved amazingly. +You are destined to become a belle _par excellence_, and probably are +one now--I know so little of what has occurred since we parted." + +"You are changed also, Graydon. You used to be kind in the old days;" +and she spoke sadly. + +"In some respects I am changed," he said, earnestly; "and my affection +for you is of such long standing and so deep that it prompts me to +make another protest." (They had strolled out upon the grounds and +were now alone.) "I have changed in this respect; I am no longer so +young as I was, and am losing my zest for general society. I was weary +of residence abroad, where I could have scarcely the semblance of +a home, and, while I had many acquaintances and friends, I had no +kindred. I'm sorry to say that the word 'friend,' in its reference +to young ladies, does not mean very much to me; or, rather, I have +learned from experience just what it does mean. A few years since I +was proud of my host of young lady friends, and some I thought would +continue to be such through life. Bah! They are nearly all married or +engaged; their lives have drifted completely away from mine, as it was +natural and inevitable that they should. We are good friends still, +but what does it amount to? I rarely think of them; they never of +me, I imagine. We exert no influence on each other's lives, and add +nothing to them. I never had a sister, but I had learned to love you +as if you were one, and when I heard that you were to be of our family +again, the resumption of our old relations was one of my dearest +expectations. It hurt me cruelly, Madge, when you laughed at the +idea as preposterous, and told me that I had forgotten myself when +following the most natural impulse of my heart. It seemed to me the +result of prudishness, rather than womanly delicacy, unless you have +changed in heart as greatly as in externals. You could be so much +to me as a sister. It is a relationship that I have always craved--a +sister not far removed from me in age; and such a tie, it appears to +me, might form the basis of a sympathy and confidence that would be +as frank as unselfish and helpful. That is what I looked forward to in +you, Madge. Why on earth can it not be?" + +She was painfully embarrassed, and was glad that his words were spoken +under the cover of night. She trembled, for his question probed deep. +How could she explain that what was so natural for him was impossible +for her? He mistook her hesitation for a sign of acquiescence, and +continued: "Wherein have I failed to act like a brother? During the +years we were together was I not reasonably kind and considerate? You +did not think of yourself then as one of my young lady friends. +Why should you now? I have not changed, and, as I have said, I have +returned hungry for kindred and the quieter pleasures of home. It is +time that I was considering the more serious questions of life, and of +course the supreme question with a man of my years is that of a home +of his own. I have never been able to think of such a home and not +associate you with it. I can invite my sister to it and make her a +part of it, but I cannot invite young lady friends. A sister can be +such a help to a fellow; and it seems to me that I could be of no +little aid to you. I know the world and the men you will meet in +society. Unless you seclude yourself, you will be as great a belle as +Miss Wildmere. You also have a fine property of your own. Will it be +nothing to have a brother at your side to whom you can speak frankly +of those who seek your favor? Come, Madge, be simple and rational. I +have not changed; my frank words and pleadings prove that I have +not. If we do not go back to the hotel brother and sister it will be +because you have changed;" and he attempted to put his arm around her +and draw her to him. + +She sprang aloof. "Well, then, I have changed," she said, in a low, +concentrated voice. "Think me a prude if you will. I know I am not. +You are unjust to me, for you give me, in effect, no alternative. +You say, 'Think of me as a brother; feel and act as if you were my +sister,' when I am not your sister. It's like declaring that there +is nothing in blood--that such relations are questions of choice and +will. I said in downright sincerity that I regarded you as almost the +best friend I had, and I have not so many friends that the word means +nothing to me. I do remember all your kindness in the past--when have +I forgotten it for an hour?--but that does not change the essential +instincts of my womanhood, and since we parted I've grown to +womanhood. You in one sense have not changed, and I still am in your +mind the invalid child you used to indulge and fondle. It is not just +to me now to ask that I act and feel as if there were a natural tie +between us. The fact ever remains that there is not. Why should I +deceive you by pretending to what is impossible? Nature is stronger +than even your wishes, Graydon, and cannot be ignored." + +She spoke hesitatingly, feeling her way across most difficult and +dangerous ground, but her decision was unmistakable, and he said, +quietly, "I am answered. See, we have wandered far from the house. Had +we not better return?" + +After a few moments of silence she asked, "Are you so rich in friends +that you have no place for me?" + +"Why, certainly, Madge," he replied, in cordial, offhand tones, "we +are friends. There's nothing else for us to be. I don't pretend to +understand your scruples. Even if a woman refused to be my wife I +should be none the less friendly, unless she had trifled with me. To +my man's reason a natural tie does not count for so much as the years +we spent together. I remember what you were to me then, and what I +seemed to you. I tried to keep up the old feeling by correspondence. +The West is a world of wonders, and you have come from it the greatest +wonder of all." + +"I hope I shall not prove to you a monstrosity, Graydon. I will try +not to be one if you will give me a chance." + +"Oh, no, indeed; you promise to be one of the most charming young +ladies I ever met." + +"I don't promise anything of the kind," she replied, with a laugh that +was chiefly the expression of her intense nervous tension. It jarred +upon his feelings, and confirmed him in the belief that their long +separation had broken up their old relations completely, and that she, +in the new career which her beauty opened before her, wished for no +embarrassing relations of any kind. + +"Well," he said, with an answering laugh, "I suppose I must take you +for what you are and propose to be--that is, if I ever find out." + +In a few moments more, after some light badinage, he left her with +Mr. and Mrs. Muir on the piazza, and went to claim his waltz with Miss +Wildmere. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"I FEAR I SHALL FAIL" + + +The band had been discoursing lively strains for some time, and Miss +Wildmere had at last dragged her mother down for a chaperon--the only +available one as yet. The anxious mother was eager to return to her +fretting child, and her daughter was much inclined to resent Graydon's +prolonged absence. "If it were politic, and I had other acquaintances, +I would punish him," she thought. It was a new experience for her to +sit in a corner of the parlor, apparently neglected, while others were +dancing. There were plenty who looked wistfully toward her; but +there was no one to introduce her, and Graydon's absence left the ice +unbroken. + +She ignored the inevitable isolation of a new-comer, however, and when +he appeared shook her finger at him as she said, "Here I am, constancy +itself, waiting to give you my first dance, as I promised." + +"I shall try to prove worthy," he said, earnestly. "You must remember, +in extenuation, that I have not seen the ladies of our family for a +long time." + +"You use the plural, and are Dot at all singular in your prolonged +absence with the charming Miss Alden. You certainly cannot look upon +her as an invalid any longer, however else you may regard her," she +added, with an arch look. + +"You shall now have my entire regard as long as you will permit it." + +"That will depend a little upon yourself. Mamma is tired, and I'm of +no account compared with that infant upstairs; therefore I can't keep +her as a chaperon this evening, and I will go to my room as soon as +you are tired of me." + +"Not till then?" + +"Not unless I go before." + +"At some time in the indefinite future, Mrs. Wildmere, you may hope to +see your daughter again." + +The poor lady smiled encouragingly and gratefully. She would be most +happy to have Graydon take the brilliant creature for better or worse +as soon as possible. She liked him, as did all women, for she saw that +he had a large, kindly nature. She now stole meekly away, while he +with his fair partner glided out upon the floor. All eyes followed +them, and even the veterans of society remarked that they had never +seen more graceful dancing. + +From her seat on the piazza Madge also watched the couple. The +struggle to which she had looked forward so long had indeed begun, and +most inauspiciously. Her rival had every advantage. The mood in which +Graydon had returned predisposed him to prompt action, while she had +lost her influence for the present by a course that seemed to him +so unnatural as to be prudish. Miss Wildmere's manner gave all the +encouragement that a man could wish for, and it was hard to view with +charity the smiling, triumphant belle. Madge suddenly became conscious +that Mr. Muir was observing her, and she remarked, quietly: "I never +saw better dancing than that. It's grace itself. Miss Wildmere waltzes +superbly." + +"Not better than you, Miss Alden," said Mr. Henderson, a young man who +prided himself on his skill in the accomplishment under consideration, +and with whom she had danced several times. "I've been looking for +you, in the hope that you would favor me this evening." + +She rose and passed with him through the open window. The waltz was +drawing to a close; the majority had grown weary and sat down; and +soon Madge and Miss Wildmere were the only ladies on the floor. +Opinion was divided, some declaring that the former was the more +graceful and lovely, while perhaps a larger number gave their verdict +for the latter. + +The strains ceased, and left the couples near each other. Graydon +immediately introduced Miss Wildmere. The girls bowed a little too +profoundly to indicate cordiality. Madge also presented Mr. Henderson, +hoping that he might become a partner for Miss Wildmere, and give +Graydon an opportunity to dance with her. He resolved to break the ice +at once so far as his relatives were concerned, and he conducted Miss +Wildmere to Mrs. Muir, and gave her a seat beside that lady. The girl +of his choice should have not only a gallant for the evening, but also +a chaperon. He was not one to enter on timid, half-way measures; and +he determined that his brother's prejudice should count for nothing +in this case. His preference was entitled to respect, and must be +respected. Of course the group chatted courteously, as well-bred +people do in public, but Miss Wildmere felt that the atmosphere was +chilly. She was much too politic to permit the slightest tinge of +coldness in her manner toward those with whom she meditated such close +relations should the barring "if" melt out of the way. + +The people were forming for the lancers, and Mr. Henderson asked Madge +to help make up a set. She complied without hesitation. Nor was she +unmindful of the fact that Graydon sat in a position which commanded a +view of the floor. He had seen her glide out in the waltz with a grace +second only to that of Miss Wildmere, even in his prejudiced eyes. Now +he again observed her curiously, and his disappointment and bitterness +at heart increased, even while she compelled his wondering admiration. +He saw that, though she lacked Miss Wildmere's conventional finish, +she had a natural grace of her own. He admitted that he had never seen +so perfect a physical embodiment of womanhood. She was slightly taller +than her rival in his thoughts, and her costume gave an impression of +additional height. Apparently she was in the best of spirits, laughing +often with her partner and an elderly gentleman who danced opposite +to her, and who was full of old-time flourishes and jollity. At last +Graydon thought, resentfully, "She is indeed changed. That's the style +of life she is looking forward to, and she wishes no embarrassment or +advice from me. That dancing-jack, Henderson, and others of his sort +are to be her 'friends' also, no doubt. Very well, I know how to +console myself;" and he turned his eyes resolutely to Miss Wildmere. + +In the galop that followed he naturally danced with his quondam +sister, and Mr. Henderson with Miss Wildmere. Graydon was the last +one to show feeling in public or do anything to cause remark. Now that +Madge possessed in her partner the same advantage that Miss Wildmere +had enjoyed, the admiring lookers-on were at a loss to decide which of +the two girls bore the palm; and Graydon acknowledged that the former +invalid's step had a lightness and an elasticity which he had never +known to be surpassed, and that she kept time with him as if his +volition were hers. She showed no sign of weariness, even after he +began to grow fatigued. As he danced he remembered how he had carried +"the little ghost" on his arm, then tossed her, breathless from +scarce an effort, on the lounge, whence she looked at him in laughing +affection. This strong, superb creature was indeed another and an +alien being, and needed no aid from him. Before he was conscious +of flagging in his step, she said, quietly, "You are growing tired, +Graydon. Suppose we return to the piazza." + +"Yes," he said, a trifle bitterly, "you are the stronger now. The +'little ghost' has vanished utterly." + +"A woman is better than a ghost," was her reply. + +He and Miss Wildmere strolled away down the same path on which Madge +had told him that she could not be his sister. Mr. Muir was tired, +and went to his room in no very amiable humor. Mrs. Muir waited for +Graydon's return, feeling that, although the office of chaperon had in +a sense been forced upon her, she could not depart without seeing Miss +Wildmere again. The young lady at last appeared, and, believing that +she had made all the points she cared for that night, did not tax Mrs. +Muir's patience beyond a few moments. While she lingered she looked +curiously at Madge, who was going through a Virginia reel as if she +fully shared in the decided and almost romping spirit with which it +was danced. She was uncertain whether or not she saw a possible +rival in Graydon's thoughts, but she knew well that she had found +a competitor for sovereignty in all social circles where they might +appear together. This fact in itself was sufficient to secure the +arrogant girl's ill-will and jealousy. A scarcely perceptible smile, +that boded no good for poor Madge, passed over her face, and then she +took a cordial leave of Graydon, and retired with Mrs. Muir. + +He remained at the window watching, with a satirical smile, the scene +within. People of almost every age, from elderly men and matrons down +to boys and girls, were participating in the old-fashioned dance. The +air was resonant with laughter and music. In the rollicking fun Madge +appeared to have found her element. No step was lighter or quicker +than hers, and merriment rippled away before her as if she were the +genius of mirth. Her dark eyes were singularly brilliant, and burned +as with a suppressed excitement. + +"She is bound to have her fling like the rest, I suppose," he +muttered; "and that romp is more to her than the offer of a brother's +love and help--an offer half forgotten already, no doubt. Yet she +puzzles one. She never was a weak girl mentally. She was always a +little odd, and now she is decidedly so. Well, I will let her gang her +ain gate, and I shall go mine." + +He little dreamed that she was seeking weariness, action that would +exhaust, and that the expression of her eyes, so far from being caused +by excitement, was produced by feelings deeper than he had ever known. +When the music ceased he sauntered up and told her that her sister had +retired. + +"I had better follow her example," she said. + +"Would you not like a brief stroll on the piazza? After exertions +that, in you, seem almost superhuman, you must be warm." + +"Why more superhuman in me than in others?" + +"Simply because of my old and preconceived notions." + +"I fear I am disappointing you in every respect. I had hoped to give +you pleasure." + +"Oh, well, Madge, I see we must let the past go and begin again." + +"Begin fairly, then, and not in prejudice." + +"Does it matter very much to you how I begin?" + +"I shall not answer such questions." + +"I am glad to see that you can enjoy yourself so thoroughly. You can +now look forward to a long career of happiness, Madge, since you can +obtain so much from a reel." + +"You do not know what I am looking forward to." + +"Why?" + +"Because you are not acquainted with me." + +"I thought I was at one time." + +"I became discontented with that time, and have tried to be +different." + +"And you must have succeeded beyond your wildest dreams." + +"Oh, no, I've only made a beginning. I should be conceit embodied if I +thought myself finished." + +"What is your supreme ambition, then?" + +"I am trying to be a woman, Graydon. There, I'm cool now. Good-night." + +"Very cool, Madge." + +He lighted a cigar and continued his walk, more perturbed than he +cared to admit even to himself. Indeed, he found that he was decidedly +annoyed, and there seemed no earthly reason why there should have been +any occasion for such vexation. Of course he was glad that Madge had +become strong and beautiful. This would have added a complete charm to +their old relations. Why must she also become a mystery, or, rather, +seek to appear one? Well, there was no necessity for solving the +mystery, granting its existence. "Possibly she would prefer a +flirtation to fraternal regard; possibly--Oh, confound it! I don't +know what to think, and don't much care. She is trying to become a +woman! Who can fathom some women's whims and fancies? She thinks her +immature ideas, imbibed in an out-of-the-way corner of the world, +the immutable laws of nature. Of one thing at least she is absolutely +certain--she can get on without me. I must be kept at too great a +distance to be officious." + +This point settled, his own course became clear. He would be courtesy +itself and mind his own business. + +"I fear I shall fail," murmured poor Madge, hiding her face in her +pillow, while suppressed sobs shook her frame. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE PROMPTINGS OF MISS WILDMERE'S HEART + + +Graydon slept very late the following morning. He found out that he +was tired, and resolved to indulge his craving for rest so far as +his suit to Miss Wildmere would permit. When he could do nothing to +promote his advantage he proposed to be indolence itself. He found +that his vexation had quite vanished, and, in cynical good-nature, he +was inclined to laugh at the state of affairs. "Let Madge indulge her +whims," he thought; "I may be the more free to pursue my purposes. Her +sister, of course, shares in Henry's prejudices against the Wildmeres, +and they would influence Madge adversely. All handsome girls are +jealous of each other, and, perhaps, if what I had so naturally hoped +and expected had proved true, I should have had more sisterly counsel +and opposition than would have been agreeable. Objections now would be +in poor taste, to say the least. If I'm not much mistaken I can speak +my mind to Stella Wildmere before many days pass; and, woman-nature +being such as it is, it may be just as well that I am not too intimate +with a sister who, after all, is not my sister. Stella might not see +it in the light that I should;" and so he came down at last, prepared +to adapt himself very philosophically to the new order of things. + +"The world moves and changes," he soliloquized, smilingly, "and we +must move on and change with it." + +He found Mr. and Mrs. Muir, with Madge and the children, ready for +church, and told them, laughingly, to "remember him if they did not +think him past praying for." During his breakfast he recalled the fact +that Madge was uncommonly well dressed. "She hasn't in externals," he +thought, "the provincial air that one might expect, although her +ideas are not only provincial, but prim, obtained, no doubt, from some +goody-good books that she has read in the remote region wherein she +has developed so remarkably. She has some stilted ideal of womanhood +which she is seeking to attain, and the more unnatural the ideal, the +more attractive, no doubt, it appears to her." + +It did not occur to him that he was explaining Madge on more theories +than one, and that they were not exactly harmonious. Having finished +his meal, he sought for Miss Wildmere, and soon found her in a shady +corner, reading a light, semi-philosophical work, thus distinguishing +and honoring the day in her choice of literature. He proposed to read +to her, but the book was soon forgotten in animated talk on his part. +She could skilfully play the rôle of a good listener when she chose, +and could, therefore, be a delightful companion. Her color came and +went under words and compliments that at times were rather ardent and +pronounced. He soon observed, however, that she led the way promptly +from delicate ground. This might result from maidenly reserve or from +the fact that she was not quite ready for decisive words. He still +believed that he had all needed encouragement--that the expression of +her eyes often answered his, and he knew well what his meant. When, +in response to his invitation, she promised to drive with him in the +afternoon, all seemed to be going as he wished. + +Graydon felt that during dinner and thereafter for a time he should be +devoted to his party, to preclude criticism on his course in the late +afternoon and in the evening, when he proposed to seek society which +promised more than theirs. He began to discover that, except as her +intelligence was larger, in one respect Madge had not changed from her +old self. She responded appreciatively to his thought and fancy, and +gave him back in kind with interest. She began to question him about +a place in Europe with which he was familiar, and showed such unusual +knowledge of the locality that he asked, "You haven't slipped over +there unknown to me, I trust?" + +"You might think of an easier explanation than that. You kindly sent +me books, some of which were rather realistic." + +"Did you read them all?" + +"Certainly. It would have been a poor return if I had not." + +"What an inordinate sense of duty you must have had!" + +"I did not read them from a sense of duty. You have perhaps forgotten +that I am fond of books." + +"Not all of the books were novels." + +"Many that were not proved the most interesting." + +"Oh, indeed; another evidence of change," he said, laughing. + +"And of sense, too, I think. Mr. Wayland, who is a student, had a +splendid library, and he gave me some ideas as to reading." + +"Can you part with any of them?" + +"That depends," she replied, with a manner as brusque as his own. + +"On what?" + +"The inducements and natural opportunities. I'm not going to recite a +lesson like a schoolgirl." + +"One would think you had been to school." + +"I have, where much is taught and learned thoroughly." + +"Now, that is enigmatical again." + +"The best of the books you sent me left some room for the +imagination." + +"Ha, ha, ha, Madge! you are scoring points right along. I told you, +Graydon, that you couldn't understand her in a moment or in a week." + +"I never regarded your imagination as rampant, Henry. Have you +fathomed all her mystery?" + +"Far from it; nor do I expect to, and yet you will grant to me some +degree of penetration." + +"Well, to think that I should have come home to find a sphinx instead +of little Madge!" + +"Thank you. A sphinx is usually portrayed with at least the head of a +woman." + +"In this case she has one that would inspire a Greek sculptor. Perhaps +in time I may discover a heart also." + +"That's doubtful." + +"Indeed." + +"Yes, indeed." + +"What far-fetched nonsense!" said Mrs. Muir, sententiously. "Madge has +come back one of the best and most sensible girls in the world. Men +and poets are always imagining that women are mysteries. The fact is, +they are as transparent as glass when they know their own minds; when +they don't, who else should know them?" + +"Who indeed?" said Graydon, laughing. "Your saving clause, Mary, is as +boundless as space." + +"How absurd! I understand Madge perfectly, and so does Henry." + +"You said last evening that the change in her was a miracle. Once in +the realm of the supernatural, what may not one expect?" + +"You knew what I meant. I referred to Madge's health and appearance +and accomplishments and all that. She has not changed in heart and +feeling any more than I have, and I'm sure I'm not a sphinx." + +"No, Mary; you are a sensible and excellent wife and my very dear +sister. You suggest no mystery. Madge certainly does, for you have, +in addition to all the rest, announced an indefinite list of +accomplishments." + +"If I remain the subject of conversation I shall complain that your +remarks are personal," said Madge, her brows contracting with a little +vexation. + +"That is what makes our talk so interesting. Personals are always read +first. In drawing Mary and Henry out, I am getting acquainted with +you." + +"It's not a good way. You like it merely because it teases me and +saves trouble. If you must gossip and surmise about me, wait till I'm +absent." + +"There, Madge, you know I'm nine-tenths in fun," said he, laughing. + +"That leaves a small margin for kindly interest in an old +acquaintance," was her reply as they rose from the table, and he saw +that her feelings were hurt. + +"Confound it!" he thought, with irritation, "it's all so uncalled-for +and unnatural! Nothing is as it used to be. Well, then, I'll talk +about books and matters as impersonal as if we were disembodied +spirits." + +They had scarcely seated themselves on the piazza before Miss Wildmere +came forward and introduced her mother. The young lady was determined +to prepare the way for a family party. Graydon had a confident, +opulent air, which led to the belief that her father's fears were +groundless, and that before many weeks should elapse the Muirs would +have to acknowledge her openly. It would save embarrassment if this +came about naturally and gradually, and she believed that she could be +so charming as to make them covet the alliance. Miss Alden might not +like it, and the more she disliked it the better. + +Mrs. Muir's thoughts were somewhat akin. "If Graydon will marry this +girl, it's wise that we should begin on good terms. This is a matter +that Henry can't control, and there's no use in our yielding to +prejudice." + +Therefore she was talkative, courteous, and rapidly softened toward +the people whom her husband found so distasteful. Graydon employed all +his skill and tact to make the conversation general and agreeable, but +the cloud did not wholly pass from Madge's brow. From the moment +of her first cold, curious stare, years since, Miss Wildmere had +antagonized every fibre of the young girl's soul and body, and she had +resolved never to be more than polite to her. She did not look forward +to future relationship, as was the case with Mrs. Muir, but rather +to entire separation, should Graydon become Miss Wildmere's accepted +suitor. Now, with the instinct of self-defence, she was more cordial +to her rival than to Graydon, until, at the solicitation of the +children, she stole away. Mr. Muir remarked that he was going to take +a nap, and soon followed her. + +Their departure was a relief to Graydon, for it rendered the carrying +out of his plan less embarrassing. In his eagerness to be alone with +the object of his hopes, he soon obtained a carriage, and with Miss +Wildmere drove away. Mrs. Muir and Mrs. Wildmere compared maternal and +domestic notes sometime longer, and then the former went to her room +quite reconciled to what now appeared inevitable. + +"I think you are prejudiced, Henry," she remarked to her husband, who +was tossing restlessly on the bed. + +"Least said soonest mended," was his only response, and then he +changed the subject. + +Graydon came back with the hope--nay, almost the certainty--of +happiness glowing in his eyes. He had spoken confidently of his +business plans and prospects, and had touched upon the weariness of +his exile and his longing for more satisfactory pleasures than those +of general society. His companion had listened with an attention and +interest that promised more than sympathy. The wild, rugged scenes +through which they had passed had made her delicate beauty more +exquisite from contrast. It was as if a rare tropical bird had +followed the wake of summer and graced for a time a region from which +it must fly with the first breath of autumn. In distinction from all +they saw and met she appeared so fragile, such a charming exotic, that +he felt an overpowering impulse to cherish and shelter her from +every rude thing in the world. With a nice blending of reserve and +complaisance she appeared to yield to his mood and yet to withhold +herself. To a man of Graydon's poise and knowledge of society such +skilful tactics served their purpose perfectly. They gave her an +additional charm in his eyes, and furnished another proof of the +fineness of her nature. She could not only feel, but manifest the +nicest shades of preference. If not fully satisfied as to her own +heart, what could be more refined and graceful than the slight +restraint she imposed upon him? and how fine the compliment she +paid him in acting on the belief that he was too well bred and +self-controlled to precipitate matters! + +"She has the tact and intuition to see," he thought, "that she can +show me all the regard she feels and yet incur no danger of premature +and incoherent words. She will one day yield with all the quiet grace +that she shows when rising to accept my invitation to waltz." + +Therefore, as he approached the hotel he was complacency itself until +he saw Mr. Arnault on the piazza, and then his face darkened with the +heaviest of frowns. + +"Why, what is the matter?" Miss Wildmere asked. + +"I had hoped that this perfect afternoon might be followed by a more +delightful evening, but from the manner in which that gentleman is +approaching you, it is evident that he expects to claim you." + +"Claim me? I do not think any one has that right just yet. Mr. Arnault +certainly has not." + +"Then I may still hope for your society this evening?" + +"Have I not permitted you to be with me nearly all day? You must be +more reasonable. Good-evening, Mr. Arnault. Did you drop from the +clouds?" + +"There are none, and were there I should forget them in this pleasure. +Mr. Muir, I congratulate you. We have both been on the road this +afternoon, but you have had the advantage of me." + +"And mean to keep it, confound you!" thought Graydon. "Ah, +good-evening, Mr. Arnault. You are right; I have found rough roads +preferable to smooth rails and a palace car." + +"How well you are looking, Miss Stella! but that's chronic with you. +This is perfectly heavenly" (looking directly into her eyes) "after +the heat of the city and my dusty journey." + +"You are a fine one to talk about things heavenly after fracturing the +Sabbath-day. What would have happened to you in Connecticut a hundred +years ago?" + +"I should have been ridden on one rail instead of two, probably. I'm +more concerned about what will happen to me to-day, and that depends +not on blue laws, but blue blood. I saw your father this morning, and +he intrusted me with a letter for you." + +Mr. Arnault manifested not a particle of jealousy or apprehension, and +Graydon felt himself shouldered out of the way by a courtesy to which +he could take no exception. He saw that only Miss Wildmere herself +could check his rival's resolute and easy assurance. This he now felt +sure she would do if it passed a certain point, and he went to his +room, annoyed merely, and without solicitude. "She must let the fellow +down easily, I suppose," he thought; "and after to-day I need have few +fears. If she had wanted _him_ she could have taken him long ago." + +Miss Wildmere also went to her room and read her father's letter. It +contained these few and significant words: "In speaking of possible +relations with Mr. M. I emphasized a small but important word--'if.' +I now commend it to you still more emphatically. You know I prefer +Mr. M. Therefore you will do well to heed my caution. Mr. M. may lose +everything within a brief time." + +Miss Wildmere frowned and bit her lip with vexation. Then her white +face took on hard, resolute lines. "I came near making a fool of +myself this afternoon," she muttered. "I was more than once tempted to +let Graydon speak. Heavens! I'd like to be engaged to him for awhile. +Mr. Arnault plays a bold, steady hand, but he's the kind of man that +might throw up the game if one put tricks on him. My original policy +is the best. I must pit one against the other in a fair and open suit +till I can take my choice. Now that it is clear that Graydon cares +little for that hideous thing he calls his sister, my plan is safe." + +"What a lovely color you have, Madge!" Graydon remarked, as they met +at supper. "You are unequalled in your choice of cosmetics." + +"Not to be surpassed, at any rate." + +"Where did you get it?" + +"Up at Grand View." + +"What, have you climbed that mountain?" + +"It's not much of a mountain." + +"It's a tremendous mountain," cried little Harry. "Aunt Madge's been +teaching us to climb, and she lifted us up and down the steep places +as if we were feathers, and she told us stories about the squirrels +and birds we saw up there. Oh, didn't we have a lovely time, Jennie?" + +"Now I understand," said Graydon. "The glow in your face comes from +the consciousness of good deeds." + +"It comes from exertion. Are you not making too much effort to be +satirical?" + +"Therefore my face should be suffused with the hue of shame. You see +I have changed also, and have become a cynic and a heathen from long +residence in Europe." + +"Please be a noble savage, then." + +"That's not the style of heathen they develop abroad." + +"Madge told us about the savages that used to live in these mountains, +and how bad they were treated," piped Jennie. + +"Poor Lo! No wonder he went to the bad," said Graydon, significantly. +"He was never recognized as a man and a brother." + +"And he was unsurpassed in retaliation," Madge added. + +"Considering his total depravity and general innocence, that was to be +expected." + +"It turned out to be bad policy." + +"In so far as he was a man he hadn't any policy." + +"I shall not depreciate the Indians for the sake of argument. They +rarely followed the wrong trail, however." + +"What on earth are you and Madge driving at?" exclaimed Mrs. Muir. + +"It matters little at what, but Madge appears to be the better +driver," chuckled Mr. Muir. + +"You have a stanch champion in Henry," said Graydon. + +"You wouldn't have him take sides against a woman?" + +"Oh, no, but you have become so abundantly able to take care of +yourself that he might remain neutral." + +"When you all begin to talk English again I'll join in, and now +merely remark that I am grateful to you, Madge, for taking care of the +children. Jack was good with the nurse, too, and I've had a splendid +nap." + +"I'm evidently the delinquent," laughed Graydon, "and have led the way +in a conversation that has been as bad as whispering in company. What +will become of me? You are not going to church to-night, Madge?" + +"I did not expect to. If your conscience needs soothing--" + +"Oh, no, no. My conscience has been seared with a hot iron--a cold +one, I mean. The effects are just the same." + +At the supper-room door they were met by Dr. Sommers, with a world of +comical trouble in his face, and he drew Madge aside. + +"What's a man to do?" he began. "Here's our choir-leader sick, and the +rest won't chirp without him. I can't sing any more than I can dance. +You can--sing, I mean--both, for that matter. I'd give the best +cast of a fly I ever had to take you out in a reel. Well, here's the +trouble. It's nearly meeting-time, and what's a meeting without music? +You can sing--I'm sure you can. I've heard you twice in the chapel. +Now, it isn't imposing on good-nature, is it, to ask you to come over +and start the tunes for us to-night? Come now, go with me. It will be a +great favor, and I'll get even with you before the summer is over." + +Madge hesitated a moment. She had hoped for a chat with Graydon that +evening, which might lead to a better understanding, and end their +tendency to rather thorny badinage. But she heard him chatting gayly +with Miss Wildmere and Mr. Arnault in the distance; therefore she +said, quietly, "It is time for me to get even with you first. To +refuse would not be nice after the lovely drive you took us the other +day." + +"Oh, you made that square as you went along. Well, now, this is +famous. What a meeting we'll have!" + +"You explain to Mrs. Muir, and I'll get my hat." + +"I'm in luck," the doctor began, joining the Muirs on the piazza. + +"Of course you are. You are always in luck," said Mrs. Muir. + +"Oh, no, oh, no. Draw it milder than that. I've fished many a bad day. +I'm in luck to-night. What do you think? You can't guess." + +"You and Madge had your heads together, and so something will happen. +Are you going to capture a mountain?" + +"Yes, a brace of 'em before long. Well, as good luck would have it, +our choir-leader is sick. I thought it was bad luck at first, and +meant to give him an awful dose for being so inopportune. It has +turned out famously. 'All-things work together for good,' you know. +That text required faith once when I had hooked a three-pound trout, +and in my eagerness tumbled in where the fish was. Oh, here you are, +Miss Alden. We'll go right along, for it's about time." + +"But you haven't explained," cried Mrs. Muir. + +"We will when we come back," said the doctor. + +"Oh, I'm merely going over to the chapel to help the doctor out with +the singing," said Madge, carelessly. "Good-by." + +"Well," remarked Mr. Muir, _sotto voce_, "if I were a young fellow, +there's a trail I'd follow, and not that will-o'-the-wisp yonder." + +"What did you say, Henry?" asked his wife. + +"It will be hot in town to-morrow, Mary. It's growing confoundedly hot +in Wall Street." + +"Nothing serious, Henry?" + +"It's always serious there." + +"Oh, well, you'll come out all right. It's a way you have." + +Mr. Muir looked grim and troubled, but the piazza was dusky. "She +can't help me," he thought, "and if she was worrying she might hinder +me. Things are no worse, and they may soon be better. If I had fifty +thousand for a month, though, the strain would be over. She'd be +nagging me to take a lot of her money, and I'd see Wall Street sunk +first. Well, well, Wildmere and I may land together in the same +ditch." + +For a few moments Graydon and Mr. Arnault sat on either side of the +broker's daughter, each seeking the advantage. The young lady enjoyed +the situation immensely, and for a time had the art to entertain +both. Arnault at last boldly and frankly took the initiative, saying, +"Please take a walk with me, Miss Wildmere. I have come all the way +from New York for the pleasure of an evening in your society. You will +excuse us, Mr. Muir. You have had to-day and will have to-morrow, for +I must take an early train." + +Miss Wildmere laughed, and said: "I must go with you surely, or you +will think you have made a bad 'put' in railroad tickets, as well +as shares, for you are like the rest, I suppose;" and with a smiling +glance backward at Graydon she disappeared. + +"You are mistaken," he said; "we foresaw this 'squeeze' in the market, +and have money to lend if the security is ample. We were never doing +better." + +"Poor papa!" she sighed, "his securities are lacking, I suppose. He +does not write very cheerfully." + +"His security is the best in the city, in my estimation. I'd take this +little hand in preference to government bonds." + +"Oh, don't lend papa anything on that basis, for you would surely +manage to claim the collateral, or whatever you call it in your Wall +Street jargon." + +"You are infinitely better off than the majority in these hard times." + +"How so?" + +"By one word you can make three rich, yourself included. Your father +only needs to be tided over a few months." + +"Come, come, Mr. Arnault, this is Sunday, and you must not talk +business." + +"My fault leans to virtue's side for once." + +"I'm not just sure to which side it leans," was her laughing reply. + +"Are you going to accept Muir?" + +"I'm not going to accept any one at present--certainly not Mr. Muir +before he asks me." + +"He will ask you." + +"Has he taken you into his confidence?" + +"Oh, he's as patent as a country borrower." + +"Mr. Arnault, we must change the subject; such questions and remarks +are not in good taste, to say the least. I appreciate your friendship, +but it does not give you the right to forget that I am a free girl, or +to ignore my assurance that I propose to remain free for the present." + +"That is all the assurance that I require just now," he answered. +"I have been a frank, devoted suitor, Stella. If you do not act +precipitately you will act wisely in the end. I shall not be guilty of +the folly of depreciating Muir--he's a good fellow in his way--but you +will soon be convinced that you cannot afford to marry him." + +"I think I can afford not to marry any one until my heart prompts me +to the act," she replied, with well-assumed dignity. Her swift thought +was, "He also knows that the Muirs are embarrassed. How is it that +Graydon speaks and acts in the assured confidence of continued wealth? +Is he deceiving me?" + +Mr. Arnault changed the subject, and none could do this with more +adroitness than he, or be a more entertaining gallant if he so chose. +At the same time he maintained a subtle observance, in spite of his +vaunted frankness, and he soon believed he had reason to hope that +Miss Wildmere had been influenced by his words. Almost imperceptibly +she permitted additional favor to come into her manner, and when she +said good-night and good-by also, in view of his early start for the +city, it was at the foot of the stairway, she casually remarking that +she would not come down again. + +"My brief visit has not been in vain," he thought. "I have delayed +matters, and that now means a great deal. She will marry the survivor +of this financial gale, and in every man's philosophy the survival +of the fittest is always the survival of the _ego_." + +[Illustration: "THERE NOW, BE RATIONAL," CRIED THE YOUNG GIRL] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED" + + +Graydon felt that it was scarcely possible to resent Mr. Arnault's +tactics or to blame Miss Wildmere. The former certainly had as good +a right to be a suitor as himself, and even to his prejudiced mind it +would have been ungracious in the lady had she not given some reward +for his rival's long journey. It was natural that Mr. Arnault, an old +friend of the Wildmeres, should sit at their table and receive the +consideration that he enjoyed. Graydon had little cause for complaint +or vexation, since his rival would depart in the morning, and, judging +from to-day, his own suit was approaching a successful termination. +The coast would be clear on the morrow, and he determined to make +the most of opportunities. He now even regretted that Madge and his +relatives were at the house, for in some degree they trammelled his +movements by a watchful attention, which he believed was not very +friendly. It would not be well to ignore them beyond a certain point, +for it was his wish to carry out his purposes with the least possible +friction. Madge's course had compelled a revision of his plans and +expectations, but his intimate relations with his brother in business +made harmony and peace very essential. He felt keenly, however, the +spur of Mr. Arnault's open and aggressive rivalry, and determined to +enter upon an equally vigorous campaign. + +Having reached this definite conclusion, he joined Mr. and Mrs. Muir +on the piazza, and after some desultory talk asked, "Where is Madge?" + +Mrs. Muir explained, adding, "I think you might go over to the chapel +and accompany her home." + +"I'll be there by the time service is over," he replied. + +There was sacred music in the hotel parlor, but it seemed to him +neither very sacred nor very attractive. Then he strolled toward the +chapel. As the service was not over, he stood and watched the great +moonlit mountains, with their light and shade. The scene and hour +fostered the feelings to which he had given himself up. In revery he +went over the hours he had spent with Miss Wildmere since his return, +and hope grew strong. In view of it all--and vividly his memory +retained everything, even to the droop of her eyelids or the tone in +which some ordinary words had been spoken--there could scarcely be a +doubtful conclusion. Thoughts of him had kept her free, and now that +they had met again she was seeking to discover if her old impressions +had been true, and in their confirmation was surely yielding to his +suit. + +He started. Through the open windows of the adjacent chapel came the +opening notes of a hymn, sung with a sweetness and power that in the +still summer night seemed almost divine. Then other voices joined, and +partially obscured the melody; but above all floated a voice that to +his trained ear had some of the rarest qualities of music. + +"That's Madge," he muttered, and strode rapidly to the door. Again, +in the second stanza, the rich, pure voice thrilled his every nerve, +gaining rather than losing in its effect by his approach. + +Unconsciously the poor girl had yielded to the old habit of +self-expression in music. Her heart had been heavy, and now was sad +indeed. Earthly hope had been growing dim, but the words of faith she +had heard had not been without sustaining influence. With the deep +longing of her woman's nature for love--divine love, if earthly love +must be denied--her voice in its pathos was unconsciously an appeal, +full of entreaty. She half forgot her surroundings; they were nothing +in her present mood. The little audience of strangers gave a sense of +solitude. + +The quaint old tune was rich in plaintive harmony. It had survived +the winnowing process of time, and had endeared itself to the +popular heart because expressive of the heart's unrest and desire for +something unpossessed. Along this old, well-worn musical channel Madge +poured the full tide of her feeling, which had both the solemnity and +the pathos inseparable from all deep and sacred emotion. Graydon was +now sure that he must dismiss one of his impressions of Madge, and +finally. No one could sing like that and be trivial at heart. "I don't +understand her," he muttered, gloomily, "but I appreciate one thing. +She has withheld from me her confidence, she does not wish to keep +her old place in my affection, and has deposed herself from it. +She appears to be under the influence of a brood of sentimental +aspirations. I shall remain my old self, nor shall I gratify her by +admiring wonder. The one thing that would make life a burden to me is +an intense, aesthetical, rapturously devotional woman, with her mental +eye fixed on a vague ideal. In such society I should feel much like a +man compelled to walk on stilts all the time. The idea of going back +to the hotel, smoking a cigar, and talking of the ordinary affairs of +life, after such music as that!" + +"It was very kind of you to come over for me," said Madge, as she came +out. "Thank you, doctor; no, there is no need of your going back with +me. Good-night." + +"Thanks to you, Miss Alden, thanks, thanks. The sermon was good, but +that last hymn rounded up Sunday for me. I was going up to the house, +but I'll go home and keep that music in my ears. If they had known, +they wouldn't have spared you from the hotel music to-night." + +"Please say nothing about it--that is all I ask," she said, as she +took Graydon's arm. + +"Yes, Madge," he began, quietly, "you sung well. You had the rudiments +of a fine voice years ago. In gaining strength you have also won the +power to sing." + +"Yes," she said, simply. + +"Do you sing much?" + +"I do not wish to sing at all in the hotel. I did not study music in +order to be conspicuous." + +"Have you studied it very carefully?" + +"Please leave out the word 'very.' I studied it as a young girl +studies, not scientifically. I had a good master, and he did his +best for me. Poor Herr Brachmann! he was sorry to have me come away. +Perhaps in time I can make progress that will satisfy him better. I +could see that he was often dissatisfied." + +"You don't mean to suggest that you are going back to Santa Barbara?" + +"Why not?" + +"True enough, 'why not?' It was a foolish question. You doubtless have +strong attachments there." + +"I have, indeed." + +"And it's natural to go where our attachments are strongest." + +"Yes; you have proved that to-day." + +"You evidently share in my brother's disapproval. Mary would soon +become quite reconciled." + +"I? I have no right to feel either approval or disapproval, while you +have an undoubted right to please yourself." + +"Indeed! are you so indifferent? If you think Miss Wildmere +objectionable you should disapprove." + +"If you find her altogether charming, if she realizes your ideal, is +not that sufficient? Everything is very much what it seems to us. If +I as a girl would please myself, you, surely, as a man have a right to +do so." + +"Do you propose to please yourself?" + +"Indeed I do." + +"You will be disappointed. You have formed a passion for ideals. I +imagine, though, that you are somewhat different from other girls +whose future husbands must be ideal men, but who are content +themselves to remain very much what their milliners, dressmakers, and +fashion make them." + +"I can at least say that I am not content; and I am also guilty of the +enormity of cherishing ideals." + +"Oh, I've found that out, if nothing else. Ideals among men are as +thick as blackberries, you know. Jack Henderson dances superbly." + +"Yes; he quite meets my ideal in that respect." + +"Perhaps you left some one in Santa Barbara who meets your ideal in +all respects?" + +"There was one gentleman there who approached it nearly." + +"How could you leave him?" + +"He came on with me--Mr. Wayland." + +"Pshaw! He's old enough to be your father." + +"And very like a father he was to me. I owe him an immense deal, for +he helped me so much!" + +"You did not let me help you?" + +"Yes; I did. I wrote to you for books, and read all you sent me; some +parts of them several times." + +"You know that is not what I meant. I am learning to understand you +somewhat, Madge. I hope you may realize all your ideals, and find some +young fellow who is the embodiment of the higher life, aspirations, +and all that, you know." + +Her laugh rang out musically. Mrs. Muir heard it, and remarked to her +husband: "Madge and Graydon are getting on better. They have seemed to +me to clash a little to-day." + +Mr. Muir made no reply, and Graydon, as he mounted the steps, +whispered, hurriedly, "What you said about Miss Wildmere was at least +just and fair. I wish you liked her, and would influence Henry to like +her, for I see that you have influence with him." + +She made no response by word or sign. + +The ladies soon retired, and Graydon waited in vain for another +interview with Miss Wildmere. While he was looking for her on the +piazza she passed in and disappeared. He at last discovered Mr. +Arnault, who was smoking and making some memoranda, and, turning on +his heel, he strode away. "She might have said good-night, at least," +he thought, discontentedly, "and that fellow Arnault did not look like +a man who had received his _congé."_ + +That this gentleman did not regard himself as out of the race was +proved by his tactics the next morning. Before reaching the city he +joined Mr. Muir in the smoking section of a parlor car, and easily +directed their talk to the peculiar condition of business. Mr. Muir +knew little in favor of his companion, and not much against him, but +devoutly hoped that he would be the winning man in the contest +for Miss Wildmere. He also knew that the firm to which Mr. Arnault +belonged had held their heads well up in the fluctuations of the +street. Both gentlemen deplored the present state of affairs, and +hoped that there might soon be more confidence. "By the way, Mr. +Muir," Mr. Arnault remarked, casually, "if you need accommodation we +have some money lying idle for a short time, which we would like +to put out as a call loan, and would be glad to place it in good +conservative hands, like yours." + +"Thank you," said Mr. Muir, with some cordiality. + +He went to his office and looked matters over carefully. He was +convinced that a crisis was approaching. More money was required +immediately, since the securities in which he had invested had +declined still further. He had not lost his faith in them at all, +knowing that they had a solid basis, and would be among the first to +rise in value with returning confidence. He had gone so far and held +on so long that it was a terrible thing to give up now. Comparatively +little money would probably carry him over to perfect safety, but his +means were tied up, the banks stringent, and he had already strained +his credit somewhat. Mr. Arnault's proffer occurred to him again, and +at last, much as he disliked the expedient, he called upon the broker, +who was affable, off-hand, and business-like. + +"Yes, Mr. Muir," he said, "I can let you have thirty thousand just as +well as not; as the times are, I would like some security, however." + +"Certainly, here are bonds marketable to-day, although depressed +unnaturally. You are aware that they will be among the first to +appreciate." + +"In ordinary times one would think so." + +"How soon do you think you may call in this loan?" + +"Well, the probabilities are, that you may keep it as long as you +wish, at the rates named. They are stiff, I know, but not above the +market." + +Mr. Muir had thought it over. If he failed he was satisfied that his +assets would eventually make good every dollar he owed, with interest, +while, on the other hand, even the small sum named promised to +preserve his fortune and add very largely to his wealth. The +transaction was soon completed. + +Mr. Arnault was equally satisfied that he also took but slight risk. +The loan, however, was made from his own means, and was not wholly a +business affair. He had made up his mind to win Stella Wildmere, +and would not swerve from the purpose unless she engaged herself +to another. Then, even though she might be willing to break the tie +through stress of circumstances, he would stand aloof. There was only +one thing greater than his persistency--his pride. She was the belle +who, in his set, had been admired most generally, and his god was +success--success in everything on which he placed his heart, or, +rather, mind. For her to become engaged to Graydon, and then, because +of his poverty, to be willing to renounce him for a more fortunate +man, would not answer at all. He must appear to the world to have +won her in fair competition with all others, and the girl had an +instinctive knowledge of this fact. The events of the previous day, +with her father's note, therefore confirmed her purpose to keep both +men in abeyance until the scale should turn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MISS WILDMERE'S STRATEGY + + +As we have seen, Madge could not resume her old relations with Graydon +Muir. Indeed, the turning-point in her life had been the impulse and +decision to escape them by going away. She was also right in thinking +that this inability would rather help than hinder her cause. If he +had come back and realized his expectations, he would have bestowed +unstintedly the placid affection of a brother, given her his +confidence, his aid, anything she wished, except his thoughts. While +she lost much else, she retained these in a way that puzzled and even +provoked him, in view of his devotion to Miss Wildmere. The very fact +that he resented the way in which he had been treated by Madge made +him think of her, although admitting to himself that it might all turn +out for the best. He would have soon accepted changes in externals, +and her added accomplishments, but there were other and more subtle +changes which he could not grasp. It began to pique him that he had +already been forced to abandon more than one impression in regard to +her character. It was somewhat humiliating that he, who had seen the +world, especially in its social aspects, should be perplexed by a +young girl scarcely twenty, and that this girl of all others should +be little Madge. He had intimated that she had become imbued with +sentimentality and aspirations after ideals, and was hoping to meet +a male embodiment of these traits, which he regarded as prominently +lackadaisical. Her merry and half ironical laugh was not the natural +response of a woman of the intense and aesthetic type. + +"I don't understand her yet," he admitted; and he again assured +himself that it was not necessary that he should. She had not merely +drifted away from him, but had deliberately chosen that others should +guide and help in the new development. The thing for him to do now was +to secure the girl of his heart, who was not shrouded in mystery. It +was evident that Mr. Arnault had been an urgent suitor, and that she +was not already engaged to him proved, as he believed, that she had +been under the influence of a restraint readily explained by her more +than manner toward himself. "She will have to choose between us soon," +he thought. "She understands us both, and her heart will soon give its +final verdict, if it has not already done so." + +Miss Wildmere's heart would have slight voice in the verdict. Indeed, +it never had been permitted to say very much, and was approaching the +condition of a mute. She had her preference, however, and still hoped +to be able to follow it. She smiled upon Graydon almost as sweetly +as ever during the next two days, but he felt that she had grown +more elusive. She lured him on unmistakably, but permitted no +near approach. With consummate art, she increased the spell of her +fascinations, and added to the glamour which dazzled him. He might +look his admiration, and, more, he might compliment indefinitely; +but when he spoke too plainly, or sought stronger indications of her +regard, she was on the wing instantly, and he was too fine in his +perceptions to push matters against her will. One thing appeared +hopeful to him--she seemed possessed by a carefully veiled jealousy +of Madge. In his downright earnestness, he determined to give her no +cause for this, and treated Madge much as he did Mrs. Muir, allowing +for difference in age and relation. He determined that Miss Wildmere +should discover no ambiguity in his course or intentions. If thoughts +of him had kept her waiting through years, he would justify those +thoughts by all the means in his power. Casting about with a lover's +ingenuity for an explanation of her tantalizing allurement, yet +elusiveness, it occurred to him that she was unwilling to yield +readily and easily, from very fear that he might surmise the cause of +her freedom--that she had given him her love before it had been asked. +Therefore, it was not impossible that she now proposed for him a +somewhat thorny probation as an open suitor. She would not appear to +be easily won, and perhaps she thought that, since this was to be the +last wooing she could enjoy, she would make the most of it. He also +resolved to make the most of this phase of life, and to enjoy to the +utmost all of her shy witchery, her airy, hovering nearness to the +thought uppermost in his mind, as if she were both fascinated by it +and afraid. He little dreamed that her feminine grace and _finesse_ +were but the practical carrying out of her father's suggestion, to +"keep him well in hand." + +Madge felt herself neglected and partially forgotten. She saw that +Miss Wildmere's spell grew stronger upon Graydon every day. It was +not in her nature to seek to attract his attention or in the slightest +degree to enter the lists openly against her rival. During the first +three days of the week, her chief effort was to be so active and +cheerful that her deep despondency should be hidden from all. She was +the life of every little group of which she formed a part. Wherever +she appeared, mirth and laughter soon followed. The young girls in the +house began to acknowledge her as a natural leader, the boyish young +fellows to adore her, and the maturer men to discover that she could +hold her own with them in conversation, while another class learned, +to their chagrin, that she would not flirt. For every walking +expedition started she was ready with her alpenstock, and the experts +in the bowling alley found a strong, supple competitor, with eye and +hand equally true. Graydon, as far as his preoccupation permitted, +saw all this with renewed perplexity. She now appeared to him as +a beautiful, vigorous girl, with healthful instincts and a large +appetite for enjoyment. + +Wednesday morning was cool and cloudy, and a large party was forming +to climb to Spy Rock. Graydon was longing for more activity, and since +the day was so propitious, Miss Wildmere consented to go. Of course +Madge was in readiness, and in charming costume for a walk. The moment +they were on the steep path he had to admit that she appeared the +superior of Miss Wildmere. The one owed her bloom to artificial and +metropolitan life; the other had gone to nature, and now acted as +if her foot were on her native heath. Her step was light, yet never +uncertain. Her progress was easy, and, although different, was quite +as graceful as if she were promenading the piazza, proving that she +was an adept in mountain-climbing. It was evident, however, that +to Miss Wildmere a mountain was a _terra incognita_. She trod +uncertainly, her feet turned on loose stones that hurt her, and before +the first steep ascent was passed, she panted and was glad to sit down +with others, more or less exhausted. + +Madge's breathing was only slightly quickened, and color was beginning +to come in her usually pale face, yet she had lent a helping hand more +than once. + +"How easily you climb, Miss Alden!" gasped Miss Wildmere. "Have you +taken lessons?" + +"Yes," she replied, smiling sweetly, "and from a master." + +Miss Wildmere also was beginning to discover a problem in Madge; she +could not patronize, snub, or apparently touch her with shafts of +satire. The young girl treated her with cordial indifference, as +one-of the guests of the house. She appeared to be capable of enjoying +herself thoroughly, with scarcely a consciousness of the belle's +existence, unless, as in the present case, she was addressed. Then she +would reply with perfect courtesy, but in some such ambiguous way. It +soon became evident to Graydon that the two girls were hostile, and +this both amused and vexed him. He was beginning to learn that Madge +was the more skilful opponent. She was never aggressive, yet seemed +clad in polished armor when attacked, and her quick replies flashed +back under the light of her smile. By acting, however, as if Miss +Wildmere were never in her thoughts, except when in some way obtruded +upon them, she gave the keenest wound. The flattered girl enjoyed +being envied, hated, and even detested by her own sex, but to be +politely ignored was a new and unwelcome experience, and she chafed +under it, not so secretly but that Graydon observed her annoyance. + +After a rest they started on again, he with Miss Wildmere falling to +the rear. Before Madge passed around a curve in the path she saw a +lily on a bank above her, and with the aid of her alpenstock sprang +upon the mossy shelf, plucked the flower, and leaped down with an +effort so quick and agile that it seemed like the impulse of a bird +to get something and pass on. She put the flower in her belt, and a +moment later was hidden from view. + +"I hope you observed that feat," Miss Wildmere remarked. "Indeed, Miss +Alden appears inclined to call attention to her feet this morning." + +"I hope the ladies will observe them," he replied; "the gentlemen +will, for they are pretty. Did you not note that her boots are adapted +to walking? You could climb with twice the ease if your heels were not +so high. For mountain scrambling a lady needs short skirts, and boots +like those that Miss Alden wears. You should see the English girls +walking in the Alps. It's my good-fortune, however, that you are +partially disabled this morning. Here's a steep place. Take my arm and +put all the weight upon it you can--the more the better. Lean on me as +if you trusted me." + +There was a slight frown on her brow, as he began his speech, but it +soon passed, and she said, softly, as she still lingered, "Well, I'm +not an athlete. I should value more a man's strong arm than strength +of my own." + +"You know that the arm of one man is ever at your service." + +"'Ever' implies more patience than any man possesses." + +"I should think so; yet you will find me reasonably patient." + +"Everything is a matter of reason with men." + +"Our reason assures us that certain things are a matter of the heart +with women. Therefore we hope." + +"Men are much too exacting. They reason a thing out and make up their +minds. If they base any hopes on women's hearts, they should remember +what unreasoning organs they are--full of hesitations, doubts, absurd +fears, and more absurd confidence at times. Have you ever seen a bird +hovering in the air, not knowing where to alight? Give it time, and +it makes its selection and swiftly follows its choice. No good +hunter rushes at it in the hope of capturing it during the moment of +indecision." + +"Indeed, Miss Wildmere, if I understand your little parable, I think +Mr. Arnault errs egregiously, yet he does not frighten the bird into a +very distant flight." + +"You do not know how distant it is." + +"No; I only see that he goes straight for the bird the moment he sees +her." + +"He might have found a more considerate policy wiser." Then she added, +gravely, with a little reproach in her voice: "Mr. Arnault is an old +friend and a friend of papa's, whom he often favors in business. I +think my manner toward you should prove that I am not inclined to be +disloyal toward old friends. You have just defended Miss Alden against +a little feminine spite on my part. That was nice. In the same way +I defend Mr. Arnault, whom, for reasons equally absurd, you do not +altogether like. I'm only a woman, you know, and a little spite is one +of our prerogatives. After all, it doesn't amount to anything. I would +do as much for Miss Alden as for any one in the house." (Quite true, +which was nothing.) "You know how girls are." + +"Certainly, especially when both are reigning belles." + +"The men are always the rulers sooner or later; and I shall give +my allegiance to those gentlemen friends who are the least like +myself--tolerant, patient, you know. Mr. Arnault is coming to-night to +spend the Fourth. I must give him more or less of my time--I should be +ungrateful if I did not--but I don't wish you to feel toward me or him +as I should toward you and Miss Alden if I saw that you were together +a great deal. How you see how frank I am, and what a compliment I pay +to your masculine superiority." + +"Miss Wildmere, I think I understand you; I hope I do. Your manner of +greeting me on my return from long absence proved that you were not +disloyal to one old friend. If you could keep me in mind for years, I +can hope I am not forgotten during the hours when others have claims +upon you. I have ever kept you in mind, and I might say more. If women +have a little natural spite, men in some situations are endowed with +enormous selfishness, and the bump of appropriation grows almost into +a deformity." + +"I never expect to see deformities of any kind in Graydon Muir," she +said, laughing. "Now that we understand each other so well, give me +your hand and pull me up this steep place before which we have stood +so long, while getting over another little steep place that lay in our +path. I'm glad the others have all gone on, for now you can help me +all you choose, and I shan't care." + +He did help her, with a touch and freedom that grew into something +like caresses. He felt that he had revealed himself almost as +completely as if he had spoken his love, and that he had received and +was receiving more than encouragement. She did not rebuke his manner, +which was that of a lover. There was no committal in that, nothing +that could bind her. She permitted the avowal of his hope, that he +had been in her thoughts during his long absence, and the natural +inference that her hand was still free because of his hold upon her +heart. This belief filled him with gratitude, and inspired him, as she +intended it should, with generous thoughts and impulses toward her. +What if she did prefer to maintain a little longer the delicate half +reserve that precedes a positive engagement? It only insured that the +cup of happiness should be sipped and enjoyed more leisurely. She had +seen too much of life, and enjoyed too many of its pleasures, to act +with precipitation now. She understood him, and yet loved him well +enough to be jealous of one whom she believed that he regarded as a +sister. With amusement he thought: "She is not even that to me now. +Hanged if I know what she is to me beyond a pretty, vexatious puzzle!" + +Miss Wildmere's strategy had accomplished one thing, however. +Believing that he was absolved by Madge's course from everything +beyond cordial politeness, he had resolved to carry out her rival's +wishes. It was no great cross to forego Madge's society, and if Miss +Wildmere saw that he was not consoling himself during the hours she +spent with Arnault, she would shorten them in his behalf. + +After reaching a certain point he suggested: "Instead of scaling +that rocky height after the rest of the party, suppose we follow this +grassy wood-road to parts unknown. It will be easier for you than +climbing, and you are better society than a crowd." + +She assented smilingly, and Madge did not see Graydon again until they +met at dinner. + +She was pale, and looked weary. "Oh," she thought, "perhaps my hopes +are already vain! They have been alone all the morning. He may have +spoken; he looks so happy and content that he must have spoken and +received the answer he craved. If so, I shall soon join the Waylands +in my native village, for I can't keep up much longer without a little +hope." + +"You are tired, Madge," he said, not unkindly. + +"A little," she replied, carelessly. "A short nap this afternoon will +insure my being ready for the hop to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PERPLEXED AND BEGUILED + + +Madge was so discouraged that she contented herself with a manner of +listless apathy during dinner, and then retired to her room. Graydon +was giving her so little thought that there was slight occasion for +disguise, and less incentive for effort to interest him. + +"The struggle promises to be short and decisive," she moaned. "Perhaps +it has been already decided. I had no chance after all. He came here +fully committed in his own thoughts to Miss Wildmere. I have merely +lost my old place in his affection, and have had and shall have no +opportunity to win his love. If this is to be my fate it is well to +discover it so speedily, and not after weeks of torturing hope +and fear. I'll learn the truth with absolute certainty as soon as +possible, and then find a pretext to join the Waylands." + +At last the fatigue of the morning brought the respite of sleep, and +when she waked she found late evening shadows in her room, and learned +that Mr. Muir had arrived, it being his purpose to spend the Fourth +and the remainder of the week with his family. + +Weariness and despondency are near akin, and in banishing one Madge +found herself better able to cope with the other. At any rate, she +determined to show no weakness. If Graydon would never love her he +should at least be compelled to respect and admire her, and he should +never have cause to surmise the heart-poverty to which she was doomed. +Still less would she give her proud rival a chance to wound her again. +Miss Wildmere might make Graydon's devotion as ostentatious as she +pleased, but should never again detect on Madge's face a look of +pained surprise and solicitude. + +She made a careful toilet for the evening, telling Mr. Muir and her +sister not to wait for her, as she had overslept herself. + +"Where is Madge?" Graydon asked, at the supper-table. + +"She did not wake up in time to come down with us," Mrs. Muir replied. +"What does it matter? Miss Wildmere so fills your eyes that you see no +one else. When is it to be, Graydon?" + +"Madge evidently sees quite as much of me as she cares to," he +replied, somewhat irritably. "I have not asked when it's to be or +whether it's to be at all. I suppose," he added, satirically, "that in +consideration of my extreme youth I should obtain permission from my +family before venturing to ask anything." + +"That remark is absurd and uncalled for," Mr. Muir replied, gravely. +"Of course you will please yourself, as I did, and we shall make the +best of it. But you have no right to expect that we shall see the lady +with your eyes. I cannot help seeing her as she is. I do not like her, +but if you choose to marry her, rest assured I shall give neither of +you cause for complaint. Now, according to my custom, I've had my say. +You could not expect me, as your brother, to be indifferent; still +less could I pretend an approval that I don't feel; but I recognize +that you are as free as I was when Mary's suitor, and I do not think +you can reasonably ask more. Our relations are too intimate for +misunderstanding. You know that, in my present plans and hopes, I +looked forward to receiving you as a partner at no distant time, if +such purposes are carried out our interests must always be identical." + +"Pardon me, Henry," said Graydon, warmly, "and do not misunderstand my +hasty words. I know you have my best welfare at heart--you have ever +proved that--but you misjudge my choice. Even Mary begins to see that +you do, and woman's insight is keener than man's. You attribute to the +daughter the qualities you dislike in the father. Is it nothing that +she has waited for me during my long absence, when she could pick and +choose from so many?" + +"I'm not sure she has been waiting for you; her manner toward Mr. +Arnault yonder suggests that she may still pick and choose." + +"Bah! I'm not afraid of him. She could have taken him long since had +she so wished." + +Others who had seats at the table now approached, and prevented +further interchange of words on so delicate a subject. Nevertheless +Mr. Muir's arrow had not flown wide of the mark, and Graydon thought +that Miss Wildmere was unnecessarily cordial toward his rival, and +that Mr. Wildmere, who had also come from the city, was decidedly +complacent over the fact. + +Graydon's furtive observation was now cut short by the entrance of +Madge, and even he was dazzled by a beauty that attracted many eyes. +It was not merely a lovely woman who was advancing toward him, but a +woman whose nature was profoundly excited. What though she moved in +quiet, well-bred grace, and greeted Mr. Muir with natural cordiality? +The aroused spiritual element was not wanting in the expression of her +face or in the dignity of her carriage. Her deep, suppressed feeling, +which bordered on despair; her womanly pride, which would disguise +all suffering at every cost, gave to her presence a subtle power, felt +none the less because intangible. It was evident that she neither +saw nor cared for the strangers who were looking their curiosity and +admiration; and Graydon understood her barely well enough to think, +"Something, whatever it may be, makes her unlike other girls. She was +languidly indifferent at dinner; now she is superbly indifferent. This +morning and yesterday she was a gay young girl, eager for a mountain +scramble or a frolic of any kind. How many more phases will she +exhibit before the week is over?" + +Poor Madge could not have answered that question herself. She was +under the control of one of the chief inspirations of feeling and +action. Moods of which she had never dreamed would become inevitable; +thoughts which nothing external could suggest would arise in her own +heart and determine her manner. + +In ceasing to hope one also ceases to fear, and Graydon admitted to +himself that he had never before felt the change in Madge so deeply. +The weak, timid little girl he had once known now looked as if she +could quietly face anything. The crowded room, the stare of strangers, +were simply as if they were not; the approach of a thunder-gust in the +sultry evening was unheeded; when a loud peal drowned her voice, she +simply waited till she could be heard again, and then went on without +a tremor in her tones, while all around her people were nervous, +starting, and exclaiming. There was not the faintest suggestion of +high tragedy in her manner. To a casual observer it was merely the +somewhat proud and cold reserve of a lady in a public place, while +under the eyes of a strange and miscellaneous assemblage. Graydon +imagined that it might veil some resentment because he had been +so remiss in his attentions. He could scarcely maintain this view, +however, for she was as cordial to him as to any one, while at the +same time giving the impression that he was scarcely in her thoughts +at all. + +Mr. Muir was perplexed also, and watched her with furtive admiration. +"If she cares for Graydon's neglect she's a superb actress," he +thought. "Great Scott! what an idiot he is, that he cannot see the +difference between this grand woman and yonder white-faced speculator! +She actually quickens the blood in my veins to-night when she fixes +her great black eyes on me." + +Graydon felt her power, but believed that there was nothing in it +gentle or conciliatory toward himself. Probably her mood resulted from +a proud consciousness of her beauty and the triumphs that awaited her. +She had been young and gay heretofore with the other young people, but +now that a number of mature men, like Arnault, had appeared upon the +scene, she proposed to make a different impression. The embodiment of +her ideal might be among them. "At any rate," he concluded, "she +has the skill to make me feel that I have little place in either her +imaginings or hopes, and that for all she cares I may capture Miss +Wildmere as soon as I can. Both of us probably are so far beneath her +ideals of womanhood and manhood that she can never be friendly to +one and is fast losing her interest in the other. She has already +virtually said, 'Our relations are accidental, and if you marry Stella +Wildmere you need not hope that I shall accept her with open arms as +inseparable from one of my best friends.' 'Best friend,' indeed! Even +that amount of regard was a lingering sentiment of the past. Now that +we have met again she realizes that we have grown to be comparative +strangers, and that our tastes and interests lie apart." + +Thus day after day he had some new and perturbed theory as to +Madge, in which pique, infused with cynical philosophy and utter +misapprehension, led to widely varying conclusions. Ardent and +impatient lover of another woman as he was, one thing remained +true--he could neither forget nor placidly ignore the girl who had +ceased to be his sister, and who yet was not very successful in +playing the part of a young lady friend. + +When the dancing began, the storm was approaching its culmination. +More vivid than the light from the chandeliers, the electric flashes +dazzled startled eyes with increasing frequency. Miss Wildmere at +first tried to show cool indifference in the spirit of bravado, and +maintained her place upon the floor with Mr. Arnault and a few others. +She soon succumbed, with visible agitation, as a thunderous peal +echoed along the sky. Madge danced on with Graydon as if nothing had +occurred. He only felt that her form grew a little more tense, and saw +that her eyes glowed with suppressed excitement. + +"Are you not afraid?" he asked, as soon as his voice could be heard. +"See, the ladies are scattering or huddling together, while many look +as if the world were coming to an end." + +"The world is coming to an end to some every day," she replied. + +"That remark is as tragic as it is trite, Madge. What could have +suggested it?" + +"Trite remarks cannot have serious causes." + +"Account for the tragic phase, then." + +"I'm in no mood for tragedy, and commonplace does not need +explanation." + +"What kind of mood are you in to-night, Madge? You puzzle me;" and he +looked directly into her eyes. At the moment she was facing a window, +and a flash of strange brilliancy made every feature luminous. It +seemed to him that he saw her very soul, the spirit she might become, +for it is hard to imagine existence without form--form that is in +harmony with character. The crash that followed was so terrific that +they paused and stood confronting each other. The music ceased; cries +of terror resounded; but the momentary transfiguration of the girl +before him had been so strange and so impressive that Graydon forgot +all else, and still gazed at her with something like awe in his face. +Her lip trembled, for the nervous tension was growing too severe. +"Why do you look at me so?" she faltered. "What has happened? Is there +danger?" + +"What _has_ happened, Madge, that I cannot understand you? The +electric gleam made you look like an angel of light. Your face +seemed light itself. Are you so true and good, Madge, that such vivid +radiance brings out no stain or fear? What is it that makes you unlike +others?" Instinctively he looked toward Miss Wildmere. Her face +was buried in her hands, and Mr. Arnault was bending over her with +reassuring words. + +Madge felt her self-control departing. "Mary is afraid in a +thunderstorm," she said, in a low tone. "I'll go to her. She does not +find me so puzzling;" and she hastened away, yet not so swiftly but +that he saw her quivering lip and look of trouble. + +He took a few impulsive steps in pursuit, then hesitated and walked +irresolutely down a hallway, that he might have a chance for further +thought. The alarm and confusion were so great that the little episode +had been unnoted. It had made an impression on Graydon, however, that +he could not shake off readily. + +Emotion, if forced, has little power except to repel, but even a +glimpse of deep, suppressed feeling haunts the memory, especially if +its cause is half in mystery. + +Madge had set her heart on one thing, had worked long and patiently +for its attainment, had hoped and prayed for it, and within the last +few hours was feeling the bitterness of defeat. The event she so +dreaded seemed inevitable, even if it had not already occurred. The +expression on Graydon's face when she had first met him after his long +ramble with Miss Wildmere had been that of a tranquilly happy lover, +whose heart was at rest in glad certainty. Why should he not have +spoken? what greater encouragement could he ask than the favor she +herself had seen? During his long absence another girl had apparently +been waiting for him also, "But not working for him," she sighed, "and +keeping herself aloof from all and everything that would render her +less worthy. While I sought to train heart, body, and soul to be a fit +bride, she has dallied with every admirer she met, and now wins him +without one hour of self-denial or effort. It is more bitter than +death to me. It is cruelty to him, for that selfish girl will never +make him happy. Even after he marries her he will be only one among +many, and the ballroom glare will be more to her than the light of her +own hearth." + +Such thoughts had been in Madge's mind, and self-control had been no +easy matter. When to all had been added the excitement of the storm +and his unexpected words, her overstrained nerves gave way. She +was too desperately unhappy for the common fear which temporarily +overwhelmed many--the greater swallows up the less--but the storm had +led to words that both wounded and alarmed her. Why did she so perplex +him? What had the lightning's gleam revealed, to be understood when +he should think it all over? Could the truth of her love, of which she +was so conscious, be detected in spite of her efforts and disguises? +Was she doomed, not only to failure and an impoverished life, but also +to the humiliation of receiving a lifelong, yet somewhat complacent +pity from Graydon, and possibly the triumphant scorn of her rival? + +With these thoughts surging in her mind she locked herself in her room +and sobbed like the broken-hearted girl she felt herself to be. The +passing storm was nothing to her. A heavier storm was raging in her +soul, nor had it ceased when the skies without grew cloudless and +serene. She at last felt that she must do something to maintain her +disguise. Hearing little Jack crying and Mrs. Muir trying to hush him, +she washed her eyes and went to the partially darkened room where the +child was, and said, "Let me take him, Mary, and you go down and see +Henry." + +"It's awfully good of you, Madge. The children have been so frightened +that I've been up here all the evening. You seem to have better luck +in quieting Jack than any of us." + +"He'll be good with me. Go down at once, and don't worry. You have +hardly had a chance to see Henry." + +"You will come down again after Jack goes to sleep?" + +"Yes, if I feel like it." + +Graydon soon discovered Mrs. Muir after she had joined her husband, +and asked, "Where is Madge?" + +"She has kindly taken the baby so that I can spend a little time with +Henry. The children have been frightened, and Jack is very fretful. +I'm tired out, and don't know what I should do if it wasn't for +Madge." + +"Why can't the nurse take him?" + +"He won't go to her in these bad moods. Madge can quiet him even +better than I. What's the matter that you are so anxious to see Madge? +You have seemed abundantly able to amuse yourself without her the last +few days. Is Mr. Arnault in the way to-night?" + +"As if I cared a rap for him!" said Graydon, turning irritably away. + +He did care, however, and felt that Miss Wildmere was making too much +use of the liberty she had provided for. She, like many others, could +be half hysterical while the violence of the storm lasted, and yet, +when quiet was restored, was capable of making a jest of her fears +and the most of a delightful conjunction of affairs, which placed two +eligible men at her beck, to either of whom she could become engaged +before she slept. The arrival of her father had turned the scale +decidedly in favor of Mr. Arnault, for the latter, without revealing +his transaction with Mr. Muir, had whispered to Mr. Wildmere his +conviction that Henry Muir was borrowing at ruinous interest. This +information accorded with the broker's previous knowledge, and he was +eager that his daughter should decide for Arnault at once. + +This, however, the wilful girl would not do. She enjoyed the present +condition of affairs too well, and was not without hope, also, that +her father was mistaken; for she felt sure, from Graydon's manner, +that he was not aware of his brother's financial peril, and this fact +inclined her to doubt its existence. She was actuated by the feeling +that she had given much time and encouragement to Graydon, and that +now Arnault should have his turn. Madge had been invisible since the +storm, and there was nothing to indicate that Graydon was disposed to +give her much thought. Miss Wildmere's natural supposition was that he +and Madge had been like brother and sister once, and that the form of +the relation still existed, but that in their long separation they had +grown somewhat indifferent toward each other. She believed that the +solicitude she had seen in Madge's face, on the evening so memorable +in the latter's experience, was due to the jealousy of an immature, +sickly girl, who had been so humored as to feel that Graydon belonged +to her. She naturally believed that if there had been anything +beyond this, it would have been developed by correspondence, or else +indifference on both sides would not now be so palpable. She disliked +Madge chiefly as a rival in beauty and admiration. Nothing could be +more clear than that Graydon was completely under the spell of her own +fascination, and that Madge was receiving even scant fraternal regard. +All she feared was, that during the process of keep him "well in +hand" he might become more conscious of Madge's attractions, which she +recognized, however much she decried them openly. Even if compelled by +circumstances to accept Arnault, she proposed to herself the triumph +of rejecting Graydon, and thought she could do this so skilfully as to +give the idea that he had made a deep impression on her heart, and +so eventually win him again as one of her devoted followers in the +future. This product of fashionable society had not the slightest +intention of giving up her career as a belle for the sake of Mr. +Arnault or any one else. She had more liking and less fear for Graydon +than for Arnault. The latter was an open, resolute suitor, but she +knew that he was controlled more by ambition than by affection--that +he would yield everything and submit to anything up to a certain +point. The moment she jeopardized his prestige before the world, +or interfered with his scheme of success, she would meet rock-like +obduracy, both before and after marriage. She knew that Graydon had +a sincere affection for her, and a faith in her which, even in her +egotism, she was aware was unmerited--that he had a larger, gentler, +and more tolerant nature, and would be easier to manage than Arnault. + +Her fear of the latter proved his best ally. There was a resolution in +his eye since his return this evening that, even while it angered her +somewhat, convinced her that he would not be trifled with. His suit +was that of a man who had an advantage which she dared not ignore, and +her father's manner increased this impression. She felt that her game +was becoming delicate and hazardous, but she would not forego its +delicious excitement, or abandon the hope that Graydon might still +be in a position to warrant her preference. Therefore she proposed to +yield to Arnault as far as she could without alienating Muir, hoping +that the former would soon return to town again, and thus more time be +secured for her final decision. + +Before the first evening of his rivals advent had passed, Graydon felt +that he must appear to the people in the house as supplanted, and his +pride was beginning to be touched. Mrs. Muir's words had added to his +irritation. The episode with Madge had left a decidedly unpleasant +impression. He felt not only that he had failed to understand her, but +that he might be treating her with a neglect which she had a right to +resent. Her appearance and manner during the storm had almost startled +him; her abrupt departure had caused sudden and strong compunction; +and he had wished that they might come to a better understanding; +but thoughts of her had soon given place to anxiety in regard to Miss +Wildmere. It began to seem strange that the girl who had apparently +waited for him so long, and who had permitted such unequivocal words +and manner on his part that day, should now, before his very eyes, be +accepting attentions even more unmistakable from another man. She had +tried to explain and prepare him for all this, but there was more than +he was prepared for. She not only danced oftener with Arnault than +with any one else, but also strolled with him on the dusky piazza, +which, by reason of the dampness due to the storm, was almost +deserted. Graydon had permitted his brow to become clouded, and was so +perturbed by the events of the evening that he had not disguised his +vexation by gallantries to others. At last he detected smiles and +whispered surmises on the part of some who had seen his devotion +before the arrival of Mr. Arnault. This almost angered him, and he +felt that Miss Wildmere had imposed a rôle that would be difficult to +maintain. + +He had lingered conspicuously near, intent on proving his loyalty, and +had hoped every moment that his opportunity would come. He felt that +she should at least divide her time evenly with him and Mr. Arnault, +but the evening was drawing to a close, and the latter had received +the lion's share. After noting that others were observing his +desolation, he went resolutely out on the piazza, with the intention +of asking Miss Wildmere to give him the last waltz. Its wide space +was deserted. He waited a few moments, thinking that the object of his +thoughts would turn the corner in her promenade with his rival. Time +passed, and she did not come. He looked through a parlor window, +thinking that she might have entered by some other means of ingress; +and while he was standing there steps slowly approached from a part of +the piazza which was usually in utter darkness, and which was known +as the "lovers' retreat." As the figures passed a lighted window he +recognized them, and was also observed. He was too angry and jealous +now to carry out his purpose, and returned to the general hallway. + +Here he was joined a moment later by Miss Wildmere and Mr. Arnault, +and the former began to chat with him in imperturbable ease, while +the gentleman bowed and sought another partner for the waltz that was +about to be danced. Graydon would not show his chagrin under the many +eyes directed toward them, but she nevertheless saw his anger in the +cold expression of his eyes, and realized her danger. She ignored +everything with inimitable skill and sweetness, and there was nothing +for him to do but take her out with the others. Indeed, it almost +instantly became his policy to convince observers that their surmises +were without foundation. He determined that the girl should show him +all the favor his rival had enjoyed, or else--A sudden flash of his +eyes indicated to his observant companion that all her skill would +be required. She was graciousness itself, and when Arnault could +not observe her, stole swift and almost pleading glances into her +partner's eyes. + +Another observed her, however. Madge did come down at last, for she +had concluded that the memorable day should not close until she +had had one more glimpse of the problem which had grown so dark and +hopeless. Graydon soon observed her standing in the doorway, but then +she was talking and laughing with a lady friend. A moment later she +glided out on the floor with one of a half dozen who had been waiting +for the favor. Graydon sought to catch her eye, but did not succeed. +Again she made upon his mind the impression of troubled perplexity, +but his purpose was uppermost, and he was bent on carrying it out. + +"Come," he said to Miss Wildmere, in quiet tones, "I should enjoy a +stroll on the piazza, the room has grown so warm and close." + +Feeling that she must yield, she did so with ready grace and apparent +willingness, and Graydon led her out through the main entrance, that +it might be observed that he received no less favor than had been +given to another. + +"She is playing them both pretty strong," whispered one of the +committee, before referred to, that sits perpetually on the phases of +life at such resorts. + +"I feared you would not be very patient," said Miss Wildmere, in a low +tone. + +"I said I would be reasonably patient," was the reply. + +"Reason again." + +"Yes, Miss Wildmere; I think I can justly say that I am endowed with +both heart and reason. There are some questions in life that demand +both." + +"Please do not speak so coldly. You do not understand." + +"I wish I did." + +"Be patient and you will. After maintaining friendship true and strong +for years, it hurts me to be misjudged now." + +"But, Miss Wildmere--" he began, impetuously. + +"Hush," she said, hastily; then added, a little coldly, "if I am not +worthy of a little trust I am not worthy of anything." + +Graydon was touched to the quick. Honorable himself, he felt that he +was acting meanly and suspiciously--that his jealousy and irritation +were leading him to unmanly conduct. There was some reason for her +course, which would be explained eventually, and he ought not to ask +a woman to be his wife at all unless he could trust her. Therefore he +said, humbly. "I beg your pardon. In my heart I believe you worthy of +all trust. I will wait and be as patient as you desire, since I know +that you cannot have failed to understand me." Then he added, with +a deprecating laugh, "There are times, I suppose, when all men are a +little blind and unreasonable." + +"Heaven keep him blind!" she thought, yet she winced under his honest +words in their contrast with herself. + +"I hope some day to prove worthy of your trust," she breathed, softly, +and looked in dread into the darkness lest in some way her words +should reach Arnault. "Come, please," she added, with a gentle +pressure on his arm, "let us return, or the hotel may be closed upon +us." + +"Please give me all the time you can," pleaded Graydon, as they paused +at the door. + +Looking within, she saw Arnault with his back toward them, and said, +hastily, and as if impulsively, "I will--all that I can. Possibly my +regret will be deeper than yours that I cannot give you more." + +"You should know that that is not possible," he said, in low, earnest +tones. Then he added, in a whisper, as she was entering, "I can trust +you now and wait." + +"My good fortune is still in the ascendant," was her thought; "I can +still keep him in hand, in spite of papa and Mr. Arnault." + +"Her father's relations with Mr. Arnault must give him some hold upon +her," he thought, "and for her father's sake she cannot yield to me at +once, but she will eventually." + +Mr. Arnault came forward with smiling lips, light words, yet resolute +eyes. Graydon felt that he had received all the assurance that he +needed--that she was under some necessity of keeping his rival in +good-humor--so he smiled significantly into her eyes, and bowed +himself away. + +"Muir looked as if he had received all the comfort that he required," +Arnault said, as they strolled across the parlor, now deserted. + +"Did he? Well, he did not require very much." + +"How much?" + +"You had better ask him." + +"Stella," he said, and there was a suggestion of menace in his tone, +"I'm in earnest now. You will soon have to choose between us." + +"Shall I?" she replied, bending upon him an arch, bewildering smile. +"Then please don't speak as if I had no choice at all;" and she was +going. + +"Wait," he said. "Will you drive with me to-morrow?" + +"Yes. Is there anything else your lordship would like?" + +He seized her hand, and held it in both his. "This," he said. + +"Is that all?" was her laughing reply, as she withdrew it. "I wish you +had more of Mr. Muir's diffidence;" and she vanished before he could +speak again. + +Graydon found that Madge had retired, so that there was no chance for +him to speak to her that night; but his mind was in too happy a tumult +to give her much thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + +Mrs. Muir came into Madge's room for a bit of the gossip that she +dearly loved, but, as usual, obtained little information or surmise +from the young girl. "I'm glad you came down," she said, "if only to +prove to Graydon that you were not moping upstairs." + +"Why should I mope upstairs?" Madge asked, with a keen look at her +sister. + +"No reason that I know of, only Graydon has been slightly spoiled by +his success among ladies, and society men are always imagining that +girls are languishing for them." + +"Have I given him or anyone such an impression?" Madge again inquired, +indignantly. + +"Oh, no, indeed! On the contrary, you seem so indifferent as not to be +quite natural. Even Graydon feels it, and is perplexed and troubled. +He was inquiring for you during the evening, and I told him you were +kindly caring for Jack, so that I might have a little fresh air with +Henry on the piazza." + +"There it is again--perplexed and troubled. I'm sick of being +misunderstood so ridiculously. The scraps of time that he gives me +when Miss Wildmere does not fill his eyes and thoughts are employed +in criticism. Why should I perplex and trouble him? I have told him +to please himself with Miss Wildmere--that I should certainly please +myself in my choice of friends, and that he as a man assuredly had a +right to do the same. He will soon be engaged to her, and probably is +already, but he has no right to demand that I should receive this girl +with open arms. She already detests me, and I do not admire her. +It's none of my business, but if I were a man I wouldn't stand +her flirtation with Mr. Arnault. Even the people in the house are +observing it with significant smiles. He must get over the impression +that I'm the weak, limp child in mind or body that he left. I'm an +independent woman, and have as much right to my thoughts and ways +as he to his. If he wants my society, let him treat me with natural +friendliness. If he's afraid to do it--if Miss Wildmere won't let +him--rest assured I won't receive any furtive, deprecatory attentions. +I am abundantly able to take care of myself in my own way." + +"Oh, Madge, you have so changed! Before you went away the sun seemed +to rise and set in Graydon." + +"Well, the sun now rises in the west and sets in the east--What am +I saying? Well, perhaps, it's true for me, after all. In the West I +gained the power to live a strong, resolute life of my own choosing, +and he may as well recognize the truth first as last. Let him give all +his thoughts to Miss Wildmere. From what I see and have heard she will +keep them busy before and after marriage." + +"He's not engaged to her yet; he said so positively." + +"Oh, well," Madge replied, with well-assumed indifference, although +her heart bounded at the tidings, "it's only a question of time. +There, we've talked enough about _her_. Of course I remember Graydon's +old kindness, and all that; and if he would treat me with frank and +sensible friendliness, I should enjoy his society. Why not?" + +"I thought he regarded you as his sister." + +"Sister, indeed! I'm Henry's sister, not his. I'm only an object of +criticism, of perplexity, a sphinx, and all that kind of nonsense. He +was bent on seeing a 'little ghost,' as he used to call me. I'm not a +bit of a ghost, and have as much proud blood in my veins as he has." + +"Well, Madge, I'm glad you feel that you are Henry's sister. He likes +and admires you so much that I'm half jealous." + +"Henry and I understand each other. He thinks I'm sensible, and I +certainly think he is. Good-night, now, dear. It's after twelve, and I +wish you a merry Fourth of July; I mean to have one." + +Graydon had not found himself in a sleeping mood until the shadows of +night were almost ready to depart, and so came down very late. Mrs. +Wildmere, who was on the piazza with her child, informed him, with a +deprecatory smile, that Stella had gone to drive with Mr. Arnault. He +bit his lip, and went to make a leisurely breakfast. By the time he +had finished, Madge came in with a party of young people who had been +on a ramble. Her greeting was friendly, but nothing more, and having +received a long letter from Mrs. Wayland, she took it to a small +summer-house. Graydon soon strayed after her in a listless way, and in +no very amiable humor. The greater anxiety had swallowed up the less, +and his perturbed thoughts about Madge were now following a light +carriage on some wild mountain road. His generous glow of feeling of +the night before had passed somewhat, and he was inclined to think +that Miss Wildmere's relations to Arnault, whatever they were, placed +him, a committed lover, in a rather anomalous position. Since she was +absent, however, he would while away an hour with Madge, and try to +solve the riddle she had become. + +She greeted him with a slight smile, and went on with her letter. He +watched her curiously and with contracting brow. + +"Will you ever finish?" he soon asked. + +"I can read it some other time," she said, laying it down. + +"Oh, that is asking far too much!" + +"Is it?" + +"Confound it, Madge! Why is it that we are drifting further and +further apart every day?" + +"I am not drifting," she said, quietly, "nor do you give that +impression. I am just where you found me on your return. Since we are +so far apart you must be doing the journeying." + +"Well, Heaven knows I found you distant enough!" + +"I beg your pardon; Heaven knows nothing of the kind! It's not my +fault that you value friendship so lightly." + +"You know I wished for so much more." + +"You thought you did at first, Graydon," she replied, with a quiet +smile, "but I imagine that you soon became quite reconciled to my +view of the case. The relation would surely prove embarrassing to +you. Haven't you since thought that it might?" she asked, with sweet +directness. + +He colored visibly, and was provoked with himself that he did. "If +you persist in being at swords' points with Miss Wildmere--" he began, +hesitatingly. + +"I persist in being simply myself, and true to my own perceptions. +Wherein have I failed in courtesy toward Miss Wildmere?" + +"But you dislike her most cordially." + +"And you like her most cordially and more. Have I not granted your +perfect right to do so?" + +"If you were even the friend you claim to be, you would not be so +indifferent." + +"I have not said I was indifferent. Miss Wildmere is far from +indifferent to me. What have I done to gain her ill-will?" + +"Much, as human nature goes. You have made yourself her rival in +beauty and attractiveness." + +"Is that human nature? If that is the cause of her hostility I should +say it is Miss Wildmere's nature." + +"Let us change the subject," said Graydon, a little irritably. +"We shall not agree on this point, I fear; you share in Henry's +prejudices." + +"I did not introduce the subject, Graydon, and I think for myself." + +"Hang it all, Madge! you are so changed I scarcely know you. Every +time we meet I find you more of a conundrum. Friend, indeed! You +certainly have been a distant one in every sense. If I had been the +friend you say I was, you would have written me about the marvellous +transformation you were accomplishing." + +She sprang up, and her dark eyes flashed indignantly. "I am beginning +to think that you are changed more than I," she said, impetuously. +"You know, or might, if you took the trouble, that I did not tell +Mary, my own sister, of my progress toward health and strength. My +wish to give you all a pleasant surprise may seem a little thing to +you, or you may give some sinister, unnatural meaning to the act. It +was not a little thing to go away 'a ghost, a wraith,' as you were +wont to call me--it was not a little thing to go away alone, perhaps +to die, as I then felt. Nor was it a little thing to battle for weary +months with weakness of mind and body, morbid timidity, indolence, +ignorance, and everything that was contrary to my ideal of womanhood. +I can say thus much in self-defence. Was there harm in my adding some +incentive to a hard sense of duty? I felt that if I could change for +the better and keep my secret I could give you all a glad surprise. I +had almost a child's pleasure in the thought. Mary and Henry rewarded +me, but you are spoiling it all. You at once make an impossible +demand, and discover, within twenty-four hours, how awkward my +compliance would have been. I did not know you so long without gaining +the power of guessing your thoughts. I suggested a simple, natural +relation, and as the result I have become a 'conundrum.' A charming +title, truly! I shall remain a simple, natural girl, and when you are +through with your riddle theories perhaps you will treat me as I think +you might in view of old times;" and she started swiftly toward the +house. + +"Madge!" cried Graydon, springing up and following her. + +At that moment Miss Wildmere approached, and Madge gained the piazza +and disappeared, leaving Graydon ill disposed toward himself and all +the world, even including Miss Wildmere; for she had a charming color, +and appeared not in the least a victim to _ennui_ because of forced +association with an objectionable party. She came smilingly toward +him, saying, "It's too bad to interrupt your hot pursuit of another +lady, but girls have not much conscience in such matters." + +"As long as you have conscience in other matters, it does not +signify," he answered, meaningly. + +"Not conscience, but another organ, controls our action chiefly, I +imagine," she replied, with a glance that gave emphasis to her words +of the previous evening, and she passed smilingly on. + +Arnault soon followed her, spoke pleasantly to Graydon, and, having +obtained a morning paper, was at once absorbed in its contents. + +"He does not appear like a baffled suitor who has enjoyed only a +veiled tolerance," was Graydon's thought. "Things will come out all +right in the end, I suppose, but they certainly are not proceeding as +I expected. Stella will be mine eventually--it were treason to think +otherwise--but she is carrying it off rather boldly to keep Arnault so +complacent at the same time. As far as Madge is concerned, I've been +a fool and made a mess of it. How in the mischief has she been able to +divine my very thoughts! She is wrong in one respect, however. If she +had felt and acted toward me like a sister I would have been loyal +to her, and would have compelled even Miss Wildmere to recognize her +rights. I am not so far gone but that I can act in a straightforward, +honorable way. My acceptance of her action was an afterthought, a +philosophical way I have of making the best of everything. I now +believe that it has turned out for the best, but I have been guilty +of no coldblooded calculation. Very well, I'll treat her as a simple, +natural girl and my very good friend, and see how this course works. +Not that she is a simple girl. I've met too many of that kind, and +of those also who enshroud themselves in a cloud of little feminine +mysteries, all transparent enough to one of experience; but Madge +does puzzle me. She has not explained herself with her fine burst of +indignation. Jove! how handsome she was! She ever gives the impression +that there is something back of all she says and does. Even Henry +feels it in his dim way, but that lightning flash made it clear +that it is something of which she need not be ashamed. Since she +has learned to read me so understandingly, I will try to fathom her +thoughts. Perhaps friendship does mean more to her than to others. If +so, I'll be as true a friend to her as she to me. If I grant Stella +such broad privileges with Arnault, she must admit mine with one of +whom it would be absurd to be jealous;" and, with cogitations like the +above, he also pretended to read his paper, and finished his cigar. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +NOT STRONG IN VAIN + + +Graydon dreaded embarrassment when meeting Madge at dinner, but was +agreeably disappointed. There was nothing in the young girl's manner +which suggested a vexed consciousness of their recent interview, +neither were there covert overtures, even in tones, toward more +friendly relations. He saw that if any were made he must make them. +Madge was merely too well bred to show anger in public, or occasion +surmises that would require explanations. During the meal she spoke +of missing her horseback exercise, and said that she meant to ask Dr. +Sommers if he did not know of a good animal that might be hired for a +few weeks. Graydon at once resolved to make a propitiatory offering, +and to go out with Madge when Miss Wildmere was unattainable. For the +time he was content to imitate Madge's tactics, and acted as if he +intended to follow the course that she had suggested. The fact that +Arnault was so evidently enjoying his dinner and the Wildmere smiles +did not detract from his purpose to prove that he also was not without +resources. Moreover, he felt that he had not treated Madge fairly; +he had been truly fond of her, and now was conscious of a growing +respect. As she had said, it was not a little thing that she had +attempted and accomplished, and there had been small ground for his +discontent. After dinner, however, he found a chance to ensconce +himself by Miss Wildmere on the piazza, and he was fully resolved to +lose no such opportunities. + +Madge, with the Muir children, passed him on the way to a small lake +on which she had promised to give the little people a row. He took +off his hat in cordial courtesy, and she recognized him with a brief +smile, in which Miss Wildmere could detect no apprehension. + +"I hope that 'sister Madge,' as you call her, does not resent my +enjoyment of your society." + +"Not in the least. I feel, however, that I have been neglecting her +shamefully, and propose to make amends." + +"Indeed; has she brought you to a sense of your shortcomings? This +scarcely bears out your first remark." + +"It is nothing against its truth. Miss Aldeu makes it very clear that +she is not dependent on me or any one for enjoyment; but in view of +the past I have been scarcely courteous. Therefore," he added, with +a laugh, "when Arnault monopolizes you I shall console myself with +Madge." + +"And therefore I shall feel the less compunction. Thank you." + +"I am glad to take the least thorn from the roses of your life," was +his smiling answer. + +She veiled close scrutiny under her reply: "I fear the brilliant Miss +Alden will cause my society to appear commonplace in contrast." + +"I do not see how you can fear anything of the kind," was his prompt +answer; "I trust you, and you must trust me." + +"I do trust you, Mr. Muir," she said, softly. + +Before he could speak again nurses and children came streaming and +screaming from the lake toward the house. "Nellie Wilder is drowned," +was the burden of their dire message. + +Graydon sprang down the steps, and rushed with the fleetness of the +wind toward the lake. + +As Madge, with Jennie and Harry Muir, approached the water, they saw +a party of children playing carelessly in a boat, and a moment later +a little girl fell overboard. The boat was in motion toward the shore, +and when she rose it had passed beyond her reach. Her companions gave +way to wild panic, and, instead of trying to save her, screamed and +pulled for land. No one was present except nurses and other children, +and they all joined in the wild, helpless chorus of alarm, and began a +stampede toward the hotel. + +Madge saw that if the child was saved she must act promptly and +wisely. To the Muir children she said, authoritatively, "Sit down +where you are and don't move." Then she rushed forward and unfastened +a skiff. As she did so the child rose for the last time and sunk again +with a gurgling cry. Keeping her eyes fixed on the spot, and with an +oar in her hand, Madge pushed away from the shore vigorously with her +feet, and with the impetus sprang upon the narrow stern-sheets, then +crept forward toward the bow, at the same time ever keeping her eyes +fixed unwaveringly on the spot where the child had sunk, from which +widening circles were eddying. The nurses and children who had not +started for the house, seeing that a rescue was attempted, looked on +with breathless dread and suspense. + +When the impetus that Madge had first given to the skiff ceased, she +kept the little craft in motion by paddling, first on one side, then +on the other, her eyes still fixed on one point in the dark water. +At last this point seemed almost beneath her; she dropped the oar, +stooped, and peered over the side of the boat. After a moment's +hesitation she appeared to those on shore to have lost her balance, +fallen overboard, and sunk. Renewed screams of terror resounded, +and the Muir children fled toward the hotel, crying, "Aunt Madge is +drowned." + +"What do you mean?" Graydon gasped, seizing Harry by the arm. + +"Oh, Uncle Graydon! run quick. Aunt Madge fell out of a boat under +water." + +A moment later he saw the young girl rise to the surface with a child +in her grasp. With one headlong plunge, and a few strong strokes, he +was at her side, exclaiming, "Great God, Madge! what does this mean?" + +"Take her to the shore, quick; no matter about me;" and she pushed the +limp and apparently lifeless form into his arms. + +"But, Madge--" he began. + +"Haste! haste! and the child may be saved. Don't think of me; I can +swim as well as you;" and she struck out toward the shore. + +Wondering and thrilled with admiration, in spite of the confusion of +his thoughts, he did as directed, and took the child to land at once. + +Madge was there as soon as he, crying, even before she left the water, +"Run for Dr. Sommers, and if not at home ride after him." + +Meanwhile gentlemen and employés of the house were arriving, and some +turned back in search of the physician. + +The awful tidings had come upon poor Mrs. Wilder, the mother of the +child, like a bolt out of a clear sky, and she had run screaming and +moaning toward the scene of disaster. Mother love had given her almost +superhuman strength; but when she saw the pale little face on the +ground, with the hue of death upon it, she crouched beside it in +speechless agony, and watched the efforts that were made to bring back +consciousness. + +Madge led and directed these efforts. In truth, she did as much to +save the child on land as when it had lain submerged on the muddy +bottom of the pond. Graydon, seeing that she was coming up the bank, +had paused a moment irresolutely, and then was about to start for the +hotel with his burden. Madge caught his arm, and took the child from +him. + +"Graydon, take off your coat and give it to me," she said, +imperatively, as she laid the child down on its back; "your +handkerchief, also," she added. + +She forced open the pale lips, and wiped out the mouth with marvellous +celerity, paying no heed to the clamorous voices around her. "Some one +give me a sharp knife," she cried, "and don't crowd so near." + +Lifting the child's clothing at the throat, she cut it down ward to +the waist, then down each arm, leaving the lovely little form exposed +and free. Dropping the knife, she next rolled the coat into a bundle, +turned the child over so that her abdomen should rest upon it; then +with hands pressed rather strongly on each side of the little back, +Madge sought to expel the water that might have been swallowed. +Turning the child over on her back again, the bundle made by the coat +was placed under the small of her back, so as to raise the chest. +Then, catching the little tongue that had awakened merry echoes but +a few moments before, she drew it out of the mouth to one side by the +aid of the handkerchief, and said to Graydon, "Hold it, so." + +All now saw that they were witnessing skilled efforts. Discordant +advice ceased, and they looked on with breathless interest. + +"Has any one smelling salts?" Madge asked. There was no response. She +snatched a bit of grass and tickled the child's nose, saying, at the +same time, "Bring water." This, after a few seconds, she dashed over +the face and exposed chest, waited an instant, then gave her patient a +slap over the pit of the stomach. + +Graydon, kneeling before her, looked on with silent amazement. Her +glorious eyes shone with an absorbed and merciful purpose; she was +oblivious of her own strange appearance, the masses of her loosening +hair falling over and veiling the lovely form outlined clearly by +the wet and clinging drapery of her summer dress. Others looked on +in wonder, too, and with a respect akin to awe. Among them were her +sister and Henry Muir, Mr. Arnault, and Miss Wildmere--her feelings +divided between envy and commiseration for the child and its stricken +mother. + +These first simple efforts having no apparent effect, Madge said, +quietly, "We must try artificial respiration. Move a little more to +one side, Graydon." + +Kneeling behind the child, she lifted the little arms quickly but +steadily up, over and down, until they lay upon the ground behind the +wet golden curls. This motion drew the ribs up, expanded the chest and +permitted air to enter it. After two or three seconds Madge reversed +the motion and pressed the arms firmly against the chest, to expel the +air. This alternate motion was kept up regularly at about the rate +of sixteen times a minute, until the sound of a galloping horse was +heard, and the crowd parted for Dr. Sommers. He took in the situation +with his quick eye, and said, "Miss Alden, let me take your place." + +"Oh, thank God, you are here!" she exclaimed. "Let me hold her tongue, +Graydon; I must do something." + +"Yes, Mr. Muir," added the physician; "let her help me; she knows just +what to do. How long was the child under water?" + +"I don't know exactly; not long." + +"Not more than four or five minutes?" + +"I think not." + +"There should be hope, then." + +"We must save her!" cried Madge. "I once saw people work over an hour +before there were signs of life." + +"Oh, God bless your brave heart!" murmured the poor mother. "You won't +leave my child--you won't let them give her up, will you?" + +"No, Mrs. Wilder, not for one hour or two. I believe that your little +girl will be saved." + +"Have some brandy ready," said Dr. Sommers. + +A flask was produced, and Graydon again knelt near, to have it in +readiness, while the doctor kept up his monotonous effort, pressing +the arms against the lungs, then lifting them above the head and back +to the ground, with regular and mechanical iteration. + +The child's eyelids began to tremble. "Ah!" exclaimed the doctor; a +moment later there was a slight choking cough, and a glad cry went up +from the throng. + +"The brandy," said the doctor. + +Madge now gave up the case to him and Graydon, and slipped down beside +the mother, who was swaying from side to side. "Don't faint," she +said; "your child will need you as soon as she is conscious." + +"Oh, Heaven bless you! Heaven bless you!" cried the mother; "you have +saved my only, my darling." + +"Yes, madam, you are right. It's all plain sailing now," the doctor +added. + +Then Madge became guilty of her first useless act. In strong revulsion +she fainted dead away. In a moment her head was on Mrs. Muir's lap, +and Henry Muir was at her side. + +"Poor girl! no wonder. There's not a woman in a hundred thousand who +could do what she has done. There, don't worry about her. Put her in +my carriage with Mrs. Muir, and take her to her room; I'll be there +soon. She'll come out all right; such girls always do." + +Meanwhile Mr. Muir and Graydon were carrying out the doctor's +directions, and the unconscious girl was borne rapidly to her +apartment, where, under her sister's ministrations, she soon revived. + +Almost her first conscious words, after being assured that the child +was safe, were, "Oh, Mary! what a guy I must have appeared! What will +Graydon--I mean all who saw me--think?" + +"They'll think things that might well turn any girl's head. As for +Graydon, he is waiting outside now, half crazy with anxiety to receive +a message from you." + +"Tell him I made a fool of myself, and he must not speak about it +again on the pain of my displeasure." + +"Well, you have come to," said Mrs. Muir, and then she went and +laughingly delivered the message verbatim, adding, "Go and put on dry +clothes. You'll catch your death with those wet things on, and you +look like a scarecrow." + +He departed, more puzzled over Madge Alden than ever, but admitting to +himself that she had earned the right to be anything she pleased. + +Dr. Sommers continued his efforts in behalf of the little girl, +chafing her wrists and body with the brandy, and occasionally giving +a few drops until circulation was well restored; and then, at her +mother's side, carried the child to her room, and gave directions to +those who were waiting to assist. + +When he entered Madge's apartment, she greeted him with the words, +"What a silly thing I did!" + +"Not at all, not at all. You made your exit gracefully, and escaped +the plaudits which a brave girl like you wouldn't enjoy. I take off +my hat to you, as we country-folks say. You are a heroine--as good +a doctor as I on shore and a better one in the water. Where did you +learn it all?" + +"Nonsense!" said Madge, "nothing would vex me more than to have a +time made over the affair. It's all as simple as a, b, c. What's that +little pond to one who has been used to swimming in the Pacific! As I +said, I saw a girl restored once, and Mr. Wayland has explained to me +again and again just what to do." + +"Oh, yes, it's all simple enough if you know how, but that's just the +trouble. In all that crowd I don't believe there was one who would not +have done the wrong thing. Well, well, I can manage now if I'm obeyed. +You've had a good deal of a shock, and you must keep quiet till +to-morrow. Then I'll see." + +Madge laughingly protested that nothing would please her better than +a good supper and a good book. "Please give out also," she said, "that +any reference to the affair will have a very injurious influence on +me." + +In spite of the doctor, messages and flowers poured in. At last Mrs. +Wilder came and said to Mrs. Muir, "I must see her, if it is safe." + +"It's safe enough," Mrs. Muir began, "only Madge doesn't like so much +made of it." + +"I won't say much," pleaded the mother. She did not say anything, but +put her arms around Madge and pressed her tear-stained face upon the +young girl's bosom in long, passionate embrace, the hastened back to +her restored treasure, who was sleeping quietly. Madge's eyes were +wet also, and she turned her face to the wall and breathed softly +to herself, "Whatever happens now--and it's plain enough what will +happen--I did not get strong in vain. Graydon can never think me +altogether weak and lackadaisical again, and I have saved one woman's +heart from anguish, however my own may ache." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MAKE YOUR TERMS + + +Graydon's uppermost thought now was to make his peace with Madge. He +dismissed all his former theories about her as absurd, and felt that, +whether he understood her or not, she had become a splendid woman, of +whose friendship he might well be proud, and accept it on any terms +that pleased her. He also was sure that Miss Wildmere's prejudices +would be banished at once and forever by Madge's heroism, believing +that the girl's hostile feeling was due only to the natural jealousy +of social rivals. "If Stella does not regard Madge's action with +generous enthusiasm, I shall think the worse of her," was his +masculine conclusion. + +The wily girl was not so obtuse as to be unaware of this, and when +he came down she said all he could wish in praise of Madge, but +took pains to enlarge upon his own courage. At this he pooh-poohed +emphatically. "What was that duck-pond of a lake to a man!" he said. +"Madge herself has become an expert ocean-swimmer, I am told. She +wasn't afraid of the water. It was her skill in finding the child +beneath it, and in resuscitation afterward, that chiefly commands my +admiration." + +"Oh, dear!" cried the girl, "what can I do to command your +admiration?" + +"You know well, Miss Wildmere, that you command much more." + +She blushed, smiled, and looked around a little apprehensively. + +"Don't be alarmed," he added; "I have such confidence in you that I +will bide your time." + +"Thank you, Graydon," she whispered, and hastened away, leaving him +supremely happy. It was the first time she had called him "Graydon." + +Seeing Dr. Sommers emerging from the hotel, he hastened after him, +bent on procuring a peace-offering for Madge--the finest horse that +could be had in the region. + +"I know of one a few miles from here," said the doctor. "He's a +splendid animal, but a high and mighty stepper. I don't believe that +even she could manage him." + +"I'll break him in for her, never fear. Of course I won't let her take +any risks." + +"Well, leave it to me, then. I can manage it. He's awfully headstrong, +though. I give you fair warning." + +"Take me to see him as soon as you can; the horse, I mean, or, rather, +both man and horse." + +"To-morrow morning, then. I have patients out that way." + +At supper and during the evening Madge and her exploit were the themes +of conversation. Some tried to give Graydon a part of the credit, but +he laughed so contemptuously at the idea that he was let alone. Henry +Muir did not say much, but looked a great deal, and with Graydon +listened attentively as his wife explained how it was that Madge had +proved equal to the emergency. + +"Why don't more people follow her example?" said the practical man, +"and learn how to do something definite? As she explains the rescue, +there was nothing remarkable in it. If she could swim and dive in the +ocean for sport, she would not be much afraid to do the same in that +so-called lake, to save life. As to her action on shore, the knowledge +she used is given in books and manuals. What's more, she had seen it +done. But most people are so pointless and shiftless that they +never know just what to do in an emergency, no matter what their +opportunities for information may have been." + +"Now you hit me," Graydon remarked, ruefully, "Left to myself I should +have finished the young one, for I was about to run to the hotel with +her, a course that I now see would have been as fatal as idiotic." + +"Madge says," Mrs. Muir continued, "that they used to bathe a great +deal, and that Mr. Wayland explained just what should be done in all +the possible emergencies of their outdoor life at Santa Barbara." + +"Wayland in a level-headed man. If he is bookish, he's not a dreamer +with his head in the clouds. Madge was in good hands with them, and +proves it every day." + +"I think she shows the influence of Mrs. Wayland even more than that +of her husband. Fanny is a very accomplished woman, and saw a great +deal of society in her younger days." + +"Confound it all! Why didn't you tell me that Madge had been living +with two paragons?" said Graydon. + +"Oh, you have been so occupied with another paragon that there has +not been much chance to tell you anything," was Mrs. Muir's consoling +reply. + +"Madge has not been made what she is by paragons," Mr. Muir remarked, +dryly. "She made herself. They only helped her, and couldn't have +helped a silly woman." + +"It's time you were jealous, Mary," said Graydon, laughing. + +"Mary isn't a silly woman. I should hope that no Muir would marry +one." + +"I see no prospect of it," was the rather cold reply. + +"I fear I see a worse prospect," was his brother's thought. "Of what +use are his eyes or senses after what he has seen to-day?" + +Mrs. Muir had explained to some lady friends about Madge, and the +information was passing into general circulation--the ladies rapidly +coming to the conclusion that the young girl's action was not so +remarkable after all, which was true enough. The men, however, +retained their enthusiastic admiration, although it must be admitted +that its inspiration was due largely to Madge's beauty. + +"Of course women have done braver things," said one man, with sporting +tendencies, "but it was the neat, gamy way in which she did it that +took my eye. Her method was as complete and rounded out as herself. +Jove! as she bent over that child she was a nymph that would turn the +head of a Greek." + +"She has evidently turned the head of a Cyprian," laughed one of his +friends. + +"Come, that's putting it too strong," said the man, with a frown. +"I'll affect no airs, though. I'm not a saint, as you all know, but +the aspect of that girl, in her self-forgetful effort, might well make +me wish I were one. She is as good and pure-hearted as the child she +saved. If there had been a flaw in the white marble of her nature she +would have been self-conscious. An angel from heaven couldn't have +been more absorbed in the one impulse to save." + +Graydon had approached the group unobserved, and heard these words. +He walked away, smiling, with the thought, "My sentiments, clearly +expressed." + +The night was warm, and he saw Miss Wildmere and Arnault going out +for a stroll. Following a half-defined inclination, he bent his steps +toward the lake. The moon was mirrored in its glassy surface, the +place silent and deserted. With slight effort of fancy he called up +the scene again. He saw in the moonlight the fairy form of the +child, and what even others had regarded as the embodiment of human +loveliness and truth bending over it. + +"And she was the little ghost that once haunted me," he thought, "and +seemed all eyes and affection. How those eyes used to welcome and turn +to me, as if in some subtle way she drew from me the power to exist at +all. I wish I could follow the processes of her change from the hour +of our parting, and see how I passed from what I was to her to what +I am now. She does not seem to forget or ignore the past. She is not +conventional, and never was; hence, friendship may not mean what it +does to so many of her sex and age--a little moony sentiment blended +with calculation as to a fellow's usefulness. If we could enjoy +something of the good-comradeship that obtains between man and +man, she is the one woman of the world with whom I should covet the +relation. Stella, in herself, is all that I could ask for a wife, +but I don't like her family much better than Henry does. Confound the +father! Why should he so mix his daughter up in his speculation that +she dare not dismiss Arnault at once and follow her heart? If I were +not a good-natured man I wouldn't submit to it. As it is, since I am +sure of the girl, I suppose I should give _paterfamilias_ a chance to +turn himself. She has appealed to me as delicately, yet as openly, +as she can, and has given me to understand by everything except +plain words that she is mine. Probably that is all she can do without +bringing black ruin upon them all. Well, I suppose I should imitate +her self-sacrificing spirit; but I hate this jumbling of Wall Street +with affairs of the heart. It angers me that she must play with that +fellow for financial reasons, and that he, conscious of power, may use +language which she would not dare to resent. I can't imagine Madge +in such a position. Yet, who knows? As the French say, 'It is the +unexpected that happens,' and this has proved true enough in my +experience. I'll go and see how Madge is now, and be as penitent as +she requires. I don't mind being tyrannized over a little by such a +girl;" and he returned. + +As he approached Mrs. Muir's door he heard the sound of voices and +laughter, and plainly those of his brother and Madge. In response +to his knock Mrs. Muir opened the door a little way, and he caught a +glimpse of Henry. + +"Well?" said Mrs. Muir. + +"It's not well at all," he began, in an aggrieved tone. "Here's a +family party, and I'm shut out in outer darkness. What have I done to +be banished from Rome?" + +"'What's banished but set free?'" trilled out Madge. "Oh, Graydon, I'm +not fit to be seen!" + +"How can I know that unless I see you?" + +"Nonsense, Madge!" expostulated her sister, "you look charming. Why +put on airs? As he says, it's a family party. Let him join in our +fun;" and, without waiting for further objections, she brought him in +and gave him a chair. + +"Now this warms an exile's heart," he began. "If you had shut the +door on me I should have asked Henry to send me back to Europe. Mary's +right, Madge; you do look charming." + +And so she did, blushing and laughing in her dainty wrapper, with her +long hair falling over her shoulders and fastened by a ribbon. + +"How comes it that you are in such a deserted and disconsolate +condition?" cried Mary. + +"I am not in such a condition. Since crossing your threshold I have +become contentment itself. Indeed, I regard myself as the most favored +man in the house, for I, first of all, am able to lay my homage at +Madge's feet." + +"Let me warn you from the start that it will prove a stumbling-block +in both our paths," said the girl. "Did you not receive my message? +But, then, it's stupid to think you will ever consider me." + +"I have been considering you a great deal more than you think, +especially since you metaphorically boxed my ears this morning, and +took away my breath generally this afternoon." + +"You seem to have plenty left." + +"Oh, I'm recovering. Reason is trying to scramble back on her throne. +I've been out to the lake alone in the moonlight, and have had the +whole scene over again, to assure myself that it was real." + +"What! You have not been in the water?" + +"No; I was content to moon it out on the shore; but it seemed to me +that I saw you as clearly there as here." + +"Little wonder! I must have been the most extraordinary looking +creature that ever prowled in these wilds." + +"You were; only lookers-on did all the devouring. I wouldn't dare tell +you the compliments I have heard." + +"You had better not, if your reason is even within sight of her +throne. When the danger was all over I caught a mental glimpse of +myself, and fell over as if shot;" and a slow, deep crimson stole into +her face. + +"Madge," said Graydon, gravely and almost rebukingly, "do you think +there was a man present who did not reverence you? I was proud even of +your acquaintance." + +Her face softened under his words, but she did not look at him. "We +were partners in misery," she said, laughing softly; "I have a vague +remembrance that you were as great a guy as I was." + +"I shall be glad to be a guy with you in any circumstances you can +imagine, if you will let me make my peace, and will forgive my general +stupidity. Be reasonable also, as well as merciful. If it took you +over two years to make such changes, you should give me a few days to +rub my eyes and get them focused on the result." + +Madge was now laughing heartily. "I don't believe a man could ever eat +the whole of a humble pie," she said. "He ever insists that the donor, +especially if she be a woman, should have a piece also." + +"There, now," cried Graydon, ruefully; "give me all of it, and make +your terms." + +"Solomon himself couldn't have advised you better," said Madge, while +Henry leaned back in his chair and laughed as if immensely amused, +while Mary improved the occasion by remarking, "When will men ever +learn that that is the way to get the best terms possible from a +woman?" + +"Indeed!" said Graydon. "How you enlighten me! Well, Madge, I'm the +more eager now to learn your terms." + +She felt that it was a critical moment--that there was, under their +badinage, a substratum of truth and feeling--and that she had now a +chance to establish relations that would favor her hope, if it had +a right to exist at all, and render future companionship free from +surmise on the part of her family. + +"Come, Graydon," she said, "we have jested long enough, and there is +no occasion for misunderstanding. I have not forgotten the past any +more than you have, nor all your unstinted kindness for years. As Mary +says, this is a family party. I'm not your sister, and embarrassment +always accompanies an unnatural relation. The common-sense thing to do +is to recognize the relation that does exist. As I intimated at first, +I see no reason why we should not be the best of friends, and then, +imitating the stiff-necked Hebrews, do what seemeth good in our eyes." + +"And these are your terms, Madge?" + +"As far as I have any, yes. I don't insist on anything, but warn you +that I shall follow my eyes, and consult a very wilful little will of +my own." + +"Will your wilful will permit you to accept of a horse that I am +going after in the morning? Dr. Sommers told me about him, and I had +proposed to make him a peace-offering." + +Madge clapped her hands with the delight of a child. + +"Oh, Graydon, that's splendid of you! I've been sighing, 'My kingdom +for a horse,' ever since I came here. But he's no peace-offering. I +forgave you when I saw your headlong plunge into the lake. You went +into it like a man, while I flopped in so awkwardly that all said I +had fallen overboard." + +"Shake hands, then." + +She sprang up and joined hands with him in frank and cordial grasp, +saying, "It's all right now, and Mary and Henry will understand us as +well as we do ourselves." + +"One condition: you will let me ride with you?" + +"When you are disengaged, yes," was her arch reply, "and I'll prove +that on horseback I can be as good a comrade as a man." + +"Well, if something I've dreamt of is true I never saw such acting," +thought Henry Muir. Then he said, quietly, "Madge, how did you find +the child so surely and quickly?" + +"That accounts for my awkwardness somewhat," she replied, laughing. +("How happy she looks!" he thought.) "I never took my eyes from the +spot where I had last seen the child sink, and I had to do everything +as if my head was in a vise. Don't let us talk about it any more." + +"No, nor about anything else," said Mary, rising. "I'm proving a fine +nurse, and am likely to be lectured by the doctor to-morrow. You men +must walk. Here is Madge flushed, feverish, and excited about a horse. +Brain-fever will be the next symptom." + +An hour later Madge was sleeping quietly, but the happy flush and +smile had not left her face. She felt that she had at last scored one +point. Oh, that she could have more time! + +"Jupiter!" muttered Graydon, as he descended the stairs, "her talk +makes a fellow's blood tingle." + +Miss Wildmere had just entered with Arnault, and Graydon asked, "Are +you not going to give me one dance this evening?" + +"Yes, two, if you wish," she replied, sweetly. + +He took her at her word, and was as devoted as ever. He had no thought +of being anything else. Arnault secured the last word, however, +and Graydon made no effort to prevent this. He had accepted the +disagreeable situation, and proposed, although with increasing +reluctance and discontent, to let the girl have a clear field and +manage the affair as she thought wise under the circumstances. He was +too proud to have maintained a jostling and open pursuit with Arnault +in any event, and now, believing that he understood the lady better, +felt that there was no occasion for it He had indicated to her just +where he stood, and just where she could ever find him. When her +diplomacy with Arnault should cease to be essential to her father's +safety, the final words could be spoken. + +He acted on this policy so quietly that she was somewhat troubled, and +feared that Madge might be taking too large a place in his thoughts. +Therefore, when Arnault ventured to make a somewhat humorous reference +to the young girl's appearance, her spite found utterance. "I never +saw such a looking creature in my life. She had the appearance of a +crazy woman, with her hair dishevelled, and her wet, muddy clothes +sticking to her as if glued. She ought at least to have slipped away +when the doctor came. But instead of that she fainted--all put on, I +believe, to attract attention." + +"She perhaps felt that she must put on something," chuckled Arnault. +"The two Muirs looked as if she were too precious and sacred for +mortal gaze." + +"Well," concluded Miss Wildmere, "I like to see a lady who never +forgets herself;" and she was an example of the type. + +"I like to see one lady, whom, having seen, no one can forget," was +his gallant reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +AN OBJECT FOR SYMPATHY + + +Miss Wildmere's indignant virtue was not soothed on the following +morning, when, as she returned from a drive with Arnault, Graydon +galloped up on a superb bay horse, and Madge so far forgot herself +again as to rush to meet him with unaffected pleasure. The champion +of propriety paused in the distance to take an observation, for she +thought she saw a cloud in the sky. + +"What a beauty! what a grand arch of the neck he has! Oh, I'm just +wild to be on him! Don't bribe me with horses, Graydon; I can resist +anything else." + +"I am glad of the information. A volume of thanks would not be worth +half so much." + +"I thought the thanks were in my tone and manner." + +"So I thought, and am more than content; but, Madge, I am troubled +about your riding him. I fear he is a very Satan of a horse." + +"Nonsense! Wait till you see me mounted, and your fears will vanish. +People don't walk at Santa Barbara; they ride; every one rides. If the +horse don't tumble, there'll be no tumbling on my part. Oh, he is such +a splendid fellow! What shall I call him?" + +"Better call him 'Go.' There is more go in him than in any horse I +ever bestrode." + +"All the better. I shall give him another name, however. It will +come to me sometime;" and she patted the proud neck, and fondled +the tossing head, in a way to excite the envy of observers from the +piazza. "Oh, Graydon, what shall I do for a saddle? Do you think there +is one to be had in this region? I'm impatient for a gallop." + +"I telegraphed, early this morning, for equipments; and they should be +here this afternoon." + +"That was considerate kindness itself. You must let me pay for all +this. You know I can." + +"So can I." + +"But there's reason in all things." + +"Therefore, a little in me. Please, Madge, don't make me feel that +I am almost a stranger to you. If we had remained together, I should +have paid out more than this for candy, flowers, and nonsense. I have +yielded everything, haven't I? and, as Mary says, I do wish to feel a +little like one of the family." + +"Well, then," she said, laughing and blushing, "as from one of the +family--" + +"And from your deceased brother," he interrupted. + +She put her finger to her lips. "That's past," she said. "No more +allusions. We began sensibly last night, and I certainly am very +lenient now in taking gifts that I should protest against even from +Henry. I wish to prove to you that I am the Madge of old times as far +as I can be." + +"Rest assured I'm the same fellow, and ever shall be." + +He had dismounted, and they were walking slowly toward the stable. +"Bless me!" cried Madge, "where am I going with no better protection +than a sunshade? I'm always a little off when a horse like that is at +hand. I say, Graydon," she added, in a wheedling tone, "mount and +put him through his paces. I can't resist the fun, no matter what the +dowagers say." + +He vaulted lightly into the saddle, and the horse reared and dashed +toward the stable, but was soon pulled up. Then Graydon made him +prance, curvet, and trot, Madge looking on with parted lips, and eyes +glowing with delicious anticipation. If a close observer had been +present he might have seen that the rider, with his fine easy grace +and mastery, was, after all, the chief attraction. + +She walked back to the house, thinking, "I'll have some bright hours +before the skies grow gray. Oh, kindly fate! prosper Mr. Arnault here +and in Wall Street, too, for all I care." + +"Oh, Mr. Muir, teach me to ride," said Miss Wildmere, when he joined +her in the deserted parlor. "You have such a superb horse! and you sat +on him as if you were a part of him." + +"I will teach you with pleasure," said Graydon. "Nothing would give me +more enjoyment, for I am very fond of riding, and we could explore the +mountain roads far and near." + +"Can I ride your horse?" + +"That was not my horse. He belongs to Miss Alden." + +"Oh, indeed," began Miss Wildmere, hastily, yet coldly; "I wouldn't +think of it, then." + +"She would lend him to you readily, if it were safe; but only an +expert should ride that horse. As it is, I shall run him four or five +miles before I let her mount him. He is awfully high-strung and a +little vicious. I'll get you a quiet, safe lady's horse, suitable for +a beginner. You will soon acquire confidence and skill. I wouldn't +have you incur any risks for all the world." + +"Wouldn't you?" she asked, with a fascinating and incredulous smile. + +"You know well that I would not." + +"I shall scarcely know what I know when I see you galloping away with +Miss Alden." + +"Come, Miss Stella, we may as well get through with that phase of the +question at once. Madge Alden came into our family when I was scarcely +more than a boy, and she but a child. She is still one of the family. +The idea of your being concerned about her makes me smile audibly. I +only wish you girls would be good friends. It would save awkwardness +and embarrassment. Madge is a sister to me in everything but name, and +ever will be. I'm proud of her, as I ought to be, and a distant manner +would be absurd toward a member of our household. Why should I affect +it when I'm truly fond of her jolly good company? Don't you think I am +setting you a good example? I'm patient over your good times with Mr. +Arnault, who is an open suitor." + +"I have not said they were good times." + +"Nor have you said they were not. He evidently enjoys them, and little +wonder. You can make any fellow have a good time without trying. I +don't pretend to understand the necessity of your being so friendly, +or tolerant, or what you will, with him; neither do I pry or question. +My regard for you makes trust imperative. I do trust you as readily as +you should trust me. What else can we do till times are better?" + +"What do you mean by saying, 'till times are better?'" she asked, +in gentle solicitude. "Are you having a hard time in town, like poor +papa?" + +"Oh, bless you! no. I don't suppose Henry is making much. He's the +kind of man to take in sail in times like these. I'm not in the +firm yet, you know, but shall be soon. My foreign department of the +business is all right. I left it snug and safe. Of course, I don't +know much about things on this side of the water yet. Mr. Muir is not +the kind of man to speak to any one about his affairs unless it is +essential, but if anything were amiss he would have told me. I know +the times are dismal, and I am better off on my assured salary than if +in the firm now. No one but 'bears' are making anything." + +"I hope your brother isn't in anxiety, like papa," she said, warmly. + +His quick commercial instinct took alarm, and he asked, "What, have +you heard anything?" + +"Oh, no indeed. Papa says that Mr. Muir is one of the most +conservative of men; but he also says that there is scarcely a chance +now for any honest man, and that investments which once seemed as +solid as these mountains are sinking out of sight. If it wasn't so we +shouldn't be so worried. He wouldn't like it if he knew I was talking +to you in this way; but then I know it will go no further, and +naturally my mind dwells on the subject of his anxieties. What +wouldn't I do to help him!" she concluded, with a fine enthusiasm. + +"I think you are doing a great deal to help him, Stella," he said, +gravely and gently; "and, believe me, it involves no little sacrifice +on my part also." + +"But you have promised to be patient, Graydon." + +"I have, but you cannot think that I like it or approve of the +diplomacy you are compelled to practice, even though your motive be +unselfish and filial. I don't think you ought to be placed in such a +position, and would that it were in my power to relieve you from it!" + +Tears of self-commiseration came into her eyes, and they appeared to +him exceedingly pathetic. She made as if she would speak but could +not, then retreated hastily to her room. Once in seclusion she dashed +the drops away, her eyes glittered with anger, and she stamped her +foot on the floor and muttered: "It is indeed an abominable position. +I might accept Graydon any day, any hour, now, and dare not. Yet if +he gets an inkling of my real attitude he'll be off forever. He is as +proud as Lucifer about some things, and would be quick as a flash +if his suspicions were aroused. Even the belief that I am humoring +Arnault for papa's sake tests his loyalty greatly. If I have to refuse +him at last I shall be placed in an odious light. The idiots! why +can't they find out whether Henry Muir is going to fail or not! That +horrid Madge Alden is not his sister, and knows it, and she is gaining +time to make impressions. I know how she felt years ago, when she was +a perfect spook. I don't believe she's changed. With all her impulsive +ways she's as deep as perdition, and she'd flirt with him to spite +me, if nothing more. Papa said last night that I had better accept +Arnault. I won't accept him till I must, and he'll rue his success if +he wins it." Then the mirror reflected a lovely creature dissolved in +tears. + +Again she soliloquized: "I can't accept a horse from Graydon; Arnault +would never submit to it. The receiving of such a present would +compromise me at once. It does not matter so much what I say or look +in private; this proves nothing to the world, and I see more and more +clearly that Arnault will not permit his pride to be humiliated. He +will endure what he calls a fair, open suit philosophically, but the +expression of his eyes makes me shiver sometimes. Was ever a girl +placed in such a mean and horrible position! I won't endure this +shilly-shally much longer. If they can't prove something more definite +against the Muirs, I'll accept Graydon. Papa is just horrid! Why can't +he make more in Wall Street? There must be ways, and any way is as +respectable as the one I may be compelled to take. Well, if I do have +to accept Arnault I'll make Graydon think that I had to do so for +papa's sake, and we'll become good friends again before long. Perhaps +this would be the best way in the end, for papa looked wildly, and +spoke of a tenement-house last night. Tenement! Great heavens! I'd +sooner die." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"VEILED WOOING" + + +"Graydon, when do you think I can have my first ride?" Madge asked at +dinner, with sparkling eyes. + +"At about five this afternoon. I have found a saddle that I can borrow +in case yours does not come till the late train." + +"Oh, I'm so glad that I've lost my appetite! You can't know how much +a horse means to me. It was after I began to ride that I grew strong +enough to hope." + +"Why, Madge, were you so discouraged as that?" he asked, feelingly. + +"I had reason to be discouraged," she replied, in a low tone. Then she +threw back her head, proudly. "You men little know," she continued, +half defiantly. "You think weakness one of our prerogatives, and like +us almost the better for it. We are meekly to accept our fate, and +from soft couches lift our languid eyes in pious resignation. I won't +do it; and when a powerful horse is beneath me, carrying me like the +wind, I feel that his strength is mine, and that I need not succumb to +feminine imbecility or helplessness in any form." + +"Brava, Madge!" cried Henry Muir. + +"You were born a knight," added Graydon, "and have already made more +and better conquests than many celebrated in prose and poetry." + +"Oh, no," cried Madge, lifting her eyebrows in comic distress. "I was +born a woman to my finger-tips, and never could conquer even myself. I +have an awful temper. Graydon, you have already found that out." + +"I have found that I had better accept just what you please to be, +and fully admit your right to be just what you please," he answered, +ruefully. + +"What a lovely and reasonable frame of mind!" Mrs. Muir remarked. +"Truly, Miss Wildmere is to be congratulated. You have only to stick +to such a disposition, and peace will last longer than the moon." + +"Oh, Miss Wildmere will prove a rose without a thorn," Madge added, +laughing, while under Mr. Muir's eye her face paled perceptibly. +"There will never be anything problematical in her single-minded +devotion. She has been well and discreetly brought up, and finished +by the best society, while poor me!--I had to fly in the face of fate +like a virago, and scramble up the best I could in Western wilds. Oh, +well, Graydon, don't be alarmed. I'll be a good fellow if you'll take +me out riding occasionally." + +He began to laugh, and she continued: "I saw you frown when I began +my wicked speech. We'll tick off tabooed subjects, and make an _index +expurgatorius_, and then we'll get on famously." + +"No need of that," he said. "As far as _I_ am concerned, please +consider _me_ fair game." + +"Consider you fair game?" she said, with her head archly on one side. +"That would be arrant poaching. Don't fear, Graydon, I shall never +regard any man as game, not even if I should become a fat dowager with +a bevy of plain daughters and a dull market." + +Grave and silent Mr. Muir leaned back in his chair and laughed so +heartily that he attracted attention at the Wildmere table across the +room. + +"That man doesn't act as if on the brink of failure," thought Miss +Wildmere. "It's all a conspiracy of Arnault with papa." + +"You are making game of me in one sense very successfully," Graydon +admitted, laughing a little uneasily. + +"Oh, in that sense, all men are legitimate game, and I shall chaff as +many as possible, out of spite that I was not a man." + +"You would make a good one--you are so devoid of sentiment and so +independent." + +"And yet within a week I think a certain gentleman was inclined to +think me sentimental, aesthetic, intense, a victim of ideals and +devotional rhapsodies." + +"Oh, ye gods! Here, waiter, bring me my dessert, and let me escape," +cried Graydon. + +"Did you say I was to be ready at five?" she asked, sweetly. + +"Yes, and bring down articles of a truce, and we'll sign them in red +ink." + +An hour later she heard the gallop of a horse, and saw him riding +away. "She shan't mount the animal," he had thought, "till I learn +more about him and give him all the running he wants to-day. She has +a heavy enough score against me as it is, and I'll not employ another +brute to make things worse." + +He learned more fully what he had discovered before, that she would +have her hands full in managing the horse, and he gave him a run that +covered him with foam and tested his breathing. At four he galloped +back to the station to see if the saddle had arrived, but found that +even his skill and strength were not sufficient to make the animal +approach the engine. Shouting to the baggage-man to bring the expected +articles to the stable, he was soon there and made another experiment. +A hostler brought him a blanket, which he strapped around his waist, +and mounted again in a lady's style. It was at once evident that the +horse had never been ridden by a woman. He reared, kicked, and plunged +around frightfully, and Graydon had to clutch the mane often to keep +his seat. Madge had speedily joined him, and looked with absorbed +interest, at times laughing, and again imploring Graydon to dismount. +This he at last he did, the perspiration pouring from his face. +Resigning the trembling and wearied horse to a stable-boy, he came +toward the young girl, mopping his brow and exclaiming: "It will never +do at all. He is ugly as sin. No woman should ride him, not even a +squaw." + +"Bah, Graydon! he did not throw you, although he had you at every +disadvantage. I'm not in the least afraid. Has the saddle come?" + +"Yes; but I protest, Madge. Here, Dr. Sommers" (who was approaching), +"lay your commands on this rash girl." + +"If Dr. Sommers says I'm rash he doesn't understand my case, and I +refuse to employ him," cried Madge. Then she added, sweetly: "If +I break any bones, doctor, I'll be your very humble and obedient +servant. It's half-past four, and I'll be ready as soon as you are, +Graydon. No backing out. You might as well warn me against the peril +of a rocking-chair;" and she went to put on her habit. + +"Heaven help us!" said Graydon to the doctor. "We're in a scrape. +She's so resolute that I believe she would go alone. What would you +do? Hang it all! the people of the house have got an inkling of what's +up; some are gathering near, and the windows are full of heads." + +"Put the saddle on one of the quiet livery horses, and you ride this +brute," said the doctor. + +"You don't know her. She wouldn't stand that at all." + +"Then give her her head. After yesterday I believe she can do what +she undertakes. You have tired the horse out pretty thoroughly, and I +guess she'll manage him." + +Leaving orders to have Madge's horse sponged off and dried, and the +best animal in the stable prepared for himself, he said, "Well then, +doctor, be on hand to repair damages," and went to his room to change +his dress. + +The doctor did more. He saw that Madge's horse was saddled carefully, +meanwhile admiring the beautiful equipment that Graydon had ordered. +He also insured that Graydon had a good mount. + +When at last the young man tapped at Madge's door she came out looking +most beautiful in her close-fitting habit and low beaver, with its +drooping feather. Mary followed her, protesting and half crying, and +Mr. Muir looked very grave. + +"Madge," said Graydon, earnestly, "I should never forgive myself if +any harm came to you. That horse is not fit for you to ride." + +"Good people, see here," said Madge, turning upon them; "I am not a +reckless child, nor am I making a rash experiment. Even if I did not +fear broken bones, do you think I would give you needless anxiety? +Graydon has kindly obtained for me a fine horse, and I must make a +beginning to show you and him that I can ride. If Mr. and Mrs. Wayland +were here they would laugh at you. Don't come out to see me off, Mary. +Others would follow, and I don't want to be conspicuous. I do wish +people would mind their own business." + +"No danger of my coming out. I don't want to see you break your neck," +cried Mary, re-entering her room. + +"You must let me go, Madge," said Mr. Muir, firmly. "I may have to +interpose my authority." + +"Yes, do come, for Heaven's sake!" said Graydon. + +"Very well," laughed Madge. "If I once get on, you and the horse may +both find it hard to get me off. Where are the horses?" she asked, +upon reaching the door. + +"You must yield one point and mount near the stable," said Graydon, +resolutely. + +"Oh, certainly, I'll yield everything except my ride." + +Madge's horse stood pawing the ground, showing how obdurate and +untamable was his spirit. She exclaimed at the beauty of the saddle +and its housings, and said, "Thank you, Graydon," so charmingly that +he anathematized himself for giving her a brute instead of a horse. "I +should have satisfied myself better about him," he thought, "and have +looked further." + +In a moment she had the animal by the head, and was patting his neck, +while he turned an eye of fire down upon her, and showed no relenting +in his chafed and excited mood. Graydon meanwhile examined everything +carefully, and saw that the bridle had a powerful curb. + +"Well," said he, ruefully, "if you will, you will." + +"Yes; in no other way can I satisfy you," was her quiet reply. + +"Let us get away, then; spectators are gathering. You should be able +to hold him with this rein. Come." + +She put her foot in his hand, and was mounted in a second, the reins +well in hand. The horse reared, but a sharp downward pull to the right +brought him to his feet again. Then he plunged and kicked, but she sat +as if a part of him, meanwhile speaking to him in firm, gentle tones. +His next unexpected freak was to run backward in a way that sent the +neighboring group flying. Instantly Madge gave him a stinging blow +over the hind quarters, and he fairly sprang into the air. + +"Get off, Madge," cried Mr. Muir, authoritatively, but the horse was +speeding down the road toward the house, and Graydon, who had looked +on breathlessly, followed. Before they reached the hotel she had +brought him up with the powerful curb, and prancing, curvetting, +straining side-wise first in one direction, then in the other, +meanwhile trembling half with anger, half with terror, the mastered +brute passed the piazza with its admiring groups. Graydon was at her +side. He did not see Miss Wildmere frowning with vexation and envy, +or Arnault's complacent observance. With sternly compressed lips and +steady eye he watched Madge, that, whatever emergency occurred, he +might do all that was possible. The young girl herself was a presence +not soon to be forgotten. Her lips were slightly parted, her eye +glowing with a joyous sense of power, and her pose, flexible to the +eccentric motions of the horse, grace itself. They passed on down the +winding carriage-drive, out upon the main street, and then she turned, +waved her handkerchief to Mr. Muir, and with her companion galloped +away. + +Several of Mr. Muir's acquaintances came forward, offering +congratulations, which he accepted with his quiet smile, and then went +up to reassure his wife, who, in spite of her words to the contrary, +had kept her eyes fastened upon Madge as long as she was in sight. + +"Well," she exclaimed, "did you ever see anything equal to that?" + +"No," said her husband, "but I have seen nothing wonderful or +unnatural; she did not do a thing that she had not been trained and +taught to do, and all her acts were familiar by much usage." + +"I think she's a prodigy," exclaimed Mrs. Muir. + +"Nothing of the kind. She is a handsome girl, with good abilities, +who has had the sense to make the most and best of herself instead of +dawdling." + +After an easy gallop of a mile, in which Madge showed complete power +to keep her horse from breaking into a mad run, she drew rein and +looked at Graydon with a smile. He took off his hat and bowed, +laughingly. + +"Oh, Graydon," she said, "it was nice of you to let me have my own +way!" + +"I didn't do it very graciously. I have seldom been more worried in my +life." + +"I'm glad you were a little worried," she said. "It recalls your look +and tone at the time of our parting, when you said, 'Oh, Madge, do get +well and strong!' Haven't I complied with your wish?" + +"Had my wish anything to do with your compliance?" + +"Why not?" + +"What an idiot I've been! I fear I have been misjudging you absurdly. +I've had no end of ridiculous thoughts and theories about you." + +"Indeed! Apparently I had slight place in your thoughts at all, but I +made great allowances for a man in your condition." + +"That was kind, but you were mistaken. Why, Madge, we were almost +brought up together, and I couldn't reconcile the past and the +present. The years you spent in the far West, and their result, are +more wonderful than a fairytale. I wish you would tell me about them." + +"I will. Friends should be reasonably frank. What's more, I wish to +show you how natural and probable the result, as you call it, has +been. Your wondering perplexity vexes me. You know what I was when we +parted." + +"No, I don't believe I do, or you couldn't be what you are now." + +"Well, I can tell you: I had weak lungs, a weak body, and a weak, +uncultured mind. I was weak in all respects, but I discovered that I +had a will, and I had sense enough, as Henry says, to know that if I +was ever going to be more than a ghost it was time I set about it. I +knew of Mrs. Wayland's restoration to health in the climate of Santa +Barbara, and I determined to try it myself. I couldn't have had better +friends or advantages than the place afforded. But oh, Graydon, I was +so weak and used up when I reached there that I could scarcely do more +than breathe. But I had made up my mind either to get well or to die. +I rested for days, until I could make a beginning, and then, one step +at a time, as it were, I went forward. Take two things that you have +seen me do, for example. One can bathe in the sea at Santa Barbara +almost throughout the year. At first I was as timid as a child, +and scarcely dared to wet my feet; but Mr. Wayland was a sensible +instructor, and led me step by step. The water was usually still, and +I gradually acquired the absolute confidence of one who can swim, and +swims almost every day. So with a horse. I could hardly sit on one +that was standing still, I was so weak and frightened; but with muscle +and health came stronger nerves and higher courage. After a few months +I thought nothing of a ten-mile gallop on the beach or out to the +cañons. I took up music in the same way, and had a thoroughly good +teacher. He did the best he could for me, which wasn't so very much. I +never could become a scientist in anything, but I was determined to be +no sham within my limitations. I have tried to do some things as well +as I could and let the rest go. Now you see how easily I can explain +myself, and I only seem wonderful because of contrast with what I +was." + +"But where do I come in?" he asked, eagerly. + +"Did you not say, 'Please get well and strong?' I thought it would +gratify you and Mary and Henry. You used to call me a ghost, and I +did not want to be a ghost any longer. I saw that you enjoyed your +vigorous life fully, and felt that I might enjoy life also; and as I +grew strong I did enjoy everything more and more. Two things besides, +and I can say, 'All present or accounted for.' Mr. Wayland is a +student, and has a splendid library. He coached me--that was your old +college jargon--on books, and Mrs. Wayland coached me on society. So +here I am, weighing a hundred and twenty pounds, more or less, and +ready for another gallop;" and away she went, the embodiment of +beautiful life. + +"One more question, Madge," he said, as they slackened pace again. +"Why wouldn't you write to me oftener?" + +"I don't like to write letters. Mine to Mary were scarcely more than +notes. Ask her. Are you satisfied now? Am I a sphinx--a conundrum--any +longer?" + +"No; and at last I am more than content that you are not little +Madge." + +"Why, this is famous, as Dr. Sommers says. When was a man ever known +to change his mind before?" + +"I've changed mine so often of late that I'm fairly dizzy. You are +setting me straight at last." + +Madge laughed outright, and after a moment said, "Now account for +yourself. What places did you visit abroad?" + +He began to tell her, and she to ask questions that surprised him, +showing that she had some idea of even the topography and color of +the region, and a better knowledge of the history and antiquities +than himself. At last he expressed his wonder. "What nonsense!" she +exclaimed. "You don't remember the little I did write you. As I said +before, did you not at my request--very kindly and liberally, too, +Graydon--send me books about the places you expected to see? A child +could have read them and so have gained the information that surprises +you." + +They talked on, one thing leading to another, until he had a conscious +glow of mental excitement. She knew so much that he knew, only in +a different way, and her thoughts came rippling forth in piquant, +musical words. Her eyes were so often full of laughter that he saw +that she was happy, and he remembered after their return that she had +not said an ill-natured word about any one. It was another of their +old-time, breezy talks, only larger, fuller, complete with her rich +womanhood. He found himself alive in every fibre of his body and +faculty of his mind. + +As they turned homeward the evening shadows were gathering, and at +last the dusky twilight passed into a soft radiance under the rays of +the full-orbed moon. + +"Oh, don't let us hasten home," pleaded poor Madge, who felt that this +might be her only chance to throw about him the gossamer threads which +would draw the cord and cable that could bind him to her. "What is +supper to the witchery of such a night as this?" + +"What would anything be to the witchery of such a girl as this, if +one were not fortified?" he thought. "This is not the comradeship of +a good fellow, as she promised. It is the society of a charming woman, +who is feminine in even her thoughts and modes of expression--who is +often strangely, bewilderingly beautiful in this changing light. When +we pass under the shadow of a tree her eyes shine like stars; when the +rays of the moon are full upon her face it is almost as pure and white +as when it was illumined by the electric flash. Did I not love another +woman, I could easily imagine myself learning to love her. Confound +it! I wish Stella had more of Madge's simple loftiness of character. +She would compel different business methods in her father. She would +work for him, suffer for him, but would not play diplomat. I like that +Arnault business to-night less than ever." + +Mr. and Mrs. Muir were anxiously awaiting them on the piazza as they +trotted smartly up the avenue. "It's all right," cried Graydon. +"The horse has learned to know his mistress, and will give no more +trouble." + +"I wish you had as much sense," growled Muir, in his mustache; then +added, aloud, "Come to supper. Mary could not eat anything till +assured of your safety." + +"Yes, Henry, I won't keep you waiting a moment, but go in with my +habit on. I suppose the rest are all through, and I'm as ravenous as a +wolf." + +They were soon having the merriest little supper, full of laughing +reminiscence, and Henry rubbed his hands under the table as he +thought, "Arnault is off mooning with the speculator, and Graydon +doesn't look as if the green-eyed monster had much of a grip upon +him." + +Miss Wildmere's solicitude would not permit her to prolong her walk +with Arnault, and she returned to the parlor comparatively early in +the evening. She found Graydon awaiting her, and he was as quietly +devoted as ever. She looked at him a little questioningly, but he met +her eyes with his quiet and assured look. When she danced with Arnault +and other gentlemen he sought a partner in Madge or some other lady; +and once, while they were walking on the piazza, and Miss Wildmere +said, "You must have enjoyed yourself immensely with Miss Alden to +have been out so long," he replied, "I did. I hope you passed your +time as agreeably." + +She saw that her relations with Arnault gave him an advantage and a +freedom which he proposed to use--that she had no ground on which to +find fault--and that he was too proud to permit censure for a course +less open to criticism than her own. + +Before she slept she thought long and deeply, at last concluding that +perhaps affairs were taking the right turn for her purpose. Graydon +was tolerating as a disagreeable necessity what he regarded as her +filial diplomacy with Arnault. He was loyally and quietly waiting +until this necessity should cease, and was so doing because he +supposed it to be her wish. If she could keep him in just this +attitude it would leave her less embarrassed, give her more time, than +if he were an ardent and jealous suitor. She was scarcely capable of +love, but she admired him more than ever each day. She saw that he was +the superior of Arnault in every way, and was so recognized by all in +the house; therefore one of her strongest traits--vanity--was enlisted +in his behalf. She saw, also, that he represented a higher type of +manhood than she had been accustomed to, and she was beginning to +stand in awe of him also, but for reasons differing widely from those +which caused her fear of Arnault. She dreaded the latter's pride, the +resolute selfishness of his scheme of life, which would lead him to +drop her should she interfere with it. She was learning to dread +even more Graydon's high-toned sense of honor, the final decisions he +reached from motives which had slight influence with her. What if she +should permit both men to slip from her grasp, while she hesitated? +She fairly turned cold with horror at the thought of this and of the +poverty which might result. + +Thus, from widely differing motives, two girls were sighing for time; +and Graydon Muir, strong, confident, proud of his knowledge of society +and ability to take care of himself, was walking blindly on, the +victim of one woman's guile, the object of another woman's pure, +unselfish love, and liable at any hour to be blasted for life by the +fulfilment of his hope and the consummation of his happiness. + +Sweet Madge Alden, hiding your infinite treasure, deceiving all and +yet so true, may you have time! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SUGGESTIVE TONES + + +Miss Wildmere had promised to drive with Graydon on the following +morning, but Madge felt as if heaven had interfered in her behalf, for +the skies were clouded, and the rain fell unceasingly. People were at +a loss to beguile the hours. Graydon, Miss Wildmere, and Mr. Arnault +played pool together, while Mr. Muir, his wife, and Madge bowled for +an hour, the last winning most of the games. Mr. Arnault had a certain +rude sense of fair play, and it appeared to him that Graydon's course +had become all that he could ask--more than he could naturally expect. +The lady was apparently left wholly free to make her choice between +them, and all protest, even by manner, against her companionship with +him had ceased. He could drive, walk, or dance with her at his will; +then Graydon would quietly put in an appearance and make the most of +his opportunity. Arnault was not deceived, however. He knew that +his present rival was the most dangerous one that he had ever +encountered--that Stella might accept him at any time and was much +inclined to do so speedily. Indeed, he was about driven to the belief +that she would do so at once but for the fear that the Muirs were +in financial peril. He hoped that this fear and the pressure of her +father's need might lead her to decide in his favor, without the +necessity of his being the immediate and active agent in breaking down +the Muirs. As a business man, he shrunk from this course, and all the +more because Graydon was acting so fairly. Nevertheless, he would play +his principal card if he must. It was his nature to win in every game +of life, and it had become a passion with him to secure the beautiful +girl that he had sought so long and vainly. If it could appear to the +world that he had fairly won her, he would not scruple at anything in +the accomplishment of his purpose, and would feel that he had scored +the most brilliant success in his life. If he could do this without +ruining them, he would be glad, and his good-will was enhanced by +Graydon's course this morning. The former had sauntered into the +billiard-room, but, seeing Graydon with Miss Wildmere, had been about +to depart, when Muir had said, cordially, "Come, Arnault, take a cue +with us," and had quite disarmed him by frank courtesy. + +At last the sound of music and laughter lured them to the main hall, +and there they found Madge surrounded by children and young people, +little Nellie Wilder clinging to her side the most closely, with Mr. +and Mrs. Wilder looking at the young girl with a world of grateful +good-will in their eyes. + +"Oh, Miss Alden, sing us another song," clamored a dozen voices. + +"Yes," cried Jennie Muir; "the funny one you sang for us in the +woods." + +Madge smilingly complied, and the children fairly danced in their +delight at the comical strains, abrupt pauses, droll sentiment, +and interlarded words of explanation. The more elderly guests were +attracted, and the audience grew apace. Having finished her little +musical comedy, Madge arose, and Mr. Arnault, aware of Stella +Wildmere's ability to sing selections from opera, said, "Since the +children have been so well entertained, I suggest that we who have the +misfortune to be grown have our turn, and that Miss Wildmere give us +some grown-up music." + +Madge flushed slightly, and Miss Wildmere, after a little charming +hesitation, seated herself at the piano, and sang almost faultlessly +a selection from an opera. It was evident that she had been well +and carefully trained, and that within her limitations, which she +thoughtfully remembered, she gave little occasion for criticism. Both +her suitors were delighted. They applauded so heartily, and urged +so earnestly with others, that she sang again and again, to the +unaffected pleasure of the throng who had now gathered. At last she +pleaded fatigue, and rose from the instrument, flushing proudly amid +vociferous encores. Graydon was about to ask Madge to sing again, when +an old gentleman who had listened to the children's ditties, and had +detected unusual sweetness and power in Madge's tones, said, promptly, +"I may be mistaken, but I have an impression that Miss Alden can give +us some grown-up music, if she will." + +Instantly his suggestion was seconded by general entreaty, in which +not only Graydon joined from sincere good-will, but also Mr. Arnault, +in the hope of giving Stella a triumph, for he believed that the best +her social rival could do would be to render some ballad fairly well. + +Madge's brow contracted, as though she were irresolute and troubled. + +"Truly, Miss Alden," said Stella, who was standing near, "I have done +my part to beguile the dismal day; I think you might favor us, also. +There are no critics here, I hope. We should enjoy a simple song if +you cannot now recall anything else." + +"Very well, then, I will give you a little German song that my old +teacher loved well;" but Graydon saw the same slight flush and a +resolute expression take the place of her hesitancy. + +After a brief prelude, which, to his trained ear, revealed her perfect +touch, her voice rose with a sweet, resonant power that held those +near spellbound, and swelled in volume until people in distant parts +of the house paused and listened as if held by a viewless hand. +Connoisseurs felt that they were listening to an artist and not an +amateur; plain men and women, and the children, knew simply that +they were enjoying music that entranced them, that set their nerves +thrilling and vibrating. Madge hoped only that her voice might +penetrate the barriers between herself and one man's heart. She did +not desire to sing on the present occasion. She did not wish to annoy +him by the contrast between her song and Miss Wildmere's performance, +feeling that he would naturally take sides in his thoughts with the +woman outvied; nor had she any desire to inflict upon her rival the +disparagement that must follow; but something in Miss Wildmere's +self-satisfied and patronizing tone had touched her quick spirit, and +the arrogant girl should receive the lesson she had invited. But, as +Madge sang, the noble art soon lifted her above all lower thoughts, +and she forgot everything but Graydon and the hope of her heart. She +sang for him alone, as she had learned to sing for him alone. + +In spite of her explanations he looked at her with the same old wonder +and perplexity of which he had been conscious from the first. If she +had merely sung with correctness and taste, like Miss Wildmere, there +would have been nothing to disturb his complacent admiration; but now +he almost felt like springing to her side with the words, "What is it, +Madge? Tell me all." + +As the last lovely notes ceased, only the unthinking children +applauded. From the others there was entreaty. + +"Please sing again, Miss Alden," said the gentleman who had first +asked her. "I am an old man, and can't hope for many more such rich +pleasures. I am not an amateur, and know only the music that reaches +my heart." + +"Sing something from 'Lohengrin,' Madge," said Henry Muir, quietly. +She glanced at him, and there was a humorous twinkle in his eyes. + +Herr Brachmann had trained her thoroughly in some of Wagner's +difficult music, and she gave them a selection which so far surpassed +the easy melodies of Verdi, which Miss Wildmere had sung, that the +latter sat pale and incensed, yet not daring to show her chagrin. This +music was received with unbounded applause, and then a little voice +piped, "The big folks have had more'n their turn; now give us a +reg'lar Mother Goose." + +This request was received with acclamations, and soon ripples of +laughter broke over the crowd in all directions, and then one of the +adoring boys who were usually worshipping near cried out, "A reel, +Miss Alden, a reel, and let us finish up with a high old dance before +dinner." + +Graydon seized Miss Wildmere's hand, boys made profound bows to their +mothers, husbands dragged their protesting wives out upon the floor. +Soon nearly all ages and heights were in the two long lines, many feet +already keeping time to Madge's rollicking strains. Never had such +a dance been known before in the house, for the very genius and +inspiration of mirth seemed to be in the piano. The people were +laughing half the time at the odd medley of tunes and improvisations +that Madge invoked, and gray-bearded men indulged in some of the +antics that they had thought forgotten a quarter of a century before. +As the last couple at the head of the lines was glancing down the +archway of raised and clasped hands, the lively strains ceased, and +the dancers swarmed out, with thanks and congratulations upon their +lips, only to see Madge flying up the stairway. + +"Madge," said Graydon, at dinner, "I suppose you will tell me you have +practiced over and over again every note you sang this morning." + +"Certainly; some of the more difficult ones hours and hours and +months and months. Herr Brachmann was an amiable dragon in music, and +insisted on your knowing what you did know." + +"I thought you would say all this, but it doesn't account for your +singing." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I don't know exactly. There is something you did not get from +Herr Brachmann--scarcely from nature. It suggests what artists call +feeling, and more." + +"Oh, every one has his own method," said Madge, carelessly, and yet +with a visible increase of color. + +"'Method,' do you call it? I'm half inclined to think that it might +be akin to madness were you very unhappy. The human voice often has +a strange power over me, and I have a theory that it may reveal +character more than people imagine. Why shouldn't it? It is the +chief medium of our expression, and we may even unconsciously reveal +ourselves in our tones." + +"When were you so fanciful before? What does a professional reveal?" + +"Chiefly that she is a trained professional, and yet even the most +blasé among them give hints as to the compass of their woman-nature. +I think their characters are often suggested quite definitely by their +tones. Indeed, I even find myself judging people by their voices. +Henry's tones indicate many of his chief traits accurately--as, for +instance, self-reliance, reserve, quiet and unswerving purpose." + +"Well," asked Mrs. Muir, who was a little obtuse on delicate points, +"what did Miss Wildmere's tones indicate?" + +Graydon was slightly taken aback, and suddenly found that he did not +like his theory so well as he had thought. "Miss Wildmere's tones," he +began, hesitatingly, "suggested this morning little more than a +desire to render well the music she sang, and to give pleasure to her +listeners." + +"I thought they suggested some self-complacency, which was lost before +the morning was over," added Mr. Muir, dryly. + +"Miss Wildmere sang admirably," exclaimed Madge, warmly, "and could +sing much better if she had been trained in a better method and gave +more time to the art. I sang hours every day for nearly two years. +Nothing will take the place of practice, Graydon. One must develop +voice like muscle." + +"You are a generous, sensible critic, Madge," he said, quietly, +although there was a flush of resentment on his face at his brother's +words. "In the main you are right, but I still hold to my theory. +At least, I believe that in all great music there is a subtle +individuality and _motif_. Love may be blind, but it is not deaf. Miss +Wildmere gave us good music, not great music." + +Mr. Muir began talking about the weather as if it were the only +subject in his mind, and soon afterward Madge went to her room with +bowed head and downcast heart. + +"I have no chance," she sighed. "He loves her, and that ends all. He +is loyal to her, and will be loyal, even though she breaks his heart +eventually, as I fear. It's his nature." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DISHEARTENING CONFIDENCES + + +Under a renewed impulse of loyalty Graydon intercepted Miss Wildmere +as she was going to her room, and said: "The clouds in the west are +all breaking away--they ever do, you know, if one has patience. We can +still have our drive and enjoy it all the more from hope deferred." + +"I'm so sorry," she began, in some embarrassment. "Of course I +couldn't know last night that it would rain in the morning, and so +promised Mr. Arnault this afternoon." + +"It seems as if it would ever be hope deferred to me, Miss Wildmere," +he said, gravely. + +"But, Graydon, you must see how it is--" + +"No, I don't see, but I yield, as usual." + +"I promise you Sunday afternoon or the first clear day," she +exclaimed, eagerly. + +"Very well," he replied, brightening. "Remember I shall be a Shylock +with this bond." But he was irritated, nevertheless, and went out on +the piazza to try the soothing influence of a cigar. + +The skies cleared rapidly. So did his brow; and before long he +muttered: "I'll console myself by another gallop with Madge. There +goes my inamorata, smiling upon another fellow. How long is this going +to last? Not all summer, by Jupiter! Her father must not insist on her +playing that game too long, even though she does play it so well." + +Madge was sitting in her room in dreary apathy and spiritless reaction +from the strain of the morning, when she was aroused by a knock on her +door. "Madge," called a voice that sent the blood to her face, "what +say you to another ride? I know the roads are muddy, but--" + +"But I'll go with you," she cried. "Why use adversatives in the same +breath with 'ride'? The mud's nothing. What won't rub off can stay on. +How soon shall I be ready?" + +"That's a good live girl. In half an hour." + +When they were a mile or two away Madge asked, as if with sudden +compunction, "Graydon, are you sure you were disengaged?" + +He laughed outright. "That question comes much too late," he said. + +She braced herself as if to receive a deadly blow, and was pale and +rigid with the effort as she asked, with an air of curiosity merely, +"Are you truly engaged to Miss Wildmere, Graydon?" + +"In one sense I am, Madge," he replied, gravely. "I have given her my +loyalty, and, to a certain extent, my word; but I have not bound her. +Since you have proved so true and generous a friend to me I do not +hesitate to let you know the truth. I am sorry you do not like her +altogether, and that you have some cause for your feeling; but you are +both right at heart. She spoke most enthusiastically of your rescue +of the child. You ladies amuse me with your emphasis of little piques; +but when it comes to anything large or fine you do justice to one +another. Henry had no right to say what he did at dinner, for Stella +applauded you as you had her; but Henry's prejudices are inveterate. +Why should I not be loyal to her, Madge? I believe she remained free +for my sake during the years of my absence." + +"I think your feelings are very natural. They are what I should expect +of you. You have always seemed to me the soul of honor when once you +obtain your bearings," she added, with a wan smile. + +"How pale you are, Madge!" he said, anxiously. + +"I am not feeling very well to-day, and then I am suffering from the +reaction of this morning. I never can get over my old timidity and +dislike to do anything in public. I can do what I will, but it +often costs me dear. I was led on unexpectedly this morning. I only +anticipated singing a ditty for the children when I first went to the +piano at their request." + +"I saw that, Madge. Any other woman with your power of song would have +made it known long before this." + +"And, believe me, Graydon, I did not want to sing in rivalry with Miss +Wildmere. I'm sorry I did." + +"I saw that too," he replied, laughing. "Stella drew that little +experience down upon herself." + +"I'm sorry now that I sang," she said, in a low tone. "I didn't want +to do anything to hurt the feelings of so good a friend as you are." + +"You didn't hurt my feelings in the least. Just the contrary. You +gave much pleasure, and made me all the more proud of you. It will do +Stella no harm to have her self-complacency jostled a little. Slight +wonder that her head is somewhat giddy from the immense amount of +attention she has received. I'm not perfect, Madge; why should I +demand perfection? It's delightful to be talking in this way--like +old times. I used to talk to you about Stella years ago. If I have the +substance I can forego the shadow, and I do feel that I can say to you +all that I could to a sensible and loving sister. Believe me, Madge, +I can never get over my old feeling for you, and I'm just as proud +of you as if your name was Madge Muir. I think your brave effort and +achievement at Santa Barbara simply magnificent. You have long had +the affection that I would give to a sister, and now that I understand +you, I feel for you all the respect that I could give to any woman." + +"Those are kind, generous words, Graydon. I knew that you +misunderstood me, and I was only provoked at you, not angry." + +"You had good reason to be provoked and much more. If you and Stella +understood each other in the same way, and--well--if she were only +out of that atmosphere in which she has been brought up, I could ask +nothing more." + +"What atmosphere?" + +"Wall Street atmosphere transferred to the domestic and social circle. +You have too much delicacy, Madge, to refer to what I know puzzles +you, and I admit that I do not fully understand it all, though I +know Stella's motive clearly enough. Her motive is worthy of all +commendation, but not her method. She is not so much to blame for this +as her father, and perhaps her mother, who appears a weak, spiritless +woman, a faint echo of her husband. It is here that the infernal Wall +Street atmosphere comes in that she has breathed all her life. Does it +not puzzle you, in view of my relations to her, that she should be out +driving with Arnault?" + +"Yes, Graydon, it does." + +"Well, Arnault is a money-lender, and I am satisfied that in some way +he has her father in his power. Many of these brokers are like cats. +They will hold on to anything by one nail, and the first thing you +know they are on their feet again all right. As soon as Wildmere makes +a lucky strike in the stock-market he will extricate himself and his +daughter at the same time. Of course these things are not formulated +in words, in a cold-blooded way, I suppose. Arnault has long been a +suitor that would take no rebuff. I am satisfied that she has +refused him more than once, but he simply persists, and gives her +to understand that he will take his chances. This was the state of +affairs when I came home, and she, no doubt, feels that if she can +save her father, and keep a home for her mother and the little one, +she ought to retain her hold on Arnault. After all, it is not so bad. +Many women marry for money outright, and all poor Stella proposes is +to be complaisant toward a man who would not continue his business +support to one whose daughter had just refused him." + +Madge was silent. + +"You wouldn't do such a thing, I suppose." + +"I couldn't, Graydon," she said, simply. "If I should ever love a man +I think I could suffer a great deal for his sake, but there are some +things I couldn't do." + +"I thought you would feel so." + +"Why don't you help her father out?" Madge faltered. + +"I don't think I have sufficient means. I have never been over-thrifty +in saving, and have not laid by many thousands. I have merely a +good salary and very good prospects. You can't imagine how slow and +conservative Henry is. In business matters he treats me just as if +I were a stranger, and I must prove myself worthy of trust at every +point, and by long apprenticeship, before he will give me a voice in +affairs. He says coming forward too fast is the ruination of young +men in our day. Nothing would tempt him to have dealings with Mr. +Wildmere, and I couldn't damage myself more than by any transactions +on my own account. But even if I were rich I wouldn't interfere. I +don't like her father any better than Henry does, and if I began in +this way it would make a bad precedent. What's more, I won't introduce +money influences into an affair of this kind. If it comes to the +point, Stella must decide for me, ignoring all other considerations. +If she does, I won't permit her family to suffer, but I propose to +know that she chooses me absolutely in spite of everything. I am also +resolved that she shall be separated from her family as far as is +right, for there is a tone about them that I don't like." + +"I thank you for your confidence, Graydon," said Madge, quietly. "You +are acting just as I should suppose you would. No one in the world +wishes you happiness more earnestly than I do. Come, let us take this +level place like the wind." + +She was unusually gay during the remainder of their ride, but seemed +bent almost on running her horse to death. "To-morrow is Sunday," she +explained, "and I must crowd two rides into one." + +"Wouldn't you ride to-morrow?" + +"No; I have some old-fashioned notions about Sunday. You have been +abroad too long, perhaps, to appreciate them." + +"I appreciate fidelity to conscience, Madge." + +They had their supper together again as on the evening before, but +Madge was carelessly languid and fitful in her mirthful sallies, and +complained of over-fatigue. "I won't come down again to-night," she +said to Graydon as they passed out of the supper-room. "Good-night." + +"Good-night, Madge," he replied, taking her hand in both his own. +"I understand you now, and know that you have gone beyond even your +superb strength to-day. Sleep the sleep of the justest and truest +little woman that ever breathed. I can't tell you how much you have +added to my happiness during the past two days." + +"He understands me!" she muttered, as she closed the door of her room. +"I am almost tempted to doubt whether a merciful God understands me. +Why was this immeasurable love put into my heart to be so cruelly +thwarted? Why must he go blindly on to so cruel a fate? Of course +she'll renounce everything for him. Whatever else she may be, she is +not an idiot." + +Henry Muir's quiet eyes had observed Madge closely, and from a little +distance he had seen the parting between her and his brother. Then +he saw Graydon seek Miss Wildmere and resume a manner which he had +learned to detest, and the self-contained man went out upon the +grounds, and said, through clinched teeth: "To think that there should +have been such a fool bearing the name of Muir! He's been gushing to +Madge about that speculator, and we shall yet have to take her as we +would an infection." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE FILIAL MARTYR + + +Miss Wildmere appeared in one of her most brilliant moods that +evening. There was a dash of excitement, almost recklessness, in her +gray eyes. She and Mr. Arnault had been deputed to lead the German, +but she took Graydon out so often as to produce in Mr. Arnault's eyes +an expression which the observant Mr. Wildmere did not like at all. He +had just returned from dreary, half-deserted Wall Street, which was +as dead and hopeless as only that region of galvanic life can be at +times. He had neither sold nor bought stock, but had moused around, +with the skill of an old _habitué_, for information concerning the +eligibility of the two men who were seeking his daughter's hand. In +the midsummer dullness and holiday stagnation the impending operation +in the Catskills was the only one that promised anything whatever. He +became more fully satisfied that Arnault's firm was prospering. They +had been persistent "bears" on a market that had long been declining, +and had reaped a golden harvest from the miseries of others. On the +other hand, he learned that Henry Muir was barely holding his own, and +that he had strained his credit dangerously to do this. He knew about +the enterprise which had absorbed the banker's capital, and while +he believed it would respond promptly to the returning flow of the +financial tide, it now seemed stranded among more hopeless ventures. +There was no escaping the conviction that Muir was in a perilous +position, and that a little thing might push him over the brink. +Therefore, he had returned fully beat upon using all his influence in +behalf of Arnault, and was spurred to this effort by the fact that his +finances, but not his expenses, were running low. His wife could give +but a dubious account of Stella's conduct. + +"In short," said Mr. Wildmere, irritably, "she is dallying with both, +and may lose both by her hesitating folly." + +His daughter's greeting was brief and formal. A sort of +matter-of-course kiss had been given, and then he had been left to eat +his supper alone, since his wife could not just then be absent from +her child. At last he lounged out on the piazza, sat down before one +of the parlor windows, glanced at the gay scene within, and smoked in +silence. Before the German began, Graydon passed him several times, +regarding him curiously and with a growing sense of repulsion. He +disliked to think that the relation between this man and the girl he +would marry was so close. + +Before the evening was over, Mr. Wildmere saw that his daughter was in +truth pursuing a difficult policy. The angry light in Arnault's eyes +and the grave expression on Graydon's face proved how fraught with +peril it was to his hopes. Neither of her suitors liked Stella's +manner that evening, for it suggested traits which promised ill for +the future. Graydon, who understood her the less, was the more lenient +judge. + +"Not only Arnault," he thought, "but her father also, has been +pressing her toward a course from which she revolts, and she is half +reckless in consequence." + +He endeavored by his quiet and observant attention, by the grave and +gentle expression of his eyes, to assure her once more that she could +find a refuge in him the moment that she would decide absolutely in +his favor. She understood him well, and was enraged that she could not +that night go out with him into the moonlight, put her hand in his, +and end her suspense. + +Her father had whispered, significantly, when they met, "Stella, I +must see you before you give Mr. Muir further encouragement;" and she, +feeling that it might be among her last chances, for the present, of +showing Graydon favor, was lavish of it. But it was not the preference +of strong, true, womanly choice; it was rather the half-defiant aspect +with which forbidden fruit might be regarded. + +As the great clock was about to chime the hour of midnight the dancing +ceased. Arnault seemed determined to have the last word, and Graydon +interposed no obstacle. The former walked on the piazza by Stella's +side for a few turns in moody silence. Her father still sat at his +post of observation. Mrs. Wildmere had been with him part of the time, +but he had not had much to say to her. + +"Mr. Arnault," said Stella, satirically, at last, "I will not tax your +remarkable power for entertainment any longer. I will now join papa, +and retire." + +"Very well, Stella," was the quiet reply; "but before we part I shall +speak more to the point than if I had talked hours. By this time +another week the question must be decided." + +She bowed, and made no other answer. + +"Stella," said her father when they were alone and he had regarded for +some moments her averted and half-sullen face, "what do you propose to +do?" There was no answer. + +After another pause he continued: "In settling the question, represent +your mother and myself by a cipher. That is all we are, if the logic +of your past action counts for anything. Again I ask, What do you +propose to do? No matter how pretty and flattered a girl may be, she +cannot alter gravitation. There are other facts just as inexorable. +Shutting your eyes to them, or any other phase of folly, will not make +the slightest difference." + +"I think it's a horrid fact that I must marry a man that I don't +love." + +"That is not one of the facts at all. Stock-gambler as I am, and in +almost desperate straits, I require nothing of the kind. Knowing you +as I do, I advise you to accept Arnault at once; but I do not demand +it; I do not even urge it. If you loved me, if you would say, 'Give +up this feverish life of risk; I will help you and suffer with you +in your poverty; I will marry Graydon Muir and share his poverty,' I +would leave Wall Street at once and forever. It's a maelstrom in +which men of my calibre and means are sucked down sooner or later. The +prospects now are that it will be sooner, unless I am helped through +this crisis." + +"I believe you are mistaken about the Muirs being in financial +danger." + +"I am not mistaken. They may have to suspend daring the coming week." + +"I know that Graydon Muir has no suspicion of trouble." + +"He is but a clerk in his brother's employ, and has just returned from +a long absence. Mr. Muir is one of the most reticent of men. I have +invested in the same dead stock that is swamping him, and so know +whereof I speak. Should this stock decline further--should it even +remain where it is much longer--he can't maintain himself. I know, for +I have taken pains to obtain information since I last went to town." + +"But if the stock rises," she said, with the natural hope of a +speculator's daughter, "he is safe." + +"Yes, _if_." + +"How much time will you give me?" she asked, the lines of her face +growing hard and resolute. + +"This is to be your choice, not mine," said her father, coldly. "You +shall not be able to say that I sold you or tried to sell you. Of +course it would be terribly hard for me to lose my footing and fall, +and I feel that I should not rise again. Arnault worships success +and worldly prestige. You are a part of his ambitious scheme. If you +helped him parry it out he would do almost anything you wished, and he +could throw business enough in my way to put me speedily on my feet. +You must make your choice in view of the following facts: You can go +on living here, just as you are, two or three weeks longer, dallying +with opportunity. By that time, unless I get relief and help, I shall +reach the end of my resources, and creditors will take everything. The +Muirs cannot help me, and I don't believe they would in any event. I +am not on good terms with Henry Muir. If they go down now they will be +thoroughly cleaned out. Arnault has long been devoted to you, and you +could have unbounded influence over him if you acted in the line of +his ruling passion. It would gratify his pride and add to the world's +good opinion of him if I prospered also. In plain English, we may all +be in a tenement house in a month, or I on safe ground and you the +affianced wife of a rich man." + +"Well," said Stella, coldly, "you have given me facts enough. It's a +pity you couldn't have brought me something better from Wall Street +after all these years." + +"What have you brought to me during these past years," he demanded, +sternly, "but constant requests for money, and the necessity for +incessant effort to meet new phases of extravagance? You have not +asked what was kind, merciful, and true, but what was the latest +style. Few days pass but that I am reminded of you by a bill for +some frippery or other; but how often am I reminded of you by acts of +filial thoughtfulness, by words of sympathy in my hard battle of life +when I am present, or by genial letters when absent? I have spent +three hot days in the city seeking chiefly your interest, and a more +mechanical, perfunctory thing never existed than your kiss of greeting +to-night. There was as much feeling in it as in the quarter that I +handed to the stage-driver. I have spent thousands on your education, +but you don't sing for me, you don't read to me, you never think of +soothing my overtaxed nerves by cheerful, hopeful talk. Were I a steel +automaton, supplying your wants, I should answer just as well, and in +that case you might remember the laws of matter and apply a little oil +occasionally. What are the motives of your life but dress, admiration, +excitement, a rapid succession of men to pass under your baleful +fascination, and then to pass on crippled in soul for having known +you? Unless you can give Graydon Muir a loving woman's heart, and mean +to cling to him for worse as well as better, you will commit a crime +before God and man if you accept him. With Arnault it is different. In +mind you are near enough of kin to marry. As long as you complied with +fashionable and worldly proprieties, he would be content; but a man +with a heart and soul in his body would perish in the desert of a home +that your selfishness would create." + +"It's awful for you to talk to me in this way!" she whined, wincing +and crying under his arraignment. + +"It's awful that I have to speak to you in this way, either to make +you realize what deformities your beauty hides, so that you may apply +the remedy, or else, if you will not, to promote your union with a man +content to take for a wife a belle, and not a woman. + +"I suppose I am chiefly to blame, though, or you would be different," +he added, with a dark, introspective look. "I was proud of you as +a beautiful child, and tried to win your love by indulgence. Heaven +knows, I would like to be a different man, but it's all a breathless +hurry after bubbles that vanish when grasped! Well, what do you +propose to do? You see that you can't hesitate much longer." + +"I will decide soon," she answered, sullenly. Although her conscience +echoed his words, and she felt their justice, her pride prevailed, and +she permitted him to depart without another word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +"I'LL SEE HOW YOU BEHAVE" + + +The dawn of the following sacred day was bright, beautiful, and +serene, bringing to the world a new wealth of opportunity. Miss +Wildmere began its hours depressed and undecided. Her conscience and +better angel were pleading; she felt vaguely that her life and its +motives were wrong, and was uncomfortable over the consciousness. Her +phase of character, however, was one of the most hopeless. It was true +that her vanity had grown to the proportions of a disease, but even +this might be overcome. Her father's stern words had wounded it +terribly, and she had experienced twinges of self-disgust. But another +trait had become inwrought, by long habit, with every fibre of her +soul--selfishness. It was almost impossible to give up her own way and +wishes. Graydon Muir pleased her fancy, and she was bent on marrying +him. Her father's assurance that she would bring him disappointment, +not happiness, weighed little. Too many men had told her that she +was essential to their happiness to permit qualms on this score. Her +conscience did shrink, to some extent, from a loveless, business-like +marriage, and her preference for Graydon made such a union all the +more repugnant; but she was incapable of feeling that she would do him +a wrong by giving him the pretty jewelled hand for which so many had +asked. Indeed, the question now was, Could she be so self-sacrificing +as to think of it under the circumstances? If that stock would only +rise, if in some way she could be assured that the Muirs would be +sustained, and so pass on to the wealth sure to flow in upon them in +prosperous times, she would decide the question at once, whether they +would do anything for her father or not. He could scramble on in +some way, as he had done in the past. What she desired most was the +assurance that there should be no long and doubtful interregnum +of poverty and privation--that she might continue to be a queen in +society during the period of youth and beauty. + +This remained the chief consideration amid the chaos of her +conflicting feelings and interests, for she had lived this life so +long that she could imagine no other as endurable. She had, moreover, +the persistence of a small nature, and longed to humiliate the Muir +pride, and to spite Madge Alden, who she half believed cherished more +than a sisterly regard for Graydon. As for her father, she did little +more than resent his words and the humiliating disquietude they had +caused. They had sorely wounded her vanity, and presented a painful +alternative. + +As the day passed, and old habits of mind resumed sway, she began to +concentrate her thoughts on three questions: Should she accept Graydon +and take her chances with him? Should she accept Mr. Arnault, with his +wealth, and be safe? or should she hesitate a little longer, in the +hope that she could secure Graydon and wealth also? The persistence +of a will that had always had its own way decided finally in favor of +the last course of action. She would not give Graydon up unless she +must, and not until she must. Accustomed to consult self-interest, +she believed that her father was doing the same, that he was favoring +Arnault because the latter would be more useful to him, and that for +this reason he was exaggerating the Muirs' peril, if not inventing +it. She dismissed his words about leaving Wall Street with scarcely a +thought; he always talked in this way when the times were bad or his +ventures unlucky. They had been on the eve of ruin so many times, that +the cry of "wolf" was not so alarming as formerly. + +"I suppose I must decide before this week is over," she thought. +"Arnault has practically given me this length of time, and I shall +take him at his word." Therefore, she was very sweet to him during the +morning hours, and prepared him to submit to her drive with Graydon in +the afternoon. + +Arnault felt that he had given his ultimatum, and was resolved to +abide by it. At the same time he knew that it would be a terrible +wrench to give up the girl. The very difficulty of winning her had +stimulated to the utmost his passion for attainment. She was the best +that existed in his superficial world, and fulfilled his ideal. Her +delicate yet somewhat voluptuous beauty completely intoxicated him. + +He too thought, and made his decision during the day. If he won her at +all it must be speedily, and it should be done by promises of devotion +and wealth if possible, and by breaking the Muirs down if this should +become necessary. The time had come for decisive action. It was +evident that her father was in sore straits; the man's appearance +confirmed this belief. Arnault was almost certain that Henry Muir was +in his power. He would not play the latter card unless he must, but he +would watch so vigilantly as to be promptly aware of the necessity. He +decided to spend several days of the present week in the mountains and +so keep himself informed how the game went here, and while in the city +he would not only be observant, but would also drop a few words +to weaken Mr. Muir's credit. One thing, however, was settled--the +problematical issue of his matrimonial scheme must soon be made +known, and he rather relished its congenial elements of speculative +uncertainty, being conscious that so much depended upon his skill and +power to pull unseen wires. + +Seeing that Arnault was at Miss Wildmere's side, Graydon accompanied +his relatives to church, and soon found himself looking over the +same hymn-book with Madge. The choir were present, and she now merely +delighted Graydon with her rich alto; and so rich and true was it that +he often felt his nerves thrilling at her tones. He did not become +absorbed in the service or sermon, but thought a little wonderingly: +"Here is a faith ever finding expression all over the world, while I +ignore it. How much truth does it represent? It's evidently a reality +to Madge, although she makes so little parade of the fact. I don't +believe she would do anything contrary to its teachings as she +understands them. We men may think what we please, but we have +confidence in a woman who looks as she does now. She is not in +the least inclined to devotional rhapsodies or to subserviency +to priestcraft, like so many women abroad. She merely appears to +recognize a divine power as she accepts nature, only more reverently +and consciously. I suppose I am an agnostic as much as anything, yet +I should only be too glad to have Stella at my side with such +an expression on her face. I wonder if she will go with me this +afternoon. I will submit to this diplomacy a few days longer, and +shall then end the matter. There is an increasing revulsion of my +whole being from such tactics in my future wife. Beyond a certain +point she shall not be a partner in her father's gambling operations, +and I would have brought the affair to an end at once, were it not for +that limp little woman, his wife, and her child. But I can't sacrifice +my self-respect and Stella's character for them. I must get her out +of that atmosphere, so that her true nature may develop. Sweet Madge +Alden, with your eyes so serious and true, and again so full of mirth +and spirit, what a treasure you will prove some day if there is a man +worthy of you!" + +In his deep preoccupation, he forgot his intent regard, until reminded +of it by the slow deepening of her color, which so enhanced her beauty +that he could not at once withdraw his gaze. Suddenly she turned on +him with a half-angry, half-mirthful flash in her eyes, and whispered, +"Looking at girls in church is not good form; but, if you will do it, +look at some other girl." + +He was delighted at this little unexpected prick, and replied, "St. +Paul never would have complained of such a thorn." Then he saw Dr. +Sommers looking ominously at him. This factotum of the chapel sat +where he could oversee the miscellaneous little assemblage, and +his eyes instantly pounced upon any offender. Graydon pushed his +insubordination no further than making an irreverent face at the +doctor, and then addressed himself to the minister during the +remainder of the hour. + +"We'll arrange it differently next Sunday, Miss Alden," said the +doctor, as Madge passed out; "I'll have Mr. Muir sit with me." + +"Try it," whispered Graydon, "and if you don't fall from grace before +meeting is over I'll give you a new trout-pole. Miss Alden can manage +me better than you can." + +"No doubt, no doubt. A man must be in a bad way if she couldn't make a +saint of him if she undertook it," was the doctor's laughing reply. + +Greatly amused, Graydon repeated the words to Madge. "She won't +undertake it in this case," was her brusque comment. "I have no +ambition to enlighten continental heathen, with their superior +tolerance of a faith good enough for women and children." + +"My charming rose has not only a thorn but a theological stiletto in +her belt." + +"It is evident you have never had trouble, Graydon." + +"Why is it evident?" + +"Because you are content with the surface-tide of life." + +"And you are not?" + +"One rarely is when fearing to sink." + +"What has that to do with faith?" + +"Faith can sustain; that's all." + +"And your faith sustained you?" + +"What else was there to sustain when day after day brought, not a +choice of pleasures, but the question, Shall I live or die?" + +"Poor Madge! Dear Madge! And you didn't let me know. I don't suppose I +could have helped you, though." + +"No; not then." + +"Madge," he said, earnestly, "won't you promise me one thing? If you +ever should have trouble of any kind again, won't you let me help you, +or at least try to?" + +"I'll see how you behave," she said, laughing. "Besides, it's not +women's place to make trouble for men. The idea! Our mission is to +soothe and console you superior beings." + +"Women do make a power of trouble for men. Mother Eve began wrong, +and--" + +"And Adam laid all his misdeeds on her weak shoulders." + +"The upshot of all this talk is, I suppose, that your shoulders are +so strong, and your spirit so high, that you can at least take care of +your own troubles." + +"I hope so," she again laughed, "and be ready also to give you a lift. +When you successful men do get a tumble in life, you are the most +helpless of mortals." + +"Well, well, well, to think that I am talking to little Madge, who +could not say good-by to me without fainting away!" + +"Good-by meant more to me than to you. You were going away to new and +pleasant activity. I doubted whether I should see you again--or indeed +any one long," she added, hastily. + +"Don't imagine that I did not feel awfully that night, dear Madge. +Tears do not come into my eyes easily, but I added a little salt +water to the ocean as I leaned over the taffrail and saw the city that +contained you fade from view." + +"Did you truly, Graydon?" she asked, turning away. + +"I did, indeed." + +In her averted face and quickened respiration he thought he saw traces +of more than passing feeling, but she turned on him in sudden gayety, +and said: "Whenever I see the ocean I'll remember how its tides have +been increased. Graydon, I've a secret to tell you, which, for +an intense, aesthetic, and vaguely devotional woman, is a most +humiliating confession: I'm awfully hungry. When will dinner be +ready?" + +"I have a secret to tell you also," he replied, with a half-vexed +flash in his eyes: "There is a girl in this house who explains +herself more or less every day, and who yet remains the most charming +conundrum that ever kept a man awake from perplexity." + +"Oh, dear!" cried Madge, "is Miss Wildmere so bad as that? Poor, pale +victim of insomnia! By the way, do you and Mr. Arnault keep a ledger +account of the time you receive? or do you roughly go on the principle +of 'share and share alike'?" and with eyes flashing back laughter at +his reddening face, she ran up the steps and disappeared. + +"That was a Parthian arrow," he muttered. "If we go smoothly on the +sharing principle at present, we shall soon go roughly enough, or +cease to go at all." + +But the lady in question was putting forth all her resources, which +were not slight when enlisted in her own behalf, to keep the two men +_in statu quo_ until more time, with its chances, should pass. + +Arnault smiled grimly when he saw her departing with Graydon. She had +been evasive, but very friendly, during the day thus far, and after +what he had said the preceding night he felt that he was committed to +her moods for a week if he could not bring her to a decision before. +Seeing Mr. Wildmere walking restlessly up and down the piazza, he +joined him, and offering a superb cigar, said, "Suppose we go out to +the lake and see where the little kid was so nearly drowned." + +Soon after they were smoking in the shade, the thoughts of both +reverting to kindred anxieties. Arnault decided to make one move +before the final one. Perhaps only this would be required; perhaps +it might prepare the way for more serious action. They talked over +business. Arnault, permitting the other to see through a veiled +distinctness of language that he was prospering, remarked, "By the +way, I have a little transaction which I wish you would carry out for +us," and mentioned an affair of ordinary brokerage, concluding, in +off-hand tones, "from what you said some days since I infer that you +may find a little money handy at present. I can let you have a check +for five hundred or a thousand just as well as not. I know how dull +times are now, and you will soon make it up by commissions." + +The hard-pressed man could scarcely disguise the relief which these +words brought. He began a grateful acknowledgment of the kindness, +when Arnault interrupted him by saying, "Oh, that's nothing--mere +matter of business. I will write you a check to-night for a thousand. +It's only an advance, you know," and then changed the subject. + +"Will you go to town to-morrow?" Mr. Wildmere asked. + +"No, not to-morrow. I'll run down Tuesday or Wednesday. In spite of +the times business doesn't give us much leeway this summer, but I've +arranged to be away more or less at present." Then he added, with what +was meant to be a frank, deprecatory laugh, "I suppose you see how +it is. It's some time since I asked permission to pay my addresses to +your daughter. I don't think I've been neglectful of opportunities, +but I don't get on as fast as I would like, and now feel that if I +would keep any chance at all I must be on hand. Muir is a formidable +rival." + +"You know that you have my consent and more, Mr. Arnault." + +"It's the lady's consent that I must obtain," was the reply. "Muir is +a fine fellow, and I cannot wonder that she hesitates--that is, if +she does hesitate. I may be wasting my time here and adding to the +bitterness of my disappointment, for of course it must become greater +if I see Miss Wildmere every day and still fail." + +There was a covert question in this remark, and after a moment or two +Mr. Wildmere said, hesitatingly: "I do not think you are wasting your +time. I think Stella is in honest doubt as to her choice. At least, +that is my impression. You know that young ladies in our free land +do not take much counsel of parents, and Stella has ever been very +independent in her views. When once she makes up her mind you will +find her very decided and loyal. Of course I have my strong preference +in this case, and have a right also to make it known to her, as +I shall. I should be very sorry to see her engaged to a man whose +fortunes are dependent on a brother in such financial straits as Mr. +Muir is undoubtedly in." + +"Do you think Henry Muir is in very great danger?" + +"I do indeed." + +"Hum!" ejaculated Arnault, looking serious. + +"What! would he involve you?" + +"Oh, no, a mere trifle; but then--Well, please make some inquiries +to-morrow, and I'll see you during the week." + +"I'll do anything I can to oblige you, Mr. Arnault. I wouldn't like my +questions, however, to hurt Muir's credit, you understand." + +"Of course not, nor would I wish this; but as one of our brokers you +can pick up some information, like enough. I knew, as did others, that +Muir was having a rather hard time of it, but if there is pressing +danger I may have to take some action." + +"In that case of course you can command me." + +"I only wish to do what is fair and considerate among business men. +We'll lunch together when I come to town, and perhaps the case will be +clearer then." + +During his drive with Miss Wildmere, Graydon simply adhered to the +tactics which he had adopted, and she saw that he was waiting until +the Arnault phase of the problem should be eliminated. When, however, +she took occasion to bewail the dismal prospects of her "poor papa," +and to open the way for him to speak naturally of his own and his +brother's affairs, he was gravely silent. She didn't like this, for +it tended to confirm her father's belief that they were in trouble, +or else it looked like suspicion of her motive. The trait of reticence +which Graydon at times shared with his brother was not agreeable, for +it suggested hidden processes of thought which might develop into +very decisive action. She came back satisfied that Graydon was still +thoroughly "in hand," and that she must obtain information in some +other way, if possible. + +There was sacred music in the parlor during the evening, but neither +Miss Wildmere nor Madge would sing in solo. Graydon good-naturedly +tried to arrange a duet between the two girls. The former declined +instantly, yet took off the edge of her refusal by saying, "I would +gladly sing for you if I could, but do not care to permit all these +strangers to institute comparisons." + +Therefore, the guests sang in chorus as usual, a professional playing +the accompaniments. There were few, however, who did not recognize +the strong, sweet alto which ran through each melody like a minor key. +Graydon's acute ear for music heard little else, and he said to Madge +"I shall be glad when this hotel life is over. What delicious evenings +I shall have this fall! By the way, I'm going to have your piano tuned +when I go to town." + +"Perhaps." + +"Perhaps what? Perhaps I shall remember about the tuner? You'll see." + +"I may go back with the Waylands. I'm not at all sure that I shall not +spend my winter on the Pacific." + +"Why, Madge! With your health you could spend it in Greenland." + +"That's what I may do. We always have a lovely green land in that +climate." + +"I must investigate Santa Barbara. You have left some one or something +there which has powerful attractions." + +"Yes, memories; as well as skies so bright that you can't help smiling +back at them." + +"I supposed you were going to enter society this fall and create a +_furore_." + +"Oh, bah!" Then she began to laugh, and said, "A certain gentleman in +this house thought I was so bent on having my fling in society that I +didn't wish to be embarrassed by even a little fraternal counsel." + +"A certain fellow in this house finds himself embarrassed by a +black-eyed clairvoyant, who reads his thoughts as if they were +sign-boards, but remains inscrutable herself." + +"Such an objectionable and inconvenient creature should certainly be +banished to wilds of the West" + +"As one of the Muir family I'll never consent." + +"You'll soon be engrossed by cares of your own," she concluded, +laughing. "Good-night." + +"Stay," said Graydon, eagerly; "one so gifted with second-sight should +be able to read the thoughts of others." + +"Whose?" Madge asked, demurely. + +"Whose indeed? As if you did not know! Miss Wildmere's." + +"What! Reveal a woman's thoughts? I won't speak to you again +to-night;" and she left him with his tranquillity not a little +disturbed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +GOSSAMER THREADS + + +Mr. Muir was to depart on the early train the following morning, and +was pleased when Madge opened her door at the same time and said, "I'm +going to see that you have a good breakfast and a good send-off." + +She chattered merrily with him during the meal, ignoring his somewhat +wistful and questioning glances. "When shall we see you again, Henry?" +she asked. + +"Friday evening, I hope." + +"Don't work and worry too much." + +"I defy fate now. You've given me your luck." + +"Heaven forbid! Well, good-by." + +A little later she and two of her boys, as she called them, were off +on the hills. Mrs. Muir and Graydon breakfasted long after, and the +latter observed with a frown that Arnault was still at the Wildmere +table, with all the serenity of one _en famille_. + +"Doctor," he said, a little later, "how much will you take--the money +to be given to your chapel--to go trouting with me for a day?" + +"A good round sum," Dr. Sommers replied. + +"All right. When can you go?" + +"Wednesday, I guess, if I can leave my patients." + +"Oh, come now; go and give your patients a chance to get well." + +"Wait till I catch you sick, and I'll pay you up for that." + +"You'll stand a better chance of catching trout." + +The day passed much as usual, only Arnault appeared in the ascendant. + +"He is going to town in a day or two," pleaded the diplomat, after +dinner. + +"And I'm going trouting," Graydon replied. + +"When?" + +"Soon." + +"Only for a day, I suppose." + +"It depends on my luck. You will get on better when I'm away." + +"It's cruel for you to speak like that," she replied, her eyes +moistening. + +"I suppose it is," was his rueful reply; "but I can be more patient, I +imagine, back in the mountains than here." + +"But how about poor me?" + +"That is a question that I often ask myself, Miss Wildmere, but you +alone can answer it. As far as I am able to judge, you can meet the +problem in your mind, whatever it is, as well, if not better, in my +absence. You must understand me, and I have promised to be reasonably +patient." + +"Very well, Mr. Muir," she replied, in apparent sadness, "I will try +not to tax your patience beyond what you well term reason." + +"Something far beyond reason, and--I may add--pride also, permits you +to tax it all. I would rather not revert to this topic again. It is +embarrassing to us both. I cannot help saying, however, that it is +essential to my happiness that the present state of affairs should +soon cease." + +"If it were only present happiness that one had to consider--" she +began, and then hastened away. + +Thus she played upon his sympathy, and held him by the generous side +of his nature. + +But he determined not to give Arnault the pleasure of seeing him wait +for the crumbs of time that fell from his table, and he delighted +Madge, having sought her out on the piazza, by remarking: "It is so +cool to-day I do not see why we cannot start at once. I shall not find +the time too long, for you can talk as well as ride." + +She made good his words, and gave wings to the hours. Among the scenes +through which they passed, she reminded him, not of an exotic or a +stray tropical bird, but rather of the ideal mountain nymph humanized, +developed into modern life, the strong original forces of nature +harmonized into perfect womanhood, yet unimpaired. Her smiles, her +piquant words, and, above all, the changing expression of her +lovely eyes, affected him subtilely, and again imparted a rising +exhilaration. Her thoughts came not like the emptying of a cup, but +rippled forth like a sparkling rill from some deep and exhaustless +supply. And what reservoir is more inexhaustible than the love of a +heart like hers?--a love born as naturally and unconsciously as +life itself--that, when discovered, changes existence by a sudden +kaleidoscopic turn, compelling all within and without to pass at once +into new arrangement and combination--that inspires heroic, patient +effort, self-denial, and even self-sacrifice. + +She had prepared herself for this opportunity by years of training and +thought, but his presence brought her an inspiration beyond all +that she had gained from books or study. He was the magician who +unconsciously had the power to waken and kindle her whole nature, to +set the blood flowing in her veins like wine, and to arouse a rapidity +and versatility of thought that was surprising even to herself. With +the pure genius of love she threw about his mind gossamer threads, +drew the filaments together, and held them in her heart. The pulses +of life grew stronger within him, his fancy kindled, the lore of books +long since forgotten, as he supposed, flashed into memory, and out +into happy allusion and suggestion. Still his wonder increased that +her knowledge coincided so fully with his own, and that their lines +of reading had been so closely parallel. It was hard for him to find +a terra incognita of thought into which she had not made some slight +explorations. In his own natural domains she skilfully appeared to +know enough to follow, but not to lead with mortifying superiority. +She also had her own preserves of thought and fancy, of which she gave +him tantalizing glimpses, then let fall the screening boughs; and he, +who fain would see more, was content to pass on, assured that another +vista would soon be revealed. It was the reserve of this frank girl +that most charmed and incited him, the feeling, more or less defined, +that while she appeared to manifest herself by every word and smile, +something richer and rarer still was hidden. + +"No one will ever have a chance to understand her fully but the man +she loves," he thought. "To him she would give the clew to all her +treasures, or else show them with sweet abandon, and it would require +a lifetime for the task. She has a beauty and a character that would +never pall, for the reason that she draws her life so directly from +nature. I have never met a woman that affected me as she does." + +He sighed again. In spite of the loyalty to which he believed himself +fully committed, Stella Wildmere, with her Wall Street complications, +her variegated experience as to adorers, and her present questionable +diplomacy, seemed rather faded beside this girl, upon whose heart the +dew still rested. + +For the first time the thought passed consciously through his mind, +"Stella has never made me so happy as I have been the last few hours. +More than that, she never gave life an aspect so rich, sweet, and full +of noble possibility. Madge makes blasé, shallow cynicism impossible +in a fellow." + +As he danced with Miss Wildmere that evening, or sauntered with her on +the piazza or through secluded paths, the same tendency to comparisons +tormented him. He could not make himself believe that Miss Wildmere's +words were like the flow of a clear, bubbling spring, pure and sweet. +There was in them a sediment, the product of a life which had passed +through channels more and more distasteful to contemplate. + +The next day he went to town to look after some business matters, and +returned by the latest train. To his surprise he found Madge absent, +and was immediately conscious of a vague sense of disappointment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MRS. MUIR'S ACCOUNT + + +After a light supper Graydon went in search of Stella, but she was +nowhere to be found, nor had the warm evening lured Mrs. Wildmere from +her room. He had learned that Arnault was still at the house, and he +inferred, from the surpassing beauty of the moonlit evening, that his +rival would not let such witching hours pass without an effort to turn +them to account. With a frown he retreated from the music, dancing, +and gayety of a full house, and went up to Mrs. Muir's room. + +That lady was found writing to her husband, but she welcomed Graydon, +and began volubly: "I'm very glad you have come; I'm so full and +overflowing about Madge that I had to write to Henry." + +"It certainly does seem an odd proceeding on her part--this remaining +all night at a farmhouse among strangers," was his discontented reply. + +"It would be odd in any one but Madge. I do not think there +are many girls in this house who would be guilty of such +eccentricities--certainly not Miss Wildmere," she added, with a rather +malicious twinkle in her eyes. "If I were a man, I wouldn't stand it. +I've been on the alert somewhat to-day, for I don't wish to see you +made a fool of. That Mr. Arnault has been at her side the livelong +time, and he's out driving with her now." + +"I understand all about that," said Graydon, impatiently; "tell me +about Madge." + +"Perhaps you do, and perhaps you don't. It's certainly beyond my +comprehension," continued Mrs. Muir, determined to free her mind. +"If she is anything to you, or wishes to be, her performances are +as unique as those of Madge, although in a different style. We Alden +girls were not brought up in that way. Pardon me; I know it's your +affair, but you are my brother, and have been a good one, too. I can't +wonder that Henry dislikes her. Well, well, I see you are getting +nettled, and I won't say anything more, but tell you about Madge. It +has been an awfully hot day, you know, and I did not order a carriage +till five. Madge was restless, and had sighed for a gallop more +than once, so I proposed to do the best for her I could. As we were +starting for our drive Dr. Sommers appeared, and I asked him to go +with us. + +"'I will,' he said, 'if you will take me to see one of my +patients--one that will make Miss Alden contented till she has some +imaginary trouble of her own. My horse is nearly used up from the long +drive I've had in the heat.' + +"'Oh, do take me to see some one in trouble!' exclaimed Madge. + +"'Yes,' replied the doctor, laughing, 'that will be a novelty. To +see you young ladies dancing and promenading, one would think you had +never heard of trouble.' + +"After a lovely drive through a wild valley we came to a little gray +farmhouse, innocent of paint since the memory of man. The mountain +rose steeply behind it with overhanging rocks, cropping out through +the forest here and there. An orchard shaded the dwelling, and beyond +the narrow roadway in front brawled a trout-stream. To the eastward +were rough, stony fields, that sloped up, at what seemed an angle of +forty-five degrees, to other wooded mountains. It was the roughest, +wildest-looking place I ever saw. How strange and lonely it must look +now in the moonlight, with not another dwelling in sight!" + +"Too lonely for Madge to be there," exclaimed Graydon. "I don't like +it, and I should not have expected such imprudence from you, Mary." + +"Oh, Madge is safe enough! Wait till you know all. Well, the farmer +and his wife were at their early supper when we arrived. I went in +with Madge and the doctor, for I wanted to see how such people lived, +and also thought I could do something for them. I hadn't been in the +room five minutes, however, before I gave up all thought of offering +assistance. The people were plainly and even poorly dressed. The man +was in his shirt-sleeves, but he put on his coat immediately. He had a +kind of natural, quiet dignity and a subdued manner--the result of his +trouble, no doubt. We were in their little sitting-room or parlor, but +the door into the kitchen, where they had been taking their meal, was +open. The room we were in was very plainly furnished, but perfectly +neat, and I was at once struck by the number of books that it +contained. Would you believe it? one of the leading magazines lay on +the table. The mother, a pale, gaunt woman, who looked utterly +worn out, went with the doctor to the adjoining sick-room, and the +husband's eyes followed them anxiously. + +"'Your place seems rather lonely,' I said to him, 'but you evidently +know how to find society in books.' + +"'Yes,' he answered, 'I s'pose this region seems lonesome to you, but +not to us who were brought up here. It all depends on what you're +used to, especially when you're a-growin' up. I'm not much of a reader +myself, but Tilly was'; and he heaved a great sigh. 'She took to +readin' almost as soon as to walkin',' he continued, 'and used to read +aloud to us. I s'pose I soon dozed off, but her mother took it all in, +and durin' the long winter evenin's they kinder roamed all over the +world together. I suspicion Tilly had more books than was good for +her, but she was our only child, and I couldn't say no to her. She +edicated herself to be a teacher, and stood high, and we was proud of +her, sure enough, but I'm afeared all that study and readin' wasn't +good for her;' and then came another of his deep sighs. + +"Madge's great eyes meanwhile were more and more full of trouble, +and there was a deal of pathos suggested by the man's simple story. +Indeed, I felt my own throat swelling at the poor man's last sigh, +it was so deep and natural, and seemed to express a great sorrow, for +which there were no words in his homely vernacular." + +"What selfish egotists we are over our picayune vexations!" Graydon +muttered. + +"Well, the mother and the doctor now appeared. The latter looked +grave; and when he looks grave things are serious indeed. + +"'Ain't she no better?' the father asked, with entreaty in his tone. + +"'I wish she was,' said the doctor, in his blunt way, which +nevertheless expressed more sympathy than a lot of fine phrases. Then +he said to the mother: 'You're all worn out, and yet she'll need close +watching to-night. Isn't there some neighbor--' + +"'Oh, please let me stay!' began Madge, in a low, eager tone, speaking +for the first time. 'I'm strong, and I'll follow your directions in +everything. Do, please. I've been ill myself, and think I know how to +nurse.' + +"The woman hesitated, and looked doubtfully, wonderingly, at the +doctor. Madge sprang up, and taking the mother's hand, continued: +'Indeed, madam, you do look worn out; you will be ill yourself. For +your daughter's sake, as well as mine, let me stay.' + +"'For your sake, miss?' + +"'Yes, for my sake. Why should I not bear a little of this heavy +burden? It will do me good. Doctor, say I can stay. My strength should +not be wasted in amusement only.' + +"'Well,' he replied, 'if Mrs. Muir consents, there's no one I'd trust +sooner.' + +"'Then it's settled, Mary,' she said, in her decisive way. 'It's +perfectly proper for me to stay under the protection of these good +people.' + +"'But you haven't had your supper,' I began. + +"A little color came into the woman's face at my foolish speech, and +she said, 'If the young lady will take what we can offer--' + +"'Of course I will,' interrupted Madge, with a smile that would have +propitiated a dragon; 'a little bread and milk would suit me best.' + +"'She shall have a chicken broiled as nice as she ever tasted at the +hotel,' said the man, impulsively. 'Heaven bless your kind heart, and +perhaps you can coax Tilly to take a bit!' + +"'The young lady's name is Miss Alden,' said the doctor, 'and this is +Mrs. Muir, Mr. and Mrs. Wendall, ladies; I should have introduced you +before, but my mind was on my patient. Well, well, well, what a world +it is! Some very good streaks run through it, though.' + +"'I'll come for you in the morning,' I said to Madge, who had thrown +off her hat, looking so resolute and absorbed in her purpose that I +knew there was nothing more to be said. So I shook hands with the poor +people, and came away with the doctor." + +"I'm going for Madge in the morning," said Graydon, decisively. + +"I thought you were going trouting with the doctor." + +"Not till I've told Madge what I think of her," he said, gravely. + +"I'm sure her impulse and motives were good." + +"They were more than good--they were divine, and just like Madge Alden +as she now is. She keeps one's blood tingling with surprises; but I've +not become such a cynic that I do not understand her. When you come to +think of it, what is more natural than that one girl with her superb +health should lend her strength to another who, perhaps, is dying; but +you may well ask, Who in the house would think of doing this?" + +"Yes; the doctor said she was dying--that she couldn't last much +longer." + +"Well, I never had a sister, but I'm just as proud of Madge, and just +as fond of her, as if she were my own flesh and blood. She shall never +lack what a brother can do for her while I live." + +"I'm glad you feel so," said Mrs. Muir. Then she sighed, and +thought, "A plague upon him! Why will he keep following up the other +white-faced thing, when he might win Madge if he tried hard enough. +It's plain that she don't care for him now except as she used to. And +she does care for him just as she did before she went away, in spite +of all her prudishness about the words brother and sister. I'm not +blind. She has grown so pretty, however, that I suppose Graydon would +wish to kiss her too often. She is just as fond of him as he is of +her, and in just the same way; but if I had his chance I'd soon have +it a different way;" and the good lady was complacency itself over +her penetration, as she bade Graydon good-night. No one could see and +report the surface of affairs more accurately than she. + +As he descended to the hall, Arnault and Miss Wildmere entered. The +latter hastened forward and gave him her hand most cordially, saying, +"Why, Mr. Muir, I'm ever so glad to see you; you have been away an +age." + +"A day, Miss Wildmere. Your appearance indicates that you have +survived admirably." + +"The moon is so bright that we could drive fast, and I'm always happy +when in rapid motion." + +"You have had the advantage of me then; yet I've been in rapid motion +a good part of the day on express trains." + +"I feared you were not going to return to-day," she said, as she +strolled out with him on the piazza. + +"Feared?" + +"Yes, why not?" + +"It strikes me that I might ask, Why?" + +"Surely you would not have me lose such an evening as this, Mr. Muir?" +she said, a little reproachfully. + +"I would have you follow your own heart." + +"I shall follow it as soon as possible," she replied, so earnestly +that he was disarmed--especially as the glance which accompanied the +words was full of soft allurement and appeal. Of her own accord she +put her hand on his arm, and spoke in low, contented tones, as if she +had at last found rest and refuge. The moon poured around her a flood +of radiance, which gave her an ethereal aspect. Her white drapery +enhanced and spiritualized her remarkable beauty, making her appear +all that lover or poet could ask. His own words grew kinder and +gentler; his heart went out to her as never before; she seemed so +fair, delicate, and pure in that witching light that he longed to +rescue her at once from her surroundings. Why should he not? She had +never manifested a more gentle and yielding mood. He directed her +steps from the piazza to a somewhat distant summer-house, and her +reluctance was a shy half revolt, which only emphasized the natural +meaning of her unspoken consent. + +Mrs. Muir was still keeping her eyes open, and from her window saw +them pass under the shadow of the trees. + +At last they were sitting alone in the summer night. Graydon felt that +words were scarcely needed--that his manner had spoken unequivocally, +and that hers had granted all; but he took her hand and looked +earnestly into her downcast face. "Oh, Stella--" he began. + +A twig snapped in the adjacent grove. She sprang up. "Hush, Graydon," +she whispered; "not yet. Please trust me. Oh, what am I thinking of to +be out so late!--but could not resist. Come;" and she started for the +house. + +As they passed in at the door he said, in a low, deep tone, "You +cannot put me off much longer, Stella." + +"No, Graydon," she whispered, hurriedly, and hastened to her room. + +In his deep feeling he had not heard the suspicious sound in the +grove, and Miss Wildmere's manner was only another expression of the +strong constraint which he believed to be imposed upon her by her +father's financial peril. He felt bitterly disappointed, however. +Although irritated, he was yet rendered more than forgiving by the +apparent truth that she had almost yielded to the impulses of her +heart, in spite of grave considerations--and promises perhaps--to the +contrary. + +He was at a loss what to do, yet felt that the present condition of +affairs was becoming intolerable. Almost immediately upon his return +from Europe he had written to Mr. Wildmere for permission to pay his +addresses, and had received a brief and courteous reply. The thought +of again appealing to the father occurred to him, but was speedily +dismissed with unconquerable repugnance. The very fact that this man +compelled his daughter to take such a course made Graydon wish never +to speak to him again. "No," he muttered; "the girl must yield to me, +and cut loose from all her father's shifty ways and associations." + +The night was so beautiful, and his thoughts kept him so wakeful, that +he sat in a shadow and watched the moonlight transfiguring the world +into beauty. Before long he heard a step, and a man came from that +end of the piazza which was nearest the summer-house. As he passed +in, Graydon saw that it was Arnault. The quick suspicion came into +his mind, "Could he have been watching?" Then flashed another thought, +"Could she have become aware of his presence, and was this the cause +of her abrupt flight?" + +The latter supposition was dismissed indignantly and at once. The +affair was taking on an aspect, however, so intensely disagreeable +that he resolved to write to Miss Wildmere that he would absent +himself until Arnault should disappear below the horizon. He would +then go trouting or take a trip to some other resort. This course +he believed would bring her to a decision, and after their recent +interview he could scarcely doubt its nature. + +Before he was aware of it, his thoughts returned to Madge. In fancy he +saw the gray farmhouse on the lonely mountain-side, with a sweet +face at the window, the dark, sympathetic eyes now looking out on +the silent, moonlit landscape, and again at the thin, white face of a +dying girl. "Poor, poor child!" he thought, reverting to the patient. +"Well, for once, at least, she has had a good angel watching over her. +I would like to see Madge's face framed by the open window in this +witching light. Would to Heaven that Stella was more like her! Yet +Stella was beautiful as a dream to-night, and it seemed that my vision +of happiness was on the very eve of fulfilment." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MADGE'S STORY + + +Early in the beautiful morning of the following day Graydon was out +securing a light carriage, for he reasoned that after watching all +night Madge would be too weary to enjoy horseback exercise. He first +called on the doctor, and obtained careful directions as to the +locality of Madge's sojourn. "The best I can do is to go with you +as guide this afternoon to the trout-stream, and then drive back by +moonlight," the doctor added. + +Within an hour Graydon reached the cottage, and Madge ran out to +welcome him. "Now, this is kind and thoughtful of you," she said, and +there was unmistakable gladness in her face. + +"Dear Madge, you have had a long, dismal night, I fear. I can see it +from the lines under your eyes." + +"It has been a sad night, Graydon, yet I am very glad I came, and you +have now rewarded me. The poor girl is sleeping, and I can slip away." + +Mr. and Mrs. Wendall parted from her feelingly and gratefully. Madge +promised to come again soon. + +For a few moments they drove in silence, and then Madge sighed: "How +young, fresh, and full of beautiful life the world seems this morning! +The contrast with that poor, suffering, dying girl is too great. +Nature often appears strangely indifferent." + +"I am not indifferent, Madge. I kept a sort of watch with you for an +hour or two last night in the wee, sma' hours, and tried to imagine +you sitting in just such an open window as I saw there, with the +moonlight on your face; and I thought that the poor girl had one good +angel watching over her. You know I am a man of the world, but an act +of ministry like this touches me closely." + +"No, Graydon; not a good angel, but a very human creature was the +watcher." + +"Tell me about it--that is, continue the story from the point where +Mary left off;" and he explained about Mrs. Muir's account of the +previous evening. + +"Well, you know what a wilful creature I am?" she began, with the +glimmer of a smile. + +"Oh, yes; I've learned to understand that feature of your royal +womanhood. You are trying to be a woman, Madge. Well, you are one--the +kind I believe in. See how much faith I have--I believe, yet don't +understand." + +"No jesting or compliments this morning, please; I'm too heavy-hearted +for them now." + +"You ought to be serene and happy after so kind and good a deed." + +"No," she said, decisively; "that sympathy must be superficial which +can pass almost immediately into self-complacency. Oh, Graydon, it is +all so sad, yet not sad; so passing strange, yet as natural and true +as life and death! I did sit for hours just as you imagined, looking +out on the great, still mountains. Never did they seem so vast +and stable, and our life so vapor-like, as when I heard that poor +fluttering breath come and go at my side. There was a time when this +truth grew oppressive; but later on that feeble life, which seemed +but a breath, came to mean something greater and more real than the +mountains themselves. But I am anticipating. As soon as Mary departed +I became as imperious as I dared to be. I saw that the poor mother had +reached about the limit of her endurance, and I arranged the lounge in +the sitting-room, so that she could lie down at once, saying: 'I am a +stranger, and young, and it's not natural that you should be willing +to give up to me too much, nor do I wish you to be far away; yet I +can see just how sorely in need of rest you are. You must finish your +supper, give me your directions, and then lie down and get every bit +of rest you can. I can easily keep awake, and promise to call you +whenever you are needed.' + +"'Nancy,' her husband added, 'Miss Alden is right. I see by the way +she takes hold that she'll do everything, and you're jest beat out.' +So between us we had our way. + +"'Bless you, miss,' said the man, trying to smile in a way that almost +made me cry, 'I'm as handy as a woman 'bout a kitchen;' and he soon +proved that he was handier than I could have been, for in a few +minutes he pulled up from the well a pail, took out a dressed chicken, +and broiled it to perfection. I made his wife eat some of it, and +saved a little of the breast for poor Tilly, as they call her." + +"Did you take any yourself?" interrupted Graydon. + +"Oh, yes, indeed! I'm one of those prosaic creatures whose appetite +never fails. If the world were coming to an end to-day I should insist +on having my breakfast." + +"Madge," said Graydon, ruefully, "I might as well tell you, for I'm +sure to be found out: I once called you 'lackadaisical.'" + +"Oh, I knew that over two years ago! What's more, you were right." + +"No; I was not right," he answered, positively. "I should have +recognized the possibilities of your nature then. I did in regard to +your beauty, but not those higher qualities which bid fair to make you +my patron saint." + +"Oh, hush, Graydon. Such words only pain me. I don't want your +compliments, and if any man made a patron saint of me I should be so +exasperated that I should probably box his ears. Let us stick to what +is simple, natural, and true, in all our talk." + +"You may say what you please, Madge, I see it more clearly every day, +and reproach myself that I did not understand you. I was content to +amuse and pet you, and you naturally did not think me capable of doing +anything more. You went away alone to make as brave a fight as was +ever battled out in this world, and I had no part in helping you. +Mr. and Mrs. Wayland were worth a wilderness of superficial +society-fellows like me. I now know why you did not care to correspond +with me while making your noble effort." + +[Illustration: HER LIPS WERE SLIGHTLY PARTED; HER POSE, GRACE ITSELF.] + +"Truly, Graydon, your memory and penetration are phenomenal." + +"You may disclaim out of kindness now, but I know I am right. You make +my life appear shallow and trivial. What have I done in the last two +years but attend carefully, from habit, to the details of business, +and then amuse myself? And when I wrote I merely sought to amuse you. +What were my flippant letters worth to one who was in earnest?" + +"Graydon," said Madge, looking into his eyes with gentle dignity, "you +may do yourself injustice if you will, but you shall not misjudge me. +I have acquired a little of the art of taking care of myself, and you +are doing me a wrong which I cannot permit. I remember everything, +from the time that your kind eyes rested on the pallid, shrinking +child that crept down to the dining-room when we first met, and from +that day to this you have been kind and helpful to me. I said that +I regarded you as one of the best friends I had in the world. Do +you think me insincere? Do you think I forget how kind you were when +society would not have tolerated the ghost I was? I am not one who +forgets and ignores the past--who can go on to new friends with a +frigid shoulder for old ones. Let us end these misunderstandings. +Before the year is out you will probably be engaged, perhaps married. +Our lives will be widely separated. That is inevitable from the nature +of things. But distance and absence can cause no such separation as +results from misunderstanding. If we should not meet again in twenty +years I should be the same loyal friend. Now I've said it, and don't +vex me again by speaking as if I had not said and meant it." + +"I can scarcely tell whether your words make me more glad or sad. Each +feeling is deeper than you will ever believe. You certainly give +me the impression that if I marry Stella Wildmere our lives will be +separated." + +"You don't take nature, especially woman-nature, into consideration at +all. I am not congenial to Miss Wildmere; she does not like me. It +is nothing against her, but some people are antagonistic. This is +especially true among women, and in this case it is not strange. Our +experiences have been very different. She has ever been a beautiful, +brilliant society-girl. With her at your side you would always be +an object of envy in circles congenial to you, for admiration would +follow her as the light follows day. In the past, you know, I have +not been influenced by society considerations, and in the future they +shall be very secondary. Therefore we of necessity are unlike, and +could never be much company for each other. There is never any use +in trying to ignore the old law of 'like unto like.' I say this in +explanation of what you know is true all the world over. Even +the close ties of kindred often count for little where tastes, +occupations, and habits of thought are diverse. All this is nothing +against your perfect right to please yourself. In this land, thank +Heaven! families and friends cannot yoke people together to pull +forward general and miscellaneous interests." + +"You speak as if it were a slight thing when the woman whom a man +marries is merely accepted, tolerated, by his kindred." + +"I have not said that, Graydon; I have only said again what I said +before--that a man has a right to please himself. The truth is trite +enough; why recur to it?" + +"Gravitation is trite enough, but it often has an acute bearing on +one's experience. You do not like Stella--" + +"And she does not like me." + +"Very well; but you try to be just to her, and when she has lived a +while in different associations you will find her greatly changed. +I think you can be her close friend in the future. But Henry detests +her, and he is so quietly and obstinately tenacious in his views that +the fact annoys me exceedingly." + +"Very well; you can't help that. You will live in different houses, +and your domestic life will be quite removed from business interests." + +"Oh, confound Henry! He married to suit himself, so shall I. But, +Madge, dear Madge, you will try to love her--to help her to be more +like you, for my sake?" + +At last Madge's laugh rang out merrily. "For mercy's sake, Graydon, +don't ask me to be a missionary to your wife," she cried. "If I +escaped with my eyes I should be lucky. You must think your wife +perfection, and make her think you do. Woe be unto you if you +introduce a female friend and suggest that she should be imitated, +even to the arch of an eyebrow. Oh, no, I thank you! That's a sphere +in which I shouldn't shine at all, and I wouldn't dare attempt it with +any feminine saint in the calendar. Oh, Graydon, what a dear old goose +you are!" and she laughed till the tears came into her eyes. He joined +her in a half vexed way, protesting that she was still as uncanny as a +ghost, although she had lost the aspect of one. + +Suddenly she stopped, and tears of sorrow filled her eyes. "Here I +am, laughing at our absurd talk," she said, "when I have just left the +side of a poor girl, no older than myself, who is ghostly indeed in +her flickering life. Is it heartless to seem to forget so soon? Oh, +Graydon, you don't know what trouble is! You have only had vexations +thus far. Let me tell you what happened last night, if only to make +you grateful for your strong, prosperous life." + +"Tell me anything you wish. I always have better thoughts and impulses +after being with you." + +"Please don't regard me as egotistical, or offend me by thinking I am +trying to be better than others. Why shouldn't I help that poor girl? +We often dance all night for fun; why can't we watch occasionally for +pity? And in simple truth it will be a long time before the ache for +that poor creature will go out of my heart. It came very close home, +Graydon--very close. It brought to mind another girl, who was once +scarcely stronger or better than Tilly Wendall is to-day, but God was +kind. Tilly also has great black eyes, and they do look so large and +pathetic in the wan little face! At first they did not notice me much. +I was only another of the watchers who had come to aid her mother. +It's astonishing how kind these plain country people are to one +another in trouble, and many a housewife in this region has toiled all +day and then sat up with the poor child the livelong night. + +"For the first few hours I could do little more than help her move +in her weak restlessness, and give remedies to relieve her incessant +cough. The poor thing seemed neither more nor less than a victim of +disease, that with a cruelty almost malign had tortured her. I can't +explain how this awful impression grew upon me. It was as if viewless, +brutal hands had racked the emaciated form until intelligence was +gone, and then, not content, would continue their vindictive work +while breath remained in the body. As my watch was prolonged this +impression grew into a nightmare of horror. The still house, the +silent, white, beautiful world without, and that frail young girl +tortured hour after hour under my eyes by fever and a convulsive, +incessant, remorseless cough." + +She buried her face in her hands, and for a moment or two her voice +was choked with sobs. + +"Oh, Madge," cried Graydon, almost fiercely, "you anger me! I would +strangle a man who harmed a hair of such a child's head. How can I +worship a God who sends or permits such a thing? You are braver than +I. I could see a man shot, but I couldn't look upon what you have +described. Yet the picture brings back the moment when we parted--when +you struggled feebly in my arms with a premonition of your almost +mortal weakness, and then sank back white and deathlike. If you had +not made so wise and brave an effort you might have lingered on in +torture like this poor girl. You stood in just that peril, did you +not?" + +"I suppose I did." + +"Oh, what a clod I was! I used to hear you cough night after night, +and I would mutter, 'Poor Madge!' and go to sleep. To think that you +might have suffered as this girl is suffering! I never realized it +before, yet I thought I did. I can't tell you how my whole nature +rebels at it all, and pious talk about resignation in the presence of +such scenes fairly makes me grind my teeth;" and his brow blackened +like night in his mental revolt, and his eyes were sternly fixed in +honest, indignant arraignment of the Power he did not scruple to defy, +though so impotent to resist. + +Madge brushed away her tears, and watched him earnestly for a moment. +In that confused instant she exulted in the strong, generous, kindly +manhood that would not cringe even to omnipotence when apparently +cruel. She said, gently, "Graydon, you are condemning God." + +"I can't help it," he began, impetuously, "that is, such a God--" + +She put her hand over his mouth. + +"I like you better for your words," she continued, "but please don't +talk so any more. Let what you have said apply to 'such a God--' I +know what you mean, but there is no such being in existence. Let me +finish my story. We have had too many interruptions, and this secluded +road has an end. I won't try to explain my faith. What happened may +make it clearer to you. Well, Tilly gradually grew quieter, and at +last slept. The tired mother was sleeping also, and I sat at the +window just as you imagined, my thoughts sad and questioning, to say +the least At last I saw that Tilly was awake, and looking at me with +something like interest and curiosity. I went to her and asked if I +could do anything. + +"She said, in her slow, feeble way, 'I thought I knew every one about +here, but I don't remember to have seen you before.' + +"Then I told her who I was, and that her mother was in the next room. + +"'You are very kind,' she said. 'And you are from the hotel. Isn't it +a little strange?' + +"'It should not be,' I replied, and explained how I came to stay, +adding, 'Don't talk any more. You are not strong enough.' + +"With a quiet smile that astonished me, she said, 'It won't make any +difference, Miss Alden; I shall never be any better, or, rather, I +shall soon be well. My mind seems growing clearer, and I'd like to +talk a little. It is strange to see a young girl here. Are you strong +and well?' + +"'Yes, very strong, and very glad to help your mother take care of +you. I was once almost as ill as you are, yet I got well. Cheer up, +and let us nurse you back to health.' + +"She shook her head. 'No, that's now impossible. You come and cheer +poor mother and father, Miss Alden. I am more than cheerful, I am +happy.' + +"I made her call me Madge, and said: 'Tell me then in a few words how +you can be happy. My heart has just been aching for you ever since I +came.' + +"Perhaps she saw tears in my eyes, for she said, 'Sit down by me.' +Then she took my hand, leaned her cheek upon it, and looked at me with +such a lovely sympathy in her beautiful dark eyes! + +"'Yes,' she said, 'I see you are young and strong, and you probably +have wealth and many friends; still I think I am better off than you +are. I am almost home, and you may have long, weary journeying before +you yet. You ask me why I am happy. I'll just give you the negative +reasons: think how much they mean to me--"And there shall be no more +death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more +pain." All these may be taken from my life any hour. Think of what +will be added to it. You believe all this, Madge?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Then you must know why I am happy, and why I may be better off than +you are. It will be very hard for father and mother--there will be +more pain for them here in consequence--but soon it will all end +forever; in a little while we shall be together again. So you know +nearly all about poor little me,' she said, with another of her +smiles, which were the sweetest, yet most unearthly things I ever saw. +'And now tell me about yourself. I'm not able to talk much more for +the present. I'd like to know something about the friend who helped +me through the last few steps of my journey. I can think about you in +heaven, you know,' she said, with the sweetest little laugh. 'Don't +look so sad, Madge. They'll tell you I'm gone soon. "Gone where?" ask +yourself, and never grieve a moment.' + +"Oh, Graydon, she made it all seem so real, talking there alone in the +night! And it is just as she says or it isn't anything. When you +said, 'Such a God,' you had in mind a theological phantom, and I don't +wonder you felt as you did; but this girl believes in a God who 'so +loved the world'--who so loved her--and I do also. Her pain, her +thwarted young life, I don't understand any more than I do other +phases of evil, but I can give my allegiance to One who came to take +away the evil of the world. That's about all the religion I have, and +you mustn't ever say a word against it. + +"Well, there is but little more to tell. Tilly spoke in quiet, broken +sentences as her cough permitted, and I told her a little about myself +and sang to her some hymns that mother sang to me when I was a child. +With the dawn her mother came in, and was frightened at having slept +so long, but Tilly laughed and said it was just splendid. + +"She was evidently a very intelligent girl, and must have been a +pretty one, too. She certainly has read a great deal, and has taught +in public schools. There didn't seem to be a trace of morbidness +in her mind or feeling. She was simply trying to make the best of +everything, and her best certainly is _the_ best. She has helped and +comforted me more than I could her." + +"Comforted you, Madge?" + +"Oh, well," was the somewhat confused reply. "I've had trouble, and +shall have again. Who is without it long in this world?" + +"It's almost hard to see how serious trouble can reach you hereafter, +you are so strong, so fortified. No, Madge; I'll never say a word +against your faith or that of your new friend. Would to Heaven I had +it myself! I wouldn't have missed this talk with you for the world, +and you can't know how I appreciate the friendship which has led +you to speak to me frankly of what is so sacred. All the whirl and +pressure of coming life and business shall never blot from my memory +the words you have spoken this morning or the scenes you have made so +real." + +If this were true, how infinitely deeper would have been his +impression if he could have seen the beautiful girl, now smiling into +his eyes, bowed in agony at that sick-bed, while she acknowledged with +stifled sobs that the dying girl _was_ better off--far happier than +she who had to face almost the certainty of lifelong disappointment. +Poor Madge had not told Graydon all her story. She would have died +rather than have her secret known on earth, but she had not feared to +breathe it to one on the threshold of heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DISPASSIONATE LOVERS + + +During the last moments of their drive Madge and Graydon were +comparatively silent. They were passing dwellings, meeting strangers, +and they could not, with the readiness of natures less finely +organized, descend to commonplaces. Each had abundant food for +thought, while even Graydon now believed that he so truly understood +Madge, and had so much in common with her, that words were no longer +needed for companionship. + +As they approached the piazza, they saw that Arnault was still Miss +Wildmere's devoted attendant. His presence meant hope for Madge, and +Graydon was slightly surprised at his own indifference. He felt that +the girl to whom he regarded himself as bound belonged to a different +world, a lower plane of life than that of which he had been given a +glimpse. The best elements of his nature had been profoundly moved, +and brought to the surface, and he found them alien to the pair on +the piazza. He was even self-reproachful that he saw with so little +resentment Stella's present companionship. + +"While I don't like her course at all," he thought, "I must believe +that she is acting from the most self-sacrificing motives. What +troubles me most now is that I have a growing sense of the narrowness +of her nature." + +He had never come from her presence with his manhood aroused to its +depths. It was her beauty that he dwelt upon; her piquant, alluring +tones and gestures. Madge was not an ill-natured critic of the girl +who threatened to destroy her future, but, by being simply what she +was, she made the other shrink and grow common by contrast. + +To Graydon such comparisons were odious indeed, and he would not +willingly permit them; but, in conformity to mental laws and the force +of circumstances, they would present themselves. Each day had found +him in the society of the two girls, and even an hour like one of +those just passed compelled him to feel the superiority of Madge. His +best hope already for Stella was that she would change when surrounded +by better influences--that her faultless taste in externals would +eventually create repugnance to modes of thought and action unsuitable +in a higher plane of life. He did not question his love for her, +but he felt this morning that it was a love which was becoming +disenchanted early, and into which the elements of patience and +tolerance might have to enter largely. Should he marry her to-day he +could not, as Madge had said, and with the first glow of affection, +believe her perfect. He even sighed as he thought of the future. + +His heart was very tender toward Madge, but it was with an affection +that seemed to him partly fraternal, and partly a regard for one +different, better, purer than himself. He proved the essential +fineness, the capabilities of his nature, by his appreciation of some +of her higher traits. Her ministry to the dying girl had given her +a sacredness in his eyes. For the time she was becoming a sort of +religion to him. He revealed this attitude of mind to her by a gentle +manner, and a tone of respect and consideration in the least thing he +said. + +"Oh," thought the poor girl, "he could be so much to me and I to him! +His touch, even in thought, would never be coarse and unfeeling; and +I have seen again and again that I can inspire him, move him, and make +him happy. Why must a wretched blunder thwart and blight two lives?" + +Before they had finished their breakfast the beautiful languor of +sleep was again in his companion's eyes, and he said: "Dear Madge, +promise me you will take a long rest. Before we part I want to tell +you what an illumined page you have put in my memory this morning. +Some of the shadows in the picture are very dark, but there is also a +light in it that 'never was on sea or land.' When you wake I shall be +on my way to the trout-stream to which Dr. Sommers will guide me; and, +do you know? I feel as if my memories will be in accord with the scene +of my camping-ground. As I sit in my tent-door to-night I shall think +over all you have said and described." + +Her only answer was a smile, that for some reason quickened his pulse. + +Much occurred before they met again. + +He went to his room, wrote some letters, and made other preparations. +Then, feeling that he should give the remaining time before his +departure to Miss Wildmere, he sought her. She appeared to be waiting +for him on the piazza, and there was reproach in her tone, as she +said, "I half feared you were going without bidding me good-by." + +"Such fears were scarcely just to me." + +"I did not know but that you had so greatly enjoyed your morning drive +as to go away in a fit of absent-mindedness. I have been sitting here +alone an hour." + +"I could not know that. When I drove up I saw that I should be _de +trop_," he replied, as they sauntered to an adjacent grove. + +"Now, Graydon, you know that is never true, so far as I am concerned." + +"The trouble is, Miss Wildmere, others are concerned in such a way +that the only resource left me is to keep my distance." + +"Mr. Arnault has returned to the city," she said, with what appeared a +great sigh of relief. "I am perfectly free now." + +"Till Mr. Arnault returns." + +"I cannot help his return." + +"Oh, no. I do not question his right to come back, or even to buy this +hotel and turn us all out." + +"Please don't talk about him any more. I'm doing the best I can." + +"I believe you think so, but I cannot think it will prove the best for +any one. It is not what I expected or even imagined. You are acting +from a mistaken sense of duty, and I am more sorry every day that +you can commit such an error. Look at it in its true light, Stella. I +cannot believe you are deceiving me: you must be leading Mr. Arnault +to entertain a false hope." + +"Graydon, I have refused Mr. Arnault, and he will take no refusal." + +"You can refuse him in such a way that he must take it at once and +forever." + +"You don't know--" she began, tears coming into her eyes. + +"No; you have only led me to surmise a great deal by implication." + +"What would become of mamma and my little sister if papa should fail +utterly?" and tears came faster. No one could be more pathetic than +Miss Wildmere when she chose. + +"Can you not trust me for them as well as for yourself?" + +"Oh, Mr. Muir, I know you mean most generously and kindly, but papa is +so anxious and fearful! He tries to keep up before others, but I know +how he feels, and it's terrible. He is past middle age, and business +success means very much to him. How can I do anything to harm him? I +know so little about business and its perils, while papa thinks +there may be terrible dangers ahead for every one. You might have the +good-will to help us and yet soon be scarcely able to help yourself. +I have been made to feel that the best I could do through these +troublous times was to try to aid papa as far as possible, and then I +shouldn't have anything with which to reproach myself." + +Graydon was perplexed. Apparently she was doing wrong in the most +self-sacrificing spirit, and believed that doing right, which would +end her abnegation, was wrong and selfish. + +While he hesitated, she resumed: "You see, Graydon, papa has the same +as said that Mr. Arnault was tiding him over until he could realize +on securities now of little value. Of course there has been no +compromising understanding in words--do not think us capable of that. +It would cut me to the heart to have you misjudge me or condemn me. I +will give you the highest proof I can of my--my--esteem by being frank +on a delicate subject, so that you can see how I am placed. I don't +think many young ladies would do as much. Of course what I say is +sacred between us. Mr. Arnault offered himself long since, and I +promptly declined the honor, but he laughingly told me he would take +no refusal, and chatted through the rest of the evening as pleasantly +as if nothing had happened. I have virtually refused him several times +since, but he persists, declaring that he will remain an agreeable +friend until I change my mind. Surely, I am not misleading him. I +do like him as a friend, and he knows that I have for him no other +regard, and never had. Before you came he had begun to help papa, and +to throw business in his way, and just now he is rendering him very +great service. He may do this in the hope of influencing me, but he +gives his aid without conditions. Yet I know him well enough to be +sure that he would withdraw this business help should I now harshly +dismiss him or engage myself to another. While I do show him that I +appreciate his kindness, I do nothing to indicate that my feeling is +changed. He must know that I regard him in the same light as in the +past. If he is content with this, I have asked myself why I should +be precipitate--why alienate him now in the very crisis of papa's +affairs. Of course if I had only myself to think of--I've been foolish +enough to think that I might help papa and still be happy in the end. +Am I so very naughty, Graydon?" + +He was at a loss how to answer her, but felt that he must at once +disabuse her mind of one expectation. + +"I admit, Stella," he said, thoughtfully, "that you are peculiarly +placed, and I thank you for making clearer what I had partially +surmised. While I admire and respect the motive, I must still repeat +that I regret beyond all words such action in one who is so much +to me. It is right also that I should define my own position more +clearly. I will imitate your generous frankness. You know how greatly +I admired you before I first went abroad; and while I felt that there +was little chance for me, you being sought by so many, I did not give +up hope. This hope was strengthened by my visit last summer, and when +I returned and found you free a few weeks since I determined to win +you if I could. You know I would have spoken before had you permitted. +I have for some little time felt myself irrevocably bound by what has +passed between us. I also believed that you would eventually give me +a full explanation in regard to Mr. Arnault, and that his attentions +would cease. As to my not being able to take care of you, that is +absurd. I am not wealthy yet, but few young men in the city have +better prospects. My brother's business is large and profitable, and I +am soon to share in it. I could not, from the nature of things, enter +into business relations with your father--I should not be at the head +of the firm--but neither you nor yours should ever want. As to +my brother, he is in no financial danger whatever. He has a large +fortune, and is conservatism itself. If you are placed in an +embarrassing position, I am also. Arnault's manner is not that of a +friend. Others misjudge you and me also. It looks to the people here, +and to my own family, as if you were playing with us both. + +"Moreover," he continued, after a moment's thought, "you are drifting +into a false relation with Arnault, although you may not be conscious +of it. Before these troubles began you simply tolerated his attentions +good-naturedly, and without any special motive. Now you have a +definite motive and purpose, and--pardon me, Stella--they are +misleading him. He would not continue his attentions an hour, did +he believe they were utterly hopeless. To Arnault and all others you +appear undecided between him and myself. Such an experiment as you are +trying cannot work well. If he has any other power beyond that of your +maidenly preference, he will not hesitate to increase it, and may make +your father more utterly dependent upon him while appearing helpful." + +"Yes; I have thought of that," she said, musingly. + +"There seems to me but one straightforward, high-toned thing for you +to do, Stella, and that is to follow your heart." + +He was almost frightened at himself that he spoke with so little +eagerness and longing. His words seemed but the honorable and logical +sequence of what had gone before. For some reason this girl in the +broad light of day did not appear to be the same as when she had +fascinated him in the witching moonlight the evening before. It was +not that her beauty had gone with the glamour of the night, but he +had been breathing a different and a purer atmosphere. Madge had been +revealing what to him seemed ideal womanhood. + +In regard to Stella his illusion had so far passed that he thought, +consciously, "Even at her best she is presenting Wildmere traits; her +very self-sacrifice takes on a Wildmere form, and there is a flavor of +Wall Street in it all." + +But he still believed that he loved her, and that, if she was equal to +such great though mistaken self-sacrifice for her father, she would, +under his influence, throw off certain imperfections and gain a better +tone. + +That such thoughts were passing through his mind was a bad omen for +the continuance of Miss Wildmere's power, and yet the opportunity of +her life was still hers. She had simply to put her hand into his with +a look of trust, and abide by the act, to secure a loyalty that would +always have tried to promote her best interests. That she was strongly +tempted to do this was proved by her manner, in spite of the fact that +she had promised Arnault not to decide against him before Saturday. + +It was a moment of indecision. His strong assurance that he was +abundantly able to take care of her, that Mr. Muir was wealthy and +free from financial embarrassment, almost turned the scale. She felt +that both Arnault and her father were deceiving her for their own +purposes, and she had little hesitation in acting for herself +without regard to them. Graydon's suggestion that her action was not +high-toned, although delicately made, touched her pride to the quick, +and she was compelled to feel during this interview, as never before, +the superiority of the man who addressed her. She longed to force +Henry Muir to acknowledge the daughter of the man he shunned in +business; and not the least among her incentives was the thought of +triumphing over Madge as a possible rival. + +"At any rate," she had thought, "if I become engaged to Graydon he +will have to be very much less fraternal. As to his not aiding papa," +she concluded, "I can't help that. When once married I could make him +do all he could afford, and papa and mamma have no right to expect +anything more." + +To the potency of all these considerations was added a sentiment for +the man who awaited her answer, and who chafed inwardly that it was so +long in coming. + +"Truly," he thought, "this is a strange wooing. Henry himself +could not more carefully weigh the _pros_ and _cons_ than does she +apparently, nor am I in feverish suspense. I had hoped for something +different in my mating." + +A glimmering perception that her manner was not calculated to inspire +a lover at last dawned on Miss Wildmere, and with it came a faltering +purpose to decide in favor of Graydon at once; but as she turned +toward him, to speak with what was meant to be a bewildering smile of +joy, a messenger from the office said, "A telegram, miss." + +Graydon frowned, and then laughed outright. She stopped in the very +act of tearing open the envelope, and looked at him inquiringly. + +"Oh, nothing," he said, lightly. "The opportuneness of that fellow's +coming was phenomenal. How much longer am I to wait for your decision, +Stella? Were the world in our secret, I should be known as St. Graydon +the patient." + +She flushed, but adopted his apparently light mood as the least +embarrassing. "My memory is good, and I shall know how to reward you," +she smilingly replied. "Please let me satisfy my mind about papa, for +I'm sure it's from him." + +"Oh, satisfy your _mind_ fully about everything, Miss Wildmere." + +She tore open the envelope with a strong gesture of impatience, and +read, with a suddenly paling cheek, "Unless you choose the immediate +certainty of absolute loss, wait till I see you. Will come soon. +Wildmere." + +She crushed the telegram in her hand, and turned away with a +half-tragic air which at the moment struck Graydon as a little +"stagy," and then he condemned himself for the thought. As she did not +speak for a moment, he said, sympathetically, "Your tidings are bad?" + +She tried to think, but was confused, and felt that she was in a cruel +dilemma. Could Graydon be deceiving her? or was he as ignorant as he +seemed of his brother's peril? Was her father in league with Arnault +after all? and were they uniting to separate her from Graydon? She +could not tell. She must gain more time. She would see her father, +charge him with duplicity, and wring the truth from him. + +When she turned to Graydon her eyes were full of tears again, and she +faltered: "You may despise me if you will, but my father has made an +appeal to me, and is coming to see me. I must hear what he has to say. +I must tell him that I can't endure--that I can't go on this way any +longer. I would gladly help him, save him, but after what you have +said it's impossible to--Oh, was ever a girl placed in such wretched +straits! Graydon, can you be patient a little longer?" + +"There is nothing else for me to do, Stella. I only stipulate +that your decision be made speedily, and that Arnault be given to +understand what my rights are. I shall have no difficulty in enforcing +them." + +"I shall decide speedily. It is not right that I should be placed in +such a torturing, humiliating position." + +"Now I agree with you perfectly. When does your father come?" + +"He says 'soon.'" + +"Very well; I will return on Saturday." + +"I wish you wouldn't go away now," she entreated. + +"I think it is best," replied Graydon, decisively, yet kindly. "I +have said all that is possible to an honorable man. By remaining I am +placed in an anomalous position which my self-respect does not permit +any longer." + +"I suppose," she sighed, "that I should not ask too much. Well, so be +it, then." + +They walked back to the house in silence. At the door of a side +entrance she turned to him, her face flushing at the admission, and +said, hastily, "I waited a long time for you, Graydon," and then fled +to her room. + +"Oh, confound it!" he muttered, as he walked away. "What a muddle it +all is! I ought to feel like strangling myself for permitting this +doubting, cynical spirit to creep over me. Curse it all! her words and +manner haven't the ring of absolute truth. It seems as if I heard a +voice in the very depths of my soul, saying, 'Beware!' Am I becoming +an imbecile? I doubted and misjudged Madge. Thank Heaven that is past +forever! Now I am doubting and misjudging the woman I have asked to +be my wife. I must be misjudging her--the alternative is horrible. +I can't escape one conviction, however. It is turning out just as I +expected and told her it would. Arnault's aid to her father has been +delusive, and Wildmere is deeper in the mire than ever. This is a fine +ending of my social career! The girl of my choice puts me off until +she can end this Wall Street business more satisfactorily. She must +wait and hear her father's reasons for further diplomacy before she +can answer me. If Henry knew all this--But Madge, crystal Madge, won't +repeat what I said. I must risk the loss of her society also. Has +her keen insight into character enabled her to detect these Wildmere +traits, and is this the cause of her antipathy? How simply she said 'I +couldn't do'--what Stella has accomplished with so much skill that the +gossips in the house are in honest doubt as to her choice, or whether, +indeed, she proposes to accept either Arnault or myself. Well, well, +I'll wait till she has had this interview with her father, and then +she must either decide for me and against such tactics forever, +or else she can wear my scalp in her belt with those of the other +unfortunates." + +In an hour he was on the road with Dr. Sommers to a wild and secluded +valley. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE ENEMIES' PLANS + + +It has been shown that Arnault believed the decisive period to have +come that would see the success or failure of his "operation" in +the Catskills. Keen, penetrating, he had comprehended the situation +clearly. He knew that Stella wished to accept Graydon, and was held in +check by financial considerations only. He had seen her manner during +the preceding moonlight evening, and with intense anger had observed +from a neighboring grove the episode in the summer-house. The twig had +not casually parted under his step, but had been snapped between his +fingers. Stella's quick alarm and flight had revealed the continuance +of his hold upon her fears, if not her heart. From that moment he +dismissed all indecision. In bitterness he realized that his prolonged +stay in the mountains had not advanced his interests. He had hoped +to win the girl by devotion, keeping financial pressure in the +background; she had been only suave, agreeable, and elusive. He had +told her that he expected her decision by Saturday evening; she had +merely bowed in a non-committal way. Meanwhile it was evident that if +the Muirs kept up, apparently retaining the power to pass unscathed to +better times, she would prolong her hesitancy, and in the end accept +Graydon. He determined, therefore, to see her first, then her father, +and to call in his loan immediately. + +While Graydon and Madge were returning next morning from the lonely +farmhouse Arnault was breakfasting at the hotel. He appeared in +excellent spirits. Miss Wildmere's alert observation could not detect +from his manner his knowledge of the fact that she had been on the +point of yielding to Graydon the evening before. He was full of +gallant courtesy toward her, and every glance and word expressed +admiration. This was always the breath of life to her, and while +it had ceased to give positive pleasure, its absence was like +uncomfortable weather. + +After the meal was over he led her to the same summer-house in which +Graydon had almost spoken words endowed with a lover's warmth and +eagerness. + +"Stella," he said, "I shall go to town on the ten-o'clock train." + +"I supposed you had concluded to remain all the week," she replied. + +"No; very important interests call me to the city, much to my regret. +You only bowed when I requested that I should receive a final answer +before the close of this week. I shall return Saturday. Will you end +my suspense within this time?" + +She was silent. + +"Will you make me another promise, then? Will you remain free this +week? If you will not bind yourself to me, will you promise that +no one else shall have a claim upon you until the time specified +expires?" + +After some hesitation she said, "Yes, I will promise that." + +"Please do so, and you will not regret it," was his quiet response. + +"I am not so eager to be bound that I cannot promise so much." + +"Very well then, I am content for the present;" and he changed the +subject. + +They soon returned to the piazza, and Arnault employed his utmost +effort to be agreeable during the brief time remaining. + +Earlier in the week he had written Mr. Wildmere a letter, in +consequence of which the momentous telegram had restrained the +daughter at the critical moment already mentioned. + +When Madge came down to a late dinner she saw that Arnault had +disappeared from the Wildmere table, and that the belle was already +a victim of _ennui_ in the absence of both gentlemen. During the +afternoon Mrs. Muir was eager to gossip a little over the aspect of +affairs, but soon found that Madge would do scarcely more than listen. + +"I don't understand that Miss Wildmere at all," said the elder +sister; "late last evening she went to yonder summer-house, hanging on +Graydon's arm as if they were engaged or married, and now he's gone to +be absent several days. This morning she was there again with Arnault, +and he wasn't talking about the weather, either. Now he's gone also. +Before Graydon went she had another long interview with him while you +were asleep. Good gracious! what is she aiming at? Young men were not +so patient in my day or in our village; and quiet as Henry appears, +he wouldn't play second string to a bow as Graydon does. When Miss +Wildmere first came I thought it was about settled, and I tried to be +polite to one whom I thought we should soon have to receive. Now it's +a sort of neck-and-neck race between the two men. If Graydon wins, how +shall you treat Miss Wildmere?" + +"Politely for Graydon's sake, of course." + +"Whose chances are best?" + +"Graydon's." + +"Do you think she loves him?" + +"Yes, as far as she can love any one.' + +"Why, Madge, what do you mean?" + +"She could not love as we should; she doesn't know what the word +means. If she did she wouldn't hesitate." + +"You think Henry's opinion of her is correct, then?" + +"I think he's right usually. Miss Wildmere is devoted to one +being--herself." + +"Why, Madge, it would be dreadful to have Graydon marry such a girl!" + +"Graydon is not Harry Muir. He attained his majority some years +since." + +"He certainly is old enough to show more spirit. Well, I don't +understand her tactics, but such belles, I suppose, are a law unto +themselves." + +"Don't let us gossip about her any more. If Graydon becomes engaged +there is only one thing for us to do. Miss Wildmere has made herself +disagreeable to me in many little nameless ways, and we never could be +friends, but I shall not give Graydon cause for just complaint. If he +asks me to see her with his eyes, I shall laugh at him and decline." + +"They shall never live with us," said Mrs. Muir, emphatically. "I know +I'm not a brilliant and accomplished woman, but I have always made +home a place of rest and comfort for Henry, and I intend it always +shall be just such a refuge. He is nervous and uncomfortable whenever +that girl comes near him. Some people can't get on together at all. +I am so glad that he likes you! He says you are one that a man could +depend upon in all sorts of weather." + +"We'll see; but I like Santa Barbara weather, which is usually +serene." + +"Oh, Madge, you'll not go there again?" + +"Yes, I shall probably make it my home. I should never keep my health +in the East, and I should dread a winter in New York more than I can +tell you." + +"Well," said Mrs. Muir, discontentedly, "I suppose you will have your +own way in everything hereafter; but I think you might at least try to +spend a winter with us." + +"If there were cause I would, Mary, but you are happy in your home, +and I am not greatly needed. In my Western home I feel I can get the +most out of life, just as you are getting the most out of yours. I +should suffer from my old troubles in New York." This statement was +true enough to both ladies, although a very prosaic impression was +conveyed to Mrs. Muir's mind. + +To Madge, Graydon's absence contained a strong element of hope. He +would not have gone away if all had been settled between him and Miss +Wildmere, and, as Mary had said, there appeared stronger evidence of +uncertainty now than at first. Graydon had seen Miss Wildmere, and she +evidently had not finally dismissed Arnault. + +Madge indulged in no idle brooding, however, and by activity every +hour in the day, passed the time bravely. One of her boy admirers had +a horse, and became her escort on long excursions; and with Mrs. Muir +she went to see Tilly Wendall again on Friday morning. The poor girl +was very weak indeed, and could do little more than smile her welcome. +Madge promised to spend Sunday night with her. She would have come +before, but Graydon had told her that he might return Friday evening, +and as a storm was threatening she thought it probable that he would +hasten back to avoid it. She believed that there was still hope for +her, and determined that she should never have cause in the future to +reproach herself with lost opportunities. There was no imperative call +of duty to her sick friend, for Mrs. Wendall said that two or three +neighbors had lately offered their services. + +Mrs. Muir was gladdened on her return to the hotel by a telegram from +her husband, saying that he would arrive on the late train and spend +Saturday with her. She and Madge sat down to dinner in a cheerful +mood, which evidently was not shared by Miss Wildmere. + +That brilliant young woman, although she made herself the centre of +all things as far as possible, was a victim of poverty when thrown +upon her own resources. Madge detected her in suppressed yawns, and +had noted that she had apparently done little else than read novels +since parting with the two men who were metaphorically at her feet. +Since the telegram she had not received a word from her father or any +one, and was inwardly chafing at the dead calm that had followed her +exciting experiences. She did not misinterpret the deceptive peace, +however, and knew that on the morrow she must decide what even she +regarded as the most momentous question of life. Persons under the +dominion of pure selfishness escape many perplexities, however, and +she was prone to take short cuts to desired ends. Ready to practice +deceit herself, she became more strongly impressed that her father +and Arnault were misleading her. Therefore she impatiently awaited the +former's appearance, that she might tax him with duplicity. Unless he +had something stronger than vague surmises to offer, she intended on +the morrow to promise Graydon Muir to be his wife. + +As has been seen, Wildmere had too much conscience to try to sell his +daughter outright, but since she was in a mood for a bargain he had +insured the possibility of one remarkably good in his estimation, and +was now on his way with very definite offers and statements indeed. + +In the late afternoon Madge was speaking about a book to an +acquaintance who said, "Go up to my room and get it." + +Madge was not sure whether she cared to read the book or not, and sat +down to examine it. Suddenly she heard distinctly the words, "I don't +believe Henry Muir is in danger of failure. Graydon scouted the idea. +You and Arnault are seeking to mislead me." + +Madge then remembered that the next room was occupied by Miss +Wildmere, and her first impulse was to make a noise, that the +proximity of some one might be known, but like a flash came the +thought, "Chance may have put me in the way of getting information of +vital importance to Henry;" and the next sentence spoken assured her +that this was true, for she heard a voice which she recognized as Mr. +Wildmere's say: + +"In all human probability Muir will be compelled to suspend to-morrow. +Mr. Arnault has placed in his hands a call loan. You know what that +is. Arnault is so alarmed about Muir's condition that he will demand +the money in the morning, and I am perfectly satisfied that Muir can't +raise it. You know enough about business to be aware of what will +happen if he cannot. Such is the market now that if Muir goes down +he will be cleaned out utterly, and Graydon will have to begin at the +bottom like any other young man without resources. Of course, Arnault +cannot afford to lose the money, and must act like any other business +man. + +"But he did not send me here to tell you this. As his broker I know +about it, and tell you of my own accord. This is what he did authorize +me to say to you. Had not business interests, which have already +suffered from his devotion to you, prevented, he would be here now +to make the offer in person. He says that he will settle upon you one +hundred thousand dollars in your own right the day you marry him, and +also give you an elegant home in the city. Now what is your answer?" + +"When Henry Muir fails I'll believe all this," was the sullen reply. + +"Be careful, Stella. Devoted as Arnault is he is not a man to be +trifled with. He has made you a munificent offer, but if you show this +kind of spirit he is just the one to withdraw at once and forever. +If you love Graydon Muir well enough to share his poverty, I have +not another word to say, although I shall be homeless myself in +consequence." + +"Nonsense, papa! You have been on the eve of ruin more times than I +can remember. Graydon assured me that he was abundantly able to take +care of me, and that his brother was in no danger. I can have all the +elegance I want and still follow my own inclination. If Henry Muir +fails, of course that ends the matter; and if he is to fail to-morrow +it will be time enough to give Mr. Arnault my answer to-morrow night, +as he asked that I would. If I give him a favorable one I prefer to do +it in person, for I don't wish to appear mercenary. You, I hope, have +the sense to keep this phase out of view." + +"Oh, certainly. Such high-minded people as we are should not be +misjudged," was the bitter reply. + +"One has to take the world as it is, and one soon learns that all are +looking after their own interests," was the cynical reply. + +"A beautiful sentiment for one so young! Well, I must return to the +city to-night, and I cannot take your acceptance of Mr. Arnault's +offer?" + +"No. I will give my answer in person to-morrow night. I can either +accede in a way that will please him, or decline in a manner that +will keep his friendship. I suppose you believe what you say about +Mr. Muir, but I am sure you are mistaken, and I have set my heart on +marrying Graydon." + +"Your heart?" satirically. + +She made no answer. + +"You are taking no slight risk," he resumed, after a moment. + +"Either Arnault is misleading you, or Graydon is deceiving me, and I +would believe him in preference to Arnault any day. I won't be duped." + +"But I tell you, Stella, that under the circumstances Graydon's +ignorance is not at all strange. He has been absent; he is not in +the firm; and what is swamping Muir is an investment outside of his +regular business." + +"You yourself said within a month that if Henry Muir went through this +business crisis he would represent one of the strongest and wealthiest +houses in the country. If he is in the danger you assert, the fact +will soon be manifested. Mr. Arnault has requested my answer to-morrow +night. I have not promised to give it; I have only promised him not to +accept Graydon in the meantime." + +"The fact that Mr. Arnault is helping me so greatly counts for +nothing, I suppose." + +"Oh, yes; I appreciate it very much, but not enough to marry him +unless I must. I am literally following your advice--to choose between +these two men. I shall convey to Mr. Arnault the impression that I +am deeply moved by the generosity of his offer. I am. Girls don't +get such offers every day. You can show him that the very fact of my +hesitation proves that I am not mercenary; or I can, when I see him. +At the same time I am not at all satisfied that Graydon Muir's offer +is not a better one, and it is certainly more to my mind--if you +don't like the word heart. This fact, however, may as well not be +mentioned." + +After some moments' hesitation he said, slowly: "Very well, then. You +are my daughter, although a strange one, and I shall do as well for +you as I can." + +"Yes, please. I parted with sentiment long ago, but I can do well by +those who do well by me. I shall soon be off your hands, and then you +won't have me to worry about." + +He made no response, and Madge heard his step pass into his wife's +room. A moment later Miss Wildmere also departed, and her voice was +soon heard on the piazza. The conversation had been carried on in a +comparatively low tone, and some words had been lost, but those heard +made the sense given above. Circumstances had favored Madge. The +open window at which she was sitting was near the next window in Miss +Wildmere's room, and within two or three feet there was the customary +thin-panelled door which enables the proprietor to throw rooms +together, as required, for the accommodation of families. Therefore, +without moving or volition on her part information vital to her +relatives had been brought to her knowledge. She was perfectly +overwhelmed at first, and sat as if stunned, her cheeks scarlet with +shame for the act of listening, even while she felt that for the sake +of the innocent and unsuspecting, to whom she owed loyalty and love, +it was right. Soon, however, came the impulse to seek the refuge of +her own room and think of what must be done. She stepped lightly to +the outer door; there was no sound in the corridor, and with all the +composure she could assume she passed quietly out and gained her own +apartment unobserved. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE STRONG MAN UNMANNED + + +Madge locked her doors, bathed her hot face, then paced her room in +great agitation, feeling that not only her own happiness was in peril, +but Graydon's also. Her mental distress was greatly enhanced by a +feeling that in order to save her relatives she herself had been +guilty of what to her sensitive nature appeared almost like a crime. +"Was it right?" she asked herself again and again, and at last reached +the conclusion that the fealty she owed to her relatives and to the +man she loved justified her course--that she should shield them even +at such cost to herself. "It was not curiosity that kept me passive," +she thought, "but the hope, the chance to save Henry from financial +ruin and Graydon from far worse disaster." It would indeed be +"horrible" for any true man to marry such a girl; and to permit the +man she loved to make such a fatal blunder was simply monstrous. Yet +how could she prevent it without doing violence to every maidenly +principle of her nature? + +Should she tell her sister? This impulse passed almost instantly. Mary +had not the tact, nerve, or reticence to meet such an emergency. It +seemed, however, that if something was not done almost immediately +this callous, selfish girl would cause lifelong wretchedness to +Graydon as certainly as to Madge herself. Such a nature could not long +maintain its disguise, and probably would not be at pains to do so +after marriage. The self-sacrifice that she had led Graydon to believe +in was all deceit. It was self with her, first and last; it would be +self always. Madge knew Graydon well enough to be sure that to him, +when his illusions were dissipated, the marriage vow would become a +chain growing heavier with time. + +This absolutely certain phase of the danger was so terrible that at +first it almost completely dominated her thoughts. "Oh," she moaned, +"I could see him marry a woman who would make him happy, and yet +survive, but this would be worse than death!" + +As she became more calm and could think connectedly, her mind reverted +to what had been said about Henry's financial peril; and while she was +inclined to take the same view as Miss Wildmere, she soon began to see +that her brother-in-law should be informed of all references to him. +Then the impression grew upon her that it would be wisest to tell him +all, and let him save his brother, if possible, from a fate infinitely +worse than lifelong poverty. Would this involve the disclosure to Mr. +Muir of her secret? Sometimes she thought that he half suspected her +already, and she feared that she could scarcely speak of a subject +that touched her heart's interests so closely without revealing to +those keen gray eyes more than she would have them see. But the risk +must be taken to save Graydon. + +"Can it be?" she said, after musing awhile, "that Henry is in any +such danger as that man asserted, or was it a trumped-up scheme to +influence the girl? Still, he did say that if she would choose Graydon +and poverty he would not interpose. Poverty! I would welcome bondage +and chains with Graydon. I would almost welcome Henry's failure, that +I might prove to them my devotion. Every penny of my fortune should +be theirs. Henry has looked very anxious and troubled sometimes when +thinking himself unobserved. He keeps everything to himself so--" + +Suddenly she sprang up with a flash of joy in her face, and whispered +to herself, excitedly: "Suppose there is truth in what was said by +those speculators. I have a fortune, and it's my own. Henry said it +was so left to me that I could control it after I was eighteen. I can +lend Henry the money to pay Arnault. I will give him every penny I +possess to carry him safely through. Oh, I am so glad he is coming +to-night!" + +"Come down to supper," called Mrs. Muir. + +"Why, Madge," exclaimed the lady, as they sat down under the light of +the chandelier, "how flushed you are! And your eyes fairly beam with +excitement. I half believe you are feverish." + +"Nonsense! No doses for me now; milk and beefsteak are my remedies. +I've been dwelling on some scenes partly imaginary, and you know how +wrought-up I get." + +"Oh, yes; now I remember, you asked Miss Thompson for a book, and went +for it to her room. Of course that was the last seen of you. I never +could get so carried away by a story." + +"I haven't your even disposition, Mary." + +"Miss Wildmere looks brilliant to-night, also. And if there isn't her +father! This is the first time I've seen him up during the week. Well, +I'm glad to see that his daughter can wake up a little for his sake, a +well as for some other man." + +Madge looked at her with mingled curiosity and repugnance. "Horrid +little monster!" she thought. "Now she is performing her filial act. +As her father said, 'such high-toned people should not be misjudged.'" + +"I think you dislike her worse than Henry does," said Mrs. Muir, with +a low laugh. "You look at her as if she were a snake." + +"She is not a girl after my heart," Madge replied, carelessly; then +added, under her breath, "She's a vampire, but she shan't drain +Graydon's life-blood." + +Miss Wildmere was certainly in a genial mood. The munificent offer +received from Mr. Arnault had enhanced her self-appreciation, and she +felt that she had met it with rare nerve and sagacity. She had not +shown herself dazzled like a village girl, and eager to grasp the +prize. Moreover, she had thought, with proud complacency: "The man who +can offer so much is not going to give me up, even should I keep him +waiting months longer. I still believe that Graydon can give me all +I want at present, and at the same time a position in society which +Arnault could never attain, though worth millions. Arnault is on top +of the wave now, but he is a speculator, like papa, and I'm sick +of these Wall Street ups and downs. I believe in Henry Muir's +conservatism. Because he is keeping quiet now they think he is going +to fail. He is just the kind of man to be five times as rich as people +think. Graydon will succeed to his business and business methods, and +will not only make an immense fortune, but keep it. Papa has given +me the test of all these gloomy warnings. If Henry Muir does not fail +to-morrow, I won't believe a word of all that's been said. If he does, +I'll do the next best thing, and take Arnault. No tenement-house for +me, thank you. I've not been in society so long as not to make the +most of my chances;" and under the inspiration of thoughts like these +Miss Wildmere condescended to be affable to her parents, and to smile +upon the world in general. + +Madge Alden was an exception, however, and for her she had only a +frown as she looked across the room at the young girl and saw the +admiration and friendly regard that were so freely bestowed upon her. +As was inevitable, the selfish spirit of one girl had repelled and the +kindly nature of the other had attracted good-will. Human instinct is +quick to recognize the tax-gatherers of society--the people who are +ever exacting, yet give little except slights, wounds, and criticism. + +"Oh," thought Miss Wildmere, "if I can only marry Graydon and snub +that girl unmercifully I shall be perfectly happy!" + +The late train would not arrive before nine o'clock, and Madge +determined to go down in the stage to meet Mr. Muir. In the meantime +her quick mind was coping with the emergency. She had often heard +it said that in times of financial uncertainty an air of the utmost +confidence should be maintained. Therefore she drew her sister into +the parlor, and managed to place her in a lively and congenial group +of ladies. Mrs. Muir herself was happy in the thought of soon seeing +her husband, and appeared cheerfulness embodied. + +Miss Wildmere saw her laughing and chatting with such unforced +geniality that she muttered: "It's perfectly absurd to imagine that +her husband is on the eve of bankruptcy. Even if he tried he couldn't +keep such trouble utterly from his wife, and I've seen enough of +people to be sure she does not dream of danger. The best people of the +house are ever around her and that Madge Alden. Unless papa returns +to-morrow night with predictions confirmed, the Muirs will have to +admit me hereafter into their charmed circle. 'Sister Madge' looks +also as if something keyed her up tremendously. Perhaps she is +thinking that Graydon will return to-morrow to be her escort on long +rides again. I'll soon put a spoke in that wheel, my proud minx. In a +few hours you may wear a very different expression." + +When the two girls met, however, they were scrupulously polite; but +Madge took such pains to make these occasions rare that Miss Wildmere +perceived the avoidance, and her vindictive feeling was intensified. +Madge saw one or two of her dark looks, but only thought, "I shall now +take a part in your cruel game, and it may not end as you imagine." +She danced and laughed as if not a care weighed upon her mind. + +When the hour arrived for the stage to meet the train she slipped +away, wrapped herself in a cloak, and said to the driver that she was +going to meet a relative. The train, was on time, and Mr. Muir, with +others who were strangers, entered the stage. + +"Why, Madge!" he exclaimed; "you here? This certainly is very kind." + +They sat a little apart, and she whispered: "Don't show any surprise +at this or anything else to-night. I have something to tell you, and +you must manage to give me a private interview without any one knowing +it--not even Mary at present." + +"It's about Graydon," he said, anxiously. + +"It's chiefly about yourself. I've heard something." She took his hand +in the darkness, and felt it tremble. "You know how to keep cool and +disguise your feelings," she resumed. "We can beat them yet. I left +Mary in the parlor, the merriest of a merry group. She is happy in the +thought that you are coming, and doesn't suspect anything. I am sure +you will know just what to do when I tell you all, and you can avert +all danger. Greet Mary as usual, and make the people in the house +think you have no trouble on your mind." + +"All right, Madge. As soon as I've had a little supper, you come to my +room." + +"No, you must take a walk with me outside. I want no walls with ears +around." + +"Is it so very serious?" + +"You will know best when I have told you everything." + +A few moments later Mr. Muir walked into the parlor the picture of +serene confidence, and smiling pleasure at meeting his wife, who +sprang up, exclaiming: "I declare, I was so enjoying myself that I +did not realize it was time for you to be here. Come, I've ordered a +splendid supper for you." + +"I shall reward your thoughtfulness abundantly," he replied, "for I +am ravenous." He then greeted Mrs. Muir's friends cordially, said some +pleasant words, and even bowed, when retiring, very politely to Mrs. +Wildmere, who in her meek, deprecating way sat near the door. + +Two or three gentlemen sought Madge's hand for the next dance, and she +was out upon the floor again, her absence not having been commented +upon. + +Not a feature of this by-play had been lost on Miss Wildmere, and she +smiled satirically. "They thought to dupe me with delusions about Mr. +Muir. He has no more idea of failing than I have, and before very long +he shall be Brother Henry to me as well as to Madge Alden." + +After a little while Madge excused herself and joined her relatives in +the dining-room. She found her sister happy in giving all the details +of what had occurred in her husband's absence, and he was listening +with his usual quiet interest, while deliberately prolonging his meal +to give the impression that his appetite made good his words. But +Madge saw that he was pale and at times preoccupied. + +At last he rose from the table, and Mrs. Muir said, "I will go and +have a look at the children, and then join you on the piazza." + +"Very well, Mary, I'll be there soon. I've sat so long in the cars +that I want to walk a little for a change, so don't hasten or worry if +I'm gone a little longer than usual. After such a splendid supper as +you have secured for me I need a little exercise, and will smoke +my cigar on my feet. The fact is, I don't get exercise enough. Come, +Madge, you'd walk all day if you had a chance." + +Mrs. Muir thought the idea very sensible. Mr. Muir and Madge passed +out through a side door. The former lighted his cigar leisurely, and +they strolled away as if for no other purpose than to enjoy the warm +evening. The storm had not come, but clouds were flying wildly across +the disk of the moon, and the hurry-skurry in the sky was akin to the +thoughts of the quiet saunterers. + +"Where shall we go?" he asked. + +"Not far away. There is an open walk near, where we could see any one +approach us." + +"Now, Madge," Mr. Muir began, after reaching the spot, "I have +followed your suggestions, for I have great confidence in your good +sense. Your words have worried me exceedingly." + +"There is reason for it, Henry, even though there is probably no truth +in what has been said about your financial peril." + +"Great God!" he exclaimed, starting, "is that subject talked about?" + +"Do you owe money to Mr. Arnault?" + +"Yes," with a groan. + +"Would it hurt you should he demand it to-morrow?" + +"Oh, Madge, this is dreadful!" and she saw that he was trembling. + +"Now, Henry, take heart, and be your cool, brave self." + +"Give me a little time, Madge. I've been carrying a heavy load, but +thought the worst was over. I believe things have touched bottom, and +I was beginning to see my way to safety in a short time. Even now the +tide is turning, and I can realize on some things in a few days. But +if this money is demanded to-morrow--Saturday, too, when nearly all +my friends are out of town--it is very doubtful whether I could raise +it." + +"Would it cause your failure?" + +"Yes, yes, indeed. A man may be worth a million but if he can't get +hold of ready money at the moment it is needed, everything may be +swept away. Oh, Madge, this is cruel I With just a little more time I +could be safe and rich." + +"Why have you not told us this?" + +"Because I wouldn't touch your money and Mary's under any +circumstances, and I know that you both would have given me no peace, +through trying to persuade me to borrow from you." + +"That's just like you, Henry. How much do you owe Mr. Arnault?" + +"Madge, I'm not going to borrow your money." + +"Of course not, Henry. Please tell me." + +"You will take no action without my consent?" + +"Certainly not." + +"Well, the paltry sum of thirty thousand, if demanded to-morrow, may +involve the loss of my fortune. Of course if I could not pay this at +once all the rest would be down on me. How in the world did you gain +any knowledge of this affair?" + +"Thank God, and take courage. I believe good is going to come out of +this evil, and I believe you will think so too when you have heard my +story;" and she told him everything. + +"And Graydon has, to all intents and purposes, engaged himself to +this--speculator," said Mr. Muir, grinding his teeth. "He's no brother +of mine if he does not break with her; and, as it is, I feel as if I +could never trust him with my affairs again." + +Henry Muir was a man not easily moved, but now his concentrated +passion was terrible to witness. His hands worked convulsively; his +respiration was quick and irregular. His business and his commercial +standing were his idols, and to think that a selfish, scheming girl +had caused the jeopardy of both to further her own petty ambition, +and that his brother should be one of her tools, enraged him beyond +measure. + +"Now," he hissed, "I understand why that plausible scamp offered to +lend me money. He and his confederate Wildmere have been watching +and biding their time. I had to be ruined in order to bring that +speculator's daughter to a decision, and Graydon has been doing his +level best to further these schemes." + +"Henry, Henry, do be calm. You are not ruined, and shall not be." + +"It's no use, Madge; I'm foully caught in their devilish toils." + +Madge grasped his arm with a force that compelled his attention. + +"Henry Muir," she said, in low and almost stern tones, "you shall +listen to me. Ignorant girl as I am, I know better, and I demand that +you meet this emergency, not in impotent anger, but with your whole +manhood. I demand it for the sake of my sister and your children, for +your own sake and Graydon's. You explained to me before we left +town that I had sixty thousand dollars in United States bonds, first +mortgage, and other good securities. You also explained that by the +provisions of my father's will I had control of this money after I was +eighteen. You have been so scrupulous that you have not even thought +of asking for the use of it, but I demand of you, as an honest man, +what right have you to prevent me from doing what I please with it?" + +"You cannot make me take it, Madge." + +"I can and will. I shall go to the city with you by the earliest +train, and when Arnault asks for his money you shall quietly give it +to him, and no one but ourselves shall know anything about the matter. +If you pay this money promptly, will it not help your credit at once?" + +"Certainly, Madge, but--" + +"Oh, Henry," she cried, "why will you cloud all our lives by scruples +that are now not only absurd but almost criminal? Think of the loss +you will inflict on Graydon, your children, and your wife, by such +senseless refusal. Have you not said that a little time will insure +safety and fortune? And there is my money lying idle, when with +to-morrow's sun it could buy me more happiness than could millions at +another time. I trust to your business judgment fully. Suppose the +money was lost--suppose my whole fortune was lost--do you think I +would care a jot compared with being denied at this critical moment? I +should hate the money you saved for me in this way, and I should never +forgive you for saving it." She stood aloof and faced him proudly, as +she continued: "Do you imagine I fear poverty? Believe me, Henry Muir, +I have brain and muscle to take care of myself and others too if +need be." Then, in swift alternation of mood, she clasped her hands +caressingly upon his arm, and added: "But I have a woman's heart, and +there are troubles worse than poverty. To see you lose the results of +your lifework, and to see Graydon's prospects blighted, would be more +than I could bear. You can give me all the security you wish, if +that will satisfy you better; but if you deny me now, I shall lose +confidence in you, and feel that you have failed me in the most +desperate emergency of my life." + +"The most desperate emergency of _your_ life, Madge?" + +"Yes; of _my_ life," she replied, her voice choking with sobs, for the +strain was growing too great for her nerve-force to resist. "You give +way to senseless anger; you inveigh against Graydon, when he has +only acted honorably, and has been deceived; you refuse to do the one +simple, rational thing that will avert this trouble and bring safety +to us all." + +"Why, Madge, if I fail, this speculator will drop Graydon at once. +Scott! this fact alone would be large compensation." + +"If you were cool--if you were yourself--you could save Graydon in +every way. I want to see him go on in life, prosperous and happy, not +thwarted and disheartened almost at its beginning. Oh, why won't you? +Why _won't_ you?" and she wrung her hands in distress. + +"Is Graydon so very much to you, Madge?" he asked, in a wondering +tone. + +"Hush!" she said, imperiously; "there are things which no man or woman +shall know or appear to know unless I reveal them. It's enough that +I am trying to save you all, and my own peace of mind. Henry Muir, I +will not be denied. There are moments when a woman feels and _knows_ +what is right, while a man, with his narrow, cast-iron rules, would +ruin everything. You _must_ carry out my wish, and Graydon must know +_nothing_ about it. Oh, God! that I were a man!" + +"Thank God, you are a woman! Child as you are, compared with my years +and experience, you shall have your own way. I will this once put my +lifelong principle under my feet, and if the future house of Muir & +Brother is saved, you shall save it." + +"Oh, thank you, thank you, Henry! Now see how happy I am. I have but +one stipulation--the 'brother' must not know it. We shall go on the +first train, shall we not?" + +"Yes. You can say you want to do some shopping. Come, we have been +away from Mary too long already. Oh, Madge, Madge, would that there +were more girls like you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +CHECKMATE + + +"Well," exclaimed Mrs. Muir, when they appeared at last; "I thought +you and Madge had eloped!" + +"We are going to to-morrow by first train," said the young girl. +"Henry says he must return to town for the day, and I shall accompany +him to do some shopping." + +"Now, Henry, this is too bad, and I've scarcely seen you this +evening." + +"I'm truly sorry, Mary; I did look forward to a good quiet day with +you, but there is an important matter which I neglected to see to +to-day, and which must be attended to. Graydon will soon be ready to +relieve me a great deal." + +"Well, I shall be glad when he can do something besides waiting on Mr. +Arnault's convenience for the privilege of seeing Miss Wildmere. It +will be a terribly long, fatiguing day for you, Madge--for you both, +indeed!" + +"Oh, I shan't mind it in the least! It won't be half so fatiguing as +one of my long rides. You spoke of wanting some things, and I can shop +for you, too." + +Mrs. Muir had long since given up the idea of objecting seriously to +anything for which business was the alleged reason. The chance to do +some shopping by proxy soon occupied her mind, and when Miss Wildmere +took occasion to pass and repass, the only apparent topic of interest +in the Muir group was the prospect of purchasing some expensive goods. + +Madge retired early to prepare for her journey. Mrs. Muir soon +followed, and her husband remarked that he would merely remain down +long enough to write a note to Graydon. This missive was brief, but +was charged with dynamite. + +On the morrow, long before Miss Wildmere waked from the golden dreams +which that day should realize, Madge and Mr. Muir were on their way +to the city. The young girl had said: "Don't let us do anything by +halves. I have read that in the crisis of a battle timid measures +are often fatal. Let me give you everything that you can use as +collateral. How much is there?" + +"Sixty thousand available at once. As I have said, you shall have your +own way." + +"Well, for once a woman is wiser than Solomon." + +They went immediately to the trust company which had her property in +keeping, and, having complied with the forms, obtained the entire sum, +then parted on Broadway, to rendezvous at the train. Mr. Muir gave the +radiant girl a look which she valued more than the money. He then went +to his bank. The official whom he accosted had been rather cold and +shy of late, but when he received the securities he grew perceptibly +urbane. + +On reaching his office Mr. Muir found that a transaction which +had been greatly delayed was now consummated, and that another ten +thousand in cash was available. This also was sent to the bank at +once. Several business men were present when a confidential clerk from +Arnault appeared, and asked for a private interview. + +"Well, really you must excuse me to-day. I'm very busy, and expect to +leave town in an hour or two. Please state what you have to say in few +words, or else I will see you next week." + +"Mr. Arnault," began the clerk, in a metallic tone, "says that he is +compelled to call in the loan he recently made you." + +"Oh, certainly, certainly! Have you the securities I gave him as +collateral?" + +"No, sir, but I can get them," said the man. + +"Do so, and I will give you my check. Thank Mr. Arnault for the +accommodation, and say I have thirty or forty thousand to spare should +he be hard pressed. Be quick." + +The Wall Street men present looked at one another significantly, and +one of them remarked, "You are forehanded for these times, Muir." + +"If this absurd lack of confidence would only pass," was the +careless reply, "I should have more money on hand than I could invest +profitably;" and then he appeared absorbed in other matters. + +Arnault received the message from his clerk with something like +dismay, and turning on Mr. Wildmere, who was present, he said, almost +savagely, "You have been misleading me." + +"Indeed I have not, sir--not intentionally. I can't understand it." + +"Well, I can. Muir is an old fox in business. I was a fool to think +that a paltry thirty thousand would trouble him. Well, there is +nothing to do but to close the matter up." + +"What, in regard to my daughter?" said Mr. Wildmere, inadvertently. + +"Oh, no; confound it! What has she got to do with this affair?" +replied Arnault, with an irritation that he could not disguise. "I +certainly have made Miss Wildmere a fair offer; some would regard it +as more. I shall go up to-night and receive her answer, as I promised. +I am one who never fails in a promise to man or woman, and I am ready +to make good all that I have authorized you to say to your daughter, +and more." + +"Let me add," said Mr. Wildmere, with some assumption of dignity, +"that as far as I have influence it is absolutely yours. I have ever +prided myself on my fidelity to those who trust me." + +"Thanks," replied Arnault, with a little menacing coldness in his +tone. "I hope I shall have proof of the fact this evening. If so, all +shall go swimmingly." + +Poor Wildmere bowed himself out with trepidation at heart, and Arnault +followed him with a dark look, muttering, "Let them both beware." + +Mr. Muir met Madge at the depot, and was quietly jubilant. Both +laughed heartily over the experiences of the day. + +"You are a blessed little woman, Madge. I was never so off my balance +before in my life as I was last night. When confused and upset, it is +one of my impulses to stick to some principle of right, like a mule. +Bless you, I think I have secured you twice over! I have given you a +lien on property worth two hundred thousand in ordinary times." + +"You have taught me to lean on you once more, Henry, and that is worth +more than all your other liens." + +Mr. Arnault now appeared, and came affably forward, saying, "I am glad +my enforced action did not incommode you to-day." + +"Thank you. I trust you are not in trouble, Mr. Arnault;" and there +was a world of quiet satire in the remark. + +"Oh, no--only a temporary need, I assure you," was the hasty reply. + +"So I supposed;" and as Arnault turned away, the speaker gave Madge a +humorous glance, which made her look of demure innocence difficult to +maintain. + + * * * * * + +Graydon had enjoyed fair success in fishing, and yet had not been +supremely happy. He found, with the venerated Izaak Walton, that the +"gentle art" was conducive to contemplation; but there were certain +phases in his situation that were not agreeable to contemplate. As he +followed the trout-stream amid the solitudes of nature, the artificial +and conventional in life grew less attractive. In spite of his efforts +to the contrary, Miss Wildmere seemed to represent just these phases. +He recalled critically and dispassionately all the details of their +past acquaintance, and found, with something like dismay, that she had +exhibited only the traits of a society belle--that he could recall +no new ideas or inspiring thoughts received from her. The apparent +self-sacrifice for her father, which he had so unequivocally +condemned, was, after all, about the best thing he knew of her. The +glamour of her beauty had been upon his eyes, and he had credited her +with corresponding graces of heart and mind. What evidence had he of +their existence? + +The more he thought of it, the more his pride, also, rebelled at the +ignominious position in the background that he was compelled to take +while the Wall Street diplomacy was prolonged. At last, in anger and +disgust, he resolved that, if he found Arnault in his old position by +Stella's side, he would withdraw at once and forever. + +After all, although he was as yet unconscious of it, the secret of his +clarified vision was the influence of Madge upon his mind. She seemed +in harmony with every beautiful aspect of nature--true and satisfying, +while ever changing. Madge was right: the mountains, streams, rocks, +and trees became her allies, suggesting her and not Miss Wildmere. +He would have returned, for the pleasure of her society, but for his +purpose not to appear again until Arnault should have time to arrive +from the city and resume his attentions. If they were received as in +the past, he would write to Miss Wildmere his withdrawal of further +claims upon her thoughts. + +It was with something like bitter cynicism that he saw his illusions +in regard to Miss Wildmere fade, and when he drove up to the hotel +after nightfall on Saturday, he was not sure that he cared much what +her answer might be, so apathetic had he become. The force of his old +regard was not wholly spent; but in his thoughts of her, much that was +repugnant to his feelings and ideals had presented itself to his mind, +and he felt that the giving up of his dream of lifelong companionship +with her would almost bring a sense of relief. Without pausing to +analyze the reason of his eagerness to see Madge and hear of her +welfare, he ran up at once to Mrs. Muir's room. + +"Madge went to New York!" he echoed, in surprise at Mrs. Muir's +information. + +"Yes; why not? She went to do some shopping for herself and me. Miss +Wildmere's here, and, for a wonder, Mr. Arnault is not. What more +could you ask?" + +"Hang Mr. Arnault--" He had come near mentioning both in his +irritation. + +"When will Madge and Henry arrive?" + +"Soon now--on the nine-o'clock train. Oh, by the way, Henry left a +note for you!" + +"Very well. I'll go to my room, dress, and meet them." + +"He is asking after Madge rather often, it seems to me. She doesn't +compare so very unfavorably with the speculator, after all, even in +his eyes." + +On reaching his room he threw himself wearily into a chair, and +carelessly tore open his brother's note. Instantly he bounded to his +feet, approached the light more closely, and saw in his brother's +unmistakable hand the following significant words: + + +"Read this letter carefully and thoughtfully; then destroy it. Show +your knowledge of its contents by neither word nor sign. Be on your +guard, and permit no one to suspect financial anxieties. Arnault and +Wildmere have struck me a heavy blow. The former has lent me money. +I must raise a large sum in town, but think I can do it, even in the +brief time permitted. If I cannot we lose everything. If I don't have +to suspend to-morrow Miss Wildmere will accept you in the evening. She +has been waiting till those two precious confederates, her father and +Arnault, did their worst, so that she could go over to the winning +side. You are of course your own master, but permit me, as your +brother, affectionately and solemnly to warn you. Stella Wildmere +will never bring you a day's happiness or peace. She loves herself +infinitely more than you, her father, or any one else. Be true to me, +and you shall share my fortunes. If you follow some insane notion of +being true to her, you will soon find you have been false to yourself. +Again I warn you. Speak to no one of all this, and give no sign of +your knowledge. HENRY." + + +Graydon read this twice, then crushed the paper in his hand as he +muttered, "Fool, dupe, idiot! Now at last I understand her game and +allusions. She was made to fear that Henry was about to fail, and +she would not accept me until satisfied on this point. Great God! my +infatuation for her has been inciting Arnault in these critical times +to break my brother down, and her father has been aiding and abetting, +in order that I might be removed out of the way. She was so false +herself that she suspected her own father, also Arnault, of deceiving +her, and so kept putting me off, that she might learn the truth of +their predictions or the result of their efforts. How clear it all +becomes, now that I have the key! Well, I should be worse than a +heathen if I did not thank God for such an escape." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +MADGE IS MATTER-OF-FACT + + +"Well, I have come back to civilization and all its miseries," thought +Graydon. "I was among scenes that know not Wildmeres or Arnaults. 'Oh, +my prophetic soul!' I felt that there was something wrong, in spite of +her superb acting. Sweet Madge, dear sister Madge, as you ever will be +to me, the more I think of it the more clearly I see that you are the +one who first began to shatter my delusion. Since that morning when +I brought you home from your long vigil, and you revealed to me your +true, brave heart Stella Wildmere has never seemed the same, and the +revolt of my nature has been growing ever since." + +His wish now was to avoid seeing every one until he had met his +brother. While the thought of his escape was uppermost in his mind, +he was consumed with anxiety to learn the result of Henry's efforts in +town. His commercial instincts were also very strong, and the thought +of what might happen fairly made him tremble. + +He slipped down a back stairway and out into the darkness, then bent +his rapid steps to the depot, at which he arrived half an hour before +the train was due. Remembering that excited pacing up and down there +would not be very intelligent obedience to his brother's injunctions, +he started down a country road in the direction from which the train +would come, and paced to and fro in his strong excitement. At last the +train arrived, and his first glimpse of Henry's face and Madge's +was reassuring. The moment the former saw him he called out, "Hello, +Graydon! Have you a trout supper for us?" + +"Yes," was the hearty response; and he hastened forward and shook +hands cordially, saying, in an aside, "Oh, Madge! I am so glad to see +you again!" + +"You are! Tell that to the marines. The length of your stay proves it +to be a fish story." + +"Here, Madge, we'll put you in the stage. I'll rest myself by walking +to the house with Graydon." + +"Henry, you are all right?" said Graydon, eagerly, as soon as they +were out of earshot. + +"Yes," was the quiet reply; "I raised the money, paid Arnault in full, +and have a good surplus in the bank." + +"Thank Heaven! How did you raise it? How has all this knowledge +reached--" + +"Patience, Graydon, patience. As soon as you are in the firm I shall +have no secrets from you. Until you are, you must let me manage in my +old way." + +"I have indeed little claim on your confidence. I have been deceived, +and have acted like a fool. But it's all over now. Henry, you may +not believe me, but my nonsense would have ended to-night if I hadn't +received your letter, and all this had not occurred. I had been +disgusted with this Arnault business for some time, and had let Miss +Wildmere know my views. As I thought it over while away it all grew +so detestable to me that I resolved, if Arnault appeared again and +renewed his attentions, I would never renew mine. He's here again, as +you may have seen." + +"Oh, yes; and I have talked with him. Please show no resentment. I +obtained my information in a way unknown to him, and there is nothing +unusual in our transaction on its face. How was it that you began to +grow critical toward Miss Wildmere?" + +"Well, I don't mind telling you. There was not a ring of truth or +a stamp of nobility about her words and manner, and I have been +associating with a girl who is truth itself and twice as clever and +accomplished. Miss Wildmere was growing commonplace in contrast. I +learned to love Madge as a sister before she went away, and now no man +ever admired and loved a sister more." + +Mr. Muir smiled broadly to himself in the darkness, and said: "Truly, +Graydon, you are giving satisfactory proofs of returning sanity. +We may as well conclude with the old saying, 'All's well that ends +well.'" + +"I think I had better go to town Monday and resume business. It's time +I did something to retrieve myself." + +"No, Graydon, not yet. I have everything in hand now, and believe the +tide has turned. I realized ten thousand to-day on a transaction that +I will tell you about. I am not doing much business now, only watching +things and waiting. It was the suddenness of Arnault's demand that +worried me--on Saturday, too, you know. He had about the same as said +that I might have the money as long as I wanted it, and I should not +have needed it much longer. In ordinary times I wouldn't have given it +a thought. + +"You can help me more up here. It's growing warm, and Jack isn't +improving as I would like. After what has occurred I don't wish Mary +and Madge to meet these Wildmeres any longer, so I propose that you +and Madge go to the Kaaterskill Hotel on Monday and explore. If you +like the place, then you can take Mary and the children there. I've +had a little scare in town, and propose to realize on some more +property and make myself perfectly safe. By going to a higher-priced +hotel we increase our credit also, and add to the impression I made +to-day, that we are in no danger." + +As the stage drew near the piazza Graydon hastened forward to +help Madge out. In doing so he saw Miss Wildmere greeting Arnault +cordially. As he passed up the steps with Madge, he caught Stella's +swift, appealing look at him. He only bowed politely and passed on. It +was Madge's triumphal entry now by the same door at which she had seen +him enter with Miss Wildmere but a few weeks before. How complete her +triumph was, even Madge did not yet know. While she went to her room +he sought the office and ordered some of the trout he had caught to +be prepared for supper. As he stood there Miss Wildmere left Arnault's +side, and said, "Mr. Muir, are you not going to shake hands with me?" + +"Why, certainly, Miss Wildmere;" but there was little more than +politeness in his tone and manner. As there were many coming and +going, she drew away with a reproachful glance. "So long as Arnault is +with me, he will not be cordial," was her thought. + +She looked around for her father, but he, nervous and apprehensive, +had disappeared. He felt that if he should be compelled to disclose +the failure of his predictions, she would pass into one of her sullen, +unmanageable moods. He feared that things were beyond his control, +and decided to let the young men manage for themselves. He was not, +however, exceedingly solicitous. He hoped that Arnault, aided by the +influence of his munificent offer, would have the skill to push his +suit to a prompt conclusion; but he believed that, if this suitor +should be dismissed, Graydon would not fail his daughter, and that all +might yet end well for her, and perhaps for himself. + +The supper-room was again occupied by the late comers, many of whom +were accompanied by their families and friends. Mr. Muir's quiet eyes +fairly beamed over the group gathered at his table, and he felt that +but few moments of his life compared with those now passing. Twenty +four hours before he had seen himself drifting helplessly on a +lee shore, but a little hand had taken the helm when he had been +paralyzed, and now he saw clear sea-room stretching away indefinitely, +with a turning tide and favoring gales. The terrible evils threatening +him and his had been averted. The results of his lifework would not be +swept away, his idolized commercial standing could now be maintained, +his wife's brow remain unclouded by care, his children be amply +provided for, Graydon saved from a worse fate than financial disaster, +and, last but not least, the young fellow would be cured by Madge of +all future tendencies toward the Wildmere type. He never could think +of this hope without smiling to himself. He had at last obtained the +explanation of Madge's effort and success. By the superb result +he measured the strength of the love which had led to it. "Great +Scott!"--his favorite expletive--he had thought; "what a compass there +is in her nature! I had long suspected her secret, but when I touched +upon it last night she made my blood tingle by her magnificent +resentment. I would sooner have trifled with an enraged empress. Look +at her now, smiling, serene, and, although not in the least artful, +keeping all her secrets with consummate art. Who would imagine that +she was capable of such a volcanic outburst? If Graydon does not lay +siege to her now, the name of the future firm should be Henry Muir and +idiot." + +That sagacious young man did not appear at all blighted by the wreck +of the hope he had cherished. He turned no wistful glances toward the +girl who had so long satisfied his eyes, and, as he had believed, +his heart. He felt much the same as if he had been imposed upon by a +cunning disguise. Unknown to her, he had caught a glimpse of what +the mask concealed, and his soul was shuddering at the deformities to +which he had so nearly allied himself. Her very beauty, with its false +promise, had become hateful to him. + +"She is indeed a speculator," he thought, "and I'm a little curious +to see how she will continue her game." It afforded him vindictive +amusement that she often, yet furtively, turned her eyes toward him as +if he were still a factor in it. + +She never looked once in Graydon's direction but that Arnault was +aware of the act. There was no longer any menace in his deportment +toward her--he was as devoted as the place and time would permit--but +in his eyes dwelt a vigilance and a resolution which should have given +her warning. + +After supper Mr. and Mrs. Muir found a comfortable nook on the piazza, +and the banker smoked his cigar with ineffable content. + +"Do you feel too tired for a waltz, Madge?" Graydon asked. + +"The idea! when I've rested in the cars half a day." + +"Oh, Madge!" he whispered; "dear, sweet little friend--you know I mean +sister, only I dare not say it--I'm so glad to be with you again! What +makes you look so radiant to-night? You look as though you had a world +of happy thoughts behind those sparkling eyes." + +"Nonsense, Graydon! You are always imagining things. I have youth, +good health, have had my supper--a trout supper, too--and I like to +dance, just as a bird enjoys flying." + +"You seem a bird-of-paradise. Happy the man who coaxes you into his +cage! Brother or not, when your beaux become too attentive they will +find me a perfect dragon of a critic." + +"When I meet my ideal, you shall have nothing to say." + +"I suppose not. I am at a loss to know where you will find him." + +"I shan't find him; he must find me." + +"He will be an idiot if he doesn't. Pardon me if I don't dance any +more to-night. I have had a long tramp over mountain paths, followed +by a long, rough ride in a farmer's wagon, and now have a very +important act to perform before I sleep. As a proof of my fraternal--I +mean friendly--confidence, I will tell you what it is, if you wish." + +"I don't propose to fail in any friendly obligations, Graydon," +she replied, laughing, as they strolled out into the summer night, +followed by Miss Wildmere's half-desperate eyes. + +As they walked down a path, Graydon said, "Take my arm; the pavement +is a little rough. Dear Madge, you look divine to night. Every time +I see you my wonder increases at what you accomplished out on the +Pacific coast. That great, boundless, sparkling ocean has given you +something of its own nature." + +"Graydon, you must be more sensible. When a fellow takes your arm you +don't squeeze it against your side and say, 'Dear Tom,' 'Sweet Dick,' +or 'Divine Harry,' no matter how good friends they may be. Friends +don't indulge in sentimental, far-fetched compliments." + +"I certainly never did with any friends of mine. On this very walk you +told me that you were not my sister, and added, 'There is no use in +trying to ignore nature.' See how true this last assertion is proving, +now that I am again under your influence, and so enjoy your society +that I cannot ignore nature. During all those years when you were +growing from childhood to womanhood I treated you as a sister, thought +of you as such. It was nature, or rather the accord of two natures, +that formed and cemented the tie, and not an accident of birth. +Even when you were an invalid, and I was stupid enough to call you +'lackadaisical,' your presence always gave me pleasure. Often when I +had been out all the evening I would say, with vexation, 'I wish I had +stayed at home with the little ghost.' How you used to order me about +and tyrannize over me from your sofa when you were half child and half +woman! I can say honestly, Madge, it was never a bore to me, for you +had an odd, piquant way of saying and doing things that always amused +me; your very weakness was an appeal to my strength, and a claim upon +it. You always appeared to have a sister's affection for me, and your +words and manner proved that I brought some degree of brightness into +your shadowed life. In learning to love you as a sister in all those +years, wherein did I ignore nature? During my absence my feelings did +not change in the least, as I proved by my attempts at correspondence, +by my greeting when we met. Then you perplexed and worried me more +than you would believe, and I imagined all sorts of ridiculous things +about you; but on that drive, after your vigil with that poor, dying +girl, I felt that I understood you fully at last. Indeed, ever since +your rescue of the little Wilder child from drowning my old feelings +have been coming back with tenfold force. I can't help thinking of +you, of being proud of you. I give you my confidence to-night just +as naturally and unhesitatingly as if we had been rocked in the +same cradle. I am not wearying you with this long explanation and +preamble?" + +"No, Graydon," she replied, in a low tone. + +"I am very glad. I don't think well of myself to-night at all, and I +have a very humiliating confession to make--one that I could make only +to such a sister as you are, or rather would have been, were there +a natural tie between us. I would not tell any Tom, Dick, and Harry +friends in the world what I shall now make known to you. If I didn't +trust you so, I wouldn't speak of it, for what I shall say involves +Henry as well as myself. Madge, I've been duped, I've been made both +a fool and a tool, and the consequences might have been grave indeed. +Henry, who has so much quiet sagacity, has in some way obtained +information that proved of immense importance to him, and absolutely +vital to me. I shudder when I think of what might have happened, and +I am overwhelmed with gratitude when I think of my escape. I told +you that Miss Wildmere was humoring that fellow Arnault to save her +father, and consequently her mother and the child. This impression, +which was given me so skilfully, and at last confirmed by plain words, +was utterly false. Henry has been in financial danger; Wildmere knew +it, and he also knew that Arnault had lent Henry money, which to-day +was called in with the hope of breaking him down. They would have +succeeded, too, had he not had resources of which they knew nothing. +You, of course, can't realize how essential a little ready money +sometimes is in a period of financial depression; but Henry left a +note which gave me an awful shock, while, at the same time, it made +clear Miss Wildmere's scheme. She had simply put me off, that she +might hear from Wall Street. If Henry had failed she would have +decided for Arnault, and I believe my attentions led to his tricky +transaction--that he loaned the money and called it in when he +believed that Henry could not meet his demand. I must be put out +of his way, for he reasoned justly that the girl would drop me if +impoverished. Thus indirectly I might have caused Henry's failure--a +blow from which I should never have recovered. Henry is safe now, he +assures me; and, oh, Madge, thank God, I have found her out before +it was too late! I had fully resolved while oft trouting that I would +break with her finally if I found Arnault at her side again. Now he +may marry her, for all I care, and I wish him no worse punishment. +I shall go to my room now and write to her that everything is over +between us. The fact is, Madge, you spoiled Miss Wildmere for me on +that morning drive the other day. After leaving your society and going +into hers I felt the difference keenly, and while I should then have +fulfilled the obligations which I had so stupidly incurred, I had +little heart in the affair. Her acting was consummate, but a true +woman's nature had been revealed to me, and the glamour was gone from +the false one. Now you see what absolute confidence I repose in you, +and how heavily this strange story bears against myself. Could I have +given it to any one for whom I had not a brother's love, and in whom I +did not hope to find a sister's gentle charity? I show you how unspent +is the force of all those years when we had scarcely a thought which +we could not tell each other. I have little claim, though, to be a +protecting brother, when I have been making such an egregious fool of +myself. You have grown wiser and stronger than I. You won't think very +harshly of me, will you, Madge?" + +"No, Graydon." + +"And you won't condemn my fraternal affection as contrary to nature?" + +She was sorely at a loss. She had listened with quickened breath, a +fluttering pulse, and in a growing tumult of hope and fear, to this +undisguised revelation of his attitude toward her. She almost thought +that she detected between the lines, as it were, the beginning of a +different regard. He believed that he had been frankness itself, +and his words proved that he looked upon his fraternal affection and +confidence as the natural, the almost inevitable, sequence of the +past. She could not meet him on the fraternal ground that he was +taking again, nor did she wish him to occupy it in his own mind. To +maintain the attitude which she had adopted would require as much +delicacy as firmness of action, or he would begin to query why she +could not go back to their old relations as readily as he could. She +had listened to the twice-told tale of the events of the past few +days with almost breathless interest, because his words revealed +the workings of his own mind, and she had not the least intention +of permitting him to settle down into the tranquil affection of a +brother. + +While she hesitated, he asked, gently, "Don't you feel a little of +your old sisterly love for me?" + +"No, Graydon, I do not," she replied, boldly. "I suppose you will +think me awfully matter-of-fact. I love Mary as my sister, I have the +strongest esteem and affection for Henry as my brother-in-law, and I +like you for just what you are to me, neither more nor less. The truth +is, Graydon, when I woke up from my old limp, shadowy life I had to +look at everything just as it was, and I have formed the habit of so +doing. I think it is the best way. You did not see Miss Wildmere as +she was, but as you imagined her to be, and you blame yourself too +severely because you acted as you naturally would toward a girl for +whom you had so high a regard. When we stick to the actual, we escape +mistakes and embarrassment. Every one knows that we are not brother +and sister; every one would admit our right to be very good friends. +I have listened to you with the deep and honest sympathy that is +perfectly natural to our relations. I think the better of you for +what you have told me, but I'm too dreadfully matter-of-fact," she +concluded beginning to laugh, "to do anything more." + +He sighed deeply. + +"Now, there is no occasion for that sigh, Graydon. Recall that morning +drive to which you have alluded. What franker, truer friendship could +you ask than I gave evidence of then? Come now, be sensible. You +live too much in the present moment, and yield to your impulses. Miss +Wildmere was a delusion and a snare, but there are plenty of true +women in the world. Some day you will meet the right one. She won't +object to your friends, but she probably would to sisters who are not +sisters." + +Graydon laughed a little bitterly as he said, "So you imagine that +after my recent experience I shall soon be making love to another +girl?" + +"Why not? Because Miss Wildmere is a fraud do you intend to spite +yourself by letting some fair, true girl pass by unheeded? That might +be to permit the fraud to injure you almost as much as if she had +married you." + +He burst out laughing, as he exclaimed, "Well, your head is level." + +"Certainly it is. My head is all right, even though I have not much +heart, as you believe. I told you I could be a good fellow, and I +don't propose to indulge you in sentiment about what is past and +gone--natural and true as it was at the time--or in cynicism for the +future. I shall dance at your wedding, and you won't be gray, either. +Come; the music has ceased, and it must be almost Sunday morning." + +"Very well. On the day when you rightly boxed my ears, and I asked you +to make your own terms of peace, I resolved to submit to everything +and anything." + +"You don't 'stay put,' is the trouble. Did I look and act so very +cross that morning?" + +"You looked magnificent, and you spoke with such just eloquent +indignation that you made my blood tingle. No, my brave, true +friend--I may say that, mayn't I?--it was not a little thing for +you to go away alone to fight so heroic a battle and achieve such a +victory; and, Madge, I honor you with the best homage of my heart. You +have taught me how to meet trouble when it comes." + +As they went up the steps, Arnault, with a pale, stern face, and +looking neither to the right nor to the left, passed them and strode +away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE END OF DIPLOMACY + + +Mr. Arnault's manner as he passed struck both Graydon and Madge as +indicating strong feeling and stern purpose. In order to account for +his action, it is necessary to go back in our history for a short +period. While Madge was receiving such rich compensation for having +become simply what she was, Miss Wildmere had been gathering the +rewards of diplomacy. As we have seen, she had reached the final +conclusion that if Mr. Muir did not fail that day she would accept +Graydon at once; and, during its earlier hours, she had been +complacency itself, feeling that everything was now in her own hands. +Mr. Muir's appearance and manner the previous evening had nearly +convinced her that he was in no financial difficulties whatever--that +her father and Mr. Arnault were either mistaken or else were deceiving +her. "If the latter is the case," she had thought, "they have so +bungled as to enable me to test the truth of their words within +twenty-four hours. + +"I am virtually certain," she said, with an exultant smile, "that I +shall be engaged to Graydon Muir before I sleep to-night." + +In the afternoon it began to trouble her that Graydon had not +appeared. As the hours passed she grew anxious, and with the shadow of +night there fell a chill on her heart and hope. This passed into alarm +when at last Graydon arrived with his brother and Madge, and greeted +her with the cold recognition that has been described. She had met Mr. +Arnault cordially at first, because there were still possibilities in +his favor; but when her father promptly disappeared, with the evident +purpose to avoid questions, and Mr. Muir and his family at supper gave +evidence of superb spirits instead of trouble, she saw that she had +been duped, or, in any case, misled. Her anger and worry increased +momentarily, especially since Graydon, beyond a little furtive +observation, completely ignored her. She naturally ascribed his course +to resentment at her first greeting of Arnault, his continued presence +at her side, and the almost deferential manner with which he was +treated by her father, who had joined his family at supper, when no +queries could be made. + +"I'll prove to Graydon by my manner that I am for him," was her +thought; but he either did not or would not see her increasing +coldness toward Arnault. + +Her purpose and tactics were all observed and thoroughly understood by +the latter, however, but he gave few obvious signs of the fact. In his +words, tones, compliments he proved that he was making good all that +he had promised; but the changing expression in his eyes grew so +ominous that Mr. Wildmere saw his suppressed anger with alarm. + +Miss Wildmere felt sure that before the evening was over she could +convey to Graydon her decision, and chafed every moment over the +leisurely supper that Mr. Arnault persisted in making, especially as +she saw that it was not his appetite that detained him. The Muir group +had passed out, and to leave him and her father would not only be an +act of rudeness, but also would appear like open pursuit of Graydon. +When at last she reached the parlor, to decline Arnault's invitation +to dance would be scarcely less than an insult; yet, with intensifying +anger and fear, she saw that circumstances were compelling her to +appear as if she had disregarded Graydon's warnings and expectations. +So far from being dismissed, Arnault was the one whom she had first +greeted and to whom she was now giving the evening. + +While she was dancing with Arnault, Graydon, with Madge, appeared +upon the floor. She was almost reckless in her efforts to secure his +attention. In this endeavor she did not fail, but she failed signally +in winning any recognition, and the ill-concealed importunity of her +eyes hastened Graydon's departure with Madge, and gave time for the +long interview described in the previous chapter. She grew cold with +dread. It was the impulse of her self-pleasing nature to want that +most which seemed the most denied, and she reasoned, "He is angry +because Arnault is at my side as usual, in spite of all he said. He +is determined to bring me to a decision, and won't approach me at +Arnault's side. Yet I dare not openly shake Arnault off, and he's so +attentive that I must do it openly if at all. Graydon's manner was +so very strange and cold that I feel that I should do something to +conciliate him at once; and yet how can I when Arnault is bent upon +monopolizing the whole evening? He gives me no chance to leave him +unless I am guilty of the shameful rudeness of telling him to leave +me. Oh, if I could only see Graydon alone, even for a moment!" + +Arnault was indeed a curious study, and yet he was acting +characteristically. He had virtually given up hope of ever winning +Stella Wildmere. He had wooed devotedly, offered wealth, and played +his final card, and in each had failed. When he left the city he +still had hope that his promise of immediate wealth and Mr. Wildmere's +necessity and influence might turn the scale in his favor; and he +believed that having secured her decision she, as a woman of the +world, would grow content and happy in the future that he could +provide for her. But, be his fate what it might, both his pride and +his peculiar sense of honor made it imperative that he should be her +suitor until the time stipulated for his answer should expire. Up to +twelve o'clock that night he would not give her the slightest cause +for resentment or even complaint. Then his obligation to her ceased +utterly, and she knew that it would. + +He had been irritated and despondent ever since Mr. Muir, through +Madge's aid, had so signally checkmated him. But Stella's greeting +had reassured him, and Graydon's manner toward her gave the impression +that she had not been extending encouragement to him. This promising +aspect of affairs speedily began to pass away, however, when he saw +her step to Graydon's side and ask if he was not going to shake hands +with her. He knew how proud the girl was, and by this high standard +measured the strength of the regard which impelled to this advance. +He had since noted every effort that she had made to secure Graydon's +attention, and the truth became perfectly clear. She had utterly lost +faith in his and her father's predictions of financial disaster to +Henry Muir, and would accept Graydon at the earliest opportunity. +He saw that his defeat in Wall Street insured his defeat in the +Catskills, and feared that Graydon had guessed his strategy, and, +therefore, would not approach the girl while he was at her side. There +was no use in his playing lover any longer--he had no desire to do +so--for even he now so clearly recognized the mercenary spirit which +might have brought her to his arms, that such manhood as he had +revolted at it. If she had given him her hand it would have been +secured purely through a financial trick, and even his Wall Street +soul experienced a revulsion of disgust at the thought of a wife thus +obtained. If he could have detected a little sentiment toward him, +some kindly regret that she could not reward his long-continued and +unstinted devotion, he would have parted from her more in sorrow than +in anger; but now he knew that she was wild to escape from him, that +she would instantly break her promise not to accept Muir before the +close of the week, and, to his punctilious business mind, the week did +not end until twelve o'clock Saturday night. + +With a sort of grim vindictiveness he had muttered, "She shall keep +her promise. Neither she nor Muir shall be happy till my time has +expired." + +Later in the evening, Graydon not returning, the thought occurred +to Arnault, "Perhaps he too has recognized the sharp game she has +played--perhaps Henry Muir has said to him, 'She has been putting you +off to see the result of the sudden calling in of Arnault's loan,' +and now young Muir proposes to console himself with that handsome Miss +Alden;" and a gleam of pleasure at the prospect illumined his face +for a moment. Meanwhile he maintained his mask before the world so +admirably that even Miss Wildmere little guessed the depth of his +revolt. He was the last one to reveal his bitter disappointment and +humiliating defeat to the vigilant gossips of the house. Those who saw +his smiling face and gallantries, and heard his breezy, half-cynical +words, little guessed the storm within. He had been taught in the best +school in the world how to say and look one thing and mean another. + +At last an acquaintance approached, and said, "Pardon me, Mr. Arnault, +but I don't propose to permit you to monopolize Miss Wildmere all the +evening;" and then asked for the next dance. + +Stella complied instantly, thinking, "Graydon may return now at any +moment, and if he sees that I am not with Arnault will come to me, as +usual." + +Arnault bowed politely, looked at his watch, and invited another lady +to dance. Stella had been on the floor but a few moments when not +Graydon, but her father came and said to her partner, "Excuse me, sir. +I wish to speak to my daughter." + +Requesting her companion to wait, she followed Mr. Wildmere through an +open window, and when on the piazza he took her hand and put it within +his arm with a firmness that permitted no resistance. Arnault noted +the proceeding with a cynical smile. + +"Stella," said her father, in a low, stern tone, "did you not promise +Mr. Arnault his answer this evening?" + +"Answer my question first," she replied, bitterly. "Did Henry Muir +fail to-day? Of course he did not. You have been deceiving me." + +"I did not deceive you--I was mistaken myself. But I warn you. Graydon +Muir is not at your side. He may not return. Arnault is waiting to +give you wealth and me safety, but he may not wait much longer. You +are taking worse risks than I ever incurred in the Street, and your +loss may be greater than any I have met with." + +"Bah!" she replied, in anger. "I might have been engaged to Graydon +Muir this moment had I not listened to your croakings. I'll manage for +myself now;" and she broke away and joined her partner again. + +After the dance was over she said, "Suppose we walk on the piazza; I'm +warm." She was cold and trembling. Arnault took his stand in the main +hall, where he and she could see the clock should she approach him +again. The last hour was rapidly passing. Miss Wildmere and her +attendant strolled leisurely the whole length of the piazza, but +Graydon was not to be seen. Then she led him through a hall whence +she could glance into the reception and reading rooms. The quest was +futile, and she passed Arnault unheedingly into the parlor, saying +that she was tired, and with her companion sat down where they could +be seen from the doorway and windows. But he thought her singularly +_distraite_ in her effort to maintain conversation. + +"Oh," she thought, "he will come soon--he must come soon! I must--I +_must_ see him before I retire!" + +Arnault meantime maintained his position in the hall, chatting and +laughing with an acquaintance. She could see him, and there was little +in his manner to excite apprehension. He occasionally looked toward +her, but she tried to appear absorbed in conversation with the man +whom she puzzled by her random words. Arnault also saw that her eyes +rested in swift, eager scrutiny on every one who entered from without, +and that the two hands of the clock were pointing closely toward +midnight. + +The parlor was becoming deserted. Those whom the beauty of the night +had lured without were straggling in, the man at her side was growing +curious and interested, and he determined to maintain his position as +long as she would. + +He was detained but little longer. The clock soon chimed midnight. +Arnault gave her a brief, cold look, turned on his heel and went +out, passing Graydon and Madge, who were at that moment ascending the +steps. + +"Oh, pardon me," said Miss Wildmere, fairly trembling with dread; +"I had no idea it was so late!" and she bowed her companion away +instantly. At that moment she saw Graydon entering, and she went to +the parlor door; but he passed her without apparent notice, and +bade Madge a cordial good-night at the foot of the stairs. As he was +turning away Miss Wildmere was at his side. + +"Mr. Muir--Graydon," she said, in an eager tone, "I wish to speak with +you." + +He bowed very politely, and answered, in a voice that she alone could +hear, "You will receive a note from me at your room within half an +hour." Then, bowing again, he walked rapidly away. + +She saw from his grave face and unsympathetic eyes that she had lost +him. + +Half desperate, and with the instinct of self-preservation, she passed +out on the piazza to bid Arnault good-night, as she tried to assure +herself, with pallid lips, but ready then at last to take any terms +from him. Arnault was not to be seen. After a moment her father +stepped to her side and said: + +"Stella, it is late. You had better retire." + +"I wish to say good-night to Mr. Arnault," she faltered. + +"Mr. Arnault has gone." + +"Gone where?" she gasped. + +"I don't know. As the clock struck twelve he came rapidly out and +walked away. He passed by me, but would not answer when I spoke to +him. Come, let me take you to your room." + +With a chill at heart almost like that of death she went with him, and +sat down pale and speechless. + +In a few moments a note was brought to Mr. Wildmere's door, and he +took it to his daughter. She could scarcely open it with her nerveless +fingers, and when she read the brief words-- + + "MISS WILDMERE--You must permit me to renounce all claims upon + you now and forever. Memory and your own thoughts will reveal + to you the obvious reasons for my action, GRAYDON MUIR," + +she found a brief respite from the results of her diplomacy in +unconsciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +BROKEN LIGHTS AND SHADOWS + + +Mr. Wildmere looked almost ten years older when he came down to what +he supposed would be a solitary breakfast; but something like hope +and gladness reappeared on his haggard face when he saw Arnault at his +table as usual. He scarcely knew how he would be received, but Arnault +was as affable and courteous as he would have been months previous, +and no one in the breakfast-room would have imagined that anything +had occurred to disturb the relations between the two gentlemen. He +inquired politely after the ladies, expressed regret that they were +indisposed, and changed the subject in a tone and manner natural to a +mere acquaintance. + +Although his courtesy would appear faultless to observers, it made +Wildmere shiver. + +"Mr. Arnault," Mr. Wildmere said, a little nervously, as they left the +breakfast-room, "may I speak with you?" + +"Certainly," replied Arnault, with cool politeness, and he followed +Mr. Wildmere to a deserted part of the piazza. + +"You made a very kind and liberal offer to my daughter," the latter +began. + +"And received my final answer last night," was the cold, decisive +reply. "It would be impossible to imagine more definite assurance that +Miss Wildmere has no regard for me than was given within the time I +stipulated. I have accepted such assurance as final. Good-morning, +sir," and with a polite bow he turned on his heel and went to his +room. + +Mr. Wildmere afterward learned that he took the first train to New +York. + +"Arnault has a clear field now," Graydon had thought, cynically, while +at breakfast. "I can scarcely wish him anything worse than success;" +and then he looked complacently around the family group to which +he belonged, and felicitated himself that Wildmere traits were +conspicuously absent. His eyes dwelt oftenest on Madge. At this early +meal she always made him think of a flower with the morning dew upon +it. Even her evening costumes were characterized by quiet elegance; +but during the earlier hours of the day she dressed with a simplicity +that was almost severe, and yet with such good taste, such harmony +with herself, that the eye of the observer was always rested and +satisfied. Gentlemen who saw her would rarely fail to speak about her +afterward; few would ever mention her dress. Miss Wildmere affected +daintiness and style; Madge sought in the most quiet and modest way to +emphasize her own individuality. As far as possible she wished to be +valued for what she actually was. The very fact that there was so much +in her life that must be hidden led to a strong distaste for all that +was misleading in non-essentials. + +"I am going to church with you to-day," said Graydon, "and I shall try +to behave." + +"Try to! You cannot sit with me unless you promise to behave." + +"That is the way to talk to men," said Mrs. Muir, who was completely +under her husband's thumb. "They like you all the better for showing +some spirit." + +"I am not trying to make Graydon like me better, but only to insure +that he spends Sunday as should a good American." + +"There is no longer any 'better' about my liking for Madge. It's all +best. I admit, however, that she has so much spirit that she inspires +unaffected awe." + +"A roundabout way of calling me awful." + +"Since you won't ride or drive with me to-day, are you too 'awfully +good,' as Harry says, to take a walk after dinner?" + +"It depends on how you behave in church." + +They spent the afternoon in a very different manner, however, for soon +after breakfast Dr. Sommers told them that Tilly Wendall was at rest, +and that the funeral would be that afternoon. + +With Dr. Sommers's tidings Graydon saw that a shadow had fallen +on Madge's face, and his manner at once became gravely and gently +considerate. There were allusions to the dead girl in the service at +the chapel, where she had been an attendant, and Graydon saw half-shed +tears in Madge's eyes more than once. + +She drove out with him in the lovely summer afternoon to the gray old +farmhouse. The thoughts of each were busy--they had not much to say +to each other--and Madge was grateful, for his quiet consideration +for her mood. It was another proof that the man she loved had not a +shallow, coarse-fibred nature. With all his strength he could be a +gentle, sympathetic presence--thinking of her first, thoughtfully +respecting her unspoken wishes, and not a garrulous egotist. + +He in turn wondered at his own deep content and at the strange and +unexpected turn that his affairs had taken. He not only dwelt on what +had happened, but on what might have happened--what he had hoped for +and sought to attain. He remembered with shame that he had even +wished that Madge had not been at the resort, so that he might be less +embarrassed in his suit to Miss Wildmere. From his first waking moment +in the morning he had been conscious of an immeasurable sense of +relief at his escape. He felt now that he had never deeply loved Miss +Wildmere--that she had never touched the best feelings of his heart, +because not capable of doing so. But he had admired her. He had been a +devotee of society, and she had been to him the beautiful culmination +of that phase of life. He saw he had endowed her with the womanly +qualities which would make her the light of a home as well as of the +ballroom, but he had also seen that the woman which his fancy +had created did not exist. There is a love which is the result of +admiration and illusion, and this will often cling to its imperfect +object to the end. Such was not the case with Graydon, however. His +first motive had been little more than an ambition to seek the most +brilliant of social gems with which to crown a successful life; but he +was too much of a man to marry a belle as such and be content. He must +love her as a woman also, and he had loved what he imagined Stella +Wildmere to be. Now he felt, however, like a lapidary who, while +gloating over a precious stone, is suddenly shown that it is worthless +paste. He may have valued it highly an hour before; now he throws it +away in angry disgust. But this simile only in part explains Graydon's +feelings. He not only recognized Miss Wildmere's mercenary character +and selfish spirit, but also the power she would have had to thwart +his life and alienate him from his brother and Madge. While she was +not the pearl for which he might give all, she could easily have +become the active poison of his life. + +"Oh," he thought, "how blessed is this content with sweet sister +Madge--sister in spite of all she says--compared with brief, feverish +pleasure in an engagement with such a sham of a woman, or the mad +chaos of financial disaster which my suit might have brought about!" +and he unconsciously gave a profound sigh of satisfaction. + +"Oh, Graydon, what a sigh!" Madge exclaimed. "Is your regret so great? +You were indeed thinking very deeply." + +"So were you, Madge--so you have been during the last half hour. My +sigh was one of boundless relief and gratitude. If you will permit +me, I will tell you the thoughts that occasioned it as a proof of my +friendly confidence. May I tell you?" + +"Yes, if you think it right," she said, with slightly heightened +color. + +"It seems to me both right and natural that I should tell you;" and he +put the thoughts which preceded his sigh into words. + +"Yes," she replied, gravely; "I think you have escaped much that you +would regret. Please don't talk about it any more." + +"What were you thinking about, Madge?" he asked, looking into her +flushed and lovely face. + +"I have thought a great deal about Tilly and what passed between us. +That is the house there, and it will always remain in my mind as a +distinct memory." + +Farm wagons and vehicles of all descriptions were gathering at +the dwelling. They were driven by men with faces as rugged and +weather-beaten as the mountains around them. By their sides were +plain-featured matrons, whose rustic beauty had early faded under the +stress of life's toil, and apple-cheeked boys and girls, with faces +composed into the most unnatural and portentous gravity. There was a +sprinkling of young men, with visages so burned by the sun that they +might pass for civilized Indians. They were accompanied by young women +who, in their remote rural homes, had obtained hints from the world of +fashion, and after the manner of American girls had arrayed themselves +with a neatness and taste that was surprising; and the fresh pink and +white of their complexions made a pleasing contrast with their swains. +Although the occasion was one of solemnity, it was not without its +pleasurable excitement. They all knew about poor Tilly, and to-day +was the culmination of the little drama of her illness, the details of +which had been discussed for weeks among the neighbors--not in callous +curiosity, but with that strange blending of gossip and sympathy which +is found in rural districts. The conclusion of all such talk had been +a sigh and the words, "She is prepared to go." + +The people as yet were gathered without the door and in groups under +the trees. Tilly's remains were still in her own little room, Mrs. +Wendall taking her farewell look with hollow, tearless eyes. A few +favored ones, chiefly the watchers who had aided the stricken mother, +were admitted to this retreat of sorrow. + +When Dr. Sommers saw Madge and Graydon he came to them and said, "Mrs. +Wendall requested that when you came you and whoever accompanied you +should be brought to her. Tilly, before she died, expressed the wish +that you should sit with her mother during the funeral. No, no, Mr. +Muir, Mrs. Wendall would have no objection to any of Miss Alden's +friends. I can give you a seat here by this window. The other rooms +will be very crowded with those who are strangers to you." + +Graydon found himself by the same window at which Madge had sat in her +long vigil. The bed had been removed, and in its place was a plain +yet tasteful casket. Mr. Wendall, with his head bowed down, sat at its +foot, wiping away tears from time to time with a bandana handkerchief. +Two or three stanch friends and helpers sat also in the room, for it +would appear that the Wendalls had no relatives in the vicinity. + +As Madge sat down by Mrs. Wendall, so intent was the mother's gaze +upon her dead child that she did not at first notice the young girl's +presence. Madge took a thin, toil-worn hand caressingly in both her +own, and then the tearless eyes were turned upon her, and the light +of recognition came slowly into them, as if she were recalling her +thoughts from an immense distance. + +"I'm glad you've come," she said, in a loud, strange whisper. "She +wanted you to be with me. She said you had trouble, and would know how +to sustain me. She left a message for you. She said, 'Tell dear Madge +that the dying sometimes have clear vision--tell her I've prayed for +her ever since, and she'll be happy yet, even in this world. Tell her +that I only saw her a little while, but she belongs to those I shall +wait for to welcome.' You'll stay by me till it's all over, won't +you?" + +Madge was deeply agitated, but she managed to say distinctly, "Tilly +also said something to me, and I want you to think of her words +through all that is to come. She said, 'Think where I have gone, and +don't grieve a moment.'" + +"Yes, I'll come to that by and by; but now I can think of only one +thing--they are going to take away my baby;" and she laid her head +on the still bosom with a yearning in her face which only God, who +created the mother's heart, could understand. + +What followed need not be dwelt upon. The mother and father took their +last farewell, the casket was carried to the outer room, the simple +service was soon over, the tearful tributes paid, and then the slow +procession took its way to a little graveyard on a hillside among the +mountains. + +"I can't go and see Tilly buried," said Mrs. Wendall, in the same +unnatural whisper. "I will go to her grave some day, but not yet. I +am trying to keep up, but I don't feel that I could stand on my feet a +minute now." + +"I'll stay with you till they come back," Madge answered, tenderly; +and at last she was left alone in the house, holding the tearless +mother's hand. She soon bowed her young head upon it, bedewing it with +her tears. The poor woman's deep absorption began to pass away. The +warm tears upon her hand, the head upon her lap, began to waken the +instincts of womanhood to help and console another. She stroked the +dark hair and murmured, "Poor child, poor child! Tilly was right. +Trouble makes us near of kin." + +"You loved Tilly, Mrs. Wendall," Madge sobbed. "Think of where she's +gone. No more tears; no more pain; no more death." + +Her touch of sympathy broke the stony paralysis; her hot tears melted +those which seemed to have congealed in the breaking heart, and the +mother took Madge in her arms and cried till her strength was gone. + +When Mr. Wendall returned with some of the neighbors, Madge met him at +the door and held up a warning finger. The overwrought woman had been +soothed into the blessed oblivion of restoring sleep, the first she +had for many hours. A motherly-looking woman whispered her intention +of remaining with Mrs. Wendall all night. Mr. Wendall took Madge's +hand in both his own, and looked at her with eyes dim with tears. +Twice he essayed to speak, then turned away, faltering, "When I meet +you where Tilly is, perhaps I can tell you." + +She went down the little path bordered by flowers which the dead girl +had loved and tended, and gathered a few of them. Then Graydon drove +her away, his only greeting being a warm pressure of her hand. + +At last Madge breathed softly, "Think where I have gone. Where is +heaven? What is it?" + +His eyes were moist as he turned toward her. "I don't know, Madge," he +said. "I know one thing, however, I shall never, as you asked, say a +word against your faith. I've seen its fruits to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A NEW EXPERIMENT + + +Stella Wildmere would not leave the seclusion of her room. As the +hours passed the more overwhelming grew her disappointment and +humiliation, and her chief impulse now was to get away from a place +that had grown hateful to her. She had bitterly reproached her father +as the cause of her desolation, but thus far he had made no reply +whatever. She had passed almost a sleepless night, and since had shut +herself up in her room, looking at the past with a fixed stare and +rigid face, over which at times would pass a crimson hue of shame. + +Mrs. Wildmere went down to dinner with her husband, and then learned +that Mr. Arnault had breakfasted with him. This fact she told Stella +on her return, and the girl sent for her father immediately. + +"Why did you not tell me that Mr. Arnault was here this morning?" she +asked, harshly. + +He looked at her steadily, but made no reply. + +"Why don't you answer me?" she resumed, springing up in her impatience +and taking a step toward him. + +He still maintained the same steadfast, earnest look, which began to +grow embarrassing, for it emphasized the consciousness which she could +not stifle, that she alone was to blame. + +She turned irritably away, and sat down on the opposite side of the +room. + +"It's just part and parcel of your past folly," she began. "If I had +known he was here, and could have seen him or written to him--" + +She still encountered the same searching eyes that appeared to be +looking into her very soul. + +"Oh, well, if you have nothing to say--" + +"I have a great deal to say," answered her father, quietly, "but you +are not ready to hear it yet." + +"More lecturing and fault-finding," said Stella, sullenly. + +"I have not lectured or found fault. I have warned you and tried to +make you see the truth and to help you." + +"And with your usual success. When can we leave this house?" + +"We _must_ leave it to-morrow. I will speak in kindness and truth when +you are ready to listen. I know the past; I have little left now but +memory." + +He waited some moments, but there was no relenting on her part, and he +passed out. + +All the afternoon conscience waged war with anger, shame, pride and +fear--fear for the future, fear of her father, for she had never +before seen him look as he had since he had met her on the piazza +the evening before. He had manifested none of his usual traits of +irritability alternating with a coldness corresponding to her own. He +seemed to have passed beyond these surface indications of trouble +to the condition of one who sees evils that he cannot avert and who +rallies sufficient manhood to meet them with a dignity that bordered +on despair. + +As Stella grew calmer she had a growing perception of this truth. He +no longer indulged in vague, half-sincere predictions of disaster. His +aspect was that of a man who was looking at fate. + +A cold dread began to creep over her. What was in prospect? Was he, +not Henry Muir, to lose everything? After all, he was her father, her +protector, her only hope for the future. As reason found chance to be +heard, she saw how senseless was her revolt at him. She could not go +on ignoring him any longer. Perhaps it would be best to hear what he +had to say. + +This feeling was intensified by her mother, who at last came in and +said, in a weak, half-desperate way, "Stella, there is no use of your +going on in this style any longer. Distressed and worried as I am, +I can see that we can't help matters now by just wringing our hands. +Your father says we must leave as early as possible to-morrow. I can't +do everything to get ready. I'm so unnerved I can scarcely stand now. +Do come down to supper with us, or else let a good supper be brought +to you, and then let us act as if we had not lost our senses utterly. +Your father looks and is so strange that I scarcely know him." + +"I'll not go down again. Nothing would tempt me to meet Graydon +Muir and the curious stare of the people. I suppose they are full of +surmises. If you will have a supper sent to me I will take it and do +all the packing myself. Please tell papa that I wish to see him after +supper." + +She then made a toilet suitable for her task, and waited impatiently. +Her father soon appeared with a dainty and inviting supper. As soon as +they were alone Stella began: + +"Now, papa, tell me the worst--not what you fear, but just what is +before us." + +"Eat your supper first." + +"No; I wish to learn the absolute truth. You said you had a great deal +to say to me. I'm calm now, and I suppose I've acted like a fool long +enough." + +"I have much to say, but not many words. _I_ must begin again, Heaven +only knows how or where. I am about at the end of my resources. I +shall not do anything rash or silly. I shall do my best while I have +power to do anything. I do not propose to reproach you for the past. +It's gone now, and can't be helped. My proposal to you is that _you_ +begin also. You have tried pleasing yourself and thinking of self +first pretty thoroughly. You know what it is to be a belle. Now, why +not try the experiment of being a true, earnest, unselfish woman, +whose first effort is to do right. Believe me, Stella, there is a God +in heaven who thwarts selfishness and punishes it in ways often +least expected. The people with whom we associate soon recognize +the self-seeking spirit, and resent it. You have had a terrible and +practical illustration of what I say. Are you not a girl of too much +mind to make the same blunder again? With your youth you need not +spoil your life, or that of others, unless you do it wilfully." + +She leaned back in her chair, and bitter tears came into her eyes. + +"Yes," she faltered, "my lesson has been a terrible one; but perhaps +I never should have become sane without it. I have been exacting and +receiving all my life, and yet to-night I feel that I have nothing. +Oh," she exclaimed, with passionate utterance, "I have been such a +_fool_. Nothing, nothing to show for all those gay, brilliant years, +not even a father's love and little claim upon it." + +He came to her side and kissed her again and again. + +"You don't know anything about a father's love," he said. "It survives +everything and anything, and your love would save me." + +Never, even under the eyes of Graydon Muir, had she been so conscious +of her heart before. Had he seen her when she departed on the earliest +train in the morning he would have witnessed a new expression on her +face. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +MADGE ALDEN'S RIDE + + +Methodical Henry Muir found that the events of the last few days had +resulted in a reaction and weariness which he could not readily shake +off, and he had expressed an intention of sleeping late on Monday and +taking the second train. When he and his family gathered at breakfast, +the removal to Hotel Kaaterskill was the uppermost theme, and it was +agreed that Madge and Graydon should ride thither on horseback, and +return by a train, if wearied. Mr. Muir then went to the city, well +prepared to establish himself on a safer footing. Graydon and Madge +soon after were on their way through the mountain valleys, the latter +with difficulty holding her horse down to the pace they desired to +maintain. + +After riding rapidly for some distance, they reached long, lonely +stretches, favorable for conversation, and Graydon was too fond of +hearing Madge talk to lose the opportunity. He looked wonderingly +at her flushed face, with the freshness of the morning in it; her +brilliant eyes, from which flashed a spirit that nothing seemed +to daunt; the sudden compression of her lips, as with power and +inimitable grace she reined in her chafing steed. Never before had +she appeared so vital and beautiful, and he rode at her side with +something like exultation that they were so much to each other. He +was turning his back on a past fraught with peril, over which hung the +shadow of what must have been a lifelong disappointment. + +"The girl who would have taken me, as Henry chooses among commercial +securities, cannot now make me an adjunct to her self-pleasing +career," he thought. "I am free--free to become to Madge what I was in +old times. No one now has the right to look askance at our affection +and companionship. What an idiot I was to endure Stella's criticism +while she was playing it so sharp between Arnault and myself! No +wonder crystal Madge said she and Stella were not congenial! + +"I call Madge crystal, yet I don't understand her fully, and have not +since my return. She has had some deep, sad experience, which she is +hiding from all. From what Mrs. Wendall said at the funeral yesterday, +Madge must have revealed more of it to that dying girl than to any +one else. How my heart thrilled at those strange whispered words! How +dearly I would love to help her and bring unalloyed happiness into her +life! But whatever it was referred to I cannot touch upon till she +of her own accord gives me her confidence. Could she have formed what +promises to be a hopeless love in her Western home, and is she now +hiding a wound that will not heal, while bravely and cheerfully facing +life as it is? Perhaps her purpose to return to Santa Barbara proves +that she does not regard her love as utterly hopeless. Well, whatever +the truth may be, she hides her secret with consummate skill, and I +shall not pry into even her affairs. I only know that as I feel now I +should prize her friendship above any other woman's love." + +"What are you thinking of so deeply?" she asked, meeting his eyes. + +"My thought just then was that I should prize your friendship above +any other woman's love, and I had been felicitating myself that Stella +Wildmere would never have the right to criticise the fact." + +"Oh, Graydon, what a man of moods and tenses you are!" Then she added, +laughing, "There has been indeed a kaleidoscopic turn in affairs. Mr. +Arnault disappeared yesterday, and Mary learned that the Wildmeres +left by the early train this morning." + +"Yes, Miss Wildmere followed Arnault promptly. They are near of kin, +but not too near to marry. Their nuptials should be solemnized in Wall +Street, under flowers arranged into a dollar symbol." + +"I feel sorry for Mr. and Mrs. Wildmere, though; especially the +former. I think he might have been quite different had the fates been +kinder." + +"I would rather dismiss them all from my mind as far as possible. +Don't think me callous about Stella. If she had decided for me at once +and been true I would have been loyal to her in spite of everything; +but the revelation of her cold, mercenary soul makes me shudder when I +think how narrowly I escaped allying myself to it." + +"You have indeed had an escape," Madge replied, gravely. "If she were +a young, thoughtless, undeveloped girl her womanhood might have come +to her afterward. I hope I am mistaken, but she has made a singular +impression on me." + +"Please tell me it. You have insight into character that in one so +young is surprising." + +"I have no special insight. I simply feel people. They create an +atmosphere and make some dominant impression with which I always +associate them." + +"I am eager to know what impression Miss Wildmere has made." + +"I fear this would be true of her, even after she becomes a mature +woman. A man might be almost perishing at her side from mental trouble +of some kind, and, so far from feeling for him and sympathizing, she +wouldn't even know it, and he couldn't make her know it. She would +look at him quietly with her gray eyes as she would at a problem in +the calculus, and with scarcely more desire to understand him, and +with perhaps less power to do so. She would turn from him to a new +dress, a new admirer, or a new phase of amusement, and forget him, and +the fact that he was her husband would not make much difference. Some +deep experience of her own may change her, but I don't know. I fear +another's experience would be like a tragedy without the walls while +she was safe within." + +"Oh, Madge, think of a man with a strong, sensitive nature beating his +very heart to death against such pumice-stone callousness!" + +"I don't like to think of it," she replied. "Come, I ask with you now +that we forget her as far as possible. She may not disappoint a +man like Arnault. Let them both become shadows in the background of +memory. Here's a level place. Now for a gallop." + +When at last they pulled up, Graydon said, "Your horse is awfully +strong and restless to-day." + +"Yes; he has not been used enough of late. He'll be quiet before +night, for I am enjoying this so much that I should like to return in +the same way." + +"I am delighted to hear you say so. My spirits begin to rise the +moment I am with you, and you are the only woman I ever knew from +whose side I could not go with the feeling, 'Well, some other time +would suit me now.'" + +Her laugh rang out so suddenly and merrily that her horse sprang into +a gallop, but she checked him speedily, and thought, with an exultant +thrill, "Graydon now has surely revealed an unmistakable symptom." To +him she said: + +"You amuse me immensely. You are almost as outspoken as little Harry, +and, like him, you mistake the impression of the moment for the +immutable." + +"Now, that's not fair to me. I've been constant to you. Own up, Madge, +haven't I?" + +With a glance and smile which she never gave to others, and rarely to +him, she said: + +"I own up. I don't believe a real brother would have been half so +nice.". + +"Let the past guarantee the future, then. Shake hands against all +future misunderstandings." + +She was scarcely ready to shake hands on such a basis, but of course +would have complied. In the slight confusion her hand relaxed its +grasp on the curb-rein, and at the same moment a locomotive, coming +along the side of the opposite mountain, blew a shrill whistle. +Instantly her horse had the bit in his teeth, and was off at a furious +pace. + +At first she did not care, but soon found, with anxiety, that he +paid no attention to her efforts to check him, and that his pace was +passing into a mad run. The gorge was growing narrower, and the lofty +mountains stood, with their rocky feet, nearer and nearer together. +She could see through the intervening trees that the road and +rail-track were becoming closely parallel, and at last realized that +her horse was unmanageable. + +When the engineer of the train saw Madge's desperate riding he +surmised that her horse was not under control, and put on extra steam +in order to take the exciting cause of the animal's terror out of the +way. He thought he could easily reach the summit of the clove where +the carriage-drive crossed the track before Madge, and then pass +swiftly over the down-grade beyond; but he had not calculated on the +terrific speed of the horse; and when at last the track and roadway +were almost side by side the frantic beast, with his pale rider, was +abreast of the train. For a moment the engineer was irresolute, and +then, too late, as he feared, "slowed up." + +The narrow road, with a precipitous mountain on the left, was so near +to the flying train that the passengers in an open car could almost +touch Madge, and she was to them like a strange and beautiful +apparition, with her white face and large dark eyes filled with an +unspeakable dread. + +"Oh, stop the train!" she cried, and her voice, with the whole power +of her lungs, rang out far above the clatter of the wheels, wakening +despairing echoes from the mountains impending on either side. + +The speed of the cars was perceptibly checked; the passengers saw +the foam-flecked brute, with head stubbornly bent downward and eye of +fire, pass beyond them. An instant later, to their horrified gaze and +that of Graydon's, who was following as fast as a less swift horse +could carry him, Madge and the locomotive appeared to come together. +The young man gave a hoarse, inarticulate cry between a curse and a +shout, and whipped his horse forward furiously. + +The speed of the train was renewed, and he saw through the open car +that Madge must have passed unharmed before the engine, just grazing +it. It also appeared that she was gaining the mastery, for her horse +was rearing; then cars of ordinary make intervened and hid her from +view a moment, and the train clattered noisily on. + +When he crossed the track Madge was not where he had last seen her. +The road beyond ran at a greater distance from the railway, and was +lined with trees and bushes. Through an opening among these he saw +that the horse had resumed his old mad pace, that Madge was still +mounted, but that she was no longer erect, and sat with her head bowed +and her whip-hand clutching the mane. He also saw, with a sinking +heart, that the road curved a little further on, and evidently crossed +the track again. + +A moment later--Oh, horror! An opening in the foliage revealed Madge +dashing headlong, apparently, into the train. He grew so faint that he +almost fell from his horse, and was scarcely conscious, until, with +a strong revulsion of hope, he found himself under the track which, +about an eighth of a mile from the previous crossing, passes just +above the roadway. Not aware of this fact, and with vision broken by +intervening trees, he could not have imagined anything else than a +collision, which must have been fatal in its consequences. + +With hope his pulse quickened, his strength returned, and he again +urged his jaded horse forward, at the same time sending out his voice: + +"Madge, Madge, keep up a little longer." + +The road had left the car-track, the noise of the train was dying away +in the distance. At last, turning a curve, he saw that Madge's horse +had come down to a canter, and that she was pulling feebly at the +rein. + +As he approached he shouted "Whoa!" with such a voice of command that +the horse stopped suddenly and she almost fell forward. + +"Quick, Graydon, quick!" she gasped. + +He sprang to the ground, and a second later she was an unconscious +burden in his arms. + +He laid her gently on a mossy bank under an oak; then, with a +face fairly livid with passion, he drew a small revolver from his +hip-pocket, stepped back to the horse that now stood trembling and +exhausted in the road, and shot him dead. + +He now saw that they had been observed at a neighboring farmhouse, +and that people were running toward them. Gathering Madge again in +his arms, he bore her toward the dwelling, in which effort he was soon +aided by a stout countryman. + +The farmer's wife was all solicitude, and to her and her daughter's +ministrations Madge was left, while Graydon waited, with intense +anxiety, in the porch, explaining what had occurred, with a manner +much distraught, in answer to many questions. + +"The cursed brute is done for now," he concluded. + +Madge's faint proved obstinate, and at last Graydon began to urge the +farmer to go for a physician. + +The daughter at last appeared with the glad tidings that the young +girl was "coming to nicely." + +Graydon breathed a fervent "Thank God!" and sank weak and limp into +a seat on the porch. The farmer brought him a glass of cool milk from +the cellar, and then Graydon sent in word that he would like to see +the lady as soon as possible. + +When he entered the "spare room" of the farmhouse Madge, with a smile +that was like a ray of sunshine, extended her hand from the lounge on +which she was reclining, and said: + +"You didn't fail me, Graydon. I couldn't have kept up a moment longer. +I should have fainted before had I not heard your voice. How good God +has been!" + +He held her hand in both his own, his mouth twitched nervously, but +his emotion was too strong for speech. + +"Don't feel so badly, Graydon," she resumed, and her voice was +gentleness itself; "I am not hurt, nor are you to blame." + +"I am to blame," he said, hoarsely. "I gave you that brute, but he's +dead. I shot him instantly. Oh, Madge, if--if--I feel that I would +have shot myself." + +"Graydon, please be more calm," she faltered, tears coming into her +eyes. "There, see, you are making me cry. I can't bear to see you--I +can't bear to see a man--so moved. Please now, you look so pale that +I am frightened. I'm not strong, but shall get better at once if I see +you yourself." + +"Forgive me, Madge, but it seems as if I had suffered the pangs of +death ten times over--there, I won't speak about it till we both have +recovered from the shock. Dear, brave little girl; how can I thank you +enough for keeping up till I could reach you!" + +She began to laugh a little too nervously to be natural. Her heart was +glad over her escape, and in a gladder tumult at his words and manner. +He was no shadow of a man, nor did ice-water flow in his veins. His +feeling had been so strong that it had almost broken her self-control. + +"Some day," she exulted, "some day God will turn his fraternal +affection into the wine of love." + +"I'm so nervous," she said, "that I must either laugh or cry. What a +plight we are in! How shall we go forward or backward?" + +"We shall not do either very soon. Mrs. Hobson is making you a cup of +tea, and then you must rest thoroughly, and sleep, if possible." + +"What will you do?" + +"Oh, I'll soothe my nerves with a cigar, and berate myself on the +porch! When you are thoroughly rested I'll have Mr. Hobson drive us on +to the nearest station. We are in no plight whatever, if you received +no harm." + +"I haven't. Promise me one thing." + +"Anything--everything." + +"Do no berating. I'm sorry you killed the horse; but he did act +vilely, and I suppose you had to let off your anger in some way. I was +angry myself at first--he was so stupid. But when I found I couldn't +hold him at all I thought I must die--Oh, how it all comes back to +me! What thoughts I had, and how sweet life became! Oh, oh--" and she +began sobbing like a child. + +"Madge, please--I can't endure this, indeed I can't." + +But her overwrought nerves were not easily controlled, and he knelt +beside her, speaking soothingly and pleadingly. "Dear Madge, dear +sister Madge. Oh, I wish Mary was here!" and he kissed her again and +again. + +"Graydon," she gasped, "stop! There--I'm better;" and she did seem to +recover almost instantly. + +"Law bless you, sir," said Mrs. Hobson, who had entered with the tea, +"your sister'll be all right in an hour or so." + +Graydon sprang to his feet, and there was a strong dash of color in +his face. As for the hitherto pallid Madge, her visage was like a +peony, and she was preternaturally quiet. + +"Try to sleep, Madge," said Graydon, from the doorway, "and I won't +'worry or take on' a bit;" and he disappeared. + +There was no sleep for her, and yet she felt herself wonderfully +restored. Was it the potency of Mrs. Hobson's tea? or that which he +had placed upon her lips? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +"YOU ARE VERY BLIND" + + +As a general rule Graydon was not conscious of nerves, and had +received the fact of their existence largely on faith. But to-day they +asserted themselves in a manner which excited his surprise and some +rather curious speculation. He found his heart beating in a way +difficult to account for on a physiological basis, his pulses +fluttering, and his thoughts in a luminous haze, wherein nothing was +very distinct except Madge's flushing face, startled eyes, looking a +protest through their tears. It was not so much an indignant protest +as it was a frightened one, he half imagined. And why was he so +confused and disturbed that, instead of sitting quietly down in the +porch, as he had intended, he was impelled to walk restlessly to +a neighboring grove! For one so intensely fraternal he felt he was +continuing to "take on" in a very unnecessary style. + +"Confound that woman!" he muttered. "Why did she have to come in just +then, and why should I blush like a schoolgirl because she caught me +kissing one that I regard as a sister? And why did the word sister +sound so unnatural when spoken by Mrs. Hobson? 'Great Scott!' as Henry +says, I hope I'm not growing to love Madge. She would overwhelm me +with ridicule, infused, perhaps, with a spice of contempt, if I gave +her the impression that I had fallen out of love one week and in the +next. Hang it! I'm all broken up from this day's experience. I had +better get on my feet mentally, and then I shall be able to find out +where I stand." + +The demon of restlessness soon drove him back to the house again, and +he learned that there would be a train in about two hours. They would +still have time to dine at the Kaaterskill and return before night. He +therefore made arrangements to be driven to the station, also to have +the horse he had ridden and the saddles taken back to the Under-Cliff +House. + +There was a faint after-glow on Madge's cheeks when she joined him at +the substantial repast which Mr. and Mrs. Hobson insisted upon their +partaking before departure; but in all other respects she appeared +and acted as usual. With a fineness of tact she was at home among her +plain entertainers, and put them at ease. Mrs. Hobson continued to +speak of her as Graydon's sister, and he had darted a humorous glance +at the girl; but it met such grave impassiveness of expression that he +feared she was angry. + +When parting from her hostess Madge spoke words which left a genial +expression on the good dame's face for hours thereafter, and at the +station Graydon put in Mr. Hobson's hand more than he could have +gathered from his stony farm that day, although he had been called +from the harvest field. + +During the first mile or two in the cars Madge was very quiet, and +seemed almost wholly engrossed with the scenery. At last Graydon +leaned toward her and asked, "Are you vexed with me, Madge?" + +"I find that I must maintain my self-control when with you, Graydon," +was the grave reply. + +"Forgive me, Madge. I scarcely knew what I was doing. Let your +thoughts take my part a little. Remember that within the hour I had +believed I had lost you. I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, but +when you passed under the train you appeared from where I was to dash +into it, and I nearly fainted and fell off my horse. Think what a +horrible shock I had. I also was nervous and all broken up--the first +time in my life that I remember being so. I couldn't cry as you did, +and when off my balance kissing you was just as natural to me as--" +Madge's mouth had been twitching, and now, in spite of herself, her +laugh broke forth. + +"Please forgive me, Madge;" and he held out his hand. + +"On condition that you will never do so again, or speak of it again." + +"Never?" he repeated, ruefully. + +"Never!" she said, with severe emphasis. + +"I won't make any such promise," he replied, stubbornly. + +"Oh, very well!" and she turned to the window. + +"Confound it!" he thought; "I'm not going to tie myself up by any such +pledge. I'm not sure of myself, or sure of anything, except that I'm a +free man, and that Madge won't be my sister. I shall remain free. She +herself once said in effect that I could take a straight course +when once I got my bearings, and I shall permit no more promises or +trammels till I do get them." + +They passed speedily on to the end of their journey, and were the +perfection of quiet, well-bred travellers, he disguising a slightly +vexatious constraint and sense of unduly severe punishment, and she +secretly exulting over the fact that he would not make the promise. + +When leaving the Kaaterskill station her eyes first rested on the +adjacent lake, and its wide extent suggested the opportunity to pull +an oar to some purpose. As the stage surmounted the last approach +to the hotel, and the valley of the Hudson, with the river winding +through it like a silver band, broke upon her vision, the apparent +cloud passed from her brow, and her pleasure was unaffected. A few +inquiries and the study of a map of the vicinity made it evident that +the region abounded in superb walks and drives, while from the +front piazza there was a panorama that would never lose its changing +interest and beauty. A suite of rooms was selected, with the +understanding that they should be occupied on Wednesday. + +Madge soon found herself the object of no little curiosity and +interest. The story of her mad ride had reached the house, and she +was recognized by some who had been on the train; but Graydon met +inquiries in such a way that they were not pushed very far. To a +reporter he said, "Is this affair ours or the public's? We have not +trespassed on any one's rights." + +He reassured Madge by saying, "Don't worry about it; such things are +only the talk of a day." + +They returned during the afternoon. Graydon's manner was courtesy +itself, and but little more; but he was becoming a vigilant student of +his companion, and she soon was dimly aware of the fact. + +"I will understand her," he had resolved. "I intend to get my +bearings, and then shape my course, for I cannot help feeling that the +destiny of the little girl who used to sit on my lap, with her head on +my shoulder, is in some way interwoven with mine. Even when I believed +myself in love with another woman she had more power over me than +Stella--more power to kindle thought and awaken my deeper nature. I +begin to think that all her talk about being a friend, good fellow, +etc., is greater nonsense than my fraternal proposals. No friend, +fellow, or sister could make my heart beat as it did to-day. No human +being in mortal peril could have awakened such desperate, reckless +despair as I felt at one time, and" (with a smile to himself) "I never +knew what a kiss was before. I'm not the fool to ignore all these +symptoms. I'll fathom the mystery of this sweet, peerless girl, if it +takes all summer and all my life." + +But the fair enigma at his side grew more inscrutable. Neither by tone +nor glance did she indicate that he was more to her than she had said. + +"Do you wish to recognize the scenes we passed over this morning?" he +asked, gently, as they approached them. + +"No, not yet. I don't wish to think about it any more than I can +help." + +"Your wishes are mine." + +"Occasionally, perhaps." + +"You shall see." + +"I usually do," was her laughing answer. + +But she began to appear very weary, and when they reached the +Under-Cliff House she went to her room, and did not reappear again +that day. + +Graydon made even Dr. Sommers's ruddy cheek grow pale by his brief +narrative, adding, "Perhaps her nerves have received a severer shock +than she yet understands. I wish you would tell Mrs. Muir the story, +making as light of it as you can, and with her aid you can insure that +Miss Alden obtains the rest and tonics she needs. You can also meet +and quiet the rumors that may be flying about, and you know that Miss +Alden has a strong aversion to being talked to or of about personal +affairs." + +In youth, health, and sleep Madge found the best restoratives, and the +morning saw her little the worse for the experiences of the previous +day. The hours passed quickly in preparations for departure and in +a call on Mr. and Mrs. Wendall, who gave evidence that they were +becoming more resigned. + +"I am at work again," said the farmer, "and so is Nancy. There's +nothing else for us to do but plod toward home, where Tilly is." + +Regret was more general and sincere than is usual when the transient +associations of a resort are broken. Dr. Sommers's visage could not +lengthen literally, and yet it approached as nearly to a funereal +aspect as was possible. He brightened up, however, when Madge slipped +something into his hand "for the chapel." + +They were soon comfortably established in their new quarters, and in +the late afternoon Madge was so rested that she took a short walk +with Graydon to Sunset Rock, and saw the shadows deepen in the vast, +beautiful Kaaterskill Clove. Then they returned by the ledge path. +At last they entered the wonderful Palenvilie Road, a triumph of +practical engineering, and built by a plain mountaineer, who, from the +base of the mountain to the summit, made his surveys and sloped his +grades by the aid of his eye only. They had been comparatively silent, +and Graydon finally remarked: "It gives me unalloyed pleasure, Madge, +to look upon such scenes with you. There is no need of my pointing out +anything. I feel that you see more than I do, and I understand better +what I do see from the changing expression of your eyes. Don't you +think such unspoken appreciation of the same thing is the basis of +true companionship?" + +"Oh, Graydon, what an original thought!" + +He bit his lip, and remarked that the evening was growing cool. + +At supper and during the evening his vigilance was not rewarded in +the slightest degree. Madge appeared in good spirits, and talked +charmingly, even brilliantly at times, but she was exceedingly +impersonal, and it was now his policy to follow her slightest lead in +everything. He would prove that her wish was his, as far as he knew +it. + +"Some day," he thought, "I shall find a clew to her mystery." + +The next morning Graydon went to the city, and would not return till +Friday evening of the following week, for it was now his purpose to +resume business. In the evening he and his brother discussed their +affairs, which were beginning to improve all along the line. Then +their talk converged more upon topics connected with this story, and +among them was Mr. Wildmere's suspension. + +"His failure don't amount to very much," Henry remarked; "he has +always done business in a sort of hand-to-mouth way." + +"I am surprised that Arnault permitted him to go down," Graydon said; +"it couldn't have taken very much to keep him up." + +"It is said that Arnault will have nothing to do with him, and that +this fact has hastened his downfall." + +"Well, so she played it too sharp on him, also. I was in hopes that +she would marry and punish him. I don't wonder at his course, though; +for if he has a spark of spirit he would not forgive her treatment +after she learned that you had not failed. Oh, how blind I was!" + +"Yes, Graydon, you are very blind," said Mr. Muir, inadvertently. + +"'Are?' Why do you use the present tense?" + +"Did I?" replied Mr. Muir, a little confusedly. "Well, you see, Madge +and I understood Miss Wildmere from the first." + +"Oh, hang Miss Wildmere! Do you think Madge--" + +"Now stop right there, Graydon. I think Madge is the best and most +sensible girl I ever knew, and that's all you will ever get out of +me." + +"Pardon me, Henry. I spoke from impulse, and not a worthy one, either. +I tell you point blank, however, that Madge Alden hasn't her equal in +the world. I would love her in a moment if I dared. Would to Heaven +I could have spent some time with her immediately after my return! In +that case there would have been no Wildmere folly. I declare, Henry, +when I thought she must be killed the other day I felt that the end +of my own life had come. I can't tell you what that girl is to me; but +with her knowledge of the past how can I approach her in decency?" + +"Well," said Mr. Muir, shrugging his shoulders and rising to retire, +"you are out of the worst part of your scrape, and Madge is alive +and well. This is not a little to be thankful for. I shall confine my +advice to business matters. Still, were I in your shoes, I know what I +should do. 'Faint heart,' you know. Good-night." + +Graydon did not move, or scarcely answer, but, with every faculty of +mind concentrated, he thought, "Henry's explanation of his use of the +present tense does not explain, and there is more meaning in what he +left unsaid in our recent interview than in what he said. Can it be +possible? Let me take this heavenly theory and, as we were taught at +college, see how much there is to support it. Was there any change in +her manner toward me before we parted years since? Why, she was taken +ill that night when she first met Miss Wildmere, and I stayed away +from her so long--idiot!" + +From that hour he went forward, scanning everything that had occurred +between them, until he saw again her flushing face and startled eyes +when he kissed her, and his belief grew strong that it was his immense +good-fortune to fulfil the prediction that Madge should be happy. + +The thought kept him sleepless most of that night, and made the time +which must intervene before he could see her again seem long indeed. +He did his utmost to get the details of his department well in hand +during business hours; but after they were over his mind returned at +once to Madge, and never did a scientist hunt for facts and hints in +support of a pet theory so eagerly as did Graydon scan the past for +confirmation of his hope, that long years of companionship had given +him a place in Madge's heart which no one else possessed, and that +his blindness or indifference to the truth was the sorrow of her life. +This view explained why she would not regard herself as his sister, +and could not permit the intimacy natural to the relation. + +When he examined the attitude of his own heart toward her he was not +surprised that his affection was passing swiftly into a love deeper +and far more absorbing than Stella Wildmere had ever inspired. + +"The old law of cause and effect," he said, smiling to himself, "and +I can imagine no effect in me adequate to the cause. Even when she +scarcely cast a shadow she was more companionable than Stella, but it +never occurred to me to think of her in any other light than that of +little sister Madge. Almost as soon as the thought occurred to me, +and I had a right to love her, love became as natural as it was +inevitable. Even in the height of my infatuation for Stella, Madge was +winning me from her unconsciously to myself." + +Such thoughts and convictions imparted a gentle and almost caressing +tone to his words when Madge welcomed and accompanied him to his late +supper on his return to the mountains. + +[Illustration: "PROMISE ME YOU WILL TAKE A LONG REST."] + +This significant accent was more marked than ever when she promenaded +with him for a brief time on the piazza. Nor did a little brusqueness +on her part banish the tone and manner which were slight indeed, but +unmistakable to her quick intuition. + +"Could Henry have given him a hint?" she queried; and her brow +contracted and her eyes flashed indignantly at the thought. + +As a result of the suspicion, she left him speedily, and in the +morning was glad to hope, from his more natural bearing, that she had +been over-sensitive. + +The sagacious Graydon, however, was maturing a plan which he hoped +would bring her the happiness which it would be his happiness to +confer. + +"She is so proud and spirited," he thought, "that only when surprised +and off her guard will she reveal to me a glimpse of the truth. If I +consulted my own pride I wouldn't speak for a long time to come--not +till she had ceased to associate me with Stella Wildmere; but if she +is loving me as I believe she would love a man, she shall not doubt an +hour longer than I can help, that I and my life's devotion are hers. +Sweet Madge, you shall make your own terms again!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +"CERTAINLY I REFUSE YOU" + + +Having heard that one of the finest views among the mountains was to +be had at Indian Head, a vast overhanging precipice facing toward the +entrance to the Kaaterskill Clove, Graydon easily induced Madge to +explore with him the tangled paths which led thither. + +How his eyes exulted over her as she tripped on before him down the +steep, winding, rocky paths! As he followed he often wondered where +her feet had found their secure support, so rugged was the way. Yet on +she glanced before him, swaying, bending to avoid branches, or pushing +them aside, her motions instinct with vitality and natural grace. + +Once, however, he had a fright. She was taking a deep descent swiftly, +when her skirt caught on a stubborn projecting stump of a sapling, +and it appeared that she would fall headlong; but by some surprising, +self-recovering power, which seemed exerted even in the act of +falling, she lay before him in the path, almost as if reclining easily +upon her elbow, and was nearly on her feet again before he could reach +her side. + +"Are you hurt?" he asked, most solicitously, brushing off the dust +from her dress. + +"Not in the least," she replied, laughing. + +"Well," he exclaimed, "I don't believe you or any one else could do +that so handsomely again if you tried a thousand times! Don't try, +please. I carried you the other day some little distance, and found +that you were no longer a little ghost." + +"You carried me, Graydon? I thought the people from the farmhouse +came." + +"Oh, I didn't wait for them! I was half beside myself." + +"Evidently," she replied, a little coolly. + +Her tone made him falter in his purpose, and when at last they reached +Indian Head, she was so resolutely impersonal in her talk, and had so +much to say about the history and the legends of the region of +which she had read, that he felt that she was in no mood for what he +intended to say. As the time passed he grew nervously apprehensive +over his project, and at last they started on their return with his +plan unfulfilled. They agreed to try a path to their left, which was +scarcely distinguishable, and it soon appeared to end at a point that +sloped almost perpendicularly to a wild gorge that ran up between the +hills. + +"That must be what is down on the map as Tamper Clove," said Madge; +"and do you know, some think that it was up that valley Irving made +poor Rip carry the heavy keg? Oh, I wish we could get down into it and +go back that way!" + +"Let me explore;" and he began swinging himself down by the aid of +saplings and smaller growth. "Some one has passed here recently," he +called back, "for trees are freshly blazed and branches broken. Yes," +he cried, a moment later; "here is a well-defined path leading up the +clove toward the hotel. Do you think you dare attempt it?" + +"Certainly," she answered; and before he could reach her she was +half-way down the descent. + +"Madge!" he cried, in alarm. + +"Oh, don't worry," she said; "I was over worse places in the West." + +"Well, what can't she do!" he exclaimed, as she stood beside him in +the path. + +"I can't give up my own way very easily," she replied. "You have found +that out." + +"That don't trouble me in the least. I don't wish you to give up your +own way. It's warm down here, and our walk won't be so breezy as if we +had followed the ridge." + +"We will take it leisurely and have a rest by and by." + +The gorge grew narrower and wilder. They passed an immense tree, under +which Indians may have bivouacked, and in some storm long past the +lightning had plowed its way from the topmost branch to its gnarled +roots. + +At last the path crossed a little rill that tinkled with a faint +murmur among the stones, making a limpid pool here and there. Immense +bowlders, draped with varied-hued mosses and lichens, were scattered +about, where in ages past the melting glacier had left them. The trees +that densely shaded the place seemed primeval in their age, loftiness, +and shaggy girth. + +"Oh, what a deliciously cool and lovely spot!" cried Madge, throwing +down her alpenstock. "Get me some oak leaves, Graydon, and I will make +you a cup and give you a drink." + +In a moment she made a fairy chalice with the aid of little twigs, and +when she handed it to him, dripping with water, his hand trembled as +he took it. + +"Why, Graydon," she exclaimed, "what on earth makes you so nervous?" + +"I am not used to climbing, and I suppose my hand has a little tremor +from fatigue." + +"You poor thing! Here is a mossy rock on which you can imitate Rip. +You have only to imagine that my leaf goblet is the goblin flagon of +Irving's legend." + +"Where and what would you be after twenty years?" + +"Probably a wrinkled spinster at Santa Barbara." + +"You wouldn't go away and leave me?" + +"Certainly I would, if I couldn't wake you up." + +He looked into her mirthful eyes and lovely face. Oh, how lovely it +was, flushed from heat and climbing! "Madge," he said, impetuously, +"you have waked me--every faculty of my soul, every longing of my +heart. Will you be my wife?" + +Her face grew scarlet. She sprang to her feet, and asked, with half +serious, half comic dismay, "Will I be your _what!_" + +"I asked you to be my wife," he began, confusedly. + +"Oh, Graydon, this is worse than asking me to be your sister!" she +replied, laughing. "Your alternations fairly make me dizzy." + +"Truly, Madge," he stammered, "a man can scarcely pay a woman a +greater compliment--" + +"Oh, it's a compliment!" she interrupted. + +"No," he burst out, with more than his first impetuosity; "I'm +in earnest. You, who almost read my thoughts, know that I am in +earnest--that--" + +By a strong yet simple gesture she checked him. + +"You scarcely realize what you are asking, Graydon," she said, +gravely. "I have no doubt your present emotion is unforced and +sincere, but it requires time to prove earnestness. You were equally +sure you were in earnest a short time since, and I had little place, +comparatively, in your thoughts." + +"But I did not know you then as I do now." + +"You thought you did. You had vivid impressions then about me, and +more vivid about another woman. You are acting now under another +impression, and from impulse. If I ever give myself away it shall not +be in response to an impulse." + +"Madge, you misjudge me--" he began, hotly. + +"I think I know most of the facts, and you know how matter-of-fact +I am. You may think I do not know what love is, but I do. It is a +priceless thing. It is a woman's life, and all that makes a true +woman's life. It is something that one cannot always give at will, or +wisely; but if I had the power to give it at all, it should be to a +man who had earned the right to ask it, and not to one who, within a +few short days, had formed new impressions about me. Love is not the +affection of a friend, or even of a sister. There is no necessity for +me to marry." + +"Then you refuse me?" he said, a little stiffly. + +"Certainly I refuse you, Graydon. Has my manner led you to think that +I was eager for a chance to accept you?" + +"Oh, no, indeed! You have checked my slightest tendencies toward +sentiment." + +"Thank you for the assurance. I do not care in the least for +sentiment." + +His airy fabric of hope, of almost certainty, had been shattered so +suddenly that he was overwhelmed. There seemed but one conclusion. + +"Madge," he said, in a low, hoarse voice, "answer me, yes or no. You +loved some one at Santa Barbara who did not return your love? That is +your trouble of which Mrs. Wendall spoke--I could not help hearing her +words--that is the mystery about you which has been haunting me with +increasing perplexity; that was the sorrow I heard in your voice the +evening you sang in the chapel, and which has vaguely, yet strongly, +moved me since? Tell me, is it not so? Tell me, as a friend, that I +may be a truer friend." + +She had turned away in a manner that confirmed his thought. + +"You are suggesting a humiliating confession, Graydon." + +"Yes, humiliating to the man who saw you, knew you, yet did not love +you. Tell me, Madge. It will make my own course clearer." + +"Yes, then," she replied. + +He sighed deeply, and was silent for a few moments. + +"Madge," he at last resumed, "look at me. I wish to tell you +something." + +She turned slowly toward him, and he saw that her lip was trembling, +and that tears were gathering in her eyes. + +"You may think me cruel in wringing such a confession from you, but +perhaps you will forgive me when you hear all I have to say. You may +look upon me now as a creature of impulses and impressions. The memory +of my recent infatuation is fresh in your mind, but you yourself said +I could be straightforward when once I got my bearings. I have them +now, and I take my course. As a friend you have revealed to me much of +your woman's nature, and, having known the best, I shall not look for +anything less than yours. I shall be devoted to you through life. I +will be to you all that I can be--all that you will permit. It is said +that time heals all wounds. Perhaps some day--well, if it ever can be, +I should be content to take what you could give. You said I was kind +and patient with the little ghost. I should be far kinder, gentler--" + +She had felt herself going fast, and had almost yielded to the impulse +to exclaim, "You, Graydon, are the one who did not return my love; and +although your love has been so brief and untested compared with mine, +I will trust you;" when voices were heard on the same path by +which they had come, and the figures of other ramblers were seen +indistinctly through the foliage. + +She gave his hand a strong pressure, seized her alpenstock, and +hastened swiftly forward. The path soon afterward emerged on the +public road. The breeze cooled her hot cheeks, kissed away her tears, +and half an hour later they approached the hotel, chatting as quietly +as the strictest conventionality would require. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +MY TRUE FRIEND + + +They found that Mr. Muir had arrived, and no family party in the long +supper-room appeared more free from disturbing thoughts and memories +than the one gathered at the banker's table. In Madge the keen-eyed +man could detect nothing that was unusual, and in Graydon only a trace +of the dignity and seriousness which would inevitably follow some +deep experience or earnest purpose. They all spent the evening and the +greater part of the following day together, and Madge was touched more +than once by observing that Graydon sought unobtrusively to comply +with even her imagined wishes and to enhance the point and interest of +her spoken thoughts. + +In answer to his direct question she had acknowledged the absolute +truth, and yet it had proved more misleading than all the disguises +which her maidenly reserve had compelled her to adopt. It seemed now +that she would have no further trouble with him--that he had defined +his purpose, and would abide by it. She was glad that she had not +yielded to his appeal and rewarded him in the first consciousness +of his new regard for her. This feeling had seemed too recent, +tumultuous, and full of impulse, and did not accord with her earnest, +chastened spirit, that had attained the goal of its hope by such +patient endeavor. She preferred that the first strong outflow from +his heart should find wide, deep channels, and that his love for her +should take the same recognized place in his life that her love had +occupied so long in her own. She also had a genuine and feminine +reluctance that the suitor of Stella Wildmere should be known as her +lover so speedily, and something more and deeper than good taste was +the cause of her aversion. + +Yet she was exceedingly happy. The hope that had sustained her so +long, that had been so nearly lost, now seemed certain of fulfilment, +and no one but she and God knew how much this truth meant. Only He had +been her confidant, and she felt that she had been sustained in her +struggle from weakness to strength by a Power that was not human, and +guided during the past weeks by a wisdom beyond her own. + +"He has proved to me a good Father," was her simple belief. "He led +me to do the best I could for myself, and then did the rest. I also +am sure He would have sustained me had I failed utterly. That my life +would not have been vain and useless was shown when I saved little +Nellie Wilder." + +Thus it may be seen that she was quite unlike many good people. In her +consciousness God was not a being to be worshipped decorously and then +counted out from that which made her real life and hope. + +The future now stretched away full of rest and glad assurance. +Graydon's manner already began to fulfil his promise. He would quietly +accept the situation as he understood it, and she saw already the +steadying power of an unselfish, unfaltering purpose. He appeared by +years an older and a graver man, and when he sat by her during the +service in the wide parlor, there was not a trace of his old flippant +irreverence. Whatever he now believed, he had attained the higher +breeding which respects what is sacred to others. + +She had but little compunction over his self-sacrificing mood. It +was perfectly clear that by quiet, manly devotion he proposed to help +"time heal the wound" made by that "idiot" at Santa Barbara, and +she that she could gradually reveal to him so much improvement that +equanimity and at last hope would find a place in his mind. + +They parted Monday morning with a brief, strong pressure of +hands, which Graydon felt conveyed volumes of sympathy and mutual +understanding. She had said that he could write to her, and he found +he had so much to say that he had to put a strong constraint upon +himself. + +Mr. Muir had watched them curiously during his stay in the mountains, +and felt that something had occurred which he could not fathom. +Graydon's manner at parting and since, during business hours, had +confirmed this impression. He was almost as grave and reticent as the +banker himself, and the latter began to chafe and grow irritable over +the problem which he was bent on seeing solved in but one way. He +looked askance and discontentedly at Graydon during dinner in the +evening. When they were alone he was fidgety and rather curt in his +remarks. At last he burst out, "Confound it! What has happened between +you and Madge?" + +"She has refused me, that's all," was the quiet reply. + +Mr. Muir gave a low whistle. + +"Oh, I understood you the other evening," resumed Graydon. "The +phenomenal penetration on which you so pride yourself is at fault for +once." + +The banker was so nonplused that he permitted his cigar to go out, but +he soon reached the conclusion, "He has bungled." "Well," he asked at +last, "what do you propose to do?" + +"To be to her all that she will ever permit, and die a bachelor for +her sake if I must." + +Mr. Muir lighted his Havana again and puffed in silence for a while, +then said, "I like that. Your purpose is clearly defined. In business +and everything else there is solid comfort in knowing what you can +depend upon." + +Madge's replies to Graydon's letters were scarcely more than notes, +but they were breezy little affairs, fragrant with the breath of the +mountains, and had an excellent tonic effect in the hot city. They +usually contained a description of what she had seen or of some +locality visited. On one occasion she wrote: + +"Late in the afternoon there had been a shower, not gentle and +pattering, but one of those frightful, passionate outbursts which are +not infrequent in these mountains. The wind appeared to drive black +masses of clouds from all directions save one, which, meeting over the +height occupied by the hotel, discharged torrents of rain. At last +the wind left the writhing trees in peace, and carried the deeply +shadowing cloud away beyond the hills. The sun broke forth, and +nature began some magic work. Calling the mist fairies to her aid, +she gathered from every ravine and clove delicate airy clouds, which +formed a large and rapidly increasing mass of vapor. Soon the plain +below--the wide Hudson valley--was entirely shut out, as though a +great white curtain had dropped from the sky to the mountain's base. +Just then the setting sun, which had been temporarily obscured, shone +forth in glorious brightness, casting on the beautiful cloud-curtain +the dark, clearly defined shadow of the mountain-top, with its crown +of buildings, even the towers and turrets showing with startling +distinctness. It was like a mammoth, well-cut cameo, or a gigantic +magic lantern effect, with the sun as a calcium light. + +"The spectacle lasted only a few moments. Then the cloudy curtain +parted, and the valley of the Hudson was seen again, spanned by a +rainbow." + +The days lengthened into weeks, Graydon coming every Friday afternoon, +and wondering slightly at the demurely radiant face that greeted +him. "Truly," he thought, "in the words of the old hymn she 'puts a +cheerful courage on.'" + +At times, however, she would be a little pensive. Then his tones would +have a greater depth and gentleness, and his sympathy was very sweet, +although she felt a little guilty because she was in no need of it. +She could stifle her compunction by thinking: + +"There was such a long, weary time when I did need it, and was +desolate because of its absence, that I must have a little now to +offset those gray, lonely days." + +She had thought she loved him before, but as she saw him patiently and +unselfishly seeking to brighten her life in every possible way, with +no better hope than that at some time in the indefinite future she +might give him what was left of her heart after the old fire had +died out, her former affection seemed as pale and shadowy as she was +herself when first she learned that she had a woman's heart. + +Late one Friday afternoon he startled her by asking abruptly, "Madge, +what has become of that fellow out West?" + +"Please don't speak about that again," she faltered. + +"Oh, well, certainly not, if you don't wish me to; but I thought if +there was any chance--" + +"Chance for what, Graydon?" + +"Confound him! I don't suppose I could do anything. I want to make you +happy, Madge. I feel just like taking the idiot by the ear, bringing +him to you, and saying, 'There, you unconscionable fool, look at +that girl--' You know what I mean. I'm suggesting the spirit, not the +letter of my action. But, Madge, believe me, if I could help you at +any cost to myself--" + +"Is your regard for me, of which you spoke, so slight that you could +go to work deliberately to bring that man to me?" + +"There is no regard about it. My _love_ for you is so great that I +would do anything to make you happy." + +"Madge," called the voice of Mrs. Muir, who was following them with +her husband, "where are you and Graydon?" + +"Here!" cried Madge, springing up. Then she gave her hand to him, +and he saw that there were tears in her eyes. "Graydon," she said, +"I couldn't ask a stronger test than that. I can't tell you how I +appreciate it. I shall never impose any such task upon you." + +"Don't hesitate on my account. I admit that it would be harder than +one of the labors of Hercules, but you command me now and always. +Nothing is so bad as to know that you are unhappy." + +"Do I seem very unhappy?" + +"No, you brave little woman! but who could guess the truth if you +were? My knowledge is not derived from your usual manner." + +"It is a pity if I cannot be patient when you set me so good an +example," she said, as Mr. and Mrs. Muir approached. + +When they were alone again for a brief time during the ramble, Graydon +resumed: "I wish to make sure of your confidence, Madge; I wish you to +take me at my word. I don't think you have been quite just to me. I am +not a cold-blooded fellow, and, no doubt, am given to impressions and +impulses; but I think constancy is one of my traits. I never wavered +in my affection for you until I misunderstood you immediately after +my return, and then that very misapprehension kept me worried and +perplexed much of the time. I was true to Miss Wildmere as long +as there was anything to be constant to, and yet for years she was +scarcely anything more than a fancy, a preference. Since my return +you know just what she was to me. Nothing is more certain than that I +never loved her. I did not know what the word meant then. There is a +chapter in your history that I don't know much about, but I am sure +I could make good my word to do anything within my power to bring you +happiness. I have imagined that a little management, guided by tact +and absolute fidelity--" + +"Don't say anything more about that, Graydon," she said, firmly. "Not +if my heart broke a thousand times would I seek a man or permit him to +be sought for me in any such way as you suggest." + +"That's settled, then." + +"That's settled forever." + +"Well, in that case," he said, with a short, nervous laugh, "there may +be a chance for me within the next hundred years." + +"Are you so willing to take a woman who had once given her heart to +another?" + +"I don't know anything about '_a_ woman.' I would take _you_, Madge, +under any circumstances that I can imagine." + +"Graydon," said Mrs. Muir, suddenly appearing around a turn in the +walk, "what is the matter with you? Why can't you and Madge keep with +us more? For some reason we are getting separated all the time. This +is a lovely spot. Let us sit down here like a family party and have a +little music. I just long to get back home, so that Madge may sing +for us as much as we wish. Here she would attract the attention of +strangers, and that ends the matter; and so I feel as if I had a rare +singing bird, but never a song. In this secluded place no others will +hear you, Madge." + +"Very well. What do you wish? I feel like singing." + +"Make your own choice." + +"I'll give you an old song, then, about friendship;" and with notes +rivalling those of a hermit-thrush that had been chanting vespers in +the dense woods near by, she sang a quaint melody, her voice wakening +faint echoes from the adjacent rocks. When she came to the last lines +she gave Graydon a shy glance, which seemed to signify, "These words +are for you." + + "Kinder than Love is my true friend. + He'd die for me if that would end + My sorrow. Yes, would live for me-- + Suffer and live unselfishly, + And that for him would harder be + Than at my feet to die for me." + +As she ceased she again encountered his steadfast gaze with a glance +which said, "Have I not done you justice?" + +He was satisfied, and felt that the presence of his relatives had +secured a sweeter answer than might otherwise have been given--an +answer that contained all he could hope for then. + +"Humph!" ejaculated Mr. Muir, very discontentedly. + +"What an appreciative remark, Henry!" said Madge, laughing. + +"It was; and it expressed my views," said the banker, dryly. "Come, +Mary, let us go home to supper." + +"Now, I think the song very pretty," said Mary, "only there are no +such people nowadays." + +As Madge followed with Graydon she continued laughing softly to +herself. + +"You are not hiding vexation at Henry?" Graydon asked. + +"Oh, no, I understand Henry. You think I am always hiding something. +You at least should have understood my song." + +"Yes, Madge," he said, gravely, "and you also made it clear that you +understood me. I am content." + +She laughed, imitating the ejaculation. + +"Henry's 'humph!' was too rich for anything. It meant volumes. What +sentimental fools he thinks us to be!" + +"Henry could no more understand such a song than sing it," was +Graydon's somewhat irritable response. + +"No matter. Such men are invaluable in the world. My nature is very +much in accord with Henry's, and so far as he has had experience, he +is very sound." + +"With your saving clause in mind, I agree with you perfectly about +Henry, but not about yourself. Your nature, Madge, like your voice, +has a wide compass." + +With this one exception there was no other spoken reference during +the remainder of the summer to the attitude toward her which he now +maintained in thought and action. The season was drawing to a close, +and she had enjoyed the latter part of it beyond her fondest hopes and +expectations. She made a few congenial acquaintances at the hotel, and +with them never wearied in exploring the paths that converged at the +great caravansary, and in visiting the various outlooks from which +the same wide landscapes presented ever-changing aspects. Chief among +these friends was a middle-aged artist, who was deeply imbued with the +genius of the mountains, and who had no little skill in catching and +idealizing the lovely effects he saw. He proved her best guide, for he +had long haunted the region, and the majority of the paths were due to +his taste and explorations. In such congenial tasks he acted as agent +for the sagacious and liberal owner of the vast property, who was so +wise that in his dealings with nature he employed one that loved and +understood her. To Madge the artist showed his favorite nooks and +haunts, where the wild beauty of the hills dwelt like a living +presence, and the scenery not yet painted which, from certain +standpoints, almost composed itself on the canvas. Thus he taught +her to see the region somewhat as he did, and to find in the general +beauty definite, natural pictures that were like flowers in the +wilderness. She greatly enjoyed watching with him the wonderful +moonlight effects on the vast shaggy sides and summit of High Peak, +that reared its almost untrodden solitudes opposite the hotel. This +mountain was the favorite haunt of fantastic clouds. Sometimes in the +form of detached mists they would pass up rapidly like white spectres +from the vast chasm of the Kaaterskill. Again a heavy mass would +settle on the whole length of the mountain, the outlines of which +would be lost, and the whole take the semblance of one vast height +crowned with the moon's radiance. Nothing fascinated Madge more than +to observe how the artist caught the essential elements of beauty in +the changing cloud scenery and reproduced the effects on a few +inches of canvas, and in her better appreciation of similar scenery +thereafter, she saw how true it is that art may be the interpreter of +nature. + +The fine music and varied entertainments at the house served also to +beguile her time. On one occasion the young people were arranging a +series of tableaux, and she was asked to personate Jephtha's daughter. +When the curtain rose on her lovely face and large, dark eyes, the +Hebrew maiden and her pathetic history grew into vivid reality against +the dim background of the past. + +After all, the time that intervened between Monday and Friday +afternoon was spent in waiting, and even the hours toward the last +were counted. The expression in Graydon's dark blue eyes was always +the same when he greeted her, and recalled the line: + + "Kinder than Love is my true friend." + +On Saturdays they took long tramps, seeking objective points far +beyond the range of ordinary ramblers. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE END OF THE WOOING + + +Madge had often turned wistful eyes toward High Peak, and on the last +Saturday before their final return to the city she said to Graydon, +"Dare we attempt it? Perhaps if we gave the day to the climb, and took +it leisurely--" + +"There's no 'perhaps' about it. We'll go if you wish. I should like +nothing better than to get lost with you." + +"There is no danger of getting lost," she replied, hastily. "The hotel +must be visible from the whole line of its summit, and I am told that +there is a path to the top of the mountain." + +"I will be ready in half an hour," he said. + +It was a lovely day in early September. The air was soft, yet cool and +bracing enough to make climbing agreeable. Graydon had a lunch basket, +which he could sling over his shoulder, well filled, and ordered a +carriage. "There is no need of our tramping over the intervening miles +of dusty roads which must be passed before we begin our climb," he +said, "and the distance we ride will make a pleasant drive for Mary +and the children." + +Madge and Graydon reached the summit without any great difficulty, +Mary having returned with the assurance that they would find their own +way back to the hotel. + +As the hours passed, Graydon began to gather more hope than he had +dared to entertain since his shattered theory had so disheartened him. +In spite of his fancied knowledge about Madge, it was hard to believe +she was very unhappy that morning. There was an elasticity to her +step, a ring of genuine gladness in her tones and laugh, which did not +suggest that she was consciously carrying a heavy burden. + +"She certainly is the bravest and most unselfish girl I ever +imagined," he thought, as they left the highest point after enjoying +the view. "With an art so inimitable as to be artless, she has tried +to give me enjoyment. Instead of regarding herself as one to be +entertained, she has been pouring forth words, fancies, snatches +of song like sparkling wine, and I am exhilarated instead of being +wearied." + +When at last they found a spring at which to eat their lunch, he told +her so, concluding, "This mountain air does you good, Madge." + +"So do you," she replied, with a piquant nod. "Don't be conceited when +I tell you that you are good company." + +"No; but I can't help being happy." + +"Oh, indeed! It doesn't seem to take much to make you happy." + +"Not very much from you." + +"Pass me a biscuit, Graydon; I want something more substantial than +fine speeches after our climb. Isn't all this truly Arcadian--this +mossy rug on which we have placed our lunch, the trees whispering +about us overhead, and the spring there bubbling over with something +concerning which it murmurs so contentedly?" + +"I wonder what they think of us! I can imagine one thing." + +"You are always imagining. The idea of your being a banker! Well, +there is a loud whisper from the trees. What was remarked?" + +"That yonder little girl doesn't look so very unhappy." + +"No, Graydon," she said, earnestly, "you make Saturdays and Sundays +very bright to me. No girl ever had a truer friend than you are +becoming." + +"Have become, Madge." + +"Graydon," she said, eagerly, as if hastening from dangerous ground, +"the hotel is there just opposite to us. Don't you think we could +scramble down the mountain here, and return by Kaaterskill Clove and +the Falls? It would be such fun, and save such a very long distance!" + +"We'll try it," he said. + +"Come," she resumed, brusquely, "you are spoiling me. You say yes to +everything. If you don't think it safe or best you must not humor me." + +"We can soon learn whether it's safe and practicable, and there is no +danger of losing our way. We have only to return over the mountain in +order to strike the path somewhere at right angles." + +"Let us hasten, then. I am in the mood to end our sojourn in the +Catskills by an hour or two of contact with nature absolutely +primitive. The scenes we shall pass through will be so pleasant to +think of by a winter fire." + +"Winter fire? That's capital! You are not going back to Santa Barbara, +Madge?" + +"I haven't promised that--I haven't promised anything." + +"No; I have done all the promising." + +"You did so of your own free will." + +"And of my own free will shall keep my promises. No, don't let us +leave any remnants of our lunch. Should we get lost you will want +something more substantial than fine speeches." + +"I shall indeed." + +Graydon filled from the spring the bottle which had contained milk; +and then packing his little hamper he led the way downward, over +and through obstacles which often involved no little difficulty, and +sometimes almost danger. + +"May I help you all I please?" he asked. + +"Yes, when I can't help myself." + +Then he began to rejoice over the ruggedness of the way, which made it +proper to take her hand so often, and at times even to lift her over a +fallen tree. + +"What fun it is!" cried Madge. + +"The best I ever had," he replied, promptly. But they had not realized +the difficulty of their attempt; for when little more than half-way +to the foot of the mountain they came to a ledge down which there +appeared no place for safe descent. As they were skirting this +precipice perilously near the edge, he holding Madge's hand, some +loose debris gave way beneath his feet. + +Instead of instinctively clinging to Madge's hand, even in the act of +falling he threw it up and around a small tree, which she grasped, and +regained her footing, while he went down and disappeared. + +At first she was so appalled that she could do no more than clutch the +tree convulsively and look with blank horror at the spot where she had +seen him last. Then came the thought, "His life may now depend upon +me." + +The distance he had fallen would not be necessarily fatal, and below +the ledge there were low scrubby trees that might have broken the +impetus of his descent. She called in tones that might have evoked +an answer even from the lips of death; then, with a resolution in her +pallid face which nothing could daunt, she sought to reach her side. + +At first Graydon was utterly unconscious. At last, like a dim light +entering a darkened room, thought and memory began to revive. He +remembered that he had been at Madge's side, and had fallen; he had +grasped at branches of trees as he passed through them, and then all +had become dark. He tried to speak, to call his companion, but found +be could not. He almost doubted whether he was alive in the flesh. If +he were he must have received some terrible injury that had caused a +strange paralysis. + +His confused thoughts finally centred wholly on Madge. Had she fallen? +The thought of her, perhaps injured, possibly lying unconscious or +dead near him, and he helpless, caused a dull, vague dread, like a +cold tide, to overwhelm his very soul. He tried to move, to spring +up, but only his mind appeared free. Then he thought he recognized +her voice calling in the distance. Soon, with alternations of hope +and fear, he heard her steps and voice draw nearer. She had evidently +found a way down the ledge, and was coming along its base toward +him--coming swiftly, almost recklessly. + +She was at his side. Her low, terror-stricken cry chilled his heart. +Was he dead? and was it his soul only, lingering in the body, that was +cognizant of all this? + +Her hand was on his pulse, then inside his vest against his heart. + +"Oh," she moaned, "can he be dying or dead? I can't find his pulse, +nor does his heart seem to beat. He is so pale, so deathly pale, even +to his lips." + +He knew that she was lifting him into a different and easier position, +and wondered at the muscular power she exerted, even under excitement. + +"Why, why," she exclaimed in horror, "he is cold, strangely cold! His +hands and brow are almost like ice, and wet with the dew of death." + +She was not aware of the fact that extreme coldness and a clammy +perspiration would be among the results of such a severe shock. + +"Graydon," she gasped, "Graydon!" Then after a moment: "O God, if he +should never know!" + +She chafed his hands and wrists, opened the lunch basket, and found +that the bottle containing water was not broken, for he felt drops +dashed on his face, and his lips moistened; but the same stony +paralysis enchained him. Then she sent out her voice for help, and +there was agony, terror, and heart-break in her cry. + +Realizing the futility of this on the lonely mountainside, she soon +ceased, and again sought, with almost desperate energy, to restore +him, crying and moaning meanwhile in a way that smote his heart. At +last she threw herself on his breast with the bitter cry: + +"Oh, Graydon, Graydon, are you dying? Will you _never_ know? Oh, my +heart's true love, shall I never have a chance to tell you that it +was you I loved--you only! It was for you I went away alone to die, I +feared. For you I struggled back to life, and toiled and prayed that +I might be your fair ideal; and now you may never know. Graydon, +Graydon, I would give you the very blood out of my heart--O God, I +can't restore him!" she moaned, in a choking voice, and then he knew +from her dead weight upon his breast that she had fainted. + +This mental anguish and the effort he put forth to respond to +these words caused great beads of sweat to start out upon his face. +Suddenly, as if a giant hand was lifted, the effects of the shock +resulting from his fall passed away. He opened his eyes, and there was +Madge, with her face buried upon his breast, in brief oblivion from +fears that threatened to crush at once hope and life. + +To his great joy he found that he could move. Feebly, and with great +difficulty, he lifted her head and tried to regain his feet. He found +this impossible, and soon realized that his leg was broken. He now +saw that he must act wisely and carefully, or their plight would be +serious indeed; and yet his mind was in such a tumult of immeasurable +joy at his discovery that he would not in the least regret the +accident, if assured of her safety. + +At last, in response to his efforts, she began to revive. The sense +of responsibility, the necessity for action on her part, had been +so great immediately before she had fainted under the stress of one +overwhelming fear, that her mind, even during unconsciousness, may +have put forth effort to regain its hold upon sense. She found herself +leaning against a prostrate tree, and Graydon sitting near, speaking +to her in soothing and encouraging tones. + +In response to her bewildered, troubled look of inquiry, he said, +cheerfully, and in natural tones, "Don't worry, Madge, or be +frightened." + +"What has happened, Graydon?" + +"I'll tell you what I know, and you must supply the rest. We were +proceeding along that ledge above us, and trying to find a safe place +to climb down." + +A slow deep color began to take the place of her pallor, showing that +her own memory was supplying all that had occurred. + +"You know I fell, Madge. Thank God, I did not carry you down with me!" + +"Any other man would," she said, almost brusquely. "You threw my hand +back around a tree." + +"Did I?" exclaimed Graydon, very innocently and gladly. "Well, +everything became very confused after that. I must have been +unconscious. I do remember grasping at the branches as I passed +through these low trees above us--" + +"You must have caught one of them, Graydon," she said, eagerly, +turning toward him again, "for a large limb had broken off and was +lying upon you." + +"Was it so? Perhaps I owe it a good turn, for it may have so broken +my fall as to have saved my life. Well, in some way, you, true, brave +little girl, you must have reached me, and, finding that you could not +restore me, and imagining I was dead or dying, you fainted yourself +from the nervous shock of it all. When I recovered the use of my +senses I found evidence that you had been trying to revive me. Now, +Madge, we must both be brave and sensible. We must regain the full +possession of our wits as soon as possible. Can you be very brave and +sensible (to use your favorite word) if I tell you something?" + +"Yes, Graydon," she said. "I can do anything, now that I know you are +going to live." + +"I am very much alive, and shall be thoroughly conscious of the fact +for some time to come. You must keep perfectly cool and rational, for +what has happened is a very serious affair under the circumstances." +Her scarlet face was turned from him again. "Madge," he concluded, in +quiet tones, "I've broken my leg." + +"Is that all?" she said, with a look of intense relief. + +"Isn't that enough? I'm helpless." + +"I'm not," and she sprang to her feet "Why, Graydon, it might have +been a hundred-fold worse. I thought it was immeasurably worse," she +said, suppressing a sob. "You might have been killed. See how far +you fell! I feared you might have received some terrible internal +injury--" + +"I have; but that's a chronic affair, as you know," he interrupted, +laughing. + +[Illustration: "SO YOU IMAGINE I SHALL SOON BE MAKING LOVE TO ANOTHER +GIRL."] + +His mirth and allusion did more to restore her than all else, for he +appeared the same friend that she thought she had lost. + +"Now that it is so evident that you will survive all your injuries," +she resumed, with an answering laugh, "I am myself again. You direct +me what to do." + +"I shall, indeed, have to depend on you almost wholly; and the fact +that another must look to you in such a strait will do more to +keep you up than all cordials and stimulants. I can do very little +myself--" + +"Forgive me, Graydon. You know I am not indifferent. Are you in much +pain?" and her voice was very gentle. + +"Not yet. You must act contrary to your instincts for once, and exert +all your ingenuity to attract attention. First, we must have a fire; +meanwhile I shall light a cigar, which will help me to think and +banish the impression that we are lost babes in the woods. The smoke, +you see, will draw eyes to this spot--the smoke of the fire, I mean." + +"I'm following you correctly." + +"You must have followed me very bravely, heroic little woman that you +are! You are indeed unlike other girls, who would never have reached +me except by tumbling after--" + +"Come, no more reminiscences till you are safe at the hotel, and your +leg mended." + +"Very well. I direct, but you command. As soon as we have a column +of smoke ascending from this point you must try to find an open space +near here, and wave something white as a signal of distress." + +He had scarcely concluded before she was at work. The prostrate tree +against which he had managed to place her at such pain to his broken +limb served as a back-log, and soon a column of smoke was ascending. +At times she would turn a shy, half-doubting, half-questioning glance +at him, but he would smile so naturally and speak so frankly that the +suspicion that he had heard her words almost passed from her mind. + +"Madge," he said, "in finding an outlook toward the hotel or valley, +don't go far away, if possible. It makes me awfully nervous to think +of you climbing alone." + +She found a projecting rock beneath them within calling distance, and +on an extemporized pole she fastened the napkins. At his suggestion +she waved them only downward and upward, at the same time sending out +her powerful voice from time to time in a cry for help. + +He, left alone, sometimes groaned from an unusually severe twinge of +pain, and again laughed softly to himself over the situation. He knew +that the question of their being sought and found was only one of +time, and he would have been willing to have had all his bones broken +should this have been needful to secure the knowledge which now +thrilled his very soul with gladness. The past grew perfectly clear, +and the pearl of a woman who had given herself to him so long ago +gained a more priceless value with every moment's thought, "Ah, +sweet Madge! I'm the blessed idiot you loved and toiled for at Santa +Barbara! I shouldn't have believed that such a thing could happen in +this humdrum world." + +Nor would it seem that the attention of even a fraction of that great +world could be obtained. The shadows of evening began to gather, and +Madge, at Graydon's call, returned, wearied and somewhat discouraged. + +"Cheer up," he said. "It is only a question of time. We shall soon be +missed, and our signals will be more effective when it is dark. See, +we shall not starve. I have been getting supper for you. Keeping the +remnants of our lunch wasn't a bad idea, was it?" + +"Keeping up your courage and mine is a better one. Graydon, I fear you +are suffering very much." + +"Oh, Madge, armies of men have broken their legs! That's nothing but a +little disagreeable prose, while this adventure with you is something +to talk and laugh over all our lives. I've cut my boot off and +bandaged my leg as well as I could, and am now hungry. That's a good +sign. I shall be positively hilarious if you make as good supper as +this meagre spread permits. Take a little water, for your throat must +be parched. You will have to drink it from the bottle, Pat's fashion, +for my rubber cup is broken." + +"Indeed, a little water is all I want at present, and I must gather +wood for the fire before it is darker." + +"Very well," he said, laughing; "supper shall wait for you." + +The vicinity appeared as if never before visited, and there was an +abundance of dead and decaying wood lying about. When she had secured +a large quantity of this she came and sat down by the fire, and said, +"I will take a little supper now, and then it will be so dark that we +can signal in some other way." + +"Madge," said Graydon, earnestly, "it has cut me to the heart to lie +helplessly here and see you doing work so unsuitable." + +"Nothing could be more suitable under the circumstances. You do think +we shall be found soon? Oh, I'm so worried about you!" + +"More, then, than I am about myself. I shall have to play invalid for +some time. Won't you be my nurse occasionally?" + +"Yes, Graydon, all I can." + +"Why, then, don't worry about me at all. The prospect makes me fairly +happy. Come, now, eat the whole of that sandwich." + +She complied, looking thoughtfully into the fire meanwhile. By the +light of the flickering blaze he saw the trouble and worry pass from +her brow and the expression of her face grow as quiet and contented as +that of a child's. At last she said, "Well, this does seem cosey and +companionable, in spite of everything. There, forgive me, Graydon; I +forgot for the moment that you were in pain." + +"Was I? I forgot it, too. Sitting there in the firelight, you +suggested the sweetest picture I ever hope to see." + +"You can't be _in extremis_ when you begin to compliment." + +"Don't you wish to know what the picture was?" + +"Oh, yes, if it will help you pass the time!" + +"I saw you sitting by a hearth, and I thought, 'If that hearth were +mine it would be the loveliest picture the world had known.' Now you +see what an egotist I am. You look so enchanting in that firelight +that I cannot resist--I would try so hard to be worthy of you, Madge. +Make your own terms again, as I said once to you before." + +"My own terms?" she repeated, turning a sudden and searching glance +upon him. "Then tell me, did you hear what I said this afternoon when +I first found you?" + +He hesitated a moment, and then said, firmly: "Yes, every word; but, +Madge, you must not punish me for what I could not help. It would not +be right." + +"Could you hear me and yet--" + +"I could hear you and yet could not move a muscle until you fainted, +and then my intense mental excitement and solicitude must have broken +the paralysis caused by the shock of my fall. Oh, Madge, look at me! +Only a false pride can come between us now. My love is not worthy to +be compared with yours, but it is genuine, and it will--it _will_ last +as long as I do. I shall bless this accident and all the pain I must +suffer if they bring you to me." + +She sprang to his side, and putting her arm around his neck said, +"Graydon, on the evening after your return I told you I couldn't be +your sister. You know why now, and you uttered these words, 'I shall +have to take you as you are if I ever find out.' I meant to win you +if I could, but only by being such a girl as I thought you would love. +Now you know the mystery of the little ghost, and you can bring to me +that 'idiot' who didn't return my love, as often as you choose." + +"Thank Heaven for what I escaped! Thank God for what I have won!" he +exclaimed. + +"Won? Nonsense! _You_ have been won, not I. Oh, Graydon, wouldn't you +have been amazed and horrified if you had been told, years ago, that +the little ghost would go deliberately to work to woo a man and take +him from another girl? Think how dreadful it sounds! but you shall now +know the worst." + +"It's music that will fill my life with gladness. How exquisitely fine +your nature is, that you could do this with such absolute maidenly +reserve! Suppose I had become Stella Wildmere's bondman?" + +"I should have gone back to Santa Barbara, and kept my secret." + +"Horrible!" + +"I said you knew all, but I am mistaken. Now, don't be shocked back +into your kind of unconsciousness again. I did another horrid thing. +I listened and learned about the plot by which Arnault meant to +bring Miss Wildmere to a decision against you;" and she told him the +circumstances, and what had passed between herself and Henry. + +His arm tightened around her almost convulsively. "Madge," he cried, +"you have not only brought me happiness--you have saved me from a +bitter, lifelong self-reproach far worse than poverty. How can I ever +show sufficient devotion in return for all this?" + +"By being sensible, and telling me how to make signals, now that it is +as dark as it will be this moonlight night." + +"Let me lean on you, as I ever shall figuratively hereafter. We will +go down to the outlook you found, build another fire, and wave burning +brands." + +This was done. Henry Muir, who had grown very solicitous, saw their +signals, and promptly organized a rescuing party. A wood-road led well +up toward their position, and with the aid of some employés of the +house he at last rescued them. Graydon was weak and exhausted from +pain by the time he reached the hotel, yet felt that his happiness had +been purchased at very slight cost. The next day he was taken to his +city home, and Madge filled the days of his convalescence with such +varied entertainment that he threatened to break his leg again. She +had so trained her voice that she read or sang with almost tireless +ease. To furnish home music, to shine in the light of her own hearth, +had been the dream of her ambition; and to the man she had won she +made that hearth the centre of the gentle force which controlled and +blessed his life. + +But little further remains to be said concerning the other characters +of this story. The severe lesson received by Stella Wildmere had a +permanent effect upon her character. It did not result in a very +high type of womanhood, for the limitations of her nature scarcely +permitted this; but it brought about decided changes for the better. +She was endowed with fair abilities and a certain hard, practical +sense, which enabled her to see the folly of her former scheme of +life. Blind, inconsiderate selfishness, which asked only, "What do I +wish the present moment?" had brought humiliation and disaster, and, +as her father had suggested, she possessed too much mind to repeat +that blunder. She recognized that she could not ignore natural +laws and duties and go very far in safety. Therefore, instead of +querulousness and repining, or showing useless resentment toward +her father for misfortunes which she had done nothing to avert, she +stepped bravely and helpfully to his side, and amid all the chaos of +the financial storm that was wrecking him he was happier than he had +been for years. Her beloved jewelry, and everything that could be +legally saved from their dismantled home, was disposed of to the best +advantage. Then very modest apartments were taken in a suburb, and +both she and her father began again. He obtained a clerkship at a +small salary, and she aided her mother in making every dollar go as +far as possible. + +Arnault had thought, under the impulse of his pride, that he could +renounce her forever, but found himself mistaken. She would not depart +from such heart as he possessed, nor could he break the spell of +her fascination. His interest grew so absorbing that he kept himself +informed about the changes she was passing through, and her manner +of meeting them. As a result, his practical soul was filled with +admiration, and he felt that she of all others would be the wife for +a man embarked on the uncertain tides of Wall Street. At last he wrote +to her and renewed his offer. The reply was characteristic. + +"Your offer comes too late. If, instead of being one of the principal +actors in that humiliating little drama of my life, you had stood by +me patiently and faithfully, I would have given you at once my deepest +gratitude and, eventually, my love. I did not deserve such constancy, +but I would have rewarded it to the extent of my ability. You thought +I was mercenary. I was, and have been punished; but you forget that +you made my mercenary spirit your ally, and kept me from becoming +engaged to the man whom you well knew that I preferred. My regard +for him is not so deep, however, but that I shall survive and face +my altered fortunes bravely. If you had been kind to me during those +bitter days--if you had kept my father from failure, instead of +deserting him after he had done his best for you--he did do his best +for you--I should have valued _you_ more than your wealth, and proved +it by my life. I have since learned that I am not afraid of poverty, +and that I must find truer friends." + +Arnault, like so many others, turned from what "might have been" to +his pursuit of gold, but it had lost its brightness forever. + +An old admirer of Stella's, a plain, sturdy business man, to whom she +had scarcely given a thought in her palmy days, eventually renewed his +attentions, and won as much love as the girl probably could have given +to any one. By his aid she restored her father's broken fortunes and +established them on a modest but secure basis, and she proved to her +husband a sensible wife, always recognizing that in promoting his best +interests and happiness she secured her own. + +Dr. Sommers is still the genial physician and the Izaak Walton of +the Catskills. Mr. and Mrs. Wendall are "plodding toward home" with a +resignation that is almost cheerful. + +Henry Muir continues devoted to business, and his wife is devoted +to him. He rarely permits a suitable opportunity to pass without +remarking that the two sisters are the "most sensible women in the +world." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A YOUNG GIRL'S WOOING*** + + +******* This file should be named 12876-8.txt or 12876-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/8/7/12876 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/12876-8.zip b/old/12876-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a6d505 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12876-8.zip diff --git a/old/12876.txt b/old/12876.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ffe13c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12876.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13433 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Young Girl's Wooing, by E. P. Roe + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Young Girl's Wooing + +Author: E. P. Roe + +Release Date: July 10, 2004 [eBook #12876] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A YOUNG GIRL'S WOOING*** + + +E-text prepared by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy, Cathy Smith, and Project +Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +The Works of E. P. Roe + +Volume Sixteen + +A YOUNG GIRL'S WOOING + +Illustrated + +1884 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "ARE YOU SO BENT UPON WINNING HER, GRAYDON?"] + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I + A Crescent of a Girl + + CHAPTER II + Graydon Muir + + CHAPTER III + The Parting + + CHAPTER IV + Effort + + CHAPTER V + Achievement + + CHAPTER VI + The Secret of Beauty + + CHAPTER VII + Not a Miracle + + CHAPTER VIII + Rival Girls + + CHAPTER IX + The Meeting + + CHAPTER X + Old Ties Broken + + CHAPTER XI + "I Fear I Shall Fail" + + CHAPTER XII + The Promptings of Miss Wildmere's Heart + + CHAPTER XIII + "You Will Be Disappointed" + + CHAPTER XIV + Miss Wildmere's Strategy + + CHAPTER XV + Perplexed and Beguiled + + CHAPTER XVI + Declaration of Independence + + CHAPTER XVII + Not Strong in Vain + + CHAPTER XVIII + Make Your Terms + + CHAPTER XIX + An Object for Sympathy + + CHAPTER XX + "Veiled Wooing" + + CHAPTER XXI + Suggestive Tones + + CHAPTER XXII + Disheartening Confidences + + CHAPTER XXIII + The Filial Martyr + + CHAPTER XXIV + "I'll See How You Behave" + + CHAPTER XXV + Gossamer Threads + + CHAPTER XXVI + Mrs. Muir's Account + + CHAPTER XXVII + Madge's Story + + CHAPTER XXVIII + Dispassionate Lovers + + CHAPTER XXIX + The Enemies' Plans + + CHAPTER XXX + The Strong Man Unmanned + + CHAPTER XXXI + Checkmate + + CHAPTER XXXII + Madge is Matter-of-Fact + + CHAPTER XXXIII + The End of Diplomacy + + CHAPTER XXXIV + Broken Lights and Shadows + + CHAPTER XXXV + A New Experiment + + CHAPTER XXXVI + Madge Alden's Ride + + CHAPTER XXXVII + "You are Very Blind" + + CHAPTER XXXVIII + "Certainly I Refuse You" + + CHAPTER XXXIX + "My True Friend" + + CHAPTER XL + The End of the Wooing + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + "_Are you so bent upon winning her, Graydon?_" + + _"There, now, be rational" cried the young girl_ + + _Her lips were parted, her pose, grace itself_ + + "_Promise me you will take a long rest_" + + "_So you imagine I shall soon be making love to another girl?_" + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A CRESCENT OF A GIRL + + +When Madge Alden was seventeen years of age an event occurred which +promised to be the misfortune of her life. At first she was almost +overwhelmed and knew not what to do. She was but a young and +inexperienced girl, and for a year or more had been regarded as an +invalid. + +Madge Alden was an orphan. Four years prior to the opening of our +story she had lost her mother, her surviving parent, and since had +resided with her elder sister Mary, who was several years her +senior, and had married Henry Muir, a merchant of New York City. This +gentleman had cordially united with his wife in offering Madge a home, +and his manner toward the young girl, as far as his absorbed and busy +life permitted, had been almost paternal. He was a quiet, reticent +man, who had apparently concentrated every faculty of soul and body on +the problem of commercial success. Trained to business from boyhood, +he had allowed it to become his life, and he took it very seriously. +It was to him an absorbing game--his vocation, and not a means to some +ulterior end. He had already accumulated enough to maintain his family +in affluence, but he no more thought of retiring from trade than would +a veteran whist-player wish to throw up a handful of winning cards. +The events of the world, the fluctuations in prices, over which he had +no control, brought to his endeavor the elements of chance, and it was +his mission to pit against these uncertainties untiring industry and +such skill and foresight as he possessed. + +His domestic life was favorable to his ruling passion. Mary Alden, at +the time of her marriage, was a quiet girl, whose early life had been +shadowed by sorrow. She had seen her father pass away in his prime, +and her mother become in consequence a sad and failing woman. +The young girl rallied from these early years of depression into +cheerfulness, and thoroughly enjoyed what some might regard as a +monotonous life; but she never developed any taste for the diversions +of society. Thus it may be surmised that Mr. Muir encountered no +distractions after business hours. He ever found a good dinner +awaiting him, and his wife held herself in readiness to do what +he wished during the evening, so far as the claims of the children +permitted. Therefore there were few more contented men in the city +than he, and the name of Henry Muir had become a synonym among his +acquaintances for methodical business habits. + +In character and antecedents his younger brother, Graydon Muir, who +was also an inmate of his family, presented many marked contrasts to +the elder man. He had received a liberal education, and had graduated +at a city college. He had developed into one of the best products +of metropolitan life, and his defects were chiefly due to the +circumstances of his lot. During his academic course he had been known +as an athletic rather than a bookish man, and had left his Alma Mater +with an Apollo-like physique. At the same time he had developed fine +literary tastes, and was well informed, even if he had not gone very +deeply into the classics and the sciences that were remote from the +business career which he had chosen. After a brief interval of foreign +travel he had entered his brother's office, and was schooling his +buoyant, pleasure-loving temperament to the routine of trade. When +business hours were over, however, Graydon gave himself up to the +gratification of his social tastes. His vitality and flow of spirits +were so immense that wherever he went he always caused a breezy ripple +of excitement. Even veteran society girls found something exhilarating +in the mirthful flash of his blue eyes, and to be whirled through +a waltz on his strong arm was a pleasure not declined by reigning +belles. Many looks that to other men might have been the arrows of +Cupid were directed toward him, but they glanced harmlessly from +his polished armor. Society was to him what business was to his +brother,--an arena in which he easily manifested his power. At +the same time he was a manly fellow, and had no taste for corner +flirtations or the excitement of drawing perilously near to a +committal with those who would have responded to marked attentions. +The atmosphere he loved was that of general and social gayety. The +girls that he singled out for his especial regard were noted for their +vivacity and intelligence, as well as their beauty. Meanwhile he had +won a reputation for his good-natured attentions to "wall-flowers." +Such kindly efforts were rarely made at the promptings of conscience. +The truth was, he enjoyed life so fully himself that he disliked to +see any one having a dismal time. It gave him genuine pleasure to come +to a plain-featured, neglected damsel, and set all her blood tingling +by a brief whirl in a dance or a breezy chat that did her good, body +and soul, so devoid of satire or patronage was the attention. His +superb health and tireless strength, his perfect familiarity with the +usages of society, and his graceful decision of action made everything +he did appear as easy and natural as the beat of a bird's wing upon +the air, and in his large circle it was felt that no entertainment was +complete without his presence. + +Graydon was still attending college when Madge Alden first became +associated with him in her home-life. She was then but thirteen, and +was small and slight for her age. The first evening when she came down +to dinner, shrinking in the shadow of her sister, lingered ever in her +memory. Even now it gave her pain to recall her embarrassment when she +was compelled to take her seat in the full blaze of the light and +meet the eyes of the one to whom she felt that she must appear so +very plain and unattractive. Clad in the deepest mourning, pallid +from grief and watching at her mother's bedside, coming from a life of +seclusion and sorrow, sensitive in the extreme, she had barely reached +that age when awkwardness is in the ascendant, and the quiet city +home seemed the centre of a new and strange world. One other thing she +remembered in that initial chapter of her life,--the kindly glances +that Graydon Muir bent on the pale crescent of a girl who sat opposite +to him. Even as a child she knew that the handsome young fellow was +not secretly laughing at or criticising her, and before dinner was +over she had ventured upon a shy, grateful glance, in reward for his +good-humored efforts to break the ice. + +There had, in truth, been no ice to break. The child was merely like +a plant that had grown in the shade, and to her the strong, healthful +youth was sunshine. His smile warmed and vivified her chilled nature, +his hearty words and manner were bracing to her over-sensitive and +timid soul, and his unaffected, unforced kindness was so constant that +she gradually came to regard it as one of the best certainties of her +life. She soon learned, however, that behind his sunny good-nature +was a fiery and impatient spirit, ready to manifest itself if he was +chafed beyond a certain point, and so a slight element of fear was +mingled with her childlike affection. + +He had sufficient tact to understand Madge's diffidence, and he knew +that their family life would soon banish it. He welcomed this pale +slip of a girl to their home circle because it gave him pleasure to +pet and rally such a wraith into something like genuine existence. He +also hoped that eventually she would become a source of amusement to +him. Nor was he disappointed. Madge's mind was not colorless, if her +face was, and she gradually began to respond to his mirthfulness, and +to take an interest, intelligent for a child, in what occupied his +thoughts. Kindness creates an atmosphere in which the most sensitive +and diffident natures develop and reveal themselves, and Madge Alden, +who might easily have been chilled into a reticent and dispirited +girl, eventually manifested an unusual versatility of fancy and +thought, acquiring also no slight power of expression. + +Thus Graydon obtained his reward. His brother was a grave and silent +man, to whom few themes could be broached except those of business +and the events and politics of the day in their relation to trade. His +sister-in-law was absorbed in household and family cares, but Madge's +great black eyes responded with quick appreciation to all that he +said, and their merry nonsense often provoked a smile upon even the +face of Mr. Muir. The good-natured sympathy of the young man therefore +passed gradually into a genuine fraternal regard, and he rarely came +home of an evening without bringing flowers, bonbons, or some other +evidence that he had remembered her. Unconsciously to herself, he +became more to her than her sister, who was indulgent in the extreme, +but not very demonstrative. Her shyness disappeared, and his caresses +seemed as natural as those of an elder brother, in which light she +regarded him. + +Thus time passed on, and the girl rapidly approached the stature of +womanhood. Apparently she grew too fast for her slight reserve of +physical strength. She nominally attended a fashionable school, but +was often absent from ill health, and for this reason her sister +permitted her to follow her own moods. Indolence and inanition +accounted largely for her lack of strength. Exercise brought +weariness, and she would not take it. Nothing pleased her more than to +curl up on a lounge with a book; and her sister, seeing that she was +reading most of the time, felt that she was getting an education. To +the busy lady a book was a book, a kind of general fertilizer of +the mind, and as Madge usually took cold when she went out, and was +assuredly acquiring from the multitude of volumes she devoured all +the knowledge a woman needed, she was safer in the evenly heated city +house. The sisters had independent fortunes of their own, and the +great point in Mrs. Muir's mind was that they should live and enjoy +them. If Madge was only sufficiently coddled now while she was +growing, she would get strong eventually; and so the good lady, who +had as much knowledge of hygiene as of Sanscrit, tempted the invalid +with delicacies, permitted her to eat the confectionery that Graydon +brought so often, and generally indulged a nature that needed wise and +firm development. + +Thus Madge lived on, growing more pale and languid with each +succeeding year. The absence in the mountains and at the seashore +which Mr. Muir permitted to his family every summer brought changes +for the better, even though the young girl spent most of the time in a +hammock or reclining in the stern of a sail-boat. She could not escape +the invigoration caused by the mere breathing of pure air, but during +the winters in town she lost all and more than she had gained, and +sunk back into her old apathetic life. + +This life, however, contained two elements which gave some color and +zest to her existence. All through the day she would look forward to +Graydon's return from business, and when she heard his latch-key the +faintest possible color would steal into her cheeks. Up-stairs, two +steps at a time, he would come, kiss her, waltz her about the room +with a strength which scarcely permitted her feet to touch the floor, +then toss her back on the lounge, where she would lie, laughing, +breathless, and happy. With a man's ignorant tolerance he accepted her +character as an invalid, and felt that the least he could do was +to brighten a life which seemed so dismal to him. When he came down +dressed for dinner or some evening engagement, she looked at him with +a frank, admiring pride that amused him immensely. When he returned +earlier than usual he often found her still upon the lounge with her +inevitable book, usually a novel, and then he would take her upon +his lap and call her his "dear little spook, the household ghost that +would soon cease to cast a shadow;" and she, with a languid curiosity, +would easily beguile from him a portrayal of the scenes through which +he had just passed. She cared little for them, but from his stores +of vitality and strength he imparted life to her, and without +understanding why, she simply knew she was happy. + +Apart from her fondness for the unreal scenes presented by the +miscellaneous books she read--scenes all the more unreal because she +had no experience by which to correct them--she had one other taste +which promised well for the future--a sincere love of music. She was +taking lessons, but it was from a superficial teacher, who was content +to give her pretty and showy pieces; and she brought even to this +favorite study the desultory habits which characterized all her +efforts to obtain an education. When she sat down to her piano, +however, nature was her strong ally. Her ear was fine and correct, and +her sensitive, fanciful spirit gave delicacy and originality to her +touch. It scarcely seems possible for one to become a sympathetic +musician without a large degree of imagination and a nature easily +moved by thought and feeling. The young girl's thoughts and feelings +were as yet very vague, not concentrated on definite objects, and yet +so good a connoisseur as Graydon often acknowledged her power, and +would listen with pleased attention to her girlish rendering of music +made familiar to him by the great performers of the day. He enjoyed it +all the more because it was her own interpretation, often incorrect, +but never commonplace or slovenly; and when her fingers wandered among +the keys in obedience to her own impulses he was even more charmed, +although the melody was usually without much meaning. She was also +endowed with the rudiments of a fine voice, and would often strike +notes of surpassing sweetness and power; but her tones would soon +quaver and break, and she complained that it tired her to sing. That +ended the matter, for anything that wearied her was not to be thought +of. + +Thus she had drifted on with time, unconscious of herself, unconscious +of the influences that would bring to pass the decisive events in +the future. She was like multitudes of others who are controlled by +circumstances of their lot until the time comes when a deep personal +experience applies the touchstone to character. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GRAYDON MUIR + + +Madge Alden was almost seventeen, and yet she was in many respects +a child. Scenes portrayed in books had passed before her mind like +pictures, having no definite significance. Mr. Muir was to her like +some of the forces in nature--quiet, unobtrusive, omnipotent--and she +accepted him without thought. Her sister was one whom she could +love easily as a matter of course. She was an indulgent household +providence, who cared for the young girl as she did for her own little +children. If anything was amiss in Madge's wardrobe the elder sister +made it right at once; if Madge had a real or imaginary ailment, Mary +was always ready to prescribe a soothing remedy; and if there was +a cloud in the sky or the wind blew chill she said, "Madge, do be +prudent; you know how easily you take cold." Thus was provided the +hot-house atmosphere in which the tender exotic existed. It could not +be said that she had thrived or bloomed. + +Graydon Muir was the one positive element with which she had come in +contact, and thus far she had always accepted him in the spirit of a +child. He had begun petting her and treating her like a sister when +she was a child. His manner toward her had grown into a habit, which +had its source in his kindly disposition. To him she was but a weak, +sickly little girl, with a dismal present and a more dreary outlook. +Sometimes he mentally compared her with the brilliant girls he met in +society, and especially with one but a little older than Madge, who +appeared a natural queen in the drawing-room. His life abounded in +activity, interests, and pleasures, and if it was his impulse to throw +a little zest into the experiences of those in society who had no +claims upon him, he was still more disposed to cheer and amuse the +invalid in his own home. Moreover, he had become sincerely fond of +her. Madge was neither querulous nor stupid. Although not conceited, +he had the natural vanity of a handsome and successful man, and while +the evident fact that he was such a hero in her eyes amused him, it +also predisposed him to kindly and sympathetic feeling toward her. +He saw that she gave him not only a sisterly allegiance, but also a +richer and fuller tribute, and that in her meagre and shadowed life he +was the brightest element. She tried to do more for him than for any +one else, while she made him feel that as an invalid she could not do +very much, and that he should not expect it. She would often play +for him an hour at a time, and again she would be so languid that no +coaxing could lure her from the sofa. Occasionally she would even read +aloud a few pages with her musical and sympathetic voice, but would +soon throw down the book with an air of exhaustion, and plead that he +would read to her. In her weakness there was nothing repulsive, and +without calculation she made many artless appeals to his strength. He +generously responded, saying to himself, "Poor little thing! she has +a hard time of it. With her great black eyes she might be a beauty if +she only had health and was like other girls; but as it is, she is so +light and pale and limp that I sometimes feel as if I were petting a +wraith." + +Of late she had begun to go out with him a little, he choosing +small and quiet companies among people well known to the Muirs, and +occasionally her sister also went. Her role of invalid was carefully +maintained and recognized. Graydon had always prided himself on his +loyalty as an escort; and as long as he was devoted, the neglect of +other young men was welcomed rather than regretted; for, except toward +him, all her old shyness still existed. With the consciousness that he +was caring for her she was well content with some half-secluded nook +of observation, from which she looked out upon scenes that were like +an animated story. She wove fanciful imaginings around those who +attracted her attention, and on her return laughingly discussed +the people who had passed, like players, before her eyes. Graydon +encouraged her to do this, for her ignorance of society made her +remarks original and amusing. He knew the conventional status of every +one they met as accurately as his brother recognized the commercial +value of the securities that passed under his eye, and Madge's +estimates often seemed absurd to the last degree. + +Whenever she went out with Graydon his course was eminently +satisfactory; she never felt herself neglected, while at the same time +she saw that his attentions were welcomed everywhere. She never lost +her serene sense of proprietorship, and only grew more fond of him as +she noted how readily he left the side of beautiful and gifted women +to look after her. He had often laughingly asserted that he went into +society only for amusement, and his course under her own observation +confirmed his words. + +Early in the winter during which our story opens, she had caught a +succession of colds, and one proved so severe and obstinate that her +friends were alarmed, fearing that she was going into a decline. She +slowly rallied, however, but was more frail than ever. Before the gay +season closed, just preceding Lent, Madge received an invitation to a +very large party. Graydon urged her to go, remarking that she had +not yet seen society. "Don't be afraid, I'll take care of you, little +ghost," he said, and with this assurance she accompanied him, contrary +to her sister's advice. It was indeed a brilliant occasion. The wide +rooms of a Madison Avenue palace were thronged, and she had never even +imagined such toilets as caught her eye on every side. There were +so many present that she could easily maintain her position of quiet +spectator, and her eyes dilated with pleasure as she saw that Graydon +was as much a leader as at other places where comparatively few were +present. + +At last her attention was attracted by one who was evidently a late +comer, and whose presence appeared to fill the apartment. All the +others paled before her, as do the stars when the moon rises among +them. She was evidently young, and yet she did not suggest youth. One +would almost imagine that she had never had a childhood or a girlhood, +but was rather a direct creation of metropolitan society. Her +exquisitely turned shoulders and arms were bare, and the diamonds +about her neck were a circlet of fire. The complexion of her fair oval +face was singularly pure, and the color came and went so easily as to +prove that it owed nothing to art. The expression of her gray eyes was +rather cold and haughty when at rest, and gave an impression of pride +and the consciousness of power. The trait which to the observant +Madge seemed most marked at first, however, was her perfect ease. Her +slightest movement was grace itself. Her entire self-possession was +indicated by the manner in which she greeted the men who sought her +attention, and many there were. She could be perfectly polite, yet +as repellent as ice, or she could smile with a fascination that even +Madge felt would be hard to resist. This girl, who was such an immense +contrast to herself, wholly fixed her attention as she stood for a few +moments, like a queen, surrounded by her courtiers. + +Graydon had gone for a glass of water, and meeting a friend had been +detained for a brief space. Madge saw him coming, saw his eye light up +with admiration as he caught sight of the beautiful stranger, but he +came directly to her, and asked, genially, if there was anything else +she would like. + +"Yes. Who is that girl yonder?" + +"Miss Wildmere. Isn't she lovely? She promised me, last week, her +first dance for this evening. Will you excuse me for a little while?" + +"Certainly;" and yet she was conscious of a sudden and odd little +protest at heart. + +He approached the beauty. Miss Wildmere's face flushed with pleasure +and softened into a welcoming smile, such as she had not yet bestowed +upon any who had sought her favor. Then, in swift alternation, she +bent upon Madge a brief, cold glance of scrutiny. So brief was it, and +so complacent was the expression of the belle as she turned away, that +the pallid, sensitive girl was told, as by words, "You are nothing." + +That glance was like a sharp, deep wound, and pierced where she +was most vulnerable. It said to her, "You are not capable of being +anything to Graydon Muir. I am not in the least afraid of you." + +What was she to him? What did she wish to be? To these questions Madge +had but one answer. Any and every girl, in her belief, would be only +too glad to win him. He had said that Miss Wildmere was lovely; his +eyes had expressed an admiration which he had never bestowed upon her; +he had led the beauty away with a glad content in his face, and the +crowded room was made empty by their absence. + +She was no longer conscious of weakness, but, obeying her impulse, +sprang up and followed them to the ballroom. Concealed by a little +group she stood, unwearied, and watched them as they glided hither and +thither with a grace that attracted many eyes. The music appeared to +control and animate them, and their motion was harmony itself. Graydon +evidently thought only of his fair partner; but her swift glances were +everywhere, gathering the rich revenue of admiration which was freely +offered. For a second she encountered Madge's large black eyes, full +of trouble, and a satirical smile proved that she enjoyed the poor +girl's solicitude. To deepen it she looked up at Graydon and said +something that caused his face to flush with pleasure. His response +was more decisive, for the swift color came into her face, and her +eyes drooped. The by-play was momentary, and would not have been +seen by a less vigilant observer than Madge; but to her it gave the +undoubted impression that they were lovers. When Miss Wildmere looked +again to see the result of her unkindly strategy, Madge was gone. + +In reaction she had grown almost faint, and reached her former retreat +with difficulty. But all her latent womanhood speedily rallied to +meet this strange and but half-comprehended emergency. The impulse now +uppermost was to retain her self-control and reach the seclusion of +her own room. How she was to endure the long hours she scarcely knew. +She did not dare to think. Indeed, the effort was scarcely possible, +for her mind was at first in tumult, with only one thing clear, a +poignant sense of loss and trouble. + +Graydon was a long time away, longer than he had ever been before when +acting as her escort. While she felt this neglect, and interpreted it +naturally, she was not sorry. She dreaded meeting him again. In one +brief hour her old ease and freedom with him had gone. She wondered at +the change in herself, yet knew that it was as definite and decided as +if she had become another person. When be had brought her the glass +of water she could look into his face with the frank directness of a +child. Why could she not do so now? Why did she almost tremble at the +thought of his glance, his touch, his presence? She knew that he would +come back with his old genial, kindly manner--that he would be +the same. But a change had occurred in her which made the fabled +transmutations of magic wands seem superficial indeed. Would he note +this change? Could he guess the cause? Oh, what _was_ the cause? Even +her pale face grew crimson, for there are truths that come to the +consciousness like the lightning from heaven. She did not need to +think, to weigh and reason. A woman's heart is often above and beyond +her reason, and hers had been awakened at last by the all-powerful +touch of love. + +The time passed, and still Graydon did not come. He was not absent +very long, and yet it began to seem terribly long to her. She had +overrated her powers, and found that even pride could not sustain her. +She had no reserve of strength to draw upon. The heat of the room grew +oppressive, and she was unaccustomed to throngs, confusion, and noise. +The consciousness of her weakness was forced upon her most painfully +at last by the appearance of Miss Wildmere on Graydon's arm. The +belle was smiling, radiant, her step elastic, her eyes shining with +excitement and pleasure. Her practiced scrutiny had assured her that +she was the queen of the hour; the handsomest and most courtly man +present was so devoted as to suggest that he might easily become a +lover; she had seen many glances of envy, and one, in the case of poor +Madge, of positive pain. What more could her heart desire? Graydon +conducted her to her chaperon, near whom half a dozen gentlemen were +waiting for a chance to be his successor; and, having obtained +her promise for another dance later in the evening, he turned +deprecatingly to Madge. His apologies ceased before they were half +spoken. She looked so white and ill that he was alarmed, and asked +permission to get her a glass of wine. + +"No, Graydon," she said, then hesitated, for she felt the color coming +into her face, while a strange blur confused every object in the room. +"I'm very, very sorry," she added, hastily, after a moment. "I ought +not to have come. I'm not equal to this. It wouldn't take you very +long to drive home with me, and then you could return. Please, +Graydon." + +Her tone was so urgent, and she appeared so weak, that he complied at +once, saying, with much compunction, "I should not have left you alone +so long, but supposed you were amusing yourself by looking at the +people." + +She did not trust herself to reply. Her one thought was to reach the +refuge of her own apartment, and to this end she concentrated her +failing energies. The climb to the ladies' dressing-room was a +desperate effort; but when she was once outside the house the cold, +pure air revived her slightly. + +"You can excuse me to our hostess--she will not care," she faltered, +and it seemed to her then that nobody would care. Miss Wildmere's +glance had conveyed the estimate of society. If she could believe +herself first in Graydon's thoughts she would not be cast down, but +now the truth was overwhelming. + +She leaned away from him in the corner of the carriage, but he put his +strong arm round her and drew her to his breast. She tried to resist, +but was powerless. Then came the torturing thought, "If I repel +him--if I act differently--he will guess the reason," and she was +passive; but he felt her slight form tremble. + +"My poor little ghost, you are ill in very truth! I'm indeed sorry +that I left you so long." + +"Believe me, Graydon, I am ill. Please let that excuse me and explain. +Oh, that I--I were strong, like Miss Wildmere!" + +"Isn't she a beauty?" exclaimed the unconscious Graydon. "The man who +wins her might well be proud, for he would have competitors by the +score." + +"Your chances seem excellent," said Madge, in a low tone. + +He laughed complacently, but added: "You don't know these society +belles. They can show a great deal of favor to more than one fellow, +yet never permit themselves to be pinned by a definite promise. They +are harder to catch and hold than a wild Bedouin; but such a girl as +Miss Wildmere is worth the effort. Yes, Madge, I do wish you were like +her. It would be grand sport to champion you in society and see you +run amuck among the fellows. It's a thousand pities that you are such +an invalid. I've thought more than once that you were designed to be a +beauty. With your eyes and Stella Wildmere's health you would be quite +as effective after your style as she is in hers. Never mind, little +sister, I shall stand by you, and as long as I live you shall always +have a luxurious sofa, with all the novels of the northern hemisphere +at your command. Who knows? You may grow strong one of these days. +When you do I'll pick out the nice fellows for you." + +At every kindly word her heart grew heavier, and when the carriage +stopped at their door she could hardly mount the steps. In the hall +she faltered and caught the hat-rack for support. He lifted her in +his arms and bore her easily to her room, her sister following in much +solicitude. "It's nothing," said Madge; "the company was too large and +exciting for me. There was no need of Graydon's carrying me upstairs, +but he would do it." + +"You poor dear!" began her sister, broodingly. "I feared it would be +so. Graydon is made of iron, and will never realize how delicate you +are." + +"He's very kind, and more considerate than I deserve. As he says," she +added, bitterly, "I'm nothing but a ghost, and had better vanish." + +"Nonsense, Madge," said the young man, with brusque kindness. "You +know I want you to haunt me always. Good-by now, little sister. I +shall be _de trop_ if I stay any longer. You'll be better in the +morning, and to-morrow evening I'll remain home and entertain you." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PARTING + + +At last Madge was alone. Her sister had suggested everything she could +think of, meanwhile bewailing the young girl's extreme imprudence. +Madge entreated for quiet and rest, and at last was left alone. Hour +after hour she lay with wide, fixed gaze. Her mind and imagination +did not partake of her physical weakness, and now they were abnormally +active. As the bewilderment from the shock of her abrupt awakening +passed, the truth hourly grew clearer. From the time she had first +come under her sister's roof Graydon Muir had begun to make himself +essential to her. His uniform kindness had created trust, freedom, and +a content akin to happiness. Now all was swept away. She understood +that his love was an affection resulting from pity and the strong, +genial forces of his nature. The girl who could kindle his spirit and +inspire the best and most enthusiastic efforts of his manhood must be +like Miss Wildmere--strong, beautiful, capable of keeping step with +him under society's critical eyes, and not a mere shadow of a woman +like herself. Her morbidly acute fancy recalled the ballroom. She saw +him again after his return, encircling the fair girl with his arm, and +looking down into her eyes with a meaning unmistakable. Oh, why had +she gone to that fatal party! The past, in contrast to the present and +the promise of the future, seemed happiness itself. + +What could she do? What should she do? The more she thought of it +the more unendurable her position appeared. In her vivid +self-consciousness the old relations could not continue. Heretofore +his caresses had been a matter of course, of habit. They could be so +no longer. She shrank from them with inexpressible fear, knowing they +would bring what little blood she possessed to her face and very brow +in tell-tale floods. The one event from which her sensitive womanhood +drew back in deepest dread was his knowledge of her love. To prevent +this she would rather die, and she felt so weak and despairing that +she thought and almost hoped she would die. If she could only go away, +where she would not see him, and hide her wound! But how could she, +chained near his daily presence by weakness and helplessness? + +Thus through the long night her despairing thoughts went to and fro, +and found no rest. Miss Wildmere's cold glance met her everywhere with +the assurance that such a creature as she could never be anything to +him, and, alas! his own words confirmed the verdict. Love that gives +all demands all, and such pitiful affection as he now gave was only a +mockery. The morning found her too weak to leave her room, and for +the few following days she made illness her excuse for remaining in +seclusion. As Graydon looked ruefully at her vacant chair the fourth +evening after the company, Mrs. Muir remarked, reproachfully, "I hope +you now realize how delicate Madge is. You never should have coaxed +her to go to that party." + +He was filled with compunction, and brought her flowers, boxes of +candy, books, and everything which he imagined would amuse her. At the +same time he was growing a little impatient and provoked. He knew +that he had taken her from the kindest motives. Now that she gave up +utterly to her invalidism, he was inclined to question its necessity. +He found that he missed her more than he would have imagined, and his +brief hours at home were dreary by reason of her seclusion. + +"Why don't you call in a first-class physician and put Madge under +a thorough course of treatment?" he asked, irritably. "She has no +disease now that I know anything about, and I don't believe it's +necessary that she should remain so weak and lackadaisical." + +"We did have our doctor call often, and he said she would outgrow her +troubles if she would take plenty of fresh of fresh air and exercise. +And now she positively refuses to see a physician." + +"I wouldn't humor a sick girl's fancies. She needs tonics and a +general building up. With your permission I'll stop on my way downtown +to-morrow and tell Dr. Anderson to call." + +Mrs. Muir repeated the conversation to her sister, with the +literalness of which only unimaginative women are capable. Madge +turned her face to the wall, and said, coldly and decisively, "I +refuse to see a physician. I am no longer a child, and my wishes must +be respected." After a moment she added, apologetically: "A doctor +could do me no good. I shall soon be stronger. You understand me +better than Dr. Anderson can. You are the best and kindest nurse that +ever breathed, and I've had enough of doctors. I'll take anything you +give me." + +These politic words appealed to Mrs. Muir's weak point. Nothing +pleased her better than to believe that she could act the part of +physician in the family, and prescribing for Madge was a source of +unflagging interest. When she informed Graydon of their decision in +the morning, he muttered something not very complimentary to either of +the ladies; but his good-nature prevailed, and instead of the doctor +he ordered a superb bouquet of Jacqueminot roses. + +Meanwhile events were taking place of which Madge had no knowledge, +but which would favor the plan slowly maturing in her mind. Mr. Muir's +business affairs had been taking a turn which made it probable that +he would soon have to send his brother abroad. As long as there was +uncertainty the reticent man said nothing, but at last he received +advices which brought him to a prompt decision, and Graydon was told +that he must go at once. The young fellow submitted with fairly +good grace. A brief foreign residence had its attractions, but it +interfered with his incipient suit to Miss Wildmere. He felt that he +had not gone far enough for a definite proposal, but he showed, during +the brief call that his time permitted, an interest which the young +lady well understood. Since he was to be absent for an indefinite +period, and would have no chance to observe her other little affairs, +she permitted herself to be gracious and regretful up to the point of +inspiring much hope for the future. With a nicety of tact--the result +of experience--she confirmed his view that they had made favorable +impressions on each other, and that for the present they must be +content with this. + +He had but a day in which to make his preparations in order to catch +a fast steamer that sailed at daylight the following morning. Madge's +first sensation when she learned of his near departure was one of +immense relief. The possibility which she had so dreaded could not +now be realized, and her plan could be carried out with far less +embarrassment. But as time passed, and she knew that their separation +was so near, her heart relented toward him with inexpressible +tenderness. The roses that perfumed the room were a type of his +unstinted kindness and consideration. She was just enough to +acknowledge that these were even more than she could naturally expect +from him--that the majority of young men would have treated her with +a half contemptuous pity which she was now beginning to admit would +be partially deserved. On the occasions when she had gone out with him +she had learned how unattractive in society her pale face and shy ways +were. Such attentions as she had received had been to her sensitive +spirit like charity. Graydon had been animated by unaffected good-will +and an affection that was, after its kind, genuine. While she +felt that it would be no longer possible to receive these mild +manifestations of regard while giving something so different, she +still knew, with a half despairing sinking of heart, how blank and +desolate her life would be without them. She must meet him once more, +and word was sent that she would receive his good-by after dinner. +Having safely passed this one interview, she hoped that she might be +able to control the future, and either cease to be, or bring about +changes upon which she had resolved. + +Only a soft, dim light shone in her room when he came to say farewell. + +"Why, Madge," he exclaimed, "you are better! You actually have color. +Perhaps it is fever, though," he added, dubiously. "At any rate, it's +very becoming." + +"I think it must be the reflection from your roses there, you +extravagant fellow," she replied, laughing. + +"That's famous, Madge. If you will laugh again like that I'll send +you a present from Paris. Dear Madge, do get well. Don't let us have +anything dismal in our parting. It's only for a little while, you +know. When I come back it will be summer, and I'll take you to the +seashore or mountains or somewhere, and help you get well." + +"You are very kind, Graydon. You have been a true brother to me from +the time you tried to cheer and encourage the pale, frightened little +girl that sat opposite you at the dinner-table. Don't you remember?" + +"Of course I do. It seemed so droll to me that you were afraid when +there was nothing to be afraid of." + +"My fear was natural. Little as I know of the world, I know that--at +least for one like me. It may seem weak and silly to you, but, brought +up as I had been, I was morbidly sensitive. You might have meant to +be kind and sympathetic and all that, and yet have hurt me cruelly. +I have been out with you enough to know how I am regarded. I don't +complain. I suppose it is the way of the world, but it has not been +your way. You have brought sunshine from the first, not from a sense +of duty, not out of sheer humiliating pity, but because it was the +impulse of your strength to help and cheer one who was so weak, and +if--if--anything--Well, I want you to know before you go away that I +appreciate it all and shall never forget it." + +"Oh, come, Madge, don't talk so dismally. What do you mean by +'if--if--anything'? You are going to get strong and well, and we will +open the campaign together next fall." + +She shook her head, but asked, lightly, "How will Miss Wildmere endure +your absence?" + +"Easier than you, I imagine. She knows how to console herself. Still, +as my little sister, I will tell you in confidence that she was very +kind in our parting interview. How much her kindness meant only she +herself knows, and I've been in society long enough to know that it +may mean very little." + +"Are you so wholly bent upon winning her, Graydon?" + +"Oh, you little Mother Eve! You are surely going to get well. There is +no sign of longevity in a woman so certain as curiosity. I've not yet +reached the point of breaking my heart about her, whatever she does. +Wouldn't you like so beautiful a creature for your sister?" + +"The contrast would be too great. I should indeed seem a ghost +beside her. Still, if she would make you happy--" But she could go no +further. + +"Well, well, that's a very uncertain problem of the future. Don't say +anything about it at home. My brother don't like her father. They do +not get on well in business. Let us talk about yourself. What are you +going to do while I am gone?" + +"What can such a shadow as I do? Tell me rather what you are going +to do, and where you'll be. You are real, and what you do amounts to +something." + +"There's one thing I'm going to do, and that is, write you some jolly +letters that will make you laugh in spite of yourself. They will be +part of the tonic treatment that I want you to promise me to begin at +once." + +"I have already entered upon it, Graydon," she said, quietly, "and I +don't think any one will value your letters more than I, only I may +not get strong enough to write very much in reply. I've never had +occasion to write many letters, you know. Tell me where you will be +and what you are going to do," and she leaned back upon her lounge and +closed her eyes. + +While he complied, he thought, "She has grown pale and thin even to +ghastliness, yet I was sure she had color when I first came in. Poor +little thing! perhaps her fears are well founded, and I may never +see her again;" and the good-hearted fellow was full of tender and +remorseful regret. He was quite as fond of her as if she had been his +own sister, perhaps even more so, for his affection was not merely the +result of a natural tie, but of something congenial to his nature in +the girl herself, and it cut him to the heart to see her so white and +frail. He stopped a moment, and she opened her eyes and looked at him +inquiringly. + +"Oh, Madge," he broke out, "I'm so sorry I took you to that confounded +party. You seemed getting on hopefully until that blasted evening. +You must get well enough to haunt me after your old fashion. You don't +know what a dear little sister you have become, and I didn't know it +myself until you were secluded by illness, and all through my fault. +You have barricaded yourself long enough with that stand and its vase +of roses. I'm not going to say good-by at this distance." He removed +the stand, and seating himself by her side, he drew her head down +upon his shoulder and kissed her again and again. "There now," he +continued, "you look perfectly lovely. Kisses are a part of the tonic +treatment you need, and I wish I were going to be here to give them. +Why, you queer little woman! I did not know you had so much blood in +your body." + +"It's--it's because I'm not strong," she said, struggling for release. +Suddenly she became still, her face took on almost the hue of death, +and he saw that she was unconscious. + +In terrible alarm he laid her hastily on the lounge, and rushed for +Mrs. Muir. + +"She has merely fainted," said that experienced woman, after a +moment's examination. "You never will learn, Graydon, that Madge is +not as strong as yourself. Call one of the maids, and leave her to +me." + +That was the last time he saw Madge Alden for more than two years. She +soon rallied, but agreed with her sister that it would be best not +to see him again. She sent him one of his own roses, with the simple +message, "Good-by." + +Late at night he went down to the steamer, depressed and anxious, +carrying with him the vivid memory of Madge lying white and death-like +where he had laid her apparently lifeless form. + +"I shall never see her again," he muttered. "Such weakness must be +mortal." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EFFORT + + +The deep experience, the touchstone of character, of latent power, +if such existed, had come to Madge Alden. For days she had drifted +helplessly on the rising tide of an apparently hopeless love. With +every hour she comprehended more fully what Graydon Muir had become +to her and all that he might have been. It seemed that she had been +carried forward by a strong, quiet current, only to be wrecked at +last. A sense of utter helplessness overwhelmed her. She could not +ignore her love; it had become interwoven with every interest and +fibre of her life. At first she contemplated it in wonder, in deeply +troubled and alarmed perplexity. It was a momentous truth, that had +suddenly been made known as some irretrievable misfortune might +have been revealed. She had read of love as children hear of mental +anxieties and conflicts of which they have no comprehension. As she +grew older it had been like poetry, music, romance--something that +kindled her imagination into vague, pleasant dreams. It had been as +remote from the present and her own experience as lives of adventure +in strange and foreign lands. She had awakened at last to find that +it was like her vital breath. By some law of her nature she had given, +not merely her thoughts and affection, but her very self to another. +To her dismay it made no difference that he had not sought the gift +and was not even aware of it. Circumstances over which she had no +control had brought her into close companionship with Graydon Muir. +She had seen him almost daily for years; she knew him with the +intimacy of a sister, yet without the safeguard of a natural tie; and +from his genial kindness she had drawn almost all the life she had +ever possessed. With an unconsciousness akin to that of a plant which +takes root and thrives upon finding a soil adapted to it, her love had +been developed by his strong, sunny nature. She soon recognized that +it was a love such as she had never known, unlike that for her mother +or sister or any one else, and it seemed to her that it could pass +away only with herself. It was not a vague sentiment, an indefinite +longing; it was the concentrated and imperious demand of her whole +being, which, denied, left little indeed, even were the whole world +hers. Yet such were the cruel conditions of her lot that she could +not speak of it even to one whose head had been pillowed on the same +mother's breast, and the thought that it might be discovered by +its object made her turn cold with dread. It was a holy thing--the +spontaneous product of an unperverted heart--and yet she must hide it +as if it were a crime. + +Above all the trouble and turmoil of her thoughts, clear and definite +amid the chaos brought into her old quiet, languid life, was +the impulse--the necessity--to conceal that which had become the +mainspring of her existence. She had not the experience of one versed +in the ways of the world. How could others--how could he--be kept in +ignorance of that of which she was so painfully and vividly conscious? +Therefore, overwhelmed with dread and a sense of helplessness, she +yielded to her first impulse to hide, in order that what seemed +inseparable from herself might be concealed. + +But she knew that this seclusion could not last--that she must meet +this first and great emergency of her life in some other way. From the +strong wish to obtain safety in separation, a plan to bring it about +gradually took form in her mind. She must escape, either to live or +to die, before her secret became known; and in casting about for the +means, she at last thought of a family who had been the kindest of +neighbors in the village where her mother had died. Mr. Wayland and +his wife had been the truest and most sympathetic of friends to the +widow and her orphan children, and Madge felt that she could be at +home with them. Mrs. Wayland's prolonged ill-health had induced her +husband to try, in her behalf, the remedy of an entire change of air +and climate. Therefore they had removed, some years before, to Santa +Barbara, on the Pacific coast. The signal success of the experiment +now kindled a glimmer of hope in poor Madge. That remote city +certainly secured the first requisites--separation and distance--and +the fact that her friend found health and vigor in the semi-tropical +resort promised a little for her frail young life. She had few fears +that her old friends would not welcome her, and she was in a position +to entail no burdens, even though she should remain an invalid. + +The practical question was, How should she get there? But the more +she thought upon the plan the more attractive it grew. The situation +seemed so desperate that she was ready for a desperate remedy. To +remain weak, helpless, and in perpetual dread was impossible. + +Her mind also was clear and strong enough for self-arraignment, and +in bitterness she partially condemned herself that she had lost her +chance for happiness. Her conscience had often troubled her that she +had given up so weakly to the habit of invalidism, but she had never +had sufficient motive for the vigorous and sustained effort essential +to overcome it. Indeed, her frailty had seemed a claim upon Graydon, +and made it more natural for him to pet her. Now that she was thinking +deeply, she was compelled to admit that her ill health was to some +extent her fault as well as her misfortune. Circumstances, natural +indolence, and her sister's extreme indulgence had brought about a +condition of life that propagated itself. One languid day was the +parent of another, it was so much easier to dawdle than to act. Thus +she had lost her opportunity. If he had won health, even Graydon +said it would have brought her beauty. She might have secured his +admiration, respect, and even love, instead of his pity. What could be +more absurd than to imagine that he could give aught else to one like +herself? "Oh, what a blind fool I have been!" she moaned--"blind +to the wants of my own heart, blind to the truth that a man needs a +strong, genial companion, and not a dependent shadow." + +Graydon's sudden departure took from her project many obstacles and +embarrassments. She was not afraid of her sister or her remonstrances, +and felt that she could convince Mr. Muir that the change gave the +best promise for the future. Graydon's objections would have been hard +to meet. He might have been led to guess her motive or insist on +being her escort. Now it was merely a question of gaining sufficient +strength for the journey and of being resolute. + +Mrs. Muir's opposition was not so great as Madge had feared, and Mr. +Muir even approved of the plan. The shrewd merchant's judgment was +usually correct on all practical matters, and he believed that Madge's +best chance was in a radical change. He saw that his wife's indulgence +tended to confirm her sister's lack of energy, and that it would be +best for Madge to spend the next few years with one who had regained +her health by wise endeavor. Mrs. Muir soon saw everything as her +husband viewed it, and the young girl prepared for a new world and a +new life. + +It was indeed a wise decision. There could be no more aimless drifting +and brooding. A telegram to Mr. Wayland brought immediate acquiescence +in the project, which was arranged more in detail by letters. Madge +strove in every possible way to fit herself for the journey, and was +surprised at her success. Better than all tonics was the diversion of +her thoughts, the prospect of change, the necessity for action. In her +thoughtful prudence she even satisfied Mrs. Muir's solicitude, for the +young girl realized more fully every day how much depended upon her +plan. It seemed to her that there could be no greater misfortune than +to become so ill again that in helplessness she must await Graydon's +return. Therefore, every faculty of mind, every power of body, was +exerted to accomplish her purpose; and, while her farewell to +her sister and Mr. Muir was tender and full of gratitude, the +consciousness of escape was uppermost in her mind. An elderly friend +of Mr. Muir would be her escort to San Francisco, and in that city Mr. +Wayland was to meet her. + +She arrived safely at her far-distant home, greatly worn and exhausted +indeed, but calm in mind from a sense of security. Mrs. Wayland +greeted her with her old-time cordiality, and gave herself heartily to +the task of rallying the frail girl into health. + +During the days of absolute rest which followed the journey, Madge's +thoughts were busy. The width of the continent would separate her +from the past and those associated with it. Both the breadth of the +continent and the ocean were between her and him from whom she had +fled; yet he was ever present to her imagination. In this respect the +intervening miles counted for nothing. She had not hoped that they +would. She could conceive of no plan of life that left him out, yet +she felt that she must have some object to look forward to, some +motive for action. The spirit she had recently shown in taking so +decisive a step proved her to possess a latent force of character of +which she herself had not been conscious. She would not sit down to +dream and brood away the future. She could never hope for Graydon +Muir's love. He would soon return to New York, and the idea that +Miss Wildmere or any other girl would remain cold to his suit was +preposterous. Yet if she lived she must meet Graydon again, and she +now felt that she would live. The decision she had manifested at the +crisis of her life was kindling her nature. She was conscious of a +growing inclination to prove to Graydon that she was neither "weak +nor lackadaisical." The reproach of these, his words, haunted her and +rankled in her memory. If she could only make him respect her--if she +could only win such a look of admiration as she had seen upon his face +when he first recognized Miss Wildmere at the party, it would be a +triumph indeed. + +Thus a new plan, a new hope, was developed, and became the inspiration +of effort. She listened unweariedly as Mrs. Wayland related how she +had turned the tide of her ebbing vitality. Thus Madge gained the +benefit of another's experience. Little by little she sought to +increase her slender resources of strength. The superb climate enabled +her to live almost in the open air, and each day she exulted over an +increase of vigor. Almost everything favored her in her new home. +When she was well enough to go out much the strangers had gone, and +everything in the town was restful, yet not enervating. The Waylands, +while on the best terms with other permanent residents, were not +society people. Mrs. Wayland had become satisfied with that phase of +life in her youth. Her husband was a reader, a student, and something +of a naturalist. The domestic habits which had been formed while Mrs. +Wayland was an invalid still clung to them. While never ceasing to be +kind neighbors, they were more than content with books, nature, and +each other. Madge therefore had access to a very fine library, and the +companionship of intellectual people who had known from contact the +present world, and in whose cultivated minds dwelt the experiences of +the past. Her friends were in the habit of discussing what they +read, and the basis of much of their enjoyment--as of all true +companionship--was harmonious disagreement. Thus the young girl was +insensibly taught to think for herself and to form her own opinions. +They also proved admirable guides in directing her reading. She felt +that she had read enough for mere amusement, and now determined to +become familiar with the great master-minds, so far as she was capable +of following them, and to inform herself on those subjects which Mr. +Wayland declared essential to an education. + +If circumstances within doors were conducive to mental growth, those +without were even more favorable to physical development. The salt air +and softly tempered sunshine were perpetual tonics. The place was full +of exquisite flowers. She felt that she had never seen roses until she +came to Santa Barbara. To a wounded, sensitive spirit there is even +a healing influence in the brightness and perfume of flowers. They +smiled so sweetly at her that she could not help smiling back. The +sunny days passed, one so like another that they begot serenity. The +even climate, with its sunny skies, tended to inspirit as well as to +invigorate. Almost every day she spent hours in driving and sailing, +and as the season advanced she began to take ocean baths, which on +that genial coast are suitable almost all the year round. Going thus +to nature for healing, she did not appeal in vain. Strength and +grace were bestowed imperceptibly, yet surely, as spring clothes the +leafless tree. + +A love such as had grown unbidden and unconsciously in Madge's heart +could not be content with the meagre reward of a little admiration. +Such an affection was softening and ennobling in its character, and +the mere desire to compel Graydon to glance at her as she had seen him +look at Miss Wildmere grew into the higher ambition to become such a +woman as would approach in some degree his ideal. She knew his tastes, +and as she thought over the past she believed she could gauge his +character as could no other. She soon recognized that he was not an +exceptional man, that she was not worshipping a hero. He himself +would be the last one to claim pre-eminence among his fellows. But his +genial, open nature, his physical strength, and his generous, kindly +impulses made him an eminently lovable man, and--well, she loved him, +and believed she ever should. Frail and defective in almost every +respect herself, she would have thought it absurd to cherish some +lofty and impossible ideal. He was hearty, wholesome, honest, and +she soon began to see that it would be a better and a nobler thing--a +nearer approach to happiness--to become a woman whom he could trust +and respect than merely to win a little admiration as a tribute to +ephemeral beauty. + +She would attain beauty if she could, but it should be the appendage, +the ornament of mind and character. She, who had seemed to him +weakness itself, would aim to suggest eventually that noblest phase of +strength--woman's patience and fortitude. + +It must not be supposed that Madge reached these conclusions in days, +weeks, or even months. Her final purposes were the result of slow, +half-conscious growth. Right, brave action produced right feeling, and +there are few better moral tonics than developing health. With richer, +better blood came truer, higher, and more unselfish thoughts. She +found that she could not only live, but that vigorous, well-directed +life is in itself enjoyment. It was a pleasure to breathe the pure, +balmy air, even when reclining in a carriage or a sail-boat, and as +she gained strength sufficient for exercise, she soon became aware of +the rich physical rewards that wait upon it. Slowly at first, but with +an increasing impetus, she advanced toward health, the condition +of all genuine life. She at last exchanged her carriage for a +saddle-horse. + +Mr. Wayland had one taste in which his wife did not share--a love +for horseback exercise, which, indeed, was one of the chief +characteristics of the community. Madge knew that Graydon was +extremely fond of a good horse, and that he rode superbly. To become +his equal therefore in this respect was one of the chief dreams of +her ambition. It was with almost a sense of terror that she mounted at +first, but Mr. Wayland was considerate. Her horse was only permitted +to walk, and she was taken off as soon as she was weary. Confidence +increased rapidly, and eventually she became fearless and almost +tireless. The beach was like a smooth, hard road-bed, and before the +summer was over she thought little of a gallop of ten miles, with the +breath of the Pacific fanning her cheek. When Mr. Wayland drove with +his wife up through Mission and Hot Springs canons, or eight miles +away to the exquisitely beautiful Bartlett Canon and the fine adjacent +ranches, she accompanied them on horseback. As she flashed along past +date-palms, and through lemon and orange groves, she began to appear +semi-tropical herself. She also became Mr. Wayland's companion on his +botanizing expeditions, and her steps among the rocks of the foothills +and on the slopes of the mountains grew surer, lighter, and more +unwearied. Color stole into her face, and a soft fire into her dark +eyes when animated. Mrs. Wayland looked on with increasing delight, +and thought, "She is growing very beautiful. I wonder if she knows +it?" + +Indeed she knew it well. What young girl does not? But Madge had a +motive for knowledge of which Mrs. Wayland did not dream. In the main +the girl was her own physician, and observed her symptoms closely. She +knew well what beauty was. Her vivid fancy would at any time recall +Miss Wildmere as a living presence; therefore her standard was +exceedingly high, and she watched her approach to it as to a distant +and eagerly sought goal. Other eyes gave assurance that her own +were not deceiving her. The invalid on whom at first but brief and +commiserating glances had been bestowed was beginning to be followed +by admiring observation. Society recognized her claims, and she +was gaining even more attention than she desired. As her strength +increased she accepted invitations, and permitted the circle of her +acquaintance to widen. It was part of her plan to become as much +at home in the social world as Graydon himself. Nor was she long in +overcoming a diffidence that had been almost painful. In one sense +these people were to her simply a means to an end. She cared so little +for them that she was not afraid, and had merely to acquire the ease +which results from usage. Diffidence soon passed into a shy grace that +was indefinable and yet became a recognized trait. The least approach +to loudness and aggressiveness in manner was not only impossible to +her, but she also possessed the refinement and tact of which only +extremely sensitive natures are capable. A vain, selfish woman is so +preoccupied with herself that she does not see or care what others +are, or are thinking of, unless the facts are obtruded upon her; +another, with the kindest intentions, may not be able to see, and so +blunders lamentably; but Madge was so finely organized that each one +who approached her made a definite impression, and without conscious +effort she responded--not with a conventional and stereotyped +politeness, but with an appreciative courtesy which, as she gained +confidence and readiness of expression, gave an unfailing charm to her +society. With few preconceived and arbitrary notions of her own she +accepted people as they were, and made the most of them. Of course +there were some in whom even the broadest charity could find little to +approve; but it was her purpose to study and understand them and lose +forever the unsophisticated ignorance at which Graydon had used to +laugh. + +Santa Barbara was a winter resort, and she had the advantage of +meeting many types. In Mrs. Wayland she had a useful mentor. This +lady in her younger days had been familiar with the best phases of +metropolitan society, and she counteracted in Madge all tendencies +toward provincialism. Thus it gradually became recognized that the +"shy, sickly little girl," as she had been characterized at first, was +growing into a very attractive young woman. Indeed, after an absence +of only a year her own sister would scarcely have recognized her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ACHIEVEMENT + + +Mrs. Muir of course heard often from her sister, and was satisfied +with the general assurance that she was better and steadily improving. +Madge, however, was rather indefinite in her information. As time +passed, the idea of giving her friends in the East a surprise took +possession of her fancy. She instinctively felt that she needed every +incentive to pursue the course she had resolved upon, since she often +suffered from fits of depression hard to combat. The hope of appearing +like a new being to her relatives was another innocent motive for her +long-prolonged effort. Circumstances had never developed epistolary +tastes in the sisters, and they were content with brief missives +containing general assurances that all was well. Mrs. Muir was one of +those ladies who become engrossed with the actual and the present. Had +Madge been in her old room she would have been looked after with daily +solicitude; being absent, she was loved none the less, but was simply +crowded from thought and memory by swarms of little cares. She was +doing well, and her sister was satisfied. "'It's a wonderful climate,' +Madge writes," she would say, "so even and dry. Madge doesn't take +cold as she did here, and can go out nearly every day. Perhaps we +ought to become reconciled to the fact that she will have to live +there always, since here, with our sudden changes, she could scarcely +live at all." + +With the kindliest intentions Graydon had sought to initiate a +vigorous correspondence. He had learned with immense relief of Madge's +improvement through change of residence, and he felt that a series of +jolly letters might bring aid and hopefulness. Her responses were not +very encouraging, however, and business cares, with the novelty +of foreign life, gradually absorbed his thoughts and time until +correspondence languished and died. + +"It's the old story," he thought, with a shade of irritation. "Letters +cost effort, and she is not equal to effort, or thinks she is not." + +If he could have seen Madge at that moment riding like the wind on a +spirited horse he would have been more astonished than by any of the +wonders of the old world. + +To Madge his letters were a source of mingled pain and pleasure, but +the former predominated. In every line they breathed an affection +which could never satisfy. Coldness or indifference could not have +so assured her that her love was hopeless; and when she sat down to +reply, the language of her heart was so unlike that which she must +write as to make her feel almost guilty of deliberate deception. +Correspondence made him too vividly present, and she was learning that +she had the power, not of forgetting him, but of so occupying her +mind with tasks for his sake as to attain serenity. The days were +made short by efforts of which he deemed her incapable, and weariness +brought rest at night. But when she sat down with her pen, confronting +him and not what she sought to do for him, her heart sank. He was too +near and dear, yet too remote, even for hope. + +This emotion is, however, the most hardy of plants, and although she +had often assured herself that she had never entertained it or had any +reason to do so, almost before she was aware she found it growing in +her heart. Business still kept Graydon abroad, although a year had +passed. There were no indications that he was pressing his suit with +Miss Wildmere, and our heroine's mirror and the eyes of others began +to tell her that the confident belle would not now bestow a glance so +cold and indifferent as to mean, "You can be nothing to him or to any +one." Moreover, Miss Wildmere's coveted beauty might prove an ally. +One so attractive would be sought, perhaps won, before Graydon +returned, and absence might have taught him that his regard had been +little more than admiration. Naturally Madge would not be inclined +to think well of one who had brought so cruel an experience into her +life; but, prejudice apart, the society girl had given evidence of a +type of womanhood not very high. Even Graydon, in his allusions, had +suggested a character repulsive to Madge. A woman "as hard to capture +and hold as a 'Bedouin'" was not at all her ideal. The words presented +to her one who was either calculating or capricious, either heartless +or fickle. + +"Truly," she thought, "if there was ever a man who merited +whole-hearted, lifelong constancy, it is Graydon Muir; and if he even +imagines Miss Wildmere incapable of this, why should he think further +of her? Perhaps while beyond the spell of her beauty he has formed a +truer estimate of her character, and has abandoned all thought of her +as a mocking dream. Perhaps--" + +Of what possibilities will not a young girl dream at the dictation +of her heart? And as she saw the sharp lines of her profile softening +into loveliness, the color fluctuating in her cheeks even at her +thoughts, her thin, feeble arms growing white and firm, and the +rounded grace of womanhood appearing in all her form, she began to +hope that she could endure comparison with Miss Wildmere, even on +her lower plane of material beauty. But Madge had too much mind to +be content with Miss Wildmere's standard. She coveted outward +attractiveness chiefly that the casket might secure attention to its +gems. The days of languid, desultory reading and study were over, and +she determined to know at least a few things well. + +It was to music, however, that she gave her chief attention, since she +believed that for this art she had some positive talent A German in +the pursuit of health had drifted to the remote southern city. He was +past middle age, but had retained through numberless disappointments +and discouragements the one enthusiasm of his life; and in Madge he +found a pupil after his own heart. While his voice had lost much of +its freshness and power, his taste was pure and refined. He kindled +in the young girl's mind something of his own love and reverence for +music on its own account. To Madge, however, it would always remain +a method of expression rather than a science or an art, and the old +professor at last learned to recognize her limitations. She would be +excellent in only those phases of music which were in accord with her +own feeling and thought. She would not, perhaps could not, study it +as he had done, for her woman's nature and the growing purpose of her +life were ever in the ascendant; but under his guidance her taste grew +purer and her knowledge and power increased rapidly. What she did +she learned to do well. Even Herr Brachmann was often charmed by the +delicate originality of her touch, which proved that her own thought +and feeling were infused into the music before her. + +But her voice delighted him most. With her increasing vigor was gained +the ability to use her vocal organs in sustained effort. He guarded +her carefully against over-exertion, and her advance was assured +and safe. Note after note, true, sweet, and strong, was added to the +compass of her voice, and this exercise reacted with increased benefit +on her general health. One can scarcely become a vocalist without +toning up the vital organs, and in learning to sing Madge provided +an antidote against consumptive tendencies. Her gift of song at +last began to attract attention. Strangers loitered near the Wayland +Cottage during warm, quiet evenings, and in society she was importuned +by those who had heard her before. She usually complied, for she was +training herself to sing before an audience of one who was familiar +with the best musical talent of the world. Not that she wished to +invite comparisons with this kind of talent, but merely to sing with +such simple sweetness and truth that Graydon would forget the trained +professional in the unaffected charm of the natural girl. + +The manner of those who listened stimulated her hope. At the first +notes of her song all conversation ceased. Even the unappreciative +were impressed by a certain pathos, an appealing minor tone, which +touched the heart while pleasing the ear. + +During the long summer that followed her first winter at Santa Barbara +the little town sank into a semi-torpid state. Strangers disappeared. +With many of the permanent residents to kill time was the main object +of languid effort. To Madge the season brought varied opportunity. The +old professor gave her much of his time. While others slept she read +and studied. The heat, tempered by the vast Pacific, was never +great, and the air had a vitality that proved a constant aid to her +controlling motive. In the morning she rode or took some form of +skilled exercise in which she knew Graydon to be proficient, and she +rarely missed her ocean bath. Such health was she acquiring that it +was becoming a joy in itself. As with all earnest, constant natures, +however, her supreme motive grew stronger with time. + +In August she received tidings from the East that caused much +solicitude and depression. Graydon had returned for a brief visit, +and had joined Mr. and Mrs. Muir at a seaside inn. "A Miss Wildmere +is staying here also," her sister wrote, "and, somewhat to Mr. Muir's +disapproval, Graydon seems not only well acquainted with her, but +unusually friendly. Mr. Muir says that if she is like her father she +is a 'speculator'; and from the attention she receives and the way she +receives it one would think he was right. Graydon, however, seems to +be her favorite, and if he could remain long enough it is not hard to +see what might happen. But she is a great belle and a coquette too, +I should imagine, and she has a large enough following to turn any +girl's head. I don't wonder at it either, for she is the most lovely +creature I ever saw, and yet she doesn't make a pleasant impression +on me. The men are just wild about her. Mr. Muir looks askance at +Graydon's devotion, and mutters 'speculator' when Miss Wildmere's name +is mentioned. Graydon returns to Europe next week. He inquires often +after you, and his questions make me feel that I don't know as much +about you and what you are doing as I should. You write often, but +somehow you seem remote in more senses than one. I suppose, however, +you are reading as usual, and just floating along down stream with +time. Well, no matter, dear. You write that you are better and +stronger, and have no more of your old dreadful colds. You must spend +next summer with us, even if you have to go back to Santa Barbara in +the winter." + +Neither the shortness of his visit nor the fascinations of Miss +Wildmere prevented Graydon from writing Madge a cordial note full +of regret that he should not see her. "You have indeed," he wrote, +"vanished like a ghost, and become but a haunting memory. It is a year +and a half since I have seen you, and I did not succeed in beguiling +you into a correspondence. Like the good Indians, you have followed +the setting sun into some region as vague and distant as the 'happy +hunting-ground.' Mary says that you will come East next summer. The +idea! Is there anything of you to come that is corporate and real? If +I had the time I would go to you and see. I find Miss Wildmere just +about where I left her, only more beautiful and fascinating, and +besieged by a host. Absence makes my chance slight indeed, but I do +not despair. She so evidently enjoys a defensive warfare, wherein it +is the besiegers who capitulate, that she may maintain it until +my exile abroad is over. This is to my mind a more rational +interpretation of her freedom than that she is waiting for me; and +thus I reveal to you that modesty is my most prominent trait. She may +be married before I see her again; and should this prove to be the +case I will show you what a model of heroic equanimity I can be." + +Madge read this letter with a sigh of intense relief, and was not long +in resolving that when he came again she would enter the lists with +Miss Wildmere and do what her nature permitted before her chance +of happiness passed irrevocably. Graydon's letter kindled her hope +greatly. It seemed to her that she was to have a chance--that her +patient effort might receive the highest reward after all. She thanked +God for the hope. Her love was a sacred thing. It was the natural, +uncalculating outgrowth of her womanhood, and was inciting her toward +all womanly grace. + +Madge did not believe her motive, her purpose, to be unwomanly. Should +the opportunity offer, she did not intend to win Graydon by angling +for him, by arts, blandishments, or one unmaidenly advance. She would +try to be so admirable that he would admire her, so true that he would +trust her, and so fascinating that he would woo her with a devotion +that would leave no chance for "equanimity" were it possible for +him to fail. If in her desperate weakness, in the chaos of her +first self-knowledge, she could hide her secret, she smiled at the +possibility of revealing it now that she had been schooled and trained +into strength and self-control. + +In her brief letter of reply to Graydon she wrote: + +"That I still exist and shall continue to live is proved by my one +trait which you regard as encouraging--curiosity. Please send me some +books that will tell me about Europe, or, rather, will present Europe +as nearly as possible in its real aspect. I may never travel, but am +foolish enough to imagine that I can see the world from the standpoint +of this sleepy old town." + +"Poor little wraith!" said Graydon, as he read the words. "What +a queer, shadowy world her fancy will create, even from the most +realistic descriptions I can send her!" But he good-naturedly made +up a large bundle of books, in which fiction predominated, for he +believed that she would read nothing else. + +The days gilded on, autumn merged into winter, and strangers came +again. Madge was acquiring an experience of which at one time she had +never dreamed. She found herself in Miss Wildmere's position. Every +day she was put more and more on the defensive. Gentlemen eagerly +sought her society, and her situation was often truly embarrassing, +for she had as little desire that the besiegers should capitulate +as she had intention of surrendering herself. In this respect Miss +Wildmere's tactics were easier to carry out. _She_ was not in the +least annoyed by any number of abject and committed slaves, and she +was approaching the period when she proposed to surrender with great +discretion, but to whom was not a settled point. + +Madge was beginning to make victims also, but she made them by being +simply what she was, and those who suffered most had to admit to +themselves that she was almost as elusive as a spirit of the air. + +In the spring visitors to the health resort, returning to the East, +brought to the Muirs rumors of Madge's beauty, fascination, and +accomplishments. They were a little puzzled, but concluded that +Madge had appeared well in a rendezvous of invalids, and were glad to +believe that she was much better. Prudent Mrs. Muir wrote, however, +"Do not think of returning till the last of May. Then we shall soon +go to the mountains. This will be another change, and change in your +case, you know, has proved so beneficial! We expect Graydon soon. He +is tired of residence abroad, and has so arranged the business that a +confidential clerk can take his place." + +Madge smiled and sighed. The test of her patient endeavor was about to +come. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SECRET OF BEAUTY + + +Mr. and Mrs. Wayland had become so attached to Madge that they +were the more ready to listen to her solicitation that they should +accompany her East and visit their old haunts. "Very likely I shall +return with you," said the young girl, "and make Santa Barbara my +home." + +This indeed was her plan should defeat await her. She had become +attached to the seaside town, as we do to all places that witness +the soul's deepest experiences and best achievements. She had learned +there to hope for the highest of earth's gifts; she believed that she +could live there a serene, quiet, unselfish life, her secret still +unknown, should that be her fate. + +The old German professor was almost heartbroken at her departure. "It +vas alvays so," he said; "ven mine heart vas settled on someding, +den I lose it;" but she reassured him by saying that there was no +certainty that she would not return. + +Mary Muir was so overwhelmed with astonishment that at first she +scarcely returned Madge's warm embrace. She expected to find her +sister much stronger and better; but this radiant, beautiful girl, +half a head taller than herself--was she the shadowy creature who +had gone away with what seemed a forlorn hope? She held Madge off and +looked at her, she drew her to a mirror and looked at her again, then +exclaimed, "This is a miracle! Why did you not tell me?" + +"I wished to surprise you. I did write that I was better." + +"This is not better; it is best Oh, Madge, you have grown so pretty +you almost take away my breath--all travel-stained and weary, too, +from your journey! What will not Henry say? I should scarcely have +known you. Surely now you need not go back. You are the picture of +health." + +"We shall see," said Madge, quietly. "It may be best if I find that +the East does not agree with me." She was fully determined to keep +open her line of retreat. + +Mr. Muir, in his quiet way, enjoyed the transformation as greatly +as did his wife. He had foreseen changes for the better, but had not +hoped for anything like this, he declared. + +"I just want to be near when Graydon first sees you!" exclaimed +voluble Mrs. Muir, at the dinner-table. + +The remark was unexpected, and Madge, to her dismay, found the blood +rushing to her face. Quick as thought she put her handkerchief to +her mouth, and sought to escape notice under the ruse of a brief +strangulation. "This is not going to answer at all," she thought. "I +must acquire a better self-control." She at once began talking about +Graydon in the most simple and natural manner possible, asking many +questions. Mrs. Muir's intuition and powers of observation were not +very great, and she was without the faintest suspicion of what was +passing in Madge's mind. Keen-eyed, reticent Mr. Muir was not so +unheeding, however. When Graydon's name was mentioned he happened to +glance up from the dinner which usually absorbed his attention. In +dealing with men he had acquired the habit of keen observation. During +a business transaction his impassive face and quiet eyes gave no +evidence of his searching scrutiny. He not only heard and weighed +the words to which he listened, but ever sought to follow the mental +processes behind them; and often men had been perplexed by the fact +that the banker had apparently arrived at conclusions opposite to the +tenor of their statements. When, therefore, he saw the color flying +into Madge's face at the unexpected utterance of his brother's name, +his attention was arrested and an impression made to which his mind +would revert in the future. It might mean nothing; it might mean a +great deal. Business and home life were everything to Mr. Muir, and +Graydon's admiration of Miss Wildmere did not promise well for either. + +The power that Mr. Muir had acquired mainly by practice Madge +possessed by nature. As we have seen, she was quite free from that +most unwomanly phase of stupidity which is often due to the heart +rather than the head. Some women know what is told them if it is told +plainly; others look into the eyes of those around them and see what +is sought to be concealed. The selfish woman is self-blinded. She +often has great powers of discernment, but will not take the trouble +to use them, unless prompted by her own interests. Selfishness is too +short-sighted, however, to secure lasting benefits. Usually, nothing is +more fatal than the success of mere self-seeking. While Madge pressed +unwaveringly toward the goal of her hopes, she did not do so in +thoughtless or callous indifference toward those who had true claims +upon her. With her sister she soon saw that all was well--that she +was, as before, absorbed and content with the routine of her life. She +was not so sure about her brother-in-law. During her absence lines +of care had appeared in his face, and there was an abstracted and +sometimes a troubled look in his eyes, as if he was pursued by +questions that were importunate and even threatening. The indications +of perturbation were slight indeed, but from his nature they would be +so in any case. Thus the young girl also received an impression which +awakened a faint solicitude. Mr. Muir, as her guardian and the manager +of her property, had been a true friend and loyal to his trust. She +entertained for him much respect and a strong, quiet affection. He +did not dwell in her thoughts merely as one who was useful to her, but +rather as one who had been true to her, and to whom she in her place +and way would be true and sympathetic were there occasion. + +Madge was wearied indeed by her long journey, but not exhausted. In +sensations so different from those which had followed her journey to +the West she recognized her immeasurable gain. Then she had entered +Mrs. Wayland's cottage helpless, hopeless, a fugitive from her own +weakness. By wise endeavor she had transformed that very weakness into +her strength, and had returned to the scenes from which she had fled +earnest and resolute--one who had made her choice for life and would +abide by it. Womanly to her very finger-tips, she was acting with the +aggressive decision of a man. Sensitive and timid beyond most women, +she would not lose her happiness when it might be won in paths not +only hedged about by all the proprieties of her lot, but also by a +reserve and pride with which her own fine nature was pre-eminently +endowed. That she loved Graydon Muir was a truth for life. If he could +learn to love her from what she had sought to be, from what she simply +was, he should have the chance. Her own deep experience had taught her +much and given her the clew to many things. She had studied life, not +only in books, but in its actual manifestations. Mrs. Wayland was a +social mine in herself, and could recall from the past, volumes of +dispassionate gossip, free from malice. In two years Madge had learned +to know the world better than many who are in contact with it for long +periods, but who see all through the distorted medium of their own +prejudices or exceptional experiences. Although she was no longer +unsophisticated she was neither cynical nor optimistic. Before her +hope could be fulfilled she knew she must enter society, and she +studied it thoughtfully--its whims and meannesses as well as its laws +and refinements. If she ever reached Graydon's side she meant to stand +there with a knowledge and confidence as assured as his own. She soon +learned that it is common enough for women to seek to win men by every +alluring and coquettish device. She would employ no devices whatever. +She would merely reappear above his horizon among other luminaries, +and shine with her own pure, unborrowed light. Then it must depend +upon himself whether she ever became his own "bright particular star." + +So much she felt she had a right to do, and no conventional hesitation +as to her course stood in her way. Her love had become the governing +impulse of her life, and its dictates were imperative until they +trenched upon her sensitive, womanly pride. Then they were met as the +rock meets the tide. She did not care what the world might think: it +should never have occasion to think at all. Her secret was between +herself and God. Graydon himself should never know it unless his name +became hers. + +How vividly her old haunts recalled him! There was the lounge on which +he used to toss the "little wraith" after having carried her around +in the semblance of a waltz. The sofa on which had taken place their +strange parting still stood as of old in her room. There her head +had sunk in unconsciousness upon his breast, the result of her vain, +feeble struggle to escape from caresses so natural to him, but no +longer to be received by her. + +What way-marks in life mute, commonplace things become in the light +of memory! To her vivid fancy Graydon was again present in all the +positions now made memorable by deep affection. The past unrolled +itself again as it had so often done before. She saw the pallid, +frightened child that scarcely dared to look deprecatingly at the +handsome young collegian. She saw again the kind yet mirthful eyes +that beamed encouragingly upon her. She remembered that in the +unworthy past they had ever looked upon her with a large, gentle, +affectionate tolerance, and she now took chiefly upon herself the +blame for those years of weakness. Her present radiant health and +beauty proved how unnecessary they had been, and her heart sometimes +sunk at the thought of what they might cost her. + +Mary had accompanied her to her room, and was asked, in a careless +tone, what had become of Miss Wildmere. + +"I was told incidentally the other day that she was as great a belle +as ever. I had hoped that she would be out of Graydon's way before +this time. I have heard, however, that great belles are often slower +in marrying than the homeliest girls. If all is true that is said, +this Miss Wildmere has made mischief enough; but I am not anxious that +our Graydon should cut short her career--that is, if marriage would +cut it short. I imagine she will always be a gay society woman. Well, +Madge, I suppose you must make up your mind to be a belle yourself. +Why don't you cut out this 'speculator,' as my husband calls her? If +Graydon had my eyes it wouldn't be a difficult task." + +"Graydon hasn't your eyes or mine either," was the brusque reply. "I +propose to use my own. They may see some one that I have never met. +One thing at least is certain--I don't intend to cut out Miss Wildmere +or any one else. The man who wins me will have to do the seeking most +emphatically; and I warn you beforehand, sister mine, that you must +never let the idea of matchmaking enter your head. Since I have been +away I have developed more will of my own than muscle. There is no +necessity for me ever to marry, and if I do it will be because I wish +to, not because any one else wants me to. Nothing would set me +against a man more certainly than to see that he had allies who were +manoeuvring in his behalf;" and she concluded with a kiss that robbed +her words of a point too sharp, perhaps, for her sister's feelings. +She knew Mrs. Muir's peculiarities well enough, however, to believe +that such words were needed, and she had intended to speak them in +some form at the earliest opportunity. Therefore she was glad that she +could utter the warning so early and naturally in their new relations. +Nor was it uncalled for, since the thought of bringing Madge and +Graydon together had already entered Mrs. Muir's mind. A scheme of +this character would grow in fascination every hour. Poor Madge was +well aware that, with the best intentions, no one could more certainly +blast her hopes than her sister, whose efforts would be unaccompanied +by the nicest tact. Moreover, any such attempts might involve the +disclosure of her secret. + +"Well, you have changed in every respect," said Mary, looking at her +wonderingly. + +"For the better, I hope. My feeling in this respect, however, seems +to me perfectly natural. I don't see how a self-respecting girl could +endure anything except a straightforward, downright suit, with plenty +of time to make up her own mind. I can do without the man who does not +think me worthy of this, and could probably do without him any way. +Because a man wants to marry a girl is only one reason for assent, and +there may be a dozen reasons to the contrary." + +"Why, Madge, how you talk! When you left us it seemed as if any one +might pick you up and marry you and you would not have spirit enough +to say yes or no. Have you had to refuse any one at Santa Barbara? +Perhaps you didn't refuse. You have told me so little of what was +going on!" + +"That isn't fair to me, Mary. I explained to you that I wished to +give you a pleasant surprise. To plan a pleasure for you was +not unsisterly, was it? I haven't Miss Wildmere's ambition for +miscellaneous conquests. Why should I write about men for whom I cared +nothing and toward whom my manner should have made my spoken negative +unnecessary?" + +"Other girls would. Well, it seems that their suit was downright +enough to satisfy you. Good gracious! How many were there?" + +Madge laughed, yawned, and her sister saw that her dark eyes were full +of the languor of sleep, which added to their beauty. + +"Oh, not many," she drawled. "I'll gossip about them some time when +not so tired. I'll indicate them by numerals. Why should I babble +their names in connection with what they called so sacred? I wonder +how many like sacred affairs had occurred before. If I tell you the +story of the wooing of Number One, Two, Three, and so on, that will +answer just as well, won't it?" + +"No, indeed. I wish to know their names, family connection, and +whether they were well off or not." + +Madge again laughed, and began to disrobe, in order to indicate that +their confidence must at least be adjourned for the present. Her +sister came and felt her perfect arms and rounded, gleaming shoulders. +"Why, Madge," she exclaimed, "your flesh is as white and smooth +as ivory, and almost as firm to the touch! It's a wonderful +transformation. I can scarcely believe, much less understand it. You +have grown so beautiful that you almost turn even my head." + +"There is nothing so wonderful about it, Mary. Almost any girl may win +health, and therefore more or less beauty, if she has the sense and +will to make the effort. You know what I was when I left home. I +suggested doctors' bills more than anything else, and it was chiefly +my fault;" and she sighed deeply. "When I went to work in a rational +way to get strong, I succeeded. I believe this would be true with the +great majority. Good-night, dear. When I am rested I'm going to +help you in many ways, in return for all you did for that lazy, +lackadaisical, limp little nonentity that you used to dose and coddle +when you should have given her a good shaking." + +"It's all a miracle," said Mrs. Muir to her husband, at the conclusion +of lengthy remarks about Madge. + +"As much a miracle as my fortune," was the quiet reply. "Madge has had +sense enough to know what she wanted and how to get it." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NOT A MIRACLE + + +Madge was simply fatigued from her long journey, and not oppressed +with want of sleep, for in passing through uninteresting portions of +the country she had given herself up to repose. The sense of weariness +passed with the hours of night, and she was among the earliest +stirring in the morning. Long before breakfast was ready she had +her trunks partially unpacked, her mind meantime busy with plans for +immediate action. At last her healthful appetite so asserted itself +that she went down to the dining-room. Mr. and Mrs. Muir had not yet +appeared, and she strolled into the parlor, opened her piano, and +played a few runs. She found it sadly out of tune from long disuse. +As this was not true of her voice, she began singing a favorite German +song. + +In a moment the house was full of melody. Clear, sweet, and powerful, +her notes penetrated to the kitchen, where the maids were busy, and +they stopped in spellbound wonder, with dish or utensil in hand. Mrs. +Muir listened with her hair-brush suspended, while methodical Mr. Muir +laid down his razor, and, going to the door, set it ajar. The song +poured into the room like an harmonic flood. Before the first stanza +was completed Mrs. Muir had on her dressing-gown and was stealing +downstairs into the back parlor, and as Madge was beginning again she +rushed upon her. + +"Why, why," she exclaimed, "I thought Nilsson or Patti had got lost +and taken refuge here! Can it be you? You are nothing but a surprise +from beginning to end. When will the wonders cease? Are you sure that +you are Madge?" + +"Yes, and equally sure that I am hungry. When _will_ you be ready for +breakfast? I've been up these two hours." + +"Well, well, well, what will Graydon say? He thinks you are still +little better than a ghost." + +"He will say that I have been very sensible, and he will find me very +substantial and matter-of-fact. The question now uppermost is, +When will breakfast be ready?" cried the young girl, laughing, in +a childlike enjoyment of her sister's wonder, and a loving woman's +anticipation of triumph over the man who had once called her "weak and +lackadaisical." + +She responded warmly to the embrace of Mrs. Muir, who added, "You have +come back to us a princess. Why, even Henry, whom nothing moves out of +the even tenor of his way, paused in his shaving, and with one side of +his face all lathered opened the door to listen." + +"You tell him," cried Madge, in merry vein, "that he has given me +the greatest compliment I ever received. But compliments are not +breakfast." + +Mrs. Muir returned to complete her toilet, and her husband soon +appeared. + +"Madge," he said, greeting her kindly, "you have brought about great +changes. How have you accomplished them all in so brief a time?" + +"The time has not been so very brief," she replied. "I have been away +over two years, remember. It's all very simple, Henry. I went to work +to get well and to learn something, as you give your mind and time to +business. In the Waylands, my old German professor, and especially +in the magnificent climate I had splendid allies. And you know I +had nothing else to do. One can do a great deal in two years with +sufficient motive and steady effort toward a few points." + +"What was your motive, Madge?" + +A slow, deep color stole into her face, but she looked unflinchingly +into his eyes as she asked, "Was not the hope of being what I am +to-day, compared with what I was, sufficient motive?" + +"Yes," he replied, thoughtfully, "it was; but it appears strange to +me that more girls do not show your sense. Nine-tenths of the pallid +creatures that I see continue half alive through their own fault." + +"If they knew the pleasure of being thoroughly alive," said Madge, +"they wouldn't dawdle another hour. I believe that I might have +regained health long before if I had set about it." + +"Well, Madge, as your guardian I wish to tell you that I am deeply +gratified. You have done more for yourself than all the world could +do for you. I am a plain man, you know, and not given to many words. +There is only one thing that I detest more than a silly woman, and +that is a heartless, speculating one. Both are sure to make trouble +sooner or later. You certainly do not belong to the first type, and I +don't believe you will ever make a bad use of the beauty you have won +so honestly. Let me give you a bit of business experience, Madge. I +have seen men falter and fail by the score downtown, and usually it +was because women were playing the mischief with them--too often +women of their own households, who had no more idea of the worth of a +dollar, or how it is obtained, than a kitten. The one idea is to marry +for money, and then to spend it in parade. I believe you will be like +your sister Mary, who has given me a home, quiet, and peace." ("If I +ever give a man anything I'll give him a great deal more than that," +Madge thought.) "And now," concluded Mr. Muir, "speaking of money, +I wish to go over your accounts with you soon, that you may know +everything and understand everything. It's absurd for women to be +helpless and dependent in this respect. You should know all about +your property, and the time has come when you should learn what +are regarded as safe investments, and what are not. My life is as +uncertain as any other man's, and I intend that you sisters shall not +be like two children, who must do blindly what some trustee tells you +to do;" and Mr. Muir complacently led the way to the breakfast-room, +feeling that as guardian he had done his duty both morally and +financially. + +It was his way to speak plainly and promptly all he desired to say, +and then, according to his creed, if people had sense they would do +what was wise; if they had not, the less said the better. + +Mrs. Muir was voluble during the morning meal. Now that Madge had come +again within the sphere of her domestic energy, she was fall of plans +and projects. + +"Of course," she said, "you have nothing to wear. The outlandish +dresses that you had made at that jumping-off place in the West won't +answer. As soon as the Waylands have made their call we must go out +and begin ordering your summer outfit. Perhaps Mrs. Wayland will go +with us." + +"Patience, Mary. We are not ready to order outfits yet." + +"Why not?" + +"Because we do not want to buy what interested shopmen and milliners +may choose to palm off on us. You live such a domestic life that you +are scarcely better informed than I as to the latest modes. We will +drive in the park, use our eyes on the avenue, and visit several +fashionable establishments first. Then I wish to find a dressmaker who +is not an idiotic slave of fashion, and who can modify the prevailing +styles by taste and appreciation of the person for whom she works. The +one whom I employ must make dresses for me and under my direction, and +not dresses in the abstract, as if they were for the iron-framed form +on which she exhibits her wares." + +"Good!" cried Mr. Muir; "Madge's head is level. Let her have her own +way, Mary, and she will come out all right." + +"Well," said Mrs. Muir, "I suppose it will take a little time for me +to get used to all these changes. Before she went away I used to +do everything for her. I'm going to have my own way in one thing, +however. You must not write to Graydon a word beyond the fact that +Madge is here. You have both laughed at me and my wonder, and +I'm going to have the compensation of seeing him transformed into +exclamation points." + +Madge now turned toward Mr. Muir, and he could detect not the +slightest indication of embarrassment or overconsciousness, as +she said, "Certainly, Henry, you must not spoil this little bit of +prospective fun." + +Madge did have her own way, and made her preparations with the quiet +decision and thoughtfulness which now characterized her actions. + +The Waylands were frequent guests at Mr. Muir's home for a time, and +then departed to visit friends in the country. + +Madge and her sister soon decided upon the Catskills as the place of +their summer sojourn. The choice of this region, so accessible from +the city, was pleasing to Mr. Muir. + +"What are you reading?" he said, one evening, as he found Madge +surrounded by books and pamphlets. + +"Reading up on the Catskills and their vicinity. A place is far more +interesting if you have associations with it, and I intend to be +versed in all the stories and legends of the region. In this I have a +little design upon you also. You look worn, Henry, and need rest and +change. You are too much devoted to business. I'm going to 'frivol,' +like the rest of the girls, in the evening--dance, and all that, you +know, but I shall try to keep you among the hills, and inveigle you +into long drives and walks by telling you exciting yarns that will +take the place of the dissipations of business. You needn't think you +will have to mope around the piazza, your body on a mountain and your +mind in Wall Street. You are getting old and rich, and you must begin +to take an interest in other things besides business." + +"Now, that's thoughtful and kind of you," he said, and then he lapsed +into a revery that the contraction of his brow showed to be not +altogether agreeable. + +At last he said, "Madge, I half believe you are right. I am and have +been too devoted to business. It's all very well as long as you can +drive it, but when it begins to drive you it is a hard task-master. +The times are bad. Instead of making anything, one has to use all his +faculties to keep from losing what he has made. It's getting to be a +grind. I sometimes wish I was out of it, but suppose I shouldn't know +what to do with myself." + +"That's just it, Henry, you wouldn't. You must become interested in +other things, and that's a process which requires time, and I'll help +you." + +"Oh, you," he said, laughing--"you will soon have all you can do to +keep your beaux at bay." + +"Beaux in this free and enlightened land have only certain rights +which a girl is bound to respect. Should there be any, and they +unreasonable, you'll see," she said, with a little decisive nod. +Then she added, gravely: "I don't believe you would be content out of +business, but I should think there was such a thing as trying to do +so much business that it would become a burden, and, perhaps, a heavy +one. You may think I'm a little goose, talking of what I know nothing +about; but I've read a great deal, and, of late, books worth reading. +I don't believe it is a good thing to change one's habits and pursuits +suddenly; and what's more, Henry, I believe that when the times are +better business will be as great a source of satisfaction to you as +ever. As I suggested before, you must gradually become interested in +other things which can take the place of business as you grow old." + +"What a wise little woman we have become!" said Mr. Muir. "Here you +are giving your guardian sound advice--you who, I imagined once, would +take no more thought for the morrow than a lily of the field, and a +very pale one at that. This is a greater change than any that Mary +exclaims about." + +"Perhaps you think me very presuming," answered Madge, coloring. + +"No, I do not. I think you very sensible, and I think myself very +fortunate in having such women in my household as you and Mary. I was +blue when I came home to-night, but it inspirits a man to talk to such +a girl. You have a power of good common-sense, Madge." + +"Well, I have--I had--need of it." + +"The majority would say you could afford to be silly. You have a +snug fortune of your own, of which not a penny can be lost unless the +bottom falls out of everything." + +"I don't think any woman can afford to be silly. I know that's a +sweeping word with you, and covers all feminine folly. What I meant +is this: Money and every good thing in life was a mockery. I couldn't +enjoy anything, and wasn't anything but a burden. I saw it all, and +that I should have to throw nonsense overboard if I wished to be +different. You will find that I have plenty left, however, before the +summer's over. Now, let me read to you Irving's legend of poor old +Rip. What if you have read it often? A little infusion of the champion +sleeper's spirit is just what you need;" and with simple purity of +tone and naturalness of accent she made the old story new to him. + +"Madge," he said, as he kissed her good-night, "that is even better +than your singing. I feel so freshened and heartened up that I'm +another man, and in good trim for the fight to-morrow; for that is +just what business has become--a regular defensive fight. You didn't +think two years ago that you would send me down to Wall Street with a +clearer head and better courage." + +"No, indeed, I didn't dream of it, and I can scarcely believe it's +true now. You used to seem to me like gravitation, that would always +be the same to the end of time." + +"Bah! A man is only a man, and he finds it out sooner or later. +There's Jack crying again, and Mary hasn't had a chance to come down. +I'll take the child, for his teeth make him so nervous that he won't +stay with the nurse." + +"I'll try my hand at him to-morrow," said the young girl, and was +absorbed in her reading again. + +The days passed quickly, and Madge filled them full, as before at +Santa Barbara. As the time approached for Graydon's return, she felt +a quiet rising excitement akin to that which inspires a soldier when +a campaign is about to open; but to her brother-in-law and sister +she gave only the impression of decision of character and youthful, +healthful buoyancy. She was good-cheer itself in the household, and +helpful in every little domestic emergency. The servants and the +children welcomed her like sunshine, and she made the evenings all +too short by music and reading aloud. She blossomed out in her summer +costumes like a flower, so becoming to her style had been her choice +of fabrics and the taste with which they had been fashioned. June was +passing. In a day or two more Graydon would arrive, and the fruition +or failure of her patient endeavor begin. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +RIVAL GIRLS + + +Instead of Graydon there came a letter saying that he would be +detained abroad another week. The heat was oppressive, and the family +physician said that little Jack should be taken to the country at +once. Therefore they packed in haste, and started for a hotel in the +Catskills at which rooms had been engaged. Graydon was to join them +there as soon after his return as possible. + +Madge looked wistfully at the mountains, as with shadowy grandeur +they loomed in the distance. There is ever a solemnity about mountain +scenery, and she felt it as she passed under the lofty brows of wooded +heights. To her spirit it was grateful and appropriate, for, while she +would lead among them apparently the existence of a young girl bent +only on enjoyment, she believed she would leave them, either a happy +woman, or else facing the tragedy of a thwarted life. Their deepest +shadows might, even when her laugh was gayest, typify the despondency +she would hide from all. + +It was Saturday, and Mr. Muir accompanied his family. He and his wife +looked worn and weary, for at this time circumstances were bringing +an excess of care to both. Mrs. Muir was a devoted mother, and little +Jack had taxed her patience and strength to the utmost. A defensive +warfare is ever the severest test of manhood, and Mr. Muir had found +the past week a trying one. He had been lured into an enterprise that +at the time had seemed certain of success, even to his conservative +mind, but unforeseen elements had entered into the problem, and it now +required all his nerve, all his resources, to meet the strain. Neither +Madge nor his wife knew anything of this. Indeed, it was not his habit +to speak of his affairs to any one, unless the exigencies of the case +required explanation. In this emergency he was obliged to maintain +among his associates an air of absolute confidence. Now that he was +out of the arena he gave evidence of the strain. + +Madge saw this, and resolved that her large reserve of vitality should +be drawn upon. The tired mother should be relieved and the perplexed +and wearied man beguiled into forgetfulness of the sources of anxiety. +Jack would have indulged in a perpetual howl during the journey had +not his attention been diverted by Madge's unexpected expedients, +which often suspended an outcry with comical abruptness, while her +remarks and questions made it impossible for Mr. Muir to toil on +mentally in Wall Street. By reason of the heat the majority of the +passengers dozed or fretted. She heroically kept up the spirits of her +little band, oblivious of the admiring eyes that often turned toward +her flushed, animated face. + +There are few stronger tests than unflagging good-humor during a +disagreeable journey with cross children. At last the ordeal came to +an end, and in the late afternoon shadows they alighted at the wide +piazza of the Under-Cliff House, and were shown to airy rooms, which +proved that the guests were not kept in pigeon-holes for the sole +benefit of the proprietor. Our heroine employed the best magic the +world has known--thoughtful helpfulness. Mr. Muir was banished. "You +would be as useful as a whale," she said to him, when he offered to +aid his wife in unpacking and getting settled. "Go down to the piazza +and smoke in peace. I shall be worth a dozen of you as soon as I take +off my travelling-dress." + +She verified her words, and before they were aware of it Mrs. Muir, +who was prone to fall into hopeless confusion at such times, and the +nurse were acting under her direction. The elder little boy and girl +were coaxed, restrained, managed, and soon sent down to their father, +redressed and serene. Jack was lulled to sleep in Madge's room. The +trunks instead of disgorging chaos, were compelled to part with their +contents in an orderly way. In little more than an hour the two rooms +allotted to Mr. and Mrs. Muir, and the nurse with the children, took +on a cosey, inhabitable aspect, and by supper-time the ladies, in +evening costume and with unruffled brows, joined Mr. Muir. + +"The idea of my ever permitting Madge to go back to Santa Barbara!" +exclaimed Mrs. Muir. "This day alone has proved that I can never get +on without her. Just go and look at your room, sir. One would think we +had been settled here a week. You ought to pay Madge's bills, and give +her a handsome surplus." + +"If time is money," said Madge, "Henry will have to pay me well. He +must stay and help me explore these mountains in every direction. +But now let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we shall go to +church." + +"I've half a mind to take you down to Wall Street with me next week," +said Mr. Muir. "Perhaps you can straighten out things there." + +"No, sir. I'm a woman's-rights girl, and one of her rights is to get +things out of the way as soon as possible, so that people can have a +good time. Thank heaven our affairs can be shut up in drawers and hung +up in closets, and there we can leave them--in this case for a good +supper first, and a long quiet rest on this piazza afterward. Don't +you think you could find a drawer somewhere in which to tuck away your +Wall Street matters, Henry? You won't need them till some time next +week, for you must certainly spend two or three days with us." + +Mr. Muir laughed. "I've heard of managing women before, but you beat +them all. You have won, to-day, the right to manage for a while. I'll +join you soon; then supper; and, as you suggest, I'll put the Wall +Street matters somewhere and lock them up." + +Thus their mountain sojourn began auspiciously. The supper was +excellent, and they were in a mood to enjoy it; they found the piazza +deliciously cool after the long hot day; and the faint initial pipings +of autumn insects only emphasized the peace and quiet of the evening. +The mountains brooded around them like great shadows, their outlines +gemmed with stars, and the very genius of repose seemed to settle down +upon the weary man and woman who were in the thick of their life's +battle. + +They were among the earliest arrivals at the house, and had a wide +space to themselves. Indeed, they could have been scarcely more +secluded at their own summer residence. For those seeking rest, an +early flight to summer resorts brings a rich reward. + +While her relatives dozed or merely revived sufficiently from time to +time to make some desultory remark, Madge thought deeply. At first she +had been disappointed at the postponement of Graydon's return, but +she grew reconciled as she dwelt upon it. While hope was deferred, +she enjoyed a longer lease of anticipation. When he did come she might +soon learn that all hope was vain. Besides, the delay gave her time to +familiarize herself with the region and its most beautiful walks and +drives. The mountains, woods, and rocks should all be pressed into +her service. They would not reveal her secret, and they might engender +thoughts and words with which Miss Wildmere would be out of harmony. + +"I've been thinking," Mr. Muir at last remarked. + +"Nonsense! you've been asleep," Madge replied. + +"No; I've thought profoundly." + +"Not even a penny for any thoughts of yours since supper." + +"They would be worth fortunes, life, health, happiness, to half the +world." + +"Then keep still till you have a patent, copyright, or something," +said his wife. + +"No. I rise simply to remark--also to retire--that a little oil keeps +machinery from wearing out and going to pieces. Come now, old lady" +(pulling his wife to her feet), "you are the better to-night, as I +am, for the oil that Madge has slipped in here and there. I fear the +machinery to-day would have run badly without it." + +The group that gathered at the breakfast-table next morning bore early +testimony to the tonic of the hills. Jack only was not so well, and +Mrs. Muir remained with him, while Madge and Mr. Muir wended their +way to a little chapel whose spire was the only summons to worship. +A short, genial, middle-aged man met them at the door, with such +hospitable cordiality as to suggest that he was receiving friends at +his own home, and conducted them to seats. A venerable clergyman sat +in the pulpit with a face full of quiet benignity. Every one who came +appeared to receive an almost personal welcome; and Madge and Mr. Muir +looked enviously at the self-appointed usher. It was as evident that +he was not a professional sexton as that the little congregation could +not afford such a luxury. No care clouded his brow. Evidently his +future did not depend on fluctuations in the maelstrom of commerce, +nor had he one hope so predominant over all others that his life was +one of masked suspense, as was the case with poor Madge. He was rather +like the rugged, sun-lighted mountains near, solid, stable, simple. No +matter what happened, he would remain and appear much the same. + +Such was the tenor of Madge's thoughts as she waited for the opening +of service. Fanciful and imaginative to a great degree, she found a +certain mental enjoyment in observing the impressions made upon her by +strangers. + +The service was brief and simple; the good old clergyman preached the +gospel of hope, and his words calmed and strengthened the young girl's +mind. She was made to feel that there is something more and better +than present happiness--that there are remedies for earthly ills. + +When she returned to the hotel she found that Mrs. Muir was worried +about Jack, who was worse, and that a Dr. Sommers had been sent for. +She could not help smiling when, a little later, the hospitable usher +of the chapel came briskly in. She eventually learned that the doctor +provoked smiles wherever he went, as a breeze raises ripples on the +surface of a stream. He smiled himself when he met people, and every +one took the contagion. He examined the baby, said the case would +require a little watching until certain teeth came through, and +then that there would be no further trouble. He spoke with the same +confidence with which he would announce that July was near. + +"You watch the case, then," said Mr. Muir, decisively. "I must be in +town. If you can look after the child and save my wife from worry, my +mind will be easy as regards this end of the line at least." + +"All right, sir. We'll manage it. Healthy boy. No trouble." + +"Have you lived long among the mountains, doctor?" Madge ventured to +ask. + +"I should think so. As long as I have lived. Was born and brought up +among 'em." + +"It must be dreary here in the winter," Mrs. Muir remarked. + +"Not a bit of it. It's never dreary." + +"How far among the hills does your practice extend?" Madge pursued. + +"As far as I'll go, and I'm usually going." + +"Perhaps you can give us, then, some advice as to drives and walks." + +"Oh, lots, free gratis. I can tell Mr. Muir of a trout-stream or two, +also." + +"Doctor," said Madge, laughing, "I am very ill. I shall need much +advice, and prescriptions of all the romantic walks and drives in the +vicinity." + +"And like most of the advice from doctors, it won't be taken. A stroll +on the piaza is about all that most ladies are equal to. You look, +however, as if you should not fear a steep path or a rough road." + +"You shall see," cried Madge. + +"Yes, I will see," said the doctor, laughing, and bowing himself out. +"I've seen a great many ladies who could dance miles, but were as +afraid of a mountain as of a bear." + +At the dinner-table Mrs. Muir said, laughingly, "In Dr. Sommers, Madge +has found a kindred spirit--another oiler of machinery. If between him +and Madge things don't go smoothly, the fates are indeed against us." + +"When life does go smoothly, it is because of just such good, cheery +common-sense," Mr. Muir remarked, sententiously. "I'm in the financial +centre of this part of the world, and schemes involving millions and +the welfare of States--indeed of whole sections of the country--are +daily brought to my consideration, and I tell you again men are often +in no condition to act wisely or well because the wear and tear of +their life is greater after business hours than during them. Business +maniac as Madge thinks me to be, little Jack is of more consequence +than a transcontinental railway. I must face the music--the discord, +rather--of Wall Street to-morrow. There is no use in protesting or +coaxing; I must be there; but it's a great thing to be able to return +with my nerves soothed, rested, and quieted. Heaven help the men who, +after the strain of the day, must go home to be pricked half to death +with pin-and-needle-like worries, if not worse." + +"Please imagine Madge and myself making a profound courtesy for the +implied compliment," said Mrs. Muir. "But can you not spend part of +the week with us?" + +"No. Graydon will soon be here, and there is much to be seen to. He +writes that he has worked very hard to get things in shape so that +he can leave them, and that he wishes to take a vacation. As far as +possible I shall gratify him. He can be with you here, and come to +town occasionally as I need him. It's all turning out very well, and I +am better off than many in these troublous times." + +The remainder of his stay passed quietly in absolute rest, and on the +following morning he was evidently strengthened for the renewal of the +struggle. + + * * * * * + +"Stella!" + +Miss Wildmere remained absorbed in her novel. + +"Stella!" repeated Mr. Wildmere, impatiently. + +"What is it?" she asked, fretfully. "I'm in an exciting scene. Can't +you wait awhile?" + +"Oh, throw down your confounded novel! You should be giving your mind +to real life and exciting scenes of your own. No, I can't wait and +don't propose to, for I must go out." + +The words were spoken in a small but elegant house, furnished in an +ultra-fashionable style. Mr. Wildmere was a stout, florid man, who +looked as if he might be burning his candle at both ends. His daughter +was dressed to receive summer evening calls at her own home, for she +was rarely without them. If the door-bell had rung she would have +dismissed her exciting scene without hesitation, but it was only her +father who asked her attention. + +"Very well," she said, absently, turning down a leaf. + +Her father observed her listless air and averted face for a moment +with contracted brow, then quietly remarked, "Graydon Muir may return +at any time now." + +Her apathy disappeared at once, and a faint color stole into her face. + +"Haven't you had enough of general attention and flirtation? I know +that my wishes have little weight; you have refused not a few good +offers and one on which I had set my heart; but let the past go. The +immediate future may require careful and decisive action. I speak in +view of your own interests, and to such considerations I know you +will not be indifferent. If you were taking a natural and intelligent +interest in my affairs you would have some comprehension of my +difficulties and dangers. The next few months will decide whether I +can keep up or not. In the meantime you have your opportunity. Graydon +Muir will share in the fortunes of his brother, who has had the +reputation of being very wealthy and eminently conservative. I have +learned, however, that he has invested largely in one enterprise that +now appears to be very dubious--how largely no one but himself knows. +If this affair goes through all right you couldn't do better than +develop Graydon Muir into an impatient suitor; and you had better keep +him well in hand for a time, anyway. He is a good business man and far +more to be depended upon than rich young fellows who have inherited +wealth, with no ability except in spending it. If the Muirs pass +through these times they will become one of the strongest and safest +houses in the country. Remember that the _if_ is to be considered. Mr. +Arnault, too, is a member of a strong, wealthy house. I would advise +you to make your choice between these two men speedily. You are not +adapted to a life of poverty, and would not enjoy it. An alliance with +either of these men might also aid in sustaining me." + +Miss Wildmere listened attentively, but made no comment, and her +father evidently did not require any, for he went out immediately. +He understood his daughter sufficiently to believe that she needed +no further advice. He was right. The exciting crisis in her novel +was forgotten, and her fair face took on an expression that did not +enhance its beauty. Calculation on the theme uppermost in her mind +produced a revery in which an artist would not have cared to paint +her. It was evident that the time had come when she must dispose of +herself, and the question was, how to do it to the best advantage. + +To Graydon she gave her preference. He was remarkably fine looking, +and could easily be a leader in society if he so desired--"and +certainly shall be," she thought, "if I take his name." As far as her +heart spoke in the matter it declared for him, also. Other men had +wooed and pleaded, but she had ever mentally compared them with +Graydon, and they had appeared insignificant. She had felt sure for a +long time that he would eventually be at her feet, and she had never +decided to refuse him. Now she was ready to accept but for this +ominous "if," which her father had emphasized. She could not think of +marrying him should he become a poor man. + +She neither liked nor disliked Mr. Arnault. He was a man of the world, +reported wealthy, established in a large but not very conservative +business. He had the name of being a little fast and speculative, but +she was accustomed to that style of man. He was an open suitor who +would take no rebuff, and had laughingly told her so. After his +refusal, instead of going away in despondency or in a half-tragic +mood, he had good-naturedly declared his intentions, and spent the +remainder of the evening in such lively chat that she had been pleased +and amused by his tactics. Since that time he had made himself useful, +was always ready to be an escort with a liberal purse, and never +annoyed her with sentiment. She understood him, and he was aware that +she did. He took his chances for the future, and was always on hand +to avail himself of any mood or emergency which he could turn to +his advantage. In various unimportant ways he was of service to Mr. +Wildmere, but hoped more from the broker's embarrassments than from +the girl's heart. + +"I might do worse," muttered the beauty--"I might do worse. If it were +not for Graydon Muir, I'd decide the question at once." + +The door-bell rang, and Graydon was announced. Even her experienced +nerves had a glad tingle of excitement, she was so genuinely pleased +to see him. And well she might be, for he was a man to light any +woman's eyes with admiration. If something of his youth had passed, +his face had gained a rich compensation in the strong lines of +manhood, and his manner a courtly dignity from long contact with the +best elements of life. One saw that he knew the world, but had not +been spoiled by it. That he had not become cynical was proved by his +greeting of Miss Wildmere. He was capable of hoping that her continued +freedom, in spite of her remarkable beauty, might be explained on the +ground of a latent regard for him, which had kept her ready for his +suit after an absence so unexpectedly prolonged. Through a friend he +had, from time to time, been informed about her; and there was no ring +on her hand to forbid his ardent glances. + +Never before had she appeared so alluringly attractive. He was a +thorough American, and had not been fascinated by foreign types of +beauty. In his fair countrywoman he believed that he saw his ideal. +Her beauty was remarkable for a fullness, a perfection of outline, +combined with a fairness and delicacy which suggested that she was not +made of ordinary clay. Miss Wildmere prided herself upon giving the +impression that she was remote from all that was common or homely in +life. She cultivated the characteristic of daintiness. In her dress, +gloves, jewelry, and complexion she would be immaculate at any cost. +Graydon's fastidious taste could never find a flaw in her, as regarded +externals, and she knew the immense advantage of pleasing his eye with +a delicacy that even approached fragility in its exquisite fairness, +while at the same time her elastic step in the dance or promenade +proved that she had abundance of vitality. + +Nothing could have been more auspicious than his coming to-night--the +very first evening after his arrival. It assured her of the place she +still held in his thoughts; it gave her the chance to renew, in the +glad hours of his return, the impression she had made; and she saw in +his admiring eyes how favorable that impression was. She exulted that +he found her so well prepared. Her clinging summer costume revealed +not a little of her beauty, and suggested more, while she permitted +her eyes to give a welcome more cordial even than her words. + +He talked easily and vivaciously, complimented her openly, yet with +sincerity, and rallied her on the wonder of wonders that she was still +Miss Wildmere. + +"Not so great a marvel as that you return a bachelor. Why did you not +marry a German princess or some reduced English countess?" + +"I was not driven to that necessity, since there were American queens +at home. I am delighted that you are still in town. What are your +plans for the summer?" + +"We have not fully decided as yet." + +"Then go to the Catskills. Our ladies are there at the Under-Cliff +House, and I am told that it is a charming place." + +"I will speak to mamma of it. She must come to some decision soon. +Papa says that he will be too busy to go out of town much." + +"Why, then, the Catskills is just the place--accessible to the city, +you know. That is the reason we have chosen it. I propose to take +something of a vacation, but find that I must go back and forth a good +deal, and so shall escape the bore of a long journey." + +"You have given two good reasons for our going there. The place cannot +be stupid, since we may see you occasionally, and papa could come +oftener." + +"Persuade Mrs. Wildmere into the plan by all means, and promise me +your first waltz after your arrival;" and there was eagerness in his +tone. + +"Will you also promise me your first?" + +"Yes, and last also, if you wish." + +"Oh, no! I do not propose to be selfish; Miss Alden will have her +claims." + +"What, Sister Madge? She must have changed greatly if she will dance +at all. She is an invalid, you know." + +"I hear she has returned vastly improved in health--indeed, that she +is quite a beauty." + +"I hope so," he said, cordially, "but fear that rumor has exaggerated. +My brother said she was better, and added but little more. Have you +seen her?" + +"No. I only heard, a short time since, that she had returned." + +Madge had not gone into society, and had she met Miss Wildmere face +to face she would not have been recognized, so greatly was she changed +from the pallid, troubled girl over whom the beauty had enjoyed her +petty triumph; but the report of Miss Alden's attractions had aroused +in Miss Wildmere's mind apprehensions of a possible rival. + +Graydon's manner was completely reassuring. Whatever Miss Alden might +have become, she evidently had no place in his thoughts beyond +that natural to their relations. No closer ties had been formed by +correspondence during his long absence. + +Further tete-a-tete was interrupted by the appearance of Mr. Arnault. +The young men were courteous and even cordial to each other, but +before half an hour had passed they recognized that they were rivals. +Graydon's lips grew firm, and his eyes sparkled with the spirit of one +who had not the faintest idea of yielding to another. Miss Wildmere +was delighted. The game was in her own hands. She could play these two +men off against each other, and take her choice. Mr. Arnault was made +to feel that he was not _de trop_, and, as usual, he was nonchalant, +serene, and evidently meant to stay. Therefore Graydon took his leave, +and was permitted to carry away the impression that his departure was +regretted. + +"Mr. Arnault," said Miss Wildmere, quietly, "we have decided to spend +some time at the Under-Cliff House in the Catskills. So you perceive +that I shall be deprived of the pleasure of your calls for a while." + +"Not at all. I shall take part of my summering there also. When do you +go?" + +"In a few days--sometime before the fourth. How fortunately it all +happens!" she added, laughing. "When did you decide on the Catskills?" + +"That's immaterial. When did you?" + +"That also is immaterial. Perhaps you would like to ask mamma?" + +"I'd rather ask papa--both, I should say," he replied, with a +significant shrug. + +"Do so by all means. Meanwhile I would suggest that a great many +people go to the Catskills--thirty thousand, more or less, it is +said." + +"I had another question in mind. Is Graydon Muir going there in order +to follow the crowd?" + +"If he is going I suppose he will follow his inclinations." + +"Or you?" + +"Were that possible, I could not prevent it. Indeed, women rarely +resent such things." + +"No indeed. It is well you do not, for you would become the embodiment +of resentment. How large is your train now, Stella?" + +"You can dimmish it by one if you choose," she replied, smiling +archly. + +"I should be little missed, no doubt." + +"I didn't say that." + +"I'm more afraid of Muir than of all the train together." + +"That's natural. The train has little chance collectively." + +"Don't pretend to misunderstand me. There was unmistakable meaning in +Muir's eyes." + +"I should hope so. He means to help me have a good time. So do you, I +trust." + +"Certainly. You may judge of the future from the past," he added, +significantly, as he rose to take his leave. + +"Then the future promises well for me," she said, giving him her hand +cordially; "for you have been one of the best of friends." + +"And a good deal more. Good-night." + +"Mamma," said Miss Wildmere, stopping at the nursery on her way to her +room, "we must get ready to go to the Catskills at once." + +"Why, Stella! This is the first I've heard of this plan. Your father +has said that he doesn't see how we can go out of town at all this +summer." + +"Nonsense! I'll insure that papa agrees." + +"I don't see how I can get ready soon. The baby is fretful, and I'm +all worn out between broken rest and worry. Won't you take Effie for a +little while?" + +"Where's the nurse?" + +"She's out. Of course she has to have some time to herself." + +"You just spoil the servants. It's her business to take care of the +child. What else is she paid for? Why can't one of the other maids +take her?" + +"Effie is too nervous to go to strangers to-night." + +"Oh, well, give her to me, then." + +The sensitive little organization knew at once that it was in the +hands not only of a comparative stranger, but also of one whose touch +revealed little sympathy, and its protest was so great that the tired +mother took it again, while the beautiful daughter, the cynosure of +all eyes in public, went to her room to finish the "exciting scene" at +her leisure. + +But the scene had grown unreal. Its hero was but a shadow, and a +distorted one at that. The book fell from her hand; she again saw +Graydon Muir coming forward to greet her with an easy grace which no +prince in story could surpass, and with an expression in his dark blue +eyes which no woman fails to understand. It assured her that neither +in the old world nor in the new had he seen her equal. + +"I wish it could be," she murmured; "I hope it can be; were it not for +that 'if' it should be soon." + +Thus, after her own fashion, another girl had designs upon Graydon. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MEETING + + +Graydon had completed his final transactions abroad with more +expedition than he had anticipated, and, having been favored by a +quick passage, had arrived several days sooner than he was expected. +Therefore he decided to accompany his brother to the Catskills +on Saturday, spending the intervening time in business and such +arrangements as would leave him free to remain in the country for a +week or two. The second evening after his arrival again found him in +Miss Wildmere's parlor, and before he left he was given to understand +that Mrs. Wildmere had decided upon the Under-Cliff House also, and +that they would depart on Saturday. + +"Then you will be _compagnon de voyage_," said Graydon, with +undisguised pleasure. + +Somewhat to Mrs. Wildmere's surprise, her husband quietly acquiesced +in his daughter's wishes, telegraphed for rooms, and desired his wife +to be ready. + +She was a quiet, meek little woman, whose life had somehow become +entangled in a sphere which was not in harmony with her nature. Her +beauty had faded early, and she had little force of character with +which to maintain her influence over her husband. His life was amid the +fierce excitements of Wall Street; hers, as far as she had a life, +was a weary effort to keep up appearances and meet the expenses of a +fashionable daughter, on an uncertain and greatly fluctuating income. + +Mr. Wildmere informed her that his affairs would keep him in town +until late in the following week, but that, as the house to which she +was going was a quiet family hotel, she would have no trouble. + +Mr. Muir had telegraphed the arrival of his brother, and the latter +had written a few cordial but hasty lines to both his sister-in-law +and Madge. Where he spent his evenings was unknown to Mr. Muir, but +that gentleman had little trouble in guessing when he saw his brother +greet the Wildmeres as if he understood their plans, and laughingly +promise Mr. Wildmere that he would see the ladies and their belongings +safely established in the Under-Cliff House. Graydon observed the +slight cloud on his brother's face, but ignored it, feeling that +his preference was an affair of his own. He believed that the +long-wished-for opportunity to press his suit with vigor had come, +and had no hesitation as to his purpose. He did not intend to act +precipitately, however. He would first learn just how Mr. Arnault +stood, and become reasonably assured by Miss Wildmere's manner toward +himself that her preference was not a hope, but a reality. + +The enterprise in which Mr. Muir had engaged, and which now so taxed +his financial strength, was outside of his regular business, and +Graydon knew nothing of it. The young man believed that his own means +and exceptionally good prospects were sufficient to warrant the step +he proposed to take. He assuredly had the right to please himself in +his choice, and he felt that he would be fortunate indeed could he win +one whom so many had sought in vain. + +It never entered Mr. Muir's mind to interpose any authority or undue +influence. He merely felt in regard to the matter a repugnance natural +to one so alien in disposition to Mr. Wildmere and his daughter, +and it was a source of bitter mortification to him that he now found +himself in a position not unlike that of the broker, in what +would appear, in the present aspect of affairs, to be an outside +speculation. During the ride to the mountains he mentally compared +Miss Wildmere's behavior with that of Madge a week before. Witnessing +Graydon's evident infatuation, he would have been glad to recognize +any manifestation of traits that promised well for his future; but the +young lady was evidently altogether occupied with the attentions +she received, her own beauty, and the furtive admiration of +fellow-passengers. Poor Mrs. Wildmere and the nurse were left to +manage the cross baby as best they could. Graydon once or twice tried +to do something, but his strange face and voice only frightened the +child. + +To Madge it had seemed an age since the telegram announcing Graydon's +arrival had thrilled every nerve with hope and fear. Then had come his +hasty note, proving conclusively his affectionate indifference. She +was simply Madge to him, as of old. He was the one man of all the +world to her, and no calculating "if" would be the source of her +restraint. + +True to her old tactics, however, she had spent no time in idle +dreaming. She had cultivated Dr. Sommers's acquaintance, and he had +already accompanied her and her sister through a wild valley, on the +occasion of a visit to one of his patients. Little Jack had improved +under his care, and Mrs. Muir was growing serene, rested, and eager +for Saturday. Madge shared her impatience, and yet dreaded the hour +during which she felt that a glimpse of the future would be revealed. +She had driven out daily with her sister, and familiarized herself +with the topography of the region. Having formed the acquaintance of +some pleasant and comparatively active people in the house, she had +joined such walking expeditions as they would venture upon. In rowing +the children upon a small lake she also disposed of some of her +superabundant vitality and the nervous excitement which anticipation +could not fail to produce. In the evening there was more or less +dancing, and her hand was eagerly sought by such of the young men as +could obtain the right to ask it. Mrs. Muir's remark that she would +become a belle in spite of herself proved true; but while she affected +no exclusive or distant airs, the most callow and forward youth +felt at once the restraint of her fine reserve. Her sensitive nature +enabled her, in a place of public resort, to know instinctively whom +to keep at a distance, and who, like Dr. Sommers, not only invited but +justified a frank and friendly manner. + +As the time for the gentlemen to arrive approached, Mrs. Muir showed +more restless interest than Madge. The one anticipated a bit of +amusement over Graydon's surprise; the other looked forward to meeting +her fate. Mrs. Muir was garrulous; Madge was comparatively silent, and +maintained the semblance of interest in a book so naturally that her +sister exclaimed, "I expect you will die with a book in your hand! I +could no more read now than preach a sermon. Come, it's time to +make your toilet. Let me help you, and I want you to get yourself up +'perfectly regardless.' You must outshine them all at the hop this +evening." + +"Nonsense, Mary! They won't be here for an hour and a half. I'm +going to lie down;" and she went to her room. When her sister sought +admittance half an hour later the door was locked and all was quiet. +At last, in her impatience, she knocked and cried, "Wake up. They will +be here soon." + +"I'm not asleep, and it will not take me long to dress." + +"Well, you are the coolest young woman I ever knew," Mrs. Muir called +out, finding that admittance was denied her. + +Madge had determined to spend the final hour of her long separation +alone. Her nature had become too deep and strong to seek trivial +diversion from the suspense that weighed upon her spirit. As she +thought of the possibility of failure, and its results, her courage +faltered a little, and a few tears would come. At last, with a glance +heavenward which proved that there was nothing in her heart to keep +her from looking thither for sanction, she left her room, serene and +resolute. She had taken her woman's destiny into her own hand, to mold +it in her own way, but in no arrogant and unbelieving spirit. + +Mrs. Muir uttered a disappointed protest. "Oh, Madge, how plainly you +are dressed!" + +"I knew you wouldn't like it at first," was the quiet reply. By the +time they had reached the parlor door opposite the office, near which +they proposed to wait for the travellers, now momentarily expected, +Mrs. Muir was compelled to acknowledge the correctness of Madge's +taste. Her costume no more distracted attention from herself than +would the infolding calyx of a rosebud. In its exquisite proportions +her fine figure was outlined by close white drapery, which made her +appear taller than she really was. A single half-open Jacqueminot +rose, like the one she had sent to Graydon at their parting over two +years since, was fastened on her bosom. Her dark eyes burned with a +suppressed excitement. Her complexion, if not so white as that of Miss +Wildmere, was pure, and had a richer hue of health. But she was +pale now. Her red lips half destroyed their exquisite curves in firm +compression. The moment had not quite come for action, when those lips +must be true to herself, true to her purpose, even while they spoke +words which might be misleading to others. + +Mrs. Muir, with triumph, saw the glances of strong admiration turned +toward her sister from every side. Madge saw them also, but only to +read in them the verdict she hoped to obtain from the kind blue eyes +for whose coming she waited. + +Standing with Mrs. Muir, facing the long hall down which Graydon must +advance, she knew she would see him before he could recognize her. +How much of longing, of breathless interest, would be concentrated +in those moments of waiting, she herself had never imagined till they +were passing. + +The stages began to arrive, with consequent bustle, and the hasty +advance toward the office of men seeking to register their names +early, in order to secure a choice of rooms. At last she saw Graydon's +tall form and laughing face, and for a second something approaching +to faintness caused her to close her eyes. When she opened them again +they rested upon Miss Wildmere. + +This young lady understood the art of making an impressive and almost +triumphal entry on new scenes. Therefore she had been in no haste. +Indeed, haste had no place among her attributes: it was ungraceful and +usually not effective. When, therefore, the crowd had passed on, and +there was a comparatively clear space in the hall, she advanced down +it at Graydon's side as if her mind was wholly engrossed with their +lively chat. Never for a second was she unconscious of the attention +they attracted. Graydon was one at whom even men would turn and look +as he passed, and she believed that there was none other who could +keep step with him like herself. So thought the self-appointed +committee of reception who always regard curiously the new-comers at a +summer resort, and there were whispered notes of admiration as the two +paused for a moment before the register and looked back. Then it +was seen that a meek-looking little lady and a nurse and child were +straggling after them, while Mr. Muir brought up the rear. Graydon +had some light wraps thrown gracefully over his arm, but the merchant +carried the less ornamental _impedimenta_ of the party, for the +earlier guests had already overladened the office-boys. He now handed +the valise--a sort of tender upon the baby--to a porter, and rather +grimly acknowledged Mrs. Wildmere's mingled thanks and feeble +protestations. + +"Please register for us," said Miss Wildmere, glancing carelessly yet +observantly around. An intervening group had partially hidden Madge +and her sister. It was also evident that Graydon was too much occupied +with his fair companion to look far away. He complied, thinking, +meantime, "Some day I may register for her again, and then my name +will suffice for us both." The smile which followed the thought +brought out the best lines of his handsome profile to poor Madge, who +permitted no phase of expression on that face to escape her scrutiny. +So true was the clairvoyance of her intense interest that she guessed +the thought which was so agreeable to him, and she grew paler still. + +Mr. Muir hastened to greet his wife, and then Graydon recognized her. +He came at once and kissed her in his accustomed hearty way. Madge +stood near, unnoted, unrecognized. + +"Where's Madge? Isn't she well enough to come down?" he asked, his +eyes following Miss Wildmere, who had entered the parlor, which +she must cross to reach her room beyond. Mrs. Muir began to laugh +immoderately, and Mr. Muir followed his brother's eyes with vexation. +Graydon was on the _qui vive_ instantly, and Madge drew a step nearer +and began to smile. For once the punctilious and elegant Graydon +forgot his courtesy, and looked at Madge in utter astonishment--an +expression, however, which passed swiftly into admiration and delight. + +"Madge!" he exclaimed, seizing both her hands. "I couldn't have +believed it. I wouldn't believe it now but for your eyes;" and before +she could prevent him he had placed a kiss upon her lips. + +Miss Wildmere had seen the unknown beauty as she passed, had +inventoried her with woman's instantaneous perception, had paused on +the distant threshold and seen the greeting, then had vanished with a +vindictive flash in her gray eyes. + +Graydon's impetuous words and salute had produced smiles and envious +glances, and the family party withdrew into a retired corner of the +apartment, Madge's cheeks, meanwhile, vying, in spite of herself, with +the rose on her breast. Graydon would not relinquish her hand, and, +as Mrs. Muir had predicted, indulged in little more than exclamation +points. + +"There now, be rational," cried the young girl, laughing, her heart +for the moment full of gladness and triumph. He was indeed bending +upon her looks of admiration, delight, and affection. + +"Why have I been kept in the dark about all this?" he at last asked, +incoherently. + +"For the same reason that we were. Madge meant to give us a surprise, +and succeeded. I couldn't get over it, and they were always laughing +at me, so I determined that I should have my laugh at you. Oh, wasn't +it rich? To think of the elegant and travelled society man standing +there staring with his eyes and mouth wide open!" + +"I don't think it was quite so bad as that, but if it was there's good +reason for it. Tell me, Madge, how this miracle was wrought!" + +"There, that's just what I called it," cried Mrs. Muir, "and it's +nothing less than one, in spite of all that Madge and Henry can say." + +"When you are ready for supper I will show you one phase of the +miracle," said Madge, laughing, with glad music in her voice. "Come, +I'm not an escaped member of a menagerie, and there's no occasion for +you to stare any longer." + +"Yes, come along," added Mr. Muir; "I've had no roast beef to-day and +a surfeit of sentiment." + +The young fellow colored slightly, but said brusquely: "Men's tastes +change with age. I suppose you did not find a little sentiment amiss +once upon a time. Well, Madge, you are not a bit of a ghost now, yet I +fear you are an illusion." + +"Illusions will vanish when you come to help me at supper. We will +wait for you on the piazza." + +As she paced its wide extent, her illusions also vanished. Graydon had +greeted, her as a brother, and a brother only. When the tumult at +her heart subsided, this truth stood out most clearly. His kiss still +tingled upon her lips. It must be the last, unless followed by a kiss +of love. Their brotherly and sisterly relations must be shattered at +once. No such relations existed for her, and only as she destroyed +such regard on his part could a tenderer affection take its place. +With her as his sister he would be content; he might not readily think +of her in another light, and meantime might drift swiftly into an +engagement with Miss Wildmere. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +OLD TIES BROKEN + + +"Madge," said Graydon, rejoining her on the piazza, and giving her +his arm, while Mrs. Muir sat down to wait for her husband, "you wear +a rose like the one you sent me when we parted so long ago. Oh, but my +heart was heavy then! Did you make this choice to-night by chance?" + +"You have a good memory." + +"You have not answered me." + +"I shall admit nothing that will increase your vanity." + +"You will now of necessity make my pride overweening." + +"How is that? I hope to have a better influence over you." + +"As I look at you I regard my pride as most pardonable and natural. My +old thoughts and hopes are realized beyond even imagination, although, +looking at your eyes, in old times, I always had a high ideal of your +capabilities. I should be a clod indeed if I were not proud of such a +sister to champion in society." + +Madge's hearty laugh was a little forced as she said, "You have a +delightfully cool way of taking things for granted. I'm no longer a +little sick girl, but, to vary Peggotty's exultant statement, a young +lady 'growed.' You forgot yourself, sir, in your greeting; but that +was pardonable in your paroxysm of surprise. + +"What, Madge! Will you not permit me to be your brother?" + +"What an absurd question!" she answered, still laughing. "You are +not my brother. Can I permit water to run up hill? You were like +a brother, though, when I was a sick child in the queer old +times--kinder than most brothers, I think. But, Graydon, I am grown +up. See, my head comes above your shoulder." + +"Well, you are changed." + +"For the better, in some respects, I hope you will find." + +"I don't at all like the change you suggest in our relations, and am +not sure I will submit to it. It seems absurd to me." + +"It will not seem so when you come to think of it," she replied, +gravely and gently. "You think of me still as little Madge; I am no +longer little Madge, even to myself. A woman's instincts are usually +right, Graydon." + +"Oh, thank you! I am glad I am still 'Graydon.' Why do you not call me +'Mr. Muir?'" + +"Because I am perfectly rational. Because I regard you as almost the +best friend I have." + +"Break up that confabulation," cried Mr. Muir to the young people, who +had paused and were confronting each other at the further end of the +piazza. "If you think Madge can explain herself in a moment or a week +you are mistaken. Come to supper." + +"My brother is right--you are indeed an enigma," he said, +discontentedly. + +"An enigma, am I?" she responded, smiling. "Please remember that most +of the world's enigmas were slowly found out because so simple." + +As they passed from the dusky piazza to the large, brilliantly lighted +supper-room, with nearly all its tables occupied, he was curious to +observe how she would meet the many critical eyes turned toward her. +Again he was puzzled as well as surprised. She walked at his side as +though the room were empty. There was no affectation of indifference, +no trace of embarrassed or of pleased self-consciousness. From the +friendly glances and smiles that she received it was also apparent +that she had already made acquaintances. She moved with the easy, +graceful step of perfect good breeding and assured confidence, and was +as self-possessed as himself. Was this the little ghost who had once +been afraid of her own shadow, which was scarcely less substantial +than herself? + +They had been seated but a moment when Miss Wildmere entered alone. To +Graydon this appeared pathetic. He did not know that her mother was +so worn out from the journey, and so embarrassed by unaided efforts to +get settled while still caring for her half-sick child, that she +had decided to make a slight and hasty repast in her own room. Miss +Wildmere cared little for what took place behind the scenes, but was +usually superb before the footlights. Nothing could have been more +charming or better calculated to win general good-will than her +advance down the long room. In external beauty she was more striking +at first than Madge. She did not in the least regret that she must +enter alone, for she was not proud of her mother, and nothing drew +attention from herself. She assumed, however, a slight and charming +trace of embarrassment and perplexity, which to Graydon was perfectly +irresistible, and he mentally resolved that she should not much longer +want a devoted escort. Madge saw his glance of sympathy and strong +admiration, his smile and low bow as she passed, ushered forward by +the obsequious headwaiter, and her heart sank. In spite of all she +had attempted and achieved, the old cynical assurance came back to +her--"You are nothing to Graydon, and never can be anything to him." +She was pale enough now, but her eyes burned with the resolution not +to yield until all hope was slain. She talked freely, and was most +friendly toward Graydon, but there was a slight constraint in his +manner. The beautiful and self-possessed girl who sat opposite him was +not little Madge whom it had been his pleasure to pet and humor. She +evidently no longer regarded herself as his sister, but rather as a +charming young woman abundantly able to take care of herself. She had +indeed changed marvellously in more respects than one, and he felt +aggrieved that he had been kept in ignorance of her progress. He +believed that she had grown away from him and the past, as well as +grown up, according to her declaration. He recalled her apparent +disinclination for correspondence, and now thought it due to +indifference, rather than an indolent shrinking from effort. The +surprise she had given him seemed a little thing--an act due possibly +to vanity--compared with the sisterly accounts she might have written +of her improvement. She had achieved the wonder without aid from him, +and so of course had not felt the need of his help in any way. In +remembrance of the past he felt that he had not deserved to be so +ignored. Her profession of friendship was all well enough--there could +scarcely be less than that--but the Madge he had looked forward to +meeting again as of old no longer existed. Oh, yes, she should have +admiration and exclamation points to her heart's content, but he had +come from his long exile hungry for something more and better +than young lady friends. He had long since had a surfeit of these +semi-Platonic affinities. The girl who apparently had been refusing +scores of men for his sake was more to his taste. His brother's +repugnance only irritated and incited him, and he thought, "I'll carry +out his business policy to the utmost, but away from the office I am +my own man." + +As these thoughts passed through his mind, they began to impart to his +manner a tinge of gallantry, the beginning of a departure from his old +fraternal and affectionate ways. He was too well-bred to show pique +openly, or to reveal a sense of injury during the first hours of +reunion, but he already felt absolved from being very attentive to +a girl who not only had proved so conclusively that she could manage +admirably for herself, but who also had been so indifferent that she +had not needed his sympathy in her efforts or thought it worth while +to gladden him with a knowledge of her progress. He had loved her as +a sister, and had given ample proof of this. He had maintained his +affection for the Madge that he remembered. "But I have been told," he +thought, bitterly, "that the young lady before me is a 'friend.' She +has been a rather distant friend, if the logic of events counts for +anything. Not satisfied with the thousands of miles that separated us, +she has also withheld her confidence in regard to changes that would +have interested even a casual acquaintance." + +Madge soon detected the changing expression of his eyes, the lessening +of simple, loving truth in his words, and while she was pained she +feared that all this and more would necessarily result from the +breaking up of their old relations. Her task was a difficult one +at best--perhaps it was impossible--nor had she set about it in +calculating policy. Their old relations could not be maintained on her +part. Even the touch of his hand had the mysterious power to send a +thrill to her very heart. Therefore she must surround herself at once +with the viewless yet impassable barriers which a woman can interpose +even by a glance. + +As they rose, Graydon remarked, "I have helped you at supper, and yet +one of my illusions has not vanished. The air at Santa Barbara must +have been very nourishing if your appetite was no better there +than here. Your strange 'sea-change' on that distant coast is still +marvellous to me." + +"Mary can tell you how ravenous I usually am. I do not meet friends +every day from whom I have been separated so long." + +"It is a very ordinary thing for me to meet 'friends,'" he replied, +_sotto voce_, "for I have many. I had hopes that I should meet one who +would be far more than a friend. I'm half inclined to go out to Santa +Barbara and see if my little sister Madge is not still there." + +"Do you think me a fraud?" + +"Oh, no, only so changed that I scarcely know how to get acquainted +with you." + +"Even if I granted so much, which I do not, I might suggest that +one must be uninteresting indeed if she inspires no desire for +acquaintance. But such talk is absurd between us, Graydon." + +"Of course it is. You are so changed for the better that I can +scarcely believe my eyes or ears, and my heart not at all. Of course +your wishes shall be my law, and my wishes will lead me to seek your +acquaintance with deep and undisguised interest. You see the trouble +with me is that I have not changed, and it will require a little time +for me to adapt myself to the new order of things. I am now somewhat +stunned and paralyzed. In this imbecile state I am both stupid +and selfish. I ought to congratulate you, and so I do with all the +shattered forces of my mind and reason. You have improved amazingly. +You are destined to become a belle _par excellence_, and probably are +one now--I know so little of what has occurred since we parted." + +"You are changed also, Graydon. You used to be kind in the old days;" +and she spoke sadly. + +"In some respects I am changed," he said, earnestly; "and my affection +for you is of such long standing and so deep that it prompts me to +make another protest." (They had strolled out upon the grounds and +were now alone.) "I have changed in this respect; I am no longer so +young as I was, and am losing my zest for general society. I was weary +of residence abroad, where I could have scarcely the semblance of +a home, and, while I had many acquaintances and friends, I had no +kindred. I'm sorry to say that the word 'friend,' in its reference +to young ladies, does not mean very much to me; or, rather, I have +learned from experience just what it does mean. A few years since I +was proud of my host of young lady friends, and some I thought would +continue to be such through life. Bah! They are nearly all married or +engaged; their lives have drifted completely away from mine, as it was +natural and inevitable that they should. We are good friends still, +but what does it amount to? I rarely think of them; they never of +me, I imagine. We exert no influence on each other's lives, and add +nothing to them. I never had a sister, but I had learned to love you +as if you were one, and when I heard that you were to be of our family +again, the resumption of our old relations was one of my dearest +expectations. It hurt me cruelly, Madge, when you laughed at the +idea as preposterous, and told me that I had forgotten myself when +following the most natural impulse of my heart. It seemed to me the +result of prudishness, rather than womanly delicacy, unless you have +changed in heart as greatly as in externals. You could be so much +to me as a sister. It is a relationship that I have always craved--a +sister not far removed from me in age; and such a tie, it appears to +me, might form the basis of a sympathy and confidence that would be +as frank as unselfish and helpful. That is what I looked forward to in +you, Madge. Why on earth can it not be?" + +She was painfully embarrassed, and was glad that his words were spoken +under the cover of night. She trembled, for his question probed deep. +How could she explain that what was so natural for him was impossible +for her? He mistook her hesitation for a sign of acquiescence, and +continued: "Wherein have I failed to act like a brother? During the +years we were together was I not reasonably kind and considerate? You +did not think of yourself then as one of my young lady friends. +Why should you now? I have not changed, and, as I have said, I have +returned hungry for kindred and the quieter pleasures of home. It is +time that I was considering the more serious questions of life, and of +course the supreme question with a man of my years is that of a home +of his own. I have never been able to think of such a home and not +associate you with it. I can invite my sister to it and make her a +part of it, but I cannot invite young lady friends. A sister can be +such a help to a fellow; and it seems to me that I could be of no +little aid to you. I know the world and the men you will meet in +society. Unless you seclude yourself, you will be as great a belle as +Miss Wildmere. You also have a fine property of your own. Will it be +nothing to have a brother at your side to whom you can speak frankly +of those who seek your favor? Come, Madge, be simple and rational. I +have not changed; my frank words and pleadings prove that I have +not. If we do not go back to the hotel brother and sister it will be +because you have changed;" and he attempted to put his arm around her +and draw her to him. + +She sprang aloof. "Well, then, I have changed," she said, in a low, +concentrated voice. "Think me a prude if you will. I know I am not. +You are unjust to me, for you give me, in effect, no alternative. +You say, 'Think of me as a brother; feel and act as if you were my +sister,' when I am not your sister. It's like declaring that there +is nothing in blood--that such relations are questions of choice and +will. I said in downright sincerity that I regarded you as almost the +best friend I had, and I have not so many friends that the word means +nothing to me. I do remember all your kindness in the past--when have +I forgotten it for an hour?--but that does not change the essential +instincts of my womanhood, and since we parted I've grown to +womanhood. You in one sense have not changed, and I still am in your +mind the invalid child you used to indulge and fondle. It is not just +to me now to ask that I act and feel as if there were a natural tie +between us. The fact ever remains that there is not. Why should I +deceive you by pretending to what is impossible? Nature is stronger +than even your wishes, Graydon, and cannot be ignored." + +She spoke hesitatingly, feeling her way across most difficult and +dangerous ground, but her decision was unmistakable, and he said, +quietly, "I am answered. See, we have wandered far from the house. Had +we not better return?" + +After a few moments of silence she asked, "Are you so rich in friends +that you have no place for me?" + +"Why, certainly, Madge," he replied, in cordial, offhand tones, "we +are friends. There's nothing else for us to be. I don't pretend to +understand your scruples. Even if a woman refused to be my wife I +should be none the less friendly, unless she had trifled with me. To +my man's reason a natural tie does not count for so much as the years +we spent together. I remember what you were to me then, and what I +seemed to you. I tried to keep up the old feeling by correspondence. +The West is a world of wonders, and you have come from it the greatest +wonder of all." + +"I hope I shall not prove to you a monstrosity, Graydon. I will try +not to be one if you will give me a chance." + +"Oh, no, indeed; you promise to be one of the most charming young +ladies I ever met." + +"I don't promise anything of the kind," she replied, with a laugh that +was chiefly the expression of her intense nervous tension. It jarred +upon his feelings, and confirmed him in the belief that their long +separation had broken up their old relations completely, and that she, +in the new career which her beauty opened before her, wished for no +embarrassing relations of any kind. + +"Well," he said, with an answering laugh, "I suppose I must take you +for what you are and propose to be--that is, if I ever find out." + +In a few moments more, after some light badinage, he left her with +Mr. and Mrs. Muir on the piazza, and went to claim his waltz with Miss +Wildmere. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"I FEAR I SHALL FAIL" + + +The band had been discoursing lively strains for some time, and Miss +Wildmere had at last dragged her mother down for a chaperon--the only +available one as yet. The anxious mother was eager to return to her +fretting child, and her daughter was much inclined to resent Graydon's +prolonged absence. "If it were politic, and I had other acquaintances, +I would punish him," she thought. It was a new experience for her to +sit in a corner of the parlor, apparently neglected, while others were +dancing. There were plenty who looked wistfully toward her; but +there was no one to introduce her, and Graydon's absence left the ice +unbroken. + +She ignored the inevitable isolation of a new-comer, however, and when +he appeared shook her finger at him as she said, "Here I am, constancy +itself, waiting to give you my first dance, as I promised." + +"I shall try to prove worthy," he said, earnestly. "You must remember, +in extenuation, that I have not seen the ladies of our family for a +long time." + +"You use the plural, and are Dot at all singular in your prolonged +absence with the charming Miss Alden. You certainly cannot look upon +her as an invalid any longer, however else you may regard her," she +added, with an arch look. + +"You shall now have my entire regard as long as you will permit it." + +"That will depend a little upon yourself. Mamma is tired, and I'm of +no account compared with that infant upstairs; therefore I can't keep +her as a chaperon this evening, and I will go to my room as soon as +you are tired of me." + +"Not till then?" + +"Not unless I go before." + +"At some time in the indefinite future, Mrs. Wildmere, you may hope to +see your daughter again." + +The poor lady smiled encouragingly and gratefully. She would be most +happy to have Graydon take the brilliant creature for better or worse +as soon as possible. She liked him, as did all women, for she saw that +he had a large, kindly nature. She now stole meekly away, while he +with his fair partner glided out upon the floor. All eyes followed +them, and even the veterans of society remarked that they had never +seen more graceful dancing. + +From her seat on the piazza Madge also watched the couple. The +struggle to which she had looked forward so long had indeed begun, and +most inauspiciously. Her rival had every advantage. The mood in which +Graydon had returned predisposed him to prompt action, while she had +lost her influence for the present by a course that seemed to him +so unnatural as to be prudish. Miss Wildmere's manner gave all the +encouragement that a man could wish for, and it was hard to view with +charity the smiling, triumphant belle. Madge suddenly became conscious +that Mr. Muir was observing her, and she remarked, quietly: "I never +saw better dancing than that. It's grace itself. Miss Wildmere waltzes +superbly." + +"Not better than you, Miss Alden," said Mr. Henderson, a young man who +prided himself on his skill in the accomplishment under consideration, +and with whom she had danced several times. "I've been looking for +you, in the hope that you would favor me this evening." + +She rose and passed with him through the open window. The waltz was +drawing to a close; the majority had grown weary and sat down; and +soon Madge and Miss Wildmere were the only ladies on the floor. +Opinion was divided, some declaring that the former was the more +graceful and lovely, while perhaps a larger number gave their verdict +for the latter. + +The strains ceased, and left the couples near each other. Graydon +immediately introduced Miss Wildmere. The girls bowed a little too +profoundly to indicate cordiality. Madge also presented Mr. Henderson, +hoping that he might become a partner for Miss Wildmere, and give +Graydon an opportunity to dance with her. He resolved to break the ice +at once so far as his relatives were concerned, and he conducted Miss +Wildmere to Mrs. Muir, and gave her a seat beside that lady. The girl +of his choice should have not only a gallant for the evening, but also +a chaperon. He was not one to enter on timid, half-way measures; and +he determined that his brother's prejudice should count for nothing +in this case. His preference was entitled to respect, and must be +respected. Of course the group chatted courteously, as well-bred +people do in public, but Miss Wildmere felt that the atmosphere was +chilly. She was much too politic to permit the slightest tinge of +coldness in her manner toward those with whom she meditated such close +relations should the barring "if" melt out of the way. + +The people were forming for the lancers, and Mr. Henderson asked Madge +to help make up a set. She complied without hesitation. Nor was she +unmindful of the fact that Graydon sat in a position which commanded a +view of the floor. He had seen her glide out in the waltz with a grace +second only to that of Miss Wildmere, even in his prejudiced eyes. Now +he again observed her curiously, and his disappointment and bitterness +at heart increased, even while she compelled his wondering admiration. +He saw that, though she lacked Miss Wildmere's conventional finish, +she had a natural grace of her own. He admitted that he had never seen +so perfect a physical embodiment of womanhood. She was slightly taller +than her rival in his thoughts, and her costume gave an impression of +additional height. Apparently she was in the best of spirits, laughing +often with her partner and an elderly gentleman who danced opposite +to her, and who was full of old-time flourishes and jollity. At last +Graydon thought, resentfully, "She is indeed changed. That's the style +of life she is looking forward to, and she wishes no embarrassment or +advice from me. That dancing-jack, Henderson, and others of his sort +are to be her 'friends' also, no doubt. Very well, I know how to +console myself;" and he turned his eyes resolutely to Miss Wildmere. + +In the galop that followed he naturally danced with his quondam +sister, and Mr. Henderson with Miss Wildmere. Graydon was the last +one to show feeling in public or do anything to cause remark. Now that +Madge possessed in her partner the same advantage that Miss Wildmere +had enjoyed, the admiring lookers-on were at a loss to decide which of +the two girls bore the palm; and Graydon acknowledged that the former +invalid's step had a lightness and an elasticity which he had never +known to be surpassed, and that she kept time with him as if his +volition were hers. She showed no sign of weariness, even after he +began to grow fatigued. As he danced he remembered how he had carried +"the little ghost" on his arm, then tossed her, breathless from +scarce an effort, on the lounge, whence she looked at him in laughing +affection. This strong, superb creature was indeed another and an +alien being, and needed no aid from him. Before he was conscious +of flagging in his step, she said, quietly, "You are growing tired, +Graydon. Suppose we return to the piazza." + +"Yes," he said, a trifle bitterly, "you are the stronger now. The +'little ghost' has vanished utterly." + +"A woman is better than a ghost," was her reply. + +He and Miss Wildmere strolled away down the same path on which Madge +had told him that she could not be his sister. Mr. Muir was tired, +and went to his room in no very amiable humor. Mrs. Muir waited for +Graydon's return, feeling that, although the office of chaperon had in +a sense been forced upon her, she could not depart without seeing Miss +Wildmere again. The young lady at last appeared, and, believing that +she had made all the points she cared for that night, did not tax Mrs. +Muir's patience beyond a few moments. While she lingered she looked +curiously at Madge, who was going through a Virginia reel as if she +fully shared in the decided and almost romping spirit with which it +was danced. She was uncertain whether or not she saw a possible +rival in Graydon's thoughts, but she knew well that she had found +a competitor for sovereignty in all social circles where they might +appear together. This fact in itself was sufficient to secure the +arrogant girl's ill-will and jealousy. A scarcely perceptible smile, +that boded no good for poor Madge, passed over her face, and then she +took a cordial leave of Graydon, and retired with Mrs. Muir. + +He remained at the window watching, with a satirical smile, the scene +within. People of almost every age, from elderly men and matrons down +to boys and girls, were participating in the old-fashioned dance. The +air was resonant with laughter and music. In the rollicking fun Madge +appeared to have found her element. No step was lighter or quicker +than hers, and merriment rippled away before her as if she were the +genius of mirth. Her dark eyes were singularly brilliant, and burned +as with a suppressed excitement. + +"She is bound to have her fling like the rest, I suppose," he +muttered; "and that romp is more to her than the offer of a brother's +love and help--an offer half forgotten already, no doubt. Yet she +puzzles one. She never was a weak girl mentally. She was always a +little odd, and now she is decidedly so. Well, I will let her gang her +ain gate, and I shall go mine." + +He little dreamed that she was seeking weariness, action that would +exhaust, and that the expression of her eyes, so far from being caused +by excitement, was produced by feelings deeper than he had ever known. +When the music ceased he sauntered up and told her that her sister had +retired. + +"I had better follow her example," she said. + +"Would you not like a brief stroll on the piazza? After exertions +that, in you, seem almost superhuman, you must be warm." + +"Why more superhuman in me than in others?" + +"Simply because of my old and preconceived notions." + +"I fear I am disappointing you in every respect. I had hoped to give +you pleasure." + +"Oh, well, Madge, I see we must let the past go and begin again." + +"Begin fairly, then, and not in prejudice." + +"Does it matter very much to you how I begin?" + +"I shall not answer such questions." + +"I am glad to see that you can enjoy yourself so thoroughly. You can +now look forward to a long career of happiness, Madge, since you can +obtain so much from a reel." + +"You do not know what I am looking forward to." + +"Why?" + +"Because you are not acquainted with me." + +"I thought I was at one time." + +"I became discontented with that time, and have tried to be +different." + +"And you must have succeeded beyond your wildest dreams." + +"Oh, no, I've only made a beginning. I should be conceit embodied if I +thought myself finished." + +"What is your supreme ambition, then?" + +"I am trying to be a woman, Graydon. There, I'm cool now. Good-night." + +"Very cool, Madge." + +He lighted a cigar and continued his walk, more perturbed than he +cared to admit even to himself. Indeed, he found that he was decidedly +annoyed, and there seemed no earthly reason why there should have been +any occasion for such vexation. Of course he was glad that Madge had +become strong and beautiful. This would have added a complete charm to +their old relations. Why must she also become a mystery, or, rather, +seek to appear one? Well, there was no necessity for solving the +mystery, granting its existence. "Possibly she would prefer a +flirtation to fraternal regard; possibly--Oh, confound it! I don't +know what to think, and don't much care. She is trying to become a +woman! Who can fathom some women's whims and fancies? She thinks her +immature ideas, imbibed in an out-of-the-way corner of the world, +the immutable laws of nature. Of one thing at least she is absolutely +certain--she can get on without me. I must be kept at too great a +distance to be officious." + +This point settled, his own course became clear. He would be courtesy +itself and mind his own business. + +"I fear I shall fail," murmured poor Madge, hiding her face in her +pillow, while suppressed sobs shook her frame. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE PROMPTINGS OF MISS WILDMERE'S HEART + + +Graydon slept very late the following morning. He found out that he +was tired, and resolved to indulge his craving for rest so far as +his suit to Miss Wildmere would permit. When he could do nothing to +promote his advantage he proposed to be indolence itself. He found +that his vexation had quite vanished, and, in cynical good-nature, he +was inclined to laugh at the state of affairs. "Let Madge indulge her +whims," he thought; "I may be the more free to pursue my purposes. Her +sister, of course, shares in Henry's prejudices against the Wildmeres, +and they would influence Madge adversely. All handsome girls are +jealous of each other, and, perhaps, if what I had so naturally hoped +and expected had proved true, I should have had more sisterly counsel +and opposition than would have been agreeable. Objections now would be +in poor taste, to say the least. If I'm not much mistaken I can speak +my mind to Stella Wildmere before many days pass; and, woman-nature +being such as it is, it may be just as well that I am not too intimate +with a sister who, after all, is not my sister. Stella might not see +it in the light that I should;" and so he came down at last, prepared +to adapt himself very philosophically to the new order of things. + +"The world moves and changes," he soliloquized, smilingly, "and we +must move on and change with it." + +He found Mr. and Mrs. Muir, with Madge and the children, ready for +church, and told them, laughingly, to "remember him if they did not +think him past praying for." During his breakfast he recalled the fact +that Madge was uncommonly well dressed. "She hasn't in externals," he +thought, "the provincial air that one might expect, although her +ideas are not only provincial, but prim, obtained, no doubt, from some +goody-good books that she has read in the remote region wherein she +has developed so remarkably. She has some stilted ideal of womanhood +which she is seeking to attain, and the more unnatural the ideal, the +more attractive, no doubt, it appears to her." + +It did not occur to him that he was explaining Madge on more theories +than one, and that they were not exactly harmonious. Having finished +his meal, he sought for Miss Wildmere, and soon found her in a shady +corner, reading a light, semi-philosophical work, thus distinguishing +and honoring the day in her choice of literature. He proposed to read +to her, but the book was soon forgotten in animated talk on his part. +She could skilfully play the role of a good listener when she chose, +and could, therefore, be a delightful companion. Her color came and +went under words and compliments that at times were rather ardent and +pronounced. He soon observed, however, that she led the way promptly +from delicate ground. This might result from maidenly reserve or from +the fact that she was not quite ready for decisive words. He still +believed that he had all needed encouragement--that the expression of +her eyes often answered his, and he knew well what his meant. When, +in response to his invitation, she promised to drive with him in the +afternoon, all seemed to be going as he wished. + +Graydon felt that during dinner and thereafter for a time he should be +devoted to his party, to preclude criticism on his course in the late +afternoon and in the evening, when he proposed to seek society which +promised more than theirs. He began to discover that, except as her +intelligence was larger, in one respect Madge had not changed from her +old self. She responded appreciatively to his thought and fancy, and +gave him back in kind with interest. She began to question him about +a place in Europe with which he was familiar, and showed such unusual +knowledge of the locality that he asked, "You haven't slipped over +there unknown to me, I trust?" + +"You might think of an easier explanation than that. You kindly sent +me books, some of which were rather realistic." + +"Did you read them all?" + +"Certainly. It would have been a poor return if I had not." + +"What an inordinate sense of duty you must have had!" + +"I did not read them from a sense of duty. You have perhaps forgotten +that I am fond of books." + +"Not all of the books were novels." + +"Many that were not proved the most interesting." + +"Oh, indeed; another evidence of change," he said, laughing. + +"And of sense, too, I think. Mr. Wayland, who is a student, had a +splendid library, and he gave me some ideas as to reading." + +"Can you part with any of them?" + +"That depends," she replied, with a manner as brusque as his own. + +"On what?" + +"The inducements and natural opportunities. I'm not going to recite a +lesson like a schoolgirl." + +"One would think you had been to school." + +"I have, where much is taught and learned thoroughly." + +"Now, that is enigmatical again." + +"The best of the books you sent me left some room for the +imagination." + +"Ha, ha, ha, Madge! you are scoring points right along. I told you, +Graydon, that you couldn't understand her in a moment or in a week." + +"I never regarded your imagination as rampant, Henry. Have you +fathomed all her mystery?" + +"Far from it; nor do I expect to, and yet you will grant to me some +degree of penetration." + +"Well, to think that I should have come home to find a sphinx instead +of little Madge!" + +"Thank you. A sphinx is usually portrayed with at least the head of a +woman." + +"In this case she has one that would inspire a Greek sculptor. Perhaps +in time I may discover a heart also." + +"That's doubtful." + +"Indeed." + +"Yes, indeed." + +"What far-fetched nonsense!" said Mrs. Muir, sententiously. "Madge has +come back one of the best and most sensible girls in the world. Men +and poets are always imagining that women are mysteries. The fact is, +they are as transparent as glass when they know their own minds; when +they don't, who else should know them?" + +"Who indeed?" said Graydon, laughing. "Your saving clause, Mary, is as +boundless as space." + +"How absurd! I understand Madge perfectly, and so does Henry." + +"You said last evening that the change in her was a miracle. Once in +the realm of the supernatural, what may not one expect?" + +"You knew what I meant. I referred to Madge's health and appearance +and accomplishments and all that. She has not changed in heart and +feeling any more than I have, and I'm sure I'm not a sphinx." + +"No, Mary; you are a sensible and excellent wife and my very dear +sister. You suggest no mystery. Madge certainly does, for you have, +in addition to all the rest, announced an indefinite list of +accomplishments." + +"If I remain the subject of conversation I shall complain that your +remarks are personal," said Madge, her brows contracting with a little +vexation. + +"That is what makes our talk so interesting. Personals are always read +first. In drawing Mary and Henry out, I am getting acquainted with +you." + +"It's not a good way. You like it merely because it teases me and +saves trouble. If you must gossip and surmise about me, wait till I'm +absent." + +"There, Madge, you know I'm nine-tenths in fun," said he, laughing. + +"That leaves a small margin for kindly interest in an old +acquaintance," was her reply as they rose from the table, and he saw +that her feelings were hurt. + +"Confound it!" he thought, with irritation, "it's all so uncalled-for +and unnatural! Nothing is as it used to be. Well, then, I'll talk +about books and matters as impersonal as if we were disembodied +spirits." + +They had scarcely seated themselves on the piazza before Miss Wildmere +came forward and introduced her mother. The young lady was determined +to prepare the way for a family party. Graydon had a confident, +opulent air, which led to the belief that her father's fears were +groundless, and that before many weeks should elapse the Muirs would +have to acknowledge her openly. It would save embarrassment if this +came about naturally and gradually, and she believed that she could be +so charming as to make them covet the alliance. Miss Alden might not +like it, and the more she disliked it the better. + +Mrs. Muir's thoughts were somewhat akin. "If Graydon will marry this +girl, it's wise that we should begin on good terms. This is a matter +that Henry can't control, and there's no use in our yielding to +prejudice." + +Therefore she was talkative, courteous, and rapidly softened toward +the people whom her husband found so distasteful. Graydon employed all +his skill and tact to make the conversation general and agreeable, but +the cloud did not wholly pass from Madge's brow. From the moment +of her first cold, curious stare, years since, Miss Wildmere had +antagonized every fibre of the young girl's soul and body, and she had +resolved never to be more than polite to her. She did not look forward +to future relationship, as was the case with Mrs. Muir, but rather +to entire separation, should Graydon become Miss Wildmere's accepted +suitor. Now, with the instinct of self-defence, she was more cordial +to her rival than to Graydon, until, at the solicitation of the +children, she stole away. Mr. Muir remarked that he was going to take +a nap, and soon followed her. + +Their departure was a relief to Graydon, for it rendered the carrying +out of his plan less embarrassing. In his eagerness to be alone with +the object of his hopes, he soon obtained a carriage, and with Miss +Wildmere drove away. Mrs. Muir and Mrs. Wildmere compared maternal and +domestic notes sometime longer, and then the former went to her room +quite reconciled to what now appeared inevitable. + +"I think you are prejudiced, Henry," she remarked to her husband, who +was tossing restlessly on the bed. + +"Least said soonest mended," was his only response, and then he +changed the subject. + +Graydon came back with the hope--nay, almost the certainty--of +happiness glowing in his eyes. He had spoken confidently of his +business plans and prospects, and had touched upon the weariness of +his exile and his longing for more satisfactory pleasures than those +of general society. His companion had listened with an attention and +interest that promised more than sympathy. The wild, rugged scenes +through which they had passed had made her delicate beauty more +exquisite from contrast. It was as if a rare tropical bird had +followed the wake of summer and graced for a time a region from which +it must fly with the first breath of autumn. In distinction from all +they saw and met she appeared so fragile, such a charming exotic, that +he felt an overpowering impulse to cherish and shelter her from +every rude thing in the world. With a nice blending of reserve and +complaisance she appeared to yield to his mood and yet to withhold +herself. To a man of Graydon's poise and knowledge of society such +skilful tactics served their purpose perfectly. They gave her an +additional charm in his eyes, and furnished another proof of the +fineness of her nature. She could not only feel, but manifest the +nicest shades of preference. If not fully satisfied as to her own +heart, what could be more refined and graceful than the slight +restraint she imposed upon him? and how fine the compliment she +paid him in acting on the belief that he was too well bred and +self-controlled to precipitate matters! + +"She has the tact and intuition to see," he thought, "that she can +show me all the regard she feels and yet incur no danger of premature +and incoherent words. She will one day yield with all the quiet grace +that she shows when rising to accept my invitation to waltz." + +Therefore, as he approached the hotel he was complacency itself until +he saw Mr. Arnault on the piazza, and then his face darkened with the +heaviest of frowns. + +"Why, what is the matter?" Miss Wildmere asked. + +"I had hoped that this perfect afternoon might be followed by a more +delightful evening, but from the manner in which that gentleman is +approaching you, it is evident that he expects to claim you." + +"Claim me? I do not think any one has that right just yet. Mr. Arnault +certainly has not." + +"Then I may still hope for your society this evening?" + +"Have I not permitted you to be with me nearly all day? You must be +more reasonable. Good-evening, Mr. Arnault. Did you drop from the +clouds?" + +"There are none, and were there I should forget them in this pleasure. +Mr. Muir, I congratulate you. We have both been on the road this +afternoon, but you have had the advantage of me." + +"And mean to keep it, confound you!" thought Graydon. "Ah, +good-evening, Mr. Arnault. You are right; I have found rough roads +preferable to smooth rails and a palace car." + +"How well you are looking, Miss Stella! but that's chronic with you. +This is perfectly heavenly" (looking directly into her eyes) "after +the heat of the city and my dusty journey." + +"You are a fine one to talk about things heavenly after fracturing the +Sabbath-day. What would have happened to you in Connecticut a hundred +years ago?" + +"I should have been ridden on one rail instead of two, probably. I'm +more concerned about what will happen to me to-day, and that depends +not on blue laws, but blue blood. I saw your father this morning, and +he intrusted me with a letter for you." + +Mr. Arnault manifested not a particle of jealousy or apprehension, and +Graydon felt himself shouldered out of the way by a courtesy to which +he could take no exception. He saw that only Miss Wildmere herself +could check his rival's resolute and easy assurance. This he now felt +sure she would do if it passed a certain point, and he went to his +room, annoyed merely, and without solicitude. "She must let the fellow +down easily, I suppose," he thought; "and after to-day I need have few +fears. If she had wanted _him_ she could have taken him long ago." + +Miss Wildmere also went to her room and read her father's letter. It +contained these few and significant words: "In speaking of possible +relations with Mr. M. I emphasized a small but important word--'if.' +I now commend it to you still more emphatically. You know I prefer +Mr. M. Therefore you will do well to heed my caution. Mr. M. may lose +everything within a brief time." + +Miss Wildmere frowned and bit her lip with vexation. Then her white +face took on hard, resolute lines. "I came near making a fool of +myself this afternoon," she muttered. "I was more than once tempted to +let Graydon speak. Heavens! I'd like to be engaged to him for awhile. +Mr. Arnault plays a bold, steady hand, but he's the kind of man that +might throw up the game if one put tricks on him. My original policy +is the best. I must pit one against the other in a fair and open suit +till I can take my choice. Now that it is clear that Graydon cares +little for that hideous thing he calls his sister, my plan is safe." + +"What a lovely color you have, Madge!" Graydon remarked, as they met +at supper. "You are unequalled in your choice of cosmetics." + +"Not to be surpassed, at any rate." + +"Where did you get it?" + +"Up at Grand View." + +"What, have you climbed that mountain?" + +"It's not much of a mountain." + +"It's a tremendous mountain," cried little Harry. "Aunt Madge's been +teaching us to climb, and she lifted us up and down the steep places +as if we were feathers, and she told us stories about the squirrels +and birds we saw up there. Oh, didn't we have a lovely time, Jennie?" + +"Now I understand," said Graydon. "The glow in your face comes from +the consciousness of good deeds." + +"It comes from exertion. Are you not making too much effort to be +satirical?" + +"Therefore my face should be suffused with the hue of shame. You see +I have changed also, and have become a cynic and a heathen from long +residence in Europe." + +"Please be a noble savage, then." + +"That's not the style of heathen they develop abroad." + +"Madge told us about the savages that used to live in these mountains, +and how bad they were treated," piped Jennie. + +"Poor Lo! No wonder he went to the bad," said Graydon, significantly. +"He was never recognized as a man and a brother." + +"And he was unsurpassed in retaliation," Madge added. + +"Considering his total depravity and general innocence, that was to be +expected." + +"It turned out to be bad policy." + +"In so far as he was a man he hadn't any policy." + +"I shall not depreciate the Indians for the sake of argument. They +rarely followed the wrong trail, however." + +"What on earth are you and Madge driving at?" exclaimed Mrs. Muir. + +"It matters little at what, but Madge appears to be the better +driver," chuckled Mr. Muir. + +"You have a stanch champion in Henry," said Graydon. + +"You wouldn't have him take sides against a woman?" + +"Oh, no, but you have become so abundantly able to take care of +yourself that he might remain neutral." + +"When you all begin to talk English again I'll join in, and now +merely remark that I am grateful to you, Madge, for taking care of the +children. Jack was good with the nurse, too, and I've had a splendid +nap." + +"I'm evidently the delinquent," laughed Graydon, "and have led the way +in a conversation that has been as bad as whispering in company. What +will become of me? You are not going to church to-night, Madge?" + +"I did not expect to. If your conscience needs soothing--" + +"Oh, no, no. My conscience has been seared with a hot iron--a cold +one, I mean. The effects are just the same." + +At the supper-room door they were met by Dr. Sommers, with a world of +comical trouble in his face, and he drew Madge aside. + +"What's a man to do?" he began. "Here's our choir-leader sick, and the +rest won't chirp without him. I can't sing any more than I can dance. +You can--sing, I mean--both, for that matter. I'd give the best +cast of a fly I ever had to take you out in a reel. Well, here's the +trouble. It's nearly meeting-time, and what's a meeting without music? +You can sing--I'm sure you can. I've heard you twice in the chapel. +Now, it isn't imposing on good-nature, is it, to ask you to come over +and start the tunes for us to-night? Come now, go with me. It will be a +great favor, and I'll get even with you before the summer is over." + +Madge hesitated a moment. She had hoped for a chat with Graydon that +evening, which might lead to a better understanding, and end their +tendency to rather thorny badinage. But she heard him chatting gayly +with Miss Wildmere and Mr. Arnault in the distance; therefore she +said, quietly, "It is time for me to get even with you first. To +refuse would not be nice after the lovely drive you took us the other +day." + +"Oh, you made that square as you went along. Well, now, this is +famous. What a meeting we'll have!" + +"You explain to Mrs. Muir, and I'll get my hat." + +"I'm in luck," the doctor began, joining the Muirs on the piazza. + +"Of course you are. You are always in luck," said Mrs. Muir. + +"Oh, no, oh, no. Draw it milder than that. I've fished many a bad day. +I'm in luck to-night. What do you think? You can't guess." + +"You and Madge had your heads together, and so something will happen. +Are you going to capture a mountain?" + +"Yes, a brace of 'em before long. Well, as good luck would have it, +our choir-leader is sick. I thought it was bad luck at first, and +meant to give him an awful dose for being so inopportune. It has +turned out famously. 'All-things work together for good,' you know. +That text required faith once when I had hooked a three-pound trout, +and in my eagerness tumbled in where the fish was. Oh, here you are, +Miss Alden. We'll go right along, for it's about time." + +"But you haven't explained," cried Mrs. Muir. + +"We will when we come back," said the doctor. + +"Oh, I'm merely going over to the chapel to help the doctor out with +the singing," said Madge, carelessly. "Good-by." + +"Well," remarked Mr. Muir, _sotto voce_, "if I were a young fellow, +there's a trail I'd follow, and not that will-o'-the-wisp yonder." + +"What did you say, Henry?" asked his wife. + +"It will be hot in town to-morrow, Mary. It's growing confoundedly hot +in Wall Street." + +"Nothing serious, Henry?" + +"It's always serious there." + +"Oh, well, you'll come out all right. It's a way you have." + +Mr. Muir looked grim and troubled, but the piazza was dusky. "She +can't help me," he thought, "and if she was worrying she might hinder +me. Things are no worse, and they may soon be better. If I had fifty +thousand for a month, though, the strain would be over. She'd be +nagging me to take a lot of her money, and I'd see Wall Street sunk +first. Well, well, Wildmere and I may land together in the same +ditch." + +For a few moments Graydon and Mr. Arnault sat on either side of the +broker's daughter, each seeking the advantage. The young lady enjoyed +the situation immensely, and for a time had the art to entertain +both. Arnault at last boldly and frankly took the initiative, saying, +"Please take a walk with me, Miss Wildmere. I have come all the way +from New York for the pleasure of an evening in your society. You will +excuse us, Mr. Muir. You have had to-day and will have to-morrow, for +I must take an early train." + +Miss Wildmere laughed, and said: "I must go with you surely, or you +will think you have made a bad 'put' in railroad tickets, as well +as shares, for you are like the rest, I suppose;" and with a smiling +glance backward at Graydon she disappeared. + +"You are mistaken," he said; "we foresaw this 'squeeze' in the market, +and have money to lend if the security is ample. We were never doing +better." + +"Poor papa!" she sighed, "his securities are lacking, I suppose. He +does not write very cheerfully." + +"His security is the best in the city, in my estimation. I'd take this +little hand in preference to government bonds." + +"Oh, don't lend papa anything on that basis, for you would surely +manage to claim the collateral, or whatever you call it in your Wall +Street jargon." + +"You are infinitely better off than the majority in these hard times." + +"How so?" + +"By one word you can make three rich, yourself included. Your father +only needs to be tided over a few months." + +"Come, come, Mr. Arnault, this is Sunday, and you must not talk +business." + +"My fault leans to virtue's side for once." + +"I'm not just sure to which side it leans," was her laughing reply. + +"Are you going to accept Muir?" + +"I'm not going to accept any one at present--certainly not Mr. Muir +before he asks me." + +"He will ask you." + +"Has he taken you into his confidence?" + +"Oh, he's as patent as a country borrower." + +"Mr. Arnault, we must change the subject; such questions and remarks +are not in good taste, to say the least. I appreciate your friendship, +but it does not give you the right to forget that I am a free girl, or +to ignore my assurance that I propose to remain free for the present." + +"That is all the assurance that I require just now," he answered. +"I have been a frank, devoted suitor, Stella. If you do not act +precipitately you will act wisely in the end. I shall not be guilty of +the folly of depreciating Muir--he's a good fellow in his way--but you +will soon be convinced that you cannot afford to marry him." + +"I think I can afford not to marry any one until my heart prompts me +to the act," she replied, with well-assumed dignity. Her swift thought +was, "He also knows that the Muirs are embarrassed. How is it that +Graydon speaks and acts in the assured confidence of continued wealth? +Is he deceiving me?" + +Mr. Arnault changed the subject, and none could do this with more +adroitness than he, or be a more entertaining gallant if he so chose. +At the same time he maintained a subtle observance, in spite of his +vaunted frankness, and he soon believed he had reason to hope that +Miss Wildmere had been influenced by his words. Almost imperceptibly +she permitted additional favor to come into her manner, and when she +said good-night and good-by also, in view of his early start for the +city, it was at the foot of the stairway, she casually remarking that +she would not come down again. + +"My brief visit has not been in vain," he thought. "I have delayed +matters, and that now means a great deal. She will marry the survivor +of this financial gale, and in every man's philosophy the survival +of the fittest is always the survival of the _ego_." + +[Illustration: "THERE NOW, BE RATIONAL," CRIED THE YOUNG GIRL] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED" + + +Graydon felt that it was scarcely possible to resent Mr. Arnault's +tactics or to blame Miss Wildmere. The former certainly had as good +a right to be a suitor as himself, and even to his prejudiced mind it +would have been ungracious in the lady had she not given some reward +for his rival's long journey. It was natural that Mr. Arnault, an old +friend of the Wildmeres, should sit at their table and receive the +consideration that he enjoyed. Graydon had little cause for complaint +or vexation, since his rival would depart in the morning, and, judging +from to-day, his own suit was approaching a successful termination. +The coast would be clear on the morrow, and he determined to make +the most of opportunities. He now even regretted that Madge and his +relatives were at the house, for in some degree they trammelled his +movements by a watchful attention, which he believed was not very +friendly. It would not be well to ignore them beyond a certain point, +for it was his wish to carry out his purposes with the least possible +friction. Madge's course had compelled a revision of his plans and +expectations, but his intimate relations with his brother in business +made harmony and peace very essential. He felt keenly, however, the +spur of Mr. Arnault's open and aggressive rivalry, and determined to +enter upon an equally vigorous campaign. + +Having reached this definite conclusion, he joined Mr. and Mrs. Muir +on the piazza, and after some desultory talk asked, "Where is Madge?" + +Mrs. Muir explained, adding, "I think you might go over to the chapel +and accompany her home." + +"I'll be there by the time service is over," he replied. + +There was sacred music in the hotel parlor, but it seemed to him +neither very sacred nor very attractive. Then he strolled toward the +chapel. As the service was not over, he stood and watched the great +moonlit mountains, with their light and shade. The scene and hour +fostered the feelings to which he had given himself up. In revery he +went over the hours he had spent with Miss Wildmere since his return, +and hope grew strong. In view of it all--and vividly his memory +retained everything, even to the droop of her eyelids or the tone in +which some ordinary words had been spoken--there could scarcely be a +doubtful conclusion. Thoughts of him had kept her free, and now that +they had met again she was seeking to discover if her old impressions +had been true, and in their confirmation was surely yielding to his +suit. + +He started. Through the open windows of the adjacent chapel came the +opening notes of a hymn, sung with a sweetness and power that in the +still summer night seemed almost divine. Then other voices joined, and +partially obscured the melody; but above all floated a voice that to +his trained ear had some of the rarest qualities of music. + +"That's Madge," he muttered, and strode rapidly to the door. Again, +in the second stanza, the rich, pure voice thrilled his every nerve, +gaining rather than losing in its effect by his approach. + +Unconsciously the poor girl had yielded to the old habit of +self-expression in music. Her heart had been heavy, and now was sad +indeed. Earthly hope had been growing dim, but the words of faith she +had heard had not been without sustaining influence. With the deep +longing of her woman's nature for love--divine love, if earthly love +must be denied--her voice in its pathos was unconsciously an appeal, +full of entreaty. She half forgot her surroundings; they were nothing +in her present mood. The little audience of strangers gave a sense of +solitude. + +The quaint old tune was rich in plaintive harmony. It had survived +the winnowing process of time, and had endeared itself to the +popular heart because expressive of the heart's unrest and desire for +something unpossessed. Along this old, well-worn musical channel Madge +poured the full tide of her feeling, which had both the solemnity and +the pathos inseparable from all deep and sacred emotion. Graydon was +now sure that he must dismiss one of his impressions of Madge, and +finally. No one could sing like that and be trivial at heart. "I don't +understand her," he muttered, gloomily, "but I appreciate one thing. +She has withheld from me her confidence, she does not wish to keep +her old place in my affection, and has deposed herself from it. +She appears to be under the influence of a brood of sentimental +aspirations. I shall remain my old self, nor shall I gratify her by +admiring wonder. The one thing that would make life a burden to me is +an intense, aesthetical, rapturously devotional woman, with her mental +eye fixed on a vague ideal. In such society I should feel much like a +man compelled to walk on stilts all the time. The idea of going back +to the hotel, smoking a cigar, and talking of the ordinary affairs of +life, after such music as that!" + +"It was very kind of you to come over for me," said Madge, as she came +out. "Thank you, doctor; no, there is no need of your going back with +me. Good-night." + +"Thanks to you, Miss Alden, thanks, thanks. The sermon was good, but +that last hymn rounded up Sunday for me. I was going up to the house, +but I'll go home and keep that music in my ears. If they had known, +they wouldn't have spared you from the hotel music to-night." + +"Please say nothing about it--that is all I ask," she said, as she +took Graydon's arm. + +"Yes, Madge," he began, quietly, "you sung well. You had the rudiments +of a fine voice years ago. In gaining strength you have also won the +power to sing." + +"Yes," she said, simply. + +"Do you sing much?" + +"I do not wish to sing at all in the hotel. I did not study music in +order to be conspicuous." + +"Have you studied it very carefully?" + +"Please leave out the word 'very.' I studied it as a young girl +studies, not scientifically. I had a good master, and he did his +best for me. Poor Herr Brachmann! he was sorry to have me come away. +Perhaps in time I can make progress that will satisfy him better. I +could see that he was often dissatisfied." + +"You don't mean to suggest that you are going back to Santa Barbara?" + +"Why not?" + +"True enough, 'why not?' It was a foolish question. You doubtless have +strong attachments there." + +"I have, indeed." + +"And it's natural to go where our attachments are strongest." + +"Yes; you have proved that to-day." + +"You evidently share in my brother's disapproval. Mary would soon +become quite reconciled." + +"I? I have no right to feel either approval or disapproval, while you +have an undoubted right to please yourself." + +"Indeed! are you so indifferent? If you think Miss Wildmere +objectionable you should disapprove." + +"If you find her altogether charming, if she realizes your ideal, is +not that sufficient? Everything is very much what it seems to us. If +I as a girl would please myself, you, surely, as a man have a right to +do so." + +"Do you propose to please yourself?" + +"Indeed I do." + +"You will be disappointed. You have formed a passion for ideals. I +imagine, though, that you are somewhat different from other girls +whose future husbands must be ideal men, but who are content +themselves to remain very much what their milliners, dressmakers, and +fashion make them." + +"I can at least say that I am not content; and I am also guilty of the +enormity of cherishing ideals." + +"Oh, I've found that out, if nothing else. Ideals among men are as +thick as blackberries, you know. Jack Henderson dances superbly." + +"Yes; he quite meets my ideal in that respect." + +"Perhaps you left some one in Santa Barbara who meets your ideal in +all respects?" + +"There was one gentleman there who approached it nearly." + +"How could you leave him?" + +"He came on with me--Mr. Wayland." + +"Pshaw! He's old enough to be your father." + +"And very like a father he was to me. I owe him an immense deal, for +he helped me so much!" + +"You did not let me help you?" + +"Yes; I did. I wrote to you for books, and read all you sent me; some +parts of them several times." + +"You know that is not what I meant. I am learning to understand you +somewhat, Madge. I hope you may realize all your ideals, and find some +young fellow who is the embodiment of the higher life, aspirations, +and all that, you know." + +Her laugh rang out musically. Mrs. Muir heard it, and remarked to her +husband: "Madge and Graydon are getting on better. They have seemed to +me to clash a little to-day." + +Mr. Muir made no reply, and Graydon, as he mounted the steps, +whispered, hurriedly, "What you said about Miss Wildmere was at least +just and fair. I wish you liked her, and would influence Henry to like +her, for I see that you have influence with him." + +She made no response by word or sign. + +The ladies soon retired, and Graydon waited in vain for another +interview with Miss Wildmere. While he was looking for her on the +piazza she passed in and disappeared. He at last discovered Mr. +Arnault, who was smoking and making some memoranda, and, turning on +his heel, he strode away. "She might have said good-night, at least," +he thought, discontentedly, "and that fellow Arnault did not look like +a man who had received his _conge."_ + +That this gentleman did not regard himself as out of the race was +proved by his tactics the next morning. Before reaching the city he +joined Mr. Muir in the smoking section of a parlor car, and easily +directed their talk to the peculiar condition of business. Mr. Muir +knew little in favor of his companion, and not much against him, but +devoutly hoped that he would be the winning man in the contest +for Miss Wildmere. He also knew that the firm to which Mr. Arnault +belonged had held their heads well up in the fluctuations of the +street. Both gentlemen deplored the present state of affairs, and +hoped that there might soon be more confidence. "By the way, Mr. +Muir," Mr. Arnault remarked, casually, "if you need accommodation we +have some money lying idle for a short time, which we would like +to put out as a call loan, and would be glad to place it in good +conservative hands, like yours." + +"Thank you," said Mr. Muir, with some cordiality. + +He went to his office and looked matters over carefully. He was +convinced that a crisis was approaching. More money was required +immediately, since the securities in which he had invested had +declined still further. He had not lost his faith in them at all, +knowing that they had a solid basis, and would be among the first to +rise in value with returning confidence. He had gone so far and held +on so long that it was a terrible thing to give up now. Comparatively +little money would probably carry him over to perfect safety, but his +means were tied up, the banks stringent, and he had already strained +his credit somewhat. Mr. Arnault's proffer occurred to him again, and +at last, much as he disliked the expedient, he called upon the broker, +who was affable, off-hand, and business-like. + +"Yes, Mr. Muir," he said, "I can let you have thirty thousand just as +well as not; as the times are, I would like some security, however." + +"Certainly, here are bonds marketable to-day, although depressed +unnaturally. You are aware that they will be among the first to +appreciate." + +"In ordinary times one would think so." + +"How soon do you think you may call in this loan?" + +"Well, the probabilities are, that you may keep it as long as you +wish, at the rates named. They are stiff, I know, but not above the +market." + +Mr. Muir had thought it over. If he failed he was satisfied that his +assets would eventually make good every dollar he owed, with interest, +while, on the other hand, even the small sum named promised to +preserve his fortune and add very largely to his wealth. The +transaction was soon completed. + +Mr. Arnault was equally satisfied that he also took but slight risk. +The loan, however, was made from his own means, and was not wholly a +business affair. He had made up his mind to win Stella Wildmere, +and would not swerve from the purpose unless she engaged herself +to another. Then, even though she might be willing to break the tie +through stress of circumstances, he would stand aloof. There was only +one thing greater than his persistency--his pride. She was the belle +who, in his set, had been admired most generally, and his god was +success--success in everything on which he placed his heart, or, +rather, mind. For her to become engaged to Graydon, and then, because +of his poverty, to be willing to renounce him for a more fortunate +man, would not answer at all. He must appear to the world to have +won her in fair competition with all others, and the girl had an +instinctive knowledge of this fact. The events of the previous day, +with her father's note, therefore confirmed her purpose to keep both +men in abeyance until the scale should turn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MISS WILDMERE'S STRATEGY + + +As we have seen, Madge could not resume her old relations with Graydon +Muir. Indeed, the turning-point in her life had been the impulse and +decision to escape them by going away. She was also right in thinking +that this inability would rather help than hinder her cause. If he +had come back and realized his expectations, he would have bestowed +unstintedly the placid affection of a brother, given her his +confidence, his aid, anything she wished, except his thoughts. While +she lost much else, she retained these in a way that puzzled and even +provoked him, in view of his devotion to Miss Wildmere. The very fact +that he resented the way in which he had been treated by Madge made +him think of her, although admitting to himself that it might all turn +out for the best. He would have soon accepted changes in externals, +and her added accomplishments, but there were other and more subtle +changes which he could not grasp. It began to pique him that he had +already been forced to abandon more than one impression in regard to +her character. It was somewhat humiliating that he, who had seen the +world, especially in its social aspects, should be perplexed by a +young girl scarcely twenty, and that this girl of all others should +be little Madge. He had intimated that she had become imbued with +sentimentality and aspirations after ideals, and was hoping to meet +a male embodiment of these traits, which he regarded as prominently +lackadaisical. Her merry and half ironical laugh was not the natural +response of a woman of the intense and aesthetic type. + +"I don't understand her yet," he admitted; and he again assured +himself that it was not necessary that he should. She had not merely +drifted away from him, but had deliberately chosen that others should +guide and help in the new development. The thing for him to do now was +to secure the girl of his heart, who was not shrouded in mystery. It +was evident that Mr. Arnault had been an urgent suitor, and that she +was not already engaged to him proved, as he believed, that she had +been under the influence of a restraint readily explained by her more +than manner toward himself. "She will have to choose between us soon," +he thought. "She understands us both, and her heart will soon give its +final verdict, if it has not already done so." + +Miss Wildmere's heart would have slight voice in the verdict. Indeed, +it never had been permitted to say very much, and was approaching the +condition of a mute. She had her preference, however, and still hoped +to be able to follow it. She smiled upon Graydon almost as sweetly +as ever during the next two days, but he felt that she had grown +more elusive. She lured him on unmistakably, but permitted no +near approach. With consummate art, she increased the spell of her +fascinations, and added to the glamour which dazzled him. He might +look his admiration, and, more, he might compliment indefinitely; +but when he spoke too plainly, or sought stronger indications of her +regard, she was on the wing instantly, and he was too fine in his +perceptions to push matters against her will. One thing appeared +hopeful to him--she seemed possessed by a carefully veiled jealousy +of Madge. In his downright earnestness, he determined to give her no +cause for this, and treated Madge much as he did Mrs. Muir, allowing +for difference in age and relation. He determined that Miss Wildmere +should discover no ambiguity in his course or intentions. If thoughts +of him had kept her waiting through years, he would justify those +thoughts by all the means in his power. Casting about with a lover's +ingenuity for an explanation of her tantalizing allurement, yet +elusiveness, it occurred to him that she was unwilling to yield +readily and easily, from very fear that he might surmise the cause of +her freedom--that she had given him her love before it had been asked. +Therefore, it was not impossible that she now proposed for him a +somewhat thorny probation as an open suitor. She would not appear to +be easily won, and perhaps she thought that, since this was to be the +last wooing she could enjoy, she would make the most of it. He also +resolved to make the most of this phase of life, and to enjoy to the +utmost all of her shy witchery, her airy, hovering nearness to the +thought uppermost in his mind, as if she were both fascinated by it +and afraid. He little dreamed that her feminine grace and _finesse_ +were but the practical carrying out of her father's suggestion, to +"keep him well in hand." + +Madge felt herself neglected and partially forgotten. She saw that +Miss Wildmere's spell grew stronger upon Graydon every day. It was +not in her nature to seek to attract his attention or in the slightest +degree to enter the lists openly against her rival. During the first +three days of the week, her chief effort was to be so active and +cheerful that her deep despondency should be hidden from all. She was +the life of every little group of which she formed a part. Wherever +she appeared, mirth and laughter soon followed. The young girls in the +house began to acknowledge her as a natural leader, the boyish young +fellows to adore her, and the maturer men to discover that she could +hold her own with them in conversation, while another class learned, +to their chagrin, that she would not flirt. For every walking +expedition started she was ready with her alpenstock, and the experts +in the bowling alley found a strong, supple competitor, with eye and +hand equally true. Graydon, as far as his preoccupation permitted, +saw all this with renewed perplexity. She now appeared to him as +a beautiful, vigorous girl, with healthful instincts and a large +appetite for enjoyment. + +Wednesday morning was cool and cloudy, and a large party was forming +to climb to Spy Rock. Graydon was longing for more activity, and since +the day was so propitious, Miss Wildmere consented to go. Of course +Madge was in readiness, and in charming costume for a walk. The moment +they were on the steep path he had to admit that she appeared the +superior of Miss Wildmere. The one owed her bloom to artificial and +metropolitan life; the other had gone to nature, and now acted as +if her foot were on her native heath. Her step was light, yet never +uncertain. Her progress was easy, and, although different, was quite +as graceful as if she were promenading the piazza, proving that she +was an adept in mountain-climbing. It was evident, however, that +to Miss Wildmere a mountain was a _terra incognita_. She trod +uncertainly, her feet turned on loose stones that hurt her, and before +the first steep ascent was passed, she panted and was glad to sit down +with others, more or less exhausted. + +Madge's breathing was only slightly quickened, and color was beginning +to come in her usually pale face, yet she had lent a helping hand more +than once. + +"How easily you climb, Miss Alden!" gasped Miss Wildmere. "Have you +taken lessons?" + +"Yes," she replied, smiling sweetly, "and from a master." + +Miss Wildmere also was beginning to discover a problem in Madge; she +could not patronize, snub, or apparently touch her with shafts of +satire. The young girl treated her with cordial indifference, as +one-of the guests of the house. She appeared to be capable of enjoying +herself thoroughly, with scarcely a consciousness of the belle's +existence, unless, as in the present case, she was addressed. Then she +would reply with perfect courtesy, but in some such ambiguous way. It +soon became evident to Graydon that the two girls were hostile, and +this both amused and vexed him. He was beginning to learn that Madge +was the more skilful opponent. She was never aggressive, yet seemed +clad in polished armor when attacked, and her quick replies flashed +back under the light of her smile. By acting, however, as if Miss +Wildmere were never in her thoughts, except when in some way obtruded +upon them, she gave the keenest wound. The flattered girl enjoyed +being envied, hated, and even detested by her own sex, but to be +politely ignored was a new and unwelcome experience, and she chafed +under it, not so secretly but that Graydon observed her annoyance. + +After a rest they started on again, he with Miss Wildmere falling to +the rear. Before Madge passed around a curve in the path she saw a +lily on a bank above her, and with the aid of her alpenstock sprang +upon the mossy shelf, plucked the flower, and leaped down with an +effort so quick and agile that it seemed like the impulse of a bird +to get something and pass on. She put the flower in her belt, and a +moment later was hidden from view. + +"I hope you observed that feat," Miss Wildmere remarked. "Indeed, Miss +Alden appears inclined to call attention to her feet this morning." + +"I hope the ladies will observe them," he replied; "the gentlemen +will, for they are pretty. Did you not note that her boots are adapted +to walking? You could climb with twice the ease if your heels were not +so high. For mountain scrambling a lady needs short skirts, and boots +like those that Miss Alden wears. You should see the English girls +walking in the Alps. It's my good-fortune, however, that you are +partially disabled this morning. Here's a steep place. Take my arm and +put all the weight upon it you can--the more the better. Lean on me as +if you trusted me." + +There was a slight frown on her brow, as he began his speech, but it +soon passed, and she said, softly, as she still lingered, "Well, I'm +not an athlete. I should value more a man's strong arm than strength +of my own." + +"You know that the arm of one man is ever at your service." + +"'Ever' implies more patience than any man possesses." + +"I should think so; yet you will find me reasonably patient." + +"Everything is a matter of reason with men." + +"Our reason assures us that certain things are a matter of the heart +with women. Therefore we hope." + +"Men are much too exacting. They reason a thing out and make up their +minds. If they base any hopes on women's hearts, they should remember +what unreasoning organs they are--full of hesitations, doubts, absurd +fears, and more absurd confidence at times. Have you ever seen a bird +hovering in the air, not knowing where to alight? Give it time, and +it makes its selection and swiftly follows its choice. No good +hunter rushes at it in the hope of capturing it during the moment of +indecision." + +"Indeed, Miss Wildmere, if I understand your little parable, I think +Mr. Arnault errs egregiously, yet he does not frighten the bird into a +very distant flight." + +"You do not know how distant it is." + +"No; I only see that he goes straight for the bird the moment he sees +her." + +"He might have found a more considerate policy wiser." Then she added, +gravely, with a little reproach in her voice: "Mr. Arnault is an old +friend and a friend of papa's, whom he often favors in business. I +think my manner toward you should prove that I am not inclined to be +disloyal toward old friends. You have just defended Miss Alden against +a little feminine spite on my part. That was nice. In the same way +I defend Mr. Arnault, whom, for reasons equally absurd, you do not +altogether like. I'm only a woman, you know, and a little spite is one +of our prerogatives. After all, it doesn't amount to anything. I would +do as much for Miss Alden as for any one in the house." (Quite true, +which was nothing.) "You know how girls are." + +"Certainly, especially when both are reigning belles." + +"The men are always the rulers sooner or later; and I shall give +my allegiance to those gentlemen friends who are the least like +myself--tolerant, patient, you know. Mr. Arnault is coming to-night to +spend the Fourth. I must give him more or less of my time--I should be +ungrateful if I did not--but I don't wish you to feel toward me or him +as I should toward you and Miss Alden if I saw that you were together +a great deal. How you see how frank I am, and what a compliment I pay +to your masculine superiority." + +"Miss Wildmere, I think I understand you; I hope I do. Your manner of +greeting me on my return from long absence proved that you were not +disloyal to one old friend. If you could keep me in mind for years, I +can hope I am not forgotten during the hours when others have claims +upon you. I have ever kept you in mind, and I might say more. If women +have a little natural spite, men in some situations are endowed with +enormous selfishness, and the bump of appropriation grows almost into +a deformity." + +"I never expect to see deformities of any kind in Graydon Muir," she +said, laughing. "Now that we understand each other so well, give me +your hand and pull me up this steep place before which we have stood +so long, while getting over another little steep place that lay in our +path. I'm glad the others have all gone on, for now you can help me +all you choose, and I shan't care." + +He did help her, with a touch and freedom that grew into something +like caresses. He felt that he had revealed himself almost as +completely as if he had spoken his love, and that he had received and +was receiving more than encouragement. She did not rebuke his manner, +which was that of a lover. There was no committal in that, nothing +that could bind her. She permitted the avowal of his hope, that he +had been in her thoughts during his long absence, and the natural +inference that her hand was still free because of his hold upon her +heart. This belief filled him with gratitude, and inspired him, as she +intended it should, with generous thoughts and impulses toward her. +What if she did prefer to maintain a little longer the delicate half +reserve that precedes a positive engagement? It only insured that the +cup of happiness should be sipped and enjoyed more leisurely. She had +seen too much of life, and enjoyed too many of its pleasures, to act +with precipitation now. She understood him, and yet loved him well +enough to be jealous of one whom she believed that he regarded as a +sister. With amusement he thought: "She is not even that to me now. +Hanged if I know what she is to me beyond a pretty, vexatious puzzle!" + +Miss Wildmere's strategy had accomplished one thing, however. +Believing that he was absolved by Madge's course from everything +beyond cordial politeness, he had resolved to carry out her rival's +wishes. It was no great cross to forego Madge's society, and if Miss +Wildmere saw that he was not consoling himself during the hours she +spent with Arnault, she would shorten them in his behalf. + +After reaching a certain point he suggested: "Instead of scaling +that rocky height after the rest of the party, suppose we follow this +grassy wood-road to parts unknown. It will be easier for you than +climbing, and you are better society than a crowd." + +She assented smilingly, and Madge did not see Graydon again until they +met at dinner. + +She was pale, and looked weary. "Oh," she thought, "perhaps my hopes +are already vain! They have been alone all the morning. He may have +spoken; he looks so happy and content that he must have spoken and +received the answer he craved. If so, I shall soon join the Waylands +in my native village, for I can't keep up much longer without a little +hope." + +"You are tired, Madge," he said, not unkindly. + +"A little," she replied, carelessly. "A short nap this afternoon will +insure my being ready for the hop to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PERPLEXED AND BEGUILED + + +Madge was so discouraged that she contented herself with a manner of +listless apathy during dinner, and then retired to her room. Graydon +was giving her so little thought that there was slight occasion for +disguise, and less incentive for effort to interest him. + +"The struggle promises to be short and decisive," she moaned. "Perhaps +it has been already decided. I had no chance after all. He came here +fully committed in his own thoughts to Miss Wildmere. I have merely +lost my old place in his affection, and have had and shall have no +opportunity to win his love. If this is to be my fate it is well to +discover it so speedily, and not after weeks of torturing hope +and fear. I'll learn the truth with absolute certainty as soon as +possible, and then find a pretext to join the Waylands." + +At last the fatigue of the morning brought the respite of sleep, and +when she waked she found late evening shadows in her room, and learned +that Mr. Muir had arrived, it being his purpose to spend the Fourth +and the remainder of the week with his family. + +Weariness and despondency are near akin, and in banishing one Madge +found herself better able to cope with the other. At any rate, she +determined to show no weakness. If Graydon would never love her he +should at least be compelled to respect and admire her, and he should +never have cause to surmise the heart-poverty to which she was doomed. +Still less would she give her proud rival a chance to wound her again. +Miss Wildmere might make Graydon's devotion as ostentatious as she +pleased, but should never again detect on Madge's face a look of +pained surprise and solicitude. + +She made a careful toilet for the evening, telling Mr. Muir and her +sister not to wait for her, as she had overslept herself. + +"Where is Madge?" Graydon asked, at the supper-table. + +"She did not wake up in time to come down with us," Mrs. Muir replied. +"What does it matter? Miss Wildmere so fills your eyes that you see no +one else. When is it to be, Graydon?" + +"Madge evidently sees quite as much of me as she cares to," he +replied, somewhat irritably. "I have not asked when it's to be or +whether it's to be at all. I suppose," he added, satirically, "that in +consideration of my extreme youth I should obtain permission from my +family before venturing to ask anything." + +"That remark is absurd and uncalled for," Mr. Muir replied, gravely. +"Of course you will please yourself, as I did, and we shall make the +best of it. But you have no right to expect that we shall see the lady +with your eyes. I cannot help seeing her as she is. I do not like her, +but if you choose to marry her, rest assured I shall give neither of +you cause for complaint. Now, according to my custom, I've had my say. +You could not expect me, as your brother, to be indifferent; still +less could I pretend an approval that I don't feel; but I recognize +that you are as free as I was when Mary's suitor, and I do not think +you can reasonably ask more. Our relations are too intimate for +misunderstanding. You know that, in my present plans and hopes, I +looked forward to receiving you as a partner at no distant time, if +such purposes are carried out our interests must always be identical." + +"Pardon me, Henry," said Graydon, warmly, "and do not misunderstand my +hasty words. I know you have my best welfare at heart--you have ever +proved that--but you misjudge my choice. Even Mary begins to see that +you do, and woman's insight is keener than man's. You attribute to the +daughter the qualities you dislike in the father. Is it nothing that +she has waited for me during my long absence, when she could pick and +choose from so many?" + +"I'm not sure she has been waiting for you; her manner toward Mr. +Arnault yonder suggests that she may still pick and choose." + +"Bah! I'm not afraid of him. She could have taken him long since had +she so wished." + +Others who had seats at the table now approached, and prevented +further interchange of words on so delicate a subject. Nevertheless +Mr. Muir's arrow had not flown wide of the mark, and Graydon thought +that Miss Wildmere was unnecessarily cordial toward his rival, and +that Mr. Wildmere, who had also come from the city, was decidedly +complacent over the fact. + +Graydon's furtive observation was now cut short by the entrance of +Madge, and even he was dazzled by a beauty that attracted many eyes. +It was not merely a lovely woman who was advancing toward him, but a +woman whose nature was profoundly excited. What though she moved in +quiet, well-bred grace, and greeted Mr. Muir with natural cordiality? +The aroused spiritual element was not wanting in the expression of her +face or in the dignity of her carriage. Her deep, suppressed feeling, +which bordered on despair; her womanly pride, which would disguise +all suffering at every cost, gave to her presence a subtle power, felt +none the less because intangible. It was evident that she neither +saw nor cared for the strangers who were looking their curiosity and +admiration; and Graydon understood her barely well enough to think, +"Something, whatever it may be, makes her unlike other girls. She was +languidly indifferent at dinner; now she is superbly indifferent. This +morning and yesterday she was a gay young girl, eager for a mountain +scramble or a frolic of any kind. How many more phases will she +exhibit before the week is over?" + +Poor Madge could not have answered that question herself. She was +under the control of one of the chief inspirations of feeling and +action. Moods of which she had never dreamed would become inevitable; +thoughts which nothing external could suggest would arise in her own +heart and determine her manner. + +In ceasing to hope one also ceases to fear, and Graydon admitted to +himself that he had never before felt the change in Madge so deeply. +The weak, timid little girl he had once known now looked as if she +could quietly face anything. The crowded room, the stare of strangers, +were simply as if they were not; the approach of a thunder-gust in the +sultry evening was unheeded; when a loud peal drowned her voice, she +simply waited till she could be heard again, and then went on without +a tremor in her tones, while all around her people were nervous, +starting, and exclaiming. There was not the faintest suggestion of +high tragedy in her manner. To a casual observer it was merely the +somewhat proud and cold reserve of a lady in a public place, while +under the eyes of a strange and miscellaneous assemblage. Graydon +imagined that it might veil some resentment because he had been +so remiss in his attentions. He could scarcely maintain this view, +however, for she was as cordial to him as to any one, while at the +same time giving the impression that he was scarcely in her thoughts +at all. + +Mr. Muir was perplexed also, and watched her with furtive admiration. +"If she cares for Graydon's neglect she's a superb actress," he +thought. "Great Scott! what an idiot he is, that he cannot see the +difference between this grand woman and yonder white-faced speculator! +She actually quickens the blood in my veins to-night when she fixes +her great black eyes on me." + +Graydon felt her power, but believed that there was nothing in it +gentle or conciliatory toward himself. Probably her mood resulted from +a proud consciousness of her beauty and the triumphs that awaited her. +She had been young and gay heretofore with the other young people, but +now that a number of mature men, like Arnault, had appeared upon the +scene, she proposed to make a different impression. The embodiment of +her ideal might be among them. "At any rate," he concluded, "she +has the skill to make me feel that I have little place in either her +imaginings or hopes, and that for all she cares I may capture Miss +Wildmere as soon as I can. Both of us probably are so far beneath her +ideals of womanhood and manhood that she can never be friendly to +one and is fast losing her interest in the other. She has already +virtually said, 'Our relations are accidental, and if you marry Stella +Wildmere you need not hope that I shall accept her with open arms as +inseparable from one of my best friends.' 'Best friend,' indeed! Even +that amount of regard was a lingering sentiment of the past. Now that +we have met again she realizes that we have grown to be comparative +strangers, and that our tastes and interests lie apart." + +Thus day after day he had some new and perturbed theory as to +Madge, in which pique, infused with cynical philosophy and utter +misapprehension, led to widely varying conclusions. Ardent and +impatient lover of another woman as he was, one thing remained +true--he could neither forget nor placidly ignore the girl who had +ceased to be his sister, and who yet was not very successful in +playing the part of a young lady friend. + +When the dancing began, the storm was approaching its culmination. +More vivid than the light from the chandeliers, the electric flashes +dazzled startled eyes with increasing frequency. Miss Wildmere at +first tried to show cool indifference in the spirit of bravado, and +maintained her place upon the floor with Mr. Arnault and a few others. +She soon succumbed, with visible agitation, as a thunderous peal +echoed along the sky. Madge danced on with Graydon as if nothing had +occurred. He only felt that her form grew a little more tense, and saw +that her eyes glowed with suppressed excitement. + +"Are you not afraid?" he asked, as soon as his voice could be heard. +"See, the ladies are scattering or huddling together, while many look +as if the world were coming to an end." + +"The world is coming to an end to some every day," she replied. + +"That remark is as tragic as it is trite, Madge. What could have +suggested it?" + +"Trite remarks cannot have serious causes." + +"Account for the tragic phase, then." + +"I'm in no mood for tragedy, and commonplace does not need +explanation." + +"What kind of mood are you in to-night, Madge? You puzzle me;" and he +looked directly into her eyes. At the moment she was facing a window, +and a flash of strange brilliancy made every feature luminous. It +seemed to him that he saw her very soul, the spirit she might become, +for it is hard to imagine existence without form--form that is in +harmony with character. The crash that followed was so terrific that +they paused and stood confronting each other. The music ceased; cries +of terror resounded; but the momentary transfiguration of the girl +before him had been so strange and so impressive that Graydon forgot +all else, and still gazed at her with something like awe in his face. +Her lip trembled, for the nervous tension was growing too severe. +"Why do you look at me so?" she faltered. "What has happened? Is there +danger?" + +"What _has_ happened, Madge, that I cannot understand you? The +electric gleam made you look like an angel of light. Your face +seemed light itself. Are you so true and good, Madge, that such vivid +radiance brings out no stain or fear? What is it that makes you unlike +others?" Instinctively he looked toward Miss Wildmere. Her face +was buried in her hands, and Mr. Arnault was bending over her with +reassuring words. + +Madge felt her self-control departing. "Mary is afraid in a +thunderstorm," she said, in a low tone. "I'll go to her. She does not +find me so puzzling;" and she hastened away, yet not so swiftly but +that he saw her quivering lip and look of trouble. + +He took a few impulsive steps in pursuit, then hesitated and walked +irresolutely down a hallway, that he might have a chance for further +thought. The alarm and confusion were so great that the little episode +had been unnoted. It had made an impression on Graydon, however, that +he could not shake off readily. + +Emotion, if forced, has little power except to repel, but even a +glimpse of deep, suppressed feeling haunts the memory, especially if +its cause is half in mystery. + +Madge had set her heart on one thing, had worked long and patiently +for its attainment, had hoped and prayed for it, and within the last +few hours was feeling the bitterness of defeat. The event she so +dreaded seemed inevitable, even if it had not already occurred. The +expression on Graydon's face when she had first met him after his long +ramble with Miss Wildmere had been that of a tranquilly happy lover, +whose heart was at rest in glad certainty. Why should he not have +spoken? what greater encouragement could he ask than the favor she +herself had seen? During his long absence another girl had apparently +been waiting for him also, "But not working for him," she sighed, "and +keeping herself aloof from all and everything that would render her +less worthy. While I sought to train heart, body, and soul to be a fit +bride, she has dallied with every admirer she met, and now wins him +without one hour of self-denial or effort. It is more bitter than +death to me. It is cruelty to him, for that selfish girl will never +make him happy. Even after he marries her he will be only one among +many, and the ballroom glare will be more to her than the light of her +own hearth." + +Such thoughts had been in Madge's mind, and self-control had been no +easy matter. When to all had been added the excitement of the storm +and his unexpected words, her overstrained nerves gave way. She +was too desperately unhappy for the common fear which temporarily +overwhelmed many--the greater swallows up the less--but the storm had +led to words that both wounded and alarmed her. Why did she so perplex +him? What had the lightning's gleam revealed, to be understood when +he should think it all over? Could the truth of her love, of which she +was so conscious, be detected in spite of her efforts and disguises? +Was she doomed, not only to failure and an impoverished life, but also +to the humiliation of receiving a lifelong, yet somewhat complacent +pity from Graydon, and possibly the triumphant scorn of her rival? + +With these thoughts surging in her mind she locked herself in her room +and sobbed like the broken-hearted girl she felt herself to be. The +passing storm was nothing to her. A heavier storm was raging in her +soul, nor had it ceased when the skies without grew cloudless and +serene. She at last felt that she must do something to maintain her +disguise. Hearing little Jack crying and Mrs. Muir trying to hush him, +she washed her eyes and went to the partially darkened room where the +child was, and said, "Let me take him, Mary, and you go down and see +Henry." + +"It's awfully good of you, Madge. The children have been so frightened +that I've been up here all the evening. You seem to have better luck +in quieting Jack than any of us." + +"He'll be good with me. Go down at once, and don't worry. You have +hardly had a chance to see Henry." + +"You will come down again after Jack goes to sleep?" + +"Yes, if I feel like it." + +Graydon soon discovered Mrs. Muir after she had joined her husband, +and asked, "Where is Madge?" + +"She has kindly taken the baby so that I can spend a little time with +Henry. The children have been frightened, and Jack is very fretful. +I'm tired out, and don't know what I should do if it wasn't for +Madge." + +"Why can't the nurse take him?" + +"He won't go to her in these bad moods. Madge can quiet him even +better than I. What's the matter that you are so anxious to see Madge? +You have seemed abundantly able to amuse yourself without her the last +few days. Is Mr. Arnault in the way to-night?" + +"As if I cared a rap for him!" said Graydon, turning irritably away. + +He did care, however, and felt that Miss Wildmere was making too much +use of the liberty she had provided for. She, like many others, could +be half hysterical while the violence of the storm lasted, and yet, +when quiet was restored, was capable of making a jest of her fears +and the most of a delightful conjunction of affairs, which placed two +eligible men at her beck, to either of whom she could become engaged +before she slept. The arrival of her father had turned the scale +decidedly in favor of Mr. Arnault, for the latter, without revealing +his transaction with Mr. Muir, had whispered to Mr. Wildmere his +conviction that Henry Muir was borrowing at ruinous interest. This +information accorded with the broker's previous knowledge, and he was +eager that his daughter should decide for Arnault at once. + +This, however, the wilful girl would not do. She enjoyed the present +condition of affairs too well, and was not without hope, also, that +her father was mistaken; for she felt sure, from Graydon's manner, +that he was not aware of his brother's financial peril, and this fact +inclined her to doubt its existence. She was actuated by the feeling +that she had given much time and encouragement to Graydon, and that +now Arnault should have his turn. Madge had been invisible since the +storm, and there was nothing to indicate that Graydon was disposed to +give her much thought. Miss Wildmere's natural supposition was that he +and Madge had been like brother and sister once, and that the form of +the relation still existed, but that in their long separation they had +grown somewhat indifferent toward each other. She believed that the +solicitude she had seen in Madge's face, on the evening so memorable +in the latter's experience, was due to the jealousy of an immature, +sickly girl, who had been so humored as to feel that Graydon belonged +to her. She naturally believed that if there had been anything +beyond this, it would have been developed by correspondence, or else +indifference on both sides would not now be so palpable. She disliked +Madge chiefly as a rival in beauty and admiration. Nothing could be +more clear than that Graydon was completely under the spell of her own +fascination, and that Madge was receiving even scant fraternal regard. +All she feared was, that during the process of keep him "well in +hand" he might become more conscious of Madge's attractions, which she +recognized, however much she decried them openly. Even if compelled by +circumstances to accept Arnault, she proposed to herself the triumph +of rejecting Graydon, and thought she could do this so skilfully as to +give the idea that he had made a deep impression on her heart, and +so eventually win him again as one of her devoted followers in the +future. This product of fashionable society had not the slightest +intention of giving up her career as a belle for the sake of Mr. +Arnault or any one else. She had more liking and less fear for Graydon +than for Arnault. The latter was an open, resolute suitor, but she +knew that he was controlled more by ambition than by affection--that +he would yield everything and submit to anything up to a certain +point. The moment she jeopardized his prestige before the world, +or interfered with his scheme of success, she would meet rock-like +obduracy, both before and after marriage. She knew that Graydon had +a sincere affection for her, and a faith in her which, even in her +egotism, she was aware was unmerited--that he had a larger, gentler, +and more tolerant nature, and would be easier to manage than Arnault. + +Her fear of the latter proved his best ally. There was a resolution in +his eye since his return this evening that, even while it angered her +somewhat, convinced her that he would not be trifled with. His suit +was that of a man who had an advantage which she dared not ignore, and +her father's manner increased this impression. She felt that her game +was becoming delicate and hazardous, but she would not forego its +delicious excitement, or abandon the hope that Graydon might still +be in a position to warrant her preference. Therefore she proposed to +yield to Arnault as far as she could without alienating Muir, hoping +that the former would soon return to town again, and thus more time be +secured for her final decision. + +Before the first evening of his rivals advent had passed, Graydon felt +that he must appear to the people in the house as supplanted, and his +pride was beginning to be touched. Mrs. Muir's words had added to his +irritation. The episode with Madge had left a decidedly unpleasant +impression. He felt not only that he had failed to understand her, but +that he might be treating her with a neglect which she had a right to +resent. Her appearance and manner during the storm had almost startled +him; her abrupt departure had caused sudden and strong compunction; +and he had wished that they might come to a better understanding; +but thoughts of her had soon given place to anxiety in regard to Miss +Wildmere. It began to seem strange that the girl who had apparently +waited for him so long, and who had permitted such unequivocal words +and manner on his part that day, should now, before his very eyes, be +accepting attentions even more unmistakable from another man. She had +tried to explain and prepare him for all this, but there was more than +he was prepared for. She not only danced oftener with Arnault than +with any one else, but also strolled with him on the dusky piazza, +which, by reason of the dampness due to the storm, was almost +deserted. Graydon had permitted his brow to become clouded, and was so +perturbed by the events of the evening that he had not disguised his +vexation by gallantries to others. At last he detected smiles and +whispered surmises on the part of some who had seen his devotion +before the arrival of Mr. Arnault. This almost angered him, and he +felt that Miss Wildmere had imposed a role that would be difficult to +maintain. + +He had lingered conspicuously near, intent on proving his loyalty, and +had hoped every moment that his opportunity would come. He felt that +she should at least divide her time evenly with him and Mr. Arnault, +but the evening was drawing to a close, and the latter had received +the lion's share. After noting that others were observing his +desolation, he went resolutely out on the piazza, with the intention +of asking Miss Wildmere to give him the last waltz. Its wide space +was deserted. He waited a few moments, thinking that the object of his +thoughts would turn the corner in her promenade with his rival. Time +passed, and she did not come. He looked through a parlor window, +thinking that she might have entered by some other means of ingress; +and while he was standing there steps slowly approached from a part of +the piazza which was usually in utter darkness, and which was known +as the "lovers' retreat." As the figures passed a lighted window he +recognized them, and was also observed. He was too angry and jealous +now to carry out his purpose, and returned to the general hallway. + +Here he was joined a moment later by Miss Wildmere and Mr. Arnault, +and the former began to chat with him in imperturbable ease, while +the gentleman bowed and sought another partner for the waltz that was +about to be danced. Graydon would not show his chagrin under the many +eyes directed toward them, but she nevertheless saw his anger in the +cold expression of his eyes, and realized her danger. She ignored +everything with inimitable skill and sweetness, and there was nothing +for him to do but take her out with the others. Indeed, it almost +instantly became his policy to convince observers that their surmises +were without foundation. He determined that the girl should show him +all the favor his rival had enjoyed, or else--A sudden flash of his +eyes indicated to his observant companion that all her skill would +be required. She was graciousness itself, and when Arnault could +not observe her, stole swift and almost pleading glances into her +partner's eyes. + +Another observed her, however. Madge did come down at last, for she +had concluded that the memorable day should not close until she +had had one more glimpse of the problem which had grown so dark and +hopeless. Graydon soon observed her standing in the doorway, but then +she was talking and laughing with a lady friend. A moment later she +glided out on the floor with one of a half dozen who had been waiting +for the favor. Graydon sought to catch her eye, but did not succeed. +Again she made upon his mind the impression of troubled perplexity, +but his purpose was uppermost, and he was bent on carrying it out. + +"Come," he said to Miss Wildmere, in quiet tones, "I should enjoy a +stroll on the piazza, the room has grown so warm and close." + +Feeling that she must yield, she did so with ready grace and apparent +willingness, and Graydon led her out through the main entrance, that +it might be observed that he received no less favor than had been +given to another. + +"She is playing them both pretty strong," whispered one of the +committee, before referred to, that sits perpetually on the phases of +life at such resorts. + +"I feared you would not be very patient," said Miss Wildmere, in a low +tone. + +"I said I would be reasonably patient," was the reply. + +"Reason again." + +"Yes, Miss Wildmere; I think I can justly say that I am endowed with +both heart and reason. There are some questions in life that demand +both." + +"Please do not speak so coldly. You do not understand." + +"I wish I did." + +"Be patient and you will. After maintaining friendship true and strong +for years, it hurts me to be misjudged now." + +"But, Miss Wildmere--" he began, impetuously. + +"Hush," she said, hastily; then added, a little coldly, "if I am not +worthy of a little trust I am not worthy of anything." + +Graydon was touched to the quick. Honorable himself, he felt that he +was acting meanly and suspiciously--that his jealousy and irritation +were leading him to unmanly conduct. There was some reason for her +course, which would be explained eventually, and he ought not to ask +a woman to be his wife at all unless he could trust her. Therefore he +said, humbly. "I beg your pardon. In my heart I believe you worthy of +all trust. I will wait and be as patient as you desire, since I know +that you cannot have failed to understand me." Then he added, with +a deprecating laugh, "There are times, I suppose, when all men are a +little blind and unreasonable." + +"Heaven keep him blind!" she thought, yet she winced under his honest +words in their contrast with herself. + +"I hope some day to prove worthy of your trust," she breathed, softly, +and looked in dread into the darkness lest in some way her words +should reach Arnault. "Come, please," she added, with a gentle +pressure on his arm, "let us return, or the hotel may be closed upon +us." + +"Please give me all the time you can," pleaded Graydon, as they paused +at the door. + +Looking within, she saw Arnault with his back toward them, and said, +hastily, and as if impulsively, "I will--all that I can. Possibly my +regret will be deeper than yours that I cannot give you more." + +"You should know that that is not possible," he said, in low, earnest +tones. Then he added, in a whisper, as she was entering, "I can trust +you now and wait." + +"My good fortune is still in the ascendant," was her thought; "I can +still keep him in hand, in spite of papa and Mr. Arnault." + +"Her father's relations with Mr. Arnault must give him some hold upon +her," he thought, "and for her father's sake she cannot yield to me at +once, but she will eventually." + +Mr. Arnault came forward with smiling lips, light words, yet resolute +eyes. Graydon felt that he had received all the assurance that he +needed--that she was under some necessity of keeping his rival in +good-humor--so he smiled significantly into her eyes, and bowed +himself away. + +"Muir looked as if he had received all the comfort that he required," +Arnault said, as they strolled across the parlor, now deserted. + +"Did he? Well, he did not require very much." + +"How much?" + +"You had better ask him." + +"Stella," he said, and there was a suggestion of menace in his tone, +"I'm in earnest now. You will soon have to choose between us." + +"Shall I?" she replied, bending upon him an arch, bewildering smile. +"Then please don't speak as if I had no choice at all;" and she was +going. + +"Wait," he said. "Will you drive with me to-morrow?" + +"Yes. Is there anything else your lordship would like?" + +He seized her hand, and held it in both his. "This," he said. + +"Is that all?" was her laughing reply, as she withdrew it. "I wish you +had more of Mr. Muir's diffidence;" and she vanished before he could +speak again. + +Graydon found that Madge had retired, so that there was no chance for +him to speak to her that night; but his mind was in too happy a tumult +to give her much thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + +Mrs. Muir came into Madge's room for a bit of the gossip that she +dearly loved, but, as usual, obtained little information or surmise +from the young girl. "I'm glad you came down," she said, "if only to +prove to Graydon that you were not moping upstairs." + +"Why should I mope upstairs?" Madge asked, with a keen look at her +sister. + +"No reason that I know of, only Graydon has been slightly spoiled by +his success among ladies, and society men are always imagining that +girls are languishing for them." + +"Have I given him or anyone such an impression?" Madge again inquired, +indignantly. + +"Oh, no, indeed! On the contrary, you seem so indifferent as not to be +quite natural. Even Graydon feels it, and is perplexed and troubled. +He was inquiring for you during the evening, and I told him you were +kindly caring for Jack, so that I might have a little fresh air with +Henry on the piazza." + +"There it is again--perplexed and troubled. I'm sick of being +misunderstood so ridiculously. The scraps of time that he gives me +when Miss Wildmere does not fill his eyes and thoughts are employed +in criticism. Why should I perplex and trouble him? I have told him +to please himself with Miss Wildmere--that I should certainly please +myself in my choice of friends, and that he as a man assuredly had a +right to do the same. He will soon be engaged to her, and probably is +already, but he has no right to demand that I should receive this girl +with open arms. She already detests me, and I do not admire her. +It's none of my business, but if I were a man I wouldn't stand +her flirtation with Mr. Arnault. Even the people in the house are +observing it with significant smiles. He must get over the impression +that I'm the weak, limp child in mind or body that he left. I'm an +independent woman, and have as much right to my thoughts and ways +as he to his. If he wants my society, let him treat me with natural +friendliness. If he's afraid to do it--if Miss Wildmere won't let +him--rest assured I won't receive any furtive, deprecatory attentions. +I am abundantly able to take care of myself in my own way." + +"Oh, Madge, you have so changed! Before you went away the sun seemed +to rise and set in Graydon." + +"Well, the sun now rises in the west and sets in the east--What am +I saying? Well, perhaps, it's true for me, after all. In the West I +gained the power to live a strong, resolute life of my own choosing, +and he may as well recognize the truth first as last. Let him give all +his thoughts to Miss Wildmere. From what I see and have heard she will +keep them busy before and after marriage." + +"He's not engaged to her yet; he said so positively." + +"Oh, well," Madge replied, with well-assumed indifference, although +her heart bounded at the tidings, "it's only a question of time. +There, we've talked enough about _her_. Of course I remember Graydon's +old kindness, and all that; and if he would treat me with frank and +sensible friendliness, I should enjoy his society. Why not?" + +"I thought he regarded you as his sister." + +"Sister, indeed! I'm Henry's sister, not his. I'm only an object of +criticism, of perplexity, a sphinx, and all that kind of nonsense. He +was bent on seeing a 'little ghost,' as he used to call me. I'm not a +bit of a ghost, and have as much proud blood in my veins as he has." + +"Well, Madge, I'm glad you feel that you are Henry's sister. He likes +and admires you so much that I'm half jealous." + +"Henry and I understand each other. He thinks I'm sensible, and I +certainly think he is. Good-night, now, dear. It's after twelve, and I +wish you a merry Fourth of July; I mean to have one." + +Graydon had not found himself in a sleeping mood until the shadows of +night were almost ready to depart, and so came down very late. Mrs. +Wildmere, who was on the piazza with her child, informed him, with a +deprecatory smile, that Stella had gone to drive with Mr. Arnault. He +bit his lip, and went to make a leisurely breakfast. By the time he +had finished, Madge came in with a party of young people who had been +on a ramble. Her greeting was friendly, but nothing more, and having +received a long letter from Mrs. Wayland, she took it to a small +summer-house. Graydon soon strayed after her in a listless way, and in +no very amiable humor. The greater anxiety had swallowed up the less, +and his perturbed thoughts about Madge were now following a light +carriage on some wild mountain road. His generous glow of feeling of +the night before had passed somewhat, and he was inclined to think +that Miss Wildmere's relations to Arnault, whatever they were, placed +him, a committed lover, in a rather anomalous position. Since she was +absent, however, he would while away an hour with Madge, and try to +solve the riddle she had become. + +She greeted him with a slight smile, and went on with her letter. He +watched her curiously and with contracting brow. + +"Will you ever finish?" he soon asked. + +"I can read it some other time," she said, laying it down. + +"Oh, that is asking far too much!" + +"Is it?" + +"Confound it, Madge! Why is it that we are drifting further and +further apart every day?" + +"I am not drifting," she said, quietly, "nor do you give that +impression. I am just where you found me on your return. Since we are +so far apart you must be doing the journeying." + +"Well, Heaven knows I found you distant enough!" + +"I beg your pardon; Heaven knows nothing of the kind! It's not my +fault that you value friendship so lightly." + +"You know I wished for so much more." + +"You thought you did at first, Graydon," she replied, with a quiet +smile, "but I imagine that you soon became quite reconciled to my +view of the case. The relation would surely prove embarrassing to +you. Haven't you since thought that it might?" she asked, with sweet +directness. + +He colored visibly, and was provoked with himself that he did. "If +you persist in being at swords' points with Miss Wildmere--" he began, +hesitatingly. + +"I persist in being simply myself, and true to my own perceptions. +Wherein have I failed in courtesy toward Miss Wildmere?" + +"But you dislike her most cordially." + +"And you like her most cordially and more. Have I not granted your +perfect right to do so?" + +"If you were even the friend you claim to be, you would not be so +indifferent." + +"I have not said I was indifferent. Miss Wildmere is far from +indifferent to me. What have I done to gain her ill-will?" + +"Much, as human nature goes. You have made yourself her rival in +beauty and attractiveness." + +"Is that human nature? If that is the cause of her hostility I should +say it is Miss Wildmere's nature." + +"Let us change the subject," said Graydon, a little irritably. +"We shall not agree on this point, I fear; you share in Henry's +prejudices." + +"I did not introduce the subject, Graydon, and I think for myself." + +"Hang it all, Madge! you are so changed I scarcely know you. Every +time we meet I find you more of a conundrum. Friend, indeed! You +certainly have been a distant one in every sense. If I had been the +friend you say I was, you would have written me about the marvellous +transformation you were accomplishing." + +She sprang up, and her dark eyes flashed indignantly. "I am beginning +to think that you are changed more than I," she said, impetuously. +"You know, or might, if you took the trouble, that I did not tell +Mary, my own sister, of my progress toward health and strength. My +wish to give you all a pleasant surprise may seem a little thing to +you, or you may give some sinister, unnatural meaning to the act. It +was not a little thing to go away 'a ghost, a wraith,' as you were +wont to call me--it was not a little thing to go away alone, perhaps +to die, as I then felt. Nor was it a little thing to battle for weary +months with weakness of mind and body, morbid timidity, indolence, +ignorance, and everything that was contrary to my ideal of womanhood. +I can say thus much in self-defence. Was there harm in my adding some +incentive to a hard sense of duty? I felt that if I could change for +the better and keep my secret I could give you all a glad surprise. I +had almost a child's pleasure in the thought. Mary and Henry rewarded +me, but you are spoiling it all. You at once make an impossible +demand, and discover, within twenty-four hours, how awkward my +compliance would have been. I did not know you so long without gaining +the power of guessing your thoughts. I suggested a simple, natural +relation, and as the result I have become a 'conundrum.' A charming +title, truly! I shall remain a simple, natural girl, and when you are +through with your riddle theories perhaps you will treat me as I think +you might in view of old times;" and she started swiftly toward the +house. + +"Madge!" cried Graydon, springing up and following her. + +At that moment Miss Wildmere approached, and Madge gained the piazza +and disappeared, leaving Graydon ill disposed toward himself and all +the world, even including Miss Wildmere; for she had a charming color, +and appeared not in the least a victim to _ennui_ because of forced +association with an objectionable party. She came smilingly toward +him, saying, "It's too bad to interrupt your hot pursuit of another +lady, but girls have not much conscience in such matters." + +"As long as you have conscience in other matters, it does not +signify," he answered, meaningly. + +"Not conscience, but another organ, controls our action chiefly, I +imagine," she replied, with a glance that gave emphasis to her words +of the previous evening, and she passed smilingly on. + +Arnault soon followed her, spoke pleasantly to Graydon, and, having +obtained a morning paper, was at once absorbed in its contents. + +"He does not appear like a baffled suitor who has enjoyed only a +veiled tolerance," was Graydon's thought. "Things will come out all +right in the end, I suppose, but they certainly are not proceeding as +I expected. Stella will be mine eventually--it were treason to think +otherwise--but she is carrying it off rather boldly to keep Arnault so +complacent at the same time. As far as Madge is concerned, I've been +a fool and made a mess of it. How in the mischief has she been able to +divine my very thoughts! She is wrong in one respect, however. If she +had felt and acted toward me like a sister I would have been loyal +to her, and would have compelled even Miss Wildmere to recognize her +rights. I am not so far gone but that I can act in a straightforward, +honorable way. My acceptance of her action was an afterthought, a +philosophical way I have of making the best of everything. I now +believe that it has turned out for the best, but I have been guilty +of no coldblooded calculation. Very well, I'll treat her as a simple, +natural girl and my very good friend, and see how this course works. +Not that she is a simple girl. I've met too many of that kind, and +of those also who enshroud themselves in a cloud of little feminine +mysteries, all transparent enough to one of experience; but Madge +does puzzle me. She has not explained herself with her fine burst of +indignation. Jove! how handsome she was! She ever gives the impression +that there is something back of all she says and does. Even Henry +feels it in his dim way, but that lightning flash made it clear +that it is something of which she need not be ashamed. Since she +has learned to read me so understandingly, I will try to fathom her +thoughts. Perhaps friendship does mean more to her than to others. If +so, I'll be as true a friend to her as she to me. If I grant Stella +such broad privileges with Arnault, she must admit mine with one of +whom it would be absurd to be jealous;" and, with cogitations like the +above, he also pretended to read his paper, and finished his cigar. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +NOT STRONG IN VAIN + + +Graydon dreaded embarrassment when meeting Madge at dinner, but was +agreeably disappointed. There was nothing in the young girl's manner +which suggested a vexed consciousness of their recent interview, +neither were there covert overtures, even in tones, toward more +friendly relations. He saw that if any were made he must make them. +Madge was merely too well bred to show anger in public, or occasion +surmises that would require explanations. During the meal she spoke +of missing her horseback exercise, and said that she meant to ask Dr. +Sommers if he did not know of a good animal that might be hired for a +few weeks. Graydon at once resolved to make a propitiatory offering, +and to go out with Madge when Miss Wildmere was unattainable. For the +time he was content to imitate Madge's tactics, and acted as if he +intended to follow the course that she had suggested. The fact that +Arnault was so evidently enjoying his dinner and the Wildmere smiles +did not detract from his purpose to prove that he also was not without +resources. Moreover, he felt that he had not treated Madge fairly; +he had been truly fond of her, and now was conscious of a growing +respect. As she had said, it was not a little thing that she had +attempted and accomplished, and there had been small ground for his +discontent. After dinner, however, he found a chance to ensconce +himself by Miss Wildmere on the piazza, and he was fully resolved to +lose no such opportunities. + +Madge, with the Muir children, passed him on the way to a small lake +on which she had promised to give the little people a row. He took +off his hat in cordial courtesy, and she recognized him with a brief +smile, in which Miss Wildmere could detect no apprehension. + +"I hope that 'sister Madge,' as you call her, does not resent my +enjoyment of your society." + +"Not in the least. I feel, however, that I have been neglecting her +shamefully, and propose to make amends." + +"Indeed; has she brought you to a sense of your shortcomings? This +scarcely bears out your first remark." + +"It is nothing against its truth. Miss Aldeu makes it very clear that +she is not dependent on me or any one for enjoyment; but in view of +the past I have been scarcely courteous. Therefore," he added, with +a laugh, "when Arnault monopolizes you I shall console myself with +Madge." + +"And therefore I shall feel the less compunction. Thank you." + +"I am glad to take the least thorn from the roses of your life," was +his smiling answer. + +She veiled close scrutiny under her reply: "I fear the brilliant Miss +Alden will cause my society to appear commonplace in contrast." + +"I do not see how you can fear anything of the kind," was his prompt +answer; "I trust you, and you must trust me." + +"I do trust you, Mr. Muir," she said, softly. + +Before he could speak again nurses and children came streaming and +screaming from the lake toward the house. "Nellie Wilder is drowned," +was the burden of their dire message. + +Graydon sprang down the steps, and rushed with the fleetness of the +wind toward the lake. + +As Madge, with Jennie and Harry Muir, approached the water, they saw +a party of children playing carelessly in a boat, and a moment later +a little girl fell overboard. The boat was in motion toward the shore, +and when she rose it had passed beyond her reach. Her companions gave +way to wild panic, and, instead of trying to save her, screamed and +pulled for land. No one was present except nurses and other children, +and they all joined in the wild, helpless chorus of alarm, and began a +stampede toward the hotel. + +Madge saw that if the child was saved she must act promptly and +wisely. To the Muir children she said, authoritatively, "Sit down +where you are and don't move." Then she rushed forward and unfastened +a skiff. As she did so the child rose for the last time and sunk again +with a gurgling cry. Keeping her eyes fixed on the spot, and with an +oar in her hand, Madge pushed away from the shore vigorously with her +feet, and with the impetus sprang upon the narrow stern-sheets, then +crept forward toward the bow, at the same time ever keeping her eyes +fixed unwaveringly on the spot where the child had sunk, from which +widening circles were eddying. The nurses and children who had not +started for the house, seeing that a rescue was attempted, looked on +with breathless dread and suspense. + +When the impetus that Madge had first given to the skiff ceased, she +kept the little craft in motion by paddling, first on one side, then +on the other, her eyes still fixed on one point in the dark water. +At last this point seemed almost beneath her; she dropped the oar, +stooped, and peered over the side of the boat. After a moment's +hesitation she appeared to those on shore to have lost her balance, +fallen overboard, and sunk. Renewed screams of terror resounded, +and the Muir children fled toward the hotel, crying, "Aunt Madge is +drowned." + +"What do you mean?" Graydon gasped, seizing Harry by the arm. + +"Oh, Uncle Graydon! run quick. Aunt Madge fell out of a boat under +water." + +A moment later he saw the young girl rise to the surface with a child +in her grasp. With one headlong plunge, and a few strong strokes, he +was at her side, exclaiming, "Great God, Madge! what does this mean?" + +"Take her to the shore, quick; no matter about me;" and she pushed the +limp and apparently lifeless form into his arms. + +"But, Madge--" he began. + +"Haste! haste! and the child may be saved. Don't think of me; I can +swim as well as you;" and she struck out toward the shore. + +Wondering and thrilled with admiration, in spite of the confusion of +his thoughts, he did as directed, and took the child to land at once. + +Madge was there as soon as he, crying, even before she left the water, +"Run for Dr. Sommers, and if not at home ride after him." + +Meanwhile gentlemen and employes of the house were arriving, and some +turned back in search of the physician. + +The awful tidings had come upon poor Mrs. Wilder, the mother of the +child, like a bolt out of a clear sky, and she had run screaming and +moaning toward the scene of disaster. Mother love had given her almost +superhuman strength; but when she saw the pale little face on the +ground, with the hue of death upon it, she crouched beside it in +speechless agony, and watched the efforts that were made to bring back +consciousness. + +Madge led and directed these efforts. In truth, she did as much to +save the child on land as when it had lain submerged on the muddy +bottom of the pond. Graydon, seeing that she was coming up the bank, +had paused a moment irresolutely, and then was about to start for the +hotel with his burden. Madge caught his arm, and took the child from +him. + +"Graydon, take off your coat and give it to me," she said, +imperatively, as she laid the child down on its back; "your +handkerchief, also," she added. + +She forced open the pale lips, and wiped out the mouth with marvellous +celerity, paying no heed to the clamorous voices around her. "Some one +give me a sharp knife," she cried, "and don't crowd so near." + +Lifting the child's clothing at the throat, she cut it down ward to +the waist, then down each arm, leaving the lovely little form exposed +and free. Dropping the knife, she next rolled the coat into a bundle, +turned the child over so that her abdomen should rest upon it; then +with hands pressed rather strongly on each side of the little back, +Madge sought to expel the water that might have been swallowed. +Turning the child over on her back again, the bundle made by the coat +was placed under the small of her back, so as to raise the chest. +Then, catching the little tongue that had awakened merry echoes but +a few moments before, she drew it out of the mouth to one side by the +aid of the handkerchief, and said to Graydon, "Hold it, so." + +All now saw that they were witnessing skilled efforts. Discordant +advice ceased, and they looked on with breathless interest. + +"Has any one smelling salts?" Madge asked. There was no response. She +snatched a bit of grass and tickled the child's nose, saying, at the +same time, "Bring water." This, after a few seconds, she dashed over +the face and exposed chest, waited an instant, then gave her patient a +slap over the pit of the stomach. + +Graydon, kneeling before her, looked on with silent amazement. Her +glorious eyes shone with an absorbed and merciful purpose; she was +oblivious of her own strange appearance, the masses of her loosening +hair falling over and veiling the lovely form outlined clearly by +the wet and clinging drapery of her summer dress. Others looked on +in wonder, too, and with a respect akin to awe. Among them were her +sister and Henry Muir, Mr. Arnault, and Miss Wildmere--her feelings +divided between envy and commiseration for the child and its stricken +mother. + +These first simple efforts having no apparent effect, Madge said, +quietly, "We must try artificial respiration. Move a little more to +one side, Graydon." + +Kneeling behind the child, she lifted the little arms quickly but +steadily up, over and down, until they lay upon the ground behind the +wet golden curls. This motion drew the ribs up, expanded the chest and +permitted air to enter it. After two or three seconds Madge reversed +the motion and pressed the arms firmly against the chest, to expel the +air. This alternate motion was kept up regularly at about the rate +of sixteen times a minute, until the sound of a galloping horse was +heard, and the crowd parted for Dr. Sommers. He took in the situation +with his quick eye, and said, "Miss Alden, let me take your place." + +"Oh, thank God, you are here!" she exclaimed. "Let me hold her tongue, +Graydon; I must do something." + +"Yes, Mr. Muir," added the physician; "let her help me; she knows just +what to do. How long was the child under water?" + +"I don't know exactly; not long." + +"Not more than four or five minutes?" + +"I think not." + +"There should be hope, then." + +"We must save her!" cried Madge. "I once saw people work over an hour +before there were signs of life." + +"Oh, God bless your brave heart!" murmured the poor mother. "You won't +leave my child--you won't let them give her up, will you?" + +"No, Mrs. Wilder, not for one hour or two. I believe that your little +girl will be saved." + +"Have some brandy ready," said Dr. Sommers. + +A flask was produced, and Graydon again knelt near, to have it in +readiness, while the doctor kept up his monotonous effort, pressing +the arms against the lungs, then lifting them above the head and back +to the ground, with regular and mechanical iteration. + +The child's eyelids began to tremble. "Ah!" exclaimed the doctor; a +moment later there was a slight choking cough, and a glad cry went up +from the throng. + +"The brandy," said the doctor. + +Madge now gave up the case to him and Graydon, and slipped down beside +the mother, who was swaying from side to side. "Don't faint," she +said; "your child will need you as soon as she is conscious." + +"Oh, Heaven bless you! Heaven bless you!" cried the mother; "you have +saved my only, my darling." + +"Yes, madam, you are right. It's all plain sailing now," the doctor +added. + +Then Madge became guilty of her first useless act. In strong revulsion +she fainted dead away. In a moment her head was on Mrs. Muir's lap, +and Henry Muir was at her side. + +"Poor girl! no wonder. There's not a woman in a hundred thousand who +could do what she has done. There, don't worry about her. Put her in +my carriage with Mrs. Muir, and take her to her room; I'll be there +soon. She'll come out all right; such girls always do." + +Meanwhile Mr. Muir and Graydon were carrying out the doctor's +directions, and the unconscious girl was borne rapidly to her +apartment, where, under her sister's ministrations, she soon revived. + +Almost her first conscious words, after being assured that the child +was safe, were, "Oh, Mary! what a guy I must have appeared! What will +Graydon--I mean all who saw me--think?" + +"They'll think things that might well turn any girl's head. As for +Graydon, he is waiting outside now, half crazy with anxiety to receive +a message from you." + +"Tell him I made a fool of myself, and he must not speak about it +again on the pain of my displeasure." + +"Well, you have come to," said Mrs. Muir, and then she went and +laughingly delivered the message verbatim, adding, "Go and put on dry +clothes. You'll catch your death with those wet things on, and you +look like a scarecrow." + +He departed, more puzzled over Madge Alden than ever, but admitting to +himself that she had earned the right to be anything she pleased. + +Dr. Sommers continued his efforts in behalf of the little girl, +chafing her wrists and body with the brandy, and occasionally giving +a few drops until circulation was well restored; and then, at her +mother's side, carried the child to her room, and gave directions to +those who were waiting to assist. + +When he entered Madge's apartment, she greeted him with the words, +"What a silly thing I did!" + +"Not at all, not at all. You made your exit gracefully, and escaped +the plaudits which a brave girl like you wouldn't enjoy. I take off +my hat to you, as we country-folks say. You are a heroine--as good +a doctor as I on shore and a better one in the water. Where did you +learn it all?" + +"Nonsense!" said Madge, "nothing would vex me more than to have a +time made over the affair. It's all as simple as a, b, c. What's that +little pond to one who has been used to swimming in the Pacific! As I +said, I saw a girl restored once, and Mr. Wayland has explained to me +again and again just what to do." + +"Oh, yes, it's all simple enough if you know how, but that's just the +trouble. In all that crowd I don't believe there was one who would not +have done the wrong thing. Well, well, I can manage now if I'm obeyed. +You've had a good deal of a shock, and you must keep quiet till +to-morrow. Then I'll see." + +Madge laughingly protested that nothing would please her better than +a good supper and a good book. "Please give out also," she said, "that +any reference to the affair will have a very injurious influence on +me." + +In spite of the doctor, messages and flowers poured in. At last Mrs. +Wilder came and said to Mrs. Muir, "I must see her, if it is safe." + +"It's safe enough," Mrs. Muir began, "only Madge doesn't like so much +made of it." + +"I won't say much," pleaded the mother. She did not say anything, but +put her arms around Madge and pressed her tear-stained face upon the +young girl's bosom in long, passionate embrace, the hastened back to +her restored treasure, who was sleeping quietly. Madge's eyes were +wet also, and she turned her face to the wall and breathed softly +to herself, "Whatever happens now--and it's plain enough what will +happen--I did not get strong in vain. Graydon can never think me +altogether weak and lackadaisical again, and I have saved one woman's +heart from anguish, however my own may ache." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MAKE YOUR TERMS + + +Graydon's uppermost thought now was to make his peace with Madge. He +dismissed all his former theories about her as absurd, and felt that, +whether he understood her or not, she had become a splendid woman, of +whose friendship he might well be proud, and accept it on any terms +that pleased her. He also was sure that Miss Wildmere's prejudices +would be banished at once and forever by Madge's heroism, believing +that the girl's hostile feeling was due only to the natural jealousy +of social rivals. "If Stella does not regard Madge's action with +generous enthusiasm, I shall think the worse of her," was his +masculine conclusion. + +The wily girl was not so obtuse as to be unaware of this, and when +he came down she said all he could wish in praise of Madge, but +took pains to enlarge upon his own courage. At this he pooh-poohed +emphatically. "What was that duck-pond of a lake to a man!" he said. +"Madge herself has become an expert ocean-swimmer, I am told. She +wasn't afraid of the water. It was her skill in finding the child +beneath it, and in resuscitation afterward, that chiefly commands my +admiration." + +"Oh, dear!" cried the girl, "what can I do to command your +admiration?" + +"You know well, Miss Wildmere, that you command much more." + +She blushed, smiled, and looked around a little apprehensively. + +"Don't be alarmed," he added; "I have such confidence in you that I +will bide your time." + +"Thank you, Graydon," she whispered, and hastened away, leaving him +supremely happy. It was the first time she had called him "Graydon." + +Seeing Dr. Sommers emerging from the hotel, he hastened after him, +bent on procuring a peace-offering for Madge--the finest horse that +could be had in the region. + +"I know of one a few miles from here," said the doctor. "He's a +splendid animal, but a high and mighty stepper. I don't believe that +even she could manage him." + +"I'll break him in for her, never fear. Of course I won't let her take +any risks." + +"Well, leave it to me, then. I can manage it. He's awfully headstrong, +though. I give you fair warning." + +"Take me to see him as soon as you can; the horse, I mean, or, rather, +both man and horse." + +"To-morrow morning, then. I have patients out that way." + +At supper and during the evening Madge and her exploit were the themes +of conversation. Some tried to give Graydon a part of the credit, but +he laughed so contemptuously at the idea that he was let alone. Henry +Muir did not say much, but looked a great deal, and with Graydon +listened attentively as his wife explained how it was that Madge had +proved equal to the emergency. + +"Why don't more people follow her example?" said the practical man, +"and learn how to do something definite? As she explains the rescue, +there was nothing remarkable in it. If she could swim and dive in the +ocean for sport, she would not be much afraid to do the same in that +so-called lake, to save life. As to her action on shore, the knowledge +she used is given in books and manuals. What's more, she had seen it +done. But most people are so pointless and shiftless that they +never know just what to do in an emergency, no matter what their +opportunities for information may have been." + +"Now you hit me," Graydon remarked, ruefully, "Left to myself I should +have finished the young one, for I was about to run to the hotel with +her, a course that I now see would have been as fatal as idiotic." + +"Madge says," Mrs. Muir continued, "that they used to bathe a great +deal, and that Mr. Wayland explained just what should be done in all +the possible emergencies of their outdoor life at Santa Barbara." + +"Wayland in a level-headed man. If he is bookish, he's not a dreamer +with his head in the clouds. Madge was in good hands with them, and +proves it every day." + +"I think she shows the influence of Mrs. Wayland even more than that +of her husband. Fanny is a very accomplished woman, and saw a great +deal of society in her younger days." + +"Confound it all! Why didn't you tell me that Madge had been living +with two paragons?" said Graydon. + +"Oh, you have been so occupied with another paragon that there has +not been much chance to tell you anything," was Mrs. Muir's consoling +reply. + +"Madge has not been made what she is by paragons," Mr. Muir remarked, +dryly. "She made herself. They only helped her, and couldn't have +helped a silly woman." + +"It's time you were jealous, Mary," said Graydon, laughing. + +"Mary isn't a silly woman. I should hope that no Muir would marry +one." + +"I see no prospect of it," was the rather cold reply. + +"I fear I see a worse prospect," was his brother's thought. "Of what +use are his eyes or senses after what he has seen to-day?" + +Mrs. Muir had explained to some lady friends about Madge, and the +information was passing into general circulation--the ladies rapidly +coming to the conclusion that the young girl's action was not so +remarkable after all, which was true enough. The men, however, +retained their enthusiastic admiration, although it must be admitted +that its inspiration was due largely to Madge's beauty. + +"Of course women have done braver things," said one man, with sporting +tendencies, "but it was the neat, gamy way in which she did it that +took my eye. Her method was as complete and rounded out as herself. +Jove! as she bent over that child she was a nymph that would turn the +head of a Greek." + +"She has evidently turned the head of a Cyprian," laughed one of his +friends. + +"Come, that's putting it too strong," said the man, with a frown. +"I'll affect no airs, though. I'm not a saint, as you all know, but +the aspect of that girl, in her self-forgetful effort, might well make +me wish I were one. She is as good and pure-hearted as the child she +saved. If there had been a flaw in the white marble of her nature she +would have been self-conscious. An angel from heaven couldn't have +been more absorbed in the one impulse to save." + +Graydon had approached the group unobserved, and heard these words. +He walked away, smiling, with the thought, "My sentiments, clearly +expressed." + +The night was warm, and he saw Miss Wildmere and Arnault going out +for a stroll. Following a half-defined inclination, he bent his steps +toward the lake. The moon was mirrored in its glassy surface, the +place silent and deserted. With slight effort of fancy he called up +the scene again. He saw in the moonlight the fairy form of the +child, and what even others had regarded as the embodiment of human +loveliness and truth bending over it. + +"And she was the little ghost that once haunted me," he thought, "and +seemed all eyes and affection. How those eyes used to welcome and turn +to me, as if in some subtle way she drew from me the power to exist at +all. I wish I could follow the processes of her change from the hour +of our parting, and see how I passed from what I was to her to what +I am now. She does not seem to forget or ignore the past. She is not +conventional, and never was; hence, friendship may not mean what it +does to so many of her sex and age--a little moony sentiment blended +with calculation as to a fellow's usefulness. If we could enjoy +something of the good-comradeship that obtains between man and +man, she is the one woman of the world with whom I should covet the +relation. Stella, in herself, is all that I could ask for a wife, +but I don't like her family much better than Henry does. Confound the +father! Why should he so mix his daughter up in his speculation that +she dare not dismiss Arnault at once and follow her heart? If I were +not a good-natured man I wouldn't submit to it. As it is, since I am +sure of the girl, I suppose I should give _paterfamilias_ a chance to +turn himself. She has appealed to me as delicately, yet as openly, +as she can, and has given me to understand by everything except +plain words that she is mine. Probably that is all she can do without +bringing black ruin upon them all. Well, I suppose I should imitate +her self-sacrificing spirit; but I hate this jumbling of Wall Street +with affairs of the heart. It angers me that she must play with that +fellow for financial reasons, and that he, conscious of power, may use +language which she would not dare to resent. I can't imagine Madge +in such a position. Yet, who knows? As the French say, 'It is the +unexpected that happens,' and this has proved true enough in my +experience. I'll go and see how Madge is now, and be as penitent as +she requires. I don't mind being tyrannized over a little by such a +girl;" and he returned. + +As he approached Mrs. Muir's door he heard the sound of voices and +laughter, and plainly those of his brother and Madge. In response +to his knock Mrs. Muir opened the door a little way, and he caught a +glimpse of Henry. + +"Well?" said Mrs. Muir. + +"It's not well at all," he began, in an aggrieved tone. "Here's a +family party, and I'm shut out in outer darkness. What have I done to +be banished from Rome?" + +"'What's banished but set free?'" trilled out Madge. "Oh, Graydon, I'm +not fit to be seen!" + +"How can I know that unless I see you?" + +"Nonsense, Madge!" expostulated her sister, "you look charming. Why +put on airs? As he says, it's a family party. Let him join in our +fun;" and, without waiting for further objections, she brought him in +and gave him a chair. + +"Now this warms an exile's heart," he began. "If you had shut the +door on me I should have asked Henry to send me back to Europe. Mary's +right, Madge; you do look charming." + +And so she did, blushing and laughing in her dainty wrapper, with her +long hair falling over her shoulders and fastened by a ribbon. + +"How comes it that you are in such a deserted and disconsolate +condition?" cried Mary. + +"I am not in such a condition. Since crossing your threshold I have +become contentment itself. Indeed, I regard myself as the most favored +man in the house, for I, first of all, am able to lay my homage at +Madge's feet." + +"Let me warn you from the start that it will prove a stumbling-block +in both our paths," said the girl. "Did you not receive my message? +But, then, it's stupid to think you will ever consider me." + +"I have been considering you a great deal more than you think, +especially since you metaphorically boxed my ears this morning, and +took away my breath generally this afternoon." + +"You seem to have plenty left." + +"Oh, I'm recovering. Reason is trying to scramble back on her throne. +I've been out to the lake alone in the moonlight, and have had the +whole scene over again, to assure myself that it was real." + +"What! You have not been in the water?" + +"No; I was content to moon it out on the shore; but it seemed to me +that I saw you as clearly there as here." + +"Little wonder! I must have been the most extraordinary looking +creature that ever prowled in these wilds." + +"You were; only lookers-on did all the devouring. I wouldn't dare tell +you the compliments I have heard." + +"You had better not, if your reason is even within sight of her +throne. When the danger was all over I caught a mental glimpse of +myself, and fell over as if shot;" and a slow, deep crimson stole into +her face. + +"Madge," said Graydon, gravely and almost rebukingly, "do you think +there was a man present who did not reverence you? I was proud even of +your acquaintance." + +Her face softened under his words, but she did not look at him. "We +were partners in misery," she said, laughing softly; "I have a vague +remembrance that you were as great a guy as I was." + +"I shall be glad to be a guy with you in any circumstances you can +imagine, if you will let me make my peace, and will forgive my general +stupidity. Be reasonable also, as well as merciful. If it took you +over two years to make such changes, you should give me a few days to +rub my eyes and get them focused on the result." + +Madge was now laughing heartily. "I don't believe a man could ever eat +the whole of a humble pie," she said. "He ever insists that the donor, +especially if she be a woman, should have a piece also." + +"There, now," cried Graydon, ruefully; "give me all of it, and make +your terms." + +"Solomon himself couldn't have advised you better," said Madge, while +Henry leaned back in his chair and laughed as if immensely amused, +while Mary improved the occasion by remarking, "When will men ever +learn that that is the way to get the best terms possible from a +woman?" + +"Indeed!" said Graydon. "How you enlighten me! Well, Madge, I'm the +more eager now to learn your terms." + +She felt that it was a critical moment--that there was, under their +badinage, a substratum of truth and feeling--and that she had now a +chance to establish relations that would favor her hope, if it had +a right to exist at all, and render future companionship free from +surmise on the part of her family. + +"Come, Graydon," she said, "we have jested long enough, and there is +no occasion for misunderstanding. I have not forgotten the past any +more than you have, nor all your unstinted kindness for years. As Mary +says, this is a family party. I'm not your sister, and embarrassment +always accompanies an unnatural relation. The common-sense thing to do +is to recognize the relation that does exist. As I intimated at first, +I see no reason why we should not be the best of friends, and then, +imitating the stiff-necked Hebrews, do what seemeth good in our eyes." + +"And these are your terms, Madge?" + +"As far as I have any, yes. I don't insist on anything, but warn you +that I shall follow my eyes, and consult a very wilful little will of +my own." + +"Will your wilful will permit you to accept of a horse that I am +going after in the morning? Dr. Sommers told me about him, and I had +proposed to make him a peace-offering." + +Madge clapped her hands with the delight of a child. + +"Oh, Graydon, that's splendid of you! I've been sighing, 'My kingdom +for a horse,' ever since I came here. But he's no peace-offering. I +forgave you when I saw your headlong plunge into the lake. You went +into it like a man, while I flopped in so awkwardly that all said I +had fallen overboard." + +"Shake hands, then." + +She sprang up and joined hands with him in frank and cordial grasp, +saying, "It's all right now, and Mary and Henry will understand us as +well as we do ourselves." + +"One condition: you will let me ride with you?" + +"When you are disengaged, yes," was her arch reply, "and I'll prove +that on horseback I can be as good a comrade as a man." + +"Well, if something I've dreamt of is true I never saw such acting," +thought Henry Muir. Then he said, quietly, "Madge, how did you find +the child so surely and quickly?" + +"That accounts for my awkwardness somewhat," she replied, laughing. +("How happy she looks!" he thought.) "I never took my eyes from the +spot where I had last seen the child sink, and I had to do everything +as if my head was in a vise. Don't let us talk about it any more." + +"No, nor about anything else," said Mary, rising. "I'm proving a fine +nurse, and am likely to be lectured by the doctor to-morrow. You men +must walk. Here is Madge flushed, feverish, and excited about a horse. +Brain-fever will be the next symptom." + +An hour later Madge was sleeping quietly, but the happy flush and +smile had not left her face. She felt that she had at last scored one +point. Oh, that she could have more time! + +"Jupiter!" muttered Graydon, as he descended the stairs, "her talk +makes a fellow's blood tingle." + +Miss Wildmere had just entered with Arnault, and Graydon asked, "Are +you not going to give me one dance this evening?" + +"Yes, two, if you wish," she replied, sweetly. + +He took her at her word, and was as devoted as ever. He had no thought +of being anything else. Arnault secured the last word, however, +and Graydon made no effort to prevent this. He had accepted the +disagreeable situation, and proposed, although with increasing +reluctance and discontent, to let the girl have a clear field and +manage the affair as she thought wise under the circumstances. He was +too proud to have maintained a jostling and open pursuit with Arnault +in any event, and now, believing that he understood the lady better, +felt that there was no occasion for it He had indicated to her just +where he stood, and just where she could ever find him. When her +diplomacy with Arnault should cease to be essential to her father's +safety, the final words could be spoken. + +He acted on this policy so quietly that she was somewhat troubled, and +feared that Madge might be taking too large a place in his thoughts. +Therefore, when Arnault ventured to make a somewhat humorous reference +to the young girl's appearance, her spite found utterance. "I never +saw such a looking creature in my life. She had the appearance of a +crazy woman, with her hair dishevelled, and her wet, muddy clothes +sticking to her as if glued. She ought at least to have slipped away +when the doctor came. But instead of that she fainted--all put on, I +believe, to attract attention." + +"She perhaps felt that she must put on something," chuckled Arnault. +"The two Muirs looked as if she were too precious and sacred for +mortal gaze." + +"Well," concluded Miss Wildmere, "I like to see a lady who never +forgets herself;" and she was an example of the type. + +"I like to see one lady, whom, having seen, no one can forget," was +his gallant reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +AN OBJECT FOR SYMPATHY + + +Miss Wildmere's indignant virtue was not soothed on the following +morning, when, as she returned from a drive with Arnault, Graydon +galloped up on a superb bay horse, and Madge so far forgot herself +again as to rush to meet him with unaffected pleasure. The champion +of propriety paused in the distance to take an observation, for she +thought she saw a cloud in the sky. + +"What a beauty! what a grand arch of the neck he has! Oh, I'm just +wild to be on him! Don't bribe me with horses, Graydon; I can resist +anything else." + +"I am glad of the information. A volume of thanks would not be worth +half so much." + +"I thought the thanks were in my tone and manner." + +"So I thought, and am more than content; but, Madge, I am troubled +about your riding him. I fear he is a very Satan of a horse." + +"Nonsense! Wait till you see me mounted, and your fears will vanish. +People don't walk at Santa Barbara; they ride; every one rides. If the +horse don't tumble, there'll be no tumbling on my part. Oh, he is such +a splendid fellow! What shall I call him?" + +"Better call him 'Go.' There is more go in him than in any horse I +ever bestrode." + +"All the better. I shall give him another name, however. It will +come to me sometime;" and she patted the proud neck, and fondled +the tossing head, in a way to excite the envy of observers from the +piazza. "Oh, Graydon, what shall I do for a saddle? Do you think there +is one to be had in this region? I'm impatient for a gallop." + +"I telegraphed, early this morning, for equipments; and they should be +here this afternoon." + +"That was considerate kindness itself. You must let me pay for all +this. You know I can." + +"So can I." + +"But there's reason in all things." + +"Therefore, a little in me. Please, Madge, don't make me feel that +I am almost a stranger to you. If we had remained together, I should +have paid out more than this for candy, flowers, and nonsense. I have +yielded everything, haven't I? and, as Mary says, I do wish to feel a +little like one of the family." + +"Well, then," she said, laughing and blushing, "as from one of the +family--" + +"And from your deceased brother," he interrupted. + +She put her finger to her lips. "That's past," she said. "No more +allusions. We began sensibly last night, and I certainly am very +lenient now in taking gifts that I should protest against even from +Henry. I wish to prove to you that I am the Madge of old times as far +as I can be." + +"Rest assured I'm the same fellow, and ever shall be." + +He had dismounted, and they were walking slowly toward the stable. +"Bless me!" cried Madge, "where am I going with no better protection +than a sunshade? I'm always a little off when a horse like that is at +hand. I say, Graydon," she added, in a wheedling tone, "mount and +put him through his paces. I can't resist the fun, no matter what the +dowagers say." + +He vaulted lightly into the saddle, and the horse reared and dashed +toward the stable, but was soon pulled up. Then Graydon made him +prance, curvet, and trot, Madge looking on with parted lips, and eyes +glowing with delicious anticipation. If a close observer had been +present he might have seen that the rider, with his fine easy grace +and mastery, was, after all, the chief attraction. + +She walked back to the house, thinking, "I'll have some bright hours +before the skies grow gray. Oh, kindly fate! prosper Mr. Arnault here +and in Wall Street, too, for all I care." + +"Oh, Mr. Muir, teach me to ride," said Miss Wildmere, when he joined +her in the deserted parlor. "You have such a superb horse! and you sat +on him as if you were a part of him." + +"I will teach you with pleasure," said Graydon. "Nothing would give me +more enjoyment, for I am very fond of riding, and we could explore the +mountain roads far and near." + +"Can I ride your horse?" + +"That was not my horse. He belongs to Miss Alden." + +"Oh, indeed," began Miss Wildmere, hastily, yet coldly; "I wouldn't +think of it, then." + +"She would lend him to you readily, if it were safe; but only an +expert should ride that horse. As it is, I shall run him four or five +miles before I let her mount him. He is awfully high-strung and a +little vicious. I'll get you a quiet, safe lady's horse, suitable for +a beginner. You will soon acquire confidence and skill. I wouldn't +have you incur any risks for all the world." + +"Wouldn't you?" she asked, with a fascinating and incredulous smile. + +"You know well that I would not." + +"I shall scarcely know what I know when I see you galloping away with +Miss Alden." + +"Come, Miss Stella, we may as well get through with that phase of the +question at once. Madge Alden came into our family when I was scarcely +more than a boy, and she but a child. She is still one of the family. +The idea of your being concerned about her makes me smile audibly. I +only wish you girls would be good friends. It would save awkwardness +and embarrassment. Madge is a sister to me in everything but name, and +ever will be. I'm proud of her, as I ought to be, and a distant manner +would be absurd toward a member of our household. Why should I affect +it when I'm truly fond of her jolly good company? Don't you think I am +setting you a good example? I'm patient over your good times with Mr. +Arnault, who is an open suitor." + +"I have not said they were good times." + +"Nor have you said they were not. He evidently enjoys them, and little +wonder. You can make any fellow have a good time without trying. I +don't pretend to understand the necessity of your being so friendly, +or tolerant, or what you will, with him; neither do I pry or question. +My regard for you makes trust imperative. I do trust you as readily as +you should trust me. What else can we do till times are better?" + +"What do you mean by saying, 'till times are better?'" she asked, +in gentle solicitude. "Are you having a hard time in town, like poor +papa?" + +"Oh, bless you! no. I don't suppose Henry is making much. He's the +kind of man to take in sail in times like these. I'm not in the +firm yet, you know, but shall be soon. My foreign department of the +business is all right. I left it snug and safe. Of course, I don't +know much about things on this side of the water yet. Mr. Muir is not +the kind of man to speak to any one about his affairs unless it is +essential, but if anything were amiss he would have told me. I know +the times are dismal, and I am better off on my assured salary than if +in the firm now. No one but 'bears' are making anything." + +"I hope your brother isn't in anxiety, like papa," she said, warmly. + +His quick commercial instinct took alarm, and he asked, "What, have +you heard anything?" + +"Oh, no indeed. Papa says that Mr. Muir is one of the most +conservative of men; but he also says that there is scarcely a chance +now for any honest man, and that investments which once seemed as +solid as these mountains are sinking out of sight. If it wasn't so we +shouldn't be so worried. He wouldn't like it if he knew I was talking +to you in this way; but then I know it will go no further, and +naturally my mind dwells on the subject of his anxieties. What +wouldn't I do to help him!" she concluded, with a fine enthusiasm. + +"I think you are doing a great deal to help him, Stella," he said, +gravely and gently; "and, believe me, it involves no little sacrifice +on my part also." + +"But you have promised to be patient, Graydon." + +"I have, but you cannot think that I like it or approve of the +diplomacy you are compelled to practice, even though your motive be +unselfish and filial. I don't think you ought to be placed in such a +position, and would that it were in my power to relieve you from it!" + +Tears of self-commiseration came into her eyes, and they appeared to +him exceedingly pathetic. She made as if she would speak but could +not, then retreated hastily to her room. Once in seclusion she dashed +the drops away, her eyes glittered with anger, and she stamped her +foot on the floor and muttered: "It is indeed an abominable position. +I might accept Graydon any day, any hour, now, and dare not. Yet if +he gets an inkling of my real attitude he'll be off forever. He is as +proud as Lucifer about some things, and would be quick as a flash +if his suspicions were aroused. Even the belief that I am humoring +Arnault for papa's sake tests his loyalty greatly. If I have to refuse +him at last I shall be placed in an odious light. The idiots! why +can't they find out whether Henry Muir is going to fail or not! That +horrid Madge Alden is not his sister, and knows it, and she is gaining +time to make impressions. I know how she felt years ago, when she was +a perfect spook. I don't believe she's changed. With all her impulsive +ways she's as deep as perdition, and she'd flirt with him to spite +me, if nothing more. Papa said last night that I had better accept +Arnault. I won't accept him till I must, and he'll rue his success if +he wins it." Then the mirror reflected a lovely creature dissolved in +tears. + +Again she soliloquized: "I can't accept a horse from Graydon; Arnault +would never submit to it. The receiving of such a present would +compromise me at once. It does not matter so much what I say or look +in private; this proves nothing to the world, and I see more and more +clearly that Arnault will not permit his pride to be humiliated. He +will endure what he calls a fair, open suit philosophically, but the +expression of his eyes makes me shiver sometimes. Was ever a girl +placed in such a mean and horrible position! I won't endure this +shilly-shally much longer. If they can't prove something more definite +against the Muirs, I'll accept Graydon. Papa is just horrid! Why can't +he make more in Wall Street? There must be ways, and any way is as +respectable as the one I may be compelled to take. Well, if I do have +to accept Arnault I'll make Graydon think that I had to do so for +papa's sake, and we'll become good friends again before long. Perhaps +this would be the best way in the end, for papa looked wildly, and +spoke of a tenement-house last night. Tenement! Great heavens! I'd +sooner die." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"VEILED WOOING" + + +"Graydon, when do you think I can have my first ride?" Madge asked at +dinner, with sparkling eyes. + +"At about five this afternoon. I have found a saddle that I can borrow +in case yours does not come till the late train." + +"Oh, I'm so glad that I've lost my appetite! You can't know how much +a horse means to me. It was after I began to ride that I grew strong +enough to hope." + +"Why, Madge, were you so discouraged as that?" he asked, feelingly. + +"I had reason to be discouraged," she replied, in a low tone. Then she +threw back her head, proudly. "You men little know," she continued, +half defiantly. "You think weakness one of our prerogatives, and like +us almost the better for it. We are meekly to accept our fate, and +from soft couches lift our languid eyes in pious resignation. I won't +do it; and when a powerful horse is beneath me, carrying me like the +wind, I feel that his strength is mine, and that I need not succumb to +feminine imbecility or helplessness in any form." + +"Brava, Madge!" cried Henry Muir. + +"You were born a knight," added Graydon, "and have already made more +and better conquests than many celebrated in prose and poetry." + +"Oh, no," cried Madge, lifting her eyebrows in comic distress. "I was +born a woman to my finger-tips, and never could conquer even myself. I +have an awful temper. Graydon, you have already found that out." + +"I have found that I had better accept just what you please to be, +and fully admit your right to be just what you please," he answered, +ruefully. + +"What a lovely and reasonable frame of mind!" Mrs. Muir remarked. +"Truly, Miss Wildmere is to be congratulated. You have only to stick +to such a disposition, and peace will last longer than the moon." + +"Oh, Miss Wildmere will prove a rose without a thorn," Madge added, +laughing, while under Mr. Muir's eye her face paled perceptibly. +"There will never be anything problematical in her single-minded +devotion. She has been well and discreetly brought up, and finished +by the best society, while poor me!--I had to fly in the face of fate +like a virago, and scramble up the best I could in Western wilds. Oh, +well, Graydon, don't be alarmed. I'll be a good fellow if you'll take +me out riding occasionally." + +He began to laugh, and she continued: "I saw you frown when I began +my wicked speech. We'll tick off tabooed subjects, and make an _index +expurgatorius_, and then we'll get on famously." + +"No need of that," he said. "As far as _I_ am concerned, please +consider _me_ fair game." + +"Consider you fair game?" she said, with her head archly on one side. +"That would be arrant poaching. Don't fear, Graydon, I shall never +regard any man as game, not even if I should become a fat dowager with +a bevy of plain daughters and a dull market." + +Grave and silent Mr. Muir leaned back in his chair and laughed so +heartily that he attracted attention at the Wildmere table across the +room. + +"That man doesn't act as if on the brink of failure," thought Miss +Wildmere. "It's all a conspiracy of Arnault with papa." + +"You are making game of me in one sense very successfully," Graydon +admitted, laughing a little uneasily. + +"Oh, in that sense, all men are legitimate game, and I shall chaff as +many as possible, out of spite that I was not a man." + +"You would make a good one--you are so devoid of sentiment and so +independent." + +"And yet within a week I think a certain gentleman was inclined to +think me sentimental, aesthetic, intense, a victim of ideals and +devotional rhapsodies." + +"Oh, ye gods! Here, waiter, bring me my dessert, and let me escape," +cried Graydon. + +"Did you say I was to be ready at five?" she asked, sweetly. + +"Yes, and bring down articles of a truce, and we'll sign them in red +ink." + +An hour later she heard the gallop of a horse, and saw him riding +away. "She shan't mount the animal," he had thought, "till I learn +more about him and give him all the running he wants to-day. She has +a heavy enough score against me as it is, and I'll not employ another +brute to make things worse." + +He learned more fully what he had discovered before, that she would +have her hands full in managing the horse, and he gave him a run that +covered him with foam and tested his breathing. At four he galloped +back to the station to see if the saddle had arrived, but found that +even his skill and strength were not sufficient to make the animal +approach the engine. Shouting to the baggage-man to bring the expected +articles to the stable, he was soon there and made another experiment. +A hostler brought him a blanket, which he strapped around his waist, +and mounted again in a lady's style. It was at once evident that the +horse had never been ridden by a woman. He reared, kicked, and plunged +around frightfully, and Graydon had to clutch the mane often to keep +his seat. Madge had speedily joined him, and looked with absorbed +interest, at times laughing, and again imploring Graydon to dismount. +This he at last he did, the perspiration pouring from his face. +Resigning the trembling and wearied horse to a stable-boy, he came +toward the young girl, mopping his brow and exclaiming: "It will never +do at all. He is ugly as sin. No woman should ride him, not even a +squaw." + +"Bah, Graydon! he did not throw you, although he had you at every +disadvantage. I'm not in the least afraid. Has the saddle come?" + +"Yes; but I protest, Madge. Here, Dr. Sommers" (who was approaching), +"lay your commands on this rash girl." + +"If Dr. Sommers says I'm rash he doesn't understand my case, and I +refuse to employ him," cried Madge. Then she added, sweetly: "If +I break any bones, doctor, I'll be your very humble and obedient +servant. It's half-past four, and I'll be ready as soon as you are, +Graydon. No backing out. You might as well warn me against the peril +of a rocking-chair;" and she went to put on her habit. + +"Heaven help us!" said Graydon to the doctor. "We're in a scrape. +She's so resolute that I believe she would go alone. What would you +do? Hang it all! the people of the house have got an inkling of what's +up; some are gathering near, and the windows are full of heads." + +"Put the saddle on one of the quiet livery horses, and you ride this +brute," said the doctor. + +"You don't know her. She wouldn't stand that at all." + +"Then give her her head. After yesterday I believe she can do what +she undertakes. You have tired the horse out pretty thoroughly, and I +guess she'll manage him." + +Leaving orders to have Madge's horse sponged off and dried, and the +best animal in the stable prepared for himself, he said, "Well then, +doctor, be on hand to repair damages," and went to his room to change +his dress. + +The doctor did more. He saw that Madge's horse was saddled carefully, +meanwhile admiring the beautiful equipment that Graydon had ordered. +He also insured that Graydon had a good mount. + +When at last the young man tapped at Madge's door she came out looking +most beautiful in her close-fitting habit and low beaver, with its +drooping feather. Mary followed her, protesting and half crying, and +Mr. Muir looked very grave. + +"Madge," said Graydon, earnestly, "I should never forgive myself if +any harm came to you. That horse is not fit for you to ride." + +"Good people, see here," said Madge, turning upon them; "I am not a +reckless child, nor am I making a rash experiment. Even if I did not +fear broken bones, do you think I would give you needless anxiety? +Graydon has kindly obtained for me a fine horse, and I must make a +beginning to show you and him that I can ride. If Mr. and Mrs. Wayland +were here they would laugh at you. Don't come out to see me off, Mary. +Others would follow, and I don't want to be conspicuous. I do wish +people would mind their own business." + +"No danger of my coming out. I don't want to see you break your neck," +cried Mary, re-entering her room. + +"You must let me go, Madge," said Mr. Muir, firmly. "I may have to +interpose my authority." + +"Yes, do come, for Heaven's sake!" said Graydon. + +"Very well," laughed Madge. "If I once get on, you and the horse may +both find it hard to get me off. Where are the horses?" she asked, +upon reaching the door. + +"You must yield one point and mount near the stable," said Graydon, +resolutely. + +"Oh, certainly, I'll yield everything except my ride." + +Madge's horse stood pawing the ground, showing how obdurate and +untamable was his spirit. She exclaimed at the beauty of the saddle +and its housings, and said, "Thank you, Graydon," so charmingly that +he anathematized himself for giving her a brute instead of a horse. "I +should have satisfied myself better about him," he thought, "and have +looked further." + +In a moment she had the animal by the head, and was patting his neck, +while he turned an eye of fire down upon her, and showed no relenting +in his chafed and excited mood. Graydon meanwhile examined everything +carefully, and saw that the bridle had a powerful curb. + +"Well," said he, ruefully, "if you will, you will." + +"Yes; in no other way can I satisfy you," was her quiet reply. + +"Let us get away, then; spectators are gathering. You should be able +to hold him with this rein. Come." + +She put her foot in his hand, and was mounted in a second, the reins +well in hand. The horse reared, but a sharp downward pull to the right +brought him to his feet again. Then he plunged and kicked, but she sat +as if a part of him, meanwhile speaking to him in firm, gentle tones. +His next unexpected freak was to run backward in a way that sent the +neighboring group flying. Instantly Madge gave him a stinging blow +over the hind quarters, and he fairly sprang into the air. + +"Get off, Madge," cried Mr. Muir, authoritatively, but the horse was +speeding down the road toward the house, and Graydon, who had looked +on breathlessly, followed. Before they reached the hotel she had +brought him up with the powerful curb, and prancing, curvetting, +straining side-wise first in one direction, then in the other, +meanwhile trembling half with anger, half with terror, the mastered +brute passed the piazza with its admiring groups. Graydon was at her +side. He did not see Miss Wildmere frowning with vexation and envy, +or Arnault's complacent observance. With sternly compressed lips and +steady eye he watched Madge, that, whatever emergency occurred, he +might do all that was possible. The young girl herself was a presence +not soon to be forgotten. Her lips were slightly parted, her eye +glowing with a joyous sense of power, and her pose, flexible to the +eccentric motions of the horse, grace itself. They passed on down the +winding carriage-drive, out upon the main street, and then she turned, +waved her handkerchief to Mr. Muir, and with her companion galloped +away. + +Several of Mr. Muir's acquaintances came forward, offering +congratulations, which he accepted with his quiet smile, and then went +up to reassure his wife, who, in spite of her words to the contrary, +had kept her eyes fastened upon Madge as long as she was in sight. + +"Well," she exclaimed, "did you ever see anything equal to that?" + +"No," said her husband, "but I have seen nothing wonderful or +unnatural; she did not do a thing that she had not been trained and +taught to do, and all her acts were familiar by much usage." + +"I think she's a prodigy," exclaimed Mrs. Muir. + +"Nothing of the kind. She is a handsome girl, with good abilities, +who has had the sense to make the most and best of herself instead of +dawdling." + +After an easy gallop of a mile, in which Madge showed complete power +to keep her horse from breaking into a mad run, she drew rein and +looked at Graydon with a smile. He took off his hat and bowed, +laughingly. + +"Oh, Graydon," she said, "it was nice of you to let me have my own +way!" + +"I didn't do it very graciously. I have seldom been more worried in my +life." + +"I'm glad you were a little worried," she said. "It recalls your look +and tone at the time of our parting, when you said, 'Oh, Madge, do get +well and strong!' Haven't I complied with your wish?" + +"Had my wish anything to do with your compliance?" + +"Why not?" + +"What an idiot I've been! I fear I have been misjudging you absurdly. +I've had no end of ridiculous thoughts and theories about you." + +"Indeed! Apparently I had slight place in your thoughts at all, but I +made great allowances for a man in your condition." + +"That was kind, but you were mistaken. Why, Madge, we were almost +brought up together, and I couldn't reconcile the past and the +present. The years you spent in the far West, and their result, are +more wonderful than a fairytale. I wish you would tell me about them." + +"I will. Friends should be reasonably frank. What's more, I wish to +show you how natural and probable the result, as you call it, has +been. Your wondering perplexity vexes me. You know what I was when we +parted." + +"No, I don't believe I do, or you couldn't be what you are now." + +"Well, I can tell you: I had weak lungs, a weak body, and a weak, +uncultured mind. I was weak in all respects, but I discovered that I +had a will, and I had sense enough, as Henry says, to know that if I +was ever going to be more than a ghost it was time I set about it. I +knew of Mrs. Wayland's restoration to health in the climate of Santa +Barbara, and I determined to try it myself. I couldn't have had better +friends or advantages than the place afforded. But oh, Graydon, I was +so weak and used up when I reached there that I could scarcely do more +than breathe. But I had made up my mind either to get well or to die. +I rested for days, until I could make a beginning, and then, one step +at a time, as it were, I went forward. Take two things that you have +seen me do, for example. One can bathe in the sea at Santa Barbara +almost throughout the year. At first I was as timid as a child, +and scarcely dared to wet my feet; but Mr. Wayland was a sensible +instructor, and led me step by step. The water was usually still, and +I gradually acquired the absolute confidence of one who can swim, and +swims almost every day. So with a horse. I could hardly sit on one +that was standing still, I was so weak and frightened; but with muscle +and health came stronger nerves and higher courage. After a few months +I thought nothing of a ten-mile gallop on the beach or out to the +canons. I took up music in the same way, and had a thoroughly good +teacher. He did the best he could for me, which wasn't so very much. I +never could become a scientist in anything, but I was determined to be +no sham within my limitations. I have tried to do some things as well +as I could and let the rest go. Now you see how easily I can explain +myself, and I only seem wonderful because of contrast with what I +was." + +"But where do I come in?" he asked, eagerly. + +"Did you not say, 'Please get well and strong?' I thought it would +gratify you and Mary and Henry. You used to call me a ghost, and I +did not want to be a ghost any longer. I saw that you enjoyed your +vigorous life fully, and felt that I might enjoy life also; and as I +grew strong I did enjoy everything more and more. Two things besides, +and I can say, 'All present or accounted for.' Mr. Wayland is a +student, and has a splendid library. He coached me--that was your old +college jargon--on books, and Mrs. Wayland coached me on society. So +here I am, weighing a hundred and twenty pounds, more or less, and +ready for another gallop;" and away she went, the embodiment of +beautiful life. + +"One more question, Madge," he said, as they slackened pace again. +"Why wouldn't you write to me oftener?" + +"I don't like to write letters. Mine to Mary were scarcely more than +notes. Ask her. Are you satisfied now? Am I a sphinx--a conundrum--any +longer?" + +"No; and at last I am more than content that you are not little +Madge." + +"Why, this is famous, as Dr. Sommers says. When was a man ever known +to change his mind before?" + +"I've changed mine so often of late that I'm fairly dizzy. You are +setting me straight at last." + +Madge laughed outright, and after a moment said, "Now account for +yourself. What places did you visit abroad?" + +He began to tell her, and she to ask questions that surprised him, +showing that she had some idea of even the topography and color of +the region, and a better knowledge of the history and antiquities +than himself. At last he expressed his wonder. "What nonsense!" she +exclaimed. "You don't remember the little I did write you. As I said +before, did you not at my request--very kindly and liberally, too, +Graydon--send me books about the places you expected to see? A child +could have read them and so have gained the information that surprises +you." + +They talked on, one thing leading to another, until he had a conscious +glow of mental excitement. She knew so much that he knew, only in +a different way, and her thoughts came rippling forth in piquant, +musical words. Her eyes were so often full of laughter that he saw +that she was happy, and he remembered after their return that she had +not said an ill-natured word about any one. It was another of their +old-time, breezy talks, only larger, fuller, complete with her rich +womanhood. He found himself alive in every fibre of his body and +faculty of his mind. + +As they turned homeward the evening shadows were gathering, and at +last the dusky twilight passed into a soft radiance under the rays of +the full-orbed moon. + +"Oh, don't let us hasten home," pleaded poor Madge, who felt that this +might be her only chance to throw about him the gossamer threads which +would draw the cord and cable that could bind him to her. "What is +supper to the witchery of such a night as this?" + +"What would anything be to the witchery of such a girl as this, if +one were not fortified?" he thought. "This is not the comradeship of +a good fellow, as she promised. It is the society of a charming woman, +who is feminine in even her thoughts and modes of expression--who is +often strangely, bewilderingly beautiful in this changing light. When +we pass under the shadow of a tree her eyes shine like stars; when the +rays of the moon are full upon her face it is almost as pure and white +as when it was illumined by the electric flash. Did I not love another +woman, I could easily imagine myself learning to love her. Confound +it! I wish Stella had more of Madge's simple loftiness of character. +She would compel different business methods in her father. She would +work for him, suffer for him, but would not play diplomat. I like that +Arnault business to-night less than ever." + +Mr. and Mrs. Muir were anxiously awaiting them on the piazza as they +trotted smartly up the avenue. "It's all right," cried Graydon. +"The horse has learned to know his mistress, and will give no more +trouble." + +"I wish you had as much sense," growled Muir, in his mustache; then +added, aloud, "Come to supper. Mary could not eat anything till +assured of your safety." + +"Yes, Henry, I won't keep you waiting a moment, but go in with my +habit on. I suppose the rest are all through, and I'm as ravenous as a +wolf." + +They were soon having the merriest little supper, full of laughing +reminiscence, and Henry rubbed his hands under the table as he +thought, "Arnault is off mooning with the speculator, and Graydon +doesn't look as if the green-eyed monster had much of a grip upon +him." + +Miss Wildmere's solicitude would not permit her to prolong her walk +with Arnault, and she returned to the parlor comparatively early in +the evening. She found Graydon awaiting her, and he was as quietly +devoted as ever. She looked at him a little questioningly, but he met +her eyes with his quiet and assured look. When she danced with Arnault +and other gentlemen he sought a partner in Madge or some other lady; +and once, while they were walking on the piazza, and Miss Wildmere +said, "You must have enjoyed yourself immensely with Miss Alden to +have been out so long," he replied, "I did. I hope you passed your +time as agreeably." + +She saw that her relations with Arnault gave him an advantage and a +freedom which he proposed to use--that she had no ground on which to +find fault--and that he was too proud to permit censure for a course +less open to criticism than her own. + +Before she slept she thought long and deeply, at last concluding that +perhaps affairs were taking the right turn for her purpose. Graydon +was tolerating as a disagreeable necessity what he regarded as her +filial diplomacy with Arnault. He was loyally and quietly waiting +until this necessity should cease, and was so doing because he +supposed it to be her wish. If she could keep him in just this +attitude it would leave her less embarrassed, give her more time, than +if he were an ardent and jealous suitor. She was scarcely capable of +love, but she admired him more than ever each day. She saw that he was +the superior of Arnault in every way, and was so recognized by all in +the house; therefore one of her strongest traits--vanity--was enlisted +in his behalf. She saw, also, that he represented a higher type of +manhood than she had been accustomed to, and she was beginning to +stand in awe of him also, but for reasons differing widely from those +which caused her fear of Arnault. She dreaded the latter's pride, the +resolute selfishness of his scheme of life, which would lead him to +drop her should she interfere with it. She was learning to dread +even more Graydon's high-toned sense of honor, the final decisions he +reached from motives which had slight influence with her. What if she +should permit both men to slip from her grasp, while she hesitated? +She fairly turned cold with horror at the thought of this and of the +poverty which might result. + +Thus, from widely differing motives, two girls were sighing for time; +and Graydon Muir, strong, confident, proud of his knowledge of society +and ability to take care of himself, was walking blindly on, the +victim of one woman's guile, the object of another woman's pure, +unselfish love, and liable at any hour to be blasted for life by the +fulfilment of his hope and the consummation of his happiness. + +Sweet Madge Alden, hiding your infinite treasure, deceiving all and +yet so true, may you have time! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SUGGESTIVE TONES + + +Miss Wildmere had promised to drive with Graydon on the following +morning, but Madge felt as if heaven had interfered in her behalf, for +the skies were clouded, and the rain fell unceasingly. People were at +a loss to beguile the hours. Graydon, Miss Wildmere, and Mr. Arnault +played pool together, while Mr. Muir, his wife, and Madge bowled for +an hour, the last winning most of the games. Mr. Arnault had a certain +rude sense of fair play, and it appeared to him that Graydon's course +had become all that he could ask--more than he could naturally expect. +The lady was apparently left wholly free to make her choice between +them, and all protest, even by manner, against her companionship with +him had ceased. He could drive, walk, or dance with her at his will; +then Graydon would quietly put in an appearance and make the most of +his opportunity. Arnault was not deceived, however. He knew that +his present rival was the most dangerous one that he had ever +encountered--that Stella might accept him at any time and was much +inclined to do so speedily. Indeed, he was about driven to the belief +that she would do so at once but for the fear that the Muirs were +in financial peril. He hoped that this fear and the pressure of her +father's need might lead her to decide in his favor, without the +necessity of his being the immediate and active agent in breaking down +the Muirs. As a business man, he shrunk from this course, and all the +more because Graydon was acting so fairly. Nevertheless, he would play +his principal card if he must. It was his nature to win in every game +of life, and it had become a passion with him to secure the beautiful +girl that he had sought so long and vainly. If it could appear to the +world that he had fairly won her, he would not scruple at anything in +the accomplishment of his purpose, and would feel that he had scored +the most brilliant success in his life. If he could do this without +ruining them, he would be glad, and his good-will was enhanced by +Graydon's course this morning. The former had sauntered into the +billiard-room, but, seeing Graydon with Miss Wildmere, had been about +to depart, when Muir had said, cordially, "Come, Arnault, take a cue +with us," and had quite disarmed him by frank courtesy. + +At last the sound of music and laughter lured them to the main hall, +and there they found Madge surrounded by children and young people, +little Nellie Wilder clinging to her side the most closely, with Mr. +and Mrs. Wilder looking at the young girl with a world of grateful +good-will in their eyes. + +"Oh, Miss Alden, sing us another song," clamored a dozen voices. + +"Yes," cried Jennie Muir; "the funny one you sang for us in the +woods." + +Madge smilingly complied, and the children fairly danced in their +delight at the comical strains, abrupt pauses, droll sentiment, +and interlarded words of explanation. The more elderly guests were +attracted, and the audience grew apace. Having finished her little +musical comedy, Madge arose, and Mr. Arnault, aware of Stella +Wildmere's ability to sing selections from opera, said, "Since the +children have been so well entertained, I suggest that we who have the +misfortune to be grown have our turn, and that Miss Wildmere give us +some grown-up music." + +Madge flushed slightly, and Miss Wildmere, after a little charming +hesitation, seated herself at the piano, and sang almost faultlessly +a selection from an opera. It was evident that she had been well +and carefully trained, and that within her limitations, which she +thoughtfully remembered, she gave little occasion for criticism. Both +her suitors were delighted. They applauded so heartily, and urged +so earnestly with others, that she sang again and again, to the +unaffected pleasure of the throng who had now gathered. At last she +pleaded fatigue, and rose from the instrument, flushing proudly amid +vociferous encores. Graydon was about to ask Madge to sing again, when +an old gentleman who had listened to the children's ditties, and had +detected unusual sweetness and power in Madge's tones, said, promptly, +"I may be mistaken, but I have an impression that Miss Alden can give +us some grown-up music, if she will." + +Instantly his suggestion was seconded by general entreaty, in which +not only Graydon joined from sincere good-will, but also Mr. Arnault, +in the hope of giving Stella a triumph, for he believed that the best +her social rival could do would be to render some ballad fairly well. + +Madge's brow contracted, as though she were irresolute and troubled. + +"Truly, Miss Alden," said Stella, who was standing near, "I have done +my part to beguile the dismal day; I think you might favor us, also. +There are no critics here, I hope. We should enjoy a simple song if +you cannot now recall anything else." + +"Very well, then, I will give you a little German song that my old +teacher loved well;" but Graydon saw the same slight flush and a +resolute expression take the place of her hesitancy. + +After a brief prelude, which, to his trained ear, revealed her perfect +touch, her voice rose with a sweet, resonant power that held those +near spellbound, and swelled in volume until people in distant parts +of the house paused and listened as if held by a viewless hand. +Connoisseurs felt that they were listening to an artist and not an +amateur; plain men and women, and the children, knew simply that +they were enjoying music that entranced them, that set their nerves +thrilling and vibrating. Madge hoped only that her voice might +penetrate the barriers between herself and one man's heart. She did +not desire to sing on the present occasion. She did not wish to annoy +him by the contrast between her song and Miss Wildmere's performance, +feeling that he would naturally take sides in his thoughts with the +woman outvied; nor had she any desire to inflict upon her rival the +disparagement that must follow; but something in Miss Wildmere's +self-satisfied and patronizing tone had touched her quick spirit, and +the arrogant girl should receive the lesson she had invited. But, as +Madge sang, the noble art soon lifted her above all lower thoughts, +and she forgot everything but Graydon and the hope of her heart. She +sang for him alone, as she had learned to sing for him alone. + +In spite of her explanations he looked at her with the same old wonder +and perplexity of which he had been conscious from the first. If she +had merely sung with correctness and taste, like Miss Wildmere, there +would have been nothing to disturb his complacent admiration; but now +he almost felt like springing to her side with the words, "What is it, +Madge? Tell me all." + +As the last lovely notes ceased, only the unthinking children +applauded. From the others there was entreaty. + +"Please sing again, Miss Alden," said the gentleman who had first +asked her. "I am an old man, and can't hope for many more such rich +pleasures. I am not an amateur, and know only the music that reaches +my heart." + +"Sing something from 'Lohengrin,' Madge," said Henry Muir, quietly. +She glanced at him, and there was a humorous twinkle in his eyes. + +Herr Brachmann had trained her thoroughly in some of Wagner's +difficult music, and she gave them a selection which so far surpassed +the easy melodies of Verdi, which Miss Wildmere had sung, that the +latter sat pale and incensed, yet not daring to show her chagrin. This +music was received with unbounded applause, and then a little voice +piped, "The big folks have had more'n their turn; now give us a +reg'lar Mother Goose." + +This request was received with acclamations, and soon ripples of +laughter broke over the crowd in all directions, and then one of the +adoring boys who were usually worshipping near cried out, "A reel, +Miss Alden, a reel, and let us finish up with a high old dance before +dinner." + +Graydon seized Miss Wildmere's hand, boys made profound bows to their +mothers, husbands dragged their protesting wives out upon the floor. +Soon nearly all ages and heights were in the two long lines, many feet +already keeping time to Madge's rollicking strains. Never had such +a dance been known before in the house, for the very genius and +inspiration of mirth seemed to be in the piano. The people were +laughing half the time at the odd medley of tunes and improvisations +that Madge invoked, and gray-bearded men indulged in some of the +antics that they had thought forgotten a quarter of a century before. +As the last couple at the head of the lines was glancing down the +archway of raised and clasped hands, the lively strains ceased, and +the dancers swarmed out, with thanks and congratulations upon their +lips, only to see Madge flying up the stairway. + +"Madge," said Graydon, at dinner, "I suppose you will tell me you have +practiced over and over again every note you sang this morning." + +"Certainly; some of the more difficult ones hours and hours and +months and months. Herr Brachmann was an amiable dragon in music, and +insisted on your knowing what you did know." + +"I thought you would say all this, but it doesn't account for your +singing." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I don't know exactly. There is something you did not get from +Herr Brachmann--scarcely from nature. It suggests what artists call +feeling, and more." + +"Oh, every one has his own method," said Madge, carelessly, and yet +with a visible increase of color. + +"'Method,' do you call it? I'm half inclined to think that it might +be akin to madness were you very unhappy. The human voice often has +a strange power over me, and I have a theory that it may reveal +character more than people imagine. Why shouldn't it? It is the +chief medium of our expression, and we may even unconsciously reveal +ourselves in our tones." + +"When were you so fanciful before? What does a professional reveal?" + +"Chiefly that she is a trained professional, and yet even the most +blase among them give hints as to the compass of their woman-nature. +I think their characters are often suggested quite definitely by their +tones. Indeed, I even find myself judging people by their voices. +Henry's tones indicate many of his chief traits accurately--as, for +instance, self-reliance, reserve, quiet and unswerving purpose." + +"Well," asked Mrs. Muir, who was a little obtuse on delicate points, +"what did Miss Wildmere's tones indicate?" + +Graydon was slightly taken aback, and suddenly found that he did not +like his theory so well as he had thought. "Miss Wildmere's tones," he +began, hesitatingly, "suggested this morning little more than a +desire to render well the music she sang, and to give pleasure to her +listeners." + +"I thought they suggested some self-complacency, which was lost before +the morning was over," added Mr. Muir, dryly. + +"Miss Wildmere sang admirably," exclaimed Madge, warmly, "and could +sing much better if she had been trained in a better method and gave +more time to the art. I sang hours every day for nearly two years. +Nothing will take the place of practice, Graydon. One must develop +voice like muscle." + +"You are a generous, sensible critic, Madge," he said, quietly, +although there was a flush of resentment on his face at his brother's +words. "In the main you are right, but I still hold to my theory. +At least, I believe that in all great music there is a subtle +individuality and _motif_. Love may be blind, but it is not deaf. Miss +Wildmere gave us good music, not great music." + +Mr. Muir began talking about the weather as if it were the only +subject in his mind, and soon afterward Madge went to her room with +bowed head and downcast heart. + +"I have no chance," she sighed. "He loves her, and that ends all. He +is loyal to her, and will be loyal, even though she breaks his heart +eventually, as I fear. It's his nature." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DISHEARTENING CONFIDENCES + + +Under a renewed impulse of loyalty Graydon intercepted Miss Wildmere +as she was going to her room, and said: "The clouds in the west are +all breaking away--they ever do, you know, if one has patience. We can +still have our drive and enjoy it all the more from hope deferred." + +"I'm so sorry," she began, in some embarrassment. "Of course I +couldn't know last night that it would rain in the morning, and so +promised Mr. Arnault this afternoon." + +"It seems as if it would ever be hope deferred to me, Miss Wildmere," +he said, gravely. + +"But, Graydon, you must see how it is--" + +"No, I don't see, but I yield, as usual." + +"I promise you Sunday afternoon or the first clear day," she +exclaimed, eagerly. + +"Very well," he replied, brightening. "Remember I shall be a Shylock +with this bond." But he was irritated, nevertheless, and went out on +the piazza to try the soothing influence of a cigar. + +The skies cleared rapidly. So did his brow; and before long he +muttered: "I'll console myself by another gallop with Madge. There +goes my inamorata, smiling upon another fellow. How long is this going +to last? Not all summer, by Jupiter! Her father must not insist on her +playing that game too long, even though she does play it so well." + +Madge was sitting in her room in dreary apathy and spiritless reaction +from the strain of the morning, when she was aroused by a knock on her +door. "Madge," called a voice that sent the blood to her face, "what +say you to another ride? I know the roads are muddy, but--" + +"But I'll go with you," she cried. "Why use adversatives in the same +breath with 'ride'? The mud's nothing. What won't rub off can stay on. +How soon shall I be ready?" + +"That's a good live girl. In half an hour." + +When they were a mile or two away Madge asked, as if with sudden +compunction, "Graydon, are you sure you were disengaged?" + +He laughed outright. "That question comes much too late," he said. + +She braced herself as if to receive a deadly blow, and was pale and +rigid with the effort as she asked, with an air of curiosity merely, +"Are you truly engaged to Miss Wildmere, Graydon?" + +"In one sense I am, Madge," he replied, gravely. "I have given her my +loyalty, and, to a certain extent, my word; but I have not bound her. +Since you have proved so true and generous a friend to me I do not +hesitate to let you know the truth. I am sorry you do not like her +altogether, and that you have some cause for your feeling; but you are +both right at heart. She spoke most enthusiastically of your rescue +of the child. You ladies amuse me with your emphasis of little piques; +but when it comes to anything large or fine you do justice to one +another. Henry had no right to say what he did at dinner, for Stella +applauded you as you had her; but Henry's prejudices are inveterate. +Why should I not be loyal to her, Madge? I believe she remained free +for my sake during the years of my absence." + +"I think your feelings are very natural. They are what I should expect +of you. You have always seemed to me the soul of honor when once you +obtain your bearings," she added, with a wan smile. + +"How pale you are, Madge!" he said, anxiously. + +"I am not feeling very well to-day, and then I am suffering from the +reaction of this morning. I never can get over my old timidity and +dislike to do anything in public. I can do what I will, but it +often costs me dear. I was led on unexpectedly this morning. I only +anticipated singing a ditty for the children when I first went to the +piano at their request." + +"I saw that, Madge. Any other woman with your power of song would have +made it known long before this." + +"And, believe me, Graydon, I did not want to sing in rivalry with Miss +Wildmere. I'm sorry I did." + +"I saw that too," he replied, laughing. "Stella drew that little +experience down upon herself." + +"I'm sorry now that I sang," she said, in a low tone. "I didn't want +to do anything to hurt the feelings of so good a friend as you are." + +"You didn't hurt my feelings in the least. Just the contrary. You +gave much pleasure, and made me all the more proud of you. It will do +Stella no harm to have her self-complacency jostled a little. Slight +wonder that her head is somewhat giddy from the immense amount of +attention she has received. I'm not perfect, Madge; why should I +demand perfection? It's delightful to be talking in this way--like +old times. I used to talk to you about Stella years ago. If I have the +substance I can forego the shadow, and I do feel that I can say to you +all that I could to a sensible and loving sister. Believe me, Madge, +I can never get over my old feeling for you, and I'm just as proud +of you as if your name was Madge Muir. I think your brave effort and +achievement at Santa Barbara simply magnificent. You have long had +the affection that I would give to a sister, and now that I understand +you, I feel for you all the respect that I could give to any woman." + +"Those are kind, generous words, Graydon. I knew that you +misunderstood me, and I was only provoked at you, not angry." + +"You had good reason to be provoked and much more. If you and Stella +understood each other in the same way, and--well--if she were only +out of that atmosphere in which she has been brought up, I could ask +nothing more." + +"What atmosphere?" + +"Wall Street atmosphere transferred to the domestic and social circle. +You have too much delicacy, Madge, to refer to what I know puzzles +you, and I admit that I do not fully understand it all, though I +know Stella's motive clearly enough. Her motive is worthy of all +commendation, but not her method. She is not so much to blame for this +as her father, and perhaps her mother, who appears a weak, spiritless +woman, a faint echo of her husband. It is here that the infernal Wall +Street atmosphere comes in that she has breathed all her life. Does it +not puzzle you, in view of my relations to her, that she should be out +driving with Arnault?" + +"Yes, Graydon, it does." + +"Well, Arnault is a money-lender, and I am satisfied that in some way +he has her father in his power. Many of these brokers are like cats. +They will hold on to anything by one nail, and the first thing you +know they are on their feet again all right. As soon as Wildmere makes +a lucky strike in the stock-market he will extricate himself and his +daughter at the same time. Of course these things are not formulated +in words, in a cold-blooded way, I suppose. Arnault has long been a +suitor that would take no rebuff. I am satisfied that she has +refused him more than once, but he simply persists, and gives her +to understand that he will take his chances. This was the state of +affairs when I came home, and she, no doubt, feels that if she can +save her father, and keep a home for her mother and the little one, +she ought to retain her hold on Arnault. After all, it is not so bad. +Many women marry for money outright, and all poor Stella proposes is +to be complaisant toward a man who would not continue his business +support to one whose daughter had just refused him." + +Madge was silent. + +"You wouldn't do such a thing, I suppose." + +"I couldn't, Graydon," she said, simply. "If I should ever love a man +I think I could suffer a great deal for his sake, but there are some +things I couldn't do." + +"I thought you would feel so." + +"Why don't you help her father out?" Madge faltered. + +"I don't think I have sufficient means. I have never been over-thrifty +in saving, and have not laid by many thousands. I have merely a +good salary and very good prospects. You can't imagine how slow and +conservative Henry is. In business matters he treats me just as if +I were a stranger, and I must prove myself worthy of trust at every +point, and by long apprenticeship, before he will give me a voice in +affairs. He says coming forward too fast is the ruination of young +men in our day. Nothing would tempt him to have dealings with Mr. +Wildmere, and I couldn't damage myself more than by any transactions +on my own account. But even if I were rich I wouldn't interfere. I +don't like her father any better than Henry does, and if I began in +this way it would make a bad precedent. What's more, I won't introduce +money influences into an affair of this kind. If it comes to the +point, Stella must decide for me, ignoring all other considerations. +If she does, I won't permit her family to suffer, but I propose to +know that she chooses me absolutely in spite of everything. I am also +resolved that she shall be separated from her family as far as is +right, for there is a tone about them that I don't like." + +"I thank you for your confidence, Graydon," said Madge, quietly. "You +are acting just as I should suppose you would. No one in the world +wishes you happiness more earnestly than I do. Come, let us take this +level place like the wind." + +She was unusually gay during the remainder of their ride, but seemed +bent almost on running her horse to death. "To-morrow is Sunday," she +explained, "and I must crowd two rides into one." + +"Wouldn't you ride to-morrow?" + +"No; I have some old-fashioned notions about Sunday. You have been +abroad too long, perhaps, to appreciate them." + +"I appreciate fidelity to conscience, Madge." + +They had their supper together again as on the evening before, but +Madge was carelessly languid and fitful in her mirthful sallies, and +complained of over-fatigue. "I won't come down again to-night," she +said to Graydon as they passed out of the supper-room. "Good-night." + +"Good-night, Madge," he replied, taking her hand in both his own. +"I understand you now, and know that you have gone beyond even your +superb strength to-day. Sleep the sleep of the justest and truest +little woman that ever breathed. I can't tell you how much you have +added to my happiness during the past two days." + +"He understands me!" she muttered, as she closed the door of her room. +"I am almost tempted to doubt whether a merciful God understands me. +Why was this immeasurable love put into my heart to be so cruelly +thwarted? Why must he go blindly on to so cruel a fate? Of course +she'll renounce everything for him. Whatever else she may be, she is +not an idiot." + +Henry Muir's quiet eyes had observed Madge closely, and from a little +distance he had seen the parting between her and his brother. Then +he saw Graydon seek Miss Wildmere and resume a manner which he had +learned to detest, and the self-contained man went out upon the +grounds, and said, through clinched teeth: "To think that there should +have been such a fool bearing the name of Muir! He's been gushing to +Madge about that speculator, and we shall yet have to take her as we +would an infection." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE FILIAL MARTYR + + +Miss Wildmere appeared in one of her most brilliant moods that +evening. There was a dash of excitement, almost recklessness, in her +gray eyes. She and Mr. Arnault had been deputed to lead the German, +but she took Graydon out so often as to produce in Mr. Arnault's eyes +an expression which the observant Mr. Wildmere did not like at all. He +had just returned from dreary, half-deserted Wall Street, which was +as dead and hopeless as only that region of galvanic life can be at +times. He had neither sold nor bought stock, but had moused around, +with the skill of an old _habitue_, for information concerning the +eligibility of the two men who were seeking his daughter's hand. In +the midsummer dullness and holiday stagnation the impending operation +in the Catskills was the only one that promised anything whatever. He +became more fully satisfied that Arnault's firm was prospering. They +had been persistent "bears" on a market that had long been declining, +and had reaped a golden harvest from the miseries of others. On the +other hand, he learned that Henry Muir was barely holding his own, and +that he had strained his credit dangerously to do this. He knew about +the enterprise which had absorbed the banker's capital, and while +he believed it would respond promptly to the returning flow of the +financial tide, it now seemed stranded among more hopeless ventures. +There was no escaping the conviction that Muir was in a perilous +position, and that a little thing might push him over the brink. +Therefore, he had returned fully beat upon using all his influence in +behalf of Arnault, and was spurred to this effort by the fact that his +finances, but not his expenses, were running low. His wife could give +but a dubious account of Stella's conduct. + +"In short," said Mr. Wildmere, irritably, "she is dallying with both, +and may lose both by her hesitating folly." + +His daughter's greeting was brief and formal. A sort of +matter-of-course kiss had been given, and then he had been left to eat +his supper alone, since his wife could not just then be absent from +her child. At last he lounged out on the piazza, sat down before one +of the parlor windows, glanced at the gay scene within, and smoked in +silence. Before the German began, Graydon passed him several times, +regarding him curiously and with a growing sense of repulsion. He +disliked to think that the relation between this man and the girl he +would marry was so close. + +Before the evening was over, Mr. Wildmere saw that his daughter was in +truth pursuing a difficult policy. The angry light in Arnault's eyes +and the grave expression on Graydon's face proved how fraught with +peril it was to his hopes. Neither of her suitors liked Stella's +manner that evening, for it suggested traits which promised ill for +the future. Graydon, who understood her the less, was the more lenient +judge. + +"Not only Arnault," he thought, "but her father also, has been +pressing her toward a course from which she revolts, and she is half +reckless in consequence." + +He endeavored by his quiet and observant attention, by the grave and +gentle expression of his eyes, to assure her once more that she could +find a refuge in him the moment that she would decide absolutely in +his favor. She understood him well, and was enraged that she could not +that night go out with him into the moonlight, put her hand in his, +and end her suspense. + +Her father had whispered, significantly, when they met, "Stella, I +must see you before you give Mr. Muir further encouragement;" and she, +feeling that it might be among her last chances, for the present, of +showing Graydon favor, was lavish of it. But it was not the preference +of strong, true, womanly choice; it was rather the half-defiant aspect +with which forbidden fruit might be regarded. + +As the great clock was about to chime the hour of midnight the dancing +ceased. Arnault seemed determined to have the last word, and Graydon +interposed no obstacle. The former walked on the piazza by Stella's +side for a few turns in moody silence. Her father still sat at his +post of observation. Mrs. Wildmere had been with him part of the time, +but he had not had much to say to her. + +"Mr. Arnault," said Stella, satirically, at last, "I will not tax your +remarkable power for entertainment any longer. I will now join papa, +and retire." + +"Very well, Stella," was the quiet reply; "but before we part I shall +speak more to the point than if I had talked hours. By this time +another week the question must be decided." + +She bowed, and made no other answer. + +"Stella," said her father when they were alone and he had regarded for +some moments her averted and half-sullen face, "what do you propose to +do?" There was no answer. + +After another pause he continued: "In settling the question, represent +your mother and myself by a cipher. That is all we are, if the logic +of your past action counts for anything. Again I ask, What do you +propose to do? No matter how pretty and flattered a girl may be, she +cannot alter gravitation. There are other facts just as inexorable. +Shutting your eyes to them, or any other phase of folly, will not make +the slightest difference." + +"I think it's a horrid fact that I must marry a man that I don't +love." + +"That is not one of the facts at all. Stock-gambler as I am, and in +almost desperate straits, I require nothing of the kind. Knowing you +as I do, I advise you to accept Arnault at once; but I do not demand +it; I do not even urge it. If you loved me, if you would say, 'Give +up this feverish life of risk; I will help you and suffer with you +in your poverty; I will marry Graydon Muir and share his poverty,' I +would leave Wall Street at once and forever. It's a maelstrom in +which men of my calibre and means are sucked down sooner or later. The +prospects now are that it will be sooner, unless I am helped through +this crisis." + +"I believe you are mistaken about the Muirs being in financial +danger." + +"I am not mistaken. They may have to suspend daring the coming week." + +"I know that Graydon Muir has no suspicion of trouble." + +"He is but a clerk in his brother's employ, and has just returned from +a long absence. Mr. Muir is one of the most reticent of men. I have +invested in the same dead stock that is swamping him, and so know +whereof I speak. Should this stock decline further--should it even +remain where it is much longer--he can't maintain himself. I know, for +I have taken pains to obtain information since I last went to town." + +"But if the stock rises," she said, with the natural hope of a +speculator's daughter, "he is safe." + +"Yes, _if_." + +"How much time will you give me?" she asked, the lines of her face +growing hard and resolute. + +"This is to be your choice, not mine," said her father, coldly. "You +shall not be able to say that I sold you or tried to sell you. Of +course it would be terribly hard for me to lose my footing and fall, +and I feel that I should not rise again. Arnault worships success +and worldly prestige. You are a part of his ambitious scheme. If you +helped him parry it out he would do almost anything you wished, and he +could throw business enough in my way to put me speedily on my feet. +You must make your choice in view of the following facts: You can go +on living here, just as you are, two or three weeks longer, dallying +with opportunity. By that time, unless I get relief and help, I shall +reach the end of my resources, and creditors will take everything. The +Muirs cannot help me, and I don't believe they would in any event. I +am not on good terms with Henry Muir. If they go down now they will be +thoroughly cleaned out. Arnault has long been devoted to you, and you +could have unbounded influence over him if you acted in the line of +his ruling passion. It would gratify his pride and add to the world's +good opinion of him if I prospered also. In plain English, we may all +be in a tenement house in a month, or I on safe ground and you the +affianced wife of a rich man." + +"Well," said Stella, coldly, "you have given me facts enough. It's a +pity you couldn't have brought me something better from Wall Street +after all these years." + +"What have you brought to me during these past years," he demanded, +sternly, "but constant requests for money, and the necessity for +incessant effort to meet new phases of extravagance? You have not +asked what was kind, merciful, and true, but what was the latest +style. Few days pass but that I am reminded of you by a bill for +some frippery or other; but how often am I reminded of you by acts of +filial thoughtfulness, by words of sympathy in my hard battle of life +when I am present, or by genial letters when absent? I have spent +three hot days in the city seeking chiefly your interest, and a more +mechanical, perfunctory thing never existed than your kiss of greeting +to-night. There was as much feeling in it as in the quarter that I +handed to the stage-driver. I have spent thousands on your education, +but you don't sing for me, you don't read to me, you never think of +soothing my overtaxed nerves by cheerful, hopeful talk. Were I a steel +automaton, supplying your wants, I should answer just as well, and in +that case you might remember the laws of matter and apply a little oil +occasionally. What are the motives of your life but dress, admiration, +excitement, a rapid succession of men to pass under your baleful +fascination, and then to pass on crippled in soul for having known +you? Unless you can give Graydon Muir a loving woman's heart, and mean +to cling to him for worse as well as better, you will commit a crime +before God and man if you accept him. With Arnault it is different. In +mind you are near enough of kin to marry. As long as you complied with +fashionable and worldly proprieties, he would be content; but a man +with a heart and soul in his body would perish in the desert of a home +that your selfishness would create." + +"It's awful for you to talk to me in this way!" she whined, wincing +and crying under his arraignment. + +"It's awful that I have to speak to you in this way, either to make +you realize what deformities your beauty hides, so that you may apply +the remedy, or else, if you will not, to promote your union with a man +content to take for a wife a belle, and not a woman. + +"I suppose I am chiefly to blame, though, or you would be different," +he added, with a dark, introspective look. "I was proud of you as +a beautiful child, and tried to win your love by indulgence. Heaven +knows, I would like to be a different man, but it's all a breathless +hurry after bubbles that vanish when grasped! Well, what do you +propose to do? You see that you can't hesitate much longer." + +"I will decide soon," she answered, sullenly. Although her conscience +echoed his words, and she felt their justice, her pride prevailed, and +she permitted him to depart without another word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +"I'LL SEE HOW YOU BEHAVE" + + +The dawn of the following sacred day was bright, beautiful, and +serene, bringing to the world a new wealth of opportunity. Miss +Wildmere began its hours depressed and undecided. Her conscience and +better angel were pleading; she felt vaguely that her life and its +motives were wrong, and was uncomfortable over the consciousness. Her +phase of character, however, was one of the most hopeless. It was true +that her vanity had grown to the proportions of a disease, but even +this might be overcome. Her father's stern words had wounded it +terribly, and she had experienced twinges of self-disgust. But another +trait had become inwrought, by long habit, with every fibre of her +soul--selfishness. It was almost impossible to give up her own way and +wishes. Graydon Muir pleased her fancy, and she was bent on marrying +him. Her father's assurance that she would bring him disappointment, +not happiness, weighed little. Too many men had told her that she +was essential to their happiness to permit qualms on this score. Her +conscience did shrink, to some extent, from a loveless, business-like +marriage, and her preference for Graydon made such a union all the +more repugnant; but she was incapable of feeling that she would do him +a wrong by giving him the pretty jewelled hand for which so many had +asked. Indeed, the question now was, Could she be so self-sacrificing +as to think of it under the circumstances? If that stock would only +rise, if in some way she could be assured that the Muirs would be +sustained, and so pass on to the wealth sure to flow in upon them in +prosperous times, she would decide the question at once, whether they +would do anything for her father or not. He could scramble on in +some way, as he had done in the past. What she desired most was the +assurance that there should be no long and doubtful interregnum +of poverty and privation--that she might continue to be a queen in +society during the period of youth and beauty. + +This remained the chief consideration amid the chaos of her +conflicting feelings and interests, for she had lived this life so +long that she could imagine no other as endurable. She had, moreover, +the persistence of a small nature, and longed to humiliate the Muir +pride, and to spite Madge Alden, who she half believed cherished more +than a sisterly regard for Graydon. As for her father, she did little +more than resent his words and the humiliating disquietude they had +caused. They had sorely wounded her vanity, and presented a painful +alternative. + +As the day passed, and old habits of mind resumed sway, she began to +concentrate her thoughts on three questions: Should she accept Graydon +and take her chances with him? Should she accept Mr. Arnault, with his +wealth, and be safe? or should she hesitate a little longer, in the +hope that she could secure Graydon and wealth also? The persistence +of a will that had always had its own way decided finally in favor of +the last course of action. She would not give Graydon up unless she +must, and not until she must. Accustomed to consult self-interest, +she believed that her father was doing the same, that he was favoring +Arnault because the latter would be more useful to him, and that for +this reason he was exaggerating the Muirs' peril, if not inventing +it. She dismissed his words about leaving Wall Street with scarcely a +thought; he always talked in this way when the times were bad or his +ventures unlucky. They had been on the eve of ruin so many times, that +the cry of "wolf" was not so alarming as formerly. + +"I suppose I must decide before this week is over," she thought. +"Arnault has practically given me this length of time, and I shall +take him at his word." Therefore, she was very sweet to him during the +morning hours, and prepared him to submit to her drive with Graydon in +the afternoon. + +Arnault felt that he had given his ultimatum, and was resolved to +abide by it. At the same time he knew that it would be a terrible +wrench to give up the girl. The very difficulty of winning her had +stimulated to the utmost his passion for attainment. She was the best +that existed in his superficial world, and fulfilled his ideal. Her +delicate yet somewhat voluptuous beauty completely intoxicated him. + +He too thought, and made his decision during the day. If he won her at +all it must be speedily, and it should be done by promises of devotion +and wealth if possible, and by breaking the Muirs down if this should +become necessary. The time had come for decisive action. It was +evident that her father was in sore straits; the man's appearance +confirmed this belief. Arnault was almost certain that Henry Muir was +in his power. He would not play the latter card unless he must, but he +would watch so vigilantly as to be promptly aware of the necessity. He +decided to spend several days of the present week in the mountains and +so keep himself informed how the game went here, and while in the city +he would not only be observant, but would also drop a few words +to weaken Mr. Muir's credit. One thing, however, was settled--the +problematical issue of his matrimonial scheme must soon be made +known, and he rather relished its congenial elements of speculative +uncertainty, being conscious that so much depended upon his skill and +power to pull unseen wires. + +Seeing that Arnault was at Miss Wildmere's side, Graydon accompanied +his relatives to church, and soon found himself looking over the +same hymn-book with Madge. The choir were present, and she now merely +delighted Graydon with her rich alto; and so rich and true was it that +he often felt his nerves thrilling at her tones. He did not become +absorbed in the service or sermon, but thought a little wonderingly: +"Here is a faith ever finding expression all over the world, while I +ignore it. How much truth does it represent? It's evidently a reality +to Madge, although she makes so little parade of the fact. I don't +believe she would do anything contrary to its teachings as she +understands them. We men may think what we please, but we have +confidence in a woman who looks as she does now. She is not in +the least inclined to devotional rhapsodies or to subserviency +to priestcraft, like so many women abroad. She merely appears to +recognize a divine power as she accepts nature, only more reverently +and consciously. I suppose I am an agnostic as much as anything, yet +I should only be too glad to have Stella at my side with such +an expression on her face. I wonder if she will go with me this +afternoon. I will submit to this diplomacy a few days longer, and +shall then end the matter. There is an increasing revulsion of my +whole being from such tactics in my future wife. Beyond a certain +point she shall not be a partner in her father's gambling operations, +and I would have brought the affair to an end at once, were it not for +that limp little woman, his wife, and her child. But I can't sacrifice +my self-respect and Stella's character for them. I must get her out +of that atmosphere, so that her true nature may develop. Sweet Madge +Alden, with your eyes so serious and true, and again so full of mirth +and spirit, what a treasure you will prove some day if there is a man +worthy of you!" + +In his deep preoccupation, he forgot his intent regard, until reminded +of it by the slow deepening of her color, which so enhanced her beauty +that he could not at once withdraw his gaze. Suddenly she turned on +him with a half-angry, half-mirthful flash in her eyes, and whispered, +"Looking at girls in church is not good form; but, if you will do it, +look at some other girl." + +He was delighted at this little unexpected prick, and replied, "St. +Paul never would have complained of such a thorn." Then he saw Dr. +Sommers looking ominously at him. This factotum of the chapel sat +where he could oversee the miscellaneous little assemblage, and +his eyes instantly pounced upon any offender. Graydon pushed his +insubordination no further than making an irreverent face at the +doctor, and then addressed himself to the minister during the +remainder of the hour. + +"We'll arrange it differently next Sunday, Miss Alden," said the +doctor, as Madge passed out; "I'll have Mr. Muir sit with me." + +"Try it," whispered Graydon, "and if you don't fall from grace before +meeting is over I'll give you a new trout-pole. Miss Alden can manage +me better than you can." + +"No doubt, no doubt. A man must be in a bad way if she couldn't make a +saint of him if she undertook it," was the doctor's laughing reply. + +Greatly amused, Graydon repeated the words to Madge. "She won't +undertake it in this case," was her brusque comment. "I have no +ambition to enlighten continental heathen, with their superior +tolerance of a faith good enough for women and children." + +"My charming rose has not only a thorn but a theological stiletto in +her belt." + +"It is evident you have never had trouble, Graydon." + +"Why is it evident?" + +"Because you are content with the surface-tide of life." + +"And you are not?" + +"One rarely is when fearing to sink." + +"What has that to do with faith?" + +"Faith can sustain; that's all." + +"And your faith sustained you?" + +"What else was there to sustain when day after day brought, not a +choice of pleasures, but the question, Shall I live or die?" + +"Poor Madge! Dear Madge! And you didn't let me know. I don't suppose I +could have helped you, though." + +"No; not then." + +"Madge," he said, earnestly, "won't you promise me one thing? If you +ever should have trouble of any kind again, won't you let me help you, +or at least try to?" + +"I'll see how you behave," she said, laughing. "Besides, it's not +women's place to make trouble for men. The idea! Our mission is to +soothe and console you superior beings." + +"Women do make a power of trouble for men. Mother Eve began wrong, +and--" + +"And Adam laid all his misdeeds on her weak shoulders." + +"The upshot of all this talk is, I suppose, that your shoulders are +so strong, and your spirit so high, that you can at least take care of +your own troubles." + +"I hope so," she again laughed, "and be ready also to give you a lift. +When you successful men do get a tumble in life, you are the most +helpless of mortals." + +"Well, well, well, to think that I am talking to little Madge, who +could not say good-by to me without fainting away!" + +"Good-by meant more to me than to you. You were going away to new and +pleasant activity. I doubted whether I should see you again--or indeed +any one long," she added, hastily. + +"Don't imagine that I did not feel awfully that night, dear Madge. +Tears do not come into my eyes easily, but I added a little salt +water to the ocean as I leaned over the taffrail and saw the city that +contained you fade from view." + +"Did you truly, Graydon?" she asked, turning away. + +"I did, indeed." + +In her averted face and quickened respiration he thought he saw traces +of more than passing feeling, but she turned on him in sudden gayety, +and said: "Whenever I see the ocean I'll remember how its tides have +been increased. Graydon, I've a secret to tell you, which, for +an intense, aesthetic, and vaguely devotional woman, is a most +humiliating confession: I'm awfully hungry. When will dinner be +ready?" + +"I have a secret to tell you also," he replied, with a half-vexed +flash in his eyes: "There is a girl in this house who explains +herself more or less every day, and who yet remains the most charming +conundrum that ever kept a man awake from perplexity." + +"Oh, dear!" cried Madge, "is Miss Wildmere so bad as that? Poor, pale +victim of insomnia! By the way, do you and Mr. Arnault keep a ledger +account of the time you receive? or do you roughly go on the principle +of 'share and share alike'?" and with eyes flashing back laughter at +his reddening face, she ran up the steps and disappeared. + +"That was a Parthian arrow," he muttered. "If we go smoothly on the +sharing principle at present, we shall soon go roughly enough, or +cease to go at all." + +But the lady in question was putting forth all her resources, which +were not slight when enlisted in her own behalf, to keep the two men +_in statu quo_ until more time, with its chances, should pass. + +Arnault smiled grimly when he saw her departing with Graydon. She had +been evasive, but very friendly, during the day thus far, and after +what he had said the preceding night he felt that he was committed to +her moods for a week if he could not bring her to a decision before. +Seeing Mr. Wildmere walking restlessly up and down the piazza, he +joined him, and offering a superb cigar, said, "Suppose we go out to +the lake and see where the little kid was so nearly drowned." + +Soon after they were smoking in the shade, the thoughts of both +reverting to kindred anxieties. Arnault decided to make one move +before the final one. Perhaps only this would be required; perhaps +it might prepare the way for more serious action. They talked over +business. Arnault, permitting the other to see through a veiled +distinctness of language that he was prospering, remarked, "By the +way, I have a little transaction which I wish you would carry out for +us," and mentioned an affair of ordinary brokerage, concluding, in +off-hand tones, "from what you said some days since I infer that you +may find a little money handy at present. I can let you have a check +for five hundred or a thousand just as well as not. I know how dull +times are now, and you will soon make it up by commissions." + +The hard-pressed man could scarcely disguise the relief which these +words brought. He began a grateful acknowledgment of the kindness, +when Arnault interrupted him by saying, "Oh, that's nothing--mere +matter of business. I will write you a check to-night for a thousand. +It's only an advance, you know," and then changed the subject. + +"Will you go to town to-morrow?" Mr. Wildmere asked. + +"No, not to-morrow. I'll run down Tuesday or Wednesday. In spite of +the times business doesn't give us much leeway this summer, but I've +arranged to be away more or less at present." Then he added, with what +was meant to be a frank, deprecatory laugh, "I suppose you see how +it is. It's some time since I asked permission to pay my addresses to +your daughter. I don't think I've been neglectful of opportunities, +but I don't get on as fast as I would like, and now feel that if I +would keep any chance at all I must be on hand. Muir is a formidable +rival." + +"You know that you have my consent and more, Mr. Arnault." + +"It's the lady's consent that I must obtain," was the reply. "Muir is +a fine fellow, and I cannot wonder that she hesitates--that is, if +she does hesitate. I may be wasting my time here and adding to the +bitterness of my disappointment, for of course it must become greater +if I see Miss Wildmere every day and still fail." + +There was a covert question in this remark, and after a moment or two +Mr. Wildmere said, hesitatingly: "I do not think you are wasting your +time. I think Stella is in honest doubt as to her choice. At least, +that is my impression. You know that young ladies in our free land +do not take much counsel of parents, and Stella has ever been very +independent in her views. When once she makes up her mind you will +find her very decided and loyal. Of course I have my strong preference +in this case, and have a right also to make it known to her, as +I shall. I should be very sorry to see her engaged to a man whose +fortunes are dependent on a brother in such financial straits as Mr. +Muir is undoubtedly in." + +"Do you think Henry Muir is in very great danger?" + +"I do indeed." + +"Hum!" ejaculated Arnault, looking serious. + +"What! would he involve you?" + +"Oh, no, a mere trifle; but then--Well, please make some inquiries +to-morrow, and I'll see you during the week." + +"I'll do anything I can to oblige you, Mr. Arnault. I wouldn't like my +questions, however, to hurt Muir's credit, you understand." + +"Of course not, nor would I wish this; but as one of our brokers you +can pick up some information, like enough. I knew, as did others, that +Muir was having a rather hard time of it, but if there is pressing +danger I may have to take some action." + +"In that case of course you can command me." + +"I only wish to do what is fair and considerate among business men. +We'll lunch together when I come to town, and perhaps the case will be +clearer then." + +During his drive with Miss Wildmere, Graydon simply adhered to the +tactics which he had adopted, and she saw that he was waiting until +the Arnault phase of the problem should be eliminated. When, however, +she took occasion to bewail the dismal prospects of her "poor papa," +and to open the way for him to speak naturally of his own and his +brother's affairs, he was gravely silent. She didn't like this, for +it tended to confirm her father's belief that they were in trouble, +or else it looked like suspicion of her motive. The trait of reticence +which Graydon at times shared with his brother was not agreeable, for +it suggested hidden processes of thought which might develop into +very decisive action. She came back satisfied that Graydon was still +thoroughly "in hand," and that she must obtain information in some +other way, if possible. + +There was sacred music in the parlor during the evening, but neither +Miss Wildmere nor Madge would sing in solo. Graydon good-naturedly +tried to arrange a duet between the two girls. The former declined +instantly, yet took off the edge of her refusal by saying, "I would +gladly sing for you if I could, but do not care to permit all these +strangers to institute comparisons." + +Therefore, the guests sang in chorus as usual, a professional playing +the accompaniments. There were few, however, who did not recognize +the strong, sweet alto which ran through each melody like a minor key. +Graydon's acute ear for music heard little else, and he said to Madge +"I shall be glad when this hotel life is over. What delicious evenings +I shall have this fall! By the way, I'm going to have your piano tuned +when I go to town." + +"Perhaps." + +"Perhaps what? Perhaps I shall remember about the tuner? You'll see." + +"I may go back with the Waylands. I'm not at all sure that I shall not +spend my winter on the Pacific." + +"Why, Madge! With your health you could spend it in Greenland." + +"That's what I may do. We always have a lovely green land in that +climate." + +"I must investigate Santa Barbara. You have left some one or something +there which has powerful attractions." + +"Yes, memories; as well as skies so bright that you can't help smiling +back at them." + +"I supposed you were going to enter society this fall and create a +_furore_." + +"Oh, bah!" Then she began to laugh, and said, "A certain gentleman in +this house thought I was so bent on having my fling in society that I +didn't wish to be embarrassed by even a little fraternal counsel." + +"A certain fellow in this house finds himself embarrassed by a +black-eyed clairvoyant, who reads his thoughts as if they were +sign-boards, but remains inscrutable herself." + +"Such an objectionable and inconvenient creature should certainly be +banished to wilds of the West" + +"As one of the Muir family I'll never consent." + +"You'll soon be engrossed by cares of your own," she concluded, +laughing. "Good-night." + +"Stay," said Graydon, eagerly; "one so gifted with second-sight should +be able to read the thoughts of others." + +"Whose?" Madge asked, demurely. + +"Whose indeed? As if you did not know! Miss Wildmere's." + +"What! Reveal a woman's thoughts? I won't speak to you again +to-night;" and she left him with his tranquillity not a little +disturbed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +GOSSAMER THREADS + + +Mr. Muir was to depart on the early train the following morning, and +was pleased when Madge opened her door at the same time and said, "I'm +going to see that you have a good breakfast and a good send-off." + +She chattered merrily with him during the meal, ignoring his somewhat +wistful and questioning glances. "When shall we see you again, Henry?" +she asked. + +"Friday evening, I hope." + +"Don't work and worry too much." + +"I defy fate now. You've given me your luck." + +"Heaven forbid! Well, good-by." + +A little later she and two of her boys, as she called them, were off +on the hills. Mrs. Muir and Graydon breakfasted long after, and the +latter observed with a frown that Arnault was still at the Wildmere +table, with all the serenity of one _en famille_. + +"Doctor," he said, a little later, "how much will you take--the money +to be given to your chapel--to go trouting with me for a day?" + +"A good round sum," Dr. Sommers replied. + +"All right. When can you go?" + +"Wednesday, I guess, if I can leave my patients." + +"Oh, come now; go and give your patients a chance to get well." + +"Wait till I catch you sick, and I'll pay you up for that." + +"You'll stand a better chance of catching trout." + +The day passed much as usual, only Arnault appeared in the ascendant. + +"He is going to town in a day or two," pleaded the diplomat, after +dinner. + +"And I'm going trouting," Graydon replied. + +"When?" + +"Soon." + +"Only for a day, I suppose." + +"It depends on my luck. You will get on better when I'm away." + +"It's cruel for you to speak like that," she replied, her eyes +moistening. + +"I suppose it is," was his rueful reply; "but I can be more patient, I +imagine, back in the mountains than here." + +"But how about poor me?" + +"That is a question that I often ask myself, Miss Wildmere, but you +alone can answer it. As far as I am able to judge, you can meet the +problem in your mind, whatever it is, as well, if not better, in my +absence. You must understand me, and I have promised to be reasonably +patient." + +"Very well, Mr. Muir," she replied, in apparent sadness, "I will try +not to tax your patience beyond what you well term reason." + +"Something far beyond reason, and--I may add--pride also, permits you +to tax it all. I would rather not revert to this topic again. It is +embarrassing to us both. I cannot help saying, however, that it is +essential to my happiness that the present state of affairs should +soon cease." + +"If it were only present happiness that one had to consider--" she +began, and then hastened away. + +Thus she played upon his sympathy, and held him by the generous side +of his nature. + +But he determined not to give Arnault the pleasure of seeing him wait +for the crumbs of time that fell from his table, and he delighted +Madge, having sought her out on the piazza, by remarking: "It is so +cool to-day I do not see why we cannot start at once. I shall not find +the time too long, for you can talk as well as ride." + +She made good his words, and gave wings to the hours. Among the scenes +through which they passed, she reminded him, not of an exotic or a +stray tropical bird, but rather of the ideal mountain nymph humanized, +developed into modern life, the strong original forces of nature +harmonized into perfect womanhood, yet unimpaired. Her smiles, her +piquant words, and, above all, the changing expression of her +lovely eyes, affected him subtilely, and again imparted a rising +exhilaration. Her thoughts came not like the emptying of a cup, but +rippled forth like a sparkling rill from some deep and exhaustless +supply. And what reservoir is more inexhaustible than the love of a +heart like hers?--a love born as naturally and unconsciously as +life itself--that, when discovered, changes existence by a sudden +kaleidoscopic turn, compelling all within and without to pass at once +into new arrangement and combination--that inspires heroic, patient +effort, self-denial, and even self-sacrifice. + +She had prepared herself for this opportunity by years of training and +thought, but his presence brought her an inspiration beyond all +that she had gained from books or study. He was the magician who +unconsciously had the power to waken and kindle her whole nature, to +set the blood flowing in her veins like wine, and to arouse a rapidity +and versatility of thought that was surprising even to herself. With +the pure genius of love she threw about his mind gossamer threads, +drew the filaments together, and held them in her heart. The pulses +of life grew stronger within him, his fancy kindled, the lore of books +long since forgotten, as he supposed, flashed into memory, and out +into happy allusion and suggestion. Still his wonder increased that +her knowledge coincided so fully with his own, and that their lines +of reading had been so closely parallel. It was hard for him to find +a terra incognita of thought into which she had not made some slight +explorations. In his own natural domains she skilfully appeared to +know enough to follow, but not to lead with mortifying superiority. +She also had her own preserves of thought and fancy, of which she gave +him tantalizing glimpses, then let fall the screening boughs; and he, +who fain would see more, was content to pass on, assured that another +vista would soon be revealed. It was the reserve of this frank girl +that most charmed and incited him, the feeling, more or less defined, +that while she appeared to manifest herself by every word and smile, +something richer and rarer still was hidden. + +"No one will ever have a chance to understand her fully but the man +she loves," he thought. "To him she would give the clew to all her +treasures, or else show them with sweet abandon, and it would require +a lifetime for the task. She has a beauty and a character that would +never pall, for the reason that she draws her life so directly from +nature. I have never met a woman that affected me as she does." + +He sighed again. In spite of the loyalty to which he believed himself +fully committed, Stella Wildmere, with her Wall Street complications, +her variegated experience as to adorers, and her present questionable +diplomacy, seemed rather faded beside this girl, upon whose heart the +dew still rested. + +For the first time the thought passed consciously through his mind, +"Stella has never made me so happy as I have been the last few hours. +More than that, she never gave life an aspect so rich, sweet, and full +of noble possibility. Madge makes blase, shallow cynicism impossible +in a fellow." + +As he danced with Miss Wildmere that evening, or sauntered with her on +the piazza or through secluded paths, the same tendency to comparisons +tormented him. He could not make himself believe that Miss Wildmere's +words were like the flow of a clear, bubbling spring, pure and sweet. +There was in them a sediment, the product of a life which had passed +through channels more and more distasteful to contemplate. + +The next day he went to town to look after some business matters, and +returned by the latest train. To his surprise he found Madge absent, +and was immediately conscious of a vague sense of disappointment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MRS. MUIR'S ACCOUNT + + +After a light supper Graydon went in search of Stella, but she was +nowhere to be found, nor had the warm evening lured Mrs. Wildmere from +her room. He had learned that Arnault was still at the house, and he +inferred, from the surpassing beauty of the moonlit evening, that his +rival would not let such witching hours pass without an effort to turn +them to account. With a frown he retreated from the music, dancing, +and gayety of a full house, and went up to Mrs. Muir's room. + +That lady was found writing to her husband, but she welcomed Graydon, +and began volubly: "I'm very glad you have come; I'm so full and +overflowing about Madge that I had to write to Henry." + +"It certainly does seem an odd proceeding on her part--this remaining +all night at a farmhouse among strangers," was his discontented reply. + +"It would be odd in any one but Madge. I do not think there +are many girls in this house who would be guilty of such +eccentricities--certainly not Miss Wildmere," she added, with a rather +malicious twinkle in her eyes. "If I were a man, I wouldn't stand it. +I've been on the alert somewhat to-day, for I don't wish to see you +made a fool of. That Mr. Arnault has been at her side the livelong +time, and he's out driving with her now." + +"I understand all about that," said Graydon, impatiently; "tell me +about Madge." + +"Perhaps you do, and perhaps you don't. It's certainly beyond my +comprehension," continued Mrs. Muir, determined to free her mind. +"If she is anything to you, or wishes to be, her performances are +as unique as those of Madge, although in a different style. We Alden +girls were not brought up in that way. Pardon me; I know it's your +affair, but you are my brother, and have been a good one, too. I can't +wonder that Henry dislikes her. Well, well, I see you are getting +nettled, and I won't say anything more, but tell you about Madge. It +has been an awfully hot day, you know, and I did not order a carriage +till five. Madge was restless, and had sighed for a gallop more +than once, so I proposed to do the best for her I could. As we were +starting for our drive Dr. Sommers appeared, and I asked him to go +with us. + +"'I will,' he said, 'if you will take me to see one of my +patients--one that will make Miss Alden contented till she has some +imaginary trouble of her own. My horse is nearly used up from the long +drive I've had in the heat.' + +"'Oh, do take me to see some one in trouble!' exclaimed Madge. + +"'Yes,' replied the doctor, laughing, 'that will be a novelty. To +see you young ladies dancing and promenading, one would think you had +never heard of trouble.' + +"After a lovely drive through a wild valley we came to a little gray +farmhouse, innocent of paint since the memory of man. The mountain +rose steeply behind it with overhanging rocks, cropping out through +the forest here and there. An orchard shaded the dwelling, and beyond +the narrow roadway in front brawled a trout-stream. To the eastward +were rough, stony fields, that sloped up, at what seemed an angle of +forty-five degrees, to other wooded mountains. It was the roughest, +wildest-looking place I ever saw. How strange and lonely it must look +now in the moonlight, with not another dwelling in sight!" + +"Too lonely for Madge to be there," exclaimed Graydon. "I don't like +it, and I should not have expected such imprudence from you, Mary." + +"Oh, Madge is safe enough! Wait till you know all. Well, the farmer +and his wife were at their early supper when we arrived. I went in +with Madge and the doctor, for I wanted to see how such people lived, +and also thought I could do something for them. I hadn't been in the +room five minutes, however, before I gave up all thought of offering +assistance. The people were plainly and even poorly dressed. The man +was in his shirt-sleeves, but he put on his coat immediately. He had a +kind of natural, quiet dignity and a subdued manner--the result of his +trouble, no doubt. We were in their little sitting-room or parlor, but +the door into the kitchen, where they had been taking their meal, was +open. The room we were in was very plainly furnished, but perfectly +neat, and I was at once struck by the number of books that it +contained. Would you believe it? one of the leading magazines lay on +the table. The mother, a pale, gaunt woman, who looked utterly +worn out, went with the doctor to the adjoining sick-room, and the +husband's eyes followed them anxiously. + +"'Your place seems rather lonely,' I said to him, 'but you evidently +know how to find society in books.' + +"'Yes,' he answered, 'I s'pose this region seems lonesome to you, but +not to us who were brought up here. It all depends on what you're +used to, especially when you're a-growin' up. I'm not much of a reader +myself, but Tilly was'; and he heaved a great sigh. 'She took to +readin' almost as soon as to walkin',' he continued, 'and used to read +aloud to us. I s'pose I soon dozed off, but her mother took it all in, +and durin' the long winter evenin's they kinder roamed all over the +world together. I suspicion Tilly had more books than was good for +her, but she was our only child, and I couldn't say no to her. She +edicated herself to be a teacher, and stood high, and we was proud of +her, sure enough, but I'm afeared all that study and readin' wasn't +good for her;' and then came another of his deep sighs. + +"Madge's great eyes meanwhile were more and more full of trouble, +and there was a deal of pathos suggested by the man's simple story. +Indeed, I felt my own throat swelling at the poor man's last sigh, +it was so deep and natural, and seemed to express a great sorrow, for +which there were no words in his homely vernacular." + +"What selfish egotists we are over our picayune vexations!" Graydon +muttered. + +"Well, the mother and the doctor now appeared. The latter looked +grave; and when he looks grave things are serious indeed. + +"'Ain't she no better?' the father asked, with entreaty in his tone. + +"'I wish she was,' said the doctor, in his blunt way, which +nevertheless expressed more sympathy than a lot of fine phrases. Then +he said to the mother: 'You're all worn out, and yet she'll need close +watching to-night. Isn't there some neighbor--' + +"'Oh, please let me stay!' began Madge, in a low, eager tone, speaking +for the first time. 'I'm strong, and I'll follow your directions in +everything. Do, please. I've been ill myself, and think I know how to +nurse.' + +"The woman hesitated, and looked doubtfully, wonderingly, at the +doctor. Madge sprang up, and taking the mother's hand, continued: +'Indeed, madam, you do look worn out; you will be ill yourself. For +your daughter's sake, as well as mine, let me stay.' + +"'For your sake, miss?' + +"'Yes, for my sake. Why should I not bear a little of this heavy +burden? It will do me good. Doctor, say I can stay. My strength should +not be wasted in amusement only.' + +"'Well,' he replied, 'if Mrs. Muir consents, there's no one I'd trust +sooner.' + +"'Then it's settled, Mary,' she said, in her decisive way. 'It's +perfectly proper for me to stay under the protection of these good +people.' + +"'But you haven't had your supper,' I began. + +"A little color came into the woman's face at my foolish speech, and +she said, 'If the young lady will take what we can offer--' + +"'Of course I will,' interrupted Madge, with a smile that would have +propitiated a dragon; 'a little bread and milk would suit me best.' + +"'She shall have a chicken broiled as nice as she ever tasted at the +hotel,' said the man, impulsively. 'Heaven bless your kind heart, and +perhaps you can coax Tilly to take a bit!' + +"'The young lady's name is Miss Alden,' said the doctor, 'and this is +Mrs. Muir, Mr. and Mrs. Wendall, ladies; I should have introduced you +before, but my mind was on my patient. Well, well, well, what a world +it is! Some very good streaks run through it, though.' + +"'I'll come for you in the morning,' I said to Madge, who had thrown +off her hat, looking so resolute and absorbed in her purpose that I +knew there was nothing more to be said. So I shook hands with the poor +people, and came away with the doctor." + +"I'm going for Madge in the morning," said Graydon, decisively. + +"I thought you were going trouting with the doctor." + +"Not till I've told Madge what I think of her," he said, gravely. + +"I'm sure her impulse and motives were good." + +"They were more than good--they were divine, and just like Madge Alden +as she now is. She keeps one's blood tingling with surprises; but I've +not become such a cynic that I do not understand her. When you come to +think of it, what is more natural than that one girl with her superb +health should lend her strength to another who, perhaps, is dying; but +you may well ask, Who in the house would think of doing this?" + +"Yes; the doctor said she was dying--that she couldn't last much +longer." + +"Well, I never had a sister, but I'm just as proud of Madge, and just +as fond of her, as if she were my own flesh and blood. She shall never +lack what a brother can do for her while I live." + +"I'm glad you feel so," said Mrs. Muir. Then she sighed, and +thought, "A plague upon him! Why will he keep following up the other +white-faced thing, when he might win Madge if he tried hard enough. +It's plain that she don't care for him now except as she used to. And +she does care for him just as she did before she went away, in spite +of all her prudishness about the words brother and sister. I'm not +blind. She has grown so pretty, however, that I suppose Graydon would +wish to kiss her too often. She is just as fond of him as he is of +her, and in just the same way; but if I had his chance I'd soon have +it a different way;" and the good lady was complacency itself over +her penetration, as she bade Graydon good-night. No one could see and +report the surface of affairs more accurately than she. + +As he descended to the hall, Arnault and Miss Wildmere entered. The +latter hastened forward and gave him her hand most cordially, saying, +"Why, Mr. Muir, I'm ever so glad to see you; you have been away an +age." + +"A day, Miss Wildmere. Your appearance indicates that you have +survived admirably." + +"The moon is so bright that we could drive fast, and I'm always happy +when in rapid motion." + +"You have had the advantage of me then; yet I've been in rapid motion +a good part of the day on express trains." + +"I feared you were not going to return to-day," she said, as she +strolled out with him on the piazza. + +"Feared?" + +"Yes, why not?" + +"It strikes me that I might ask, Why?" + +"Surely you would not have me lose such an evening as this, Mr. Muir?" +she said, a little reproachfully. + +"I would have you follow your own heart." + +"I shall follow it as soon as possible," she replied, so earnestly +that he was disarmed--especially as the glance which accompanied the +words was full of soft allurement and appeal. Of her own accord she +put her hand on his arm, and spoke in low, contented tones, as if she +had at last found rest and refuge. The moon poured around her a flood +of radiance, which gave her an ethereal aspect. Her white drapery +enhanced and spiritualized her remarkable beauty, making her appear +all that lover or poet could ask. His own words grew kinder and +gentler; his heart went out to her as never before; she seemed so +fair, delicate, and pure in that witching light that he longed to +rescue her at once from her surroundings. Why should he not? She had +never manifested a more gentle and yielding mood. He directed her +steps from the piazza to a somewhat distant summer-house, and her +reluctance was a shy half revolt, which only emphasized the natural +meaning of her unspoken consent. + +Mrs. Muir was still keeping her eyes open, and from her window saw +them pass under the shadow of the trees. + +At last they were sitting alone in the summer night. Graydon felt that +words were scarcely needed--that his manner had spoken unequivocally, +and that hers had granted all; but he took her hand and looked +earnestly into her downcast face. "Oh, Stella--" he began. + +A twig snapped in the adjacent grove. She sprang up. "Hush, Graydon," +she whispered; "not yet. Please trust me. Oh, what am I thinking of to +be out so late!--but could not resist. Come;" and she started for the +house. + +As they passed in at the door he said, in a low, deep tone, "You +cannot put me off much longer, Stella." + +"No, Graydon," she whispered, hurriedly, and hastened to her room. + +In his deep feeling he had not heard the suspicious sound in the +grove, and Miss Wildmere's manner was only another expression of the +strong constraint which he believed to be imposed upon her by her +father's financial peril. He felt bitterly disappointed, however. +Although irritated, he was yet rendered more than forgiving by the +apparent truth that she had almost yielded to the impulses of her +heart, in spite of grave considerations--and promises perhaps--to the +contrary. + +He was at a loss what to do, yet felt that the present condition of +affairs was becoming intolerable. Almost immediately upon his return +from Europe he had written to Mr. Wildmere for permission to pay his +addresses, and had received a brief and courteous reply. The thought +of again appealing to the father occurred to him, but was speedily +dismissed with unconquerable repugnance. The very fact that this man +compelled his daughter to take such a course made Graydon wish never +to speak to him again. "No," he muttered; "the girl must yield to me, +and cut loose from all her father's shifty ways and associations." + +The night was so beautiful, and his thoughts kept him so wakeful, that +he sat in a shadow and watched the moonlight transfiguring the world +into beauty. Before long he heard a step, and a man came from that +end of the piazza which was nearest the summer-house. As he passed +in, Graydon saw that it was Arnault. The quick suspicion came into +his mind, "Could he have been watching?" Then flashed another thought, +"Could she have become aware of his presence, and was this the cause +of her abrupt flight?" + +The latter supposition was dismissed indignantly and at once. The +affair was taking on an aspect, however, so intensely disagreeable +that he resolved to write to Miss Wildmere that he would absent +himself until Arnault should disappear below the horizon. He would +then go trouting or take a trip to some other resort. This course +he believed would bring her to a decision, and after their recent +interview he could scarcely doubt its nature. + +Before he was aware of it, his thoughts returned to Madge. In fancy he +saw the gray farmhouse on the lonely mountain-side, with a sweet +face at the window, the dark, sympathetic eyes now looking out on +the silent, moonlit landscape, and again at the thin, white face of a +dying girl. "Poor, poor child!" he thought, reverting to the patient. +"Well, for once, at least, she has had a good angel watching over her. +I would like to see Madge's face framed by the open window in this +witching light. Would to Heaven that Stella was more like her! Yet +Stella was beautiful as a dream to-night, and it seemed that my vision +of happiness was on the very eve of fulfilment." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MADGE'S STORY + + +Early in the beautiful morning of the following day Graydon was out +securing a light carriage, for he reasoned that after watching all +night Madge would be too weary to enjoy horseback exercise. He first +called on the doctor, and obtained careful directions as to the +locality of Madge's sojourn. "The best I can do is to go with you +as guide this afternoon to the trout-stream, and then drive back by +moonlight," the doctor added. + +Within an hour Graydon reached the cottage, and Madge ran out to +welcome him. "Now, this is kind and thoughtful of you," she said, and +there was unmistakable gladness in her face. + +"Dear Madge, you have had a long, dismal night, I fear. I can see it +from the lines under your eyes." + +"It has been a sad night, Graydon, yet I am very glad I came, and you +have now rewarded me. The poor girl is sleeping, and I can slip away." + +Mr. and Mrs. Wendall parted from her feelingly and gratefully. Madge +promised to come again soon. + +For a few moments they drove in silence, and then Madge sighed: "How +young, fresh, and full of beautiful life the world seems this morning! +The contrast with that poor, suffering, dying girl is too great. +Nature often appears strangely indifferent." + +"I am not indifferent, Madge. I kept a sort of watch with you for an +hour or two last night in the wee, sma' hours, and tried to imagine +you sitting in just such an open window as I saw there, with the +moonlight on your face; and I thought that the poor girl had one good +angel watching over her. You know I am a man of the world, but an act +of ministry like this touches me closely." + +"No, Graydon; not a good angel, but a very human creature was the +watcher." + +"Tell me about it--that is, continue the story from the point where +Mary left off;" and he explained about Mrs. Muir's account of the +previous evening. + +"Well, you know what a wilful creature I am?" she began, with the +glimmer of a smile. + +"Oh, yes; I've learned to understand that feature of your royal +womanhood. You are trying to be a woman, Madge. Well, you are one--the +kind I believe in. See how much faith I have--I believe, yet don't +understand." + +"No jesting or compliments this morning, please; I'm too heavy-hearted +for them now." + +"You ought to be serene and happy after so kind and good a deed." + +"No," she said, decisively; "that sympathy must be superficial which +can pass almost immediately into self-complacency. Oh, Graydon, it is +all so sad, yet not sad; so passing strange, yet as natural and true +as life and death! I did sit for hours just as you imagined, looking +out on the great, still mountains. Never did they seem so vast +and stable, and our life so vapor-like, as when I heard that poor +fluttering breath come and go at my side. There was a time when this +truth grew oppressive; but later on that feeble life, which seemed +but a breath, came to mean something greater and more real than the +mountains themselves. But I am anticipating. As soon as Mary departed +I became as imperious as I dared to be. I saw that the poor mother had +reached about the limit of her endurance, and I arranged the lounge in +the sitting-room, so that she could lie down at once, saying: 'I am a +stranger, and young, and it's not natural that you should be willing +to give up to me too much, nor do I wish you to be far away; yet I +can see just how sorely in need of rest you are. You must finish your +supper, give me your directions, and then lie down and get every bit +of rest you can. I can easily keep awake, and promise to call you +whenever you are needed.' + +"'Nancy,' her husband added, 'Miss Alden is right. I see by the way +she takes hold that she'll do everything, and you're jest beat out.' +So between us we had our way. + +"'Bless you, miss,' said the man, trying to smile in a way that almost +made me cry, 'I'm as handy as a woman 'bout a kitchen;' and he soon +proved that he was handier than I could have been, for in a few +minutes he pulled up from the well a pail, took out a dressed chicken, +and broiled it to perfection. I made his wife eat some of it, and +saved a little of the breast for poor Tilly, as they call her." + +"Did you take any yourself?" interrupted Graydon. + +"Oh, yes, indeed! I'm one of those prosaic creatures whose appetite +never fails. If the world were coming to an end to-day I should insist +on having my breakfast." + +"Madge," said Graydon, ruefully, "I might as well tell you, for I'm +sure to be found out: I once called you 'lackadaisical.'" + +"Oh, I knew that over two years ago! What's more, you were right." + +"No; I was not right," he answered, positively. "I should have +recognized the possibilities of your nature then. I did in regard to +your beauty, but not those higher qualities which bid fair to make you +my patron saint." + +"Oh, hush, Graydon. Such words only pain me. I don't want your +compliments, and if any man made a patron saint of me I should be so +exasperated that I should probably box his ears. Let us stick to what +is simple, natural, and true, in all our talk." + +"You may say what you please, Madge, I see it more clearly every day, +and reproach myself that I did not understand you. I was content to +amuse and pet you, and you naturally did not think me capable of doing +anything more. You went away alone to make as brave a fight as was +ever battled out in this world, and I had no part in helping you. +Mr. and Mrs. Wayland were worth a wilderness of superficial +society-fellows like me. I now know why you did not care to correspond +with me while making your noble effort." + +[Illustration: HER LIPS WERE SLIGHTLY PARTED; HER POSE, GRACE ITSELF.] + +"Truly, Graydon, your memory and penetration are phenomenal." + +"You may disclaim out of kindness now, but I know I am right. You make +my life appear shallow and trivial. What have I done in the last two +years but attend carefully, from habit, to the details of business, +and then amuse myself? And when I wrote I merely sought to amuse you. +What were my flippant letters worth to one who was in earnest?" + +"Graydon," said Madge, looking into his eyes with gentle dignity, "you +may do yourself injustice if you will, but you shall not misjudge me. +I have acquired a little of the art of taking care of myself, and you +are doing me a wrong which I cannot permit. I remember everything, +from the time that your kind eyes rested on the pallid, shrinking +child that crept down to the dining-room when we first met, and from +that day to this you have been kind and helpful to me. I said that +I regarded you as one of the best friends I had in the world. Do +you think me insincere? Do you think I forget how kind you were when +society would not have tolerated the ghost I was? I am not one who +forgets and ignores the past--who can go on to new friends with a +frigid shoulder for old ones. Let us end these misunderstandings. +Before the year is out you will probably be engaged, perhaps married. +Our lives will be widely separated. That is inevitable from the nature +of things. But distance and absence can cause no such separation as +results from misunderstanding. If we should not meet again in twenty +years I should be the same loyal friend. Now I've said it, and don't +vex me again by speaking as if I had not said and meant it." + +"I can scarcely tell whether your words make me more glad or sad. Each +feeling is deeper than you will ever believe. You certainly give +me the impression that if I marry Stella Wildmere our lives will be +separated." + +"You don't take nature, especially woman-nature, into consideration at +all. I am not congenial to Miss Wildmere; she does not like me. It +is nothing against her, but some people are antagonistic. This is +especially true among women, and in this case it is not strange. Our +experiences have been very different. She has ever been a beautiful, +brilliant society-girl. With her at your side you would always be +an object of envy in circles congenial to you, for admiration would +follow her as the light follows day. In the past, you know, I have +not been influenced by society considerations, and in the future they +shall be very secondary. Therefore we of necessity are unlike, and +could never be much company for each other. There is never any use +in trying to ignore the old law of 'like unto like.' I say this in +explanation of what you know is true all the world over. Even +the close ties of kindred often count for little where tastes, +occupations, and habits of thought are diverse. All this is nothing +against your perfect right to please yourself. In this land, thank +Heaven! families and friends cannot yoke people together to pull +forward general and miscellaneous interests." + +"You speak as if it were a slight thing when the woman whom a man +marries is merely accepted, tolerated, by his kindred." + +"I have not said that, Graydon; I have only said again what I said +before--that a man has a right to please himself. The truth is trite +enough; why recur to it?" + +"Gravitation is trite enough, but it often has an acute bearing on +one's experience. You do not like Stella--" + +"And she does not like me." + +"Very well; but you try to be just to her, and when she has lived a +while in different associations you will find her greatly changed. +I think you can be her close friend in the future. But Henry detests +her, and he is so quietly and obstinately tenacious in his views that +the fact annoys me exceedingly." + +"Very well; you can't help that. You will live in different houses, +and your domestic life will be quite removed from business interests." + +"Oh, confound Henry! He married to suit himself, so shall I. But, +Madge, dear Madge, you will try to love her--to help her to be more +like you, for my sake?" + +At last Madge's laugh rang out merrily. "For mercy's sake, Graydon, +don't ask me to be a missionary to your wife," she cried. "If I +escaped with my eyes I should be lucky. You must think your wife +perfection, and make her think you do. Woe be unto you if you +introduce a female friend and suggest that she should be imitated, +even to the arch of an eyebrow. Oh, no, I thank you! That's a sphere +in which I shouldn't shine at all, and I wouldn't dare attempt it with +any feminine saint in the calendar. Oh, Graydon, what a dear old goose +you are!" and she laughed till the tears came into her eyes. He joined +her in a half vexed way, protesting that she was still as uncanny as a +ghost, although she had lost the aspect of one. + +Suddenly she stopped, and tears of sorrow filled her eyes. "Here I +am, laughing at our absurd talk," she said, "when I have just left the +side of a poor girl, no older than myself, who is ghostly indeed in +her flickering life. Is it heartless to seem to forget so soon? Oh, +Graydon, you don't know what trouble is! You have only had vexations +thus far. Let me tell you what happened last night, if only to make +you grateful for your strong, prosperous life." + +"Tell me anything you wish. I always have better thoughts and impulses +after being with you." + +"Please don't regard me as egotistical, or offend me by thinking I am +trying to be better than others. Why shouldn't I help that poor girl? +We often dance all night for fun; why can't we watch occasionally for +pity? And in simple truth it will be a long time before the ache for +that poor creature will go out of my heart. It came very close home, +Graydon--very close. It brought to mind another girl, who was once +scarcely stronger or better than Tilly Wendall is to-day, but God was +kind. Tilly also has great black eyes, and they do look so large and +pathetic in the wan little face! At first they did not notice me much. +I was only another of the watchers who had come to aid her mother. +It's astonishing how kind these plain country people are to one +another in trouble, and many a housewife in this region has toiled all +day and then sat up with the poor child the livelong night. + +"For the first few hours I could do little more than help her move +in her weak restlessness, and give remedies to relieve her incessant +cough. The poor thing seemed neither more nor less than a victim of +disease, that with a cruelty almost malign had tortured her. I can't +explain how this awful impression grew upon me. It was as if viewless, +brutal hands had racked the emaciated form until intelligence was +gone, and then, not content, would continue their vindictive work +while breath remained in the body. As my watch was prolonged this +impression grew into a nightmare of horror. The still house, the +silent, white, beautiful world without, and that frail young girl +tortured hour after hour under my eyes by fever and a convulsive, +incessant, remorseless cough." + +She buried her face in her hands, and for a moment or two her voice +was choked with sobs. + +"Oh, Madge," cried Graydon, almost fiercely, "you anger me! I would +strangle a man who harmed a hair of such a child's head. How can I +worship a God who sends or permits such a thing? You are braver than +I. I could see a man shot, but I couldn't look upon what you have +described. Yet the picture brings back the moment when we parted--when +you struggled feebly in my arms with a premonition of your almost +mortal weakness, and then sank back white and deathlike. If you had +not made so wise and brave an effort you might have lingered on in +torture like this poor girl. You stood in just that peril, did you +not?" + +"I suppose I did." + +"Oh, what a clod I was! I used to hear you cough night after night, +and I would mutter, 'Poor Madge!' and go to sleep. To think that you +might have suffered as this girl is suffering! I never realized it +before, yet I thought I did. I can't tell you how my whole nature +rebels at it all, and pious talk about resignation in the presence of +such scenes fairly makes me grind my teeth;" and his brow blackened +like night in his mental revolt, and his eyes were sternly fixed in +honest, indignant arraignment of the Power he did not scruple to defy, +though so impotent to resist. + +Madge brushed away her tears, and watched him earnestly for a moment. +In that confused instant she exulted in the strong, generous, kindly +manhood that would not cringe even to omnipotence when apparently +cruel. She said, gently, "Graydon, you are condemning God." + +"I can't help it," he began, impetuously, "that is, such a God--" + +She put her hand over his mouth. + +"I like you better for your words," she continued, "but please don't +talk so any more. Let what you have said apply to 'such a God--' I +know what you mean, but there is no such being in existence. Let me +finish my story. We have had too many interruptions, and this secluded +road has an end. I won't try to explain my faith. What happened may +make it clearer to you. Well, Tilly gradually grew quieter, and at +last slept. The tired mother was sleeping also, and I sat at the +window just as you imagined, my thoughts sad and questioning, to say +the least At last I saw that Tilly was awake, and looking at me with +something like interest and curiosity. I went to her and asked if I +could do anything. + +"She said, in her slow, feeble way, 'I thought I knew every one about +here, but I don't remember to have seen you before.' + +"Then I told her who I was, and that her mother was in the next room. + +"'You are very kind,' she said. 'And you are from the hotel. Isn't it +a little strange?' + +"'It should not be,' I replied, and explained how I came to stay, +adding, 'Don't talk any more. You are not strong enough.' + +"With a quiet smile that astonished me, she said, 'It won't make any +difference, Miss Alden; I shall never be any better, or, rather, I +shall soon be well. My mind seems growing clearer, and I'd like to +talk a little. It is strange to see a young girl here. Are you strong +and well?' + +"'Yes, very strong, and very glad to help your mother take care of +you. I was once almost as ill as you are, yet I got well. Cheer up, +and let us nurse you back to health.' + +"She shook her head. 'No, that's now impossible. You come and cheer +poor mother and father, Miss Alden. I am more than cheerful, I am +happy.' + +"I made her call me Madge, and said: 'Tell me then in a few words how +you can be happy. My heart has just been aching for you ever since I +came.' + +"Perhaps she saw tears in my eyes, for she said, 'Sit down by me.' +Then she took my hand, leaned her cheek upon it, and looked at me with +such a lovely sympathy in her beautiful dark eyes! + +"'Yes,' she said, 'I see you are young and strong, and you probably +have wealth and many friends; still I think I am better off than you +are. I am almost home, and you may have long, weary journeying before +you yet. You ask me why I am happy. I'll just give you the negative +reasons: think how much they mean to me--"And there shall be no more +death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more +pain." All these may be taken from my life any hour. Think of what +will be added to it. You believe all this, Madge?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Then you must know why I am happy, and why I may be better off than +you are. It will be very hard for father and mother--there will be +more pain for them here in consequence--but soon it will all end +forever; in a little while we shall be together again. So you know +nearly all about poor little me,' she said, with another of her +smiles, which were the sweetest, yet most unearthly things I ever saw. +'And now tell me about yourself. I'm not able to talk much more for +the present. I'd like to know something about the friend who helped +me through the last few steps of my journey. I can think about you in +heaven, you know,' she said, with the sweetest little laugh. 'Don't +look so sad, Madge. They'll tell you I'm gone soon. "Gone where?" ask +yourself, and never grieve a moment.' + +"Oh, Graydon, she made it all seem so real, talking there alone in the +night! And it is just as she says or it isn't anything. When you +said, 'Such a God,' you had in mind a theological phantom, and I don't +wonder you felt as you did; but this girl believes in a God who 'so +loved the world'--who so loved her--and I do also. Her pain, her +thwarted young life, I don't understand any more than I do other +phases of evil, but I can give my allegiance to One who came to take +away the evil of the world. That's about all the religion I have, and +you mustn't ever say a word against it. + +"Well, there is but little more to tell. Tilly spoke in quiet, broken +sentences as her cough permitted, and I told her a little about myself +and sang to her some hymns that mother sang to me when I was a child. +With the dawn her mother came in, and was frightened at having slept +so long, but Tilly laughed and said it was just splendid. + +"She was evidently a very intelligent girl, and must have been a +pretty one, too. She certainly has read a great deal, and has taught +in public schools. There didn't seem to be a trace of morbidness +in her mind or feeling. She was simply trying to make the best of +everything, and her best certainly is _the_ best. She has helped and +comforted me more than I could her." + +"Comforted you, Madge?" + +"Oh, well," was the somewhat confused reply. "I've had trouble, and +shall have again. Who is without it long in this world?" + +"It's almost hard to see how serious trouble can reach you hereafter, +you are so strong, so fortified. No, Madge; I'll never say a word +against your faith or that of your new friend. Would to Heaven I had +it myself! I wouldn't have missed this talk with you for the world, +and you can't know how I appreciate the friendship which has led +you to speak to me frankly of what is so sacred. All the whirl and +pressure of coming life and business shall never blot from my memory +the words you have spoken this morning or the scenes you have made so +real." + +If this were true, how infinitely deeper would have been his +impression if he could have seen the beautiful girl, now smiling into +his eyes, bowed in agony at that sick-bed, while she acknowledged with +stifled sobs that the dying girl _was_ better off--far happier than +she who had to face almost the certainty of lifelong disappointment. +Poor Madge had not told Graydon all her story. She would have died +rather than have her secret known on earth, but she had not feared to +breathe it to one on the threshold of heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DISPASSIONATE LOVERS + + +During the last moments of their drive Madge and Graydon were +comparatively silent. They were passing dwellings, meeting strangers, +and they could not, with the readiness of natures less finely +organized, descend to commonplaces. Each had abundant food for +thought, while even Graydon now believed that he so truly understood +Madge, and had so much in common with her, that words were no longer +needed for companionship. + +As they approached the piazza, they saw that Arnault was still Miss +Wildmere's devoted attendant. His presence meant hope for Madge, and +Graydon was slightly surprised at his own indifference. He felt that +the girl to whom he regarded himself as bound belonged to a different +world, a lower plane of life than that of which he had been given a +glimpse. The best elements of his nature had been profoundly moved, +and brought to the surface, and he found them alien to the pair on +the piazza. He was even self-reproachful that he saw with so little +resentment Stella's present companionship. + +"While I don't like her course at all," he thought, "I must believe +that she is acting from the most self-sacrificing motives. What +troubles me most now is that I have a growing sense of the narrowness +of her nature." + +He had never come from her presence with his manhood aroused to its +depths. It was her beauty that he dwelt upon; her piquant, alluring +tones and gestures. Madge was not an ill-natured critic of the girl +who threatened to destroy her future, but, by being simply what she +was, she made the other shrink and grow common by contrast. + +To Graydon such comparisons were odious indeed, and he would not +willingly permit them; but, in conformity to mental laws and the force +of circumstances, they would present themselves. Each day had found +him in the society of the two girls, and even an hour like one of +those just passed compelled him to feel the superiority of Madge. His +best hope already for Stella was that she would change when surrounded +by better influences--that her faultless taste in externals would +eventually create repugnance to modes of thought and action unsuitable +in a higher plane of life. He did not question his love for her, +but he felt this morning that it was a love which was becoming +disenchanted early, and into which the elements of patience and +tolerance might have to enter largely. Should he marry her to-day he +could not, as Madge had said, and with the first glow of affection, +believe her perfect. He even sighed as he thought of the future. + +His heart was very tender toward Madge, but it was with an affection +that seemed to him partly fraternal, and partly a regard for one +different, better, purer than himself. He proved the essential +fineness, the capabilities of his nature, by his appreciation of some +of her higher traits. Her ministry to the dying girl had given her +a sacredness in his eyes. For the time she was becoming a sort of +religion to him. He revealed this attitude of mind to her by a gentle +manner, and a tone of respect and consideration in the least thing he +said. + +"Oh," thought the poor girl, "he could be so much to me and I to him! +His touch, even in thought, would never be coarse and unfeeling; and +I have seen again and again that I can inspire him, move him, and make +him happy. Why must a wretched blunder thwart and blight two lives?" + +Before they had finished their breakfast the beautiful languor of +sleep was again in his companion's eyes, and he said: "Dear Madge, +promise me you will take a long rest. Before we part I want to tell +you what an illumined page you have put in my memory this morning. +Some of the shadows in the picture are very dark, but there is also a +light in it that 'never was on sea or land.' When you wake I shall be +on my way to the trout-stream to which Dr. Sommers will guide me; and, +do you know? I feel as if my memories will be in accord with the scene +of my camping-ground. As I sit in my tent-door to-night I shall think +over all you have said and described." + +Her only answer was a smile, that for some reason quickened his pulse. + +Much occurred before they met again. + +He went to his room, wrote some letters, and made other preparations. +Then, feeling that he should give the remaining time before his +departure to Miss Wildmere, he sought her. She appeared to be waiting +for him on the piazza, and there was reproach in her tone, as she +said, "I half feared you were going without bidding me good-by." + +"Such fears were scarcely just to me." + +"I did not know but that you had so greatly enjoyed your morning drive +as to go away in a fit of absent-mindedness. I have been sitting here +alone an hour." + +"I could not know that. When I drove up I saw that I should be _de +trop_," he replied, as they sauntered to an adjacent grove. + +"Now, Graydon, you know that is never true, so far as I am concerned." + +"The trouble is, Miss Wildmere, others are concerned in such a way +that the only resource left me is to keep my distance." + +"Mr. Arnault has returned to the city," she said, with what appeared a +great sigh of relief. "I am perfectly free now." + +"Till Mr. Arnault returns." + +"I cannot help his return." + +"Oh, no. I do not question his right to come back, or even to buy this +hotel and turn us all out." + +"Please don't talk about him any more. I'm doing the best I can." + +"I believe you think so, but I cannot think it will prove the best for +any one. It is not what I expected or even imagined. You are acting +from a mistaken sense of duty, and I am more sorry every day that +you can commit such an error. Look at it in its true light, Stella. I +cannot believe you are deceiving me: you must be leading Mr. Arnault +to entertain a false hope." + +"Graydon, I have refused Mr. Arnault, and he will take no refusal." + +"You can refuse him in such a way that he must take it at once and +forever." + +"You don't know--" she began, tears coming into her eyes. + +"No; you have only led me to surmise a great deal by implication." + +"What would become of mamma and my little sister if papa should fail +utterly?" and tears came faster. No one could be more pathetic than +Miss Wildmere when she chose. + +"Can you not trust me for them as well as for yourself?" + +"Oh, Mr. Muir, I know you mean most generously and kindly, but papa is +so anxious and fearful! He tries to keep up before others, but I know +how he feels, and it's terrible. He is past middle age, and business +success means very much to him. How can I do anything to harm him? I +know so little about business and its perils, while papa thinks +there may be terrible dangers ahead for every one. You might have the +good-will to help us and yet soon be scarcely able to help yourself. +I have been made to feel that the best I could do through these +troublous times was to try to aid papa as far as possible, and then I +shouldn't have anything with which to reproach myself." + +Graydon was perplexed. Apparently she was doing wrong in the most +self-sacrificing spirit, and believed that doing right, which would +end her abnegation, was wrong and selfish. + +While he hesitated, she resumed: "You see, Graydon, papa has the same +as said that Mr. Arnault was tiding him over until he could realize +on securities now of little value. Of course there has been no +compromising understanding in words--do not think us capable of that. +It would cut me to the heart to have you misjudge me or condemn me. I +will give you the highest proof I can of my--my--esteem by being frank +on a delicate subject, so that you can see how I am placed. I don't +think many young ladies would do as much. Of course what I say is +sacred between us. Mr. Arnault offered himself long since, and I +promptly declined the honor, but he laughingly told me he would take +no refusal, and chatted through the rest of the evening as pleasantly +as if nothing had happened. I have virtually refused him several times +since, but he persists, declaring that he will remain an agreeable +friend until I change my mind. Surely, I am not misleading him. I +do like him as a friend, and he knows that I have for him no other +regard, and never had. Before you came he had begun to help papa, and +to throw business in his way, and just now he is rendering him very +great service. He may do this in the hope of influencing me, but he +gives his aid without conditions. Yet I know him well enough to be +sure that he would withdraw this business help should I now harshly +dismiss him or engage myself to another. While I do show him that I +appreciate his kindness, I do nothing to indicate that my feeling is +changed. He must know that I regard him in the same light as in the +past. If he is content with this, I have asked myself why I should +be precipitate--why alienate him now in the very crisis of papa's +affairs. Of course if I had only myself to think of--I've been foolish +enough to think that I might help papa and still be happy in the end. +Am I so very naughty, Graydon?" + +He was at a loss how to answer her, but felt that he must at once +disabuse her mind of one expectation. + +"I admit, Stella," he said, thoughtfully, "that you are peculiarly +placed, and I thank you for making clearer what I had partially +surmised. While I admire and respect the motive, I must still repeat +that I regret beyond all words such action in one who is so much +to me. It is right also that I should define my own position more +clearly. I will imitate your generous frankness. You know how greatly +I admired you before I first went abroad; and while I felt that there +was little chance for me, you being sought by so many, I did not give +up hope. This hope was strengthened by my visit last summer, and when +I returned and found you free a few weeks since I determined to win +you if I could. You know I would have spoken before had you permitted. +I have for some little time felt myself irrevocably bound by what has +passed between us. I also believed that you would eventually give me +a full explanation in regard to Mr. Arnault, and that his attentions +would cease. As to my not being able to take care of you, that is +absurd. I am not wealthy yet, but few young men in the city have +better prospects. My brother's business is large and profitable, and I +am soon to share in it. I could not, from the nature of things, enter +into business relations with your father--I should not be at the head +of the firm--but neither you nor yours should ever want. As to +my brother, he is in no financial danger whatever. He has a large +fortune, and is conservatism itself. If you are placed in an +embarrassing position, I am also. Arnault's manner is not that of a +friend. Others misjudge you and me also. It looks to the people here, +and to my own family, as if you were playing with us both. + +"Moreover," he continued, after a moment's thought, "you are drifting +into a false relation with Arnault, although you may not be conscious +of it. Before these troubles began you simply tolerated his attentions +good-naturedly, and without any special motive. Now you have a +definite motive and purpose, and--pardon me, Stella--they are +misleading him. He would not continue his attentions an hour, did +he believe they were utterly hopeless. To Arnault and all others you +appear undecided between him and myself. Such an experiment as you are +trying cannot work well. If he has any other power beyond that of your +maidenly preference, he will not hesitate to increase it, and may make +your father more utterly dependent upon him while appearing helpful." + +"Yes; I have thought of that," she said, musingly. + +"There seems to me but one straightforward, high-toned thing for you +to do, Stella, and that is to follow your heart." + +He was almost frightened at himself that he spoke with so little +eagerness and longing. His words seemed but the honorable and logical +sequence of what had gone before. For some reason this girl in the +broad light of day did not appear to be the same as when she had +fascinated him in the witching moonlight the evening before. It was +not that her beauty had gone with the glamour of the night, but he +had been breathing a different and a purer atmosphere. Madge had been +revealing what to him seemed ideal womanhood. + +In regard to Stella his illusion had so far passed that he thought, +consciously, "Even at her best she is presenting Wildmere traits; her +very self-sacrifice takes on a Wildmere form, and there is a flavor of +Wall Street in it all." + +But he still believed that he loved her, and that, if she was equal to +such great though mistaken self-sacrifice for her father, she would, +under his influence, throw off certain imperfections and gain a better +tone. + +That such thoughts were passing through his mind was a bad omen for +the continuance of Miss Wildmere's power, and yet the opportunity of +her life was still hers. She had simply to put her hand into his with +a look of trust, and abide by the act, to secure a loyalty that would +always have tried to promote her best interests. That she was strongly +tempted to do this was proved by her manner, in spite of the fact that +she had promised Arnault not to decide against him before Saturday. + +It was a moment of indecision. His strong assurance that he was +abundantly able to take care of her, that Mr. Muir was wealthy and +free from financial embarrassment, almost turned the scale. She felt +that both Arnault and her father were deceiving her for their own +purposes, and she had little hesitation in acting for herself +without regard to them. Graydon's suggestion that her action was not +high-toned, although delicately made, touched her pride to the quick, +and she was compelled to feel during this interview, as never before, +the superiority of the man who addressed her. She longed to force +Henry Muir to acknowledge the daughter of the man he shunned in +business; and not the least among her incentives was the thought of +triumphing over Madge as a possible rival. + +"At any rate," she had thought, "if I become engaged to Graydon he +will have to be very much less fraternal. As to his not aiding papa," +she concluded, "I can't help that. When once married I could make him +do all he could afford, and papa and mamma have no right to expect +anything more." + +To the potency of all these considerations was added a sentiment for +the man who awaited her answer, and who chafed inwardly that it was so +long in coming. + +"Truly," he thought, "this is a strange wooing. Henry himself +could not more carefully weigh the _pros_ and _cons_ than does she +apparently, nor am I in feverish suspense. I had hoped for something +different in my mating." + +A glimmering perception that her manner was not calculated to inspire +a lover at last dawned on Miss Wildmere, and with it came a faltering +purpose to decide in favor of Graydon at once; but as she turned +toward him, to speak with what was meant to be a bewildering smile of +joy, a messenger from the office said, "A telegram, miss." + +Graydon frowned, and then laughed outright. She stopped in the very +act of tearing open the envelope, and looked at him inquiringly. + +"Oh, nothing," he said, lightly. "The opportuneness of that fellow's +coming was phenomenal. How much longer am I to wait for your decision, +Stella? Were the world in our secret, I should be known as St. Graydon +the patient." + +She flushed, but adopted his apparently light mood as the least +embarrassing. "My memory is good, and I shall know how to reward you," +she smilingly replied. "Please let me satisfy my mind about papa, for +I'm sure it's from him." + +"Oh, satisfy your _mind_ fully about everything, Miss Wildmere." + +She tore open the envelope with a strong gesture of impatience, and +read, with a suddenly paling cheek, "Unless you choose the immediate +certainty of absolute loss, wait till I see you. Will come soon. +Wildmere." + +She crushed the telegram in her hand, and turned away with a +half-tragic air which at the moment struck Graydon as a little +"stagy," and then he condemned himself for the thought. As she did not +speak for a moment, he said, sympathetically, "Your tidings are bad?" + +She tried to think, but was confused, and felt that she was in a cruel +dilemma. Could Graydon be deceiving her? or was he as ignorant as he +seemed of his brother's peril? Was her father in league with Arnault +after all? and were they uniting to separate her from Graydon? She +could not tell. She must gain more time. She would see her father, +charge him with duplicity, and wring the truth from him. + +When she turned to Graydon her eyes were full of tears again, and she +faltered: "You may despise me if you will, but my father has made an +appeal to me, and is coming to see me. I must hear what he has to say. +I must tell him that I can't endure--that I can't go on this way any +longer. I would gladly help him, save him, but after what you have +said it's impossible to--Oh, was ever a girl placed in such wretched +straits! Graydon, can you be patient a little longer?" + +"There is nothing else for me to do, Stella. I only stipulate +that your decision be made speedily, and that Arnault be given to +understand what my rights are. I shall have no difficulty in enforcing +them." + +"I shall decide speedily. It is not right that I should be placed in +such a torturing, humiliating position." + +"Now I agree with you perfectly. When does your father come?" + +"He says 'soon.'" + +"Very well; I will return on Saturday." + +"I wish you wouldn't go away now," she entreated. + +"I think it is best," replied Graydon, decisively, yet kindly. "I +have said all that is possible to an honorable man. By remaining I am +placed in an anomalous position which my self-respect does not permit +any longer." + +"I suppose," she sighed, "that I should not ask too much. Well, so be +it, then." + +They walked back to the house in silence. At the door of a side +entrance she turned to him, her face flushing at the admission, and +said, hastily, "I waited a long time for you, Graydon," and then fled +to her room. + +"Oh, confound it!" he muttered, as he walked away. "What a muddle it +all is! I ought to feel like strangling myself for permitting this +doubting, cynical spirit to creep over me. Curse it all! her words and +manner haven't the ring of absolute truth. It seems as if I heard a +voice in the very depths of my soul, saying, 'Beware!' Am I becoming +an imbecile? I doubted and misjudged Madge. Thank Heaven that is past +forever! Now I am doubting and misjudging the woman I have asked to +be my wife. I must be misjudging her--the alternative is horrible. +I can't escape one conviction, however. It is turning out just as I +expected and told her it would. Arnault's aid to her father has been +delusive, and Wildmere is deeper in the mire than ever. This is a fine +ending of my social career! The girl of my choice puts me off until +she can end this Wall Street business more satisfactorily. She must +wait and hear her father's reasons for further diplomacy before she +can answer me. If Henry knew all this--But Madge, crystal Madge, won't +repeat what I said. I must risk the loss of her society also. Has +her keen insight into character enabled her to detect these Wildmere +traits, and is this the cause of her antipathy? How simply she said 'I +couldn't do'--what Stella has accomplished with so much skill that the +gossips in the house are in honest doubt as to her choice, or whether, +indeed, she proposes to accept either Arnault or myself. Well, well, +I'll wait till she has had this interview with her father, and then +she must either decide for me and against such tactics forever, +or else she can wear my scalp in her belt with those of the other +unfortunates." + +In an hour he was on the road with Dr. Sommers to a wild and secluded +valley. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE ENEMIES' PLANS + + +It has been shown that Arnault believed the decisive period to have +come that would see the success or failure of his "operation" in +the Catskills. Keen, penetrating, he had comprehended the situation +clearly. He knew that Stella wished to accept Graydon, and was held in +check by financial considerations only. He had seen her manner during +the preceding moonlight evening, and with intense anger had observed +from a neighboring grove the episode in the summer-house. The twig had +not casually parted under his step, but had been snapped between his +fingers. Stella's quick alarm and flight had revealed the continuance +of his hold upon her fears, if not her heart. From that moment he +dismissed all indecision. In bitterness he realized that his prolonged +stay in the mountains had not advanced his interests. He had hoped +to win the girl by devotion, keeping financial pressure in the +background; she had been only suave, agreeable, and elusive. He had +told her that he expected her decision by Saturday evening; she had +merely bowed in a non-committal way. Meanwhile it was evident that if +the Muirs kept up, apparently retaining the power to pass unscathed to +better times, she would prolong her hesitancy, and in the end accept +Graydon. He determined, therefore, to see her first, then her father, +and to call in his loan immediately. + +While Graydon and Madge were returning next morning from the lonely +farmhouse Arnault was breakfasting at the hotel. He appeared in +excellent spirits. Miss Wildmere's alert observation could not detect +from his manner his knowledge of the fact that she had been on the +point of yielding to Graydon the evening before. He was full of +gallant courtesy toward her, and every glance and word expressed +admiration. This was always the breath of life to her, and while +it had ceased to give positive pleasure, its absence was like +uncomfortable weather. + +After the meal was over he led her to the same summer-house in which +Graydon had almost spoken words endowed with a lover's warmth and +eagerness. + +"Stella," he said, "I shall go to town on the ten-o'clock train." + +"I supposed you had concluded to remain all the week," she replied. + +"No; very important interests call me to the city, much to my regret. +You only bowed when I requested that I should receive a final answer +before the close of this week. I shall return Saturday. Will you end +my suspense within this time?" + +She was silent. + +"Will you make me another promise, then? Will you remain free this +week? If you will not bind yourself to me, will you promise that +no one else shall have a claim upon you until the time specified +expires?" + +After some hesitation she said, "Yes, I will promise that." + +"Please do so, and you will not regret it," was his quiet response. + +"I am not so eager to be bound that I cannot promise so much." + +"Very well then, I am content for the present;" and he changed the +subject. + +They soon returned to the piazza, and Arnault employed his utmost +effort to be agreeable during the brief time remaining. + +Earlier in the week he had written Mr. Wildmere a letter, in +consequence of which the momentous telegram had restrained the +daughter at the critical moment already mentioned. + +When Madge came down to a late dinner she saw that Arnault had +disappeared from the Wildmere table, and that the belle was already +a victim of _ennui_ in the absence of both gentlemen. During the +afternoon Mrs. Muir was eager to gossip a little over the aspect of +affairs, but soon found that Madge would do scarcely more than listen. + +"I don't understand that Miss Wildmere at all," said the elder +sister; "late last evening she went to yonder summer-house, hanging on +Graydon's arm as if they were engaged or married, and now he's gone to +be absent several days. This morning she was there again with Arnault, +and he wasn't talking about the weather, either. Now he's gone also. +Before Graydon went she had another long interview with him while you +were asleep. Good gracious! what is she aiming at? Young men were not +so patient in my day or in our village; and quiet as Henry appears, +he wouldn't play second string to a bow as Graydon does. When Miss +Wildmere first came I thought it was about settled, and I tried to be +polite to one whom I thought we should soon have to receive. Now it's +a sort of neck-and-neck race between the two men. If Graydon wins, how +shall you treat Miss Wildmere?" + +"Politely for Graydon's sake, of course." + +"Whose chances are best?" + +"Graydon's." + +"Do you think she loves him?" + +"Yes, as far as she can love any one.' + +"Why, Madge, what do you mean?" + +"She could not love as we should; she doesn't know what the word +means. If she did she wouldn't hesitate." + +"You think Henry's opinion of her is correct, then?" + +"I think he's right usually. Miss Wildmere is devoted to one +being--herself." + +"Why, Madge, it would be dreadful to have Graydon marry such a girl!" + +"Graydon is not Harry Muir. He attained his majority some years +since." + +"He certainly is old enough to show more spirit. Well, I don't +understand her tactics, but such belles, I suppose, are a law unto +themselves." + +"Don't let us gossip about her any more. If Graydon becomes engaged +there is only one thing for us to do. Miss Wildmere has made herself +disagreeable to me in many little nameless ways, and we never could be +friends, but I shall not give Graydon cause for just complaint. If he +asks me to see her with his eyes, I shall laugh at him and decline." + +"They shall never live with us," said Mrs. Muir, emphatically. "I know +I'm not a brilliant and accomplished woman, but I have always made +home a place of rest and comfort for Henry, and I intend it always +shall be just such a refuge. He is nervous and uncomfortable whenever +that girl comes near him. Some people can't get on together at all. +I am so glad that he likes you! He says you are one that a man could +depend upon in all sorts of weather." + +"We'll see; but I like Santa Barbara weather, which is usually +serene." + +"Oh, Madge, you'll not go there again?" + +"Yes, I shall probably make it my home. I should never keep my health +in the East, and I should dread a winter in New York more than I can +tell you." + +"Well," said Mrs. Muir, discontentedly, "I suppose you will have your +own way in everything hereafter; but I think you might at least try to +spend a winter with us." + +"If there were cause I would, Mary, but you are happy in your home, +and I am not greatly needed. In my Western home I feel I can get the +most out of life, just as you are getting the most out of yours. I +should suffer from my old troubles in New York." This statement was +true enough to both ladies, although a very prosaic impression was +conveyed to Mrs. Muir's mind. + +To Madge, Graydon's absence contained a strong element of hope. He +would not have gone away if all had been settled between him and Miss +Wildmere, and, as Mary had said, there appeared stronger evidence of +uncertainty now than at first. Graydon had seen Miss Wildmere, and she +evidently had not finally dismissed Arnault. + +Madge indulged in no idle brooding, however, and by activity every +hour in the day, passed the time bravely. One of her boy admirers had +a horse, and became her escort on long excursions; and with Mrs. Muir +she went to see Tilly Wendall again on Friday morning. The poor girl +was very weak indeed, and could do little more than smile her welcome. +Madge promised to spend Sunday night with her. She would have come +before, but Graydon had told her that he might return Friday evening, +and as a storm was threatening she thought it probable that he would +hasten back to avoid it. She believed that there was still hope for +her, and determined that she should never have cause in the future to +reproach herself with lost opportunities. There was no imperative call +of duty to her sick friend, for Mrs. Wendall said that two or three +neighbors had lately offered their services. + +Mrs. Muir was gladdened on her return to the hotel by a telegram from +her husband, saying that he would arrive on the late train and spend +Saturday with her. She and Madge sat down to dinner in a cheerful +mood, which evidently was not shared by Miss Wildmere. + +That brilliant young woman, although she made herself the centre of +all things as far as possible, was a victim of poverty when thrown +upon her own resources. Madge detected her in suppressed yawns, and +had noted that she had apparently done little else than read novels +since parting with the two men who were metaphorically at her feet. +Since the telegram she had not received a word from her father or any +one, and was inwardly chafing at the dead calm that had followed her +exciting experiences. She did not misinterpret the deceptive peace, +however, and knew that on the morrow she must decide what even she +regarded as the most momentous question of life. Persons under the +dominion of pure selfishness escape many perplexities, however, and +she was prone to take short cuts to desired ends. Ready to practice +deceit herself, she became more strongly impressed that her father +and Arnault were misleading her. Therefore she impatiently awaited the +former's appearance, that she might tax him with duplicity. Unless he +had something stronger than vague surmises to offer, she intended on +the morrow to promise Graydon Muir to be his wife. + +As has been seen, Wildmere had too much conscience to try to sell his +daughter outright, but since she was in a mood for a bargain he had +insured the possibility of one remarkably good in his estimation, and +was now on his way with very definite offers and statements indeed. + +In the late afternoon Madge was speaking about a book to an +acquaintance who said, "Go up to my room and get it." + +Madge was not sure whether she cared to read the book or not, and sat +down to examine it. Suddenly she heard distinctly the words, "I don't +believe Henry Muir is in danger of failure. Graydon scouted the idea. +You and Arnault are seeking to mislead me." + +Madge then remembered that the next room was occupied by Miss +Wildmere, and her first impulse was to make a noise, that the +proximity of some one might be known, but like a flash came the +thought, "Chance may have put me in the way of getting information of +vital importance to Henry;" and the next sentence spoken assured her +that this was true, for she heard a voice which she recognized as Mr. +Wildmere's say: + +"In all human probability Muir will be compelled to suspend to-morrow. +Mr. Arnault has placed in his hands a call loan. You know what that +is. Arnault is so alarmed about Muir's condition that he will demand +the money in the morning, and I am perfectly satisfied that Muir can't +raise it. You know enough about business to be aware of what will +happen if he cannot. Such is the market now that if Muir goes down +he will be cleaned out utterly, and Graydon will have to begin at the +bottom like any other young man without resources. Of course, Arnault +cannot afford to lose the money, and must act like any other business +man. + +"But he did not send me here to tell you this. As his broker I know +about it, and tell you of my own accord. This is what he did authorize +me to say to you. Had not business interests, which have already +suffered from his devotion to you, prevented, he would be here now +to make the offer in person. He says that he will settle upon you one +hundred thousand dollars in your own right the day you marry him, and +also give you an elegant home in the city. Now what is your answer?" + +"When Henry Muir fails I'll believe all this," was the sullen reply. + +"Be careful, Stella. Devoted as Arnault is he is not a man to be +trifled with. He has made you a munificent offer, but if you show this +kind of spirit he is just the one to withdraw at once and forever. +If you love Graydon Muir well enough to share his poverty, I have +not another word to say, although I shall be homeless myself in +consequence." + +"Nonsense, papa! You have been on the eve of ruin more times than I +can remember. Graydon assured me that he was abundantly able to take +care of me, and that his brother was in no danger. I can have all the +elegance I want and still follow my own inclination. If Henry Muir +fails, of course that ends the matter; and if he is to fail to-morrow +it will be time enough to give Mr. Arnault my answer to-morrow night, +as he asked that I would. If I give him a favorable one I prefer to do +it in person, for I don't wish to appear mercenary. You, I hope, have +the sense to keep this phase out of view." + +"Oh, certainly. Such high-minded people as we are should not be +misjudged," was the bitter reply. + +"One has to take the world as it is, and one soon learns that all are +looking after their own interests," was the cynical reply. + +"A beautiful sentiment for one so young! Well, I must return to the +city to-night, and I cannot take your acceptance of Mr. Arnault's +offer?" + +"No. I will give my answer in person to-morrow night. I can either +accede in a way that will please him, or decline in a manner that +will keep his friendship. I suppose you believe what you say about +Mr. Muir, but I am sure you are mistaken, and I have set my heart on +marrying Graydon." + +"Your heart?" satirically. + +She made no answer. + +"You are taking no slight risk," he resumed, after a moment. + +"Either Arnault is misleading you, or Graydon is deceiving me, and I +would believe him in preference to Arnault any day. I won't be duped." + +"But I tell you, Stella, that under the circumstances Graydon's +ignorance is not at all strange. He has been absent; he is not in +the firm; and what is swamping Muir is an investment outside of his +regular business." + +"You yourself said within a month that if Henry Muir went through this +business crisis he would represent one of the strongest and wealthiest +houses in the country. If he is in the danger you assert, the fact +will soon be manifested. Mr. Arnault has requested my answer to-morrow +night. I have not promised to give it; I have only promised him not to +accept Graydon in the meantime." + +"The fact that Mr. Arnault is helping me so greatly counts for +nothing, I suppose." + +"Oh, yes; I appreciate it very much, but not enough to marry him +unless I must. I am literally following your advice--to choose between +these two men. I shall convey to Mr. Arnault the impression that I +am deeply moved by the generosity of his offer. I am. Girls don't +get such offers every day. You can show him that the very fact of my +hesitation proves that I am not mercenary; or I can, when I see him. +At the same time I am not at all satisfied that Graydon Muir's offer +is not a better one, and it is certainly more to my mind--if you +don't like the word heart. This fact, however, may as well not be +mentioned." + +After some moments' hesitation he said, slowly: "Very well, then. You +are my daughter, although a strange one, and I shall do as well for +you as I can." + +"Yes, please. I parted with sentiment long ago, but I can do well by +those who do well by me. I shall soon be off your hands, and then you +won't have me to worry about." + +He made no response, and Madge heard his step pass into his wife's +room. A moment later Miss Wildmere also departed, and her voice was +soon heard on the piazza. The conversation had been carried on in a +comparatively low tone, and some words had been lost, but those heard +made the sense given above. Circumstances had favored Madge. The +open window at which she was sitting was near the next window in Miss +Wildmere's room, and within two or three feet there was the customary +thin-panelled door which enables the proprietor to throw rooms +together, as required, for the accommodation of families. Therefore, +without moving or volition on her part information vital to her +relatives had been brought to her knowledge. She was perfectly +overwhelmed at first, and sat as if stunned, her cheeks scarlet with +shame for the act of listening, even while she felt that for the sake +of the innocent and unsuspecting, to whom she owed loyalty and love, +it was right. Soon, however, came the impulse to seek the refuge of +her own room and think of what must be done. She stepped lightly to +the outer door; there was no sound in the corridor, and with all the +composure she could assume she passed quietly out and gained her own +apartment unobserved. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE STRONG MAN UNMANNED + + +Madge locked her doors, bathed her hot face, then paced her room in +great agitation, feeling that not only her own happiness was in peril, +but Graydon's also. Her mental distress was greatly enhanced by a +feeling that in order to save her relatives she herself had been +guilty of what to her sensitive nature appeared almost like a crime. +"Was it right?" she asked herself again and again, and at last reached +the conclusion that the fealty she owed to her relatives and to the +man she loved justified her course--that she should shield them even +at such cost to herself. "It was not curiosity that kept me passive," +she thought, "but the hope, the chance to save Henry from financial +ruin and Graydon from far worse disaster." It would indeed be +"horrible" for any true man to marry such a girl; and to permit the +man she loved to make such a fatal blunder was simply monstrous. Yet +how could she prevent it without doing violence to every maidenly +principle of her nature? + +Should she tell her sister? This impulse passed almost instantly. Mary +had not the tact, nerve, or reticence to meet such an emergency. It +seemed, however, that if something was not done almost immediately +this callous, selfish girl would cause lifelong wretchedness to +Graydon as certainly as to Madge herself. Such a nature could not long +maintain its disguise, and probably would not be at pains to do so +after marriage. The self-sacrifice that she had led Graydon to believe +in was all deceit. It was self with her, first and last; it would be +self always. Madge knew Graydon well enough to be sure that to him, +when his illusions were dissipated, the marriage vow would become a +chain growing heavier with time. + +This absolutely certain phase of the danger was so terrible that at +first it almost completely dominated her thoughts. "Oh," she moaned, +"I could see him marry a woman who would make him happy, and yet +survive, but this would be worse than death!" + +As she became more calm and could think connectedly, her mind reverted +to what had been said about Henry's financial peril; and while she was +inclined to take the same view as Miss Wildmere, she soon began to see +that her brother-in-law should be informed of all references to him. +Then the impression grew upon her that it would be wisest to tell him +all, and let him save his brother, if possible, from a fate infinitely +worse than lifelong poverty. Would this involve the disclosure to Mr. +Muir of her secret? Sometimes she thought that he half suspected her +already, and she feared that she could scarcely speak of a subject +that touched her heart's interests so closely without revealing to +those keen gray eyes more than she would have them see. But the risk +must be taken to save Graydon. + +"Can it be?" she said, after musing awhile, "that Henry is in any +such danger as that man asserted, or was it a trumped-up scheme to +influence the girl? Still, he did say that if she would choose Graydon +and poverty he would not interpose. Poverty! I would welcome bondage +and chains with Graydon. I would almost welcome Henry's failure, that +I might prove to them my devotion. Every penny of my fortune should +be theirs. Henry has looked very anxious and troubled sometimes when +thinking himself unobserved. He keeps everything to himself so--" + +Suddenly she sprang up with a flash of joy in her face, and whispered +to herself, excitedly: "Suppose there is truth in what was said by +those speculators. I have a fortune, and it's my own. Henry said it +was so left to me that I could control it after I was eighteen. I can +lend Henry the money to pay Arnault. I will give him every penny I +possess to carry him safely through. Oh, I am so glad he is coming +to-night!" + +"Come down to supper," called Mrs. Muir. + +"Why, Madge," exclaimed the lady, as they sat down under the light of +the chandelier, "how flushed you are! And your eyes fairly beam with +excitement. I half believe you are feverish." + +"Nonsense! No doses for me now; milk and beefsteak are my remedies. +I've been dwelling on some scenes partly imaginary, and you know how +wrought-up I get." + +"Oh, yes; now I remember, you asked Miss Thompson for a book, and went +for it to her room. Of course that was the last seen of you. I never +could get so carried away by a story." + +"I haven't your even disposition, Mary." + +"Miss Wildmere looks brilliant to-night, also. And if there isn't her +father! This is the first time I've seen him up during the week. Well, +I'm glad to see that his daughter can wake up a little for his sake, a +well as for some other man." + +Madge looked at her with mingled curiosity and repugnance. "Horrid +little monster!" she thought. "Now she is performing her filial act. +As her father said, 'such high-toned people should not be misjudged.'" + +"I think you dislike her worse than Henry does," said Mrs. Muir, with +a low laugh. "You look at her as if she were a snake." + +"She is not a girl after my heart," Madge replied, carelessly; then +added, under her breath, "She's a vampire, but she shan't drain +Graydon's life-blood." + +Miss Wildmere was certainly in a genial mood. The munificent offer +received from Mr. Arnault had enhanced her self-appreciation, and she +felt that she had met it with rare nerve and sagacity. She had not +shown herself dazzled like a village girl, and eager to grasp the +prize. Moreover, she had thought, with proud complacency: "The man who +can offer so much is not going to give me up, even should I keep him +waiting months longer. I still believe that Graydon can give me all +I want at present, and at the same time a position in society which +Arnault could never attain, though worth millions. Arnault is on top +of the wave now, but he is a speculator, like papa, and I'm sick +of these Wall Street ups and downs. I believe in Henry Muir's +conservatism. Because he is keeping quiet now they think he is going +to fail. He is just the kind of man to be five times as rich as people +think. Graydon will succeed to his business and business methods, and +will not only make an immense fortune, but keep it. Papa has given +me the test of all these gloomy warnings. If Henry Muir does not fail +to-morrow, I won't believe a word of all that's been said. If he does, +I'll do the next best thing, and take Arnault. No tenement-house for +me, thank you. I've not been in society so long as not to make the +most of my chances;" and under the inspiration of thoughts like these +Miss Wildmere condescended to be affable to her parents, and to smile +upon the world in general. + +Madge Alden was an exception, however, and for her she had only a +frown as she looked across the room at the young girl and saw the +admiration and friendly regard that were so freely bestowed upon her. +As was inevitable, the selfish spirit of one girl had repelled and the +kindly nature of the other had attracted good-will. Human instinct is +quick to recognize the tax-gatherers of society--the people who are +ever exacting, yet give little except slights, wounds, and criticism. + +"Oh," thought Miss Wildmere, "if I can only marry Graydon and snub +that girl unmercifully I shall be perfectly happy!" + +The late train would not arrive before nine o'clock, and Madge +determined to go down in the stage to meet Mr. Muir. In the meantime +her quick mind was coping with the emergency. She had often heard +it said that in times of financial uncertainty an air of the utmost +confidence should be maintained. Therefore she drew her sister into +the parlor, and managed to place her in a lively and congenial group +of ladies. Mrs. Muir herself was happy in the thought of soon seeing +her husband, and appeared cheerfulness embodied. + +Miss Wildmere saw her laughing and chatting with such unforced +geniality that she muttered: "It's perfectly absurd to imagine that +her husband is on the eve of bankruptcy. Even if he tried he couldn't +keep such trouble utterly from his wife, and I've seen enough of +people to be sure she does not dream of danger. The best people of the +house are ever around her and that Madge Alden. Unless papa returns +to-morrow night with predictions confirmed, the Muirs will have to +admit me hereafter into their charmed circle. 'Sister Madge' looks +also as if something keyed her up tremendously. Perhaps she is +thinking that Graydon will return to-morrow to be her escort on long +rides again. I'll soon put a spoke in that wheel, my proud minx. In a +few hours you may wear a very different expression." + +When the two girls met, however, they were scrupulously polite; but +Madge took such pains to make these occasions rare that Miss Wildmere +perceived the avoidance, and her vindictive feeling was intensified. +Madge saw one or two of her dark looks, but only thought, "I shall now +take a part in your cruel game, and it may not end as you imagine." +She danced and laughed as if not a care weighed upon her mind. + +When the hour arrived for the stage to meet the train she slipped +away, wrapped herself in a cloak, and said to the driver that she was +going to meet a relative. The train, was on time, and Mr. Muir, with +others who were strangers, entered the stage. + +"Why, Madge!" he exclaimed; "you here? This certainly is very kind." + +They sat a little apart, and she whispered: "Don't show any surprise +at this or anything else to-night. I have something to tell you, and +you must manage to give me a private interview without any one knowing +it--not even Mary at present." + +"It's about Graydon," he said, anxiously. + +"It's chiefly about yourself. I've heard something." She took his hand +in the darkness, and felt it tremble. "You know how to keep cool and +disguise your feelings," she resumed. "We can beat them yet. I left +Mary in the parlor, the merriest of a merry group. She is happy in the +thought that you are coming, and doesn't suspect anything. I am sure +you will know just what to do when I tell you all, and you can avert +all danger. Greet Mary as usual, and make the people in the house +think you have no trouble on your mind." + +"All right, Madge. As soon as I've had a little supper, you come to my +room." + +"No, you must take a walk with me outside. I want no walls with ears +around." + +"Is it so very serious?" + +"You will know best when I have told you everything." + +A few moments later Mr. Muir walked into the parlor the picture of +serene confidence, and smiling pleasure at meeting his wife, who +sprang up, exclaiming: "I declare, I was so enjoying myself that I +did not realize it was time for you to be here. Come, I've ordered a +splendid supper for you." + +"I shall reward your thoughtfulness abundantly," he replied, "for I +am ravenous." He then greeted Mrs. Muir's friends cordially, said some +pleasant words, and even bowed, when retiring, very politely to Mrs. +Wildmere, who in her meek, deprecating way sat near the door. + +Two or three gentlemen sought Madge's hand for the next dance, and she +was out upon the floor again, her absence not having been commented +upon. + +Not a feature of this by-play had been lost on Miss Wildmere, and she +smiled satirically. "They thought to dupe me with delusions about Mr. +Muir. He has no more idea of failing than I have, and before very long +he shall be Brother Henry to me as well as to Madge Alden." + +After a little while Madge excused herself and joined her relatives in +the dining-room. She found her sister happy in giving all the details +of what had occurred in her husband's absence, and he was listening +with his usual quiet interest, while deliberately prolonging his meal +to give the impression that his appetite made good his words. But +Madge saw that he was pale and at times preoccupied. + +At last he rose from the table, and Mrs. Muir said, "I will go and +have a look at the children, and then join you on the piazza." + +"Very well, Mary, I'll be there soon. I've sat so long in the cars +that I want to walk a little for a change, so don't hasten or worry if +I'm gone a little longer than usual. After such a splendid supper as +you have secured for me I need a little exercise, and will smoke +my cigar on my feet. The fact is, I don't get exercise enough. Come, +Madge, you'd walk all day if you had a chance." + +Mrs. Muir thought the idea very sensible. Mr. Muir and Madge passed +out through a side door. The former lighted his cigar leisurely, and +they strolled away as if for no other purpose than to enjoy the warm +evening. The storm had not come, but clouds were flying wildly across +the disk of the moon, and the hurry-skurry in the sky was akin to the +thoughts of the quiet saunterers. + +"Where shall we go?" he asked. + +"Not far away. There is an open walk near, where we could see any one +approach us." + +"Now, Madge," Mr. Muir began, after reaching the spot, "I have +followed your suggestions, for I have great confidence in your good +sense. Your words have worried me exceedingly." + +"There is reason for it, Henry, even though there is probably no truth +in what has been said about your financial peril." + +"Great God!" he exclaimed, starting, "is that subject talked about?" + +"Do you owe money to Mr. Arnault?" + +"Yes," with a groan. + +"Would it hurt you should he demand it to-morrow?" + +"Oh, Madge, this is dreadful!" and she saw that he was trembling. + +"Now, Henry, take heart, and be your cool, brave self." + +"Give me a little time, Madge. I've been carrying a heavy load, but +thought the worst was over. I believe things have touched bottom, and +I was beginning to see my way to safety in a short time. Even now the +tide is turning, and I can realize on some things in a few days. But +if this money is demanded to-morrow--Saturday, too, when nearly all +my friends are out of town--it is very doubtful whether I could raise +it." + +"Would it cause your failure?" + +"Yes, yes, indeed. A man may be worth a million but if he can't get +hold of ready money at the moment it is needed, everything may be +swept away. Oh, Madge, this is cruel I With just a little more time I +could be safe and rich." + +"Why have you not told us this?" + +"Because I wouldn't touch your money and Mary's under any +circumstances, and I know that you both would have given me no peace, +through trying to persuade me to borrow from you." + +"That's just like you, Henry. How much do you owe Mr. Arnault?" + +"Madge, I'm not going to borrow your money." + +"Of course not, Henry. Please tell me." + +"You will take no action without my consent?" + +"Certainly not." + +"Well, the paltry sum of thirty thousand, if demanded to-morrow, may +involve the loss of my fortune. Of course if I could not pay this at +once all the rest would be down on me. How in the world did you gain +any knowledge of this affair?" + +"Thank God, and take courage. I believe good is going to come out of +this evil, and I believe you will think so too when you have heard my +story;" and she told him everything. + +"And Graydon has, to all intents and purposes, engaged himself to +this--speculator," said Mr. Muir, grinding his teeth. "He's no brother +of mine if he does not break with her; and, as it is, I feel as if I +could never trust him with my affairs again." + +Henry Muir was a man not easily moved, but now his concentrated +passion was terrible to witness. His hands worked convulsively; his +respiration was quick and irregular. His business and his commercial +standing were his idols, and to think that a selfish, scheming girl +had caused the jeopardy of both to further her own petty ambition, +and that his brother should be one of her tools, enraged him beyond +measure. + +"Now," he hissed, "I understand why that plausible scamp offered to +lend me money. He and his confederate Wildmere have been watching +and biding their time. I had to be ruined in order to bring that +speculator's daughter to a decision, and Graydon has been doing his +level best to further these schemes." + +"Henry, Henry, do be calm. You are not ruined, and shall not be." + +"It's no use, Madge; I'm foully caught in their devilish toils." + +Madge grasped his arm with a force that compelled his attention. + +"Henry Muir," she said, in low and almost stern tones, "you shall +listen to me. Ignorant girl as I am, I know better, and I demand that +you meet this emergency, not in impotent anger, but with your whole +manhood. I demand it for the sake of my sister and your children, for +your own sake and Graydon's. You explained to me before we left +town that I had sixty thousand dollars in United States bonds, first +mortgage, and other good securities. You also explained that by the +provisions of my father's will I had control of this money after I was +eighteen. You have been so scrupulous that you have not even thought +of asking for the use of it, but I demand of you, as an honest man, +what right have you to prevent me from doing what I please with it?" + +"You cannot make me take it, Madge." + +"I can and will. I shall go to the city with you by the earliest +train, and when Arnault asks for his money you shall quietly give it +to him, and no one but ourselves shall know anything about the matter. +If you pay this money promptly, will it not help your credit at once?" + +"Certainly, Madge, but--" + +"Oh, Henry," she cried, "why will you cloud all our lives by scruples +that are now not only absurd but almost criminal? Think of the loss +you will inflict on Graydon, your children, and your wife, by such +senseless refusal. Have you not said that a little time will insure +safety and fortune? And there is my money lying idle, when with +to-morrow's sun it could buy me more happiness than could millions at +another time. I trust to your business judgment fully. Suppose the +money was lost--suppose my whole fortune was lost--do you think I +would care a jot compared with being denied at this critical moment? I +should hate the money you saved for me in this way, and I should never +forgive you for saving it." She stood aloof and faced him proudly, as +she continued: "Do you imagine I fear poverty? Believe me, Henry Muir, +I have brain and muscle to take care of myself and others too if +need be." Then, in swift alternation of mood, she clasped her hands +caressingly upon his arm, and added: "But I have a woman's heart, and +there are troubles worse than poverty. To see you lose the results of +your lifework, and to see Graydon's prospects blighted, would be more +than I could bear. You can give me all the security you wish, if +that will satisfy you better; but if you deny me now, I shall lose +confidence in you, and feel that you have failed me in the most +desperate emergency of my life." + +"The most desperate emergency of _your_ life, Madge?" + +"Yes; of _my_ life," she replied, her voice choking with sobs, for the +strain was growing too great for her nerve-force to resist. "You give +way to senseless anger; you inveigh against Graydon, when he has +only acted honorably, and has been deceived; you refuse to do the one +simple, rational thing that will avert this trouble and bring safety +to us all." + +"Why, Madge, if I fail, this speculator will drop Graydon at once. +Scott! this fact alone would be large compensation." + +"If you were cool--if you were yourself--you could save Graydon in +every way. I want to see him go on in life, prosperous and happy, not +thwarted and disheartened almost at its beginning. Oh, why won't you? +Why _won't_ you?" and she wrung her hands in distress. + +"Is Graydon so very much to you, Madge?" he asked, in a wondering +tone. + +"Hush!" she said, imperiously; "there are things which no man or woman +shall know or appear to know unless I reveal them. It's enough that +I am trying to save you all, and my own peace of mind. Henry Muir, I +will not be denied. There are moments when a woman feels and _knows_ +what is right, while a man, with his narrow, cast-iron rules, would +ruin everything. You _must_ carry out my wish, and Graydon must know +_nothing_ about it. Oh, God! that I were a man!" + +"Thank God, you are a woman! Child as you are, compared with my years +and experience, you shall have your own way. I will this once put my +lifelong principle under my feet, and if the future house of Muir & +Brother is saved, you shall save it." + +"Oh, thank you, thank you, Henry! Now see how happy I am. I have but +one stipulation--the 'brother' must not know it. We shall go on the +first train, shall we not?" + +"Yes. You can say you want to do some shopping. Come, we have been +away from Mary too long already. Oh, Madge, Madge, would that there +were more girls like you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +CHECKMATE + + +"Well," exclaimed Mrs. Muir, when they appeared at last; "I thought +you and Madge had eloped!" + +"We are going to to-morrow by first train," said the young girl. +"Henry says he must return to town for the day, and I shall accompany +him to do some shopping." + +"Now, Henry, this is too bad, and I've scarcely seen you this +evening." + +"I'm truly sorry, Mary; I did look forward to a good quiet day with +you, but there is an important matter which I neglected to see to +to-day, and which must be attended to. Graydon will soon be ready to +relieve me a great deal." + +"Well, I shall be glad when he can do something besides waiting on Mr. +Arnault's convenience for the privilege of seeing Miss Wildmere. It +will be a terribly long, fatiguing day for you, Madge--for you both, +indeed!" + +"Oh, I shan't mind it in the least! It won't be half so fatiguing as +one of my long rides. You spoke of wanting some things, and I can shop +for you, too." + +Mrs. Muir had long since given up the idea of objecting seriously to +anything for which business was the alleged reason. The chance to do +some shopping by proxy soon occupied her mind, and when Miss Wildmere +took occasion to pass and repass, the only apparent topic of interest +in the Muir group was the prospect of purchasing some expensive goods. + +Madge retired early to prepare for her journey. Mrs. Muir soon +followed, and her husband remarked that he would merely remain down +long enough to write a note to Graydon. This missive was brief, but +was charged with dynamite. + +On the morrow, long before Miss Wildmere waked from the golden dreams +which that day should realize, Madge and Mr. Muir were on their way +to the city. The young girl had said: "Don't let us do anything by +halves. I have read that in the crisis of a battle timid measures +are often fatal. Let me give you everything that you can use as +collateral. How much is there?" + +"Sixty thousand available at once. As I have said, you shall have your +own way." + +"Well, for once a woman is wiser than Solomon." + +They went immediately to the trust company which had her property in +keeping, and, having complied with the forms, obtained the entire sum, +then parted on Broadway, to rendezvous at the train. Mr. Muir gave the +radiant girl a look which she valued more than the money. He then went +to his bank. The official whom he accosted had been rather cold and +shy of late, but when he received the securities he grew perceptibly +urbane. + +On reaching his office Mr. Muir found that a transaction which +had been greatly delayed was now consummated, and that another ten +thousand in cash was available. This also was sent to the bank at +once. Several business men were present when a confidential clerk from +Arnault appeared, and asked for a private interview. + +"Well, really you must excuse me to-day. I'm very busy, and expect to +leave town in an hour or two. Please state what you have to say in few +words, or else I will see you next week." + +"Mr. Arnault," began the clerk, in a metallic tone, "says that he is +compelled to call in the loan he recently made you." + +"Oh, certainly, certainly! Have you the securities I gave him as +collateral?" + +"No, sir, but I can get them," said the man. + +"Do so, and I will give you my check. Thank Mr. Arnault for the +accommodation, and say I have thirty or forty thousand to spare should +he be hard pressed. Be quick." + +The Wall Street men present looked at one another significantly, and +one of them remarked, "You are forehanded for these times, Muir." + +"If this absurd lack of confidence would only pass," was the +careless reply, "I should have more money on hand than I could invest +profitably;" and then he appeared absorbed in other matters. + +Arnault received the message from his clerk with something like +dismay, and turning on Mr. Wildmere, who was present, he said, almost +savagely, "You have been misleading me." + +"Indeed I have not, sir--not intentionally. I can't understand it." + +"Well, I can. Muir is an old fox in business. I was a fool to think +that a paltry thirty thousand would trouble him. Well, there is +nothing to do but to close the matter up." + +"What, in regard to my daughter?" said Mr. Wildmere, inadvertently. + +"Oh, no; confound it! What has she got to do with this affair?" +replied Arnault, with an irritation that he could not disguise. "I +certainly have made Miss Wildmere a fair offer; some would regard it +as more. I shall go up to-night and receive her answer, as I promised. +I am one who never fails in a promise to man or woman, and I am ready +to make good all that I have authorized you to say to your daughter, +and more." + +"Let me add," said Mr. Wildmere, with some assumption of dignity, +"that as far as I have influence it is absolutely yours. I have ever +prided myself on my fidelity to those who trust me." + +"Thanks," replied Arnault, with a little menacing coldness in his +tone. "I hope I shall have proof of the fact this evening. If so, all +shall go swimmingly." + +Poor Wildmere bowed himself out with trepidation at heart, and Arnault +followed him with a dark look, muttering, "Let them both beware." + +Mr. Muir met Madge at the depot, and was quietly jubilant. Both +laughed heartily over the experiences of the day. + +"You are a blessed little woman, Madge. I was never so off my balance +before in my life as I was last night. When confused and upset, it is +one of my impulses to stick to some principle of right, like a mule. +Bless you, I think I have secured you twice over! I have given you a +lien on property worth two hundred thousand in ordinary times." + +"You have taught me to lean on you once more, Henry, and that is worth +more than all your other liens." + +Mr. Arnault now appeared, and came affably forward, saying, "I am glad +my enforced action did not incommode you to-day." + +"Thank you. I trust you are not in trouble, Mr. Arnault;" and there +was a world of quiet satire in the remark. + +"Oh, no--only a temporary need, I assure you," was the hasty reply. + +"So I supposed;" and as Arnault turned away, the speaker gave Madge a +humorous glance, which made her look of demure innocence difficult to +maintain. + + * * * * * + +Graydon had enjoyed fair success in fishing, and yet had not been +supremely happy. He found, with the venerated Izaak Walton, that the +"gentle art" was conducive to contemplation; but there were certain +phases in his situation that were not agreeable to contemplate. As he +followed the trout-stream amid the solitudes of nature, the artificial +and conventional in life grew less attractive. In spite of his efforts +to the contrary, Miss Wildmere seemed to represent just these phases. +He recalled critically and dispassionately all the details of their +past acquaintance, and found, with something like dismay, that she had +exhibited only the traits of a society belle--that he could recall +no new ideas or inspiring thoughts received from her. The apparent +self-sacrifice for her father, which he had so unequivocally +condemned, was, after all, about the best thing he knew of her. The +glamour of her beauty had been upon his eyes, and he had credited her +with corresponding graces of heart and mind. What evidence had he of +their existence? + +The more he thought of it, the more his pride, also, rebelled at the +ignominious position in the background that he was compelled to take +while the Wall Street diplomacy was prolonged. At last, in anger and +disgust, he resolved that, if he found Arnault in his old position by +Stella's side, he would withdraw at once and forever. + +After all, although he was as yet unconscious of it, the secret of his +clarified vision was the influence of Madge upon his mind. She seemed +in harmony with every beautiful aspect of nature--true and satisfying, +while ever changing. Madge was right: the mountains, streams, rocks, +and trees became her allies, suggesting her and not Miss Wildmere. +He would have returned, for the pleasure of her society, but for his +purpose not to appear again until Arnault should have time to arrive +from the city and resume his attentions. If they were received as in +the past, he would write to Miss Wildmere his withdrawal of further +claims upon her thoughts. + +It was with something like bitter cynicism that he saw his illusions +in regard to Miss Wildmere fade, and when he drove up to the hotel +after nightfall on Saturday, he was not sure that he cared much what +her answer might be, so apathetic had he become. The force of his old +regard was not wholly spent; but in his thoughts of her, much that was +repugnant to his feelings and ideals had presented itself to his mind, +and he felt that the giving up of his dream of lifelong companionship +with her would almost bring a sense of relief. Without pausing to +analyze the reason of his eagerness to see Madge and hear of her +welfare, he ran up at once to Mrs. Muir's room. + +"Madge went to New York!" he echoed, in surprise at Mrs. Muir's +information. + +"Yes; why not? She went to do some shopping for herself and me. Miss +Wildmere's here, and, for a wonder, Mr. Arnault is not. What more +could you ask?" + +"Hang Mr. Arnault--" He had come near mentioning both in his +irritation. + +"When will Madge and Henry arrive?" + +"Soon now--on the nine-o'clock train. Oh, by the way, Henry left a +note for you!" + +"Very well. I'll go to my room, dress, and meet them." + +"He is asking after Madge rather often, it seems to me. She doesn't +compare so very unfavorably with the speculator, after all, even in +his eyes." + +On reaching his room he threw himself wearily into a chair, and +carelessly tore open his brother's note. Instantly he bounded to his +feet, approached the light more closely, and saw in his brother's +unmistakable hand the following significant words: + + +"Read this letter carefully and thoughtfully; then destroy it. Show +your knowledge of its contents by neither word nor sign. Be on your +guard, and permit no one to suspect financial anxieties. Arnault and +Wildmere have struck me a heavy blow. The former has lent me money. +I must raise a large sum in town, but think I can do it, even in the +brief time permitted. If I cannot we lose everything. If I don't have +to suspend to-morrow Miss Wildmere will accept you in the evening. She +has been waiting till those two precious confederates, her father and +Arnault, did their worst, so that she could go over to the winning +side. You are of course your own master, but permit me, as your +brother, affectionately and solemnly to warn you. Stella Wildmere +will never bring you a day's happiness or peace. She loves herself +infinitely more than you, her father, or any one else. Be true to me, +and you shall share my fortunes. If you follow some insane notion of +being true to her, you will soon find you have been false to yourself. +Again I warn you. Speak to no one of all this, and give no sign of +your knowledge. HENRY." + + +Graydon read this twice, then crushed the paper in his hand as he +muttered, "Fool, dupe, idiot! Now at last I understand her game and +allusions. She was made to fear that Henry was about to fail, and +she would not accept me until satisfied on this point. Great God! my +infatuation for her has been inciting Arnault in these critical times +to break my brother down, and her father has been aiding and abetting, +in order that I might be removed out of the way. She was so false +herself that she suspected her own father, also Arnault, of deceiving +her, and so kept putting me off, that she might learn the truth of +their predictions or the result of their efforts. How clear it all +becomes, now that I have the key! Well, I should be worse than a +heathen if I did not thank God for such an escape." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +MADGE IS MATTER-OF-FACT + + +"Well, I have come back to civilization and all its miseries," thought +Graydon. "I was among scenes that know not Wildmeres or Arnaults. 'Oh, +my prophetic soul!' I felt that there was something wrong, in spite of +her superb acting. Sweet Madge, dear sister Madge, as you ever will be +to me, the more I think of it the more clearly I see that you are the +one who first began to shatter my delusion. Since that morning when +I brought you home from your long vigil, and you revealed to me your +true, brave heart Stella Wildmere has never seemed the same, and the +revolt of my nature has been growing ever since." + +His wish now was to avoid seeing every one until he had met his +brother. While the thought of his escape was uppermost in his mind, +he was consumed with anxiety to learn the result of Henry's efforts in +town. His commercial instincts were also very strong, and the thought +of what might happen fairly made him tremble. + +He slipped down a back stairway and out into the darkness, then bent +his rapid steps to the depot, at which he arrived half an hour before +the train was due. Remembering that excited pacing up and down there +would not be very intelligent obedience to his brother's injunctions, +he started down a country road in the direction from which the train +would come, and paced to and fro in his strong excitement. At last the +train arrived, and his first glimpse of Henry's face and Madge's +was reassuring. The moment the former saw him he called out, "Hello, +Graydon! Have you a trout supper for us?" + +"Yes," was the hearty response; and he hastened forward and shook +hands cordially, saying, in an aside, "Oh, Madge! I am so glad to see +you again!" + +"You are! Tell that to the marines. The length of your stay proves it +to be a fish story." + +"Here, Madge, we'll put you in the stage. I'll rest myself by walking +to the house with Graydon." + +"Henry, you are all right?" said Graydon, eagerly, as soon as they +were out of earshot. + +"Yes," was the quiet reply; "I raised the money, paid Arnault in full, +and have a good surplus in the bank." + +"Thank Heaven! How did you raise it? How has all this knowledge +reached--" + +"Patience, Graydon, patience. As soon as you are in the firm I shall +have no secrets from you. Until you are, you must let me manage in my +old way." + +"I have indeed little claim on your confidence. I have been deceived, +and have acted like a fool. But it's all over now. Henry, you may +not believe me, but my nonsense would have ended to-night if I hadn't +received your letter, and all this had not occurred. I had been +disgusted with this Arnault business for some time, and had let Miss +Wildmere know my views. As I thought it over while away it all grew +so detestable to me that I resolved, if Arnault appeared again and +renewed his attentions, I would never renew mine. He's here again, as +you may have seen." + +"Oh, yes; and I have talked with him. Please show no resentment. I +obtained my information in a way unknown to him, and there is nothing +unusual in our transaction on its face. How was it that you began to +grow critical toward Miss Wildmere?" + +"Well, I don't mind telling you. There was not a ring of truth or +a stamp of nobility about her words and manner, and I have been +associating with a girl who is truth itself and twice as clever and +accomplished. Miss Wildmere was growing commonplace in contrast. I +learned to love Madge as a sister before she went away, and now no man +ever admired and loved a sister more." + +Mr. Muir smiled broadly to himself in the darkness, and said: "Truly, +Graydon, you are giving satisfactory proofs of returning sanity. +We may as well conclude with the old saying, 'All's well that ends +well.'" + +"I think I had better go to town Monday and resume business. It's time +I did something to retrieve myself." + +"No, Graydon, not yet. I have everything in hand now, and believe the +tide has turned. I realized ten thousand to-day on a transaction that +I will tell you about. I am not doing much business now, only watching +things and waiting. It was the suddenness of Arnault's demand that +worried me--on Saturday, too, you know. He had about the same as said +that I might have the money as long as I wanted it, and I should not +have needed it much longer. In ordinary times I wouldn't have given it +a thought. + +"You can help me more up here. It's growing warm, and Jack isn't +improving as I would like. After what has occurred I don't wish Mary +and Madge to meet these Wildmeres any longer, so I propose that you +and Madge go to the Kaaterskill Hotel on Monday and explore. If you +like the place, then you can take Mary and the children there. I've +had a little scare in town, and propose to realize on some more +property and make myself perfectly safe. By going to a higher-priced +hotel we increase our credit also, and add to the impression I made +to-day, that we are in no danger." + +As the stage drew near the piazza Graydon hastened forward to +help Madge out. In doing so he saw Miss Wildmere greeting Arnault +cordially. As he passed up the steps with Madge, he caught Stella's +swift, appealing look at him. He only bowed politely and passed on. It +was Madge's triumphal entry now by the same door at which she had seen +him enter with Miss Wildmere but a few weeks before. How complete her +triumph was, even Madge did not yet know. While she went to her room +he sought the office and ordered some of the trout he had caught to +be prepared for supper. As he stood there Miss Wildmere left Arnault's +side, and said, "Mr. Muir, are you not going to shake hands with me?" + +"Why, certainly, Miss Wildmere;" but there was little more than +politeness in his tone and manner. As there were many coming and +going, she drew away with a reproachful glance. "So long as Arnault is +with me, he will not be cordial," was her thought. + +She looked around for her father, but he, nervous and apprehensive, +had disappeared. He felt that if he should be compelled to disclose +the failure of his predictions, she would pass into one of her sullen, +unmanageable moods. He feared that things were beyond his control, +and decided to let the young men manage for themselves. He was not, +however, exceedingly solicitous. He hoped that Arnault, aided by the +influence of his munificent offer, would have the skill to push his +suit to a prompt conclusion; but he believed that, if this suitor +should be dismissed, Graydon would not fail his daughter, and that all +might yet end well for her, and perhaps for himself. + +The supper-room was again occupied by the late comers, many of whom +were accompanied by their families and friends. Mr. Muir's quiet eyes +fairly beamed over the group gathered at his table, and he felt that +but few moments of his life compared with those now passing. Twenty +four hours before he had seen himself drifting helplessly on a +lee shore, but a little hand had taken the helm when he had been +paralyzed, and now he saw clear sea-room stretching away indefinitely, +with a turning tide and favoring gales. The terrible evils threatening +him and his had been averted. The results of his lifework would not be +swept away, his idolized commercial standing could now be maintained, +his wife's brow remain unclouded by care, his children be amply +provided for, Graydon saved from a worse fate than financial disaster, +and, last but not least, the young fellow would be cured by Madge of +all future tendencies toward the Wildmere type. He never could think +of this hope without smiling to himself. He had at last obtained the +explanation of Madge's effort and success. By the superb result +he measured the strength of the love which had led to it. "Great +Scott!"--his favorite expletive--he had thought; "what a compass there +is in her nature! I had long suspected her secret, but when I touched +upon it last night she made my blood tingle by her magnificent +resentment. I would sooner have trifled with an enraged empress. Look +at her now, smiling, serene, and, although not in the least artful, +keeping all her secrets with consummate art. Who would imagine that +she was capable of such a volcanic outburst? If Graydon does not lay +siege to her now, the name of the future firm should be Henry Muir and +idiot." + +That sagacious young man did not appear at all blighted by the wreck +of the hope he had cherished. He turned no wistful glances toward the +girl who had so long satisfied his eyes, and, as he had believed, +his heart. He felt much the same as if he had been imposed upon by a +cunning disguise. Unknown to her, he had caught a glimpse of what +the mask concealed, and his soul was shuddering at the deformities to +which he had so nearly allied himself. Her very beauty, with its false +promise, had become hateful to him. + +"She is indeed a speculator," he thought, "and I'm a little curious +to see how she will continue her game." It afforded him vindictive +amusement that she often, yet furtively, turned her eyes toward him as +if he were still a factor in it. + +She never looked once in Graydon's direction but that Arnault was +aware of the act. There was no longer any menace in his deportment +toward her--he was as devoted as the place and time would permit--but +in his eyes dwelt a vigilance and a resolution which should have given +her warning. + +After supper Mr. and Mrs. Muir found a comfortable nook on the piazza, +and the banker smoked his cigar with ineffable content. + +"Do you feel too tired for a waltz, Madge?" Graydon asked. + +"The idea! when I've rested in the cars half a day." + +"Oh, Madge!" he whispered; "dear, sweet little friend--you know I mean +sister, only I dare not say it--I'm so glad to be with you again! What +makes you look so radiant to-night? You look as though you had a world +of happy thoughts behind those sparkling eyes." + +"Nonsense, Graydon! You are always imagining things. I have youth, +good health, have had my supper--a trout supper, too--and I like to +dance, just as a bird enjoys flying." + +"You seem a bird-of-paradise. Happy the man who coaxes you into his +cage! Brother or not, when your beaux become too attentive they will +find me a perfect dragon of a critic." + +"When I meet my ideal, you shall have nothing to say." + +"I suppose not. I am at a loss to know where you will find him." + +"I shan't find him; he must find me." + +"He will be an idiot if he doesn't. Pardon me if I don't dance any +more to-night. I have had a long tramp over mountain paths, followed +by a long, rough ride in a farmer's wagon, and now have a very +important act to perform before I sleep. As a proof of my fraternal--I +mean friendly--confidence, I will tell you what it is, if you wish." + +"I don't propose to fail in any friendly obligations, Graydon," +she replied, laughing, as they strolled out into the summer night, +followed by Miss Wildmere's half-desperate eyes. + +As they walked down a path, Graydon said, "Take my arm; the pavement +is a little rough. Dear Madge, you look divine to night. Every time +I see you my wonder increases at what you accomplished out on the +Pacific coast. That great, boundless, sparkling ocean has given you +something of its own nature." + +"Graydon, you must be more sensible. When a fellow takes your arm you +don't squeeze it against your side and say, 'Dear Tom,' 'Sweet Dick,' +or 'Divine Harry,' no matter how good friends they may be. Friends +don't indulge in sentimental, far-fetched compliments." + +"I certainly never did with any friends of mine. On this very walk you +told me that you were not my sister, and added, 'There is no use in +trying to ignore nature.' See how true this last assertion is proving, +now that I am again under your influence, and so enjoy your society +that I cannot ignore nature. During all those years when you were +growing from childhood to womanhood I treated you as a sister, thought +of you as such. It was nature, or rather the accord of two natures, +that formed and cemented the tie, and not an accident of birth. +Even when you were an invalid, and I was stupid enough to call you +'lackadaisical,' your presence always gave me pleasure. Often when I +had been out all the evening I would say, with vexation, 'I wish I had +stayed at home with the little ghost.' How you used to order me about +and tyrannize over me from your sofa when you were half child and half +woman! I can say honestly, Madge, it was never a bore to me, for you +had an odd, piquant way of saying and doing things that always amused +me; your very weakness was an appeal to my strength, and a claim upon +it. You always appeared to have a sister's affection for me, and your +words and manner proved that I brought some degree of brightness into +your shadowed life. In learning to love you as a sister in all those +years, wherein did I ignore nature? During my absence my feelings did +not change in the least, as I proved by my attempts at correspondence, +by my greeting when we met. Then you perplexed and worried me more +than you would believe, and I imagined all sorts of ridiculous things +about you; but on that drive, after your vigil with that poor, dying +girl, I felt that I understood you fully at last. Indeed, ever since +your rescue of the little Wilder child from drowning my old feelings +have been coming back with tenfold force. I can't help thinking of +you, of being proud of you. I give you my confidence to-night just +as naturally and unhesitatingly as if we had been rocked in the +same cradle. I am not wearying you with this long explanation and +preamble?" + +"No, Graydon," she replied, in a low tone. + +"I am very glad. I don't think well of myself to-night at all, and I +have a very humiliating confession to make--one that I could make only +to such a sister as you are, or rather would have been, were there +a natural tie between us. I would not tell any Tom, Dick, and Harry +friends in the world what I shall now make known to you. If I didn't +trust you so, I wouldn't speak of it, for what I shall say involves +Henry as well as myself. Madge, I've been duped, I've been made both +a fool and a tool, and the consequences might have been grave indeed. +Henry, who has so much quiet sagacity, has in some way obtained +information that proved of immense importance to him, and absolutely +vital to me. I shudder when I think of what might have happened, and +I am overwhelmed with gratitude when I think of my escape. I told +you that Miss Wildmere was humoring that fellow Arnault to save her +father, and consequently her mother and the child. This impression, +which was given me so skilfully, and at last confirmed by plain words, +was utterly false. Henry has been in financial danger; Wildmere knew +it, and he also knew that Arnault had lent Henry money, which to-day +was called in with the hope of breaking him down. They would have +succeeded, too, had he not had resources of which they knew nothing. +You, of course, can't realize how essential a little ready money +sometimes is in a period of financial depression; but Henry left a +note which gave me an awful shock, while, at the same time, it made +clear Miss Wildmere's scheme. She had simply put me off, that she +might hear from Wall Street. If Henry had failed she would have +decided for Arnault, and I believe my attentions led to his tricky +transaction--that he loaned the money and called it in when he +believed that Henry could not meet his demand. I must be put out +of his way, for he reasoned justly that the girl would drop me if +impoverished. Thus indirectly I might have caused Henry's failure--a +blow from which I should never have recovered. Henry is safe now, he +assures me; and, oh, Madge, thank God, I have found her out before +it was too late! I had fully resolved while oft trouting that I would +break with her finally if I found Arnault at her side again. Now he +may marry her, for all I care, and I wish him no worse punishment. +I shall go to my room now and write to her that everything is over +between us. The fact is, Madge, you spoiled Miss Wildmere for me on +that morning drive the other day. After leaving your society and going +into hers I felt the difference keenly, and while I should then have +fulfilled the obligations which I had so stupidly incurred, I had +little heart in the affair. Her acting was consummate, but a true +woman's nature had been revealed to me, and the glamour was gone from +the false one. Now you see what absolute confidence I repose in you, +and how heavily this strange story bears against myself. Could I have +given it to any one for whom I had not a brother's love, and in whom I +did not hope to find a sister's gentle charity? I show you how unspent +is the force of all those years when we had scarcely a thought which +we could not tell each other. I have little claim, though, to be a +protecting brother, when I have been making such an egregious fool of +myself. You have grown wiser and stronger than I. You won't think very +harshly of me, will you, Madge?" + +"No, Graydon." + +"And you won't condemn my fraternal affection as contrary to nature?" + +She was sorely at a loss. She had listened with quickened breath, a +fluttering pulse, and in a growing tumult of hope and fear, to this +undisguised revelation of his attitude toward her. She almost thought +that she detected between the lines, as it were, the beginning of a +different regard. He believed that he had been frankness itself, +and his words proved that he looked upon his fraternal affection and +confidence as the natural, the almost inevitable, sequence of the +past. She could not meet him on the fraternal ground that he was +taking again, nor did she wish him to occupy it in his own mind. To +maintain the attitude which she had adopted would require as much +delicacy as firmness of action, or he would begin to query why she +could not go back to their old relations as readily as he could. She +had listened to the twice-told tale of the events of the past few +days with almost breathless interest, because his words revealed +the workings of his own mind, and she had not the least intention +of permitting him to settle down into the tranquil affection of a +brother. + +While she hesitated, he asked, gently, "Don't you feel a little of +your old sisterly love for me?" + +"No, Graydon, I do not," she replied, boldly. "I suppose you will +think me awfully matter-of-fact. I love Mary as my sister, I have the +strongest esteem and affection for Henry as my brother-in-law, and I +like you for just what you are to me, neither more nor less. The truth +is, Graydon, when I woke up from my old limp, shadowy life I had to +look at everything just as it was, and I have formed the habit of so +doing. I think it is the best way. You did not see Miss Wildmere as +she was, but as you imagined her to be, and you blame yourself too +severely because you acted as you naturally would toward a girl for +whom you had so high a regard. When we stick to the actual, we escape +mistakes and embarrassment. Every one knows that we are not brother +and sister; every one would admit our right to be very good friends. +I have listened to you with the deep and honest sympathy that is +perfectly natural to our relations. I think the better of you for +what you have told me, but I'm too dreadfully matter-of-fact," she +concluded beginning to laugh, "to do anything more." + +He sighed deeply. + +"Now, there is no occasion for that sigh, Graydon. Recall that morning +drive to which you have alluded. What franker, truer friendship could +you ask than I gave evidence of then? Come now, be sensible. You +live too much in the present moment, and yield to your impulses. Miss +Wildmere was a delusion and a snare, but there are plenty of true +women in the world. Some day you will meet the right one. She won't +object to your friends, but she probably would to sisters who are not +sisters." + +Graydon laughed a little bitterly as he said, "So you imagine that +after my recent experience I shall soon be making love to another +girl?" + +"Why not? Because Miss Wildmere is a fraud do you intend to spite +yourself by letting some fair, true girl pass by unheeded? That might +be to permit the fraud to injure you almost as much as if she had +married you." + +He burst out laughing, as he exclaimed, "Well, your head is level." + +"Certainly it is. My head is all right, even though I have not much +heart, as you believe. I told you I could be a good fellow, and I +don't propose to indulge you in sentiment about what is past and +gone--natural and true as it was at the time--or in cynicism for the +future. I shall dance at your wedding, and you won't be gray, either. +Come; the music has ceased, and it must be almost Sunday morning." + +"Very well. On the day when you rightly boxed my ears, and I asked you +to make your own terms of peace, I resolved to submit to everything +and anything." + +"You don't 'stay put,' is the trouble. Did I look and act so very +cross that morning?" + +"You looked magnificent, and you spoke with such just eloquent +indignation that you made my blood tingle. No, my brave, true +friend--I may say that, mayn't I?--it was not a little thing for +you to go away alone to fight so heroic a battle and achieve such a +victory; and, Madge, I honor you with the best homage of my heart. You +have taught me how to meet trouble when it comes." + +As they went up the steps, Arnault, with a pale, stern face, and +looking neither to the right nor to the left, passed them and strode +away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE END OF DIPLOMACY + + +Mr. Arnault's manner as he passed struck both Graydon and Madge as +indicating strong feeling and stern purpose. In order to account for +his action, it is necessary to go back in our history for a short +period. While Madge was receiving such rich compensation for having +become simply what she was, Miss Wildmere had been gathering the +rewards of diplomacy. As we have seen, she had reached the final +conclusion that if Mr. Muir did not fail that day she would accept +Graydon at once; and, during its earlier hours, she had been +complacency itself, feeling that everything was now in her own hands. +Mr. Muir's appearance and manner the previous evening had nearly +convinced her that he was in no financial difficulties whatever--that +her father and Mr. Arnault were either mistaken or else were deceiving +her. "If the latter is the case," she had thought, "they have so +bungled as to enable me to test the truth of their words within +twenty-four hours. + +"I am virtually certain," she said, with an exultant smile, "that I +shall be engaged to Graydon Muir before I sleep to-night." + +In the afternoon it began to trouble her that Graydon had not +appeared. As the hours passed she grew anxious, and with the shadow of +night there fell a chill on her heart and hope. This passed into alarm +when at last Graydon arrived with his brother and Madge, and greeted +her with the cold recognition that has been described. She had met Mr. +Arnault cordially at first, because there were still possibilities in +his favor; but when her father promptly disappeared, with the evident +purpose to avoid questions, and Mr. Muir and his family at supper gave +evidence of superb spirits instead of trouble, she saw that she had +been duped, or, in any case, misled. Her anger and worry increased +momentarily, especially since Graydon, beyond a little furtive +observation, completely ignored her. She naturally ascribed his course +to resentment at her first greeting of Arnault, his continued presence +at her side, and the almost deferential manner with which he was +treated by her father, who had joined his family at supper, when no +queries could be made. + +"I'll prove to Graydon by my manner that I am for him," was her +thought; but he either did not or would not see her increasing +coldness toward Arnault. + +Her purpose and tactics were all observed and thoroughly understood by +the latter, however, but he gave few obvious signs of the fact. In his +words, tones, compliments he proved that he was making good all that +he had promised; but the changing expression in his eyes grew so +ominous that Mr. Wildmere saw his suppressed anger with alarm. + +Miss Wildmere felt sure that before the evening was over she could +convey to Graydon her decision, and chafed every moment over the +leisurely supper that Mr. Arnault persisted in making, especially as +she saw that it was not his appetite that detained him. The Muir group +had passed out, and to leave him and her father would not only be an +act of rudeness, but also would appear like open pursuit of Graydon. +When at last she reached the parlor, to decline Arnault's invitation +to dance would be scarcely less than an insult; yet, with intensifying +anger and fear, she saw that circumstances were compelling her to +appear as if she had disregarded Graydon's warnings and expectations. +So far from being dismissed, Arnault was the one whom she had first +greeted and to whom she was now giving the evening. + +While she was dancing with Arnault, Graydon, with Madge, appeared +upon the floor. She was almost reckless in her efforts to secure his +attention. In this endeavor she did not fail, but she failed signally +in winning any recognition, and the ill-concealed importunity of her +eyes hastened Graydon's departure with Madge, and gave time for the +long interview described in the previous chapter. She grew cold with +dread. It was the impulse of her self-pleasing nature to want that +most which seemed the most denied, and she reasoned, "He is angry +because Arnault is at my side as usual, in spite of all he said. He +is determined to bring me to a decision, and won't approach me at +Arnault's side. Yet I dare not openly shake Arnault off, and he's so +attentive that I must do it openly if at all. Graydon's manner was +so very strange and cold that I feel that I should do something to +conciliate him at once; and yet how can I when Arnault is bent upon +monopolizing the whole evening? He gives me no chance to leave him +unless I am guilty of the shameful rudeness of telling him to leave +me. Oh, if I could only see Graydon alone, even for a moment!" + +Arnault was indeed a curious study, and yet he was acting +characteristically. He had virtually given up hope of ever winning +Stella Wildmere. He had wooed devotedly, offered wealth, and played +his final card, and in each had failed. When he left the city he +still had hope that his promise of immediate wealth and Mr. Wildmere's +necessity and influence might turn the scale in his favor; and he +believed that having secured her decision she, as a woman of the +world, would grow content and happy in the future that he could +provide for her. But, be his fate what it might, both his pride and +his peculiar sense of honor made it imperative that he should be her +suitor until the time stipulated for his answer should expire. Up to +twelve o'clock that night he would not give her the slightest cause +for resentment or even complaint. Then his obligation to her ceased +utterly, and she knew that it would. + +He had been irritated and despondent ever since Mr. Muir, through +Madge's aid, had so signally checkmated him. But Stella's greeting +had reassured him, and Graydon's manner toward her gave the impression +that she had not been extending encouragement to him. This promising +aspect of affairs speedily began to pass away, however, when he saw +her step to Graydon's side and ask if he was not going to shake hands +with her. He knew how proud the girl was, and by this high standard +measured the strength of the regard which impelled to this advance. +He had since noted every effort that she had made to secure Graydon's +attention, and the truth became perfectly clear. She had utterly lost +faith in his and her father's predictions of financial disaster to +Henry Muir, and would accept Graydon at the earliest opportunity. +He saw that his defeat in Wall Street insured his defeat in the +Catskills, and feared that Graydon had guessed his strategy, and, +therefore, would not approach the girl while he was at her side. There +was no use in his playing lover any longer--he had no desire to do +so--for even he now so clearly recognized the mercenary spirit which +might have brought her to his arms, that such manhood as he had +revolted at it. If she had given him her hand it would have been +secured purely through a financial trick, and even his Wall Street +soul experienced a revulsion of disgust at the thought of a wife thus +obtained. If he could have detected a little sentiment toward him, +some kindly regret that she could not reward his long-continued and +unstinted devotion, he would have parted from her more in sorrow than +in anger; but now he knew that she was wild to escape from him, that +she would instantly break her promise not to accept Muir before the +close of the week, and, to his punctilious business mind, the week did +not end until twelve o'clock Saturday night. + +With a sort of grim vindictiveness he had muttered, "She shall keep +her promise. Neither she nor Muir shall be happy till my time has +expired." + +Later in the evening, Graydon not returning, the thought occurred +to Arnault, "Perhaps he too has recognized the sharp game she has +played--perhaps Henry Muir has said to him, 'She has been putting you +off to see the result of the sudden calling in of Arnault's loan,' +and now young Muir proposes to console himself with that handsome Miss +Alden;" and a gleam of pleasure at the prospect illumined his face +for a moment. Meanwhile he maintained his mask before the world so +admirably that even Miss Wildmere little guessed the depth of his +revolt. He was the last one to reveal his bitter disappointment and +humiliating defeat to the vigilant gossips of the house. Those who saw +his smiling face and gallantries, and heard his breezy, half-cynical +words, little guessed the storm within. He had been taught in the best +school in the world how to say and look one thing and mean another. + +At last an acquaintance approached, and said, "Pardon me, Mr. Arnault, +but I don't propose to permit you to monopolize Miss Wildmere all the +evening;" and then asked for the next dance. + +Stella complied instantly, thinking, "Graydon may return now at any +moment, and if he sees that I am not with Arnault will come to me, as +usual." + +Arnault bowed politely, looked at his watch, and invited another lady +to dance. Stella had been on the floor but a few moments when not +Graydon, but her father came and said to her partner, "Excuse me, sir. +I wish to speak to my daughter." + +Requesting her companion to wait, she followed Mr. Wildmere through an +open window, and when on the piazza he took her hand and put it within +his arm with a firmness that permitted no resistance. Arnault noted +the proceeding with a cynical smile. + +"Stella," said her father, in a low, stern tone, "did you not promise +Mr. Arnault his answer this evening?" + +"Answer my question first," she replied, bitterly. "Did Henry Muir +fail to-day? Of course he did not. You have been deceiving me." + +"I did not deceive you--I was mistaken myself. But I warn you. Graydon +Muir is not at your side. He may not return. Arnault is waiting to +give you wealth and me safety, but he may not wait much longer. You +are taking worse risks than I ever incurred in the Street, and your +loss may be greater than any I have met with." + +"Bah!" she replied, in anger. "I might have been engaged to Graydon +Muir this moment had I not listened to your croakings. I'll manage for +myself now;" and she broke away and joined her partner again. + +After the dance was over she said, "Suppose we walk on the piazza; I'm +warm." She was cold and trembling. Arnault took his stand in the main +hall, where he and she could see the clock should she approach him +again. The last hour was rapidly passing. Miss Wildmere and her +attendant strolled leisurely the whole length of the piazza, but +Graydon was not to be seen. Then she led him through a hall whence +she could glance into the reception and reading rooms. The quest was +futile, and she passed Arnault unheedingly into the parlor, saying +that she was tired, and with her companion sat down where they could +be seen from the doorway and windows. But he thought her singularly +_distraite_ in her effort to maintain conversation. + +"Oh," she thought, "he will come soon--he must come soon! I must--I +_must_ see him before I retire!" + +Arnault meantime maintained his position in the hall, chatting and +laughing with an acquaintance. She could see him, and there was little +in his manner to excite apprehension. He occasionally looked toward +her, but she tried to appear absorbed in conversation with the man +whom she puzzled by her random words. Arnault also saw that her eyes +rested in swift, eager scrutiny on every one who entered from without, +and that the two hands of the clock were pointing closely toward +midnight. + +The parlor was becoming deserted. Those whom the beauty of the night +had lured without were straggling in, the man at her side was growing +curious and interested, and he determined to maintain his position as +long as she would. + +He was detained but little longer. The clock soon chimed midnight. +Arnault gave her a brief, cold look, turned on his heel and went +out, passing Graydon and Madge, who were at that moment ascending the +steps. + +"Oh, pardon me," said Miss Wildmere, fairly trembling with dread; +"I had no idea it was so late!" and she bowed her companion away +instantly. At that moment she saw Graydon entering, and she went to +the parlor door; but he passed her without apparent notice, and +bade Madge a cordial good-night at the foot of the stairs. As he was +turning away Miss Wildmere was at his side. + +"Mr. Muir--Graydon," she said, in an eager tone, "I wish to speak with +you." + +He bowed very politely, and answered, in a voice that she alone could +hear, "You will receive a note from me at your room within half an +hour." Then, bowing again, he walked rapidly away. + +She saw from his grave face and unsympathetic eyes that she had lost +him. + +Half desperate, and with the instinct of self-preservation, she passed +out on the piazza to bid Arnault good-night, as she tried to assure +herself, with pallid lips, but ready then at last to take any terms +from him. Arnault was not to be seen. After a moment her father +stepped to her side and said: + +"Stella, it is late. You had better retire." + +"I wish to say good-night to Mr. Arnault," she faltered. + +"Mr. Arnault has gone." + +"Gone where?" she gasped. + +"I don't know. As the clock struck twelve he came rapidly out and +walked away. He passed by me, but would not answer when I spoke to +him. Come, let me take you to your room." + +With a chill at heart almost like that of death she went with him, and +sat down pale and speechless. + +In a few moments a note was brought to Mr. Wildmere's door, and he +took it to his daughter. She could scarcely open it with her nerveless +fingers, and when she read the brief words-- + + "MISS WILDMERE--You must permit me to renounce all claims upon + you now and forever. Memory and your own thoughts will reveal + to you the obvious reasons for my action, GRAYDON MUIR," + +she found a brief respite from the results of her diplomacy in +unconsciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +BROKEN LIGHTS AND SHADOWS + + +Mr. Wildmere looked almost ten years older when he came down to what +he supposed would be a solitary breakfast; but something like hope +and gladness reappeared on his haggard face when he saw Arnault at his +table as usual. He scarcely knew how he would be received, but Arnault +was as affable and courteous as he would have been months previous, +and no one in the breakfast-room would have imagined that anything +had occurred to disturb the relations between the two gentlemen. He +inquired politely after the ladies, expressed regret that they were +indisposed, and changed the subject in a tone and manner natural to a +mere acquaintance. + +Although his courtesy would appear faultless to observers, it made +Wildmere shiver. + +"Mr. Arnault," Mr. Wildmere said, a little nervously, as they left the +breakfast-room, "may I speak with you?" + +"Certainly," replied Arnault, with cool politeness, and he followed +Mr. Wildmere to a deserted part of the piazza. + +"You made a very kind and liberal offer to my daughter," the latter +began. + +"And received my final answer last night," was the cold, decisive +reply. "It would be impossible to imagine more definite assurance that +Miss Wildmere has no regard for me than was given within the time I +stipulated. I have accepted such assurance as final. Good-morning, +sir," and with a polite bow he turned on his heel and went to his +room. + +Mr. Wildmere afterward learned that he took the first train to New +York. + +"Arnault has a clear field now," Graydon had thought, cynically, while +at breakfast. "I can scarcely wish him anything worse than success;" +and then he looked complacently around the family group to which +he belonged, and felicitated himself that Wildmere traits were +conspicuously absent. His eyes dwelt oftenest on Madge. At this early +meal she always made him think of a flower with the morning dew upon +it. Even her evening costumes were characterized by quiet elegance; +but during the earlier hours of the day she dressed with a simplicity +that was almost severe, and yet with such good taste, such harmony +with herself, that the eye of the observer was always rested and +satisfied. Gentlemen who saw her would rarely fail to speak about her +afterward; few would ever mention her dress. Miss Wildmere affected +daintiness and style; Madge sought in the most quiet and modest way to +emphasize her own individuality. As far as possible she wished to be +valued for what she actually was. The very fact that there was so much +in her life that must be hidden led to a strong distaste for all that +was misleading in non-essentials. + +"I am going to church with you to-day," said Graydon, "and I shall try +to behave." + +"Try to! You cannot sit with me unless you promise to behave." + +"That is the way to talk to men," said Mrs. Muir, who was completely +under her husband's thumb. "They like you all the better for showing +some spirit." + +"I am not trying to make Graydon like me better, but only to insure +that he spends Sunday as should a good American." + +"There is no longer any 'better' about my liking for Madge. It's all +best. I admit, however, that she has so much spirit that she inspires +unaffected awe." + +"A roundabout way of calling me awful." + +"Since you won't ride or drive with me to-day, are you too 'awfully +good,' as Harry says, to take a walk after dinner?" + +"It depends on how you behave in church." + +They spent the afternoon in a very different manner, however, for soon +after breakfast Dr. Sommers told them that Tilly Wendall was at rest, +and that the funeral would be that afternoon. + +With Dr. Sommers's tidings Graydon saw that a shadow had fallen +on Madge's face, and his manner at once became gravely and gently +considerate. There were allusions to the dead girl in the service at +the chapel, where she had been an attendant, and Graydon saw half-shed +tears in Madge's eyes more than once. + +She drove out with him in the lovely summer afternoon to the gray old +farmhouse. The thoughts of each were busy--they had not much to say +to each other--and Madge was grateful, for his quiet consideration +for her mood. It was another proof that the man she loved had not a +shallow, coarse-fibred nature. With all his strength he could be a +gentle, sympathetic presence--thinking of her first, thoughtfully +respecting her unspoken wishes, and not a garrulous egotist. + +He in turn wondered at his own deep content and at the strange and +unexpected turn that his affairs had taken. He not only dwelt on what +had happened, but on what might have happened--what he had hoped for +and sought to attain. He remembered with shame that he had even +wished that Madge had not been at the resort, so that he might be less +embarrassed in his suit to Miss Wildmere. From his first waking moment +in the morning he had been conscious of an immeasurable sense of +relief at his escape. He felt now that he had never deeply loved Miss +Wildmere--that she had never touched the best feelings of his heart, +because not capable of doing so. But he had admired her. He had been a +devotee of society, and she had been to him the beautiful culmination +of that phase of life. He saw he had endowed her with the womanly +qualities which would make her the light of a home as well as of the +ballroom, but he had also seen that the woman which his fancy +had created did not exist. There is a love which is the result of +admiration and illusion, and this will often cling to its imperfect +object to the end. Such was not the case with Graydon, however. His +first motive had been little more than an ambition to seek the most +brilliant of social gems with which to crown a successful life; but he +was too much of a man to marry a belle as such and be content. He must +love her as a woman also, and he had loved what he imagined Stella +Wildmere to be. Now he felt, however, like a lapidary who, while +gloating over a precious stone, is suddenly shown that it is worthless +paste. He may have valued it highly an hour before; now he throws it +away in angry disgust. But this simile only in part explains Graydon's +feelings. He not only recognized Miss Wildmere's mercenary character +and selfish spirit, but also the power she would have had to thwart +his life and alienate him from his brother and Madge. While she was +not the pearl for which he might give all, she could easily have +become the active poison of his life. + +"Oh," he thought, "how blessed is this content with sweet sister +Madge--sister in spite of all she says--compared with brief, feverish +pleasure in an engagement with such a sham of a woman, or the mad +chaos of financial disaster which my suit might have brought about!" +and he unconsciously gave a profound sigh of satisfaction. + +"Oh, Graydon, what a sigh!" Madge exclaimed. "Is your regret so great? +You were indeed thinking very deeply." + +"So were you, Madge--so you have been during the last half hour. My +sigh was one of boundless relief and gratitude. If you will permit +me, I will tell you the thoughts that occasioned it as a proof of my +friendly confidence. May I tell you?" + +"Yes, if you think it right," she said, with slightly heightened +color. + +"It seems to me both right and natural that I should tell you;" and he +put the thoughts which preceded his sigh into words. + +"Yes," she replied, gravely; "I think you have escaped much that you +would regret. Please don't talk about it any more." + +"What were you thinking about, Madge?" he asked, looking into her +flushed and lovely face. + +"I have thought a great deal about Tilly and what passed between us. +That is the house there, and it will always remain in my mind as a +distinct memory." + +Farm wagons and vehicles of all descriptions were gathering at +the dwelling. They were driven by men with faces as rugged and +weather-beaten as the mountains around them. By their sides were +plain-featured matrons, whose rustic beauty had early faded under the +stress of life's toil, and apple-cheeked boys and girls, with faces +composed into the most unnatural and portentous gravity. There was a +sprinkling of young men, with visages so burned by the sun that they +might pass for civilized Indians. They were accompanied by young women +who, in their remote rural homes, had obtained hints from the world of +fashion, and after the manner of American girls had arrayed themselves +with a neatness and taste that was surprising; and the fresh pink and +white of their complexions made a pleasing contrast with their swains. +Although the occasion was one of solemnity, it was not without its +pleasurable excitement. They all knew about poor Tilly, and to-day +was the culmination of the little drama of her illness, the details of +which had been discussed for weeks among the neighbors--not in callous +curiosity, but with that strange blending of gossip and sympathy which +is found in rural districts. The conclusion of all such talk had been +a sigh and the words, "She is prepared to go." + +The people as yet were gathered without the door and in groups under +the trees. Tilly's remains were still in her own little room, Mrs. +Wendall taking her farewell look with hollow, tearless eyes. A few +favored ones, chiefly the watchers who had aided the stricken mother, +were admitted to this retreat of sorrow. + +When Dr. Sommers saw Madge and Graydon he came to them and said, "Mrs. +Wendall requested that when you came you and whoever accompanied you +should be brought to her. Tilly, before she died, expressed the wish +that you should sit with her mother during the funeral. No, no, Mr. +Muir, Mrs. Wendall would have no objection to any of Miss Alden's +friends. I can give you a seat here by this window. The other rooms +will be very crowded with those who are strangers to you." + +Graydon found himself by the same window at which Madge had sat in her +long vigil. The bed had been removed, and in its place was a plain +yet tasteful casket. Mr. Wendall, with his head bowed down, sat at its +foot, wiping away tears from time to time with a bandana handkerchief. +Two or three stanch friends and helpers sat also in the room, for it +would appear that the Wendalls had no relatives in the vicinity. + +As Madge sat down by Mrs. Wendall, so intent was the mother's gaze +upon her dead child that she did not at first notice the young girl's +presence. Madge took a thin, toil-worn hand caressingly in both her +own, and then the tearless eyes were turned upon her, and the light +of recognition came slowly into them, as if she were recalling her +thoughts from an immense distance. + +"I'm glad you've come," she said, in a loud, strange whisper. "She +wanted you to be with me. She said you had trouble, and would know how +to sustain me. She left a message for you. She said, 'Tell dear Madge +that the dying sometimes have clear vision--tell her I've prayed for +her ever since, and she'll be happy yet, even in this world. Tell her +that I only saw her a little while, but she belongs to those I shall +wait for to welcome.' You'll stay by me till it's all over, won't +you?" + +Madge was deeply agitated, but she managed to say distinctly, "Tilly +also said something to me, and I want you to think of her words +through all that is to come. She said, 'Think where I have gone, and +don't grieve a moment.'" + +"Yes, I'll come to that by and by; but now I can think of only one +thing--they are going to take away my baby;" and she laid her head +on the still bosom with a yearning in her face which only God, who +created the mother's heart, could understand. + +What followed need not be dwelt upon. The mother and father took their +last farewell, the casket was carried to the outer room, the simple +service was soon over, the tearful tributes paid, and then the slow +procession took its way to a little graveyard on a hillside among the +mountains. + +"I can't go and see Tilly buried," said Mrs. Wendall, in the same +unnatural whisper. "I will go to her grave some day, but not yet. I +am trying to keep up, but I don't feel that I could stand on my feet a +minute now." + +"I'll stay with you till they come back," Madge answered, tenderly; +and at last she was left alone in the house, holding the tearless +mother's hand. She soon bowed her young head upon it, bedewing it with +her tears. The poor woman's deep absorption began to pass away. The +warm tears upon her hand, the head upon her lap, began to waken the +instincts of womanhood to help and console another. She stroked the +dark hair and murmured, "Poor child, poor child! Tilly was right. +Trouble makes us near of kin." + +"You loved Tilly, Mrs. Wendall," Madge sobbed. "Think of where she's +gone. No more tears; no more pain; no more death." + +Her touch of sympathy broke the stony paralysis; her hot tears melted +those which seemed to have congealed in the breaking heart, and the +mother took Madge in her arms and cried till her strength was gone. + +When Mr. Wendall returned with some of the neighbors, Madge met him at +the door and held up a warning finger. The overwrought woman had been +soothed into the blessed oblivion of restoring sleep, the first she +had for many hours. A motherly-looking woman whispered her intention +of remaining with Mrs. Wendall all night. Mr. Wendall took Madge's +hand in both his own, and looked at her with eyes dim with tears. +Twice he essayed to speak, then turned away, faltering, "When I meet +you where Tilly is, perhaps I can tell you." + +She went down the little path bordered by flowers which the dead girl +had loved and tended, and gathered a few of them. Then Graydon drove +her away, his only greeting being a warm pressure of her hand. + +At last Madge breathed softly, "Think where I have gone. Where is +heaven? What is it?" + +His eyes were moist as he turned toward her. "I don't know, Madge," he +said. "I know one thing, however, I shall never, as you asked, say a +word against your faith. I've seen its fruits to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A NEW EXPERIMENT + + +Stella Wildmere would not leave the seclusion of her room. As the +hours passed the more overwhelming grew her disappointment and +humiliation, and her chief impulse now was to get away from a place +that had grown hateful to her. She had bitterly reproached her father +as the cause of her desolation, but thus far he had made no reply +whatever. She had passed almost a sleepless night, and since had shut +herself up in her room, looking at the past with a fixed stare and +rigid face, over which at times would pass a crimson hue of shame. + +Mrs. Wildmere went down to dinner with her husband, and then learned +that Mr. Arnault had breakfasted with him. This fact she told Stella +on her return, and the girl sent for her father immediately. + +"Why did you not tell me that Mr. Arnault was here this morning?" she +asked, harshly. + +He looked at her steadily, but made no reply. + +"Why don't you answer me?" she resumed, springing up in her impatience +and taking a step toward him. + +He still maintained the same steadfast, earnest look, which began to +grow embarrassing, for it emphasized the consciousness which she could +not stifle, that she alone was to blame. + +She turned irritably away, and sat down on the opposite side of the +room. + +"It's just part and parcel of your past folly," she began. "If I had +known he was here, and could have seen him or written to him--" + +She still encountered the same searching eyes that appeared to be +looking into her very soul. + +"Oh, well, if you have nothing to say--" + +"I have a great deal to say," answered her father, quietly, "but you +are not ready to hear it yet." + +"More lecturing and fault-finding," said Stella, sullenly. + +"I have not lectured or found fault. I have warned you and tried to +make you see the truth and to help you." + +"And with your usual success. When can we leave this house?" + +"We _must_ leave it to-morrow. I will speak in kindness and truth when +you are ready to listen. I know the past; I have little left now but +memory." + +He waited some moments, but there was no relenting on her part, and he +passed out. + +All the afternoon conscience waged war with anger, shame, pride and +fear--fear for the future, fear of her father, for she had never +before seen him look as he had since he had met her on the piazza +the evening before. He had manifested none of his usual traits of +irritability alternating with a coldness corresponding to her own. He +seemed to have passed beyond these surface indications of trouble +to the condition of one who sees evils that he cannot avert and who +rallies sufficient manhood to meet them with a dignity that bordered +on despair. + +As Stella grew calmer she had a growing perception of this truth. He +no longer indulged in vague, half-sincere predictions of disaster. His +aspect was that of a man who was looking at fate. + +A cold dread began to creep over her. What was in prospect? Was he, +not Henry Muir, to lose everything? After all, he was her father, her +protector, her only hope for the future. As reason found chance to be +heard, she saw how senseless was her revolt at him. She could not go +on ignoring him any longer. Perhaps it would be best to hear what he +had to say. + +This feeling was intensified by her mother, who at last came in and +said, in a weak, half-desperate way, "Stella, there is no use of your +going on in this style any longer. Distressed and worried as I am, +I can see that we can't help matters now by just wringing our hands. +Your father says we must leave as early as possible to-morrow. I can't +do everything to get ready. I'm so unnerved I can scarcely stand now. +Do come down to supper with us, or else let a good supper be brought +to you, and then let us act as if we had not lost our senses utterly. +Your father looks and is so strange that I scarcely know him." + +"I'll not go down again. Nothing would tempt me to meet Graydon +Muir and the curious stare of the people. I suppose they are full of +surmises. If you will have a supper sent to me I will take it and do +all the packing myself. Please tell papa that I wish to see him after +supper." + +She then made a toilet suitable for her task, and waited impatiently. +Her father soon appeared with a dainty and inviting supper. As soon as +they were alone Stella began: + +"Now, papa, tell me the worst--not what you fear, but just what is +before us." + +"Eat your supper first." + +"No; I wish to learn the absolute truth. You said you had a great deal +to say to me. I'm calm now, and I suppose I've acted like a fool long +enough." + +"I have much to say, but not many words. _I_ must begin again, Heaven +only knows how or where. I am about at the end of my resources. I +shall not do anything rash or silly. I shall do my best while I have +power to do anything. I do not propose to reproach you for the past. +It's gone now, and can't be helped. My proposal to you is that _you_ +begin also. You have tried pleasing yourself and thinking of self +first pretty thoroughly. You know what it is to be a belle. Now, why +not try the experiment of being a true, earnest, unselfish woman, +whose first effort is to do right. Believe me, Stella, there is a God +in heaven who thwarts selfishness and punishes it in ways often +least expected. The people with whom we associate soon recognize +the self-seeking spirit, and resent it. You have had a terrible and +practical illustration of what I say. Are you not a girl of too much +mind to make the same blunder again? With your youth you need not +spoil your life, or that of others, unless you do it wilfully." + +She leaned back in her chair, and bitter tears came into her eyes. + +"Yes," she faltered, "my lesson has been a terrible one; but perhaps +I never should have become sane without it. I have been exacting and +receiving all my life, and yet to-night I feel that I have nothing. +Oh," she exclaimed, with passionate utterance, "I have been such a +_fool_. Nothing, nothing to show for all those gay, brilliant years, +not even a father's love and little claim upon it." + +He came to her side and kissed her again and again. + +"You don't know anything about a father's love," he said. "It survives +everything and anything, and your love would save me." + +Never, even under the eyes of Graydon Muir, had she been so conscious +of her heart before. Had he seen her when she departed on the earliest +train in the morning he would have witnessed a new expression on her +face. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +MADGE ALDEN'S RIDE + + +Methodical Henry Muir found that the events of the last few days had +resulted in a reaction and weariness which he could not readily shake +off, and he had expressed an intention of sleeping late on Monday and +taking the second train. When he and his family gathered at breakfast, +the removal to Hotel Kaaterskill was the uppermost theme, and it was +agreed that Madge and Graydon should ride thither on horseback, and +return by a train, if wearied. Mr. Muir then went to the city, well +prepared to establish himself on a safer footing. Graydon and Madge +soon after were on their way through the mountain valleys, the latter +with difficulty holding her horse down to the pace they desired to +maintain. + +After riding rapidly for some distance, they reached long, lonely +stretches, favorable for conversation, and Graydon was too fond of +hearing Madge talk to lose the opportunity. He looked wonderingly +at her flushed face, with the freshness of the morning in it; her +brilliant eyes, from which flashed a spirit that nothing seemed +to daunt; the sudden compression of her lips, as with power and +inimitable grace she reined in her chafing steed. Never before had +she appeared so vital and beautiful, and he rode at her side with +something like exultation that they were so much to each other. He +was turning his back on a past fraught with peril, over which hung the +shadow of what must have been a lifelong disappointment. + +"The girl who would have taken me, as Henry chooses among commercial +securities, cannot now make me an adjunct to her self-pleasing +career," he thought. "I am free--free to become to Madge what I was in +old times. No one now has the right to look askance at our affection +and companionship. What an idiot I was to endure Stella's criticism +while she was playing it so sharp between Arnault and myself! No +wonder crystal Madge said she and Stella were not congenial! + +"I call Madge crystal, yet I don't understand her fully, and have not +since my return. She has had some deep, sad experience, which she is +hiding from all. From what Mrs. Wendall said at the funeral yesterday, +Madge must have revealed more of it to that dying girl than to any +one else. How my heart thrilled at those strange whispered words! How +dearly I would love to help her and bring unalloyed happiness into her +life! But whatever it was referred to I cannot touch upon till she +of her own accord gives me her confidence. Could she have formed what +promises to be a hopeless love in her Western home, and is she now +hiding a wound that will not heal, while bravely and cheerfully facing +life as it is? Perhaps her purpose to return to Santa Barbara proves +that she does not regard her love as utterly hopeless. Well, whatever +the truth may be, she hides her secret with consummate skill, and I +shall not pry into even her affairs. I only know that as I feel now I +should prize her friendship above any other woman's love." + +"What are you thinking of so deeply?" she asked, meeting his eyes. + +"My thought just then was that I should prize your friendship above +any other woman's love, and I had been felicitating myself that Stella +Wildmere would never have the right to criticise the fact." + +"Oh, Graydon, what a man of moods and tenses you are!" Then she added, +laughing, "There has been indeed a kaleidoscopic turn in affairs. Mr. +Arnault disappeared yesterday, and Mary learned that the Wildmeres +left by the early train this morning." + +"Yes, Miss Wildmere followed Arnault promptly. They are near of kin, +but not too near to marry. Their nuptials should be solemnized in Wall +Street, under flowers arranged into a dollar symbol." + +"I feel sorry for Mr. and Mrs. Wildmere, though; especially the +former. I think he might have been quite different had the fates been +kinder." + +"I would rather dismiss them all from my mind as far as possible. +Don't think me callous about Stella. If she had decided for me at once +and been true I would have been loyal to her in spite of everything; +but the revelation of her cold, mercenary soul makes me shudder when I +think how narrowly I escaped allying myself to it." + +"You have indeed had an escape," Madge replied, gravely. "If she were +a young, thoughtless, undeveloped girl her womanhood might have come +to her afterward. I hope I am mistaken, but she has made a singular +impression on me." + +"Please tell me it. You have insight into character that in one so +young is surprising." + +"I have no special insight. I simply feel people. They create an +atmosphere and make some dominant impression with which I always +associate them." + +"I am eager to know what impression Miss Wildmere has made." + +"I fear this would be true of her, even after she becomes a mature +woman. A man might be almost perishing at her side from mental trouble +of some kind, and, so far from feeling for him and sympathizing, she +wouldn't even know it, and he couldn't make her know it. She would +look at him quietly with her gray eyes as she would at a problem in +the calculus, and with scarcely more desire to understand him, and +with perhaps less power to do so. She would turn from him to a new +dress, a new admirer, or a new phase of amusement, and forget him, and +the fact that he was her husband would not make much difference. Some +deep experience of her own may change her, but I don't know. I fear +another's experience would be like a tragedy without the walls while +she was safe within." + +"Oh, Madge, think of a man with a strong, sensitive nature beating his +very heart to death against such pumice-stone callousness!" + +"I don't like to think of it," she replied. "Come, I ask with you now +that we forget her as far as possible. She may not disappoint a +man like Arnault. Let them both become shadows in the background of +memory. Here's a level place. Now for a gallop." + +When at last they pulled up, Graydon said, "Your horse is awfully +strong and restless to-day." + +"Yes; he has not been used enough of late. He'll be quiet before +night, for I am enjoying this so much that I should like to return in +the same way." + +"I am delighted to hear you say so. My spirits begin to rise the +moment I am with you, and you are the only woman I ever knew from +whose side I could not go with the feeling, 'Well, some other time +would suit me now.'" + +Her laugh rang out so suddenly and merrily that her horse sprang into +a gallop, but she checked him speedily, and thought, with an exultant +thrill, "Graydon now has surely revealed an unmistakable symptom." To +him she said: + +"You amuse me immensely. You are almost as outspoken as little Harry, +and, like him, you mistake the impression of the moment for the +immutable." + +"Now, that's not fair to me. I've been constant to you. Own up, Madge, +haven't I?" + +With a glance and smile which she never gave to others, and rarely to +him, she said: + +"I own up. I don't believe a real brother would have been half so +nice.". + +"Let the past guarantee the future, then. Shake hands against all +future misunderstandings." + +She was scarcely ready to shake hands on such a basis, but of course +would have complied. In the slight confusion her hand relaxed its +grasp on the curb-rein, and at the same moment a locomotive, coming +along the side of the opposite mountain, blew a shrill whistle. +Instantly her horse had the bit in his teeth, and was off at a furious +pace. + +At first she did not care, but soon found, with anxiety, that he +paid no attention to her efforts to check him, and that his pace was +passing into a mad run. The gorge was growing narrower, and the lofty +mountains stood, with their rocky feet, nearer and nearer together. +She could see through the intervening trees that the road and +rail-track were becoming closely parallel, and at last realized that +her horse was unmanageable. + +When the engineer of the train saw Madge's desperate riding he +surmised that her horse was not under control, and put on extra steam +in order to take the exciting cause of the animal's terror out of the +way. He thought he could easily reach the summit of the clove where +the carriage-drive crossed the track before Madge, and then pass +swiftly over the down-grade beyond; but he had not calculated on the +terrific speed of the horse; and when at last the track and roadway +were almost side by side the frantic beast, with his pale rider, was +abreast of the train. For a moment the engineer was irresolute, and +then, too late, as he feared, "slowed up." + +The narrow road, with a precipitous mountain on the left, was so near +to the flying train that the passengers in an open car could almost +touch Madge, and she was to them like a strange and beautiful +apparition, with her white face and large dark eyes filled with an +unspeakable dread. + +"Oh, stop the train!" she cried, and her voice, with the whole power +of her lungs, rang out far above the clatter of the wheels, wakening +despairing echoes from the mountains impending on either side. + +The speed of the cars was perceptibly checked; the passengers saw +the foam-flecked brute, with head stubbornly bent downward and eye of +fire, pass beyond them. An instant later, to their horrified gaze and +that of Graydon's, who was following as fast as a less swift horse +could carry him, Madge and the locomotive appeared to come together. +The young man gave a hoarse, inarticulate cry between a curse and a +shout, and whipped his horse forward furiously. + +The speed of the train was renewed, and he saw through the open car +that Madge must have passed unharmed before the engine, just grazing +it. It also appeared that she was gaining the mastery, for her horse +was rearing; then cars of ordinary make intervened and hid her from +view a moment, and the train clattered noisily on. + +When he crossed the track Madge was not where he had last seen her. +The road beyond ran at a greater distance from the railway, and was +lined with trees and bushes. Through an opening among these he saw +that the horse had resumed his old mad pace, that Madge was still +mounted, but that she was no longer erect, and sat with her head bowed +and her whip-hand clutching the mane. He also saw, with a sinking +heart, that the road curved a little further on, and evidently crossed +the track again. + +A moment later--Oh, horror! An opening in the foliage revealed Madge +dashing headlong, apparently, into the train. He grew so faint that he +almost fell from his horse, and was scarcely conscious, until, with +a strong revulsion of hope, he found himself under the track which, +about an eighth of a mile from the previous crossing, passes just +above the roadway. Not aware of this fact, and with vision broken by +intervening trees, he could not have imagined anything else than a +collision, which must have been fatal in its consequences. + +With hope his pulse quickened, his strength returned, and he again +urged his jaded horse forward, at the same time sending out his voice: + +"Madge, Madge, keep up a little longer." + +The road had left the car-track, the noise of the train was dying away +in the distance. At last, turning a curve, he saw that Madge's horse +had come down to a canter, and that she was pulling feebly at the +rein. + +As he approached he shouted "Whoa!" with such a voice of command that +the horse stopped suddenly and she almost fell forward. + +"Quick, Graydon, quick!" she gasped. + +He sprang to the ground, and a second later she was an unconscious +burden in his arms. + +He laid her gently on a mossy bank under an oak; then, with a +face fairly livid with passion, he drew a small revolver from his +hip-pocket, stepped back to the horse that now stood trembling and +exhausted in the road, and shot him dead. + +He now saw that they had been observed at a neighboring farmhouse, +and that people were running toward them. Gathering Madge again in +his arms, he bore her toward the dwelling, in which effort he was soon +aided by a stout countryman. + +The farmer's wife was all solicitude, and to her and her daughter's +ministrations Madge was left, while Graydon waited, with intense +anxiety, in the porch, explaining what had occurred, with a manner +much distraught, in answer to many questions. + +"The cursed brute is done for now," he concluded. + +Madge's faint proved obstinate, and at last Graydon began to urge the +farmer to go for a physician. + +The daughter at last appeared with the glad tidings that the young +girl was "coming to nicely." + +Graydon breathed a fervent "Thank God!" and sank weak and limp into +a seat on the porch. The farmer brought him a glass of cool milk from +the cellar, and then Graydon sent in word that he would like to see +the lady as soon as possible. + +When he entered the "spare room" of the farmhouse Madge, with a smile +that was like a ray of sunshine, extended her hand from the lounge on +which she was reclining, and said: + +"You didn't fail me, Graydon. I couldn't have kept up a moment longer. +I should have fainted before had I not heard your voice. How good God +has been!" + +He held her hand in both his own, his mouth twitched nervously, but +his emotion was too strong for speech. + +"Don't feel so badly, Graydon," she resumed, and her voice was +gentleness itself; "I am not hurt, nor are you to blame." + +"I am to blame," he said, hoarsely. "I gave you that brute, but he's +dead. I shot him instantly. Oh, Madge, if--if--I feel that I would +have shot myself." + +"Graydon, please be more calm," she faltered, tears coming into her +eyes. "There, see, you are making me cry. I can't bear to see you--I +can't bear to see a man--so moved. Please now, you look so pale that +I am frightened. I'm not strong, but shall get better at once if I see +you yourself." + +"Forgive me, Madge, but it seems as if I had suffered the pangs of +death ten times over--there, I won't speak about it till we both have +recovered from the shock. Dear, brave little girl; how can I thank you +enough for keeping up till I could reach you!" + +She began to laugh a little too nervously to be natural. Her heart was +glad over her escape, and in a gladder tumult at his words and manner. +He was no shadow of a man, nor did ice-water flow in his veins. His +feeling had been so strong that it had almost broken her self-control. + +"Some day," she exulted, "some day God will turn his fraternal +affection into the wine of love." + +"I'm so nervous," she said, "that I must either laugh or cry. What a +plight we are in! How shall we go forward or backward?" + +"We shall not do either very soon. Mrs. Hobson is making you a cup of +tea, and then you must rest thoroughly, and sleep, if possible." + +"What will you do?" + +"Oh, I'll soothe my nerves with a cigar, and berate myself on the +porch! When you are thoroughly rested I'll have Mr. Hobson drive us on +to the nearest station. We are in no plight whatever, if you received +no harm." + +"I haven't. Promise me one thing." + +"Anything--everything." + +"Do no berating. I'm sorry you killed the horse; but he did act +vilely, and I suppose you had to let off your anger in some way. I was +angry myself at first--he was so stupid. But when I found I couldn't +hold him at all I thought I must die--Oh, how it all comes back to +me! What thoughts I had, and how sweet life became! Oh, oh--" and she +began sobbing like a child. + +"Madge, please--I can't endure this, indeed I can't." + +But her overwrought nerves were not easily controlled, and he knelt +beside her, speaking soothingly and pleadingly. "Dear Madge, dear +sister Madge. Oh, I wish Mary was here!" and he kissed her again and +again. + +"Graydon," she gasped, "stop! There--I'm better;" and she did seem to +recover almost instantly. + +"Law bless you, sir," said Mrs. Hobson, who had entered with the tea, +"your sister'll be all right in an hour or so." + +Graydon sprang to his feet, and there was a strong dash of color in +his face. As for the hitherto pallid Madge, her visage was like a +peony, and she was preternaturally quiet. + +"Try to sleep, Madge," said Graydon, from the doorway, "and I won't +'worry or take on' a bit;" and he disappeared. + +There was no sleep for her, and yet she felt herself wonderfully +restored. Was it the potency of Mrs. Hobson's tea? or that which he +had placed upon her lips? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +"YOU ARE VERY BLIND" + + +As a general rule Graydon was not conscious of nerves, and had +received the fact of their existence largely on faith. But to-day they +asserted themselves in a manner which excited his surprise and some +rather curious speculation. He found his heart beating in a way +difficult to account for on a physiological basis, his pulses +fluttering, and his thoughts in a luminous haze, wherein nothing was +very distinct except Madge's flushing face, startled eyes, looking a +protest through their tears. It was not so much an indignant protest +as it was a frightened one, he half imagined. And why was he so +confused and disturbed that, instead of sitting quietly down in the +porch, as he had intended, he was impelled to walk restlessly to +a neighboring grove! For one so intensely fraternal he felt he was +continuing to "take on" in a very unnecessary style. + +"Confound that woman!" he muttered. "Why did she have to come in just +then, and why should I blush like a schoolgirl because she caught me +kissing one that I regard as a sister? And why did the word sister +sound so unnatural when spoken by Mrs. Hobson? 'Great Scott!' as Henry +says, I hope I'm not growing to love Madge. She would overwhelm me +with ridicule, infused, perhaps, with a spice of contempt, if I gave +her the impression that I had fallen out of love one week and in the +next. Hang it! I'm all broken up from this day's experience. I had +better get on my feet mentally, and then I shall be able to find out +where I stand." + +The demon of restlessness soon drove him back to the house again, and +he learned that there would be a train in about two hours. They would +still have time to dine at the Kaaterskill and return before night. He +therefore made arrangements to be driven to the station, also to have +the horse he had ridden and the saddles taken back to the Under-Cliff +House. + +There was a faint after-glow on Madge's cheeks when she joined him at +the substantial repast which Mr. and Mrs. Hobson insisted upon their +partaking before departure; but in all other respects she appeared +and acted as usual. With a fineness of tact she was at home among her +plain entertainers, and put them at ease. Mrs. Hobson continued to +speak of her as Graydon's sister, and he had darted a humorous glance +at the girl; but it met such grave impassiveness of expression that he +feared she was angry. + +When parting from her hostess Madge spoke words which left a genial +expression on the good dame's face for hours thereafter, and at the +station Graydon put in Mr. Hobson's hand more than he could have +gathered from his stony farm that day, although he had been called +from the harvest field. + +During the first mile or two in the cars Madge was very quiet, and +seemed almost wholly engrossed with the scenery. At last Graydon +leaned toward her and asked, "Are you vexed with me, Madge?" + +"I find that I must maintain my self-control when with you, Graydon," +was the grave reply. + +"Forgive me, Madge. I scarcely knew what I was doing. Let your +thoughts take my part a little. Remember that within the hour I had +believed I had lost you. I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, but +when you passed under the train you appeared from where I was to dash +into it, and I nearly fainted and fell off my horse. Think what a +horrible shock I had. I also was nervous and all broken up--the first +time in my life that I remember being so. I couldn't cry as you did, +and when off my balance kissing you was just as natural to me as--" +Madge's mouth had been twitching, and now, in spite of herself, her +laugh broke forth. + +"Please forgive me, Madge;" and he held out his hand. + +"On condition that you will never do so again, or speak of it again." + +"Never?" he repeated, ruefully. + +"Never!" she said, with severe emphasis. + +"I won't make any such promise," he replied, stubbornly. + +"Oh, very well!" and she turned to the window. + +"Confound it!" he thought; "I'm not going to tie myself up by any such +pledge. I'm not sure of myself, or sure of anything, except that I'm a +free man, and that Madge won't be my sister. I shall remain free. She +herself once said in effect that I could take a straight course +when once I got my bearings, and I shall permit no more promises or +trammels till I do get them." + +They passed speedily on to the end of their journey, and were the +perfection of quiet, well-bred travellers, he disguising a slightly +vexatious constraint and sense of unduly severe punishment, and she +secretly exulting over the fact that he would not make the promise. + +When leaving the Kaaterskill station her eyes first rested on the +adjacent lake, and its wide extent suggested the opportunity to pull +an oar to some purpose. As the stage surmounted the last approach +to the hotel, and the valley of the Hudson, with the river winding +through it like a silver band, broke upon her vision, the apparent +cloud passed from her brow, and her pleasure was unaffected. A few +inquiries and the study of a map of the vicinity made it evident that +the region abounded in superb walks and drives, while from the +front piazza there was a panorama that would never lose its changing +interest and beauty. A suite of rooms was selected, with the +understanding that they should be occupied on Wednesday. + +Madge soon found herself the object of no little curiosity and +interest. The story of her mad ride had reached the house, and she +was recognized by some who had been on the train; but Graydon met +inquiries in such a way that they were not pushed very far. To a +reporter he said, "Is this affair ours or the public's? We have not +trespassed on any one's rights." + +He reassured Madge by saying, "Don't worry about it; such things are +only the talk of a day." + +They returned during the afternoon. Graydon's manner was courtesy +itself, and but little more; but he was becoming a vigilant student of +his companion, and she soon was dimly aware of the fact. + +"I will understand her," he had resolved. "I intend to get my +bearings, and then shape my course, for I cannot help feeling that the +destiny of the little girl who used to sit on my lap, with her head on +my shoulder, is in some way interwoven with mine. Even when I believed +myself in love with another woman she had more power over me than +Stella--more power to kindle thought and awaken my deeper nature. I +begin to think that all her talk about being a friend, good fellow, +etc., is greater nonsense than my fraternal proposals. No friend, +fellow, or sister could make my heart beat as it did to-day. No human +being in mortal peril could have awakened such desperate, reckless +despair as I felt at one time, and" (with a smile to himself) "I never +knew what a kiss was before. I'm not the fool to ignore all these +symptoms. I'll fathom the mystery of this sweet, peerless girl, if it +takes all summer and all my life." + +But the fair enigma at his side grew more inscrutable. Neither by tone +nor glance did she indicate that he was more to her than she had said. + +"Do you wish to recognize the scenes we passed over this morning?" he +asked, gently, as they approached them. + +"No, not yet. I don't wish to think about it any more than I can +help." + +"Your wishes are mine." + +"Occasionally, perhaps." + +"You shall see." + +"I usually do," was her laughing answer. + +But she began to appear very weary, and when they reached the +Under-Cliff House she went to her room, and did not reappear again +that day. + +Graydon made even Dr. Sommers's ruddy cheek grow pale by his brief +narrative, adding, "Perhaps her nerves have received a severer shock +than she yet understands. I wish you would tell Mrs. Muir the story, +making as light of it as you can, and with her aid you can insure that +Miss Alden obtains the rest and tonics she needs. You can also meet +and quiet the rumors that may be flying about, and you know that Miss +Alden has a strong aversion to being talked to or of about personal +affairs." + +In youth, health, and sleep Madge found the best restoratives, and the +morning saw her little the worse for the experiences of the previous +day. The hours passed quickly in preparations for departure and in +a call on Mr. and Mrs. Wendall, who gave evidence that they were +becoming more resigned. + +"I am at work again," said the farmer, "and so is Nancy. There's +nothing else for us to do but plod toward home, where Tilly is." + +Regret was more general and sincere than is usual when the transient +associations of a resort are broken. Dr. Sommers's visage could not +lengthen literally, and yet it approached as nearly to a funereal +aspect as was possible. He brightened up, however, when Madge slipped +something into his hand "for the chapel." + +They were soon comfortably established in their new quarters, and in +the late afternoon Madge was so rested that she took a short walk +with Graydon to Sunset Rock, and saw the shadows deepen in the vast, +beautiful Kaaterskill Clove. Then they returned by the ledge path. +At last they entered the wonderful Palenvilie Road, a triumph of +practical engineering, and built by a plain mountaineer, who, from the +base of the mountain to the summit, made his surveys and sloped his +grades by the aid of his eye only. They had been comparatively silent, +and Graydon finally remarked: "It gives me unalloyed pleasure, Madge, +to look upon such scenes with you. There is no need of my pointing out +anything. I feel that you see more than I do, and I understand better +what I do see from the changing expression of your eyes. Don't you +think such unspoken appreciation of the same thing is the basis of +true companionship?" + +"Oh, Graydon, what an original thought!" + +He bit his lip, and remarked that the evening was growing cool. + +At supper and during the evening his vigilance was not rewarded in +the slightest degree. Madge appeared in good spirits, and talked +charmingly, even brilliantly at times, but she was exceedingly +impersonal, and it was now his policy to follow her slightest lead in +everything. He would prove that her wish was his, as far as he knew +it. + +"Some day," he thought, "I shall find a clew to her mystery." + +The next morning Graydon went to the city, and would not return till +Friday evening of the following week, for it was now his purpose to +resume business. In the evening he and his brother discussed their +affairs, which were beginning to improve all along the line. Then +their talk converged more upon topics connected with this story, and +among them was Mr. Wildmere's suspension. + +"His failure don't amount to very much," Henry remarked; "he has +always done business in a sort of hand-to-mouth way." + +"I am surprised that Arnault permitted him to go down," Graydon said; +"it couldn't have taken very much to keep him up." + +"It is said that Arnault will have nothing to do with him, and that +this fact has hastened his downfall." + +"Well, so she played it too sharp on him, also. I was in hopes that +she would marry and punish him. I don't wonder at his course, though; +for if he has a spark of spirit he would not forgive her treatment +after she learned that you had not failed. Oh, how blind I was!" + +"Yes, Graydon, you are very blind," said Mr. Muir, inadvertently. + +"'Are?' Why do you use the present tense?" + +"Did I?" replied Mr. Muir, a little confusedly. "Well, you see, Madge +and I understood Miss Wildmere from the first." + +"Oh, hang Miss Wildmere! Do you think Madge--" + +"Now stop right there, Graydon. I think Madge is the best and most +sensible girl I ever knew, and that's all you will ever get out of +me." + +"Pardon me, Henry. I spoke from impulse, and not a worthy one, either. +I tell you point blank, however, that Madge Alden hasn't her equal in +the world. I would love her in a moment if I dared. Would to Heaven +I could have spent some time with her immediately after my return! In +that case there would have been no Wildmere folly. I declare, Henry, +when I thought she must be killed the other day I felt that the end +of my own life had come. I can't tell you what that girl is to me; but +with her knowledge of the past how can I approach her in decency?" + +"Well," said Mr. Muir, shrugging his shoulders and rising to retire, +"you are out of the worst part of your scrape, and Madge is alive +and well. This is not a little to be thankful for. I shall confine my +advice to business matters. Still, were I in your shoes, I know what I +should do. 'Faint heart,' you know. Good-night." + +Graydon did not move, or scarcely answer, but, with every faculty of +mind concentrated, he thought, "Henry's explanation of his use of the +present tense does not explain, and there is more meaning in what he +left unsaid in our recent interview than in what he said. Can it be +possible? Let me take this heavenly theory and, as we were taught at +college, see how much there is to support it. Was there any change in +her manner toward me before we parted years since? Why, she was taken +ill that night when she first met Miss Wildmere, and I stayed away +from her so long--idiot!" + +From that hour he went forward, scanning everything that had occurred +between them, until he saw again her flushing face and startled eyes +when he kissed her, and his belief grew strong that it was his immense +good-fortune to fulfil the prediction that Madge should be happy. + +The thought kept him sleepless most of that night, and made the time +which must intervene before he could see her again seem long indeed. +He did his utmost to get the details of his department well in hand +during business hours; but after they were over his mind returned at +once to Madge, and never did a scientist hunt for facts and hints in +support of a pet theory so eagerly as did Graydon scan the past for +confirmation of his hope, that long years of companionship had given +him a place in Madge's heart which no one else possessed, and that +his blindness or indifference to the truth was the sorrow of her life. +This view explained why she would not regard herself as his sister, +and could not permit the intimacy natural to the relation. + +When he examined the attitude of his own heart toward her he was not +surprised that his affection was passing swiftly into a love deeper +and far more absorbing than Stella Wildmere had ever inspired. + +"The old law of cause and effect," he said, smiling to himself, "and +I can imagine no effect in me adequate to the cause. Even when she +scarcely cast a shadow she was more companionable than Stella, but it +never occurred to me to think of her in any other light than that of +little sister Madge. Almost as soon as the thought occurred to me, +and I had a right to love her, love became as natural as it was +inevitable. Even in the height of my infatuation for Stella, Madge was +winning me from her unconsciously to myself." + +Such thoughts and convictions imparted a gentle and almost caressing +tone to his words when Madge welcomed and accompanied him to his late +supper on his return to the mountains. + +[Illustration: "PROMISE ME YOU WILL TAKE A LONG REST."] + +This significant accent was more marked than ever when she promenaded +with him for a brief time on the piazza. Nor did a little brusqueness +on her part banish the tone and manner which were slight indeed, but +unmistakable to her quick intuition. + +"Could Henry have given him a hint?" she queried; and her brow +contracted and her eyes flashed indignantly at the thought. + +As a result of the suspicion, she left him speedily, and in the +morning was glad to hope, from his more natural bearing, that she had +been over-sensitive. + +The sagacious Graydon, however, was maturing a plan which he hoped +would bring her the happiness which it would be his happiness to +confer. + +"She is so proud and spirited," he thought, "that only when surprised +and off her guard will she reveal to me a glimpse of the truth. If I +consulted my own pride I wouldn't speak for a long time to come--not +till she had ceased to associate me with Stella Wildmere; but if she +is loving me as I believe she would love a man, she shall not doubt an +hour longer than I can help, that I and my life's devotion are hers. +Sweet Madge, you shall make your own terms again!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +"CERTAINLY I REFUSE YOU" + + +Having heard that one of the finest views among the mountains was to +be had at Indian Head, a vast overhanging precipice facing toward the +entrance to the Kaaterskill Clove, Graydon easily induced Madge to +explore with him the tangled paths which led thither. + +How his eyes exulted over her as she tripped on before him down the +steep, winding, rocky paths! As he followed he often wondered where +her feet had found their secure support, so rugged was the way. Yet on +she glanced before him, swaying, bending to avoid branches, or pushing +them aside, her motions instinct with vitality and natural grace. + +Once, however, he had a fright. She was taking a deep descent swiftly, +when her skirt caught on a stubborn projecting stump of a sapling, +and it appeared that she would fall headlong; but by some surprising, +self-recovering power, which seemed exerted even in the act of +falling, she lay before him in the path, almost as if reclining easily +upon her elbow, and was nearly on her feet again before he could reach +her side. + +"Are you hurt?" he asked, most solicitously, brushing off the dust +from her dress. + +"Not in the least," she replied, laughing. + +"Well," he exclaimed, "I don't believe you or any one else could do +that so handsomely again if you tried a thousand times! Don't try, +please. I carried you the other day some little distance, and found +that you were no longer a little ghost." + +"You carried me, Graydon? I thought the people from the farmhouse +came." + +"Oh, I didn't wait for them! I was half beside myself." + +"Evidently," she replied, a little coolly. + +Her tone made him falter in his purpose, and when at last they reached +Indian Head, she was so resolutely impersonal in her talk, and had so +much to say about the history and the legends of the region of +which she had read, that he felt that she was in no mood for what he +intended to say. As the time passed he grew nervously apprehensive +over his project, and at last they started on their return with his +plan unfulfilled. They agreed to try a path to their left, which was +scarcely distinguishable, and it soon appeared to end at a point that +sloped almost perpendicularly to a wild gorge that ran up between the +hills. + +"That must be what is down on the map as Tamper Clove," said Madge; +"and do you know, some think that it was up that valley Irving made +poor Rip carry the heavy keg? Oh, I wish we could get down into it and +go back that way!" + +"Let me explore;" and he began swinging himself down by the aid of +saplings and smaller growth. "Some one has passed here recently," he +called back, "for trees are freshly blazed and branches broken. Yes," +he cried, a moment later; "here is a well-defined path leading up the +clove toward the hotel. Do you think you dare attempt it?" + +"Certainly," she answered; and before he could reach her she was +half-way down the descent. + +"Madge!" he cried, in alarm. + +"Oh, don't worry," she said; "I was over worse places in the West." + +"Well, what can't she do!" he exclaimed, as she stood beside him in +the path. + +"I can't give up my own way very easily," she replied. "You have found +that out." + +"That don't trouble me in the least. I don't wish you to give up your +own way. It's warm down here, and our walk won't be so breezy as if we +had followed the ridge." + +"We will take it leisurely and have a rest by and by." + +The gorge grew narrower and wilder. They passed an immense tree, under +which Indians may have bivouacked, and in some storm long past the +lightning had plowed its way from the topmost branch to its gnarled +roots. + +At last the path crossed a little rill that tinkled with a faint +murmur among the stones, making a limpid pool here and there. Immense +bowlders, draped with varied-hued mosses and lichens, were scattered +about, where in ages past the melting glacier had left them. The trees +that densely shaded the place seemed primeval in their age, loftiness, +and shaggy girth. + +"Oh, what a deliciously cool and lovely spot!" cried Madge, throwing +down her alpenstock. "Get me some oak leaves, Graydon, and I will make +you a cup and give you a drink." + +In a moment she made a fairy chalice with the aid of little twigs, and +when she handed it to him, dripping with water, his hand trembled as +he took it. + +"Why, Graydon," she exclaimed, "what on earth makes you so nervous?" + +"I am not used to climbing, and I suppose my hand has a little tremor +from fatigue." + +"You poor thing! Here is a mossy rock on which you can imitate Rip. +You have only to imagine that my leaf goblet is the goblin flagon of +Irving's legend." + +"Where and what would you be after twenty years?" + +"Probably a wrinkled spinster at Santa Barbara." + +"You wouldn't go away and leave me?" + +"Certainly I would, if I couldn't wake you up." + +He looked into her mirthful eyes and lovely face. Oh, how lovely it +was, flushed from heat and climbing! "Madge," he said, impetuously, +"you have waked me--every faculty of my soul, every longing of my +heart. Will you be my wife?" + +Her face grew scarlet. She sprang to her feet, and asked, with half +serious, half comic dismay, "Will I be your _what!_" + +"I asked you to be my wife," he began, confusedly. + +"Oh, Graydon, this is worse than asking me to be your sister!" she +replied, laughing. "Your alternations fairly make me dizzy." + +"Truly, Madge," he stammered, "a man can scarcely pay a woman a +greater compliment--" + +"Oh, it's a compliment!" she interrupted. + +"No," he burst out, with more than his first impetuosity; "I'm +in earnest. You, who almost read my thoughts, know that I am in +earnest--that--" + +By a strong yet simple gesture she checked him. + +"You scarcely realize what you are asking, Graydon," she said, +gravely. "I have no doubt your present emotion is unforced and +sincere, but it requires time to prove earnestness. You were equally +sure you were in earnest a short time since, and I had little place, +comparatively, in your thoughts." + +"But I did not know you then as I do now." + +"You thought you did. You had vivid impressions then about me, and +more vivid about another woman. You are acting now under another +impression, and from impulse. If I ever give myself away it shall not +be in response to an impulse." + +"Madge, you misjudge me--" he began, hotly. + +"I think I know most of the facts, and you know how matter-of-fact +I am. You may think I do not know what love is, but I do. It is a +priceless thing. It is a woman's life, and all that makes a true +woman's life. It is something that one cannot always give at will, or +wisely; but if I had the power to give it at all, it should be to a +man who had earned the right to ask it, and not to one who, within a +few short days, had formed new impressions about me. Love is not the +affection of a friend, or even of a sister. There is no necessity for +me to marry." + +"Then you refuse me?" he said, a little stiffly. + +"Certainly I refuse you, Graydon. Has my manner led you to think that +I was eager for a chance to accept you?" + +"Oh, no, indeed! You have checked my slightest tendencies toward +sentiment." + +"Thank you for the assurance. I do not care in the least for +sentiment." + +His airy fabric of hope, of almost certainty, had been shattered so +suddenly that he was overwhelmed. There seemed but one conclusion. + +"Madge," he said, in a low, hoarse voice, "answer me, yes or no. You +loved some one at Santa Barbara who did not return your love? That is +your trouble of which Mrs. Wendall spoke--I could not help hearing her +words--that is the mystery about you which has been haunting me with +increasing perplexity; that was the sorrow I heard in your voice the +evening you sang in the chapel, and which has vaguely, yet strongly, +moved me since? Tell me, is it not so? Tell me, as a friend, that I +may be a truer friend." + +She had turned away in a manner that confirmed his thought. + +"You are suggesting a humiliating confession, Graydon." + +"Yes, humiliating to the man who saw you, knew you, yet did not love +you. Tell me, Madge. It will make my own course clearer." + +"Yes, then," she replied. + +He sighed deeply, and was silent for a few moments. + +"Madge," he at last resumed, "look at me. I wish to tell you +something." + +She turned slowly toward him, and he saw that her lip was trembling, +and that tears were gathering in her eyes. + +"You may think me cruel in wringing such a confession from you, but +perhaps you will forgive me when you hear all I have to say. You may +look upon me now as a creature of impulses and impressions. The memory +of my recent infatuation is fresh in your mind, but you yourself said +I could be straightforward when once I got my bearings. I have them +now, and I take my course. As a friend you have revealed to me much of +your woman's nature, and, having known the best, I shall not look for +anything less than yours. I shall be devoted to you through life. I +will be to you all that I can be--all that you will permit. It is said +that time heals all wounds. Perhaps some day--well, if it ever can be, +I should be content to take what you could give. You said I was kind +and patient with the little ghost. I should be far kinder, gentler--" + +She had felt herself going fast, and had almost yielded to the impulse +to exclaim, "You, Graydon, are the one who did not return my love; and +although your love has been so brief and untested compared with mine, +I will trust you;" when voices were heard on the same path by +which they had come, and the figures of other ramblers were seen +indistinctly through the foliage. + +She gave his hand a strong pressure, seized her alpenstock, and +hastened swiftly forward. The path soon afterward emerged on the +public road. The breeze cooled her hot cheeks, kissed away her tears, +and half an hour later they approached the hotel, chatting as quietly +as the strictest conventionality would require. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +MY TRUE FRIEND + + +They found that Mr. Muir had arrived, and no family party in the long +supper-room appeared more free from disturbing thoughts and memories +than the one gathered at the banker's table. In Madge the keen-eyed +man could detect nothing that was unusual, and in Graydon only a trace +of the dignity and seriousness which would inevitably follow some +deep experience or earnest purpose. They all spent the evening and the +greater part of the following day together, and Madge was touched more +than once by observing that Graydon sought unobtrusively to comply +with even her imagined wishes and to enhance the point and interest of +her spoken thoughts. + +In answer to his direct question she had acknowledged the absolute +truth, and yet it had proved more misleading than all the disguises +which her maidenly reserve had compelled her to adopt. It seemed now +that she would have no further trouble with him--that he had defined +his purpose, and would abide by it. She was glad that she had not +yielded to his appeal and rewarded him in the first consciousness +of his new regard for her. This feeling had seemed too recent, +tumultuous, and full of impulse, and did not accord with her earnest, +chastened spirit, that had attained the goal of its hope by such +patient endeavor. She preferred that the first strong outflow from +his heart should find wide, deep channels, and that his love for her +should take the same recognized place in his life that her love had +occupied so long in her own. She also had a genuine and feminine +reluctance that the suitor of Stella Wildmere should be known as her +lover so speedily, and something more and deeper than good taste was +the cause of her aversion. + +Yet she was exceedingly happy. The hope that had sustained her so +long, that had been so nearly lost, now seemed certain of fulfilment, +and no one but she and God knew how much this truth meant. Only He had +been her confidant, and she felt that she had been sustained in her +struggle from weakness to strength by a Power that was not human, and +guided during the past weeks by a wisdom beyond her own. + +"He has proved to me a good Father," was her simple belief. "He led +me to do the best I could for myself, and then did the rest. I also +am sure He would have sustained me had I failed utterly. That my life +would not have been vain and useless was shown when I saved little +Nellie Wilder." + +Thus it may be seen that she was quite unlike many good people. In her +consciousness God was not a being to be worshipped decorously and then +counted out from that which made her real life and hope. + +The future now stretched away full of rest and glad assurance. +Graydon's manner already began to fulfil his promise. He would quietly +accept the situation as he understood it, and she saw already the +steadying power of an unselfish, unfaltering purpose. He appeared by +years an older and a graver man, and when he sat by her during the +service in the wide parlor, there was not a trace of his old flippant +irreverence. Whatever he now believed, he had attained the higher +breeding which respects what is sacred to others. + +She had but little compunction over his self-sacrificing mood. It +was perfectly clear that by quiet, manly devotion he proposed to help +"time heal the wound" made by that "idiot" at Santa Barbara, and +she that she could gradually reveal to him so much improvement that +equanimity and at last hope would find a place in his mind. + +They parted Monday morning with a brief, strong pressure of +hands, which Graydon felt conveyed volumes of sympathy and mutual +understanding. She had said that he could write to her, and he found +he had so much to say that he had to put a strong constraint upon +himself. + +Mr. Muir had watched them curiously during his stay in the mountains, +and felt that something had occurred which he could not fathom. +Graydon's manner at parting and since, during business hours, had +confirmed this impression. He was almost as grave and reticent as the +banker himself, and the latter began to chafe and grow irritable over +the problem which he was bent on seeing solved in but one way. He +looked askance and discontentedly at Graydon during dinner in the +evening. When they were alone he was fidgety and rather curt in his +remarks. At last he burst out, "Confound it! What has happened between +you and Madge?" + +"She has refused me, that's all," was the quiet reply. + +Mr. Muir gave a low whistle. + +"Oh, I understood you the other evening," resumed Graydon. "The +phenomenal penetration on which you so pride yourself is at fault for +once." + +The banker was so nonplused that he permitted his cigar to go out, but +he soon reached the conclusion, "He has bungled." "Well," he asked at +last, "what do you propose to do?" + +"To be to her all that she will ever permit, and die a bachelor for +her sake if I must." + +Mr. Muir lighted his Havana again and puffed in silence for a while, +then said, "I like that. Your purpose is clearly defined. In business +and everything else there is solid comfort in knowing what you can +depend upon." + +Madge's replies to Graydon's letters were scarcely more than notes, +but they were breezy little affairs, fragrant with the breath of the +mountains, and had an excellent tonic effect in the hot city. They +usually contained a description of what she had seen or of some +locality visited. On one occasion she wrote: + +"Late in the afternoon there had been a shower, not gentle and +pattering, but one of those frightful, passionate outbursts which are +not infrequent in these mountains. The wind appeared to drive black +masses of clouds from all directions save one, which, meeting over the +height occupied by the hotel, discharged torrents of rain. At last +the wind left the writhing trees in peace, and carried the deeply +shadowing cloud away beyond the hills. The sun broke forth, and +nature began some magic work. Calling the mist fairies to her aid, +she gathered from every ravine and clove delicate airy clouds, which +formed a large and rapidly increasing mass of vapor. Soon the plain +below--the wide Hudson valley--was entirely shut out, as though a +great white curtain had dropped from the sky to the mountain's base. +Just then the setting sun, which had been temporarily obscured, shone +forth in glorious brightness, casting on the beautiful cloud-curtain +the dark, clearly defined shadow of the mountain-top, with its crown +of buildings, even the towers and turrets showing with startling +distinctness. It was like a mammoth, well-cut cameo, or a gigantic +magic lantern effect, with the sun as a calcium light. + +"The spectacle lasted only a few moments. Then the cloudy curtain +parted, and the valley of the Hudson was seen again, spanned by a +rainbow." + +The days lengthened into weeks, Graydon coming every Friday afternoon, +and wondering slightly at the demurely radiant face that greeted +him. "Truly," he thought, "in the words of the old hymn she 'puts a +cheerful courage on.'" + +At times, however, she would be a little pensive. Then his tones would +have a greater depth and gentleness, and his sympathy was very sweet, +although she felt a little guilty because she was in no need of it. +She could stifle her compunction by thinking: + +"There was such a long, weary time when I did need it, and was +desolate because of its absence, that I must have a little now to +offset those gray, lonely days." + +She had thought she loved him before, but as she saw him patiently and +unselfishly seeking to brighten her life in every possible way, with +no better hope than that at some time in the indefinite future she +might give him what was left of her heart after the old fire had +died out, her former affection seemed as pale and shadowy as she was +herself when first she learned that she had a woman's heart. + +Late one Friday afternoon he startled her by asking abruptly, "Madge, +what has become of that fellow out West?" + +"Please don't speak about that again," she faltered. + +"Oh, well, certainly not, if you don't wish me to; but I thought if +there was any chance--" + +"Chance for what, Graydon?" + +"Confound him! I don't suppose I could do anything. I want to make you +happy, Madge. I feel just like taking the idiot by the ear, bringing +him to you, and saying, 'There, you unconscionable fool, look at +that girl--' You know what I mean. I'm suggesting the spirit, not the +letter of my action. But, Madge, believe me, if I could help you at +any cost to myself--" + +"Is your regard for me, of which you spoke, so slight that you could +go to work deliberately to bring that man to me?" + +"There is no regard about it. My _love_ for you is so great that I +would do anything to make you happy." + +"Madge," called the voice of Mrs. Muir, who was following them with +her husband, "where are you and Graydon?" + +"Here!" cried Madge, springing up. Then she gave her hand to him, +and he saw that there were tears in her eyes. "Graydon," she said, +"I couldn't ask a stronger test than that. I can't tell you how I +appreciate it. I shall never impose any such task upon you." + +"Don't hesitate on my account. I admit that it would be harder than +one of the labors of Hercules, but you command me now and always. +Nothing is so bad as to know that you are unhappy." + +"Do I seem very unhappy?" + +"No, you brave little woman! but who could guess the truth if you +were? My knowledge is not derived from your usual manner." + +"It is a pity if I cannot be patient when you set me so good an +example," she said, as Mr. and Mrs. Muir approached. + +When they were alone again for a brief time during the ramble, Graydon +resumed: "I wish to make sure of your confidence, Madge; I wish you to +take me at my word. I don't think you have been quite just to me. I am +not a cold-blooded fellow, and, no doubt, am given to impressions and +impulses; but I think constancy is one of my traits. I never wavered +in my affection for you until I misunderstood you immediately after +my return, and then that very misapprehension kept me worried and +perplexed much of the time. I was true to Miss Wildmere as long +as there was anything to be constant to, and yet for years she was +scarcely anything more than a fancy, a preference. Since my return +you know just what she was to me. Nothing is more certain than that I +never loved her. I did not know what the word meant then. There is a +chapter in your history that I don't know much about, but I am sure +I could make good my word to do anything within my power to bring you +happiness. I have imagined that a little management, guided by tact +and absolute fidelity--" + +"Don't say anything more about that, Graydon," she said, firmly. "Not +if my heart broke a thousand times would I seek a man or permit him to +be sought for me in any such way as you suggest." + +"That's settled, then." + +"That's settled forever." + +"Well, in that case," he said, with a short, nervous laugh, "there may +be a chance for me within the next hundred years." + +"Are you so willing to take a woman who had once given her heart to +another?" + +"I don't know anything about '_a_ woman.' I would take _you_, Madge, +under any circumstances that I can imagine." + +"Graydon," said Mrs. Muir, suddenly appearing around a turn in the +walk, "what is the matter with you? Why can't you and Madge keep with +us more? For some reason we are getting separated all the time. This +is a lovely spot. Let us sit down here like a family party and have a +little music. I just long to get back home, so that Madge may sing +for us as much as we wish. Here she would attract the attention of +strangers, and that ends the matter; and so I feel as if I had a rare +singing bird, but never a song. In this secluded place no others will +hear you, Madge." + +"Very well. What do you wish? I feel like singing." + +"Make your own choice." + +"I'll give you an old song, then, about friendship;" and with notes +rivalling those of a hermit-thrush that had been chanting vespers in +the dense woods near by, she sang a quaint melody, her voice wakening +faint echoes from the adjacent rocks. When she came to the last lines +she gave Graydon a shy glance, which seemed to signify, "These words +are for you." + + "Kinder than Love is my true friend. + He'd die for me if that would end + My sorrow. Yes, would live for me-- + Suffer and live unselfishly, + And that for him would harder be + Than at my feet to die for me." + +As she ceased she again encountered his steadfast gaze with a glance +which said, "Have I not done you justice?" + +He was satisfied, and felt that the presence of his relatives had +secured a sweeter answer than might otherwise have been given--an +answer that contained all he could hope for then. + +"Humph!" ejaculated Mr. Muir, very discontentedly. + +"What an appreciative remark, Henry!" said Madge, laughing. + +"It was; and it expressed my views," said the banker, dryly. "Come, +Mary, let us go home to supper." + +"Now, I think the song very pretty," said Mary, "only there are no +such people nowadays." + +As Madge followed with Graydon she continued laughing softly to +herself. + +"You are not hiding vexation at Henry?" Graydon asked. + +"Oh, no, I understand Henry. You think I am always hiding something. +You at least should have understood my song." + +"Yes, Madge," he said, gravely, "and you also made it clear that you +understood me. I am content." + +She laughed, imitating the ejaculation. + +"Henry's 'humph!' was too rich for anything. It meant volumes. What +sentimental fools he thinks us to be!" + +"Henry could no more understand such a song than sing it," was +Graydon's somewhat irritable response. + +"No matter. Such men are invaluable in the world. My nature is very +much in accord with Henry's, and so far as he has had experience, he +is very sound." + +"With your saving clause in mind, I agree with you perfectly about +Henry, but not about yourself. Your nature, Madge, like your voice, +has a wide compass." + +With this one exception there was no other spoken reference during +the remainder of the summer to the attitude toward her which he now +maintained in thought and action. The season was drawing to a close, +and she had enjoyed the latter part of it beyond her fondest hopes and +expectations. She made a few congenial acquaintances at the hotel, and +with them never wearied in exploring the paths that converged at the +great caravansary, and in visiting the various outlooks from which +the same wide landscapes presented ever-changing aspects. Chief among +these friends was a middle-aged artist, who was deeply imbued with the +genius of the mountains, and who had no little skill in catching and +idealizing the lovely effects he saw. He proved her best guide, for he +had long haunted the region, and the majority of the paths were due to +his taste and explorations. In such congenial tasks he acted as agent +for the sagacious and liberal owner of the vast property, who was so +wise that in his dealings with nature he employed one that loved and +understood her. To Madge the artist showed his favorite nooks and +haunts, where the wild beauty of the hills dwelt like a living +presence, and the scenery not yet painted which, from certain +standpoints, almost composed itself on the canvas. Thus he taught +her to see the region somewhat as he did, and to find in the general +beauty definite, natural pictures that were like flowers in the +wilderness. She greatly enjoyed watching with him the wonderful +moonlight effects on the vast shaggy sides and summit of High Peak, +that reared its almost untrodden solitudes opposite the hotel. This +mountain was the favorite haunt of fantastic clouds. Sometimes in the +form of detached mists they would pass up rapidly like white spectres +from the vast chasm of the Kaaterskill. Again a heavy mass would +settle on the whole length of the mountain, the outlines of which +would be lost, and the whole take the semblance of one vast height +crowned with the moon's radiance. Nothing fascinated Madge more than +to observe how the artist caught the essential elements of beauty in +the changing cloud scenery and reproduced the effects on a few +inches of canvas, and in her better appreciation of similar scenery +thereafter, she saw how true it is that art may be the interpreter of +nature. + +The fine music and varied entertainments at the house served also to +beguile her time. On one occasion the young people were arranging a +series of tableaux, and she was asked to personate Jephtha's daughter. +When the curtain rose on her lovely face and large, dark eyes, the +Hebrew maiden and her pathetic history grew into vivid reality against +the dim background of the past. + +After all, the time that intervened between Monday and Friday +afternoon was spent in waiting, and even the hours toward the last +were counted. The expression in Graydon's dark blue eyes was always +the same when he greeted her, and recalled the line: + + "Kinder than Love is my true friend." + +On Saturdays they took long tramps, seeking objective points far +beyond the range of ordinary ramblers. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE END OF THE WOOING + + +Madge had often turned wistful eyes toward High Peak, and on the last +Saturday before their final return to the city she said to Graydon, +"Dare we attempt it? Perhaps if we gave the day to the climb, and took +it leisurely--" + +"There's no 'perhaps' about it. We'll go if you wish. I should like +nothing better than to get lost with you." + +"There is no danger of getting lost," she replied, hastily. "The hotel +must be visible from the whole line of its summit, and I am told that +there is a path to the top of the mountain." + +"I will be ready in half an hour," he said. + +It was a lovely day in early September. The air was soft, yet cool and +bracing enough to make climbing agreeable. Graydon had a lunch basket, +which he could sling over his shoulder, well filled, and ordered a +carriage. "There is no need of our tramping over the intervening miles +of dusty roads which must be passed before we begin our climb," he +said, "and the distance we ride will make a pleasant drive for Mary +and the children." + +Madge and Graydon reached the summit without any great difficulty, +Mary having returned with the assurance that they would find their own +way back to the hotel. + +As the hours passed, Graydon began to gather more hope than he had +dared to entertain since his shattered theory had so disheartened him. +In spite of his fancied knowledge about Madge, it was hard to believe +she was very unhappy that morning. There was an elasticity to her +step, a ring of genuine gladness in her tones and laugh, which did not +suggest that she was consciously carrying a heavy burden. + +"She certainly is the bravest and most unselfish girl I ever +imagined," he thought, as they left the highest point after enjoying +the view. "With an art so inimitable as to be artless, she has tried +to give me enjoyment. Instead of regarding herself as one to be +entertained, she has been pouring forth words, fancies, snatches +of song like sparkling wine, and I am exhilarated instead of being +wearied." + +When at last they found a spring at which to eat their lunch, he told +her so, concluding, "This mountain air does you good, Madge." + +"So do you," she replied, with a piquant nod. "Don't be conceited when +I tell you that you are good company." + +"No; but I can't help being happy." + +"Oh, indeed! It doesn't seem to take much to make you happy." + +"Not very much from you." + +"Pass me a biscuit, Graydon; I want something more substantial than +fine speeches after our climb. Isn't all this truly Arcadian--this +mossy rug on which we have placed our lunch, the trees whispering +about us overhead, and the spring there bubbling over with something +concerning which it murmurs so contentedly?" + +"I wonder what they think of us! I can imagine one thing." + +"You are always imagining. The idea of your being a banker! Well, +there is a loud whisper from the trees. What was remarked?" + +"That yonder little girl doesn't look so very unhappy." + +"No, Graydon," she said, earnestly, "you make Saturdays and Sundays +very bright to me. No girl ever had a truer friend than you are +becoming." + +"Have become, Madge." + +"Graydon," she said, eagerly, as if hastening from dangerous ground, +"the hotel is there just opposite to us. Don't you think we could +scramble down the mountain here, and return by Kaaterskill Clove and +the Falls? It would be such fun, and save such a very long distance!" + +"We'll try it," he said. + +"Come," she resumed, brusquely, "you are spoiling me. You say yes to +everything. If you don't think it safe or best you must not humor me." + +"We can soon learn whether it's safe and practicable, and there is no +danger of losing our way. We have only to return over the mountain in +order to strike the path somewhere at right angles." + +"Let us hasten, then. I am in the mood to end our sojourn in the +Catskills by an hour or two of contact with nature absolutely +primitive. The scenes we shall pass through will be so pleasant to +think of by a winter fire." + +"Winter fire? That's capital! You are not going back to Santa Barbara, +Madge?" + +"I haven't promised that--I haven't promised anything." + +"No; I have done all the promising." + +"You did so of your own free will." + +"And of my own free will shall keep my promises. No, don't let us +leave any remnants of our lunch. Should we get lost you will want +something more substantial than fine speeches." + +"I shall indeed." + +Graydon filled from the spring the bottle which had contained milk; +and then packing his little hamper he led the way downward, over +and through obstacles which often involved no little difficulty, and +sometimes almost danger. + +"May I help you all I please?" he asked. + +"Yes, when I can't help myself." + +Then he began to rejoice over the ruggedness of the way, which made it +proper to take her hand so often, and at times even to lift her over a +fallen tree. + +"What fun it is!" cried Madge. + +"The best I ever had," he replied, promptly. But they had not realized +the difficulty of their attempt; for when little more than half-way +to the foot of the mountain they came to a ledge down which there +appeared no place for safe descent. As they were skirting this +precipice perilously near the edge, he holding Madge's hand, some +loose debris gave way beneath his feet. + +Instead of instinctively clinging to Madge's hand, even in the act of +falling he threw it up and around a small tree, which she grasped, and +regained her footing, while he went down and disappeared. + +At first she was so appalled that she could do no more than clutch the +tree convulsively and look with blank horror at the spot where she had +seen him last. Then came the thought, "His life may now depend upon +me." + +The distance he had fallen would not be necessarily fatal, and below +the ledge there were low scrubby trees that might have broken the +impetus of his descent. She called in tones that might have evoked +an answer even from the lips of death; then, with a resolution in her +pallid face which nothing could daunt, she sought to reach her side. + +At first Graydon was utterly unconscious. At last, like a dim light +entering a darkened room, thought and memory began to revive. He +remembered that he had been at Madge's side, and had fallen; he had +grasped at branches of trees as he passed through them, and then all +had become dark. He tried to speak, to call his companion, but found +be could not. He almost doubted whether he was alive in the flesh. If +he were he must have received some terrible injury that had caused a +strange paralysis. + +His confused thoughts finally centred wholly on Madge. Had she fallen? +The thought of her, perhaps injured, possibly lying unconscious or +dead near him, and he helpless, caused a dull, vague dread, like a +cold tide, to overwhelm his very soul. He tried to move, to spring +up, but only his mind appeared free. Then he thought he recognized +her voice calling in the distance. Soon, with alternations of hope +and fear, he heard her steps and voice draw nearer. She had evidently +found a way down the ledge, and was coming along its base toward +him--coming swiftly, almost recklessly. + +She was at his side. Her low, terror-stricken cry chilled his heart. +Was he dead? and was it his soul only, lingering in the body, that was +cognizant of all this? + +Her hand was on his pulse, then inside his vest against his heart. + +"Oh," she moaned, "can he be dying or dead? I can't find his pulse, +nor does his heart seem to beat. He is so pale, so deathly pale, even +to his lips." + +He knew that she was lifting him into a different and easier position, +and wondered at the muscular power she exerted, even under excitement. + +"Why, why," she exclaimed in horror, "he is cold, strangely cold! His +hands and brow are almost like ice, and wet with the dew of death." + +She was not aware of the fact that extreme coldness and a clammy +perspiration would be among the results of such a severe shock. + +"Graydon," she gasped, "Graydon!" Then after a moment: "O God, if he +should never know!" + +She chafed his hands and wrists, opened the lunch basket, and found +that the bottle containing water was not broken, for he felt drops +dashed on his face, and his lips moistened; but the same stony +paralysis enchained him. Then she sent out her voice for help, and +there was agony, terror, and heart-break in her cry. + +Realizing the futility of this on the lonely mountainside, she soon +ceased, and again sought, with almost desperate energy, to restore +him, crying and moaning meanwhile in a way that smote his heart. At +last she threw herself on his breast with the bitter cry: + +"Oh, Graydon, Graydon, are you dying? Will you _never_ know? Oh, my +heart's true love, shall I never have a chance to tell you that it +was you I loved--you only! It was for you I went away alone to die, I +feared. For you I struggled back to life, and toiled and prayed that +I might be your fair ideal; and now you may never know. Graydon, +Graydon, I would give you the very blood out of my heart--O God, I +can't restore him!" she moaned, in a choking voice, and then he knew +from her dead weight upon his breast that she had fainted. + +This mental anguish and the effort he put forth to respond to +these words caused great beads of sweat to start out upon his face. +Suddenly, as if a giant hand was lifted, the effects of the shock +resulting from his fall passed away. He opened his eyes, and there was +Madge, with her face buried upon his breast, in brief oblivion from +fears that threatened to crush at once hope and life. + +To his great joy he found that he could move. Feebly, and with great +difficulty, he lifted her head and tried to regain his feet. He found +this impossible, and soon realized that his leg was broken. He now +saw that he must act wisely and carefully, or their plight would be +serious indeed; and yet his mind was in such a tumult of immeasurable +joy at his discovery that he would not in the least regret the +accident, if assured of her safety. + +At last, in response to his efforts, she began to revive. The sense +of responsibility, the necessity for action on her part, had been +so great immediately before she had fainted under the stress of one +overwhelming fear, that her mind, even during unconsciousness, may +have put forth effort to regain its hold upon sense. She found herself +leaning against a prostrate tree, and Graydon sitting near, speaking +to her in soothing and encouraging tones. + +In response to her bewildered, troubled look of inquiry, he said, +cheerfully, and in natural tones, "Don't worry, Madge, or be +frightened." + +"What has happened, Graydon?" + +"I'll tell you what I know, and you must supply the rest. We were +proceeding along that ledge above us, and trying to find a safe place +to climb down." + +A slow deep color began to take the place of her pallor, showing that +her own memory was supplying all that had occurred. + +"You know I fell, Madge. Thank God, I did not carry you down with me!" + +"Any other man would," she said, almost brusquely. "You threw my hand +back around a tree." + +"Did I?" exclaimed Graydon, very innocently and gladly. "Well, +everything became very confused after that. I must have been +unconscious. I do remember grasping at the branches as I passed +through these low trees above us--" + +"You must have caught one of them, Graydon," she said, eagerly, +turning toward him again, "for a large limb had broken off and was +lying upon you." + +"Was it so? Perhaps I owe it a good turn, for it may have so broken +my fall as to have saved my life. Well, in some way, you, true, brave +little girl, you must have reached me, and, finding that you could not +restore me, and imagining I was dead or dying, you fainted yourself +from the nervous shock of it all. When I recovered the use of my +senses I found evidence that you had been trying to revive me. Now, +Madge, we must both be brave and sensible. We must regain the full +possession of our wits as soon as possible. Can you be very brave and +sensible (to use your favorite word) if I tell you something?" + +"Yes, Graydon," she said. "I can do anything, now that I know you are +going to live." + +"I am very much alive, and shall be thoroughly conscious of the fact +for some time to come. You must keep perfectly cool and rational, for +what has happened is a very serious affair under the circumstances." +Her scarlet face was turned from him again. "Madge," he concluded, in +quiet tones, "I've broken my leg." + +"Is that all?" she said, with a look of intense relief. + +"Isn't that enough? I'm helpless." + +"I'm not," and she sprang to her feet "Why, Graydon, it might have +been a hundred-fold worse. I thought it was immeasurably worse," she +said, suppressing a sob. "You might have been killed. See how far +you fell! I feared you might have received some terrible internal +injury--" + +"I have; but that's a chronic affair, as you know," he interrupted, +laughing. + +[Illustration: "SO YOU IMAGINE I SHALL SOON BE MAKING LOVE TO ANOTHER +GIRL."] + +His mirth and allusion did more to restore her than all else, for he +appeared the same friend that she thought she had lost. + +"Now that it is so evident that you will survive all your injuries," +she resumed, with an answering laugh, "I am myself again. You direct +me what to do." + +"I shall, indeed, have to depend on you almost wholly; and the fact +that another must look to you in such a strait will do more to +keep you up than all cordials and stimulants. I can do very little +myself--" + +"Forgive me, Graydon. You know I am not indifferent. Are you in much +pain?" and her voice was very gentle. + +"Not yet. You must act contrary to your instincts for once, and exert +all your ingenuity to attract attention. First, we must have a fire; +meanwhile I shall light a cigar, which will help me to think and +banish the impression that we are lost babes in the woods. The smoke, +you see, will draw eyes to this spot--the smoke of the fire, I mean." + +"I'm following you correctly." + +"You must have followed me very bravely, heroic little woman that you +are! You are indeed unlike other girls, who would never have reached +me except by tumbling after--" + +"Come, no more reminiscences till you are safe at the hotel, and your +leg mended." + +"Very well. I direct, but you command. As soon as we have a column +of smoke ascending from this point you must try to find an open space +near here, and wave something white as a signal of distress." + +He had scarcely concluded before she was at work. The prostrate tree +against which he had managed to place her at such pain to his broken +limb served as a back-log, and soon a column of smoke was ascending. +At times she would turn a shy, half-doubting, half-questioning glance +at him, but he would smile so naturally and speak so frankly that the +suspicion that he had heard her words almost passed from her mind. + +"Madge," he said, "in finding an outlook toward the hotel or valley, +don't go far away, if possible. It makes me awfully nervous to think +of you climbing alone." + +She found a projecting rock beneath them within calling distance, and +on an extemporized pole she fastened the napkins. At his suggestion +she waved them only downward and upward, at the same time sending out +her powerful voice from time to time in a cry for help. + +He, left alone, sometimes groaned from an unusually severe twinge of +pain, and again laughed softly to himself over the situation. He knew +that the question of their being sought and found was only one of +time, and he would have been willing to have had all his bones broken +should this have been needful to secure the knowledge which now +thrilled his very soul with gladness. The past grew perfectly clear, +and the pearl of a woman who had given herself to him so long ago +gained a more priceless value with every moment's thought, "Ah, +sweet Madge! I'm the blessed idiot you loved and toiled for at Santa +Barbara! I shouldn't have believed that such a thing could happen in +this humdrum world." + +Nor would it seem that the attention of even a fraction of that great +world could be obtained. The shadows of evening began to gather, and +Madge, at Graydon's call, returned, wearied and somewhat discouraged. + +"Cheer up," he said. "It is only a question of time. We shall soon be +missed, and our signals will be more effective when it is dark. See, +we shall not starve. I have been getting supper for you. Keeping the +remnants of our lunch wasn't a bad idea, was it?" + +"Keeping up your courage and mine is a better one. Graydon, I fear you +are suffering very much." + +"Oh, Madge, armies of men have broken their legs! That's nothing but a +little disagreeable prose, while this adventure with you is something +to talk and laugh over all our lives. I've cut my boot off and +bandaged my leg as well as I could, and am now hungry. That's a good +sign. I shall be positively hilarious if you make as good supper as +this meagre spread permits. Take a little water, for your throat must +be parched. You will have to drink it from the bottle, Pat's fashion, +for my rubber cup is broken." + +"Indeed, a little water is all I want at present, and I must gather +wood for the fire before it is darker." + +"Very well," he said, laughing; "supper shall wait for you." + +The vicinity appeared as if never before visited, and there was an +abundance of dead and decaying wood lying about. When she had secured +a large quantity of this she came and sat down by the fire, and said, +"I will take a little supper now, and then it will be so dark that we +can signal in some other way." + +"Madge," said Graydon, earnestly, "it has cut me to the heart to lie +helplessly here and see you doing work so unsuitable." + +"Nothing could be more suitable under the circumstances. You do think +we shall be found soon? Oh, I'm so worried about you!" + +"More, then, than I am about myself. I shall have to play invalid for +some time. Won't you be my nurse occasionally?" + +"Yes, Graydon, all I can." + +"Why, then, don't worry about me at all. The prospect makes me fairly +happy. Come, now, eat the whole of that sandwich." + +She complied, looking thoughtfully into the fire meanwhile. By the +light of the flickering blaze he saw the trouble and worry pass from +her brow and the expression of her face grow as quiet and contented as +that of a child's. At last she said, "Well, this does seem cosey and +companionable, in spite of everything. There, forgive me, Graydon; I +forgot for the moment that you were in pain." + +"Was I? I forgot it, too. Sitting there in the firelight, you +suggested the sweetest picture I ever hope to see." + +"You can't be _in extremis_ when you begin to compliment." + +"Don't you wish to know what the picture was?" + +"Oh, yes, if it will help you pass the time!" + +"I saw you sitting by a hearth, and I thought, 'If that hearth were +mine it would be the loveliest picture the world had known.' Now you +see what an egotist I am. You look so enchanting in that firelight +that I cannot resist--I would try so hard to be worthy of you, Madge. +Make your own terms again, as I said once to you before." + +"My own terms?" she repeated, turning a sudden and searching glance +upon him. "Then tell me, did you hear what I said this afternoon when +I first found you?" + +He hesitated a moment, and then said, firmly: "Yes, every word; but, +Madge, you must not punish me for what I could not help. It would not +be right." + +"Could you hear me and yet--" + +"I could hear you and yet could not move a muscle until you fainted, +and then my intense mental excitement and solicitude must have broken +the paralysis caused by the shock of my fall. Oh, Madge, look at me! +Only a false pride can come between us now. My love is not worthy to +be compared with yours, but it is genuine, and it will--it _will_ last +as long as I do. I shall bless this accident and all the pain I must +suffer if they bring you to me." + +She sprang to his side, and putting her arm around his neck said, +"Graydon, on the evening after your return I told you I couldn't be +your sister. You know why now, and you uttered these words, 'I shall +have to take you as you are if I ever find out.' I meant to win you +if I could, but only by being such a girl as I thought you would love. +Now you know the mystery of the little ghost, and you can bring to me +that 'idiot' who didn't return my love, as often as you choose." + +"Thank Heaven for what I escaped! Thank God for what I have won!" he +exclaimed. + +"Won? Nonsense! _You_ have been won, not I. Oh, Graydon, wouldn't you +have been amazed and horrified if you had been told, years ago, that +the little ghost would go deliberately to work to woo a man and take +him from another girl? Think how dreadful it sounds! but you shall now +know the worst." + +"It's music that will fill my life with gladness. How exquisitely fine +your nature is, that you could do this with such absolute maidenly +reserve! Suppose I had become Stella Wildmere's bondman?" + +"I should have gone back to Santa Barbara, and kept my secret." + +"Horrible!" + +"I said you knew all, but I am mistaken. Now, don't be shocked back +into your kind of unconsciousness again. I did another horrid thing. +I listened and learned about the plot by which Arnault meant to +bring Miss Wildmere to a decision against you;" and she told him the +circumstances, and what had passed between herself and Henry. + +His arm tightened around her almost convulsively. "Madge," he cried, +"you have not only brought me happiness--you have saved me from a +bitter, lifelong self-reproach far worse than poverty. How can I ever +show sufficient devotion in return for all this?" + +"By being sensible, and telling me how to make signals, now that it is +as dark as it will be this moonlight night." + +"Let me lean on you, as I ever shall figuratively hereafter. We will +go down to the outlook you found, build another fire, and wave burning +brands." + +This was done. Henry Muir, who had grown very solicitous, saw their +signals, and promptly organized a rescuing party. A wood-road led well +up toward their position, and with the aid of some employes of the +house he at last rescued them. Graydon was weak and exhausted from +pain by the time he reached the hotel, yet felt that his happiness had +been purchased at very slight cost. The next day he was taken to his +city home, and Madge filled the days of his convalescence with such +varied entertainment that he threatened to break his leg again. She +had so trained her voice that she read or sang with almost tireless +ease. To furnish home music, to shine in the light of her own hearth, +had been the dream of her ambition; and to the man she had won she +made that hearth the centre of the gentle force which controlled and +blessed his life. + +But little further remains to be said concerning the other characters +of this story. The severe lesson received by Stella Wildmere had a +permanent effect upon her character. It did not result in a very +high type of womanhood, for the limitations of her nature scarcely +permitted this; but it brought about decided changes for the better. +She was endowed with fair abilities and a certain hard, practical +sense, which enabled her to see the folly of her former scheme of +life. Blind, inconsiderate selfishness, which asked only, "What do I +wish the present moment?" had brought humiliation and disaster, and, +as her father had suggested, she possessed too much mind to repeat +that blunder. She recognized that she could not ignore natural +laws and duties and go very far in safety. Therefore, instead of +querulousness and repining, or showing useless resentment toward +her father for misfortunes which she had done nothing to avert, she +stepped bravely and helpfully to his side, and amid all the chaos of +the financial storm that was wrecking him he was happier than he had +been for years. Her beloved jewelry, and everything that could be +legally saved from their dismantled home, was disposed of to the best +advantage. Then very modest apartments were taken in a suburb, and +both she and her father began again. He obtained a clerkship at a +small salary, and she aided her mother in making every dollar go as +far as possible. + +Arnault had thought, under the impulse of his pride, that he could +renounce her forever, but found himself mistaken. She would not depart +from such heart as he possessed, nor could he break the spell of +her fascination. His interest grew so absorbing that he kept himself +informed about the changes she was passing through, and her manner +of meeting them. As a result, his practical soul was filled with +admiration, and he felt that she of all others would be the wife for +a man embarked on the uncertain tides of Wall Street. At last he wrote +to her and renewed his offer. The reply was characteristic. + +"Your offer comes too late. If, instead of being one of the principal +actors in that humiliating little drama of my life, you had stood by +me patiently and faithfully, I would have given you at once my deepest +gratitude and, eventually, my love. I did not deserve such constancy, +but I would have rewarded it to the extent of my ability. You thought +I was mercenary. I was, and have been punished; but you forget that +you made my mercenary spirit your ally, and kept me from becoming +engaged to the man whom you well knew that I preferred. My regard +for him is not so deep, however, but that I shall survive and face +my altered fortunes bravely. If you had been kind to me during those +bitter days--if you had kept my father from failure, instead of +deserting him after he had done his best for you--he did do his best +for you--I should have valued _you_ more than your wealth, and proved +it by my life. I have since learned that I am not afraid of poverty, +and that I must find truer friends." + +Arnault, like so many others, turned from what "might have been" to +his pursuit of gold, but it had lost its brightness forever. + +An old admirer of Stella's, a plain, sturdy business man, to whom she +had scarcely given a thought in her palmy days, eventually renewed his +attentions, and won as much love as the girl probably could have given +to any one. By his aid she restored her father's broken fortunes and +established them on a modest but secure basis, and she proved to her +husband a sensible wife, always recognizing that in promoting his best +interests and happiness she secured her own. + +Dr. Sommers is still the genial physician and the Izaak Walton of +the Catskills. Mr. and Mrs. Wendall are "plodding toward home" with a +resignation that is almost cheerful. + +Henry Muir continues devoted to business, and his wife is devoted +to him. He rarely permits a suitable opportunity to pass without +remarking that the two sisters are the "most sensible women in the +world." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A YOUNG GIRL'S WOOING*** + + +******* This file should be named 12876.txt or 12876.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/8/7/12876 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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